[Column] Neverwinter: Hope & Fear All at Once

BillMurphy

It seems that every game coming our way also comes with both hope and fear attached. With Neverwinter, one of the year's most anticipated titles, that Catch 22 of emotion reigns supreme. In our latest Neverwinter column, we take a look at those things that cause us to tremble both with joy and fright. Read on and then leave your thoughts in the comments.

Neverwinter is, as is every game these days, something that makes us cautiously optimistic. It seems that many of us were bitten by the hype bug last year and were subject to fits of the vapors at the mere mention of our favorite title. Invariably, however, those same games that caused us to swoon with delight before release, ended up being a disappointment in one fashion or another. I won’t name names but you definitely know the games I’m talking about. 

Read more of Suzie Ford's Neverwinter: Hope & Fear All at Once.

wodny

You should've used - "I" instead of "We".

Battlerock

Error on the side of caution, someday that will click for everyone.

Zefire

How are we supposed to support a game when we haven't palyed it for a bit to see if it's worth it.

I smell something wrong here

MumboJumbo

I would say that trailer is atrocious, but it avoided using CGI so I won't that far. What exactly was that show-casing??

NC-John

I think it should work both ways. It's fine to monotize your game, it's also wise to provide a subscription option that allows full access to everything. if a "cash shop" is just that with nothing but cosmetics, then having a subsciption so players can avoid being limited and locked out of certain features without having to be nickel and dimed, is a great way for those loyal enough to a game to commit 15 dollars a month.

The "Fear" of many developers are, if they provide a subscription option, then they can't impose gates within the game that literaly force you to have to pay in some way to progress. players who see only F2P (many of them not all) will avoid such a game, even a large IP.

Another thing is, even though the industry is really wanting to completely do away with the sub/monthly model, it's still viewed by many, that a game without it  (at least as a option) was designed to steal your wallet and was designed poorly.

 

 

Betaguy

After I seen the gameplay/graphics/everything in that founders pack video I quickly made my decision not to play.

wodny

"GW2" hype > "Neverwinter" hype

Do not even compare. Please.

Dauzqul

To Cryptic games:

Fool me once (STO), shame on you. Fool me twice......   erm.... well you ain't gonna fool me again.

 

Cryptic, IMO, is the worst MMO company ever created. Their games and marketing ploys are garbage.

 

$60 bucks to play a beta...  lol.

They did a similar thing with Star Trek Online. Before anyone was able to play it, they were selling a playable Borg race (only obtained with lifetime subscription purchase) for over $200.00. The offer expired when beta started...  probably because they knew nobody would buy it after playing it.

 

Terrible company.

I'm sticking to my guns on this one. I'm not even going to look into Neverwinter. If it's Cryptic, I know it will suck.

 

 

Prepare to be nickel and dimed to death.

steelheartx

I really have high hope for this game.  More so the Foundry.  The concept is brillant.  Let users create new content for players, therefore extending content at no charge to the developer.  In theory it should allow the dev team to concentrate on fixing bugs and working on the next expansion.  If successful (the foundry aspect), then i can forsee most future games including something very similar at launch.

hyllstarter

I dont think I would pay to play beta.

Talonsin

I dont know how you can say that Cryptic has only sided on the vanity side of monitization.  In STO you can buy ships with special powers and transfer those systems to other ships and stack them giving your ship a huge advantage, is that not the very definition of P2Win?

I will be holding off from this one until I see some reviews.  If there are any kind of lockboxes, I wont be touching this one.

Omnifish

'Thus far, Cryptic and publisher Perfect World Entertainment, have sided with the ‘vanity items’ only type of monetization.'

 

Did you actually every do any research for this puff piece or is this just a nice tie in with the advertising splashed all over this site?

 

Perfect World and Cryptic have pretty much never just sold vanity items.  From the ship unlock in STO, (which was superior to any other in the game at the time), through to the questionite unlocks and vechicles, (which are needed for the latest content and can only be obtained random from a lockbox from the CS), in CO, Cryptic and PW have a long history of nickel and diming anything they can.

 

I liked NWN1 and had some fun with it.  I wouldn't expect any new MMO based on the IP to be exactly like it and would give any other compnay a chance but not Cryptic. They had a shite rep before PW came along, (anyone remember patchgate and paying extra for bug fixes?), and honestly looking over the way they handled the game they have it only seems to have got worse .

 

I know they've paid you well but you can only fool people for so long before they wake up.  In these guys case they don't deserve any more chances.

 

Wraithone

The more I see about this game, the more it makes me face palm... I have great memories of NWN.  But I totally agree they aren't the same.  As for the graphics... If this was some small indie group, I might over look such a bit. But its not.  There is no excuse for Cryptic using such out dated graphics.  After my experience with Star Trek Online (shudder) I'm not in the mood to try another Cryptic game.

Agent_Joseph

after,STO transformed in hard core grind/p2w, PW, games are on ignore for me

Kaneth

I see no Hope or Fear, just Sorrow that such a terrible company was given such an awesome IP to destroy. You would think their mishandling of Star Trek would have scared everyone away, but you can never underestimate stupidity.

On the bright side....the decision to NOT buy is pretty easy.

Arcona

Spider Mount

rojoArcueid

Originally posted by Torvaldr

 

I'll still get to play a couple beta weekends because I bought Torchlight 2.  So there will be a chance to check it out.  I'm pretty stoked about the game, but I don't really have any expectations on what it's supposed to deliver.

does the beta access count if i bought TL2 on steam? or is it limited to purchases through PWE website?

VincerKaden

I was really looking forward to this: custom content, set in a game world that I have fond memories of, etc. Despite it being "another fantasy game", it showed some promise. But something about all of this just feels "wrong". As others have indicated, maybe it's that feeling of deja-vu. I'm not cheap when it comes to buying into games. I've plunked down money on games almost sight unseen just to give it a go. But there's a voice in my head that's warning me to stay away on this one. So far, I'm listening to it.

Arcona

Originally posted by rojo6934

does the beta access count if i bought TL2 on steam? or is it limited to purchases through PWE website?
 

limited to PWE website

nuttob

The foundry is going to make or break this game for me, and eqnext will probably do it better.

LJonte

So wait, buying into the beta lets players convert Neverwinter into Order of the Stick?  http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0044.html

Don't get me wrong, I still want to give it a try. I just hope there's some alingment variation in the "renegade" option. 

koboldfodder

I played Champions Online.  I played City of Heroes.  I know exactly what Cryptic does well and exactly what they totally fail at.

 

I play STO.  If you play STO, you know exactly what PWE wants to do and how they go about doing it (my bank has about 2000 lockboxes).  Their game will not be Pay 2 Win....but they will stretch out every aspect of this game so that it takes you months to do what it should take a few days.  You will have to endlessy grind away at factions so you get the ability to grind away at another faction.  Then you will get to buy items for ingame faction credits....which PWE happens to sell in their item shop....but they will only sell you something that can be converted at a specific rate per day, thus limiting you on your actual progress.

 

Get your popcorn ready, because PWE is about to land a knco out blow....to your wallet.

Talrune

Why folks think they are "buying into beta is the only way" it is not that is just a piece of the packages offerred there will still be plenty of regular beta invites sent out as normal betas go. 

So you are buying the foundry etc not just for the beta slot I would hope you would be buying it for the others fluff and items that come with it.

While I myself am cautious as well I am staying neutral until I can play....None of you have played it and videos can be deceiving wether that is good or bad. 

In the end no one is forcing you to buy or play it. 

Arcona

Originally posted by mmoDAD
I'm sticking to my guns on this one. I'm not even going to look into Neverwinter. If it's Cryptic, I know it will suck.
 

To each their own, the Foundry alone is a revolution in MMO games.

Ghavrigg

Originally posted by KingofHartz
Error on the side of caution, someday that will click for everyone.

"Err on the side of caution."

The way you say it means people are wrong to be cautious. lol