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Neverwinter has serious potential.
Bookah
Member UncommonPosts: 260
I first tried Neverwinter yesterday afternoon and was initially disapointed, however after a second look this evening I really am enjoying this game.
Like many I am an avid MMO players, I grew up playing D&D and reading Salvatore, Wies and Hickman etc.- awesome D&D fantasy and becasue of this I had some huge expecation's for this game.
While I liked the character creation well enough, I must admit the opening questline kind of rubbed me the wrong way, at this point I have played through one too many MMO openers that began with a shipwreck (DDO,Conan, Tera etc.) and would have liked something different and original. I got to Neverwinter city (I think, its 1st questhub) and logged out rather disappointed.
This morning I kept thinking about the combat, the look of the game and that the foudry offers the ability for people to create the kind of storytelling I associate with the IPO, even if its not there initially. I was also thinkng, as part of the MMO community we can be harsh and unforgiving, in our initial jugments. I knew I had to play further and give Neverwinter a fair shake.
Today I logged in my trickster rogue and started doing the questline and exploring my sourondings, im not going to be overly technical or specific here but I loved the solo intances starting with the bank vaults-kobold caves etc. They gave me the feeling of old-school D&D adventure and they showcased the combat for me. The UI that I wasnt sure about sprung to life and I was waiting with excitment for my daily and encounter skills to recharge, disarming traps and all the time it was exciting because this game is not easy, not to say its hard but you must pay attention or you WILL die.
The life pot system and lack of passive regeneration was a bummer untill I discovered the campfires positioned in the instances, then i loved the system.
Anyhow give this game a secondchance if you brushed it off quickly as I did, I think it might surprise you.
Neverwinter (Esp as a free game.) has serious potential to be a ton of fun.
Comments
I beleive in the world and lore when I play it, and I haven't felt as immersed in a game world in a new game since Vanguard. I was interested in the lore, and even though the questing is wow-style annoying and slightly railroaded, I actually took an interest in what I was doing for the quest givers.
The game opened up after lvl 10, and felt more free do do what I wanted, and doing a few player made quests on top helped too. As a cleric the difficulty was not as bad (read easy) as I had feared, but still I have not been in serious trouble yet soloing. Combat is pretty simple so far, and I do fear for the solo part, there isn't much tactical gameplay hidden, but if they are prepared to work on this and not locked too much by the DnD ruleset I can see potential.
The "this is pay to win" hints are all over the game, but at this point I can't really tell (who can) how bad it will be, but I guess pay to win is not avoidable in todays mmorpgs.
Many talk about outdated graphics, and all I can say to that is that it got a good atmospheare and that to me is what matters. Models are not good that is granted, but world graphics are good and has a fantasy adventure feel about it - To that note, models are some of the easier things to replace.
I see many problems some of which can turn out to be fatal, but I also see potential that it could turn out to be a real mmorpg, and we havent seen many of those the last 10 years.
"I am my connectome" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HA7GwKXfJB0
Yeah im skeptical on the free to play model in genral but i have had good and bad experiences with it so well have to wait and see on that point i suppose. I agree the Atmosphere of the game after intro is realy good. Im doing "dead rats" in Blacklake atm and im even more impressed with the zone, Blacklake has a dark serious feel that i was looking for.
Theres a few things im interested in checking out before the beta ends:
1) Arean pvp (who knew lol!)
2)Foudnry quests (supprisingly theres lots of them.
Ill try to post my experiences on thoes 2 things when its over.
this game have zero potential
combat is dull and boring you see your character doing same poor animation sword swing over and over
pvp is a 5vs5 poor copy of gw2 sPvP
quests are linear and theres that stupid trail you just follow ( you can disable it)
zones are small and instanced, there was like 600 instances of same zone with max 10 ppl in it
dungeons are easy just smash your few skills you got (yes game dont have many skills and they call it D&D) if you got hit just spam your healing potions dont wait for cleric to heal you his heal is weak
only thing it save it is the foundry
The game has a bright future as an online dungeoncrawler... its easy to find groups through the grouping interface.. dungeons are fun, quests and lore are okay if you can stand that they are on rails..
Just something people will love to play after a long day at work.
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
i agree.. i also love i can jump right into a skirmish or dungeon. Also I like the event bonus thing that gives you certain bonuses for doing certain things at certain times.. like foundry missions give 150% more xp for this hour and such
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
I havent even played the game yet and got this vibe from watching all the video of beta. I almost never play beta because I love going into a game cold and discovering everything when it launches. Since it is f2p I figure there really is no reason for me to even try beta. What do I lose by trying a f2p game when it launches?
I absolutely agree, it does have good potential. But they really need to iron out some stuff and break with a few of their ideas.
But as it is NOW, omg this game is going to rewrite the history of fail! I would be surprise if it doesn't shut down after one year. This combat system and the classes are just SO WRONG in so many ways yet. Not beyond salvage, but I doubt they make any fundamental changes. Was never made in a beta. Like ever.
Hey but it has it good. It will make SWTOR look good...
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Absolutely agree. I had no intention of playing this game but, after playing a few hours this weekend, I enjoyed it. It won't be my main game but one that I will pick up and play when I'm too tire to put in a lot of effort. The combat was fun and I found the dungeon crawls interesting and lots better than the normal pick up this, kill 10 of those, type quests.
Hero Evermore
Guild Master of Dragonspine since 1982.
Playing Path of Exile and deeply in love with it.
This is the best 3 sentance review of a game that I ever readed. All said there. I totaly agree on that.
I had to quote this because it's just funny.
Doesn't mean I agree, though I did find what little experience I've had to be on the bland side - but that's pretty much what I feel about most action RPGs.... So, I guess, not my genre.
I wouldn't compare it to GW2 personally, I completely hate combat in GW2. I don't really see it being comparable outside action combat. Its closer to "Tera" if your going to name a big name MMO but even then its not really a good comparison. Its kind of hard to really point it as being like any real combat system out there as it has this odd mix feeling of being between a dungeon crawler and an action rpg... at least thats the best way I can describe it.
If the game had to all into a sub-genre of MMO's to be compared with it would be these:
C9
Dragon Nest
Vindictus
None of those are huge successes. Now I personaly love the combat models these games are attempting and those above are a bit more advanced then Neverwinter. But way too easy PvE content has also been a bane for this sub-genre (PvP is the long term focus). If your game is heavily instance dungeon style runs, you got to have a challenge for groups, you have to have difficulty choices that really mater. I will say.... and if they do eventually get hard in PvE it is waaaaaaaaaaay too late in leveling. "It gets good at level 30" I hate that shit already. I'd say by 10 you better be giving me balanced gameplay. I'm not from outer-space here, I get what's going on, been there, done it, saw the sequel.
DDO still does the instance dungeon crawl better. You can ramp of difficulty, their dungeons are truly unqiue to one another. But all of these games could be better if they doled out some PvE challenge.
This game is a distraction and thats about it, a side thing. Coming from DDO and every guild member from DDO that tried it with me, we are all in the concensus that Neverwinter will be a nice distration and side project. Neverwinter will by your Diablo feel hack and slash dungeon crawl arcade game of D&D. For those who want the real D&D feel will be sticking out with DDO.
The game looks pretty, has some nice envioremnt/lore things going on but I don't see it have the longevity appeal.
A quick and dirty of Neverwinter is that it is an MMO bastardization of D&D. Many things and aspects of D&D that are iconic are absent. Feats, actual deadly traps that one needs rogue skills for, skills, ect ect are out the window and replaced with a WoWification of the 4e ruleset.
Foundry will have some lasting appeal but then most will be utter crap with only 5% of the foundry actually worth your time to visit. Mediocre xp and crap rewards are most of the foundry missions, a friggin white item for end reward as a lvl 32. What they royally screwed up on here is that they didn't allow Persistent Worlds to be created by players, THAT was what kept the NWN games going.
The game is fun and is the new shiney atm, wait till ESO releases and then people will be leaving in droves. Neverwinter will be a niche crowd of FR fans who want that UGC however limited it will be in comparison to the NWN games. Alright game but certainly not an all this or that game.
Class selection is another big thing going against Neverwinter, as it stands Neverwinter is something I will wait 6 months after release before really trying it as the Trickster Rogue is the only class I enjoyed, maybe the GWF but the game is so gawd linear I couldn't do the quest line again for the 4th time to lvl and try out the GWF. The guardian I can care less for, I actually was gonna play a cleric but I loathe and despise this laser pewpew invoker "devote" cleric, and never been much of a fan of the wizard classes.
Combat I find very unresonsive, especiually when you need to move because of that retarded rooting system. Even trying to chain my attacks I was having severe issues like my gloom strike for the Trickster Rogue's paragon at-will. Heals are ridiculously weak and feels like GW2 in regards that more emphasis on player to avoid dmg than having a healer around, pots heal me more that the cleric and are what saved me from death rather than that supposive healer. Maybe this changes later on but in the first two dungeons there is zero need for a healer.
And then there is the issue of the Astral Diamonds. Everywhere you look they have Astral Diamonds for everything and gold is obsolete besides buying pots, gathering kits, and profession tool thingies.
Neverwinter will most likely be a "when the servers are down" game for me. Diehard DDO fan, and even with all it's problems, still feels more like D&D, to me, than Neverwinter does.
My experiences with this game which has been spread somewhat spoardically over the last two days have been nothing but a treat for me. Although, I never played into the DnD world via the tabletop games (I don't have anyone I can play with those with) I do love the world itself being a masisve Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter and Planescape fan. So I am not a novice to the game world, nor to the core rules of 1st, 2nd, 3, 3.5 and 4th additions, I have as of yet to go over the DnD Next stuff.
So the possibility for me in coming on to a game which in my opinion looks just as nice as games like GW2 (some people might disagree) to be able to come face to face with a Beholder, or to battle the psonics of the Illithid or come across the may Drakes within the world does feel me with a sense of nerdy excitement.
I have played the game up until level 12 and although I have not done a dungeon yet I have done a skirmish and I have leveled up with both a Trickster Rogue and a Guardian Fighter. I did not read the quests, purely because when it becomes 'live' I want to be able to savour what essentially the DM is telling me.
Also on this note, I opted not to explore too much, because I do like some surprises, I just wanted to play enough to see whether it was worth getting invested. Which I am, thoroughly.
Combat in this game felt very alive, fun and reactive, something in my many many hours in GW2 I never really 'felt'. It was more button mashing for me and I have to be honest the world within that game just plain sucks (my perspective) as does the story telling which I found often very frustrating. It is however a very nice open world kinda game, but I just found that I didn't 'FEEL' powerful considering everything scales with you. I felt little incentive to play that game with any real conviction with it. But, being free I do now log on from time to time.
Now, more on to the combat, you have your abilities and your 'Daily' which is taken right out of the DnD combat system but this is something you can cast once your AP points fills to the brim allowing you to deal a deverstating attack, or an ability which can help turn the tide of battle which, if any of you are DnD fans understand that was the point of the Daily, to get you out of a bind.
The most important aspect as well is I didn't feel 'trapped' in a rotation like I do with WoW or Rift where I am in a position to just cycle through my spells when off cool-down. With this game I felt more 'powerful' as I played, with my abilities and how I used them strategically. I REALLY like the combat advantage of back stab and flanking facilities to which the Trickster Rogue at level 10 can start to invest into via the feat system.
the other thing that I am really excited for is the world of the series is MASSIVE with lots of things to eventually explore and get involved with (once added) not to mention with the all the classes they could add into the game which I imagine will break my bank a little bit when I want to start playing them all. With that said, the Foundry system looks really awesome which will allow me to be a DM and tell my own stories and have Chapters and episodes for people to play. That for me is very exciting, plus, I get to play other peoples missions as well!
Now, I imagine if you are the type of player that likes to just rush to the end and get involved into the end game content then I would say you are missing the point. It would be like going on holiday but just rushing to get to the hotel and missing out everything that country has to other you.
This game won't be for everyone but I would say if you are the type of person who likes to band together with others and have adventures, or to play at a pace where you can enjoy the world or even if you are a person who likes to make your own content or ever fantasied about making your own content then this will be your next home for MMO's.
^ This! A million times, this!
Sorry, but if you want an idea of what to expect in terms of development and support for NWN just head on over to the Chamions Online and STO forum. Both games have lots of 'potential', but just trying to get Cryptic to do something about it is another feat in and of itself.
But you know what? You'll just ignore all of Cryptic's past mistakes. Dismiss all the criticisms and great suggestions players have made and fallen on deaf ears. You'll beg Cryptic to implement small QoL features then realize they can't implement major content updates let alone minor emote features. You'll jump into this game expecting monthly updates and bug fixes, and tell yourself they're doing everything they can to make this a great game! And in a year's time when you've given up reporting the same bugs from beta, gotten fed up with the foundry being used as an excuse as to why mediocre content is continually being released and pull you hair out everytime a new lockbox is released (lockboxes - you'd better get used to them!), then you'll understand all the cynicism players have towards Cryptic.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Cryptic doesn't make bad games. Their games are actually pretty decent out of the gate. It's the support they give afterwards that's so frustrating. Just spend 5 minutes reading the CO/STO forums...here is a thread from the most recent Ask Cryptic for CO...the first one in 7 months, but that's not a big deal right? I mean they only promised to do these every other month for their paying customers...but it'll be different for NWN, of course it will...
http://co-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=213391
Pay particular attention to post #17. This has been a re-occuring theme in CO.
I normally avoid a beta like the plague, it can spoil it if you go too far into the game knowing that you will have to repeat it.
However I was eager to give this one a quick spin.
I only played a small amount on Friday and then yesterday but what I did experience was fun and exciting.
I'm eager to get my hands on the Foundry when the game gets released as I will not be applying for anymore beta rounds.
I believe this game will find it's playerbase, due in part to The Foundry, but also because it's Neverwinter.
No matter the Naysayers I am more than willing to become a subscriber for this game.
I actually read this whole thread up till here--My eyes hurt--and theres alot of good stuff. (lol i ended up on the champoins onl;ine forums, reminds me to try that game.)
Its cool to see DDO players respond, it allwasy supprises me (When i log in) How many people play DDO on the reg.
Anyway to sum up my weekend, Betas.... arrhggg
The PVP was pretty fun (objective capture points) i got a little sick of getting my throat crushed by higher lvl cntrl wizarads but such is life for a rogue lol.
I actually enjoyed neverwinter (& offf topic Defiance tbh.) I know what it is a free mmo based on D&D (yes a wowifiactaion, is acurate.) But i enjoyed it.
Beacuse its so liniear the way i will play this game is
1)find a clasws i love--check Trickster rogue
2)play it to the max.
Im going to avoid lots of alts and repeating content here and just rock my little rogue for now. play it for the action dungeoniering game that it is.