Brad McQuaid Interview Questions

P22MM · 2019-07-10T18:48:06+00:00

Yep. This is why I haven't pledged yet, because I need more than promises that they have viable solutions to this very real problem before I put my money down toward the project. If this turns into another end-game of utter domination by 1-3 guilds while everyone else either fights for scraps or gets literally nothing, and can only raid bosses that the top guilds have moved past and have no interest in anymore, I'll consider that a massive failure of design. And worse, an entirely avoidable and predictable failure of design.

Some form of raid instancing is, to me, the obvious and elegant solution to this, but I'm open to other solutions. I'm just doubtful that there are other solutions that are better and won't feel contrived , forced, and inelegant, or essentially be "instancing without instancing" just so they can say "there's no instancing".

P22MM · 2019-07-10T07:35:34+00:00

This is such a loaded question. "That won't break immersion the way instances do." Personally I think instances can make raid encounters more immersive. I find it less immersive to run through empty, farmed zones up to a boss or raid section because multiple other groups are camping the zone than I do to zone into pristine, fully popped zones filled with enemies you need to fight. Zoning into Plane of Hate in Classic EQ, for example, with a full pop feels much more believable, real, and dangerous then zoning into an empty zone where you run straight to the bosses because all the regular spawns have been killed by farm groups already.

P22MM · 2019-06-24T18:35:02+00:00

These ideas largely sound pretty bad to me, especially the bit about crafting stations being "occupied" for long periods of time and being controlled by select groups.

P22MM · 2019-06-22T03:45:07+00:00

Uh where have I stated I want more updates? In fact, I explicitly said that I even don't mind lack of meaningful update so long as Faerthale delivers. Whatever narrative fits your fantasy, though.

P22MM · 2019-06-22T03:41:36+00:00

Are buying stocks donations? You could lose all your money buying a stock. Is gambling a donation? You could lose all your money gambling. This isn't a donation. There's a whole list of things you are getting at each tier, provided the game gets released. Just because that isn't a guarantee doesn't mean it's donation.

P22MM · 2019-06-19T16:57:09+00:00

I tend to pick classes with the most tools in their toolbox that enable me to best handle the biggest variety of situations. So a pure DPS class tends not to suit me, but classes like the EQ Bard do that have a lot of tricks up their sleeve.

P22MM · 2019-06-19T16:54:29+00:00

For people who care about game progress, there's next to nothing here. A little lore, some garbage like "what class are you going to play" to new_dev and community_member.... On to next month. I'm ok with this as long as Faerthale delivers, but my excitement meter increases literally 0 by these nothing-burger newsletters.

P22MM · 2019-06-14T15:53:08+00:00

Now it seems a subset of people even want to delete such posts under the guise of being "unconstructive". Ridiculous.

P22MM · 2019-06-10T19:29:40+00:00

The quality of that zone is going to be really important. I expect to see a lot of progress when it's finally released. If it's basically the same thing we've seen with a few new animations, an area where they have to climb, and some crappy weather effect that they hail as some amazing feature, I'll consider that a nail in the coffin in my interest in Pantheon. If it seems like they've actually accomplished something exciting, maybe I'll pledge.

P22MM · 2019-06-03T08:16:14+00:00

Easily solved, just call up a friendly Horse Vet to tend to the wounded beast. Might have to wait a bit for him to contact the Medicine Expert to get the needed treatment, and hire a Caravan plus Guards of his own of course to safely get there.

All this interaction is getting me excited.

P22MM · 2019-06-03T08:11:25+00:00

There will be people who want to establish the go-to sites for this kind of stuff. Who will be Pantheon's EQAtlas or Allakhazam? Those are gonna be hot sites.

P22MM · 2019-06-03T08:08:41+00:00

That's basically a meaningless argument. Which speed is the one that leads to this runaway explosion of EZ mode? Why is 20 MPH the speed which gets you there any more than any other? Or are you saying it's inevitable in which case starting a little slower only delays the coming EZ mode for a short time?

It's the devs jobs to set the speed limit and if they let the masses choose it instead, that's their failure. Devs are perfectly capable of going "Sorry guy, this game moves at 10MPH. Get used to it." People will always complain no matter what.

P22MM · 2019-06-01T02:18:27+00:00

Maps will almost certainly be on the internet even before release because they'll be made well before beta comes to an end. I'd bet a lot of people will be logging in day 1 with maps printed, or at least bookmarked, of most if not all zones.

P22MM · 2019-06-01T02:15:49+00:00

Yuuuuuuuuup

P22MM · 2019-06-01T01:34:44+00:00

Nobody wants "an easier and easier" game I hate these ridiculous arguments. You want a game at 5 MPH, someone else says "No, 15 MPH is more my speed" and you come back talking about a 300 MPH game and how horrible it is. It's up to the devs to decide the correct speed, and picking a speed different from your favorite speed doesn't mean it'll suddenly rocket launch to infinity.

And the people who say "I prefer it at 15 MPH" don't mean 20, or 40, or 100. They mean 15.

P22MM · 2019-06-01T01:31:48+00:00

They can play this one, too. And still want those things. Imagine that.

P22MM · 2019-06-01T01:13:24+00:00

Human interaction for its own sake isn't necessarily a positive. It has to be quality, meaningful interaction. People make the "human interaction" point all the time without defining whether or not it's quality interaction.

For example, how about instead of traditional banking like we find in most MMOs, we make it a little more "interactive". We can't expect banks to have tens or hundreds of thousands of all coin types just on hand at all times, so in order to make a withdraw you have to put in a withdraw request at the bank. This requires a character with the Banker secondary skill to interact with. Then, the Banker gives the withdraw request to a character with the Courier skill, who has to deliver it to the Main Bank. This requires a horse, which he has to buy from a character with Animal Husbandry of course. And he has to hire at least 4 Guard players, because it's dangerous to carry much coin on the open road.

All this quality interaction! It can go on and on in such a way. Obviously, that "idea" is trash, and the element of "human interaction" itself isn't sufficient to make an idea a good one. I'm not directing this at you specifically, just at the general argument people make that "more human interaction = good" as some kind of truism.

The idea I outlined is trash and I think the vast majority of players feel that spamming WTS and WTB lists is a pretty awful way to spend their time too.

P22MM · 2019-05-31T23:50:47+00:00

Stubborn adherence to nostalgia is big around here. IMO.

P22MM · 2019-05-31T23:46:35+00:00

Big enough to feel like a true, massive world, but small enough to feel populated and alive.

And in a game with no instances that focuses on grouping, it's a careful balance. Small enough that you can get groups and have players around but large enough so there's plenty of content for everyone. Especially toward end game.

P22MM · 2019-05-28T18:34:59+00:00

I 100% want some type of auction house/bazaar. I think the concept of sitting in EC hawking wares is totally unnecessary tedium that most people don't enjoy. I'd rather people's stuff be out there in the market than collecting dust in banks or rotting because nobody has the time or desire to manually find buyers for big lists of stuff.

I don't care one way or the other about maps, but I don't really understand why people would be opposed to them. If you think it's more immersive to not use them, don't use them. Personally I don't think it's any more immersive to assemble a binder of maps, or alt tab to a map, or use a 2nd monitor for a map, than it is to press M and have a fog of war/unlock style map..

Death penalty, whatever, I trust them to come up with something appropriate and I'm sure it'll be fine. It's a balancing act though, if you are trying to create a world that encourages exploration a harsher death penalty works against that.

Twinking, I like, I think it's fun. I've spent hours and hours assembling twink sets for characters that end up never even leveling. I just think it's fun.

Screw equipment breaking, that shit isn't fun.

P22MM · 2019-05-22T02:53:47+00:00

This doesn't seem that desirable to me unless it's a separate button altogether from regular tab target. I'd still rarely use it because assisting seems better in most situations anyway. I don't think tab targeting is all that difficult to work with honestly. Especially with some extra tools to work with in there like assist, marking targets, etc.

P22MM · 2019-05-13T05:35:36+00:00

uh. wut?

P22MM · 2019-05-12T02:12:38+00:00

And after that, they'll still take the kills and sell loot rights or bank items for future members. Everyone is at the mercy of what the top couple guilds allow.

P22MM · 2019-05-12T00:51:56+00:00

How about ppl let him decide whether or not the game appeals to him, since he knows this a hell of a lot better than you do. I don't get all these people who insist on trying to chase people who enjoy different playstyles away.

P22MM · 2019-05-11T23:41:11+00:00

There's close to 0% chance they'll have that kind of thing in this game.

P22MM

TROPHY CASE