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First Weekend impression
Elikal
Member UncommonPosts: 7,912
So I decided to toss in my impressions as well.
I must say, I have still a very hard time to make my mind. Sure, I know what to expect of Cryptic, and it was absolutely clear I didn't expect a triple A MMO. Not that any tripe A MMO in the last few years was any good, maybe besides GW2.
Anyway. I don't know what to think. I played a Rogue to level 12, a Warrior and Mage to level 5 and a friend played Cleric to level 12, and I played his Cleric on level 12 a bit further. So not much. 
First, I think the world looks good. Sorry, I don't see why people bash the look of the world. Sure, GW2 is leagues better, but the dungeons are nice, classic and the city of Neverwinter looks like a good old D&D city, buzzing with life and atmopshere. Sure, the chars don't look so great, but given that you see them most of the time from behind and far away, I can life with it.
One of the mayor issues I found was the controls. At first I didn't have a problem, but when I had all attacks after level 10, when mobs get larger and more numerous and harder, it was mostly a mindless clickfest. The elegant tactics I was able to apply at early levels was entirely gone, and I found myself just slamming out attacks more or less blindly, because the mobs were toe to toe in a second and way too dangerous to give me any time to think. Coupled with the fact that I am rooted while attacking until the entire animation is finished, that make combat "difficult" or rather, chaotic. After playing beyond level 10 in that Orc area I found myself exhausted very quickly. Respawn was UNBELIEVABLY quick, kill now, back later in 2 seconds, which made exploring and looking around virtually impossible. It's pure hectic, which alas is something familiar from Champions Online.
I am also VERY unhappy with the potions system. Chars other than Cleric don't have self-heals and depend entirely on potions, and sorry that's just yesterday's news. It creates a dependency on others in MMO gameplay which we just left behind for good. I could play my friend's Cleric at ease, but the Mage was horrible to play. Mobs were close by in moments, most attacks are single mob attacks so no AOE, and without self-heal or anything the Mage was drinking potions like silly. NOT a pleasant experience at all. At least the Rogue had this decoy as saving grace to give some lenience. Still a 2013 MMO just *has* to have a self heal for all classes. Period. Only then can players experience some sort of independence, which was the bane of past MMOs. (No, I am NOT arguing about this, I recall how many people used to bitch about "forced grouping" even back in Everquest days!) It's not a deal breaker, but it makes relaxing soloing for anyone but Clerics virtually impossible, because you will solo all the time on your toes and waste tons of money into potions. Sorry, but that's just not fun. A normal regen of HP or a self heal is what I think is mandatory in a 2013 MMO.
I participated in 2 skirmishes, but I didn't see much cooperation. People just spammed out their attacks. *shrug* Maybe it was because people were new, but I still feel strongly that the cooperation days are past, and shoving that down people's throats can't be so good.
The game apparently has a ton of events and stuff going on, which is good, but I felt it was VERY difficult to find out what is what. Also basic questions like "where do I get identify scrolls?" was something nobody could answer. I mean, really, indentify scrolls? 2013? Not sure this sticking to roots is such a good idea here. You really can overdo retro. Identification does really not add any immersion or fun in my book.
Longevity is something VERY difficult to answer at this point. I enjoyed my time, really, I did. But I did not miss the game when I did something else. I didn't feel the addiction or calling other MMOs caused, even MMOs like SWTOR at least for a while. It's a retro game. I don't mind the dungeon focussed idea. And since Cryptic belongs to PWE, their games STO and CO got regular new content, which bodes well for Neverwinter. And since it is F2P, I don't look too harsh on it. Still, I imagine in today's harsh and competitive MMO market it may have a hard time to establish a playerbase. People already got into "bash mode" often relatively unbased IMO. There is stuff to critizise, but often I feel people critizise it for the wrong reasons, or at least no reason I can understand. Neverwinter surely isn't the MMO revolution, but I still think it has a good fundament for a solid MMO and fun for some time.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Comments
Agree on the way the world looks - it is fine.
Agree that the characters could look better.
I'm level 17 on a Guardian (my first weekend as well) and I haven't found myself spamming anything at random. I still have some finesse in combat. I prefer the shield mechanic over the dodge mechanics of the other classes (and I did try them all).
I have a couple of heals, but they are generally lack luster or on a longer cooldowns. I probably pop potions less than a Wizard or Thief, but still much more than the Cleric. I can say I have not purchased a single potion so far, the ones that mobs drop have been sufficent for everything I have faced so far.
To me the game feels like some odd hybrid of standard MMO features with a dash of Diablo and Tera. I find it fun for now, but the make or break feature is the Foundry, which none of us have access to yet.
well not none of us:P
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 totally agree with the OP. The caster classes (since they are rooted when attacking) just have to spam their attacks and stand toe to toe with foes, there is no other way to do it. You can't kite and you can't stop the mobs from being on you nearly instantly, so the combat evolves into a rush to kill before your hp runs out.
Now maybe the melee classes are different, but I played the cleric and though it was very easy given I can self heal, the combat tactics dictated by the game mechanics mean you just stand there and click your left and right mouse button with an occassional keybind attack. This will get old very very fast for players who like to play casters and use their minds a bit.
There is basically no resource to manage so the optimal play is to click as fast as you can (or just hold the button down) but regardless, you have no downside to attacking at anytime. If you had a mana bar to manage there would be some strategy in your timing of attacks and whatnot, but with only a cooldown on a couple abilities and action points to fill up a giant dice before you can use another big ability, spamming your at will powers constantly is the way the game is meant to be played. Very unfortunate.
that's one of the main reasons I hate rooting in this game.. aside from it looking/feeling clumsy. You have a ton of mobs rushing you in this game, you can dodge but with stamina pretty much same as gw2 you only can in limited amounts while it refills.. The mobs move so fast you dodge and a second later they are on top of you again so it's almost pointless except when dodging a big attack..
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
Pretty much my own thoughts.
I like the graphics, really. The city feels so nice and alive, so real, with just the right atmosphere, same as the dungeons. There are games with better graphics than NWO that don't manage to bring that atmosphere by far, that feeling of being in a real city that I get with NWO. I would mention a few examples, but I don't want to offend anyone so I won't.
I've done a few skirmishes and a dungeon delve and while the skirmishes are chaotic, the dungeon delve did require more coordination. I joined a PuG for this since I managed to outlevel my leveling partners, and we wiped at the first boss. Yeah. I mean, you can say the PuG was bad, but wiping at the first boss of the first dungeon is something I don't think I had ever experience, considering these dungeons are usually dumb-proof to allow players to learn the ropes. In that aspect, I'm satisfied. The game is not so easy as some like to picture it (admittedly, people who say that never bothered to play beyond level 6 and think the hand-carried tutorial is how the whole game's gonna be).
And then there is the Foundry. We don't have access to it yet (at least the most of us) but I happen to have been playing the old Neverwinter Nights game for years, modding content, worlds, adventures, quests, and playing what others created as well, and I can't be excited enough about this feature. I said in some other thread that if NWO wasn't really a game, and just a toolset for creating adventures based in Forgotten Realms with modern graphics, that'd be still good enough for me. The gaming industry needs to allow users to create their own content, and really, that it will be based in Forgotten Realms makes it just perfect. But what's better. You prefer the Middle Earth? Sure! Create adventures based on the Middle Earth. Nobody's gonna tell you "dude, you're using the Foundry, it has to be Forgotten Realms stuff". You like Ravenloft? Go for it! Eberron? Pirates of the Caribbean? I don't know... Troy? The possibilities are just endless and will be limited only by the talent and dedication of the creator.
You could virtually create a setting by yourself, with heroes and villains, all-new lore encompassed in a campaign that chains twenty different quests in twenty different dungeons where each decission you took in each dungeon matters for the final outcome at the end of the series, and make it so that it is practically impossible for two people to take all the same decissions. Yeah, about that, I am very excited.
My opinion is my own. I respect all other opinions and views equally, but keep in mind that my opinion will always be the best for me. That's why it's my opinion.
They are called control wizards, and they are very handy for dispersing groups of mobs when you become surrounded. Although I'm pretty sure every class has an AOE knockdown/knockback power.
Sometimes the best defense is a good offense. Positioning in combat is the key to success in this game and the rooted attacks and limited stamina really emphasises that. In short, unless you are a Guardian Fighter, you should never begin your attacks facing a monster's front.
control wizard does not have much CC early on at all.. the ice ray is pretty useless as it only hits one enemy and takes couple seconds of channeling till it actually freezes them by then you have 5 other mobs smacking you in the face.
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 feel if they had just made a traditional MMO (WoW Clone type) with the foundry addition included they would have been golden. Some of the foundry missons people have come up with so far are pretty good and I can see some excellent lore and story coming in the future from dedicated creators. Instead though, they decided to clone games like Vindictus and Dragon nest.... and themepark MMO gamers seems to be pretty split on whether or not they prefer Action Instance crawling (like Vindictus) and world questing (like the traditional MMO).
Sadly, I prefer the traditional type. When you have aimed combat but do the same damage when aiming at their finger as you do when aiming at the head, it's not twitch gaming.. it's just a different way of getting the exact same result as tab targeting, except with less control. Plus it soft locks targets anyway. With the rogue I noticed it often attacked the nearest enemy when I attacked without directly aiming at an enemy. Sometimes it chained the end of default attack combos onto the nearest enemy automatically if you kept the button held down after the first target died as well.
I get that some like this type of thing but it's not for me. Which is a shame because I had high hopes for this game at one point.
You're joking, right? The range on Ice Ray is so long you should be able to freeze 2 mobs before the pack gets to you. Follow it up with a tranglehold, teleport, and ice spike, and use your daily if you're still surrounded. Try stacking Life Steal items and watch as Ice Ray becomes your most potent spell. Or better yet, once you get the AOE splat that covers the ground in ice, putting chill stacks on anyone that walks thru it, and now you can land freezing hits in a moment of Ice Ray. Not to mention the feat tree that increases the AOE splat also affects the recharge time on your stranglehold. Once you get the Shield spell, your control wizard should be practically invinceable.
ill play with it more but so far found most areas have to many mobs to efficiently CC and dodge.. you don't generally get the luxury of just sitting back and freezing things when enemies are coming from multiple directions.. but ill give it another go later tonight
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 don't understand this quote from OP:
I am also VERY unhappy with the potions system. Chars other than Cleric don't have self-heals and depend entirely on potions, and sorry that's just yesterday's news. It creates a dependency on others in MMO gameplay which we just left behind for good.
This boggles my mind... MMOs were supposed to be about depending on others... we have single player games for pure solo play. So it seems that this is really a thought that has in my mind destroyed what the MMO scene has been for a while, It used to be about interedependence between players . .. you know, because we were all online together..
It just goes to show more and more that for me personally MMOs died a while ago and we wil never go back. ( maybe ) which is why i can't get into anything released bascially after vanguard
but we have DDO and I very much enjoy that game and will stick to that + Vangurd for my online needs. Sadly year afer year the graphics get more and mroe dated ( espeically in DDOs case ).
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
Did you note how in skirmishes people didn't work together? Made me laugh.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
I'm in the same shoes myself, can't make my mind...
I skipped the first weekend due to work so this was my first time in the game. As a long-term CO and STO (and CoH) player I like Cryptic's work so I couldn't wait for playing Neverwinter. (Not to mention I'm fond of Forgotten Realms as well) And I can say that the game is awesome, lots of mechanics taken from CO / STO, graphics are cool, loved the lore pieces and the setting - I could go on with praising. And I haven't touched the Foundry yet (still leveling up my toons), I'm sure that will be awesome as well.
True, the pots are a slight problem derived from p'n'p era. Not a "VERY" big one, but I admit that at least some resting option would've been a nice addition, nowadays a game without some (even very slight and minimal) self regen is a bit odd. In p'n'p it was ok to make a camp to finish the day, but there you didn't had to fight every minute. (respawn rate is hilarious in Neverwinter, once I looted a group, checked the stuff in the bag, and during that the whole group respawned on me
) But I can live with this, vendors are full of pots anyways.
So, why is hard to make my mind? One word: Combat. I used to say that combat is insignificant, and it's the least important thing in a game for me - all I care about is that combat won't affect / wreck my fun with the game. Heck, I still play DCUO and RaiderZ sometimes and those have worse combat than a lame console title
I honestly can't put my finger on it, but Neverwinter's combat is somehow doesn't suit me. As Elikal wrote it's in a lot of cases only a mindless clickfest. It even reminded me some cases to Diablo, which I hated from the guts (and its clones as well 
), it isn't a good sign for the future...
So, I dunno. I really want to play more, take some alts to the level cap, etc. but I don't think Neverwinter will be one among my best mmo's. More likely I will log into it every once in a while and play some good stories in the Foundry. And I'm a bit sad about it, I really wanted to love Neverwinter...
Addition: Alas, it remains near UNPLAYABLE to me. I crash way too often. I do have the newest drivers and I tried to lower some settings, but no change. I may not have the newest computer, but Neverwinter isn't such a high end game anyway. Sigh. That really bugs me.
Crash crash crash.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
odd not a single crash hereI 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
So basicaly this is your basic cookie cutter themepark full of eye candy?
Serious question, and be honest
if your basic cookie cutter is a 3d diablo dungeon crawler type game with a robust dungeon creator than sureI 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
Cookie cutter? No. Neverwinter does too many things different than, say, WOW or LOTRO. Sorry I am a bit tired to write all the details why atm. ^^;
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Well reason i asked is 50% of the reviews say it is and 50% say its not. I like mixed reviews but i havent had the chance to try this out yet so kind of wondering is all. Im very picky on my mmorpgs why im trying to read and ask as many questions as possible
It's as many things a matter of perspective. For some game X is a WOW clone, for others not.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Mostly ever negative player reviews I've seen never got past the very first few levels of the game, seems hardly noteworthy. I found Spellplague story rather fun, the Orc Skirmishes were also fun to play with random party queue. If a review you have read hasn't even played til level 20 I'd stop reading it.
I'm really not thrilled with the cash shop however, yeah they give out diamonds...but in very small amounts......unfortunately seems like Neverwinter is going to make you spend cash. Say what you will about Perfect World, but I've played many of their games without feeling the need to spend cash, but Neverwinter seems to break that idea for me.
Hopefully it will change.....
I Played till 25 Thief this weekend. I enjoyed the game for what I was expecting since I never played DnD. I liked some of the ideas foundry had to offer. The rogue class was decently fun and Once it started getting a lot of feats it really started to change into how you wanted to play it. I didn't like only having 3 abilities though kinda felt locked in and didn't like it as much. Animations were kinda annoying also. I was angry with the dodge system since it wasn't as responsive as GW2's dodging.
overall generiously 7/10
Screw leveling games, give me something with "End game" at the beginning of the game.