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[Preview] Neverwinter: Character Progression & Crafting Preview
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Over the last weekend, Neverwinter players were able to check out crafting for the first time and also got a look at the newly overhauled Skill and Feat acquisition panels. See what we discovered during our time in game and then leave your thoughts in the comments.
It’s likely that many people like me will continue this way in Neverwinter though I will admit to being pleasantly surprised with the ease of the crafting professions that the game comes with. Players will be able to choose from Leadership, Mailsmithing, Platesmithing, Leatherworking or Tailoring. If you check out the video below, you can get a good look at the types of things that each class can create, from the simplest to the most complex, and doubtless, most expensive items in the game.
Read more of Suzie Ford's Neverwinter Character Progression & Crafting Preview.
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Comments
Played it loved it and can't wait till the 25th.
I tested the Crafting but overall like you I am not a fan of crafting so I'm meh on it. It is however the only way I've seen so far to upgrade your shirt and pants so that is a good enough reason to use it. It's ver cost prohibited though so it's not something you will be skilling up to keep within your own actual level unless you had tons of Astral Diamonds to rush the jobs.
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!!!
I toyed with the crafting this weekend but have to say I'm not that keen on it and was a little disappointed. I expected a more traditional system but instead they have went for a system similar to the duty officer system in STO where you don’t directly do anything other than queue projects up. Currently I think it lacks depth, however if you don’t have much time to game but have access to a browser or portable device you can use the gateway to keep crafting outside of the game remotely which is pretty cool. You can also check your mail, the AH, your guild and character stats/gear using the gateway too.
The changes to character progression we're more than I was expecting and definitely add choice to the levelling process so overall I likes these changes and its impressive they were able to implement this so quickly, it also shows they listened to the forum chat after the last beta. If there was anything I didn’t like about this it was that it costs real money to respec although you shouldn’t need to respec much unlike other mmo games.
Overall you could definitely see things have moved forward this weekend and you never know the crafting may grow on me.
I was impressed by the newly implemented talent system. I was only able to actually get into the game for two hours do to just returning from vacation. The great sword fighter felt much better in regards to fluidity of the Dodge mechanic. Originally I was really turned off playing devoted cleric and trickster rogue due to the brief pause after the Dodge mechanic and the lack of fluidity of movement. Though the character movement seems still a little slow to me it seems bearable and may have been tweaked. The other main issue I felt with this game was for lack of better words choppiness as that it seems very flashy during combat movement that is the panning back and forth does not seem smooth. I turned the graphics down quite a bit I believe to medium. This did smooth out some of the choppy panning but did not completely eliminate it. Running a GTX 580 which is understandably old should be able to at least run the game smoothly on medium. Probably the biggest thing I hate about the game is that it seems the developers went crazy with the smudge brush, everything is so soft and running at 1080 P this leaves quite a bit to be desired as that it just does not have detail. I caught myself looking back and forth from one monitor to the other saying what a shame that so much detail was cut out.
I have to disagree that they "listened" to the players. The "skill buy system" is exactly like the old system except that you get to pick which order to buy skills. You still have the same lackluster skills as before which some are almost required to buy to meet requirements for the next rank.
If they had listened to players they would offer MORE abilities and not simply a different way of getting the ones you already had.
I have a feeling they've taken their cue from the f2p RTS games like Evony and Geropolis, where the construction times are so ridiculously long, you are virtually forced to use cash based resources like Astral Diamonds, in order to speed up the build times.
The saving grace of the crafting system is that you can start/finish jobs from the Gateway according to them... so you don't have to log constantly into the game, you can do it from the web.
Of course it's probably still designed to use Astral Diamonds (like everything else in the game).
Agreed, I had hoped for more options, not some virtually meaningless point system that essentially works out the way it did before. If nothing else, at least give flavor options, so that not everyone is using the same skills and animations for each individual class. For example, some wizards might use magic missile and cone of cold for their at wills, but for flavor, some wizards might opt for lightning bolts and cone of magical force for their at wills. Add fireballs for ice storms...etc.
Granted, I've played two of the betas and I really can't see myself investing any money in this game. I'm already growing bored with it. It's an action oriented DDO with half the complexity and half the dungeon crawl design quality. Half the classes and half the spells and abilities. Both feel more like lobby games than MMOs and both lack the kind of longevity I've come to expect from a MMO game.
I'm not sure why so many are applauding the new skill system, you almost have to choose everything to get to the next levels anyway.
As someone said, the illusion of choice.
"Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever." - Noam Chomsky
the system will only work if they add more powers.. as it stands now with the old system at max level you had access to more powers overall than you do with the new system. You also are limited even more by the fact you can't just take in and out powers whenever you want(unless you put points into them) as you could in the old system.. the old system gave everyone access to everything in your class at max level giving you the choice to pick and choose what you enjoyed using and feats were what was supposed to customize your character(feats just needed a overhaul).. the new system constrains you to whatever you put points into.. once you get enough points to unlock tier 3 is when you actually have "choice" in your powers as before that you have to get every power in each tree to move on so there is really no choice upto that point. But again it's still even more limiting than before as you don't have access to anymore powers that what was in the old system.
The next issue comes with respecs.. respecs as of now cost zen to do. So not only are you limited even more in the new system you are required to buy zen for real money or convert diamonds to zen to just respec.
So all in all the system WOULD work just fine if they added a slew of new powers across the board, as of now it's more limiting overall, giving players access to less powers at endgame compared ot the old way and making them spend money or diamonds to respec and try out something new, where in the old system no respecs were needed for powers and you could just drag which combination you liked the most to your bar... big thumbs down for me unless they happen to bring in a lot of new powers which I don't see happening anytime soon.
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 haven't played this at all so I'm asking all you guys that have had a chance to see for yourselves. How does crafted gear stack up to looted items?
The reason I ask is because most MMO's with crafting have items that are basically worthless because you can always loot better, or get better as quest rewards. The only games I've seen where crafted gear is the best are those that have a system where all gear is crafted.
Anyone like to comment?
What they're saying isn't actually accurate.
You do have to spend points in just about everything, but you get an option of spending one or two points in each skill. So the ones that you like the most, you can spend two points in. It sort of makes sense, because maybe you don't think you need a skill, so don't put any points into it - but then find yourself in a dungeon where you wish you had it...
The comment about not having all the skills at maximum level is a bit baffling... that is what customoization is. Having all the skills just makes all the players the same.
this new one is actually closer to the real 4E ruleset compared to the old version.. but the real 4E has more options to choose from overall which is the main issue with the system right now just needs more power options to pick from
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
not in a game where you are so limited to the number of active skills at once and with such a small overall power pool.. much like guild wars 1. The same class all had access to the same pool of skills you just had a ton of choices and only could use a small amount at any given time.. that's where customization comes in not by limiting you on the choices of powers you get
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
Doesn't really matter as its done while you do other things. ie while your adventuring your crafter hrireling is busy working away. yes i guess if you just absolutly had to have that item right now you might be tempted to use AD's but really thats not a case of you needing the item to do anything just a case of wanting it faster.
I'm very much a fan of time-based crafting systems such as the ones present in EVE and YPP.
Requiring a cost (such as time) other than the base materials results in the crafted goods being worth more than the sum of their components.
When you buy a crafted item, you're paying someone else to wait out that amount of time for you. If you spend astral diamonds to skip that time, you're going to be crafting at a loss. The patient crafters, however, will more than likely profit.
Trust me, timesinks are very, very good for crafting.
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss
I dont have a problem with only having a few skills/powers available at a given time.Every other MMO out there gives you so many skills its mind boggling sometimes.Look at EQ2 for example.That game has a rediculous amount of skills.When you need a spreadsheet to figure out which skills to take and what rotation you need for a given situation Im done.Thats just me.Some people like that sort of thing and thats fine.I used to but I dont have that much time these days like I used to for game time.So a simpler system which works is fine.My philosophy these days is "More isnt always better".
Agree with 99% of the review. I had an awesome weekend again. However I did not like how in the reviewit is not mentioned that the re spec token needed to reset all your skill points can only be bought with Zen and costs 5 dollars (yes u can grind foe Astral Diamonds to buy the 5oo zen required and not pay 5 dollar but it will take quite a while).
Now that the game has more of a build orientated gameplay the necessity to experiment with builds becomes a major part of the game and charging 5 dollars everytime you want to try and improve your build is for me a sure way to reduce the player base rapidly.
“I expected a more traditional system but instead they have went for a system similar to the duty officer system in STO where you don’t directly do anything other than queue projects up.”
You can’t get more easymode than that.
You still need the materials. I don't see how adding a time cost and removing the need for a workstation makes crafting any easier.
It's not engaging, sure, but that doesn't mean it's any easier than your average crafting system.
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss
If you still need materials that means gathering is not easier. Crafting which just involves you picking something that then gets crafted, well that is shopping in my book..