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Neverwinter: The Good, The Bad, and The Very Ugly
RollieJoe
Member UncommonPosts: 451
Having played in the closed beta and now the release with two level 60's, decided to give my thoughts on the game.
The Good:
1) Combat is by far and bar none the best I have ever experienced in any MMO, or RPG for that matter. It is similar to Guild Wars 2 or TERA Online (or in some ways, Dragon Nest), but much smoother, more fluid, and interesting. You owe it to yourself to check out the combat in this game, even if you have no intention of playing it long-term, just to see how good MMO combat can be.
2) I don't know what programming wizards they hired to make this game, but it is a masterpiece of optimization. Running on a good system it looks very nice, with only some minor graphical glitches that I've noticed. Running on a very low end system that won't even run most games, it runs a steady 60 FPS and still looks decent. I can't imagine how they made this happen, as games that don't look or play nearly as well run far more poorly.
3) You can purchase anything in the cash shop by using in-game currency with an easy to use exchange system. This would normally help to reduce concerns about "pay to win" (but see below to understand why it doesn't).
4) There is a large amount of content at launch, including PvP battlegrounds, hundreds of quests, and dozens of dungeons including a large selection of end-game PvE content.
5) The Foundry provides further content, specifically is allows Neverwinter to have the most challenging 5-man PvE content of any MMO.
The Bad:
1) There are some fairly important bugs and gameplay issues. The auction house is basically broken, with 90% of its functions buggy or simply not working. You can still do very basic things but don't bother trying to search or sort.
2) Pick up groups are an issue (like in every other MMO), but made worse here by missing the ability to vote. Basically, a random player is selected as leader and they can do anything they want, including take all the loot and kick party members at any time, even during combat.
3) Some content feels like it should have been in before launch (launch = final wipe, I don't play the semantics game of "open beta") such as being able to level up companions, class options, and class paths.
4) The Foundry, while allowing for interesting quests and extreme challenges, has no actual rewards that are worth anything. I understand the reason for this (due to exploits) but it is a shame none the less.
The Very Ugly:
1) If there was ever a game that was "pay-to-win" this is that game. Using real money you can log in for the first time and by the end of your very first day: A) be level 60 with any class (using profession XP rushing), 
have the very best gear and enchants in the game (buying it with astral diamonds), and C) solo the final dungeon and final boss of the game (using infinite instant full HP potions and self-rez scrolls there is already a youtube video of someone doing this). In other words, if you are willing to pay, you can "beat" the entire game including the hardest dungeon and best gear in 1 day. With that said I should point out that at least in PvP you can't use the insanely OP potions/scrolls from the cash shop, so that is good.
2) Exploits. Lots of Exploits. All the Exploits, this game has them. There was the Foundry exploits where people would make mobs that couldn't hit you in packs of 50+ and you could level up in one day and get tons of loot. They fixed that one, mostly. There is the afk in PvP exploit where people make groups just to afk in the battlegrounds because you get a ton of XP and glory points for losing, in fact you get MORE for losing quickly than you do for winning slowly (per minute). People are multi-boxing and running 5 accounts all of them afk to level to 60 and farm xp and glory doing this. Once you exploit your way to 60 now you can start the REAL exploiting, in the dungeons. There are exploits where you can pull bosses to their max range, get them stuck and then kill them easily. Worst of all at the moment there are exploits involving damage calculations where certain classes can 1 shot anything in the game, including the final boss of the final dungeon (plenty of videos of this on Twitch). There are exploits where people reset a final boss to farm it dozens of times in minutes. Basically, people who are using these exploits now before they are fixed, will be 6 months to a year or more, hundreds and hundreds of hours ahead of anyone else in the game (except those willing to pay tons of real $$$ to catch up). What the cheaters are doing right now in a few hours will take you a hundred hours or more to do once this is patched, but there is absolutely no reason to think that they won't get to keep all their exploited loot and money.
Conclusion: I thought, and I still think, that Neverwinter has the potential to become the first truly great F2P MMO ever made. It has revolutionary combat that sets the standard for every game prior and every game to come. But it has some HUGE obstacles to overcome first which right now have basically ruined the experience. However, since the game is free I think every MMO fan should download it and check it out, if for no other reason than to experience the combat before uninstalling and waiting for the major issues to be addressed.
Comments
Good review, I agree the combat is awesome and the game is a step above the rest of the FTP mmos out there.
Things are looking up for Neverwinter because most of the bad should be patched up within a few months.
and If people want to pay to win in pve, well be my guest.
Yup, the game has some serious issues, but it's quite fun to play if you're not intending to compete in ANY way. Because you cannot compete unless you cheat at this stage.
Could you explain what you mean by that one? I get notifications when my companion is ready for training and seem to be able to level him.
Good overview of the game. I haven't come across any pay walls, needed expensive items, or price issues, but I'm only level 20 or so which could be why.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Standard companions you get at level 16 only level up to rank 15 and then stop, there are books in the game that are supposed to allow them to level up to 25 with the first book, and even higher with the second book.
These books where not implemented however, so only companions that start out with the training will be able to level higher then rank 15
The tomes for training your companions (raising their level cap above Rank 15) are visible on the pets vendor, but you cannot buy them currently. They are labelled as "Coming Soon". Rumour has it that they were working during Closed Beta, but were disabled just before the start of "Open Beta".
However, if you want the convenience of a pet that is actually useful past character level 30, then you can always buy a pet in the Zen store which has a higher rank cap than 15...
Good write up. I agree with just about every thing you say here. I would like to point one thing out though, MOST games have exploits similar to what you describe here, but in the case of heavily instanced games it is seen much less. At any rate, I like your assessment and believe it to be fair.
Good job.
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.
The problem is that you are overhealing. Tone back your spec to a DPS heal proc build and you will be fine.
Also you probably had a bad tank. GFs can hold aggro on the adds in T2s easy, but they need to spec for DPS, not defence.
Is it a bit lame that you aren't meant to spec traditionally? Sure. But give them some time to iron out the kinks. For now, it works fine as long as you pick the right specs.
Nice review.
If they let me cheat steal and con off people I might play.
At least a good in game con or slight of hand trick deprives people of their stuff within the game world itself and isn't handed to people on a plate via bad game design, poor coding or inadequate testing.
The FTP model doesn't appeal to me at all - it seems to be ruining every MMO out there and it will be a shame if developers cant work out a way to return to full subscription only MMORPGs.
I,m downloading the game right now and will give it a few hours but I wont play it seriously when there is nothing like a fair playing field of opportunity and I have no confidence anything I invest in my character is going to be worth a thing in weeks time never mind a year.