[UPDATE] Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen Wants to Know if They Should Cater to Competitive, Casual, or Bit of Both

[UPDATE] KIlsin, the Community Manager at Visionary Realms, clarified in the comments to this article. Kilsin was essentially sharing a topic of discussion in the game's own forums, rather than trying to gauge interest in design of the game,

"This was ME!

I was highlighting a Community Members thread on our forums and since this topic is highly debated, I wanted to shine a light on it and hear what our community has to say. (I do this a lot!)

Our game Tenets and Development will not change based on one of my weekly engaging CM questions, they're intended to be thought provoking and fun to give our community a voice and hear what they have to say, even if it's on a taboo topic that others are scared to talk about.

We appreciate the publicity though, thank you "

Original article below.

The folks behind Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen want your input into whether they should cater towards competitive players, casual players, or a mix of both.

The team posed the question on Twitter earlier which pointed back to a post in the forums. No doubt, this is one area which has arguments in favor and against both sides. The original post kicking off the whole thread argues that MMORPGs should favor the competitive group because that’s the group which drives the game’s longevity. Therefore, if this competitive group disappears, the game would die.

The original post is actually fairly well thought out and provides a reasoned argument in favor of the competitive group. However, as expected, you have people who disagree like one reply,

“And I greatly disagree with that opinion hehe, sorry.  They may well drive what the game has *become* in games like Everquest and WoW, but we will never know if that has kept it alive or, if it had not gone that way, less competitive activities would have kept the game alive, because, unsurprisingly, the competitive players drove out those that didn't enjoy it by 'beating' them in a competitive play that they didn't even want to be involved in.”

The post points to “unpleasant” endgame practices, pressure from other players, and constant friction in dungeons as what drove that person from games like EverQuest and others. Naturally, this is a heated discussion.

So now it’s time for you to sound off. What do you think? Should MMORPGs cater towards the competitive crowd, casual crowd, or a bit of both? What do you think Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen should focus on? Sound off below.