Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen News

[h3]Important[/h3][p]The Wizard class has received a major revision. Many of the old wizard spells have been deactivated and replaced with new versions. If you play a wizard, you will need to visit a trainer NPC and repurchase most of your spells. The spell prices for new wizard spells have been temporarily set extremely low to help make this easier for players. We hope that our wizard players will enjoy the new and improved magical power at their disposal.
[/p][h3]Server Merges[/h3][p]Our community has raised valid concerns that it has been difficult to find groups in some level ranges on some servers. As more and more players return to the game, we have opted to make grouping options more available by combining some servers.[/p][p]Veil of Azeris and Blackmoon will be merging into Stormona. Ossari and Bakamel will be merging into Havensong. No level 1 characters will be moved.[/p][p]A server merge means duplicate names. Duplicate character names will be appended with either a number or an X (or multiple x’s depending on how many of that character name exist).[/p][p]The good news is each character can be renamed once using the new /rename command. Simply type /rename followed by the new name. If the command fails due to a name already in use, it will not count as your single use allowance per character.[/p][p]If you run into any issues, please open a support ticket.

[/p][h3]World[/h3]

• [p] Local weather systems have been re-enchanted to stop chasing players across the map. [/p]
• [p] The Wildmound Cradle in the Silent Plains is now accessible for characters level 36 and higher. Adventurers who wish to explore this new area should proceed with caution. [/p]
• [p] A special high-level event has been enabled in Black Rose Keep. This event can occur randomly and has a higher chance to occur when more groups are actively adventuring in the zone. [/p]
• [p] Gnashura, the Uncounted Prince, may once again be confronted within his lair in Halnir Caves. The appropriate key will be needed to open the door to said lair, however, and obtaining that key may require several expeditions into the dungeon to unravel some of its secrets.
  [/p]

[h3]General[/h3]

• [p] Added support for being able to map the same key to different things in the key binds UI. [/p]
• [p] Added the "Auto Sprint" key bind, which by default is mapped to the LeftShift key and allows sprint to be toggled on/off by tapping the LeftShift key, in addition to being able to hold that key down to sprint as before. [/p]
• [p] Added a “Move Offscreen UI Windows Into View” button to the Settings → Other menu. It helps recover any panels that wandered offscreen without disturbing your carefully arranged layout. [/p]
• [p] Corrected an issue that would sometimes cause spell effects to not display in the intended position on a target. [/p]
• [p] Fixed a bug in character creation that left the UI in a bad state after cancelling. [/p]
• [p] Most wraith NPCs now count as undead for the purposes of spells and abilities that target the undead. [/p]
• [p] Current weight will now be displayed in red text when the player is encumbered (carrying more than their max carry weight). [/p]
• [p] Macros now have a limit of 50 lines. [/p]
• [p] Added more hair styles for halflings. [/p]
• [p] Added the /rename command that allows players to rename their character by typing /rename followed by the new name. Please note that you can only rename your character once. If the command fails, it does not count as your single use allowance per character.
  [/p]

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• [p] Fixed a crash related to unsupported ASCII characters in chat. [/p]
• [p] Fixed several issues with climbing and hanging systems. [/p]
• [p] Fixed a bug causing /who filters to be ignored, filtering now behaves as intended. [/p]
• [p] Fixed a social menu bug that caused the LFG tab to open after refreshing the Who tab. [/p]
• [p] Fix a visibility bug that allowed nameplates to show through terrain and structures. [/p]
• [p] Fixed a bug that would cause the player to get stuck in an evading state in Halnir Cave. [/p]
• [p] Fixed a bug where pets would not receive group buffs unless targeted. [/p]
• [p] Fixed a bug where pets would stop responding after they kill an NPC. [/p]
• [p] Fixed a bug that caused player stuck on uneven terrain when having high ping. [/p]
• [p] Fixed a bug where merchants would refuse to provide service to players due to slightly negative reputation. [/p]
• [p] Fixed an issue where you could sometimes see a character's breath when they weren't in a cold environment. [/p]
• [p] Fixed an issue where trying to sort the social window player lists by zone name would sometimes cause the player to crash. [/p]
• [p] Fixed an issue where looting a corpse resulted in an increased freeze time for each player death. [/p]
• [p] Ranger scout pets should now be properly summoned when beginning channeling. [/p]
• [p] IK adjustment to fix an issue where some movement animations were not playing properly on some races. [/p]
• [p] Possible fix for a player not getting credit for a kill in some rare cases. [/p]
• [p] Fixed some UI images that were showing white around the edges but shouldn't have been. [/p]
• [p] Fixed an issue with climbing where players could accidentally climb down below the surface of the terrain and end up under the world.
  [/p]

[h3]Items[/h3]

• [p] Moved Sovehly's Searing Slippers onto their own table for the Banshee and increased their drop chance some. This means they have a chance to drop in addition to the other items, rather than instead of. Normalized the drop chance for the other items that remain in her main loot table. [/p]
• [p] Updated Tel'Daedras' loot tables. They are now categorized by item rarity with a normalized drop chance for each item in their table – the total potential number of items dropped per kill remains the same. Many aspects of endgame itemization will continue to evolve as we move forward - thank you all for your diligent data gathering and feedback on her drop rates. [/p]
• [p] Updated some NPC abilities in Mad Run
  [/p]

[h3]VFX[/h3]

• [p] Removed some custom shaders from Wizard stance VFX until they can be optimized. [/p]
• [p] Reverted and unified color palette of shock and arcane spells for Wizards [/p]
• [p] Updated Mana Guzzle with new beam VFX
  [/p]

[h3]Classes[/h3][h3]Druid[/h3]

• [p] Snare line duration and movement speed reduction increased at all ranks
  [/p]

[h3]Monk[/h3]

• [p] Soaring Dragon cooldown increased to 20 seconds [/p]
• [p] Side Kick line passive proc rate increased to 22% (10% increase). [/p]
• [p] Back Hand line passive proc rate increased to 22% (10% increase).
  [/p]

[h3]Necromancer[/h3]

• [p] Shroud of Undeath mana per tick increased [/p]
• [p] Aura of Undeath added to vendors at level 42 [/p]
• [p] DoTs from all lines now apply initial damage when applied [/p]
• [p] Curse line stacking rules cleaned up [/p]
• [p] Blight – Disease DoT upgrade added at level 50 [/p]
• [p] Drain Soul – Lifetap upgrade added at level 46 [/p]
• [p] Evaporate Blood – Fire DoT upgrade added at level 48 [/p]
• [p] Heat Blood line damage increased [/p]
• [p] Life Leech III upgrade added at level 45 [/p]
• [p] Reap Strength, Stamina Intellect, and Charisma added to vendor [/p]
• [p] Dark Empathy mana cost removed, sacrifice and heal amounts increased.
  [/p]

[h3]Paladin[/h3]

• [p] Fixed a bug that allowed Hymn of Devotion to stack. [/p]
• [p] Righteous Chop now properly calculates against AC [/p]
• [p] Burst of Light line bonus threat multiplier reduced [/p]
• [p] Wrathful Aegis damage portion was heavily overperforming in single target and AoE situations. Now does 3 ticks over 9 seconds with increased threat per tick. The intent of the ability is to be an AoE threat skill, but it was functioning as one of the best damage skills in the game.
  [/p]

[h3]Ranger[/h3]

• [p] Fixed an issue where the shrapnel from a ranger's Crystal Arrow was removing their engage/disengage crit buff.
  [/p]

[h3]Rogue[/h3]

• [p] Waylay line, cooldown reduced from 12 seconds to 9 seconds. Some modifiers adjusted up/down at various ranks to account for the change. (Net damage increase at all ranks.) [/p]
• [p] Backstab line, damage increased. [/p]
• [p] Toxins line, updated tooltips to reflect available use on both primary and secondary weapons.
  [/p]

[h3]Summoner[/h3]

• [p] Upgrades to Erudite Mind added to vendors for level 25 and 40. [/p]
• [p] Zephyr's Windblade and Biting Wind damage increased, mana costs reduced. Galestep cost removed.
  [/p]

[h3]Wizard[/h3]

• [p] Major Class Update – Please visit your spell vendor immediately. Most existing spells have been removed from your spellbook. All new spells have had their prices reduced significantly during this phase. [/p]
• [p] 18 New Direct Damage spells have been added to the game up through level 50. Focus cost has been normalized to 3 Focus per cast. [/p]
• [p] Blast of Cold[/p]
• [p] Bolt of Frost [/p]
• [p] Evoke Embers[/p]
• [p] Evoke Magma [/p]
• [p] Prism Burst[/p]
• [p] Bolt of Lightning [/p]
• [p] Blast of Ice[/p]
• [p] Glacial Spike [/p]
• [p] Evoke Fire[/p]
• [p] Sparking Bolt [/p]
• [p] Blast of Lightning[/p]
• [p] Molten Spike [/p]
• [p] Arctic Blast[/p]
• [p] Mol-Thrane's Storm Arrow [/p]
• [p] Bolt of Fire[/p]
• [p] Veyrule's Icy Comet [/p]
• [p] Shattershock[/p]
• [p] Ckru-Venoth's Inferno Lance [/p]
• [p] 6 New Channelled Direct Damage spells have been added. Each tick restores mana. [/p]
• [p] 6 New Wave (multi-strike) Direct Damage spells have been added. Restores Focus upon completion. [/p]
• [p] 6 New AOE spells have been added [/p]
• [p] Starting scrolls have been updated. [/p]
• [p] Familiars have taken their proper form as wyverns once again with new bonuses. Ranks unlocked at levels 12, 16, 20 and 32, 36, and 40. [/p]
• [p] Arcane Cords is now a line with multiple ranks. [/p]
• [p] Cold Snap had its Focus cost removed. Snare decreased from 60% to 50%. [/p]
• [p] Phoenix Fire changed from Focus cost to cooldown. Health regen changed from Focus consumed to flat value per tick. [/p]
• [p] Elemental Weaving activation mana cost removed. Stack duration increased to 1 minute. [/p]
• [p] Nervous Magic readiness cost removed, 1.5 second cast time added. Stat scaling added. [/p]
• [p] Cold Focus, Shock Focus, and Fire Focus are now instant cast spells. [/p]
• [p] Mana Current added at level 14. [/p]
• [p] Upgrades to Erudite Mind added to vendors for level 25 and 40. [/p]
• [p] Dragonfire Bomb has been temporarily removed until we can find a better purpose for it [/p]
• [p] Burning weapon and Elemental Piercing have been removed [/p]
• [p] Mana Skin is now obtained at level 20. It is no longer channelled and absorbs damage up to 30% of your total Mana pool for the next 10 seconds. [/p]
• [p] Radiate Heat is now obtained at level 4 and is self only. Lasts for 15 seconds and has its damage on hit increased. [/p]
• [p] Surespell has been moved to level 36. Lasts for 15 seconds and is no longer consumed by the next spell cast. Target level restriction removed.
  [/p]

[p]**This is not considered a balance pass for the Wizard. Please expect further adjustments to all values, resources, as well as more spells in the future. Please leave us feedback on the changes and where you would like to see the class go from here.

[/p][h3]Crafting[/h3]

• [p] Level 1-10 Crafting Work Orders have been added to Availia village in Thronefast. Players may undertake these work orders to earn tokens which can be used to purchase schematics and supplies for their professions. To unlock the work orders for your character, speak with Foreman Aldeus in Availia.
  [/p]

[h3]Quests[/h3]

• [p] The conclusion for the main quest line in Black Rose Keep has been added to the game. [/p]

[h3]What to expect in the November Game Update[/h3]

Hi everyone! Our November game update is scheduled for next Wednesday, November 19th, and we wanted to take a moment to tell you what’s coming in this update.

[h3]The Wildbloods[/h3]

Once peaceful, the Wildblood tribe has somehow become savage and now threaten anyone traveling in the Plains. Travel south of Sky Durbin to explore this new content.

• Explore a major new POI within the Silent Plains, Wildmound Cradle.
  
• Fight your way past challenging new foes to uncover the influence of the Deicide War and the source of the growing threat.
  
• Includes content for small groups and full groups starting at level 35.
  

[h3]Black Rose Keep Additions[/h3]

A few additions have been made to Black Rose Keep, including our first dynamic event!

• Continue your investigations into the web of intrigue in Black Rose Keep, and uncover a secret known to few.
  
• Take part in a level 45 dynamic event (the first of its kind within Pantheon) that can occur periodically within the walls of Black Rose Keep.
  

[h3]Wizard Ability Updates[/h3]

The wizard class has been updated and refreshed with a new arsenal of powerful spells.

• Summon your familiar and lay waste to your foes.
  
• Includes new spells and abilities from level 1 to level 50
  

Note: If you currently play a wizard, you’ll need to pick up all your new spells after this update. Make sure to read the patch notes for details on what to do!

[h3]Other Fixes and Updates[/h3]

• We’ve fixed a number of collision and line of sight issues around the world, and especially in Halnir Cave.
  
• Level 1-10 crafting work orders are now available in the village of Availia, within Thronefast.
  
• Get ready for the return of a perhaps-familiar face in Halnir Cave.
  
• As part of our ongoing work on Badia de Cara and water content for our game, we have made some improvements to swimming. This is a work in progress and more refinements are expected in future updates.
  

While we anticipate a smooth launch on November 19th, we are still completing some final testing this week. Should unforeseen problems arise that force a delay, we will let you know quickly.

by CEO Chris Rowan

Hello everyone,

Earlier this week we announced our new funding, and it sounds like you are as excited about it as we are. More funding means more team members making more content, and faster development toward launch.

We aren’t quite ready to share all the details yet, as we are still filling roles and adjusting the schedule, but one detail we are excited to share is the introduction of our new Project Manager, David “Nephele” Beach.

Our long-term community members may recognize David as the dedicated crafting enthusiast and part-time designer who has been fighting to make Pantheon's crafting as good as it can be. What you may not know is that David served in several senior project and program management roles at a little company called Microsoft for almost two decades.

[h3]THE RIGHT FIT[/h3]

Appointing a Project Manager who has already been in the trenches with the team for years is a huge advantage, as their existing relationships and deeply intimate project knowledge means they can get right to work. David’s past with the team and his even longer history as a community member reflect his dedication and passion for the project. And frankly, given his credentials and the results we’ve already seen, I can’t think of someone more fit for this role.

[h3]WHAT A DEDICATED PM MEANS FOR PANTHEON[/h3]

So, what does a Project Manager actually do for us?

A game of this scale is a massive web of moving parts and dependencies, with creative and technical teams that must all move in sync. The PM is the central hub for all of it. David’s role is to collaboratively build the master plan with the team leads, identify risks, manage the schedule and resources, and ensure that every single department is communicating effectively.

For the game, the company and you, the community, this role is the engine for an accelerated drive toward the 1.0 release of Pantheon based on predictability and clarity.

This move to specialized roles is crucial. A dedicated PM's entire focus is results through efficiency, structure, and communication. On a small team, it's natural for people to wear multiple hats, and our team has done heroic work doing just that. But as we staff up and drive hard for a 1.0 release, this specialization is what allows the rest of the team, our artists, designers, worldbuilders, lore writers, and programmers, to focus 100% on what they do best: building the world, creating the classes, and making the game you're all waiting for.

Think about it like the relationship between a talented band and a great music producer. The most legendary albums are often the synergy of massive, unhinged talent from the band, guided by the supportive organization, structure, and, when needed, tough love from the producer. Think The Beatles and George Martin, or Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones. It’s that partnership between raw creativity and disciplined execution that makes and delivers magic.

As we get all these new processes integrated, you should begin to see the effects. When our internal teams have better visibility and communication, there is less chance for confusion, which in turn helps us communicate more clearly and accurately with you.

We are all committed to building the best possible Pantheon, and this new role is a critical step in making sure we do it right and get it to you sooner. I'm thrilled to have David on board to help us get there.

But enough from me. The best person to talk about this role and his vision for it is Nephele himself…



[h3]HOW WE MOVE FORWARD WITH PANTHEON[/h3]
by Nephele

Hi all. I feel a little sad that my secret identity has been unmasked, but I’m happy that I finally get to talk to you about what I’ve been working on in the background.

Before we begin talking about my role, let’s talk about Pantheon and the team. We feel very strongly about presenting a fully-fledged, holistic world. We don’t want Pantheon to feel shallow when it’s done. That extends to both our gameplay systems and our content. When it’s all said and done, we want you to be able to log in and feel like you’re in a fun place where you have choices in terms of where to go and what to do. Maybe you head off to explore a new area, or perhaps you dive back into that dungeon from last week to try and get a rare item. You could spend the day or even just a few hours hanging out and fishing with some friends. You could head out to tame that new mount, or you could attend an in-game play put on by some of your fellow players. You could even potentially start a new character, in a different part of the world entirely, and experience the game in an entirely new way, making new friends along that journey.

Building that world takes a lot of work, and more importantly, a lot of coordination. Coordination is an area where we have stumbled in the past, and when I first took on the PM role, I knew it was the first thing that we needed to address. There have been a few changes that we have made recently to help with that.

First – we took a hard look at what it takes to build a new zone or POI and how we can make that process happen on time without major delays or having to leave things out. I am happy to report that we now have a much more robust planning process, which helps us make sure that we have everything lined up when we need it. This prevents delays and allows us to focus on quality and getting the content out in a completed state.

Second – we sat down to revisit what we need to have in place for our 1.0 launch. There are absolutely some content and features we can add to the world after our launch, but there are some things that need to be there or that don’t make sense to bring in after the fact. We have realigned our internal roadmap around delivering these parts of the game and the world first.

As a result of that work, we have a plan in place that allows us to be more efficient and effective. For example, one of the big improvements we have made is in our art pipelines. In the past, we were not starting on creating new art assets early enough, and we would often end up trying to build out areas without having all the different props and NPCs needed for them. That led to delays and rework. In our new process, our goal is to have all the assets ready to go before the designers and worldbuilders ever touch the new area.

We have also made improvements in how we plan and schedule our content efforts. We want to have regular updates and content releases for all of you, but larger areas take more time for us to put together. So, while we devote most of the team to working on those larger areas (and give them the time they need to do them well), we’re also organizing our work to bring you smaller updates in between those big zone releases. Those smaller updates include revisiting some existing areas that need a touch-up, as well as some new goodies that aren’t in the world yet. Combined with our new funding, this means that as we push forward, we will be able to deliver more content (with better quality) faster than we have in the past.

Finally, we recognize that content is only one part of the equation. We have many gameplay systems that need to be implemented and updated. However, those systems are all intended to work together and trying to implement them piecemeal results in a poor experience for our players. It also makes it very hard to balance our content and itemization effectively. We have adopted a new approach when it comes to our systems work that should result in a much more full and cohesive gameplay experience for all of you in our upcoming releases.

Right now, the team is working on a few things:

• Finishing up the Wildbloods for our release later this month.
  
• Wrapping up work and beginning quality testing for the initial release of our Mounts and Taming systems next month.
  
• Building out the environments for Badia de Cara and lining up all the different props and NPCs that we will need to populate the area.
  
• Refining detailed planning documents for our next three major zones and the next five-six smaller content areas that we plan to deliver.
  
• Preparing for a major gameplay update and some big additions to our character progression systems for both adventuring and crafting/gathering.

We have a lot that we are working on lining up for the first part of 2026, and I am planning to publish a roadmap update for all of you that will help explain those plans in more detail.

One last thing – a huge part of what has kept us going over the years has been the passion and enthusiasm of our community. We want Pantheon to be an MMORPG that many of you can enjoy for a very long time, and we are committed to that goal. We won’t always be able to do everything that everyone wants, but your feedback has been and will continue to be extremely important as we go forward, and we hope you will be excited by some of what we have in store for 2026.

[p]Great news to share this morning!

Visionary Realms has secured additional multimillion-dollar funding to supercharge development of Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.[/p][p]The funding will be used to bring on more artists, programmers, designers and reinforce project management. What this means for Pantheon: a more robust launch sooner. Our timeline will be reduced significantly with the new team members, and we will be able to not only deliver 1.0 launch sooner, but more complete. Keep an eye here for the updated roadmap, coming in a few weeks, which will detail what's coming next.[/p][p]Game Rant has covered the news this morning. Check out the article here.[/p]

[h2]What goes into designing a major boss encounter?[/h2]
One of the aspects of our game we’ve been starting to work on more over the past few months is our boss NPC encounters. While we want all of our content to be challenging, there’s just something special about getting to the end of the dungeon (or even just the side room) and having an epic, memorable fight. Ideally, we want each of our boss NPCs to challenge players in different ways, and to feel very distinct from each other. Making that happen isn’t always as simple as it sounds, however.

For today’s dev diary, we wanted to pull back the curtain a little and give you all some insight into the process we are using to design these boss encounters.

[h3]Step 1: Treat it like a Story[/h3]
The most memorable RPG fights tell a story. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end. If you’re going into a fight for the first time, there should be things that surprise you, twists that you perhaps didn’t see coming. Obviously, in a social game like ours, you might already have heard from other players what to expect, but we want the events that happen during the fight to be exciting.

So, when we envision these boss fights, we start by thinking about the storyline of the fight. For example:

1. Boss does villain monologue
   
2. Boss fights players
   
3. Boss realizes he has underestimated the players and calls in help
   
4. Boss gets serious and starts using his big attacks
   
5. Boss realizes he’s in trouble and calls for more help
   
6. Boss plays his trump card in a last-ditch effort to win the fight
   

This may seem a little silly, but it helps us establish the flow of the fight and the types of things we want to have happen during the encounter. We always try to start with something like this, because it makes the rest of the process much easier.

Another aspect that we try to consider when building out the story of the fights is how we want players to be challenged. For example, should the fight be an endurance fight where players must outlast their opponents? Do we want to keep a lot of damage focused on the tank or spread it out among the group? Should it require tactical repositioning and moving the boss around to avoid damage? Should it feature environmental hazards that players need to work around? Having a good picture of the flow and feel of the fight helps us as we begin to sketch out the encounter.

[h3]Step 2: Theming[/h3]
Once we have the general flow worked out, the next step is to establish the themes we want to leverage in the fight. Maybe our boss is a powerful necromancer, or perhaps he’s a brutish warlord. We spend some time brainstorming exactly who our boss NPC is and what kinds of things they might do in a fight. For example:

• Is the boss a spellcaster? A melee fighter? Both?
  
• Does the boss fight alone or do they have minions/helpers?
  
• What sorts of attacks does the boss use? Do they do big sweeping strikes with a weapon? Bathe the area in fire? Call down lightning from the heavens?
  
• Is there anything special about the location of the fight? Spikes in the floor? A door that locks behind the players?
  

[h3]Step 3: Special Moves[/h3]
No MMORPG villain is complete without a special signature move or two. So, after we work out the themes of the fight, we try to brainstorm a few of these things that they can do. This is an important step since sometimes these attacks might involve some custom animations that we need to create.

We often have more ideas than we can really implement at this stage – sometimes there are technical limitations that prevent us from using an idea, and sometimes our initial ideas are really cool, but they don’t really fit well with the storyline of the fight.

[h3]Step 4: Putting it all together[/h3]
Big boss encounters can have dozens of script entries like this one.

Once we’ve got the flow of the fight, the theme, and the special moves figured out, it’s time to start building everything. This is the part that can take the longest. Not only do we have to create the abilities the boss will use (and potentially animations and visual effects for those), but we also have to set up targeting conditions and cooldowns for those abilities. For example, do we want the boss to use it on the person with the highest threat, attack the healer with it, or to target someone randomly in the group they are fighting? Do we want them to use it every 15 seconds during the fight, or only at certain times? Do we want them to use the ability as soon as the fight starts or wait a bit before they start using it?

In addition to the big, flashy moves, we also need to make sure that the boss has several more mundane things that it can do. If we only had the big moves, fights would feel very odd, since the boss wouldn’t be doing anything at all in between those big moves. Most of our bosses will have several smaller abilities that they can do in between the big things, which helps make the fight feel more dynamic and interesting.

We typically go through a few iterations before we finally land on an overall set of abilities that we feel works well together. Depending on the fight, sometimes this process can take a few weeks just to get to this point. During this time, we’re also usually finalizing the loot for the boss NPC as well (since we have a decent understanding of its intended rarity and difficulty).

[h3]Step 5: Testing and Tuning[/h3]
Hey, can you come over here for a second and help test something? We promise it won’t hurt...

After we have all the abilities set up and everything put together on our boss NPC, it’s time to do some testing and tuning. For this, we like to use our unsuspecting coworkers and our focus testers. We have them join our internal test server, group up, and then we unleash our new boss upon them and watch to see what happens.

Sometimes, we get things right the first time, and our boss proves to be a challenging and fun encounter with very little tuning needed. More often though, we start finding situations we didn’t anticipate that we need to address. For example, in a recent test we had a problem with a boss that would summon its minions, but the minions were too far away to notice the players and attack them. We’ve had situations where the boss’s big attack was just a little too big and resulted in every other NPC nearby swarming in to attack the boss. And of course, sometimes we just find bugs. In some recent testing we had a boss get stuck in a loop where it would keep performing the same action repeatedly.

When we are tuning the boss, for most fights we try to aim for a level where the fight will be challenging for an “average” group of players. This can be somewhat tough to gauge, but our main goal is to make sure that the fight is memorable and fun for people who attempt it, and not something that is easy or forgettable. After all, these are bosses that we are talking about. For what we term “major bosses”, we will sometimes tune them a little higher specifically so that they will still pose challenge our most skillful and organized players. However, we have an overall goal that all our content should be accessible to groups who put in the time and effort to learn the encounters, so we generally try to keep a baseline difficulty that is challenging but doable for most groups.

From start to finish, this process can take weeks or even months alongside the other work we are doing to build out new content, but it is very important to us that we are creating compelling content for our players to experience, and that includes having exciting boss fights.