Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, a new up-and-coming MMORPG modeled after older, harder games such as EverQuest, has unveiled three more classes: Rogue, Ranger, and Monk!
The Rogue class uses Endurance for its resource and is classified as a DPS/Utility class. It can wear cloth, leather and light mail armor and wield daggers, throwing knives and most one-handed weapons.
In the shifting sands of this fragile era, Rogues are sought out for the faceless affairs of nations. Yet their allegiance is rarely to a banner or creed, but to themselves. With daggers drawn, the treacherous Rogue is a ruinous force, unraveling their enemies with terrifying speed and efficiency. As melee specialists, Rogues have trained extensively with one-handed weapons, but are most deadly with a dagger in their main hand, plunged deep into the back of their enemy.
While exceptionally skilled with dagger and blade, Rogues avoid combat unless it is on their terms. Masters of subterfuge, they plot their move from the shadows to avoid detection. They will find an opening of opportunity, or rely on their alchemical talents to create one themselves. When the moment arrives, there are few on Terminus who can match the deadly precision of a Rogue’s onslaught. And fewer still who can disappear in the wake of such carnage as if they were never there.
Available Races: Dark Myr, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, Human, Gnome, Skar
The Monk class uses Chakra (6 Gates) for its resource and is classified as a Melee DPS/Off-Tanking/Utility class. It can wear Cloth, Light Leather and a Monk-specific Martial Armor. It can wield no weapons at all and engage in hand-to-hand combat, Martial Weaponry, most blunt weapons, and shuriken!
It is through the Way of the Body that Monks develop the strength and control to perform their devastating physical attacks. Monks use strong, deliberate strikes with their hands, feet and martial weapons that focus vital points on their enemy and exploit weaknesses with crippling power.
But Monks do not rely on technique and muscle alone – they must also develop themselves internally, along the Way of the Soul. By cultivating this bond between their body and soul, Monks are able to manipulate their internal energy known as Chakra. This internal flow of Chakra is held back by a series of six gates, like water behind a sequence of dams. The Monk must learn to open these gates in order to wield their Chakra without limits, releasing it in a torrent of punishing damage, or in the form of powerful defensive and self-healing abilities.
The 6 gates are known as: The Gate of Anger, the Gate of Peace, the Gate of Sorrow, the Gate of Joy, the Gate of Balance and the Gate of Release.
Available Races: Archai, Dark Myr, Human, Skar
The Ranger class uses Momentum as its resource and is classified as a Melee and Ranged DPS/Utility class. It can wear cloth, leather, and light mail armor and wield bows, crossbows, and most one-handed weapons.
The Ranger excels at both melee and ranged combat, able to weave between the two with elegant ease. In close combat, Rangers prefer the use of one-hand weapons over two-handed, able to deliver devastating damage with swift precision. When the Ranger chooses to withdraw from close quarters combat, they can masterfully employ bows and crossbows to inflict lethal ranged damage, restrain enemies, illuminate their environment, set traps or flee from danger.
In combat, Rangers will constantly generate Momentum as a percentage of the damage they deal. In addition, certain melee and range abilities will increase a Ranger’s Momentum by a certain amount when used. Other abilities will have a Momentum cost in order to be performed.
The more Momentum a Ranger has, the faster their melee and ranged attack speed becomes, up to a 20% increase when Momentum is full. When a Ranger chooses to spend Momentum, their melee and ranged attack speed will slow in proportion until the Ranger builds their momentum up again.
Available Races: Elf, Halfling, Human
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is being developed by Visionary Realms and contains some of the original EverQuest design team. It is classified as a Hardcore MMORPG where everything is open world with no instances. Death has a penalty of an EXP loss as well as the fact that you have to run back and loot the items off of your corpse. The game is built around group-based combat that requires thinking and skill such as using crowd control abilities, feign death pulling and other skills that have been lost in most of today’s MMORPGs.
The game is currently in a Pre-Alpha state with the ability to sponsor the game through packages. The packages range anywhere from $50 all the way up to $10,000. There are varying levels of rewards associated with the different pledge packages which make each one worthwhile.
For more information on Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, head on over to their website at http://www.pantheonmmo.com. Be sure to check out their forums as you will find many more resources there as well as announcements of streams where you can check out the game in action.