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I really like the Pathfinder art style. Good work making it come alive guys! Would be amazing to get a demonstration of how it actually feels to play the game (animations from a player point of view) next.

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Hey guys.

I am just here to voice the need for dense forests, fog and dark nights. Traveling or fighting under such conditions should be different than on sunny days. When watching the tech demo i realized how dull the world would be if it always looked like that. I haven't had much experiences with such things in mmos, except somewhat from the recent The Secret World, but i heard stories about dark nights in EQ for example. How would you like this to be implemented in PFO?

I like the idea of food / drink having an important role in the daily life. It adds another dimension to the game imo. Either putting food in your backpack before adventuring, or rely on your survival skills like fishing or hunting.

I would like to see food / drink being used to restore Hit Points between fights. So normally it would maybe take 30 seconds for your Hit Points to restore from 10% to 100%, but with food / drink it would maybe take 10 seconds.

There could also be some buff depending on what food / drink you use. Food needed to be prepared over fire could give a long term major buff, so setting up campfires once in a while is a good idea.

Interrupting supply chains under siege sounds really intriguing, but may be hard to implement. The same goes for poisoning the water supply for an enemy settlement as sabotage (this would have a major impact on the common folk that are harvesting for that settlement). Thieves poisoning the food people are carrying around on them (using pickpocketing skill).

It's gonna be interesting how much salvaging will be used and how much of an impact it will have on the economy. I can picture looted weapon/armor being salvaged right away in the field, to avoid encumbrance.

Hoplite style would be awesome, not something i am expecting tho. Maybe even shield + throwing spear...? Ahh wet dreams. But doubtful.

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Hello guys.

Can we have spears in the game? With suitable animations, not using it as a slashing weapon (then we're talking halberds maybe).

I like spears.

MJ has been following PFO blogs and looking towards it when it comes to funding and interaction with the community at least.

Hard to decide. So many options. First i want to learn how to move silently and fast in the land. Gain knowledge about monsters and players. Use this knowledge to smuggle valuable wares ''under the radar'' for other players. Then i want to gain some fighting power, probably using leather armor and a spear. Also want to specialize into a gathering profession, be it herbalism, skinning or something else that benefits from my knowledge of the wilds. Lastly i want to be able to make good deals as a trader, since i already will be smuggling other wares around the world. Probably some sort of Ranger.

I dont mind seeing lower numbers in combat calculations, but you can hardly compare combat in a single player game and a mmorpg. In a mmorpg players will go to lengths to figure out the best possible way to build your character to be better than other players, while in single player games you only have yourself vs Environment to worry about. I think this might be why so much mathematics have been put into combat calculations.

Isn't there a possible 22 buttons to use?

3 weapons each with 6 feats = 18

And then you have the refresher skills = 4

]Okay, so a guy spends four years of gaming to be highly flexible. What's wrong with that? After four years, I'd be shocked if the most advanced players hadn't invested in being ready for anything. Four years is a long time.

Meh i've played the same games for 10 years on and off because of it's gameplay. A part of the reason why i am looking forward to this game is that there are so many different roles you can pursue, making you a highly specialized and unique being in the world. I was hoping this would also translate to combat. That you can't fill every role at the same time. That you can't be ''ready for anything''. If everyone are ready for anything, then everyone is equal and that makes for some pretty stale combat.

Hopefully the thread system and maintenance of weapons will stop people from being every card in the deck, from being the rock, the paper and the scissor.

A medieval knight typically had access to a Sword, a Mace or Pick/Hammer, and a Dagger and would switch between them as needed. Having multiple weapons is desired, but it makes training which weapon set a real choice.

If you have a Sword, a Dagger, and a Mace then you will need to train pretty deep into each tree to take advantage of all the different keywords each will have. If you are fighting someone who is vurnable to bludgeoning damage, but you spent all your training on Swords, you may want to stay with swords so you can keep your sharp, bleeding, keen, and overwhelming keywords, because you can only use "Bludgeoning" from the mace tree. If you spend equal training on all of them, you can have more flexibility, but you wont be able to use the best keywords of any of your weapons.

I was never a big fan of putting real life into gaming systems for the sake of real life.

And yes it would be a while into the game before something like i described could happen. A 100% fighter with 3 weapon specializations = 4 years? But then again i am here for the long haul, and rather plan for it now rather than wait and see what happens.

Glad to see they are going with slashing, piercing & bludgeoning that can set up for a rock, paper, scissor type gameplay. It makes people have strenghts / weaknesses, it's up to you to take advantage over them --> skilled and experienced players has an advantage.

Now i have a simple question, will you be able to swap between your 3 weapon types in combat? Because this would negate the whole rock, paper, scissor and making people generalists instead of specialists.

EDIT: This will be the case anyways, since you can just swap weapons when you see an opponent and just pick the weapon that counters his armor... yaaaawn. Please go away with 3 weapon system. People should pick 1 weapon before they go out hunting.

First of all i think it's pretty hard to balance single class vs multi class to the extent that all parties will be happy, so good luck with that devs.

I agree with Randomwalker tho, that capstones should be powerful class defining abilities that you want to get as fast as possible, and that you only should be able to use them if your build is of a single class.

That way you would want to level a single class as fast as possible.

I don't know how much multi classing will delay your progress in a single class (please inform me if you know). If there is a significant delay you really have a tough choice, do you want to delay getting that powerful capstone ability so you can get some more versatility now?

This way you might want to stick to a single class so you don't get delayed to the peak of your class.

I feel this is enough to balance capstones. A straight leveling path from 1-20 isn't really needed. Only single classes can use capstone abilities and a (significant) time delay to capstones if you multi class.

About the generalist vs specialist discussion, there is too much we don't know yet to say how it's gonna be in PFO. Personally i hope we can ''specialize into a few areas'' without loosing too much progression into the game. What i mean by that for instance is that i would like to be good at sneaking, scouting and skirmishing (small scale combat, mostly ranged, some melee). Others could be good at squad-fighting and mining production. Others could be good at Weapon AND armor crafting. Others at dungeon crawling and wood refining.

You will still be reliant on other players because there are way too many roles for you to even be close to fill yourself. But at the same time you have a couple of interesting fields to progress in. I think it's important to have more than ONLY ONE thing you should do while playing.

I feel that spending 2,5 years (!) in a game leveling a class should be worth a capstone, no matter what. Those who only level a single class will get it sooner than those who don't. That's their reward.

The idea is that they are meaningful, so not fluff, but not necessarily mechanical advantages. If they aren't meaningful in terms of gameplay, then they offer no incentive.

If they offer no mechanical advantages, aren't they fluff by definition?

Anyways, people love to have something special in a mmo, no matter if it's meaningful in terms of gameplay, if only to show off.

What i meant to say is that capstone abilities won't be more powerful than other abilities. Still they can be ''special and really cool''. More for showoff and for someone to feel special. I can't find that quote tho.

I think i read capstone abilities will mostly be fluff and nothing out of the ordinary, just to reward those players who are sticking with one class for 1.5(?) year.

I like your ideas about carrying capacity Andius.

There's nothing in the book that's a secret. :)

Start dishing out info folks! :D

Pathfinder Online: Prologue gets my vote

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Pathfinder Online: Raw Launch

Yeah... structured PvP may be borrowed from such games, but the combat itself is not, which i tried to say before.

For instance in Dota (a moba) combat is rather slow paced, you have only a few buttons to smash (usually 4 abilities and an attack), and you have to stand still while attacking and using abilities (not like in most mmos where you spin around in the air and do attacks on the fly). To play well you don't have to have good micro (finger dexterity) at all (at least not compared to most mmos with 10+ active abilities to use). But you have to know the game. You have to know the attack animations of your attack, so you can move properly between the attacks to play the most efficient. You have to know how to combine your skills properly with your team mates. You have to react to your enemies' positioning, movement, ability use etc.

It's normal to think mobas and other arena based games are so fast paced, but when you compare the combat system itself to many mmos they really are not.

Imo structured PvP has no place in an mmorpg. Mmorpgs should try make their worlds as believable as possible, and as part of that is open world PvP. Structured PvP with rewards ruins open world PvP, as proven by vanilla WoW. E-sports has nothing to do with mmorpgs if you ask me.

But i think mmorpgs has a lot to improve when it comes to combat itself compared to other genres (and no, don't make it more actiony or fast paced). Make it more tactical, in positioning, movement, attack, timing, cooperation and how you build your character.

Don't see any changes to this coming up any time soon tho.

A lot of the existing AAA titels put at least half an eye towards arena pro gamer fighting. And that means speed > all.

What games do you mean by ''arena pro gamer fighting''?

I like how this could help new players to catch up to longer played characters AND be a part of the community pretty fast, so they will be more likely to stay when they first try it.

Maybe it's just a pet peeve of mine...but movement pace in many of the MMO's I've played seemed unaturaly fast to me.

Totally agree man. Running and jumping around in circles (like its done in many mmos) is a big turn-off both when it comes to gameplay and visuals. The funny thing is games/genres that are considered more action based (mobas, fps etc) have less button smashing and slower combat, making for much ''cleaner'' gameplay.

I'll be OK if some sort of wardrobe system is not in the works for PFO from the get go

Yeah, especially since settlements and other natural social places won't be presented in 3D. When/if such 3D spaces are implemented it would be a nice addition tho.

Just have the monsters

1. Spawn on a random spot.

2. Get a higher chance of dropping equally good loot as the monsters around it, not better. Drop chance for a rare item to drop from a rare monster could equal drop chance from X monsters in the area. So killing a rare spawn would statistically give the same rare item as killing X normal monsters in the area. You would be thrilled if you met a rare spawn, but going only for that monster would not be as effective as killing only normal monsters.

3. Have some achievement tied to it. Killing X rare monsters could give you a title ''Y of the Hunt''. Killing all rare monsters in the game could give you the title Master of the Hunt for example. Of course this should be really, really hard to achieve. People love these kinds of things. It is a really cheap way to add a lot of downtime in themepark content, if GW wishes to extent that part of the game.

Of course these ideas doesn't really ''maximize human interaction''. But it adds variation in the daily life. If you are grinding monsters for something you need (which we probably will be doing in this game), suddenly seeing a cool rare monster sure breaks up the pace. It could give the profession ''Hunter'' additional things to do.

On a second note, i would love to see a second gear tab for social clothing, and that those cloths don't drop on death. Of course they wouldn't give any bonuses.

When it comes to body sliders, i would love to have it, but i think a lot of games are not implementing them because of performance issues. I think it's easier to render a lot of characters that has the same pre-made shape, than everyone having different shapes. Maybe it depends on the engine, or i could be wrong :)

Having diversity in face appearance and body shape really helps immersion. Usually tho i am fine with lesser focus on character customization if there are many ways to dress your avatar.

Crafted gear should be somewhat customizable in color/shape, but loot found in dungeons should not imo. This would only give power to the crafters and make them more viable. Then again really rare artifacts could come in a color/shape that can't be crafted. If a player finds such a rare artifact he could get some crafted gear to match it visually. I agree with Frosthammer that there should be a limit to how your item can look (rapier not looking like a broadsword etc.), but armor should have a broad selection of colors/shapes.

Of course the flaws of it were, the fact that it allowed you to pretty much rapid switch armor mid combat asuming you were using cloth etc

Corpse looting will probably stop people from carrying several sets of equipment.

I hope there will be a lot of different ''stats'' available on items so everyone don't go around with the same gear. What gear you want depends on your build/role. I also hope that each gear piece should only have 1 or 2 different stats on them (except for armor/weapon damage) and that they are dependent on where that item is on the body (like your examples).

Boots could come with run speed bonus OR resistance vs CC OR run speed bonus only in woods OR Resistance vs traps OR sneak bonus etc.

I think there are a lot of different ways to make itemization much more interesting compared to other mmorpgs. Usually balance and the nature of themepark mmorpgs make itemization a dull experience. Everyone are competing against the same monsters and everyone should be able to do most things equally. Hopefully because of all the roles you can take in PfO itemization will support those roles.

Still hoping to see weapon range actually matter. A halberd should reach longer than a dagger. Few games add this, which i think is sad, because it can add depth to combat if executed properly.

Nice, I had forgotten it was that day again. Always good to hear we are being listened to. Was hoping to hear/see more of how the demo is going, but I guess a lot of things are being implemented in the near future.

Really hope you'll have the possibility to make a seamless world (aka WoW). I guess the only drawback is lag? Immersion and PvP maybe the two biggest benefits from a seamless world.

I wonder how open the hexes will be. I guess zoning would mean there would only be a few entrances/exits per hex, and a seamless world would let it be more open.

Maybe one zone could consist of several hexes, setting the stage for natural alliances or long and bloody feuds. Too many questions :p cant wait to see how it all turns out.

Also, I point to my other suggestion of having PvP zones instead of servers. Perhaps, closer to settled, civilized areas character-to-character PvP becomes discouraged/prohibited

This is more or less how it's gonna work.

EDIT: I suggest you go read the ''To Live and Die in the River Kingdoms'' chapter in the Blog

I am really not sure how the bounty system will work out. If you are rich it will be fine i guess. But if you are struggling saving up for something you want, get ganked and lose a lot of stuff, i dont know how eager you will be to pay a lot of gold for some random guy to die, setting you further back into the game. Just seems like a double loss to me.

What we will probably see is people banding together whenever they venture into dangerous territory. Hopefully this will make for some really good gameplay. Caravans, bandits, mercenaries , scouts, spies, alliances, wars etc.

The most important aspect of what GW is going for when it comes to PvE is how it affects you. Losing or decreasing the effectiveness of your resource camps and settlements means people will actually care about the Environment. It isn't a forever going cicle that doesn't bear any meaning to you or the world around you, like it seems to be in GW2.

I think they said it wouldn't take as long as your normal themepark mmo to be finished.

The closest thing to PvE dynamic events we might see in Pathfinder Online is how resource camps attract mobs and mob encampments growing out of control.

To be honest i think (and hope) they will be very different games. I haven't played GW2, but it seems to be purely themepark, while Pathfinder Online is going for sandbox with some themepark elements. What features exactly would you like to see in Pathfinder Online?

Depending on how skills work really. Really wanna do a ranger type character with emphasis on exploring, tracking and hiding. Waiting for the right time to strike. Go into some banditry. Make a deal with a master crafter to not be hitting his caravans, only his opponents, give him the loot and get some fine items.

Also like the idea of a adventurous gnome with a big crossbow. Jan comes to mind :)

While i certainly understand that the content you create should be experienced by as many people as possible (especially if you don't have a large budget), having random things in a game just enhances replayability if you ask me. It makes exploring more exciting if you don't really know what's around the next corner.

The random things doesn't have to give bonuses like overpowered items/resources. It could just be a bit different from your every day life in the game. It makes the world feel alive. So what if you didn't get to experience that dragon attacking that settlement on the other side of the world. You heard stories about it. It excites you that something like that might happen again. If nothing new is left to be experienced, i only see that as a reason to quit the game.

Edit: Winners/losers are only made if bonuses from encountering random things gives an ingame advantage imo.

You could just have rare spawns for the fun of discovering it when you explore. They don't have to carry special loot. Just make them really rare. And have them be of a unique model/color. People would tell stories about them. Like in real life where you have the yeti, aliens etc.

If these encounters are supposed to repeated hundreds/thousands of times each day, then they really aren't rare spawns anymore if you ask me.

But you could have monsters spawn to block/ambush trade routes, spread plague among population/resources. I like the idea of having some creature spawn that gives your area a bonus instead of being a threat. If these bonuses are high enough enemy nations could go into skirmishes to take it down, while the nation in ''possession'' of the bonus creature would have to defend it.

@Caedryan, it's important to keep in mind that this is not a required aspect of gameplay

As long as it stays this way i don't think there will be a problem. Some people will like it, some people won't, and that's fine. I just hope we won't be forced into it because it's the only way to defend our settlement which we spent so much resources on building.

Have I misinterpreted things or is that the way it's gonna go down?

Seems like that is the way it's gonna be yeah. I like that they want to give us many ways to specialize our characters, but i didn't really like the sound of how we have to ''perform''. It might look good, serve for good RP and be an interesting way to build a character, but if it turns out to be no fun (for most people under testing) i hope they think twice about it (iteration is a high-budget mmo luxury maybe).

I already sense that so much is already set in stone, i thought experienced devs know that things DO change during development. But i like their overall goal; players being dependent on others to survive.

It seems there could be other ways to make mass combat more interesting than the usual zergs you see, without forcing people to perform guitar hero sequences, which might sound monotonous to some.

• You could have leadership skills that give you access to group wide buffs. The ''tighter'' the group is the more effective the buff is. These buffs could be both general and specialized and swapped on the spot depending on the situation. If you have a mix of characters attacking a position, put on a general, but weaker, + attack buff. If you are retreating put on a + movement speed buff. If you are leading a group of archers put on a specialized, but stronger, + ranged attack buff. If you are defending vs a group of wizards put on a magic resistance buff etc. Good general would have a wide selection of buffs to use, more effective buffs and would have to know when to use which
• Generals could also have access to target or area marks that gives members of their squad bonuses vs those targets/areas
• Have collision detection. Heavy armor in the front defending the archers in the rear etc.
• Have terrain and line of sight play a vital part in strategy.

If most people like your original plan when you test it, go for it! I would love to see soldiering as a career to pursue along side adventurer, bandit, crafter etc. The more roles the better. But if it turns out to be merely a gimmick, for the sake of looking good, but offering poor gameplay, please change it so the soldiers enjoy soldiering.

IF rare spawns like dragons and other big monsters make it into the game, i hope they spawn very rarely, talking about months in between, and have a impact on the game world after they are dead. Be it like a resource, a place where minions of the fallen monsters spawn from, a place to get a buff, or just a landmark. Many options there.

IMO rare Super monsters. Things that literally take huge armies to take down. Dragons beasts etc... that roll over cities and if not dealt with quickly leave a wreckage of rubble in their path. Settlements should actually be encoraged to beg for outside settlements to help to deal with the threat quickly, rather than want horde the kill for themselves.

Upon destruction, instead of dying, they could become a harvesting site for a more or less unique material. Say dragon scales, special leathers etc... It should be enough to more than repay everyone who participated and hopefully they had negotiated a reasonable share of the bounty before agreeing to go and fight this thing.

I like what this guy is saying. Maybe have it spawning at a place fairly far away from the closest settlement and have it taking a few days to reach it, so people are able to gather up and take it down. Scouts being vital. These should be unique mobs and not respawning ever again. Make for epic battle that will be remembered and talked about. New players hearing stories of the epic battles.

You could also have rare mobs in the wilderness that spawns at random points. They could drop rare loot, and be targets for scouts. Of course you would need a small party to take them down so you would have to call your friends for it.

You gotta rethink how you play mmos before you start off in Pathfinder Online (if you are not used to this kind of games). You can't run around solo grinding mobs without a care in the world. Find yourself a group of nice guys to hang out with, go on adventures, hunt bandits, or just defend your territory.

Really like the artwork. Keep up the good work!

Personally i hope they don't do any mounted combat at launch, and rather spend resources on other parts of the game. I feel it takes quite a lot to make mounted combat perfect in visual and balance, and i don't want to see some half-assed attempt on it.