Neverwinter?

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Nobody here plays Neverwinter? It's the closest an MMO has ever come to capturing PNP DnD. I've been playing fairly regularly since Beta days and enjoy the game and it's manifestation of 4.0 rules to the fullest. So far it's covered Icewind Dale (somewhat disappointingly), Tyranny of Dragons (somewhat grindingly) and the Rise of Tiamat (somewhat frustratingly). What's neat is that they try to genuinely include vital elements of Sword Coast lore...and Elemental Evil is next...complete with Minsc and Boo as joinable companions. Cryptic/Perfect World are tied up with WotC in this venture, so as WotC release new content, you see that content echoed in a CRPG/MMO.

Now, don't be fooled, it's probably the most expensive FTP platform you'll ever try, lol...but I'm a little surprised that with all the BG, IWD, TOEE, NW and SC fans here that there isn't a little more buzz.

Anyway, if anyone here plays or wants to talk about playing...let's talk. For crying out loud, you don't want to get me started on current events

Oh, btw...hello old friends!

 

Let me put it this way:

1. Sword Coast is boring as hell. In contrast, D&D Online, which is set in Xen'drik and Cormyr, has a far more interesting setting.
2. 4th Edition, while appropriate for a video game, isn't very popular among the old guard. I'd need an 11-ft. pole before I touch it in any form.
3. It's a MMO. If I want to play a MMO, I have better options. If I want to play PnP, I play PnP. I don't see any reason to seek a compromise between the two.

I've actually been watching streams of the game semi-regularly and overall I was largely unimpressed with the whole thing. There are a million things I don't like about the game and the pros simply don't outweigh them (and it really is all about pros and cons when it comes to MMOs). I think the recent trend of turning perfectly good RPGs into perfectly average MMOs is annoying and I have no intention of supporting it.

That's my take on it, anyway. Obviously, it's all about taste and personal opinions.

 

Minsc and Boo...in an MMO? that's just blasphemy.

I personally can't stand this. They ruined KOTOR with it. I liked KOTOR.

 

I've also been playing on and off since beta. I've made several posts about the game so far.

It's actually one of the cheapest FTP MMOs I've ever played, in terms of what you can get without ever spending a dime on the game. Ideally though it's best to "fund" your character/s using both RL and in-game methods, the former because it supports the game and the latter because generating AD is extremely easy. While the game never actually tells you this explicitly, it is possible to generate millions of AD per week using only leadership alts. One 20 minute login per day for leadership and, combined with whatever else you're actively doing to generate AD, you're on way to a full set of rank 9-10s and legendaries (that's how I got mine, anyway). Considering that I often take 1 month+ breaks from the game to play something else (which is the beauty of the FTP model), the fact that I'm running around in end-game gear the equivalent of a 6+ months GUILD grind in WoW should speak for itself.
It also helps if you join a good social groups like the "nw_legit_community" chat group. The folks there are more than willing to help lowbies navigate any of the game's dungeons.

Anyway the game is definitely not for the general RPG crowd. The gameplay is heavily twitch-based, so splitsecond reflexes could mean all the difference between success or your character getting killed. In many ways Neverwinter is more like an action game reminiscent of Skyrim (in terms of controls/movement) and MOBA games like DotA2 (in terms of combat and how quickly things can happen). It's nowhere near like any of the Infinity Engine/Neverwinter Nights games, and it doesn't try to be. Most people you ask will likely reply that the reason they keep playing the game is because of the combat system.

Other characters from PC D&D games have been mentioned in Neverwinter. Deekin has a street named after him and Linu Laeral from NwN1 appears in the Well of Dragons. There are references to other D&D games like the "falling" scene that happens after you kill the first boss in the Lair of Lostmauth which is a nod to the Cave of Rafael the Immortal scene from the Shadows Over Mystara D&D sidescroll game. If you've played Neverwinter, the Lair of Lostmauth dungeon and the "falling" scene was inspired by this game (it starts at around 0:26):



It's hard not to appreciate the effort.

The Sword Coast is more interesting than you think. It's not about the setting but what you do with it, really. The settings in the NwN games/Inifinity Engine games are -very- different from the settings in Neverwinter. Sadly though Cryptic doesn't seem too interested in fully fleshing out these areas atm and they are treated as more like the random maps you visit in BG1 instead of dynamic locations (like several WoW areas).
Anyway notable settings include:

• the Underdark and Underdark entrances (mostly around Rothe Valley and the Whispering Caverns) which are actively being contested by the drow/Neverwinter forces
• the dead god Helm's abandoned keep (Helm's Hold) which is now overrun by devils
• the Dread Ring area which is being controlled by the Thayans and which has portals into Thay (you can make brief visits there)
• the Neverwinter Woods which has a direct line to Evermeet and the Feywild (which has some of the best-looking areas in the game)
• the Neverwinter Graveyard district which is being invaded by the Cult of the Dragon and has portals to the Shadowfell
• the Chasm, the remains of a section of the city swallowed by a massive fissure caused by the Spellplague and which has been overrun by all sorts of abberations (including one very angry aboleth).

The game's main problem is that it's EXTREMELY linear. I personally believe the game was meant to be played on and off (and it takes a month or so for leadership alts to mature anyway) unless you really appreciate tedium.

 

It really isn't though. The most interesting parts in any FR game are obviously the times when you go off the damn Sword Coast.

 

That's one way to put it I guess, but one of my favorite settings in the D&D world is Sigil and it's definitely not because of the city itself.

 

I think you misunderstood my reference to the Sword Coast Adventures, not the Sword Coast as a geographic region of Faerun. SCA is a web based access point to the game that lets you participate in some game activities without being in the game, just by using your browser. There's even a dice game you can play to train you companions there with a slight chance of uber rare loots.

Another unique element of Neverwinter is The Foundry. There, all the game developer tools are available for a player to craft their own dungeons and adventures. Some are truly almost better than regular game content. This is a feature that's distinctly unique to any MMO I've played.

PNP is fine, but it gets harder and harder for a group of adults separated by distance to find time to play. The foundry provides an avenue for up to 5 friends to party up and run a dungeon or a campaign created specifically for them.

I was a DDO player from way back in the early days and for some reason I just quit playing. Same with LOTRO. You know, I should check out my old DDO account some day...Anyway, I've been at Neverwinter for right at 2 years now and I haven't burned out. Now...if Elder Scrolls Online had been any good....

You can grouse about Neverwinter being a version of 4.0, but really that's just pointless. 4.0 has come and gone, already replaced by 5.0. Clinging to old 3.5 or ADD rulesets only hurts the the growth of PNP games to people new to the genre...or just go GURPS or Pathfinder...

I dunno, it sounds to me like you just don't like MMO's, and that's fine but you really shouldn't criticize without trying it. Or not.

DMC, I know that I paint a fairly unthrilling picture, but I'm being completely objective and honest. Despite the downside, I'm still playing.

Now...where was that current events thread...