MMORPG: 16 years later why do you think EQ stands so tall to so many gamers these days, despite having seen so many other games come and go?
Brad: There are likely several reasons, but I think the biggest is community. EQ was designed to be a cooperative, social game, where people needed each other in order to progress and achieve. So people got to know each other, made real friends with people, and the game became more than just a game, but an actual home, a virtual world. Unfortunately, in recent years, most MMOs have transitioned away from a cooperative experience trying to capture the ‘mass market’ and be the next ‘WoW-killer’. The result is those players who really enjoy communities, socializing, and group play have been orphaned. This is why we’re making Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen -- our target audience is that same group of players who now feel left out, plus all of the younger players who have grown up enjoying cooperative gameplay but can’t find that experience in modern MMOs.
MMORPG: What do you feel would make the EQ formula successful in today's market, and how are you employing those ideals in Pantheon?
Brad: I think the correct formula is to build the foundation of the game on principles proven to be successful and popular in the older MMOs like EQ (an emphasis on social, cooperative gameplay) combined with new ideas and evolving MMOs further in terms of new mechanics and gameplay. Doing both is very important because we’ve no desire to simply create an old school MMO emulator. We need to drive the MMO genre forward and do things both the earlier MMOs and current MMOs haven’t tried yet. We need to build a solid, proven foundation and then build upon it a lot of these next generation ideas. Some may work, some may need to be tweaked, and some may need to be pulled, and that is what beta is for. But we’re designing Pantheon such that if one next-gen idea doesn’t really pan out, we can yank it and the game still stands on that solid, proven foundation -- it’s not a house of cards.
MMORPG: What is your favorite EQ class after all these years?
Brad: I personally enjoy being primarily a DPS class, but being able to tank if I need to. I also like being a warrior-type who can also dabble with magic. So my favorite classes to play are the hybrid classes, like the Ranger and the Paladin.