Your personal "facts" as opposed to mine. Each has his/her own opinion. That's what a review is: One person's opinion.
Did you know that MMORPG offers a way for players to write their own reviews? Maybe you should try it.
This link allows users to create their own reviews of the game. I highly encourage it. The more we can aggregate a score the better off we will all be.
Does that allow a scoring like how Amazon or numerous places where one can rate a product on a 5 star scale? Seems like you have to write a review. Having an actual review scoring system that users can utilize would be nice to have here like how metacritic works. Granted it will likely be abused as one can create multiple accounts but still an added feature would be nice.
I wonder how much NW paid to get this OK review. Surprisingly when they gave Scarlet blade a 2, all the ads on this site disappeared. NW's are still up so they must march on whistling a happy tune so they get their paychecks.
This is such a tiresome argument for a review with which you do not agree. Come take a look at my bank account if you think otherwise.
For the record: Social scored a 5 not a 7.
Perhaps, but I did note you failed to respond to my response. Guess it is hard to argue with plain FACTS.
Your personal "facts" as opposed to mine. Each has his/her own opinion. That's what a review is: One person's opinion.
Did you know that MMORPG offers a way for players to write their own reviews? Maybe you should try it.
I have my own blog and do not have to worry about anyone editing or deleting my posts. TY. Umm, the fact they took people's money and those same people lost ad in the auction house is well documented. They have also failed to contact many people who filled out support tickets regarding the matter.It is well documented on their forums. This is not an opinion, it is an actual fact. When someone takes my money and fails to give me a response, that is a fact, not an opinion.
Maybe someday, if I actually decide I want to waste my time on it, I will do a review of game websites, instead of games. I am betting there might be an audience for that.
If we fail to change the things of today, they will become the lucid nighmares of tommorrow.
Have a level 60 Guardian, (most under powered character in the game btw) which only took me a week to do when open beta started. I leveled my pet Phoeba to 30 now I just can't find a reason to keep logging in to do daily foundry or dungeon quest. Crafting is beyond ignorant as well. Now I'm just bored with Neverwinter which the review hits on the nail.
I think Neverwinter is a 6 or 7 kinda game at the moment. That isn't bad, but it isn't really what mmorpg players are looking for right now. FF XIV ARR and TESO look like the ones to wait for. That's been my call on this for a while now, and I think I may be right :-)
"Trickster Rogues can sneak around behind and pick off the strongest monster."
So, you're one of those are you?! I see you far too often when I play! If you are playing a rogue this way, then you are doing it wrong!
Sadly, you are one of my pet peeves...and I repeat, this is certainly NOT the proper way to play a rogue!
People that play rogues, please understand, your job is NOT to go beating on the strongest monsters, bosses, or champions until after you've taken care of the squishies. Squishies or soft targets like casters, healers and trash mobs are your number one priority!
Your job is NOT to go and tackle the toughest mob that the tank is trying to keep occupied while there are still adds running round (most likely harassing the clerics)!
If you play your rogue this way, then I would imagine you may also be the same player that often complains that you're not getting healed properly. This is because the clerics are too busy trying to get the adds off of them, while you are incorrectly trying to attack the tank's target and allowing those mobs to preoccupy your clerics and control wizards.
Let the tank hold the bosses aggro, while the healer heals and wizard controls and take out the squishies/adds. You'll be amazed as to how much easier the party manages itself!
Most players believe it is the healers that are the difference between a great party and a bad one; I'd argue that the rogue is the key to a successful party, not the healers. A rogue that knows how to properly do its job makes all the difference!
---
Aside from that, great article and I agree with everything you said, particularly the overpriced Zen items. This absurd mentality of overpricing things and the negative effect it has is unfortunately something so many companies fail to see! It's the reason why Amazon and Walmart are two of the richest companies in the world as cheaper prices mean more customers and more frequent purchases, which in turn equals bigger growth and more sustainable profit.
I was going to go full "who are you to tell people how to play" and "it's your opinion" but, honestly, you are 100% correct in your points. "Those" rogues bother the hell out of me too (I play a healer most of the time).
Actually you are both wrong. Rogues are meant to attack the bosses / strongest mobs. Wizards and GWFs are meant to pick off the weak AE adds.
I have played the game since the opening (beta supposedly) to the general public. I am an F2P player, so the cost is a 10 in my book. The game overall is relatively fun to play, but becomes easily frustrating with the myriad of problems that come with something that is free.
I am not a huge PvP person, but I like the system in NW. My praise ends there. There is no filter to the system to balance the teams in any way, shape or form. One 5 member team can have all the same class, where the opposing team could get a well balanced group. Matches start regardless if botters or afkers get kicked from the team (could end up being a 3 v 5 match). The PvP score alone, I would rate a 2.
Overall, I would say the review is well done, but I think the score is overstated by 1 - 1.5. Craptic really dropped the ball on this, and no rollback will ever replace the damage done to the in game economy from the Auction House exploits (unless is was rolled back to the initial public release) or wiped and start over. (It doesn't take long to level up in this game - you could get a max level character in about 2 weeks of casual play).
I would say it's a fair score of the game, considering it's still in "beta". I know, I know. I think in time Cryptic will eventually make some good improvements to the game like in STO, and if you look at the low points in the review you can see it's very doable. I think the Neverwinter we see now will be greatly improved in 6 months or so. The good thing? You don't have to keep a sub current to check in on the game every now and again.
It is NOT beta! No matter how PWE and Cryptic try to say this and keep jumping up and Down! It is NOT!
The moment you start taking people's Money, Your game is LIVE! PERIOD!
If it was a REAL Open Beta, then there would be a Complete wipe just before launch!
But alas... this is just standard practice With F2P games, by saying it's open beta (and most stay in this phase indefinitely) so they can get away With everything and hide behind the beta excuse!
And Cryptic is already doing this With all the glaring exploits like the Auction House one. Just wipe it under the rug, keep saying it's Beta and toss People a couple useless items to Close their mouths and pretend it never happened.
If it was a REAL Open Beta, they would have not taken people's Money yet With the Cash Shop and been able to do a Complete wipe and so properly fixing the glaring exploits and reset the game economy.
The game would have been a hell lot better off With a Bright future Ahead. Tho, they would have to significantly lower some of the cash shop prices too.
But now they pretty much shot themselves in the foot With all the glaring exploits and not able to properly fix it and restore the economy.
All they could do know, was just plug the hole and move on, leaving a trainwreck of an economy in it's Wake.
I Count the 60 bucks of the Guardian Pack as a loss and moved on. Will never touch a PWE/Cryptic game ever again. That's for sure!
I would say it's a fair score of the game, considering it's still in "beta". I know, I know. I think in time Cryptic will eventually make some good improvements to the game like in STO, and if you look at the low points in the review you can see it's very doable. I think the Neverwinter we see now will be greatly improved in 6 months or so. The good thing? You don't have to keep a sub current to check in on the game every now and again.
It is NOT beta! No matter how PWE and Cryptic try to say this and keep jumping up and Down! It is NOT!
The moment you start taking people's Money, Your game is LIVE! PERIOD!
Because you say so? I say it's in beta. There, I win until you post, "no it's not". Neither one of us get to decide that. You can decide not to participate, but you don't get to decide what the state of the software is in or what it's called.
Because I work in the IT myself for over 14 years. Been playing games since a kid (so for over 25 years now).
When a software Product is in Beta you don't ask Money from Your customers nor take it, until the Product is actually ready for release!
This Whole Open Beta farce is just standard practice With a lot of craptastic F2P Companies and like I said... most of them keep their F2P games in Open Beta indefinitely until it's shut Down.
The only reason they do this, is to cover their arses and able to get away with everything, hiding behind the beta excuse. Pure and simple!
All decent Game studios who do a "proper" Open Beta actually use it as a beta to improve the game (usually it's only stress testing in this phase), don't charge Money nor take it via a cash shop. Release a final patch before release and wipe all the servers clean and then Proper launch the game With a clean slate.
But hey.... indeed who I am I right..... I Guess when Cryptic tells you to jump, you jump. Good Luck.
I would say it's a fair score of the game, considering it's still in "beta". I know, I know. I think in time Cryptic will eventually make some good improvements to the game like in STO, and if you look at the low points in the review you can see it's very doable. I think the Neverwinter we see now will be greatly improved in 6 months or so. The good thing? You don't have to keep a sub current to check in on the game every now and again.
It is NOT beta! No matter how PWE and Cryptic try to say this and keep jumping up and Down! It is NOT!
The moment you start taking people's Money, Your game is LIVE! PERIOD!
Because you say so? I say it's in beta. There, I win until you post, "no it's not". Neither one of us get to decide that. You can decide not to participate, but you don't get to decide what the state of the software is in or what it's called.
Because I work in the IT myself for over 14 years. Been playing games since a kid (so for over 25 years now).
When a software Product is in Beta you don't ask Money from Your customers nor take it, until the Product is actually ready for release!
This Whole Open Beta farce is just standard practice With a lot of craptastic F2P Companies and like I said... most of them keep their F2P games in Open Beta indefinitely until it's shut Down.
The only reason they do this, is to cover their arses and able to get away with everything, hiding behind the beta excuse. Pure and simple!
All decent Game studios who do a "proper" Open Beta actually use it as a beta to improve the game (usually it's only stress testing in this phase), don't charge Money nor take it via a cash shop. Release a final patch before release and wipe all the servers clean and then Proper launch the game With a clean slate.
But hey.... indeed who I am I right..... I Guess when Cryptic tells you to jump, you jump. Good Luck.
I don't often agree with JeroKane but when I do it's about "Open Beta"
Stay Thirsty my friends!
Ok but seriously by some people's and F2P company's definition of Open beta every video game ever made is still in open beta and nothing has ever launched.
More character classes added at a rapid, not sluggish, pace?
what game out there releases new classes all the time? Things like classes are meant to have longer time frames behind them. Classes are meant to be perfected over time. this isnt league of legends or Smite where you bust out a new hero everyweek. for someone who writes MMO reviews ,what were you thinking putting this in there? why water down working archetypes? The game can handle some more classes don't get me wrong ,but asking for new classes to come out all the time on a fast pace is ridiculous.
Your personal "facts" as opposed to mine. Each has his/her own opinion. That's what a review is: One person's opinion.
Did you know that MMORPG offers a way for players to write their own reviews? Maybe you should try it.
This link allows users to create their own reviews of the game. I highly encourage it. The more we can aggregate a score the better off we will all be.
Does that allow a scoring like how Amazon or numerous places where one can rate a product on a 5 star scale? Seems like you have to write a review. Having an actual review scoring system that users can utilize would be nice to have here like how metacritic works. Granted it will likely be abused as one can create multiple accounts but still an added feature would be nice.
You can assign a score to the review and add pros and cons like the regular reviews. I wouldn't say it is as good as Amazon's but it is a nice feature to have.
I pretty much agree with review but i might have scored it a bit lower. The customization which has always been a Cryptic strong point is way weak in this game. I have a cleric at level 26 that looks exactly the same as she did at level 4. It just doesn't feel like she is progressing or getting any better, she does more damage but fights higher hit-point mobs so it is hard to see any actual progression or get a sense of growth from my character.
The economy is a bit out of whack already and so few people put a buyout on their items in the AH. The AH also lacks a great bit of functionality which is surprising since this was a huge criticism of Cryptics last game which they later addressed a bit.
Overall I do think the prices of items are hurting this game the most. $10 for a bag and $6 for 12 or 14 bank slots is a bit much.
"Sean (Murray) saying MP will be in the game is not remotely close to evidence that at the point of purchase people thought there was MP in the game." - SEANMCAD
What I find incredibly weird about the game is the sheer amount of rich people playing it. I mean, seriously, if you play 2-3 hours of end-game content, you make enough money to buy 20-50 dollars worth of Zen...
So some people value their time at more than 20$/hour...I'd call that a hefty price for entertainment. Which means you can play 2-3 hours of great fun content (non-grinding) and get the most expensive item in the cash shop (epic mount). If I log into GW2 and try to farm the gold needed to buy the most expensive cash-shop item (which will also be fluff mainly), I'll need to spend around 10 hours of painful grind...
So...yeah...bottom line, outrageously overpriced Zen shop? Yes!!!
Originally posted by rodingo I would say it's a fair score of the game, considering it's still in "beta". I know, I know. I think in time Cryptic will eventually make some good improvements to the game like in STO, and if you look at the low points in the review you can see it's very doable. I think the Neverwinter we see now will be greatly improved in 6 months or so. The good thing? You don't have to keep a sub current to check in on the game every now and again.
You might be right about it improving but it may be moot. First impressions are very important for MMOs and the all-important, social, word-of-mouth hype. Games that fumble this typically have a very hard time reaching their potential no matter how much they improve with age. E.g. Conan.
Once upon a time, when the choices were limited and new MMOs were released once every few years instead of several every year as is the case now, they had some wiggle room. Not any more.
By the time they fix the glaring economic problems with Zen and ADs, most people will be either playing or heavily anticipating one or more of Wildstar, Elder Scrolls Online or Everquest Next.
Whatever they need to do, they need to do it now. In 6 months it'll be too late.
And please, will you guys knock it off with the "beta" bit? This is a release complete with open cash shop that is called "beta" only as PR spin to excuse problems and missing elements. And this little game of misdirection they're playing is enough for me to take off yet another point. I'd give it a 6 for dishonesty even though I agree with Suzie's review.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Was not impressed with this game one iota.....Im a big fan of the D&D games of the past but this one just doesnt cut it......Too much instancing and feels too much like DDO.....Once again another MMO that cannot give us a world to explore and tries to hard to entertain us.
Why the !@#$ are you reviewing a game that is still in beta testing??
As others have said: Taking people's cash / running a cash shop + No Wipe = game is live. So, the game is live, no matter what anyone wants to say or whatever hairs people want to split.
I would say it's a fair score of the game, considering it's still in "beta". I know, I know. I think in time Cryptic will eventually make some good improvements to the game like in STO, and if you look at the low points in the review you can see it's very doable. I think the Neverwinter we see now will be greatly improved in 6 months or so. The good thing? You don't have to keep a sub current to check in on the game every now and again.
It is NOT beta! No matter how PWE and Cryptic try to say this and keep jumping up and Down! It is NOT!
The moment you start taking people's Money, Your game is LIVE! PERIOD!
Because you say so? I say it's in beta. There, I win until you post, "no it's not". Neither one of us get to decide that. You can decide not to participate, but you don't get to decide what the state of the software is in or what it's called.
When they start taking money and are not doing wipes then the game is live or "soft release"... end of story no matter how you wanna justify that it's still a "beta" stage.
If they do a HUGE patch that fixes all bugs, exploits, all issues then the argument might be somewhat justifiable saying that it is still in release... well most bugs/issue. But I find that highly doubtful considering how all the major exploits were know ages ago and they didn't do a damn thing to fix it. Some tweaks will be done n the game will be launched is what will happen be my prediction.
Originally posted by rodingo I would say it's a fair score of the game, considering it's still in "beta". I know, I know. I think in time Cryptic will eventually make some good improvements to the game like in STO, and if you look at the low points in the review you can see it's very doable. I think the Neverwinter we see now will be greatly improved in 6 months or so. The good thing? You don't have to keep a sub current to check in on the game every now and again.
You might be right about it improving but it may be moot. First impressions are very important for MMOs and the all-important, social, word-of-mouth hype. Games that fumble this typically have a very hard time reaching their potential no matter how much they improve with age. E.g. Conan.
Once upon a time, when the choices were limited and new MMOs were released once every few years instead of several every year as is the case now, they had some wiggle room. Not any more.
By the time they fix the glaring economic problems with Zen and ADs, most people will be either playing or heavily anticipating one or more of Wildstar, Elder Scrolls Online or Everquest Next.
Whatever they need to do, they need to do it now. In 6 months it'll be too late.
And please, will you guys knock it off with the "beta" bit? This is a release complete with open cash shop that is called "beta" only as PR spin to excuse problems and missing elements. And this little game of misdirection they're playing is enough for me to take off yet another point. I'd give it a 6 for dishonesty even though I agree with Suzie's review.
Will you please knock it off with the "it's not a beta because I said so" bit? Do you see how ridiculous it sounds when you self-proclaim something like that when it's not your project?
It might be stupid to use that label and it might be unscrupulous, but again, you don't decide that do you? If you have any power to make it "not a beta" then go change the website. I'm waiting.
That almost made sense. It has nothing to do with what I say. Things are or are not whatever they are all on their own. No opinions required.
Of course, if you want to accept whatever they say as being true because they say it, that's your prerogative. I take your post to mean that whoever says it first wins...that true?
By the way, I own the statue of liberty. Want to buy it?
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
I'm not trying to be pedantic, but this time it's important to draw the line. If we can just call a product what we want on a whim then we have no reference point.
Actually you are being nothing but pedantic. Here I'll just change one little pronoun and show you:
If they can just call a product what they want on a whim then we have no reference point.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Hi Suzie, I agreed with your review for the most part. Zen shop prices and AD cost for basic functionality in the game certainly turns me off of doing certain things, but for the most part, it's all expediency and cosmetic rather than actual game-breaking insertion.
Several points you make really make me wonder whether we are playing the same game.
From our perspective, gameplay in Neverwinter is one of the shining gems in the entire game. Character customization is terrific.
Just playing cryptic's other two titles (STO and CO) sort of defy this statement. companions in this game get skins unlocked every 10 levels. In STO, you can totally change your companion's appearance with sliders, outfits, armor changes show on the companion's model.
The player's customization options are more on par for an MMO from 2003; sliders really don't make much of a difference, the visual options like hairstyle and make-up/tattoos and body types are pretty limited. Again, we can compare to Crpytic's other offerings, and STO alone blows the game out of the water. I suppose it might be a bit more palatable than GW2, but honestly, the models are better and there are a broader range of customization options in other games.
Dyes are single-use only, rather than "unlocked", and cost exhorbitant amounts. This segues into your later comments about the cash shop, but honestly, it impacts "customization options". You covered the outfits pretty well.
Additionally, while they did update the game to add power selection before going to OB, it's still a very poor selection process comparative to other offerings in the genre. Even a game from 2003 (in 2003) had more... difference in playstyle based on which feats/talents were chosen.
Speaking of companions, why is there no ability to control them in battle beyond “stay, protect, or attack”? It would be nice to have a better element of control over their behavior and attacks, choosing spells, for example.
"Beyond"? These don't even exist for Neverwinter. You have the option to summon or dismiss the companion, and that's about it. Was there an update last week that added this? Because it hasn't been present thus far. They auto-follow (unless they get caught up on geometry), and might attack the mob you attack if you're lucky. They rarely attack where needed, unless you use the man at arms or the galeb-duhr.
Polish - 7
Neverwinter is really a very polished game at its core. While there are bugs (aren’t there always?), they are not game enders for the most part.
You contradict yourself in this statement. The polish cannot be a 7 with the hideous exploits found every few days. Or, let's take the classes which exist, which contain busted feats which don't modify abilities as they should, or even do the complete reverse of what they should be doing. These exist for the DC, GWF, GF, and certainly the CW (which has a whopping 30% of the feats which don't work as stated in the tooltip). That isn't polished at the core; it's rotten to the core. This isn't a minor "polishing point" to have 4/5 classes have major bugs which prevent you from using powers in divine mode as you'll buff the bad guys with damage resistance, or do 1/3rd the damage.
I like the game (or want to), but the Foundry was a major selling point for me. It was pretty well touted as "indistinguishable from normal content for rewards and interface". Due to exploits and knee-jerk patches from the devs, I'm seeing the Foundry content return 1/4th the XP gain from trying to level a character on Foundry content alone, along with terrible item drops from standard mobs. I'm not talking farming quests, but actual story-style quests with about as much combat as Cryptic's content. So, they are violating their own mission statement on UGC with no mention of fixes in the "State of the Game" post.
The UGC is what can eventually add to the longevity of the game, if done properly, not pumping out more end-game content, but allowing players to do the work for you by opening access to creating some amazing stuff. Doing dumb limiters instead of addressing the problem with industry standard solutions to this very problem seems kind of idiotic.
If they live up to their promise on UGC, and fix the glaring exploits that pop up, then I might start playing again. Until then, I'm off to another game which actually has some playability value besides the first few levels.
I would say it's a fair score of the game, considering it's still in "beta". I know, I know. I think in time Cryptic will eventually make some good improvements to the game like in STO, and if you look at the low points in the review you can see it's very doable. I think the Neverwinter we see now will be greatly improved in 6 months or so. The good thing? You don't have to keep a sub current to check in on the game every now and again.
It is NOT beta! No matter how PWE and Cryptic try to say this and keep jumping up and Down! It is NOT!
The moment you start taking people's Money, Your game is LIVE! PERIOD!
Because you say so? I say it's in beta. There, I win until you post, "no it's not". Neither one of us get to decide that. You can decide not to participate, but you don't get to decide what the state of the software is in or what it's called.
When they start taking money and are not doing wipes then the game is live or "soft release"... end of story no matter how you wanna justify that it's still a "beta" stage.
No it's not. That's my point. You may not think paying for a product in a beta state is acceptable, but you don't get to redefine the project. So rather, say charging money in a beta is unacceptable. I will totally support your opinion, even if I don't share it.
I'm not trying to be pedantic, but this time it's important to draw the line. If we can just call a product what we want on a whim then we have no reference point.
When Wildstar or ESO release later this year, if they have any bugs at all I'll call them a beta because no product should take my money if it has bugs that should have been detected and fixed in testing. See where that can go all wrong? We don't get to redefine things to our convenience, that is why I'm arguing this one so adamantly. We can criticize the implementation but not change the definition to suit us. It opens up a whole can of worms and takes the bullshit hyperbole we thrive on here to an entirely new level.
And yet they deny refunds for Founder's pack. That alone should constitute a game being live.
Either way the whole situation is a debacle and too bad, or fortunate for Cryotic, that they abused a great and renowned IP that is the sole reason why the made an sort of relative success. And shame on WotC for allowing this to happen.
Comments
Does that allow a scoring like how Amazon or numerous places where one can rate a product on a 5 star scale? Seems like you have to write a review. Having an actual review scoring system that users can utilize would be nice to have here like how metacritic works. Granted it will likely be abused as one can create multiple accounts but still an added feature would be nice.
I have my own blog and do not have to worry about anyone editing or deleting my posts. TY. Umm, the fact they took people's money and those same people lost ad in the auction house is well documented. They have also failed to contact many people who filled out support tickets regarding the matter.It is well documented on their forums. This is not an opinion, it is an actual fact. When someone takes my money and fails to give me a response, that is a fact, not an opinion.
Maybe someday, if I actually decide I want to waste my time on it, I will do a review of game websites, instead of games. I am betting there might be an audience for that.
If we fail to change the things of today, they will become the lucid nighmares of tommorrow.
Review is spot on, good job.
Have a level 60 Guardian, (most under powered character in the game btw) which only took me a week to do when open beta started. I leveled my pet Phoeba to 30 now I just can't find a reason to keep logging in to do daily foundry or dungeon quest. Crafting is beyond ignorant as well. Now I'm just bored with Neverwinter which the review hits on the nail.
I moved on to a different mmo now
Combat is much more fun then in WoW.
But biggest fail is PAY TO WIN:/
Find epic trasure chest? guess what? u need buy key><
Actually you are both wrong. Rogues are meant to attack the bosses / strongest mobs. Wizards and GWFs are meant to pick off the weak AE adds.
I have played the game since the opening (beta supposedly) to the general public. I am an F2P player, so the cost is a 10 in my book. The game overall is relatively fun to play, but becomes easily frustrating with the myriad of problems that come with something that is free.
I am not a huge PvP person, but I like the system in NW. My praise ends there. There is no filter to the system to balance the teams in any way, shape or form. One 5 member team can have all the same class, where the opposing team could get a well balanced group. Matches start regardless if botters or afkers get kicked from the team (could end up being a 3 v 5 match). The PvP score alone, I would rate a 2.
Overall, I would say the review is well done, but I think the score is overstated by 1 - 1.5. Craptic really dropped the ball on this, and no rollback will ever replace the damage done to the in game economy from the Auction House exploits (unless is was rolled back to the initial public release) or wiped and start over. (It doesn't take long to level up in this game - you could get a max level character in about 2 weeks of casual play).
My final rating for the game is 5.5 - 6
It is NOT beta! No matter how PWE and Cryptic try to say this and keep jumping up and Down! It is NOT!
The moment you start taking people's Money, Your game is LIVE! PERIOD!
If it was a REAL Open Beta, then there would be a Complete wipe just before launch!
But alas... this is just standard practice With F2P games, by saying it's open beta (and most stay in this phase indefinitely) so they can get away With everything and hide behind the beta excuse!
And Cryptic is already doing this With all the glaring exploits like the Auction House one. Just wipe it under the rug, keep saying it's Beta and toss People a couple useless items to Close their mouths and pretend it never happened.
If it was a REAL Open Beta, they would have not taken people's Money yet With the Cash Shop and been able to do a Complete wipe and so properly fixing the glaring exploits and reset the game economy.
The game would have been a hell lot better off With a Bright future Ahead. Tho, they would have to significantly lower some of the cash shop prices too.
But now they pretty much shot themselves in the foot With all the glaring exploits and not able to properly fix it and restore the economy.
All they could do know, was just plug the hole and move on, leaving a trainwreck of an economy in it's Wake.
I Count the 60 bucks of the Guardian Pack as a loss and moved on. Will never touch a PWE/Cryptic game ever again. That's for sure!
Because I work in the IT myself for over 14 years. Been playing games since a kid (so for over 25 years now).
When a software Product is in Beta you don't ask Money from Your customers nor take it, until the Product is actually ready for release!
This Whole Open Beta farce is just standard practice With a lot of craptastic F2P Companies and like I said... most of them keep their F2P games in Open Beta indefinitely until it's shut Down.
The only reason they do this, is to cover their arses and able to get away with everything, hiding behind the beta excuse. Pure and simple!
All decent Game studios who do a "proper" Open Beta actually use it as a beta to improve the game (usually it's only stress testing in this phase), don't charge Money nor take it via a cash shop. Release a final patch before release and wipe all the servers clean and then Proper launch the game With a clean slate.
But hey.... indeed who I am I right..... I Guess when Cryptic tells you to jump, you jump. Good Luck.
I don't often agree with JeroKane but when I do it's about "Open Beta"
Stay Thirsty my friends!
Ok but seriously by some people's and F2P company's definition of Open beta every video game ever made is still in open beta and nothing has ever launched.
i agree with almost everything but..
More character classes added at a rapid, not sluggish, pace?
what game out there releases new classes all the time? Things like classes are meant to have longer time frames behind them. Classes are meant to be perfected over time. this isnt league of legends or Smite where you bust out a new hero everyweek. for someone who writes MMO reviews ,what were you thinking putting this in there? why water down working archetypes? The game can handle some more classes don't get me wrong ,but asking for new classes to come out all the time on a fast pace is ridiculous.
You can assign a score to the review and add pros and cons like the regular reviews. I wouldn't say it is as good as Amazon's but it is a nice feature to have.
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I pretty much agree with review but i might have scored it a bit lower. The customization which has always been a Cryptic strong point is way weak in this game. I have a cleric at level 26 that looks exactly the same as she did at level 4. It just doesn't feel like she is progressing or getting any better, she does more damage but fights higher hit-point mobs so it is hard to see any actual progression or get a sense of growth from my character.
The economy is a bit out of whack already and so few people put a buyout on their items in the AH. The AH also lacks a great bit of functionality which is surprising since this was a huge criticism of Cryptics last game which they later addressed a bit.
Overall I do think the prices of items are hurting this game the most. $10 for a bag and $6 for 12 or 14 bank slots is a bit much.
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Played: Clan Lord, WoW, Matrix Online, LOTR:O, EVE, Tabula Rasa, Warhammer Online, Rift
Playing: Starcraft 2, Battlefield 3
What I find incredibly weird about the game is the sheer amount of rich people playing it. I mean, seriously, if you play 2-3 hours of end-game content, you make enough money to buy 20-50 dollars worth of Zen...
So some people value their time at more than 20$/hour...I'd call that a hefty price for entertainment. Which means you can play 2-3 hours of great fun content (non-grinding) and get the most expensive item in the cash shop (epic mount). If I log into GW2 and try to farm the gold needed to buy the most expensive cash-shop item (which will also be fluff mainly), I'll need to spend around 10 hours of painful grind...
So...yeah...bottom line, outrageously overpriced Zen shop? Yes!!!
Do players care? Apparently no...lucky devs...
You might be right about it improving but it may be moot. First impressions are very important for MMOs and the all-important, social, word-of-mouth hype. Games that fumble this typically have a very hard time reaching their potential no matter how much they improve with age. E.g. Conan.
Once upon a time, when the choices were limited and new MMOs were released once every few years instead of several every year as is the case now, they had some wiggle room. Not any more.
By the time they fix the glaring economic problems with Zen and ADs, most people will be either playing or heavily anticipating one or more of Wildstar, Elder Scrolls Online or Everquest Next.
Whatever they need to do, they need to do it now. In 6 months it'll be too late.
And please, will you guys knock it off with the "beta" bit? This is a release complete with open cash shop that is called "beta" only as PR spin to excuse problems and missing elements. And this little game of misdirection they're playing is enough for me to take off yet another point. I'd give it a 6 for dishonesty even though I agree with Suzie's review.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
As others have said: Taking people's cash / running a cash shop + No Wipe = game is live. So, the game is live, no matter what anyone wants to say or whatever hairs people want to split.When they start taking money and are not doing wipes then the game is live or "soft release"... end of story no matter how you wanna justify that it's still a "beta" stage.
If they do a HUGE patch that fixes all bugs, exploits, all issues then the argument might be somewhat justifiable saying that it is still in release... well most bugs/issue. But I find that highly doubtful considering how all the major exploits were know ages ago and they didn't do a damn thing to fix it. Some tweaks will be done n the game will be launched is what will happen be my prediction.
That almost made sense. It has nothing to do with what I say. Things are or are not whatever they are all on their own. No opinions required.
Of course, if you want to accept whatever they say as being true because they say it, that's your prerogative. I take your post to mean that whoever says it first wins...that true?
By the way, I own the statue of liberty. Want to buy it?
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Until they add the paladin class, I don't think I will enjoy playing this much.
They mention paladins in the diety lore descriptions when creating a character, but sadly they are absent.
twitch.tv/itpaladin
@ITPalg
YouTube: ITPalGame
Actually you are being nothing but pedantic. Here I'll just change one little pronoun and show you:
If they can just call a product what they want on a whim then we have no reference point.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Hi Suzie, I agreed with your review for the most part. Zen shop prices and AD cost for basic functionality in the game certainly turns me off of doing certain things, but for the most part, it's all expediency and cosmetic rather than actual game-breaking insertion.
Several points you make really make me wonder whether we are playing the same game.
From our perspective, gameplay in Neverwinter is one of the shining gems in the entire game. Character customization is terrific.
Just playing cryptic's other two titles (STO and CO) sort of defy this statement. companions in this game get skins unlocked every 10 levels. In STO, you can totally change your companion's appearance with sliders, outfits, armor changes show on the companion's model.
The player's customization options are more on par for an MMO from 2003; sliders really don't make much of a difference, the visual options like hairstyle and make-up/tattoos and body types are pretty limited. Again, we can compare to Crpytic's other offerings, and STO alone blows the game out of the water. I suppose it might be a bit more palatable than GW2, but honestly, the models are better and there are a broader range of customization options in other games.
Dyes are single-use only, rather than "unlocked", and cost exhorbitant amounts. This segues into your later comments about the cash shop, but honestly, it impacts "customization options". You covered the outfits pretty well.
Additionally, while they did update the game to add power selection before going to OB, it's still a very poor selection process comparative to other offerings in the genre. Even a game from 2003 (in 2003) had more... difference in playstyle based on which feats/talents were chosen.
Speaking of companions, why is there no ability to control them in battle beyond “stay, protect, or attack”? It would be nice to have a better element of control over their behavior and attacks, choosing spells, for example.
"Beyond"? These don't even exist for Neverwinter. You have the option to summon or dismiss the companion, and that's about it. Was there an update last week that added this? Because it hasn't been present thus far. They auto-follow (unless they get caught up on geometry), and might attack the mob you attack if you're lucky. They rarely attack where needed, unless you use the man at arms or the galeb-duhr.
Polish - 7
Neverwinter is really a very polished game at its core. While there are bugs (aren’t there always?), they are not game enders for the most part.
You contradict yourself in this statement. The polish cannot be a 7 with the hideous exploits found every few days. Or, let's take the classes which exist, which contain busted feats which don't modify abilities as they should, or even do the complete reverse of what they should be doing. These exist for the DC, GWF, GF, and certainly the CW (which has a whopping 30% of the feats which don't work as stated in the tooltip). That isn't polished at the core; it's rotten to the core. This isn't a minor "polishing point" to have 4/5 classes have major bugs which prevent you from using powers in divine mode as you'll buff the bad guys with damage resistance, or do 1/3rd the damage.
I like the game (or want to), but the Foundry was a major selling point for me. It was pretty well touted as "indistinguishable from normal content for rewards and interface". Due to exploits and knee-jerk patches from the devs, I'm seeing the Foundry content return 1/4th the XP gain from trying to level a character on Foundry content alone, along with terrible item drops from standard mobs. I'm not talking farming quests, but actual story-style quests with about as much combat as Cryptic's content. So, they are violating their own mission statement on UGC with no mention of fixes in the "State of the Game" post.
The UGC is what can eventually add to the longevity of the game, if done properly, not pumping out more end-game content, but allowing players to do the work for you by opening access to creating some amazing stuff. Doing dumb limiters instead of addressing the problem with industry standard solutions to this very problem seems kind of idiotic.
If they live up to their promise on UGC, and fix the glaring exploits that pop up, then I might start playing again. Until then, I'm off to another game which actually has some playability value besides the first few levels.
And yet they deny refunds for Founder's pack. That alone should constitute a game being live.
Either way the whole situation is a debacle and too bad, or fortunate for Cryotic, that they abused a great and renowned IP that is the sole reason why the made an sort of relative success. And shame on WotC for allowing this to happen.