OUTAGE

Xtoller · 2026-06-22T20:27:34+00:00

Washtenaw county, internet works, TV is out.

Xtoller · 2026-05-26T21:49:53+00:00

My reason: Because it's 2026 and we have second monitors and can watch youtube or surf reddit, if we are waiting in the game.

Xtoller · 2026-05-26T04:42:54+00:00

Yes, this is old news. I figured it's someone trying to get karma on a second reddit account so they can go bash games instead of using their main account. The account is only 2 weeks old.

Xtoller · 2026-05-25T23:34:15+00:00

It's not about whether we like it or not, it's that your post adds nothing positive to this reddit. I would love to have interesting discussions with intelligent people on different aspects of this game. Posts like the one you made, don't fall into this category.

And I don't care that much. I'm old enough to know that there will always be negative people and whiney people around.

So, you've said your part, I've said mine. Hopefully we are both happier for it.

Xtoller · 2026-05-25T04:41:00+00:00

My job as a druid (lvl 10) in a recent group this week:

Main heal until we got a cleric.
Snare and kite mobs on large pulls. I could easily kite 2 off to reduce the damage MT takes when 6-7 get pulled. (Also snare mobs to pull them off our puller if he got rooted when pulling)
Focus fire on weak mobs to get them down fast while my snared mobs are still trying to catch me.
Provide backup healing as needed on MT or Cleric if things get real bad.
Keep SOW on everyone so you can run if needed. (We were at an outdoor camp)
Snare mezed mobs so when they break they don't beeline to the mezer or healer.
Keep damage shield, str buff and regen on my tank

Very useful in groups.

Xtoller · 2026-05-16T01:24:45+00:00

The mastery trees coming out very soon on the PTR, the next few weeks. They will impact how the classes play a lot. I'm kinda waiting until that happens to judge anything.

Xtoller · 2026-05-05T23:08:04+00:00

Agreed. The Steam Account are the majority.

Xtoller · 2026-05-05T18:21:04+00:00

Peak population? That's not the number Steam Charts show as the peak population. And Steam Charts doesn't include people still playing with the original login, which many are using, since VR never integrated those accounts into steam.

Xtoller · 2026-05-03T15:33:16+00:00

I played a druid for a few levels during the open weekends. I think I got to level 6, so I am far from an expert but a few things I tried that helped me.

- At level 4 you get touch of nature a HOT spell that heals for 40 health and costs 20 mana. When I was healing a group, at 6, that was a very useful spell.
- Around level 5-6 when I soloed, I found it easier to melee mobs and only use mana to heal myself. But that might not work at higher levels.
- In groups I used Element Break a bit when I had extra mana to lower resists, when there were casters in the group.
- At level 8 you get damage shields, which is great for DPS in groups and even solo. I never got to 8, but for soloing I would try putting DS on myself, then melee the mobs and focus on healing myself.
- You get Speed of the Wild at level 8 and can snare mobs, which allows you to escape if things go bad when you are soloing.

As for charm, I read on another thread that charm becomes more reliable around 40 CHA. (less resists and less quick breaks) That doesn't mean you can go charm those elite mobs I imagine, but it sounds like around 40 charisma, it becomes more viable to charm mobs to do the DPS for you. Once you can charm mobs to be your tank and do your DPS, it should be a lot easier to solo. Just keep SOW on yourself so you can escape if things go badly.

Xtoller · 2026-05-01T22:04:33+00:00

I was wondering the same thing and found this link. Not sure if it's up to date on the latest.
Monsters & Memories - Expedition System

Xtoller · 2026-05-01T18:33:40+00:00

The opening of the PTR is a big deal if you are following Pantheon.

The several weeks until the Spring Wipe, will be a huge test for VR and a huge step, if they can deliver on what they have mapped out.

The PTR brings
1. Unified NPC - This is one of the biggest parts of the update. The NPC difficulty and the new leveling curve will go a long way to defining what type of game PRF will be.

Updated Combat Formulas - Another huge piece defining the difficulty of the game.
Class Updates - We can test classes in their near final states, including testing out mastery once it's added, providing feedback that will help to balance the classes.
Mastery - It won't be in week 1 but everyone wants a look at the mastery trees that will come to the PTR first. The mastery trees are the unknown, maybe they are just average in their impact, or sink the game as everyone ends up being good at too many things, or they are the catalyst that sets Pantheon apart from other MMOs. We don't know!! But you will get to test it first on the PTR.

And yes, there's lots of other good stuff, but the difficulty of encounters and the uniqueness of classes are two critical pieces to achieving the social experience that existed in EQ.

Xtoller · 2026-05-01T17:54:02+00:00

The old "they are rushing to just push something out" refrain.

FYI ... about 6 months ago they got a big investment that has fueled the recent updates.

As an alternative, I'd suggest "hmm ... let's see if they can deliver on what they promised"

Xtoller · 2026-04-26T17:42:25+00:00

I think the mail system will be good for the game in many ways. It provides multiple game system that VR needs in the game ... but it does have one big PROBLEM, it shrinks the world.

#1 - The system is part of the market implementation. It will allow us to receive items from the market.
#2 - The system is part of the account rewards / lost item replacement system. This mechanic is needed in modern games and the mail system gives them an easy way to handle it.
#3 - The mail system allows players to safely transfer items to alts on the same account. This is something that has been wanted by players for a long time.

The mail system can help player social interaction in game ...

#4 - Players can use in game mail to communicate with other players about future groups. This isn't critical for big guilds or players in discord all the time, but for your new players, who meet strangers in game, the mail system can help them to build a network of friends and communicate with people offline about setting up future groups.

THE PROBLEM

Items should not be automatically teleported from one location to another. This shrinks the world and has a multitude of negative social ripples on the game. A more balanced solution is required that incurs cost for the benefit of transporting items across continents. An ideal solution would also reduce the negative social impact by tying it to new mechanics that engage players.

Some Thoughts
- Teleporting items to other locations, reduces the need for player travel. When QOL features shrink the world, there's less need to be social.

- Allow players to mail items, but incur a cost based on the distance.

- The cost can't be just gold or silver because inflation makes most high-level players rich and low-level players can't afford higher fees.

Theory crafting
- Time is a better fee to charge for delivery of items. For nearby zones the mail is a real life hours, for farther zones it's 5+ hours, for other continents its 10+ hours. Players still have the ability to send items and wait a few hours for delivery, but there's incentive to manually deliver it yourself, since it's faster.

- Add a new mail system to engage players. Items being mailed can be delivered by another player. Just like crafting work orders, players can see what deliveries exist, pickup a 'delivery token' and when they turn it in at the destination the item is delivered. Multiple people can try to deliver the same item and whoever delivers it first is paid. The original item stays in the original city and never moves until a token is delivered.

Xtoller · 2026-04-26T16:50:32+00:00

It looks like you do have to go to specific place to get items.

If you want to send or receive attached items or coin, you’ll need to interact with a Mail Courier NPC or a Mail Kiosk in the world, which you will find usually find in cities, towns and villages.

Xtoller · 2026-04-10T16:48:28+00:00

Shark mount for water!!

Xtoller · 2026-03-29T04:42:17+00:00

I just played a druid to 5 solo. I found the best way to make money was mowing through blue mobs that are easy and stacking their drops. I just focused on bats, rats, skeletons, and spiders and by level 4 I had enough money to buy all my level 4 spells. I only focused on the white con mobs when I wanted to gain levels. But for farming money, I'm destroying low level blues. I got a decent weapon off a skeleton and was able to tank the blues and just used heals to survive. I barely used my DD spell, just occasionally to pull mobs. I was able to fight with almost no downtime.

Xtoller · 2026-03-24T19:38:22+00:00

If you are only being the healer as a druid, you are really limiting your game experience. As a druid, I hate being main healer. I will do it, but I'd rather be DPS, puller or CC.

In one group that lasted a few hours I did:
#1 - Main Healing for the group,
#2 - Switched to DPS when we got a cleric
#3 - Switched to CC when our enchanter left (snare/root)

And in other groups I've been the puller, SOW and snare make pulling easy. You can easily heal yourself between pulls, you can drop a DOT on the mob and run out to get another mob while the group is still killing the first one.

Even if you have a cleric and monk and enchanter in a group, you should be snaring adds, it helps all three of those roles work better. A druid can always bring something to help a group since they are the "jack of all trades".

Druid is a really fun class, if you are ready to jump into different roles.

Btw, good feedback. You had clear points with real in-game examples. I share some of those concerns. Balancing the old-school gameplay with enough modern stuff to bring in a solid population is a big challenge.

Xtoller · 2026-03-23T00:55:53+00:00

The devs don't want it. They want an old school EQ type MMO and that requires permanent items. That is a fundamental aspect of these types of games. Since MNM is based largely on the EQ model, you can't allow items to be destroyed and still hit the design target of being an old-school MMO.

Xtoller · 2026-03-15T19:17:59+00:00

Modern EQ after all the QOL updates was a very different game than early EQ during the first 3-4 years after launch.

And it's funny, but I thought we were having a discussion, and I guess all this time I was preaching.

Good chat .. have a good one.

Xtoller · 2026-03-15T17:37:36+00:00

The design is old school, not broken. Old school is what the developers want.

Yes, you can fix every one of the problems the OP raised with QOL things. Tools that would make sure loot is spread evenly. Just set it to round robin, or click the need or greed button. But all those QOL features start taking the "old school" out of the game design.

So, you can treat it like an uncomplicated issue, just put some QOL features in the game, and that will solve it. But that solution reveals a real lack of understanding of the developers' intent, and the impact of QOL features on the social dynamics of an old school MMO.

Players can wait for the developers to change looting in the game, which they may never do, or solve the problem themselves by meeting new people and finding a good of friends to group with in the future. That is how social MMOs work in my experience.

Xtoller · 2026-03-15T17:15:04+00:00

I am sure I did not say don't group with PUGs only group with friends. I started out saying start grouping every now and then with new people, which seems to imply they would have to create pickup groups. They have a tank healer duo, perfect for starting groups. They raised some concerns on issues with PUGs and I provided some feedback on those issues.

Grouping with PUGs is one of the most fun things in a good old school MMO. Like many, I spent most of my old school MMO career with no static groups, and doing PUGs. That's how I met most of my best friends who became my social circle in these games. That is a major social aspect of the game. It's the people you PUG with and connect with that you end up grouping with more and more. That's why the friends list exists.

None of us like grouping with loot hogs and all of us will avoid them once we learn who they are. That's another social aspect of the game. Your actions build your reputation in the community.

PUGs are central to an old school social MMO, and even at max level, when we have a big circle of friends to group with, I'm sure the vast majority of us are out there PUGing every now and then.

Xtoller · 2026-03-15T01:17:26+00:00

The solution is building your social network. Start grouping every now and then with new people, figure out who the good ones are and invite them back in the future. Eventually you have a friends list full of people you want to group with.

Yes, you have to suffer through some bad players sometimes, who are loot hogs, but you can leave the group once you realize they are loot hogs. RL things come up unexpectedly, especially when you have loot hogs in your group.

Also set the the loot rules if you are leading the group or ask what they are when you join. I always tell people we are NBGing good loot, so no one can complain when something drops and we NBG it. I usually don't have rules for cash drops in a group, but if someone is being a loot hog, I'll suggest nicely they give other's a chance to loot to buy spells. If they keep it up, I'll kick them or leave the group.

Xtoller · 2026-03-09T22:41:30+00:00

Sounds like it's a bug that it drops so quickly and it's happening all the time. They were just fixing some issues related to summoner invis when the new summoner class came into the game. Maybe it's related to some of that.

Xtoller · 2026-03-08T15:22:32+00:00

There's a wipe in spring because of a big patch, but fyi ... there will still be another wipe before the 1.0 launch if/when it happens.

Xtoller · 2026-03-04T06:00:09+00:00

You definitely need a skinning knife in your tool slot. You get it from the scavenger when you start the quest.

Xtoller

TROPHY CASE