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[Dev Journal] Neverwinter: Rob Overmeyer on The Foundry
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Cryptic Studios has teamed up with MMORPG.com to bring our readers an exclusive developer blog written by Foundry Producer Rob Overmeyer. If you've been dying to know more about The Foundry, head through the jump and then to the comments to let us know what you think.
There are very few limitations when it comes to the content an author can make in the Foundry. Whether it is a quick rescue of a drunken dwarf in the Chasm, or a deep delve into the history and lore of the Forgotten Realms, authors can create an array of different quests. We support this creativity with tools that allow you to customize the look and feel of everything, from friendly contacts to the critters players will fight. Our costume editor allows for nearly endless customization of every person or thing you’ll come across in a quest. Within the quests you can really tune the experience for players by having elements of your quest be special for players with specific skills. And this is just the start; there is so much more that can be done with the Foundry.
Read more of Rob Overmeyer's Neverwinter: Rob Overmeyer on The Foundry.
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Comments
If f2p is the only thing keeping you back, then you're missing out. As much as I would prefer it have a subscription instead of a cash shop - this game is so worth playing.
The game is definitely worth playing just by itself. The Foundry just makes it a lot better - a feature that's pretty rare in this genre.
Given the crap that has passed for "quests" in other games for so long, the Foundry stuff I've played so far have been really good by comparison.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
I wonder why the recent reduction to xp/drops was not mentioned. That goes a LONG way to reducing the desirability of playing the Foundry. That said, I don't think Cryptic tested the mission dynamics much, nor gave any guidelines as to what would be considered an "exploitable" mission. It is clear that Cryptic did not want people to advance in levels too quickly, without the need to use the cash shop more often.I don't think this is true at all.
The level curve in Neverwinter is no different to the level curve in most MMOs. The Foundry exploit allowed people to get to cap in a matter of hours in a single sitting. That was broken. Foundry still gives a decent amount of experience.
I've hit 60 on one of my characters, and I have spent a dime.
I agree with you. They fixed some exploits, which is what we want them to do.
Foundry missions are definitely worth doing.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
If you play the game as it's intended, the leveling curve is exceptionally fast. Most casuals will hit the cap in probably 3-4 weeks.
Non-exploitive foundry missions will reward comparable xp to similar Crytpic created content. The change wasn't a global "nerf" to cover up an exploit, it was an actual fix to the exploit itself. I understand there are gamers out there that hold grudges and will find -anything- to scream about (and usually about games they don't even play!)
The only players truly impacted by the change are those who intended to take advantage of the exploit.
Because it isn't really necessary to mention. The xp reduction was necessary to avoid exploiting, and as for the drop reduction...that's just a false rumor. I have not noticed a reduction in drops at all (in fact, I tend to get more stuff like ID scrolls in the foundry than in the regular game, although that could just be luck).
And as for the guidlines part, thats because they expected most people to be respectable and create the kinds of things you would expect out of a dungeon master, not an "exploitable mission". It is clear that they did nto want people to advance in levels too quickly using exploits; if what you said is true, then xp would have been reduced in foundry and non foundry quests/mobs, not foundry quests/mobs only.
Since when is Tuesday a direction?
Very few limitations? My ass. They COMPLETELY missed the mark with the foundry when they decided to not allow persistent world creation or DM hosted events. This just feels a generic thempark on rails MMO that is faceroll content with no progressive endgame.
Foundry just substitutes quests in Neverwinter to keep people entertained. The Foundry needed to be a lot more extensive with immersion as immersion is not there.
I wonder why the recent reduction to xp/drops was not mentioned. That goes a LONG way to reducing the desirability of playing the Foundry. That said, I don't think Cryptic tested the mission dynamics much, nor gave any guidelines as to what would be considered an "exploitable" mission. It is clear that Cryptic did not want people to advance in levels too quickly, without the need to use the cash shop more often.And as for the guidlines part, thats because they expected most people to be respectable and create the kinds of things you would expect out of a dungeon master, not an "exploitable mission". It is clear that they did nto want people to advance in levels too quickly using exploits; if what you said is true, then xp would have been reduced in foundry and non foundry quests/mobs, not foundry quests/mobs only.
More like, there were no guidelines, because Cryptic did not care enough to figure out ahead of time, what the overall effects on the game would be. It was only when they figured out how people killing 30-40 ogres at a time, would not only advance quickly, but also be able to avoid using the cash shop, due to the high item drop rates for healing potions and the like. So, until they figured out it was costing them money, they did nothing. And as to nerfing the XP/drops only in the foundry and not in the non-foundry, they are doing it. Why? Because Cryptic can control the spawns all they want in the main game, but not in the foundry, so people can/could stack creatures in such a way to offer the most benefit. Thus, they nerf the Foundry rates for drops/xp. Because they are certainly not going to take the time to review every single player generated mission, forever.You are wrong on many levels. Allow me to address, not that you care mind you because your Jaded remarks are quite apparent what side of the fence you think you are.
From your post, I established the following. 1) You don't think this is a fault of the exploiters and that it's Cryptics fault. 2) You think their nerf is cash shop related.
Well you are wrong, wrong and wrong again.
1) No game states what is an exploit. Why would they make a game with an intended exploit? They don't want people exploiting things! It would be like a Blizzard releasing D3 and OPENLY saying in the forums 'By the way people, there's a way to duplicate gold with the auction house. Please don't do that. It's bad'.
Further to that point, it's common sense that you don't cheat or exploit in a game. You just don't make a guideline about such things.
Now, people are guilty here and horribly so as they knew what they were doing and that they shouldn't be. I know this because every day in Zone chat I saw messages saying 'Looking for CW for 'X' Mission before patch fixes it' or 'LFG to do X Map before its taken down'.
Exploits are always existing tools and systems in-game that are abused or used that was never their intended purpose. That fits the bill here and people knew it.
In addition they did reduce the xp as their answer, but after revision they amended it back up again. Baring in mind at this point the game was not even a week old (7 days) out of open beta I think they did very very well in addressing the issue.
Your other remark about cash shop is just snide and stupid. I'm sorry, but it really is. There are other things in game impacted by this which you clearly not aware off. But let's start simple...
1) Nothing in the cash shop would help those people get to the level that they did. Closest thing there is, is an XP buff that's capped at like 4000 experience. Everything else is cosmetic, pets, companions, mounts, professions etc. So, how would getting to level 60 quickly prevent a cash flow in zen store? It wouldn't those that stay will still use it.
2) I'm near level 40, joined a guild with people my level around 100 or so, I know at least 20 of those people exploited. Now, assume theres 100k people that is 20000 people exploiting (rough figures, could be more or less). Now im 40, those in my peer group that exploited are 60 thus it is now harder for me to group up and do dungeons and skirmishes with people my level. It has effectively taken over players away for people to party with.
In addition those that exploited got to 60 with horrid gear, as such I have seen people at 60 say they were looking for boosts from other level 60's in order to get level 60 green gear. Who does that benefit? It either makes people farm low level areas and they steam-roll everything or they become a detriment in higher level content because they are not geared for it.
It has not added a single thing to my gaming experience but i still see it as a really good idea.it allows MANY gamer's that never knew anything about designing a game map and how to lay it out.The more knowledge more gamer's have is imo a very good thing.
Eventually developers won't be able to pull the wool over anyone's eyes,when they talk smack we LOL,when they try to sell us a lemon we LOL.
IO should make one point.There is a HUGE limitation >>>IMPORTING.If they allowed users to import,it would create MUCH more versatility in the system.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I wonder why the recent reduction to xp/drops was not mentioned. That goes a LONG way to reducing the desirability of playing the Foundry. That said, I don't think Cryptic tested the mission dynamics much, nor gave any guidelines as to what would be considered an "exploitable" mission. It is clear that Cryptic did not want people to advance in levels too quickly, without the need to use the cash shop more often.And as for the guidlines part, thats because they expected most people to be respectable and create the kinds of things you would expect out of a dungeon master, not an "exploitable mission". It is clear that they did nto want people to advance in levels too quickly using exploits; if what you said is true, then xp would have been reduced in foundry and non foundry quests/mobs, not foundry quests/mobs only.
More like, there were no guidelines, because Cryptic did not care enough to figure out ahead of time, what the overall effects on the game would be. It was only when they figured out how people killing 30-40 ogres at a time, would not only advance quickly, but also be able to avoid using the cash shop, due to the high item drop rates for healing potions and the like. So, until they figured out it was costing them money, they did nothing. And as to nerfing the XP/drops only in the foundry and not in the non-foundry, they are doing it. Why? Because Cryptic can control the spawns all they want in the main game, but not in the foundry, so people can/could stack creatures in such a way to offer the most benefit. Thus, they nerf the Foundry rates for drops/xp. Because they are certainly not going to take the time to review every single player generated mission, forever./snip
Perhaps I will need to make it a bit more simple. I blame Cryptic for not figuring out people would do this in the first place. Did they not think people would build maps to farm? People in other games that had player generated content did the very same thing. And further, did they not expect people to make maps to farm, when they could pile up stacks of ID scrolls and various potions and other things that people would otherwise have to buy from the shop? Of course players will. So you need to make sure your tool set doesn't allow that too much. And further, when people were beating up the ogre boxes, they did need to buy anything out of the cash shop, when if they played normally, there would be more of that (healing potions, rez scrolls and the like). But they must have noticed they were not seeing the anticipated sales of particular items, associated with normal gameplay needs, and thus the reduced revenue, and figured out why. And not before. And thus the nerfs. When it is a PWE game, it is all about the money. Always.This would require a lot of effort by the auther, so I don't know how involved the stories can or will be. But I would love the chance to play through some great stories as an end game. I haven't had a chance to play through more than a handfull, but two were good chained campaigns with good story telling.
How many people long for that "past, simpler, and better world," I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them?
R.A.Salvatore
hallo ~_~
Agree with this. You can very easily do all the content without spending a dime. That includes the endgame dungeon crawls. However, if you are the type of player that wants to min/max every aspect of their character, you are in for an expensive and/or very time consuming experience.
If f2p means you don't play the game then I guess there is like what.......3 mmo's you play?
Then you are out of luck cause there will not be a new server.....in fact the 3 servers they have now they plan on merging into 1 server very soon.
^ this.
Limited class and races were a problem for me going in. My first run at this game was as a "tank." After failing horribly on the first dungeon I quit. I shortly (after a week) rer-olled a rogue...Again, I don't much care for the whole "You are X type of class" at character creation, but oh well. I fared much better, and enjoyed some pvp after several missions. Then I ran my first foundry mission. There was no way to exit when I was dropped into the dungeon. After beating the first group of baddies, I was unable to progress, as more baddies were attempting to attack me through a closed gate, and there was no way I could open it, since they were trying to attack me the moment I got within X length of them. I couldn't leave the player made game, or progress, forcing me to log out. I couldn't even send feedback to this person about his broken ass game. The fact that this foundry mission was on the list of a three that I had to select from sucked.
So far, this game provides very limited options for players in regards to what role they want to play. The Foundry would be a saving grace, if only they would at least provide a requirement for submission that players had an ability to exit from the entrance, in case the map is bugged.
http://thewordiz.wordpress.com/
would you prefer companies leave exploitable content exploitable? I think not...
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
@zytin
Just click the button on the mini map that lets you escape the foundry content.
There is a process whereby "testers" say that the map is okay for the public. These testers are players that sign up for it, though they can sometimes release lemons. The content creator is also able to edit it some more when it is passed. The other ways to figure out if it's good is if it has a high rating, or if you look under the comments section and see what people wrote about it as a whole. Beyond that, not sure what else they could do.
You should play some of the ones that are valid for the daily foundries (approved by cryptic's system) or the ones with high stars if you want some of the good ones to show up.