The latest newsletter for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen has been delivered and it is, as usual, packed with information. Most notably, a new interview with Brad McQuaid anchors the letter where he speaks about "The Importance of Focused Gaming", the importance of community and more. He begins with the earliest days of MMOs all the way through the ongoing creation of Pantheon.
Q: Why do you think the playerbase is so hungry for a game that extols the virtues of grouping and challenge?
A: When that course correction happened, and the game space shifted to far more solo friendly titles, it pushed out a lot of the players who enjoyed that more challenging experience and they became marginalized. So now you have a lot of options for players who enjoy solo and casual MMOs, and that's great, but the player who is really focused on community, challenge and long-term investment has been orphaned.
There is this perception out there that that type of player, the one who really enjoys that group-centric game, is strictly made up of people who played EQ, DAoC, UO or Vanguard, and that's not true at all. There are so many younger players who are gravitating to our type of game. You see it happening in genres that are traditionally all about the single player experience, like in FPS games where now some of their most popular modes are the co-op ones like Zombies in the CoD franchise. The desire to play with your friends, in a group, cooperatively, against the AI - that wasn't some odd preference that appealed only people who played EQ, DAoC or UO, it's something that exists within every generation of gamers.
Other notable topics in the newsletter includes an update from "Zippyzee" about the ongoing work with Pantheon's AI and the Community Spotlight.
You can check it all out on the Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen site.
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