Last week, the Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen team took to the MMORPG.com pages to reveal the game’s mana climate in an exclusive developer diary. Along the way, more than a few questions came up from the community. After looking over the questions, the Pantheon devs chose ten to answer today to provide more clarity and information about mana climate.
MMORPG: So it kind of sounded like every class will have some type of "mana affinity" or is it purely "magic classes"?
Chris Perkins: It is not the classes that have the mana affinity, but the spells/abilities themselves. A Wizard's fireball spell might have a red mana affinity, while a Cleric's healing spell may have a white mana affinity. These are not official examples, btw!
MMORPG: Will we be able to carry several relics, so e.g. I can carry a red, blue and green? If so how many max are you thinking?
Chris: Currently, the plan is to allow players to carry one Relic of each color, equipped or in inventory, at any given time.
MMORPG: How will relics be acquired?
Chris: In general, Relics will be somewhat rare. Basic Relics will be generally obtainable through adventuring and questing, but the more powerful Relics will be obtainable only through very challenging group and raid content, highly skilled and specialized crafters, and via certain epic-type quests.
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MMORPG: How many mana affinities (i.e. colors) are you guys thinking initially?
Chris: Currently 8, but this is subject to change.
MMORPG: Will/are there plans to utilise said system in a tiered way? [solo, group, raid, different relics for different purposes]? If a uniform "enter and receive", how are you planning to compensate in terms of balance considering all the classes we'll have?
Chris: Relics can be highly situational, they will not always be a simple fill-and-go mechanic. Mana Climates can be found anywhere throughout Terminus. Some can be very large, even zone-wide. Others can be comparatively tiny, like the heat from a magical flame, or an aura surrounding an enemy. Certain group and raid bosses will be able to conjure Mana Climates at will, drastically changing the environment and strategy of the fight. Without giving away too many details yet, all of these examples (and there are many more) call for preparation and strategic use of different Relics at different times, sometimes for survival, sometimes for solving mysteries, sometimes for crafting or enhancing items, and many more layers players will be able to discover.
MMORPG: Will/are there plans to expand this for non-combat solutions/quests? Events or actions one can perform while affected by a climate that are NOT combat-centric?
Chris: Absolutely. Some of this was mentioned above, but crafting, for example, will have ample interaction points with the Mana Climate and Relic system. Another example would be in the way Mana Climates intersect our Atmosphere System. In Pantheon, Atmospheres are basically Mana Climates that have become unstable. This often results in negative and dangerous effects on players, but beneficial Atmospheres can form as well.
MMORPG: What exactly is your thinking in terms of relic safekeeping? Will we end up with 5,7,19 relics in the inventory bags? If not, how and why?
Chris: Only one Relic of a specific color can be carried on your player at a time, whether equipped or in inventory. Multiple Relics of the same color can be stored in banks, but there will be incentives for players to use their old Relics, at times as a means of gaining more powerful ones.
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MMORPG: Will the colored mana have any effect on a summoners pet/item summons? The summoner description says "Fantastic creatures of incredible strength", will they become Fantastic creatures of incredible strength +1?
Chris: Great question and we're excited to answer this one, but too early to share specifics. The shortest, safest answer right now is: yes.
MMORPG: Can we craft colored mana potions?
Chris: Can't share too many details on this yet, but there will likely be a way for players with a certain set of skills to extract the mana from a Relic to use for other purposes, like alchemy, potions/elixirs, etc. This extracted mana could be bottled and sold to other players as well - the rarer and more difficult the mana is to find and extract, the more valuable it will be in this form.
MMORPG: Are there any abilities or consumables to change mana climate?
Chris: Certain classes will have what we call "encounter control" abilities, which include abilities that can conjure or manipulate Mana Climates and Atmospheres.
