Neverwinter

[Kalisnoir]

Anyone playing this? It's now in open beta.

http://nw.perfectworld.com/

I played this in a closed beta last month and jumped on it for a quick blast last night. It's good fun and isn't following the traditional combat system. It uses a kind of hybrid between TERA and Guild Wars 2.

If your playing let me know any we can jump in a dungeon or something together (however I'm just about to create a new character anyway as I enjoyed the healing of the Cleric last time and want to play that again).

 

[rickne]

As far as MMOs go I cant bare a single nother one of em. If i do sniff at one again it'll be TESO. Played so many of the damn things since WOW.

 

[Blackdog]

Installing this now Kal. I have an exam tomorrow, so I dare not even load it up for now.

 

[Kalisnoir]

Installing this now Kal. I have an exam tomorrow, so I dare not even load it up for now.

Haha, sound as bad as me. "Yeah I mean I really should finish this case study for tomorrow but I guess a quick game wouldn't hurt" *3 hours later*.

 

[Gishank]

Been playing this since the Open Beta launch and decided to pick myself up a founders pack. Personally I love the game so far, and they seem rather good at keeping their community updated when there's issues/so far have been patching bugs/issues near enough immediatley after they're found. My one gripe mind so far is the lack of visual variety in the gear. Hopefully this changes towards the end-game.

 

[DeadEyeDuk]

Because I am too lazy to look my self, is this essentially an MMO version of Neverwinter Nights? (because I used to love NWN!)

 

[PaulH]

OOOOO Neverwinter Nights was amazing - I bought it!!!

 

[Al.Neri]

I've been playing a bit of it lately, it's surprisingly not bad

 

[Kalisnoir]

Because I am too lazy to look my self, is this essentially an MMO version of Neverwinter Nights? (because I used to love NWN!)

Yeah it is, it even has what they call the Foundry which allows players to create their own dungeons for people to play. The combat mechanics are a little different to NWN but not hugely.

 

[Blackdog]

I played for a little bit last night. Its a cool game but the combat feels more like Dragon Age then traditional dnd, and this is helped by the fact that the game uses the more recent "4th edition" of the game to underpin its ruleset as opposed to earlier iterations of the game used in Baldurs Gate etc.. Im a pretty hardcore DnD fanatic, so i was a bit ambivalent, but Im going to give this game a couple more shots. I kept comparing it unfavourably to the hardcore "Dungeons and Dragons Online" which is one of my favourite games of all, though I think that's because it was so true to the original rule set, which is an unreasonable expectation to have in an MMO.

 

[rickne]

Gave it a spin. First impressions are short and sweet.

Gameplay : Its WoW with Diablo combat system.

Graphics : ITs Wow with better AA and sluggish animation.

SFX : Lazy. Seemingly 1 sound byte for taking damage or jumping.

Optimisation: There is none. My 680M reccomended specs get 27-30 fps in Neverwinter. I understand how MMOs work . I played WOW for 7 years so was always respectful that Stormwind would suffer some slowdown.
I turned down the GFX to minimum and still got 27-30 fps when moving around town.

For a game that has been through closed beta and been in open for a while now It really feels like it isn't ready for release for some time. I played through the Guild Wars 2 alpha and beta and this feels how that game did in the first closed alpha.
Now it seems a few of you are enjoying it and will have an opinion on this which is fine but I cannot recommend this game ..not yet. And by the time they sort these issues we may have more knowledge on TESO which will be the next big budget MMO.

 

[Kalisnoir]

Gave it a spin. First impressions are short and sweet.

Gameplay : Its WoW with Diablo combat system.

Graphics : ITs Wow with better AA and sluggish animation.

SFX : Lazy. Seemingly 1 sound byte for taking damage or jumping.

Optimisation: There is none. My 680M reccomended specs get 27-30 fps in Neverwinter. I understand how MMOs work . I played WOW for 7 years so was always respectful that Stormwind would suffer some slowdown.
I turned down the GFX to minimum and still got 27-30 fps when moving around town.

For a game that has been through closed beta and been in open for a while now It really feels like it isn't ready for release for some time. I played through the Guild Wars 2 alpha and beta and this feels how that game did in the first closed alpha.
Now it seems a few of you are enjoying it and will have an opinion on this which is fine but I cannot recommend this game ..not yet. And by the time they sort these issues we may have more knowledge on TESO which will be the next big budget MMO.

Game runs fine on my rig which is coming up 3 year old and is down a graphics card after my w/c blew up last year but then that iterates that optimization clearly isn't finished if its running fine on mine and not on others.

Please don't compare it to a 8/9 year old MMO though as all MMO's, (and yes even WoW) had/have serious problems on release.
I don't agree that the animations seem sluggish unless you are at a distance away but that is simply optimization using LoD in which all modern games use however it is more apparent in Neverwinter. Each to there own though and I do respect that the game won't run equal on everyone's machine.

 

[rickne]

Game runs fine on my rig which is coming up 3 year old and is down a graphics card after my w/c blew up last year but then that iterates that optimization clearly isn't finished if its running fine on mine and not on others.

Please don't compare it to a 8/9 year old MMO though as all MMO's, (and yes even WoW) had/have serious problems on release.
I don't agree that the animations seem sluggish unless you are at a distance away but that is simply optimization using LoD in which all modern games use however it is more apparent in Neverwinter. Each to there own though and I do respect that the game won't run equal on everyone's machine.

I'll compare it because that's what pretty much every MMO since has felt like. Only GW2 had a different quest structure. My comparison was gameplay related. It has a slightly different combat system which is indeed more akin to titles like Diablo and not Dragons age as you mentioned. I couldn't find one similarity to that game other than ...Dragons are in it occasionally and there is the word Dragon in the title. I am not bias towards a single title here Kali as the thought of going back to Wow makes me cringe. That game is going no where. I just don't think there is a shred of originality in these games any longer. Unless TESO does something smart with its first person mode of course. That could be interesting.

As for the animations I always felt like Iwas floating on the ground rather than walking. Occassionally my toon would jitter his steps when climbing stairs or hills. The jumping felt too lightweight. Not heavy enough.

 

[Blackdog]

It is in Beta, but i wouldn't be surprised if gameplay was just as sluggish post launch. I have to take Rickne's side on this, for a game that uses a combat system which is heavily movement/control based low fps rates are pretty criminal...

 

[rickne]

Reading back I may have been slightly harsh. I enjoyed the prologue until I got to the dungeon section, which so happened to be one of the most uninspiring corridor fests I ever laid eyes on. (perhaps a pun on the original games, but I doubt it).
I played a wizardy/sorcerer/magic dude who shot light blobs and freeze beams. Which was fun to an extent. I can imagine things improve later on as all MMOS do. Especially with some team play. But most MMos fall because everyone chooses DPS classes. Waits for dungeons can be rather tedious at times until you do find a healer or a tank who has their head so far up their tushie they are literally chewing on their own tonsils. Typical lines include " hey guys , follow me , don't be slow ....HEY SLOW GUY FFS HIGHER DPS OR i QUIT K" and "Healer you suck " with the healer replying " Tank stop aggroing the whole dungeon n00b".


Tangent over. I may revisit on release day. If I do Ill let you all know here so we can team up. Or something.

 

[Karnor00]

Well, they say it's open beta but really its been released. The developers are already taking real money to buy in-game items and there will be no character/item wipe when 'open beta' finishes. That's not a beta in my book.

I've been quite enjoying levelling up (reached L35 so far), but it's becoming apparent that you either need to spend a lot of money to get the best gear, or spend an inordinate amount of time farming (like weeks of heavy farming per item).

Also there have been some serious exploits which haven't really been fixed (or only fixed too late with punishment of exploiters):
- foundry content (basically player written) which allowed very rapid levelling by hitting stationary targets
- a particular class being able to one-shot bosses allowing rapid farming of items
- AH exploit allowing players to generate practically infinite astral diamonds (the in-game currency). In game since the start for a few who knew about it, but went critical over the weekend and the servers were down yesterday as the developers worked out what to do about it.