Pantheon: Rise of The Fallen Seasonal Testing Plan - Good, Bad, Or Does It Matter?

22.02.2024 - 14:27 / mmorpg.com

I joined the Kickstarter for Pantheon: Rise Of The Fallen ten years ago, fully understanding that my money might be a write-off. Watching as the end date came and went without the project being successfully funded was disappointing. But I was happy to sign up shortly after that on the official website as a Champion-level pledge when Visionary Realms decided that they would move ahead with development anyway. A decade later, those outside of the VIP pledges have started having limited hands-on time testing the game.

But, as Season 1: Into The Pass gets underway, how has the community responded to this idea compared to the plan of an extraction-style minigame running 24/7 suggested during the last quarter of 2023? Are Seasons the best path forward for Pantheon: Rise Of The Fallen?           

My partner and I both have Champion pledges. We have fond memories of our first MMORPG, EverQuest, which made it easy to form communities with people worldwide who had the same hobby. EverQuest was a cooperative experience that punished you for diving headlong into fights without at least some mindfulness on managing the extra enemies when taking on packs. While combat initially felt slower-paced, EverQuest encouraged tactics during the lengthy fights and required players to use their chosen class toolkit fully. It also allowed players to go it alone if they preferred that route. But you had to gauge what you could handle more carefully, even when it came to more minor encounters. About 30 percent of the content needed a group to complete it unless you substantially over-leveled the enemies or got creative. 

First, ten years of development is a long time. While it is disappointing that Pantheon’s development has taken so long, I understand how difficult it can be to get a project of this size and complexity off the ground. Luckily, I told myself early on that my only hardline for maintaining interest in the game was that it stayed true to being a spiritual successor of EverQuest.

That hardline was why it was so disappointing when the idea of an extraction game was presented during the last quarter of 2023. While I could see why it would help accelerate development, it felt like the core of what Pantheon: Rise Of The Fallen was meant to be was being abandoned or, at the very least, put on the back burner.

The mention of such a game mode potentially appealing to more people and the possibility of further monetizing it also didn’t help. I wondered if what was meant to be a niche game was suddenly shifting direction and that the money already secured was no longer enough to continue development. If that plan had moved forward, I would have tried Pantheon’s extraction game mode to help with testing. But, In reality had