Keep in mind that Bioware is not involved in this MMO, so don't expect anything like what you have previously experienced with Neverwinter Nights. All you'll get is another version of D&D. What does Neverwinter Nights REALLY have to offer? No really unique world or settings, nothing that hasn't been done over and over. Really it will come down to the kind of gameplay they are able to introduce...
I'm a huge fan of NwN1 (NwN2 is a shadow of NwN1, with a nicer looking engine, IMO). It was my first real experience with multiplayer online RPGs and I played it non-stop for 1.5 years before I "discovered" MMOs.
I still play it to this day.
Somehow, though, I just can't get excited about this announcement :-/.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Can't see it happening that quick because Cryptic is working on two MMO's for now, hopefully 38 Studios gets in on the action as they have knowledge of the AD&D universe too. This is one MMO to be on the watch list.
Some of the key things that made NWN popular and long lasting is the community. The amount of dedication, esspecially on the Roleplay/ Social servers have gone through all forms of difficulties whether being of gameplay or short comings of content flexibility (i.e. NWN2 compared to NWN1 mod/game/hak customizing).
The second big piece of the puzzle, of course have been the GM/DM's, again pointing towards the social aspect of holding events or story driven adventures that carry one past the initial games story.
The news of NWN being a mmo neither excites or moves me, solely because of the overall nature of MMO's and who they are catering to when it comes to a community. I just do not see Atari favoring the aspects that made their past NWN games shine.
Until more information arrives, will just have to wait and see.
If they try to keep the core concept, (which is to give players the possibility to create their content inside of the already existing game content be it even on instance) it does have potential.
Creativity : The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods or interpretations; using originality, progressiveness, or imagination.
I played both NWN and NWN2 persistant worlds and always thought that they should of made an MMO out of it. Although I was pretty impressed on amateur player made content I could only imagine what a big studio could do.
Teifling rogue/assassin/invisible blade/wizard all the way, it's the closest thing to ninja as you can get.
If there's a "weak link" in this announcement it's the AD&D franchise, not Cryptic. Cryptic to me was always just a step away from MMO greatness, and especially after they've had a chance to realize how much players value things like crafting and loot I think they're probably an extremely solid developer at the moment.
AD&D as a franchise on the other hand, imposes all sorts of retarded constraints on design to make a game potentially suck. You have to somehow take the uber-simplistic combat of AD&D (it's a tabletop RPG so combat simple on purpose) and make it interesting in an MMO environment. Also, at least prior to 3e where I stopped playing, the base game is plagued by serious class imbalances if we're talking about an MMO with strong emphasis on combat.
One of AD&D's biggest disadvantages being that if you ask "What is AD&D about?" to 10 people, you'll get 10 different answers - so an AD&D MMO has to deal with ridiculous customer expectations. At least latching onto the NWN license relieves a lot of these expectations, because that already indicates to potential players what type of gameplay they should expect.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
You know... I'm a huge fan of NwN1 (NwN2 is a shadow of NwN1, with a nicer looking engine, IMO). It was my first real experience with multiplayer online RPGs and I played it non-stop for 1.5 years before I "discovered" MMOs.
I still play it to this day.
Somehow, though, I just can't get excited about this announcement :-/.
I hit it up for years also. You play on any persistant worlds?
What I liked about NWN was the style of game play and being intrigued with the NWN world and its npc characters. NWN would be an awesome mmo if they followed the same sytle as NWN.
Original NWN was in my oppinion one of the greatest games of all times - but not because the game itself , more because of modding community. And Online persistant worlds - owned an developed by community.
NWN2 was a big disapointment. It was basically worse than first one in every aspect. Except graphic.
But now announcement of NWN Online
Lets look at facts.
BAD:
Atari = Rushed, half finished content.
Cryptic = Too busy studio. Developing One super hero and one SciFi classic , MMO. No experience in roleplaying fantasy games.
D&D 3.5 = does not translates good to online games
GOOD:
D&D = You can not go wrong with that
Forgotten Realms = Probably single best franchise for MMO , can not believe it was still untapped
D&D 4th ed = New edition is almost crafted to be adaptable to MMO. In fact it plays like MMO allready
So shortly
Concerned that its developed by Cryptic and not Bioware ()
But 4th edition (hopefully) D&D , and Forgotten Realms ... its dream come true
Comments
cool, I'll have to read up on this.
I always loved that game.
Can this be one of the reasons of DDO going free to play?
Wow...just wow....this is a good thing. I hope they can do it justice.
Keep in mind that Bioware is not involved in this MMO, so don't expect anything like what you have previously experienced with Neverwinter Nights. All you'll get is another version of D&D. What does Neverwinter Nights REALLY have to offer? No really unique world or settings, nothing that hasn't been done over and over. Really it will come down to the kind of gameplay they are able to introduce...
I wonder if cryptic is going to make it...
You know...
I'm a huge fan of NwN1 (NwN2 is a shadow of NwN1, with a nicer looking engine, IMO). It was my first real experience with multiplayer online RPGs and I played it non-stop for 1.5 years before I "discovered" MMOs.
I still play it to this day.
Somehow, though, I just can't get excited about this announcement :-/.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
It sounds like it. I hope they do.
Can't see it happening that quick because Cryptic is working on two MMO's for now, hopefully 38 Studios gets in on the action as they have knowledge of the AD&D universe too. This is one MMO to be on the watch list.
Big fan of NWN. Played it for many years. It's a wait and see until we find out more.
Some of the key things that made NWN popular and long lasting is the community. The amount of dedication, esspecially on the Roleplay/ Social servers have gone through all forms of difficulties whether being of gameplay or short comings of content flexibility (i.e. NWN2 compared to NWN1 mod/game/hak customizing).
The second big piece of the puzzle, of course have been the GM/DM's, again pointing towards the social aspect of holding events or story driven adventures that carry one past the initial games story.
The news of NWN being a mmo neither excites or moves me, solely because of the overall nature of MMO's and who they are catering to when it comes to a community. I just do not see Atari favoring the aspects that made their past NWN games shine.
Until more information arrives, will just have to wait and see.
Hope they don't F it up.
To be honest Wizards of The Coast mucked AD&D up when they released the 3rd edition ruleset.
I hope it's set in the whole of the Forgotten Realms so Baldurs gate and Icewind dale is in it as well, but I will be playing this as well.
Wow, it's like my wet dream coming true!
EA is bad juju for an mmo, IMHO of corse.
If they try to keep the core concept, (which is to give players the possibility to create their content inside of the already existing game content be it even on instance) it does have potential.
Creativity : The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods or interpretations; using originality, progressiveness, or imagination.
Well regarding how much I yawned at Star Trek Online so far I guess I'll pass my turn.
IMO, Bioware not being involved is a big deal. This is just another MMO announcement until proven different IMO.
so...
I always thought this would be a good followup for D&D online. There is a lot of material to work with.
However, my motto remains: "It's all vaporware until I get my beta invite"
Torrential: DAOC (Pendragon)
Awned: World of Warcraft (Lothar)
Torren: Warhammer Online (Praag)
Finally...
I played both NWN and NWN2 persistant worlds and always thought that they should of made an MMO out of it. Although I was pretty impressed on amateur player made content I could only imagine what a big studio could do.
Teifling rogue/assassin/invisible blade/wizard all the way, it's the closest thing to ninja as you can get.
Like I commented on the news post:
If there's a "weak link" in this announcement it's the AD&D franchise, not Cryptic. Cryptic to me was always just a step away from MMO greatness, and especially after they've had a chance to realize how much players value things like crafting and loot I think they're probably an extremely solid developer at the moment.
AD&D as a franchise on the other hand, imposes all sorts of retarded constraints on design to make a game potentially suck. You have to somehow take the uber-simplistic combat of AD&D (it's a tabletop RPG so combat simple on purpose) and make it interesting in an MMO environment. Also, at least prior to 3e where I stopped playing, the base game is plagued by serious class imbalances if we're talking about an MMO with strong emphasis on combat.
One of AD&D's biggest disadvantages being that if you ask "What is AD&D about?" to 10 people, you'll get 10 different answers - so an AD&D MMO has to deal with ridiculous customer expectations. At least latching onto the NWN license relieves a lot of these expectations, because that already indicates to potential players what type of gameplay they should expect.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
I hit it up for years also. You play on any persistant worlds?
Glad to see a D&D project in the works.
Hard to get excited about it at this point, with so little info to go on. NWN was great, NWN2 not so hot.
I don't know what sort of MMORPG they have planned, but it definitely has potential.
What I liked about NWN was the style of game play and being intrigued with the NWN world and its npc characters. NWN would be an awesome mmo if they followed the same sytle as NWN.
Great news ( generally two great D&D news today)
Original NWN was in my oppinion one of the greatest games of all times - but not because the game itself , more because of modding community. And Online persistant worlds - owned an developed by community.
NWN2 was a big disapointment. It was basically worse than first one in every aspect. Except graphic.
But now announcement of NWN Online
Lets look at facts.
BAD:
Atari = Rushed, half finished content.
Cryptic = Too busy studio. Developing One super hero and one SciFi classic , MMO. No experience in roleplaying fantasy games.
D&D 3.5 = does not translates good to online games
GOOD:
D&D = You can not go wrong with that
Forgotten Realms = Probably single best franchise for MMO , can not believe it was still untapped
D&D 4th ed = New edition is almost crafted to be adaptable to MMO. In fact it plays like MMO allready
So shortly
Concerned that its developed by Cryptic and not Bioware ()
But 4th edition (hopefully) D&D , and Forgotten Realms ... its dream come true
Well sa long as they do it right its DREAM COME TRUE for me
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