Last week, Mainframe Industries laid out its high-level vision of Pax Dei. Today, a day out from its early access launch, the developers are looking at the development goals for the MMO, laying out its priorities over the course of the next year.
Pax Dei is meant to be a social sandbox MMO, with its DNA deeply founded within EVE Online, a game many of the studio's founders and leaders have extensive experience developing. Early Access is, as Mainframe maintains, a way to develop the social systems, economy, and much more alongside the players. However, many prospective Paxians have pointed out that what is there right now for Early Access can feel a bit barebones.
The developers took to their blog today lay out their development vision over the next year of early access, which the developers say will last at least until June 2025.
"We know where we want to go and how, but we also know that our plans will have to stay dynamic and will change to adjust to reality and the feedback our Founders will provide. All that to say - while this document aims to give you a good idea of our priorities in the next few months, please don’t consider it carved in marble."
One of the major features in Pax Dei now are its homesteading mechanics. Building a home, connecting plots, building villages and more is a central feature of Pax Dei and is central to the whole proposed experience once the MMO is out of Early Access. Mainframe laid out what the future of this feature looks like, with more depth coming to the crafting system, pinning recipes, and more building pieces.
Where the MMO still feels very underdeveloped in the recent betas is its combat system, which the team admits "needs work."
"Following player feedback in Alpha 2, we’ve spent the last few weeks focusing on improving the characters’ responsiveness in combat. We don’t think we’re there yet. Currently, our PvE is at a minimum functional baseline, and PVP is kind of fun but definitely not where it needs to be for the game vision to come together. The current PvP system is a test implementation and will be radically different moving forward. Overall, this part of the game will remain an ongoing priority for the foreseeable future."
The team admits that it's a challenge due partly because of its action oriented combat style. The team also highlights the fact that while combat needs to work on an individual level with a high skill ceiling, satisfying gear and skill progression, it also needs to be balanced and work in group settings thanks Pax Dei's nature as an MMO.
The team is adding to the system with more weapons, armor, spells and more in the coming weeks and months during Pax Dei's Early Access period.
However, the civilization aspect of Pax Dei is likely going to be the hardest pillar to implement, as it means the team has to create systems that players naturally gravitate towards and build the social fabric that keeps the world of Pax Dei alive.
"Our goal is to eventually offer a choice of roles and systems, allowing a rich social fabric to emerge in all the shards. All of it will be player-controlled and structured so that you can participate in the political intrigue or warfare as much (or as little) as you want. Ultimately, players will be able to create social structures above and or across the clans and go to war… or have eternal peace if they choose so."
This comes in the form of building more robust clans (guilds), installing the tools to build a thriving player-run economy, as well as creating organic, compelling roles players can find themselves in, from humble farmers to feared soldiers.
Pax Dei enters Early Access tomorrow, bringing the medieval social MMO to PC via its own launcher and Steam.
