I would recommend playing it as an offline arpg, not an mmo.
All of the mmo aspects of it are it's weaknesses. Dungeons, raids, pvp, all of it is very weak in the sense that it's very much faceroll DPS zerg. Hence the recommendation to play it more like an offline game.
So I bought the $200(?) dollar founder's pack when it released on PC. Played for a bit, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing. And definitely not worth $200.
Recently downloaded it on PS4, and seems very P2W which is a turn off. They even have some sort of "VIP" system which kills it for me.
When all is said and done, more is always said than done.
Neverwinter is fun, but there is just way too many paywalls in the game. You're going to be picking up tons of chests that require you to invest in the store. I played in on PS4. The combat was fun, the performance was so-so (really lags out in some areas). Some of the mechanics are nice. I like how you can equip and augment your companions, etc. I preferred it's more fast paced style to the slower, more monotonous gameplay of ESO, for example...
But there are way too many paywalls. I feel like you have to be a baller just to enjoy this game.
So I uninstalled it and just play ESO and Overwatch on PS4 (and GW2/D3 on PC/Mac).
This is the first game that I've played where the barrier to entry seemed directly tied to your RL spending potential (though, I have generally avoided games with that reputation, so I'm sure it is not the first one that has gone this route).
A lot of people here clearly have a lot of opinions about the game with very little experience.
Years to get BiS gear if you play for free? Only if you play about 2 hours a week... if you trade well, get more characters for FREE and get refining more diamonds you can EASILY be getting 1000 ZEN (the cash shop currency) for FREE per DAY. Yes, I said per DAY as long as you have enough hours to play each day. You could get a lot more than that if you get some good drops to sell. 10 character, 36k diamonds per day each, exchange it all for 700 ZEN and get some more from things you sell on the auction house. You could max out gear in no time. You can also get VIP status for FREE all the time.
As for the game being a DPS faceroll.. I'd love to see the people saying this stand still or not block in epic dungeons and just DPS or even in master skimishes like illusionist's gambit. The people saying this would get absolutely destroyed doing this content. In PvP.. well if you think its just a DPS zerg you must be terrible.
Most people here probably haven't played the game for years and probably didn't play it properly.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
+ Fun PvE. Especially as a solo experience. The action combat is fun enough, and the story lines are mostly voice acted.
+ Kinda tied to the above, but the henchmen are an interesting idea. I loved playing with some of the lesser used ones, and running around with a "unique" looking one, while everyone else all ran with the same old henchmen everyone did. Granted, if you're a minmaxer, you're going to want to follow the herd there rather than waste time (and possibly money) on a subpar minion just for looks.
+ Interesting crafting (familiar to those who've played SWTOR). Lots of micro managing and building up your little army of craftsmen.
+ The Foundry (player created content) has some nifty stuff. If you're the creative sort, it can be fun putting your own little stories together and sharing them with the community as well.
- Absolutely rotten community when it comes to PuG'ing, the game's systems encourage ninja looting and greed like no other. If you're going to do group content, a good guild is a MUST. Avoid the rest of the cesspool whenever you can.
- PWE pretty much invented Pay to Enjoy. You will constantly get your very limited inventory filled up with lockboxes and collectibles that are useless if you don't save them up to a certain number. If you hate "In your face" cash shops, this is NOT the game for you. You will find cash shop buttons on everything, extending you the courtesy of doing things much faster if you only open your wallet. This gets worse each time they run an event, which tends to bring a host of the aforementioned collectibles with it, that you need to hold onto if you want to participate in the event.
- PvP sucks. It's also where the game changes from Pay to Enjoy to outright P2W, as you will be the punching bag of players who paid to upgrade their gear for months on end, unless you do the same. But it's a minor part of the game, and optional.
Years to get BiS gear if you play for free? Only if you play about 2 hours a week... if you trade well, get more characters for FREE and get refining more diamonds you can EASILY be getting 1000 ZEN (the cash shop currency) for FREE per DAY. Yes, I said per DAY as long as you have enough hours to play each day. You could get a lot more than that if you get some good drops to sell. 10 character, 36k diamonds per day each, exchange it all for 700 ZEN and get some more from things you sell on the auction house. You could max out gear in no time. You can also get VIP status for FREE all the time.
Highly dependent on the Exchange. Around the time I quit, they had just broken the entire endgame and players had left in droves. It took DAYS to fill out a single ZEN purchase. Because guess what? If no one is selling any, you ain't buying any, no matter how hard you grind in game.
It sounds like it stabilized again though, based on what you're saying. But that also doesn't take away the fact that SOMEONE is paying for that ZEN.
All in all, I'd give the game a 6/10. Maybe a 7/10. Well worth trying at least. If you don't mind cash shops, and you're capable of easily ignoring them, you can get some fun out of the game. If not... well... you'll be joining the ranks of those yelling "Garbage!"
Post edited by Azaron_Nightblade on
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
No idea what it was like when you played but I have never ever seen a time when tens of thousands of zen being moved around. Usually always up for direct sale. An order is always filled within a few hours if you post one. On consoles theres so much ZEN available its crazy.
All collectables for events are not held in your inventory. There is a separate unlimited currency tab.
Lockboxes take up 1 inventory slot because they stack... and they always sell on the auction house for astral diamonds which you can turn into ZEN. When you've been playing a while you will have a lot of spare free ZEN so you'll be opening plenty of lockboxes for free. Lockboxes are useful to free players but at first they can feel like a push towards the cash shop.
There's a roll and round robin loot system like every other MMO and players that can't use an item can't roll Need for it so ninja looting is impossible. It's always been in the game since launch so I have no idea where you've got that from.
Your PvP point is moot for the reasons I explained in my previous post. You can get all the upgrades of a paying player for free. It might take a bit longer.. but who cares? It's an RPG.. progression is one of the main reasons for playing it. It's not as bad as you're making out. The campaign bonuses are the main things that boost player's stats, not enchantments. The campaigns are part of the endgame content. Yes, you can pay to fully unlock all the campaigns quickly but they are fully accessible to free players. Every player will complete them regardless of whether they choose to pay or not.
Your inventory space comments are kind of true when you first start out because you'll want to horde your enchantments and runestones but once the free ZEN is rolling in you can get as many inventory upgrades as you want. Becomes a non issue. A tip for anyone starting is to stop hording or upgrading enchantments and runestones until you get to max level. Just use whatever you find at the time and get rid of the rest. You don't need the bonuses, you'll find tons of rank 5 at max level so you don't need to upgrade the ranks below that, just refine them into your artefacts to get rid of them and stop trying to save them all.
Yes, someone is paying for the ZEN free players get.. but.. what's the problem with that? If someone wants my astral diamonds then I want their ZEN. Don't forget, SOMEONE spent a lot of their time getting those diamonds.
Post edited by TheDarkrayne on
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
Best part about Neverwinter is the DnD feel and the immersive nature of the game world.
Stays true to the original Neverwinter Nights game also — in its day, that was an exceptional game.
In some ways, NW's best feature is possibly its biggest turn-off.
MMOs have morphed out of all proportion, and sometimes it feels like they can't be for real if players can't create characters with luminous tentacles sprouting from their backsides.
NW is core heroics — all the swords and spells with none of the accessory clutter.
Stumpiness & Unbridled Misery Masquerading as VIRTUE
Need an AI-Free Elf Names Generator to bring your next elven character to life? Why ... course you do, you darn fool!
Ive actually managed to avoid this game as well. I decided to check it out. It has some decent action combat, which is really the only mmorpg combat i can deal with anymore, tab-target combat its just so damn boring.
What i like is that most of the classes have a unique feel to the gameplay (from the few ive tried)
The game doesnt feel as dated as i thought it would, sure its no blockbuster with graphics.
Early game at least are nicely portioned dungeon runs with traps and simple goals. Satisfying combat, decent loot system.
I hear endgame is a money pit countered by unrealistic grind. I also read that the endgame grind is continually reset by new content patches rendering your gear that took tons of grinding/money to upgrade obsolete, as well as balance patches causing chaos.
Unsure if im going to stick with it, but initial look is that i wish i had tried this out years ago.
Still feels decently populated. I think if your cool with a hefty grind and enjoy the action combat it might be a decent game up until you hit the highest tiers of endgame, where the grind/cash shop and changes will probably drive you out. Probably best played non-seriously or with a hardcore min/max mindset.
I was impressed with decent voice overs for many of the quest, and what looks like a robust list of available campaign content. I feel like you could get a lot of mileage out of this game if played casually and without needing to be top tier.
Oh and was impressed with the cutscenes, theyve aged very well and still look good...at least the intro stuff, not sure if that high end rendering carries on through all the campaigns.
Just my 2 cents after about 12 hours of play still in honeymoon phase.
Neverwinter is fun, but there is just way too many paywalls in the game.
....
This is the first game that I've played where the barrier to entry seemed directly tied to your RL spending potential (though, I have generally avoided games with that reputation, so I'm sure it is not the first one that has gone this route).
This was my experience as well. The early game is fun, there's lots to do, and the classes play quite differently. But then there's that paywall, you've either got to trade constantly, farm constantly, or pony up RM to have access to everything the game has to offer to its fullest extent.
Neverwinter is fun, but there is just way too many paywalls in the game.
....
This is the first game that I've played where the barrier to entry seemed directly tied to your RL spending potential (though, I have generally avoided games with that reputation, so I'm sure it is not the first one that has gone this route).
This was my experience as well. The early game is fun, there's lots to do, and the classes play quite differently. But then there's that paywall, you've either got to trade constantly, farm constantly, or pony up RM to have access to everything the game has to offer to its fullest extent.
The paywall, if im not mistaken, is only for BIS endgame. Even then you could grind for it for free, if getting BIS was even something you needed to do to experience 99% of the content. I get it the cost of upgrading that gear is insane when using real money, and the grind is unrealistic, but at that point youve gotten a lot of game time, and could always reroll another class.
Im in my lower 20's after a full weekend and some weekdays play, i still enjoy it, havent needed to spend a dime on anything and dont see the need tbh, they give you a reasonably useful mount and companion off the bat, and it seems to rain gear.
I really curious what "too many paywalls" you guys are referring to and when ill encounter my first "wall" to content where i need to fork over money. TBH i wouldnt mind tossing the devs some cash, the game is fun, combat is good, game world is surprisingly populated at lower levels.
Neverwinter is fun, but there is just way too many paywalls in the game. You're going to be picking up tons of chests that require you to invest in the store.
The thing is you DO NOT need those chests. I don't see that aspect so much as a paywall, but a very annoying advertisement that is constantly thrown up in your face very few minutes. 'Bob won a hobby horse', 'Mary won a lamb'. Big freaking deal.
Either ignore the chests and ditch them or stick them on the AH for some other poor sucker to buy, but in no way shape or form do you need to go spending real money to buy keys to open them.
NWO is a mildly entertaining game, the thin D&D wash over it covers a very standard playing MMO. As a totally free lvl 1 to 60? - 70? it's OK. Seems to play more like a SPG than an MMO as everyone is just running around doing their own thing no matter if you're there or not.
Plus points are you're given a bunch of stuff to make life easier; mounts, inventory bags, zen etc.... and it levels fast as I think the concept is to get you up to end game where the trend is to sub to reduce the end game grind. They've been putting out additional content for it, some of which looks interesting.
Can't say if it's a visually good looking game since I have to play it on the lower end of the graphic's settings, unlike the other games I play.
I played it when it was new (First Month Live) and I will say, at the time I was very underwhelmed with it.
Loved the Foundry, felt that the rest of the game was hollow, limited, and not rewarding at all.
Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.
I have to agree that it did not capture any kind of Dungeons and Dragons feel to it.
In it's defense, It was not a bad MMO for an MMO, but it simply did not capture that D&D feel about it, unlike Dungeons and Dragons Online which really captured that D7D feel (Which I have not played in years, so I have no idea how it is now)
With Neverwinter, All the things that made D&D a great game, were missing.
The classes felt boring and uninspired, the gear and weapons are all class locked making the game feel more like TERA, Aion or Archeage, (With less Customization and crappier graphics) then anything remotely related to D&D.
The horses and other things screamed a need for the cash shop, and the crafting system didn't even seem remotely related to anything D&D like, (some daily check in background thing)
Just, overall it was not really a bad game as a game it just felt like a very generic MMO as opposed to something that felt like a D&D game.
If you are looking to scratch an itch for some old school D&D.. this game will not do it.
Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.
Early on it was a fun game and the promise of player-made dungeons was exciting. As time went by, it really became a PTW MMO with a real lack of innovation in dungeon design, i.e. "harder" = more swarms of MOBs ro deal with. When I stopped playing there were bots everywhere as well. As others have suggested the non-MMO Neverwinter was a lot of fun.
I had fun with it when it first came out but it didn't hold my interest. I still come back to it every once in awhile just to see if anything is different. It is worth checking out.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Since MOD 16 this game is destroyed. People leaving in an Exodus.
The greed won ........
What happened except them shutting down the Foundry? Something dramatic?
Not really. They introduced area levels just like other games have. They also took away 'Life Steal' which was really nice as you got healing from every hit you did on the NPC's. If you had enough equipment with it on you basically would never show any damage.
Now it seems they did screw up the higher levels, such that when a lvl 80 went into a lvl 70 zone, they dropped down to lvl 70 but the NPC's were lvl 85 and such. So the update screwing that up is a very valid complaint.
For anyone questing on or only a little above (5? lvls?) the area level nothing really changed beyond the loss of the 'Life Steal' mechanic.
All in all the update actually made the game better by taking away the cake walk / wack a mole game that it was and turning it into a game where you need to actually pay attention while you fight.
The game is fun until you reach level 60 which was the max but now with the new update, it's 80. It's a real gear grinding game if you like that. And its PWE so lots of lootboxes and different currencies for crap.
NW is one of the few MMOs I never really gave a chance, but I have to say I've been having a good time with it over the past month or 2. Lots to do and I enjoy the combat.
Comments
All of the mmo aspects of it are it's weaknesses. Dungeons, raids, pvp, all of it is very weak in the sense that it's very much faceroll DPS zerg. Hence the recommendation to play it more like an offline game.
Recently downloaded it on PS4, and seems very P2W which is a turn off. They even have some sort of "VIP" system which kills it for me.
But there are way too many paywalls. I feel like you have to be a baller just to enjoy this game.
So I uninstalled it and just play ESO and Overwatch on PS4 (and GW2/D3 on PC/Mac).
This is the first game that I've played where the barrier to entry seemed directly tied to your RL spending potential (though, I have generally avoided games with that reputation, so I'm sure it is not the first one that has gone this route).
Years to get BiS gear if you play for free? Only if you play about 2 hours a week... if you trade well, get more characters for FREE and get refining more diamonds you can EASILY be getting 1000 ZEN (the cash shop currency) for FREE per DAY. Yes, I said per DAY as long as you have enough hours to play each day. You could get a lot more than that if you get some good drops to sell. 10 character, 36k diamonds per day each, exchange it all for 700 ZEN and get some more from things you sell on the auction house. You could max out gear in no time. You can also get VIP status for FREE all the time.
As for the game being a DPS faceroll.. I'd love to see the people saying this stand still or not block in epic dungeons and just DPS or even in master skimishes like illusionist's gambit. The people saying this would get absolutely destroyed doing this content. In PvP.. well if you think its just a DPS zerg you must be terrible.
Most people here probably haven't played the game for years and probably didn't play it properly.
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.
+ Kinda tied to the above, but the henchmen are an interesting idea. I loved playing with some of the lesser used ones, and running around with a "unique" looking one, while everyone else all ran with the same old henchmen everyone did. Granted, if you're a minmaxer, you're going to want to follow the herd there rather than waste time (and possibly money) on a subpar minion just for looks.
+ Interesting crafting (familiar to those who've played SWTOR). Lots of micro managing and building up your little army of craftsmen.
+ The Foundry (player created content) has some nifty stuff. If you're the creative sort, it can be fun putting your own little stories together and sharing them with the community as well.
- Absolutely rotten community when it comes to PuG'ing, the game's systems encourage ninja looting and greed like no other. If you're going to do group content, a good guild is a MUST. Avoid the rest of the cesspool whenever you can.
- PWE pretty much invented Pay to Enjoy. You will constantly get your very limited inventory filled up with lockboxes and collectibles that are useless if you don't save them up to a certain number. If you hate "In your face" cash shops, this is NOT the game for you. You will find cash shop buttons on everything, extending you the courtesy of doing things much faster if you only open your wallet. This gets worse each time they run an event, which tends to bring a host of the aforementioned collectibles with it, that you need to hold onto if you want to participate in the event.
- PvP sucks. It's also where the game changes from Pay to Enjoy to outright P2W, as you will be the punching bag of players who paid to upgrade their gear for months on end, unless you do the same. But it's a minor part of the game, and optional.
Highly dependent on the Exchange. Around the time I quit, they had just broken the entire endgame and players had left in droves. It took DAYS to fill out a single ZEN purchase. Because guess what? If no one is selling any, you ain't buying any, no matter how hard you grind in game.
It sounds like it stabilized again though, based on what you're saying. But that also doesn't take away the fact that SOMEONE is paying for that ZEN.
All in all, I'd give the game a 6/10. Maybe a 7/10.
Well worth trying at least. If you don't mind cash shops, and you're capable of easily ignoring them, you can get some fun out of the game. If not... well... you'll be joining the ranks of those yelling "Garbage!"
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
All collectables for events are not held in your inventory. There is a separate unlimited currency tab.
Lockboxes take up 1 inventory slot because they stack... and they always sell on the auction house for astral diamonds which you can turn into ZEN. When you've been playing a while you will have a lot of spare free ZEN so you'll be opening plenty of lockboxes for free. Lockboxes are useful to free players but at first they can feel like a push towards the cash shop.
There's a roll and round robin loot system like every other MMO and players that can't use an item can't roll Need for it so ninja looting is impossible. It's always been in the game since launch so I have no idea where you've got that from.
Your PvP point is moot for the reasons I explained in my previous post. You can get all the upgrades of a paying player for free. It might take a bit longer.. but who cares? It's an RPG.. progression is one of the main reasons for playing it. It's not as bad as you're making out. The campaign bonuses are the main things that boost player's stats, not enchantments. The campaigns are part of the endgame content. Yes, you can pay to fully unlock all the campaigns quickly but they are fully accessible to free players. Every player will complete them regardless of whether they choose to pay or not.
Your inventory space comments are kind of true when you first start out because you'll want to horde your enchantments and runestones but once the free ZEN is rolling in you can get as many inventory upgrades as you want. Becomes a non issue. A tip for anyone starting is to stop hording or upgrading enchantments and runestones until you get to max level. Just use whatever you find at the time and get rid of the rest. You don't need the bonuses, you'll find tons of rank 5 at max level so you don't need to upgrade the ranks below that, just refine them into your artefacts to get rid of them and stop trying to save them all.
Yes, someone is paying for the ZEN free players get.. but.. what's the problem with that? If someone wants my astral diamonds then I want their ZEN. Don't forget, SOMEONE spent a lot of their time getting those diamonds.
What i like is that most of the classes have a unique feel to the gameplay (from the few ive tried)
The game doesnt feel as dated as i thought it would, sure its no blockbuster with graphics.
Early game at least are nicely portioned dungeon runs with traps and simple goals. Satisfying combat, decent loot system.
I hear endgame is a money pit countered by unrealistic grind. I also read that the endgame grind is continually reset by new content patches rendering your gear that took tons of grinding/money to upgrade obsolete, as well as balance patches causing chaos.
Unsure if im going to stick with it, but initial look is that i wish i had tried this out years ago.
Still feels decently populated. I think if your cool with a hefty grind and enjoy the action combat it might be a decent game up until you hit the highest tiers of endgame, where the grind/cash shop and changes will probably drive you out. Probably best played non-seriously or with a hardcore min/max mindset.
I was impressed with decent voice overs for many of the quest, and what looks like a robust list of available campaign content. I feel like you could get a lot of mileage out of this game if played casually and without needing to be top tier.
Oh and was impressed with the cutscenes, theyve aged very well and still look good...at least the intro stuff, not sure if that high end rendering carries on through all the campaigns.
Just my 2 cents after about 12 hours of play still in honeymoon phase.
The paywall, if im not mistaken, is only for BIS endgame. Even then you could grind for it for free, if getting BIS was even something you needed to do to experience 99% of the content. I get it the cost of upgrading that gear is insane when using real money, and the grind is unrealistic, but at that point youve gotten a lot of game time, and could always reroll another class.
Im in my lower 20's after a full weekend and some weekdays play, i still enjoy it, havent needed to spend a dime on anything and dont see the need tbh, they give you a reasonably useful mount and companion off the bat, and it seems to rain gear.
I really curious what "too many paywalls" you guys are referring to and when ill encounter my first "wall" to content where i need to fork over money. TBH i wouldnt mind tossing the devs some cash, the game is fun, combat is good, game world is surprisingly populated at lower levels.
Either ignore the chests and ditch them or stick them on the AH for some other poor sucker to buy, but in no way shape or form do you need to go spending real money to buy keys to open them.
NWO is a mildly entertaining game, the thin D&D wash over it covers a very standard playing MMO. As a totally free lvl 1 to 60? - 70? it's OK. Seems to play more like a SPG than an MMO as everyone is just running around doing their own thing no matter if you're there or not.
Plus points are you're given a bunch of stuff to make life easier; mounts, inventory bags, zen etc.... and it levels fast as I think the concept is to get you up to end game where the trend is to sub to reduce the end game grind. They've been putting out additional content for it, some of which looks interesting.
Can't say if it's a visually good looking game since I have to play it on the lower end of the graphic's settings, unlike the other games I play.
SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter
Loved the Foundry, felt that the rest of the game was hollow, limited, and not rewarding at all.
In it's defense, It was not a bad MMO for an MMO, but it simply did not capture that D&D feel about it, unlike Dungeons and Dragons Online which really captured that D7D feel (Which I have not played in years, so I have no idea how it is now)
With Neverwinter, All the things that made D&D a great game, were missing.
The classes felt boring and uninspired, the gear and weapons are all class locked making the game feel more like TERA, Aion or Archeage, (With less Customization and crappier graphics) then anything remotely related to D&D.
The horses and other things screamed a need for the cash shop, and the crafting system didn't even seem remotely related to anything D&D like, (some daily check in background thing)
Just, overall it was not really a bad game as a game it just felt like a very generic MMO as opposed to something that felt like a D&D game.
If you are looking to scratch an itch for some old school D&D.. this game will not do it.
Seaspite
Playing ESO on my X-Box
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
The greed won ........
Okay, well it is nothing like that.
( Note to self-Don't say anything bad about Drizzt.)
An acerbic sense of humor is NOT allowed here.
Now it seems they did screw up the higher levels, such that when a lvl 80 went into a lvl 70 zone, they dropped down to lvl 70 but the NPC's were lvl 85 and such. So the update screwing that up is a very valid complaint.
For anyone questing on or only a little above (5? lvls?) the area level nothing really changed beyond the loss of the 'Life Steal' mechanic.
All in all the update actually made the game better by taking away the cake walk / wack a mole game that it was and turning it into a game where you need to actually pay attention while you fight.
SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter
Joined - July 2004