Played in the 2nd Beta but could only manage 2/3 hours in B3 sorry found it very boring and went straight back to DDO, i know NW aint released yet but cant see the gameplay/game being anywhere as good as DDO...Just my opinion guys so dont start a Flaming pandemic..
I've only played this week-end BE3 for a couple hours, and to me it feels more like a reskinned CO trying to match a generic fantasy setting rather than being D&D.
Mobs, traps and loot in dungeons seem to be very evenly spread out so it becomes almost predictable (DDO has a more exciting setup for their instances IMHO).
To me it never felt like I'm actually playing D&D.
Only 1 story to walk through (from what I've gathered) will make for a boring replay value.
Foundry is a very strong asset to the game and I'll spend most of my time there to come up with good stories and adventures.
Cryptic should do away with the bulgy eyes on characters and the overall comical looks and of course fix the animations.
I played 2 classes this weekend, a Great Weapon swordsman to 14 and a Cleric to 26. The GWF i found to be totaly boring compared to my level 100 swordmaster in Warhammer Online, the Cleric was a breeze to play infact they were nerfed for this beta but still felt to op ... maybe in the higher levels it will be different but up untill 26 i found it easy. Locked in combat and not being able to move is a no no for me, but you can still kite with easy on the harder mobs / bosses.
I give it a 7/10, for a F2P game it is entertaining and at the end of the day that is what matters.
1. Graphics - Very good, not top notch but decent enough
2. Combat - Works great, the root in place is an added bonus for ranged weapon and magic users. I also didn't find it bothersome with my sword wielders not sure why most people have a problem with this.
3. UI - I think they did a good job on the UI, it's not over burden with too much on the screen and the hotbar was a nice touch as well, keeping it simple. Just remember this word 'KISS' - Keep It Simple Stupid
4. Gameplay - This is where I have a problem, the game is very linear quest wise. Would really have liked to seen more quest givers where you have more options quest wise. I hate following the same path as everyone else. Like some others have said feels like Dragon Age linear. It's not a complete deal breaker with Neverwinter just is a slight turnoff.
5. Story - Very well done, I can see they put alot of effort into each quest story especially the instance quest, it was refreshing.
5. Prices - Another problem I have is the amount of real cash they want for items. $40 to get a mount is ridiculous. I hope these were just beta prices not set in stone yet and they reduce the cost upon release otherwise this will be a deal breaker for most people.
I mean hell I'm debating whether to spend $59 on the game 'Defiance' let alone $40 for just a mount in 'Neverwinter', never gonna happen. I sure hope Cryptic lowers the prices. It's really an easy business model, low prices you'll make more money by selling more items. High prices means only a select few will be buying items thus will not make as much money, simple.
All in all though 'Neverwinter' will be a game most people will play for a while.
6/10. The game is fun but not great. If I wasn't a 20 year fan of the IP I probably wouldn't be interested in the launch.
For myself, I love the guardian fighter. It's not a mobile class at all, the only one that doesn't have some kind of quick movement ability with the shift, but compared to a lot of other tank classes it can actually hold up with dps and the survivability and support features are nice.
This is a game where I'll really have to control my desire to roll alts. Since there is only the one linear story, and the quests themselves aren't that interesting, I can tell it's going to have low replay value. I know I'll run through to end game once, see if the locations and characters I remember are introduced, and then see how the end game dungeons are.
Looking forward to hoarding up my astral coins and having an angel as my henchman.
Pretty boring to be honest. very similar stuff to what ive played before. I gues it would be ok to get into smack a dungeon and drop out. I spent more time in defiance ( loved it).
Leaves us with a firm 7/10 average, not to bad for a free to play game...
So that has me going back to SWTOR to finish my 2 main quests, and then i might try this one just to play till 50... It might be a fun PvE experience next to my GW2 PvPing.
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)
10 outta 10 for me. Completely enjoyed it. Was totally blown away by everything that matters. Combat was great, graphics were great, animations were fantastic, the game has lots of personality, the zombie dance is proof of that. PvP was hella fun and seriously addicting. both the guardian warrior and the rogue were both extremely fun to play as. Foundry stuff is just mind blowing, the things that are gonna come out of that will be amazing.
I thought the game was so MEH. I mean mobs not moving, staying in one place. The game reminds me of the very first Neverwinter I played, except that one was better.
Gave it a 7...not a 7 like the mass media would mean, but a 7 like I would.
It's alot of fun to play, nothing really sticks out cept for the Foundry and the combat. Im a pretty big fan of the combat. Would like more customization with my skills and what not, but it's not that bad and that's not what Im really looking for in this game anyway. Graphics are nice and character movement is really good a FTP title.
Quests are what they have been for the entire past of the MMO genre...nothing new, but not surprised. PVP is actually fun in this game and I typically hate PVP.
The one thing Im most looking foward to getting my hands on is the Foundry which seems like an awesome idea in a D&D IP'd game.
It's most certainly the best FTP (from launch) game that has come out and it's better than alot of games that didnt come out at launch as FTP.
It's not "god's gift to MMO fans" but it's certainly a good appetizer.
7/10 for me. Didn't have too much time to play this weekend and the few bugs I encountered were pretty annoying (infinite queue for an instance while in full party to name one) and the content that I did play I think was very well done. Game is not D&D and very railroaded so far (lvl 16), but the story told is very good...
Currently 6/10. Dont know how end game is yet, could be better or worse.
Pretty much every single aspect of Neverwinter is good or flawed but not great. So, your typical Cryptic game.
graphics - nice world graphics and some good monsters but the player character models are terrible. Armor was getting good at around level 30 but everything up to that point was terrible.
combat - functional but it didnt feel as good as Tera's combat. Aldo, putting GW2s dodge bar in didnt help at all.
lore - after reading the Forgotten Realms books that pertain to Neverwinter the lore of the game is a mixed bag. If you completely ignore the books that the game is supposed to be based on then its alright, if you take the books into consideration its bad.
Biggest complaint is that nearly everything is tied to Astral Diamonds. Even Runes of Magic wasnt this bad. Auction House is Diamonds only. Mounts = Diamonds. Companions = Diamonds. Dyes = Diamonds. Yeah, you get Diamonds by doing that pray thing omce and hour but its a small amount and everything costs a lot of Diamonds. Also, I do realise that it is Free to play and people buying Diamonds will be their main source of income but to gate so much of the game behind a pay wall so early may frustrate a lot of players, making them feel that they wont be able to do anything if they dont pay and pay through the nose.
PS - just pointing out that everyone lost their mind over the real money Auction House in Diablo 3 and no one says anything about Neverwinter's Auction House being Diamonds only. That Free to play effect I guess.
gave it a 4, I saw too much of cryptics over rushed low end product in it. Nothing grabbed me and sucked me in. I didn't play that long because of it. I am sure if you enjoy it more opens up, but for me there was nothing.
I wanted to try it really bad but like the did with champions and STO it just feels half assed, either that or a C student really gave it their all.
I've played Neverwinter in two beta weekends. I consider myself a hardcore D&D fan, thus my opinion is somewhat biased.
I think this Neverwinter MMO is a disgrace to both Forgotten Realms and the very name "Neverwinterr", which I have always loved -so-. Then again, the death of Forgotten Realms was pretty much the Fourth Edition for many of us old fans.
But! As an Action MMORPG, this new Neverwinter game is quite good and there is great hope with Foundry, but I have a feeling that it is a bit too restricted. I doubt we can have actual choises in the storylines etc. Of course I am going with just speculation, since I haven't got to try the Foundry out or played any of the Foundry quests.
If this was named "another generic fantasy MMO, but this time with ARPG gameplay" I would rate it higher. It's good at what it does mechanics wise, but that's where it comes down. The graphics I can live with, the horrible quests and "immersion" not. Derp, gather arrows from a battlefield, bring them to archers, they fire one salvo and nothing happens. Oh, because everyone did that a thousand times. Please, give me the benefit of illusion through instancing it just for me and having something actually go down.
I believe I will try the game a few months after it's release, but the more I read about it, the sadder it is. It could have been -so- much more. So different. So deep. Yet all we are given is this bastard D&D child.
Because whenever I think about D&D, I kind of... think about freedom of creation. None of this restricted armors and locked in classes crap. I'm a lover of 3.5e. I want multiclassing, I want feats, skills and all what comes along with the rules. I want melee wizards who grope you to death, I want clerics fighting with greatswords and I want bards in all their bardiness awesomeness. I want freedom of choise in spells, with all the old hardcore control spells (Sleep, hold, daze...)
Wait? I forgot to give it a score? Lets say 4 to 6.
I would give this a 7. i was not a huge fan of the combat gameplay but there are other highpoints.
I like the setting, the cities are well done, the feeling of narrow streets and alleyways is great. the cluttered markets, perfect. the lore is done very well and brings you into the game well.
I think the colour palate they used is a bit muted overall and could use a bit more brightness. i saddly did not get to try the foundy (the part I really want to see) but I think this is a game I could really get to like ... but then I am an OLD SCHOOL D&D person.
That is a bad intro quest, but most are not like that at all. It's not fair or accurate to characterize the entire quest library based on that example. Some of the quests are short, shallow, and lackluster. Many are rather interesting.
I can't believe you used that example though when the entire intro quest line, starting shipwrecked on the beach, has been done so many times it plays like "It was a dark and stormy night".
I got to level 15 on Devoted Cleric and 7 on Great Weapon Fighter.
Using the intro quest as an example was one what I made knowingly (SP? Engrish?)
Sadly, I couldn't find a single interesting or thought-provoking quest. There were like one or two good feeling dungeons what I played through in the entire time, and that was about it.
PS. I am not here to be fair when it comes to games. o
Originally posted by knightaudit
I like the setting, the cities are well done, the feeling of narrow streets and alleyways is great. the cluttered markets, perfect. the lore is done very well and brings you into the game well.
Cities are well done? Go stand in the auction house next to the market. There's a 10 meters view distance, from where commoners constantly appear, walk by you and disappear 10 meters the other way. It's like you're in some effing ghost city, watching shadows pass by. Thousands of them.
Also, I will hold to my previous post concerning the setting. Forgotten Realms was really torn apart (see what I did there?) with Fourth Edition.
But again, as a generic fantasy city? Despite all these hindrances, the city actually felt pretty nice, or at least the "peaceful" district did.
Very limited classes, even up to 50. Feat builds rarely define your character, but prevent using all your powers. Everything is on rails. Great for a game designer who is attempting to keep things balanced, but not so great on the fun factor.
Environments and quests are extremely well-made, definitely in the spirit of D&D and also fun as an MMO setting with good lore references. Foundry content is even better, as the authors who have made quests so far really went above and beyond to make some very fun adventures.
Items are limited by class, even though they are the exact same item stastisically, for another fighter/caster. Statistics make little to no difference as you level, and "choice" is defined as which 4 of 6 powers you place on your power bar.
Clerics not being able to heal themselves due to a "perk" introduced this weekend (which reduces all self-healing by 75%) shows how heavy-handed class balance will be. It's a terrible solution, and the really bad thing? Trickster Rogue and Devout cleric were the two funnest classes as stated by players through the last beta weekends. They're not bringing all the classes up to "fun", but getting rid of key class features which made the cleric fun to play. Some stated "cleric was OP", but not that many. And it really wasn't; it was well-balanced with the rogue.
Control Wizard was drastically improved, but the mechanics of frost/arcane stacks need a rework to synergize. Your powers either chill targets or build stacks of arcane on yourself, but no powers actually benefit from stacks of either one. It's a bad model which focuses you on arcane powers or frost powers, and limit your use of both.
Character creation and companion appearances offer less options than any of Cryptic's previous titles. VERY limited editing, no "stances", animations are glitchy or downright look bad.
Combat overall is very enjoyable, and has a great synamic and pace for all classes. As an action RPG, they did it pretty well. Less "rooting" because of animation time would be welcome, as it gets you killed sometimes, but overall, the "feel" of combat is right for an ARPG.
Dependnce upon consumables is, however, the defining trait which makes this game tedious. Potion chugging more frequently than even D3 await, even to level 42, and various bugs with ID scrolls and the number of un-IDed items you get are a pain to deal with.
Currently 6/10. Dont know how end game is yet, could be better or worse.
Pretty much every single aspect of Neverwinter is good or flawed but not great. So, your typical Cryptic game.
graphics - nice world graphics and some good monsters but the player character models are terrible. Armor was getting good at around level 30 but everything up to that point was terrible.
combat - functional but it didnt feel as good as Tera's combat. Aldo, putting GW2s dodge bar in didnt help at all.
lore - after reading the Forgotten Realms books that pertain to Neverwinter the lore of the game is a mixed bag. If you completely ignore the books that the game is supposed to be based on then its alright, if you take the books into consideration its bad.
Biggest complaint is that nearly everything is tied to Astral Diamonds. Even Runes of Magic wasnt this bad. Auction House is Diamonds only. Mounts = Diamonds. Companions = Diamonds. Dyes = Diamonds. Yeah, you get Diamonds by doing that pray thing omce and hour but its a small amount and everything costs a lot of Diamonds. Also, I do realise that it is Free to play and people buying Diamonds will be their main source of income but to gate so much of the game behind a pay wall so early may frustrate a lot of players, making them feel that they wont be able to do anything if they dont pay and pay through the nose.
PS - just pointing out that everyone lost their mind over the real money Auction House in Diablo 3 and no one says anything about Neverwinter's Auction House being Diamonds only. That Free to play effect I guess.
If diamond are anything like dilithium in STO(and they are exactly like dilithium), you'll earn diamonds for all types of stuff. Your real problem will actually be refining those diamonds into a useable currency. Since you can only refine so many a day. It's a gating function so that if you want stuff quickly, you either need to grind up a ton of alts to feed one character... Or you need to exchange Zen(real money currency) for diamonds at a player set exchange rate (determined by supply/demand)
7/10 for me but thats because I never got a chance to test what is possible with the Foundry. If it is as robust as they say it is its quite possible to jump up to a 9/10.
Its not a very indepth MMO and it doesnt offer alot of systems I would want out an MMO but what it does do it does very well and eveyr class I played (all 5 of them) to at least level 20 has me in a pickle what I want to play first. I may tire of its simplicity after a few months but what MMO released in the last 8 years claims to offer any replayability. With the Foundry all that could change it's quite possible that I may spend the majority of my time actually designing content rather then playing the actual game long after I have grown tired of the simplicity of it.
Sandbox means open world, non-linear gaming PERIOD!
Subscription Gaming, especially MMO gaming is a Cash grab bigger then the most P2W cash shop!
Bring Back Exploration and lengthy progression times. RPG's have always been about the Journey not the destination!!!
Comments
Played my rogue to lvl 16..
I realy dont like the graphic very much..way to dark and ugly
I realy dont like the animation it is very bad
I dont like when a game place's the mobs so close that there are no chance to just run straith forward without figtithing with every mob on the map..
To much instance/alone gameplay (mmo ??)
-----------------
I like the combat system
VOTED 5
6/10 for me...
Played in the 2nd Beta but could only manage 2/3 hours in B3 sorry found it very boring and went straight back to DDO, i know NW aint released yet but cant see the gameplay/game being anywhere as good as DDO...Just my opinion guys so dont start a Flaming pandemic..
I've only played this week-end BE3 for a couple hours, and to me it feels more like a reskinned CO trying to match a generic fantasy setting rather than being D&D.
Mobs, traps and loot in dungeons seem to be very evenly spread out so it becomes almost predictable (DDO has a more exciting setup for their instances IMHO).
To me it never felt like I'm actually playing D&D.
Only 1 story to walk through (from what I've gathered) will make for a boring replay value.
Foundry is a very strong asset to the game and I'll spend most of my time there to come up with good stories and adventures.
Cryptic should do away with the bulgy eyes on characters and the overall comical looks and of course fix the animations.
I gave it a 5.
I played 2 classes this weekend, a Great Weapon swordsman to 14 and a Cleric to 26. The GWF i found to be totaly boring compared to my level 100 swordmaster in Warhammer Online, the Cleric was a breeze to play infact they were nerfed for this beta but still felt to op ... maybe in the higher levels it will be different but up untill 26 i found it easy. Locked in combat and not being able to move is a no no for me, but you can still kite with easy on the harder mobs / bosses.
Game to me needs alot of improvement.
I give it a 7/10, for a F2P game it is entertaining and at the end of the day that is what matters.
1. Graphics - Very good, not top notch but decent enough
2. Combat - Works great, the root in place is an added bonus for ranged weapon and magic users. I also didn't find it bothersome with my sword wielders not sure why most people have a problem with this.
3. UI - I think they did a good job on the UI, it's not over burden with too much on the screen and the hotbar was a nice touch as well, keeping it simple. Just remember this word 'KISS' - Keep It Simple Stupid
4. Gameplay - This is where I have a problem, the game is very linear quest wise. Would really have liked to seen more quest givers where you have more options quest wise. I hate following the same path as everyone else. Like some others have said feels like Dragon Age linear. It's not a complete deal breaker with Neverwinter just is a slight turnoff.
5. Story - Very well done, I can see they put alot of effort into each quest story especially the instance quest, it was refreshing.
5. Prices - Another problem I have is the amount of real cash they want for items. $40 to get a mount is ridiculous. I hope these were just beta prices not set in stone yet and they reduce the cost upon release otherwise this will be a deal breaker for most people.
I mean hell I'm debating whether to spend $59 on the game 'Defiance' let alone $40 for just a mount in 'Neverwinter', never gonna happen. I sure hope Cryptic lowers the prices. It's really an easy business model, low prices you'll make more money by selling more items. High prices means only a select few will be buying items thus will not make as much money, simple.
All in all though 'Neverwinter' will be a game most people will play for a while.
6/10. The game is fun but not great. If I wasn't a 20 year fan of the IP I probably wouldn't be interested in the launch.
For myself, I love the guardian fighter. It's not a mobile class at all, the only one that doesn't have some kind of quick movement ability with the shift, but compared to a lot of other tank classes it can actually hold up with dps and the survivability and support features are nice.
This is a game where I'll really have to control my desire to roll alts. Since there is only the one linear story, and the quests themselves aren't that interesting, I can tell it's going to have low replay value. I know I'll run through to end game once, see if the locations and characters I remember are introduced, and then see how the end game dungeons are.
Looking forward to hoarding up my astral coins and having an angel as my henchman.
i scored 5/10.
Pretty boring to be honest. very similar stuff to what ive played before. I gues it would be ok to get into smack a dungeon and drop out. I spent more time in defiance ( loved it).
Leaves us with a firm 7/10 average, not to bad for a free to play game...
So that has me going back to SWTOR to finish my 2 main quests, and then i might try this one just to play till 50... It might be a fun PvE experience next to my GW2 PvPing.
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 thought the game was so MEH. I mean mobs not moving, staying in one place. The game reminds me of the very first Neverwinter I played, except that one was better.
Very bland game.
Gave it a 7...not a 7 like the mass media would mean, but a 7 like I would.
It's alot of fun to play, nothing really sticks out cept for the Foundry and the combat. Im a pretty big fan of the combat. Would like more customization with my skills and what not, but it's not that bad and that's not what Im really looking for in this game anyway. Graphics are nice and character movement is really good a FTP title.
Quests are what they have been for the entire past of the MMO genre...nothing new, but not surprised. PVP is actually fun in this game and I typically hate PVP.
The one thing Im most looking foward to getting my hands on is the Foundry which seems like an awesome idea in a D&D IP'd game.
It's most certainly the best FTP (from launch) game that has come out and it's better than alot of games that didnt come out at launch as FTP.
It's not "god's gift to MMO fans" but it's certainly a good appetizer.
7/10 for me. Didn't have too much time to play this weekend and the few bugs I encountered were pretty annoying (infinite queue for an instance while in full party to name one) and the content that I did play I think was very well done. Game is not D&D and very railroaded so far (lvl 16), but the story told is very good...
HEY! YouTube link is new to the forums..?
Currently 6/10. Dont know how end game is yet, could be better or worse.
Pretty much every single aspect of Neverwinter is good or flawed but not great. So, your typical Cryptic game.
graphics - nice world graphics and some good monsters but the player character models are terrible. Armor was getting good at around level 30 but everything up to that point was terrible.
combat - functional but it didnt feel as good as Tera's combat. Aldo, putting GW2s dodge bar in didnt help at all.
lore - after reading the Forgotten Realms books that pertain to Neverwinter the lore of the game is a mixed bag. If you completely ignore the books that the game is supposed to be based on then its alright, if you take the books into consideration its bad.
Biggest complaint is that nearly everything is tied to Astral Diamonds. Even Runes of Magic wasnt this bad. Auction House is Diamonds only. Mounts = Diamonds. Companions = Diamonds. Dyes = Diamonds.
Yeah, you get Diamonds by doing that pray thing omce and hour but its a small amount and everything costs a lot of Diamonds.
Also, I do realise that it is Free to play and people buying Diamonds will be their main source of income but to gate so much of the game behind a pay wall so early may frustrate a lot of players, making them feel that they wont be able to do anything if they dont pay and pay through the nose.
PS - just pointing out that everyone lost their mind over the real money Auction House in Diablo 3 and no one says anything about Neverwinter's Auction House being Diamonds only. That Free to play effect I guess.
gave it a 4, I saw too much of cryptics over rushed low end product in it. Nothing grabbed me and sucked me in. I didn't play that long because of it. I am sure if you enjoy it more opens up, but for me there was nothing.
I wanted to try it really bad but like the did with champions and STO it just feels half assed, either that or a C student really gave it their all.
My Thoughts on Content Locust
I've played Neverwinter in two beta weekends. I consider myself a hardcore D&D fan, thus my opinion is somewhat biased.
I think this Neverwinter MMO is a disgrace to both Forgotten Realms and the very name "Neverwinterr", which I have always loved -so-. Then again, the death of Forgotten Realms was pretty much the Fourth Edition for many of us old fans.
But! As an Action MMORPG, this new Neverwinter game is quite good and there is great hope with Foundry, but I have a feeling that it is a bit too restricted. I doubt we can have actual choises in the storylines etc. Of course I am going with just speculation, since I haven't got to try the Foundry out or played any of the Foundry quests.
If this was named "another generic fantasy MMO, but this time with ARPG gameplay" I would rate it higher. It's good at what it does mechanics wise, but that's where it comes down. The graphics I can live with, the horrible quests and "immersion" not. Derp, gather arrows from a battlefield, bring them to archers, they fire one salvo and nothing happens. Oh, because everyone did that a thousand times. Please, give me the benefit of illusion through instancing it just for me and having something actually go down.
I believe I will try the game a few months after it's release, but the more I read about it, the sadder it is. It could have been -so- much more. So different. So deep. Yet all we are given is this bastard D&D child.
Because whenever I think about D&D, I kind of... think about freedom of creation. None of this restricted armors and locked in classes crap. I'm a lover of 3.5e. I want multiclassing, I want feats, skills and all what comes along with the rules. I want melee wizards who grope you to death, I want clerics fighting with greatswords and I want bards in all their bardiness awesomeness. I want freedom of choise in spells, with all the old hardcore control spells (Sleep, hold, daze...)
Wait? I forgot to give it a score? Lets say 4 to 6.
We?re all dead, just say it.
I would give this a 7. i was not a huge fan of the combat gameplay but there are other highpoints.
I like the setting, the cities are well done, the feeling of narrow streets and alleyways is great. the cluttered markets, perfect. the lore is done very well and brings you into the game well.
I think the colour palate they used is a bit muted overall and could use a bit more brightness. i saddly did not get to try the foundy (the part I really want to see) but I think this is a game I could really get to like ... but then I am an OLD SCHOOL D&D person.
I got to level 15 on Devoted Cleric and 7 on Great Weapon Fighter.
Using the intro quest as an example was one what I made knowingly (SP? Engrish?)
Sadly, I couldn't find a single interesting or thought-provoking quest. There were like one or two good feeling dungeons what I played through in the entire time, and that was about it.
PS. I am not here to be fair when it comes to games. o
Cities are well done? Go stand in the auction house next to the market. There's a 10 meters view distance, from where commoners constantly appear, walk by you and disappear 10 meters the other way. It's like you're in some effing ghost city, watching shadows pass by. Thousands of them.
Also, I will hold to my previous post concerning the setting. Forgotten Realms was really torn apart (see what I did there?) with Fourth Edition.
But again, as a generic fantasy city? Despite all these hindrances, the city actually felt pretty nice, or at least the "peaceful" district did.
We?re all dead, just say it.
Very limited classes, even up to 50. Feat builds rarely define your character, but prevent using all your powers. Everything is on rails. Great for a game designer who is attempting to keep things balanced, but not so great on the fun factor.
Environments and quests are extremely well-made, definitely in the spirit of D&D and also fun as an MMO setting with good lore references. Foundry content is even better, as the authors who have made quests so far really went above and beyond to make some very fun adventures.
Items are limited by class, even though they are the exact same item stastisically, for another fighter/caster. Statistics make little to no difference as you level, and "choice" is defined as which 4 of 6 powers you place on your power bar.
Clerics not being able to heal themselves due to a "perk" introduced this weekend (which reduces all self-healing by 75%) shows how heavy-handed class balance will be. It's a terrible solution, and the really bad thing? Trickster Rogue and Devout cleric were the two funnest classes as stated by players through the last beta weekends. They're not bringing all the classes up to "fun", but getting rid of key class features which made the cleric fun to play. Some stated "cleric was OP", but not that many. And it really wasn't; it was well-balanced with the rogue.
Control Wizard was drastically improved, but the mechanics of frost/arcane stacks need a rework to synergize. Your powers either chill targets or build stacks of arcane on yourself, but no powers actually benefit from stacks of either one. It's a bad model which focuses you on arcane powers or frost powers, and limit your use of both.
Character creation and companion appearances offer less options than any of Cryptic's previous titles. VERY limited editing, no "stances", animations are glitchy or downright look bad.
Combat overall is very enjoyable, and has a great synamic and pace for all classes. As an action RPG, they did it pretty well. Less "rooting" because of animation time would be welcome, as it gets you killed sometimes, but overall, the "feel" of combat is right for an ARPG.
Dependnce upon consumables is, however, the defining trait which makes this game tedious. Potion chugging more frequently than even D3 await, even to level 42, and various bugs with ID scrolls and the number of un-IDed items you get are a pain to deal with.
If diamond are anything like dilithium in STO(and they are exactly like dilithium), you'll earn diamonds for all types of stuff. Your real problem will actually be refining those diamonds into a useable currency. Since you can only refine so many a day. It's a gating function so that if you want stuff quickly, you either need to grind up a ton of alts to feed one character... Or you need to exchange Zen(real money currency) for diamonds at a player set exchange rate (determined by supply/demand)
Solid 4.
It's cryptic. If they really worked on it, could be a 6. No more.
It is free so I really don't expect much.
Pain Gauge
7/10 for me but thats because I never got a chance to test what is possible with the Foundry. If it is as robust as they say it is its quite possible to jump up to a 9/10.
Its not a very indepth MMO and it doesnt offer alot of systems I would want out an MMO but what it does do it does very well and eveyr class I played (all 5 of them) to at least level 20 has me in a pickle what I want to play first. I may tire of its simplicity after a few months but what MMO released in the last 8 years claims to offer any replayability. With the Foundry all that could change it's quite possible that I may spend the majority of my time actually designing content rather then playing the actual game long after I have grown tired of the simplicity of it.
Sandbox means open world, non-linear gaming PERIOD!
Subscription Gaming, especially MMO gaming is a Cash grab bigger then the most P2W cash shop!
Bring Back Exploration and lengthy progression times. RPG's have always been about the Journey not the destination!!!
6/10
Rogue was good fun; then playing guardian to level 4 lost my interest.
Running around to loot gold that scatters became annoying very fast. Maybe they will add "gold pickup radius" to the cash shop.
Not gaining exp for killing individual monsters is another turn-off for me. I like having the option to mindlessly grind.
Voice acting was a good try, but I found myself ignoring the quest dialogue because Neverwinter just didn't draw me in.
Overall, Neverwinter lacked the D&D feel I was expecting. Turbine's DDO was a superior experience.
Foundry offered a glimmer of hope, but Cryptic needs to ask themselves "how can we make every other class as fun to play as Trickster Rogue?"