Neverwinter Screens Go From Blackdagger to Vellosk

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Neverwinter Screens Go From Blackdagger to Vellosk

Hold on to your hats, kids, because we've got some new Neverwinter screens to check out!

That's right, Neverwinter screens! In case you haven't been paying attention, Neverwinter is a free-to-play MMO in the works over at Perfect World, which acquired the property from Atari back in late 2011. The new screens show off some of the dangers that will be faced in in the Blackdagger Ruins and Vellosk zones.

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I can't say I'm really getting a D&D "vibe" from these screens, especially the one with the guy in a silly pirate hat who looks like a Scooby Doo villain, but my love of the game is admittedly rooted in a different era, when we clattered through a cave dug into a hill somewhere, snuffed a few kobolds and a maybe a bugbear, and called it a day. But even if it turns out to be just another generic Warcraft wanna-be, it's free-to-play so there's no risk, aside from some lost time, in giving it a rip.

And with that ringing endorsement done, I'll leave you with this: Neverwinter is slated to come out early this year, and you can find out more about the game (and decide for yourself whether I'm being insightful or cranky) at nw.perfectworld.com [http://nw.perfectworld.com/].


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viranimus

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Nov 20, 2009
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MMOs are essentially a failed genre. They will remain so until some sort of advent allows the industry to properly move completely away from the broken WoW model.

So I have essentially given up on MMOs as a genre, though this does have me intruiged, provided the "User generated content" can actually be a viable thing to incorporate into an MMO. If so I will be all over this. Otherwise... Really enjoying Hawken atm and Kingdoms of Amalur is essentially WoW + Fable - all the tedious and annoying people getting in the way.


Quote shield: Understand when I say this, This post simply represents my opinion on it.
 

Tanis

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Aug 30, 2010
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Huh...I thought this thing had DIED.

Glad I was wrong, AND it's F2P?

Doesn't hurt to check it out.
 

Riobux

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Apr 15, 2009
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What D&D rule-system will the game be using? I couldn't seem to find any information on the website.
 

TheBelgianGuy

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I am so sick of all these hundred MMORPG's launching every year. I wish I could play Neverwinter Nights 3, not some crappy WoW clone. Or Knights of the Old Republic 3, instead of the mmo...
 

happy_turtle

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...and so it was that the world of Neverwinter was destroyed in 2013...If only the Mayan's had a thing for odd numbers we may have been able to predict this .
 

viranimus

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Nov 20, 2009
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DVS BSTrD said:
I'm actually getting more of a "Kingdoms of Alamur vibe from those screen shots. Where did those 38 Studios artists end-up again?
viranimus said:
MMOs are essentially a failed genre. They will remain so until some sort of advent allows the industry to properly move completely away from the broken WoW model.

So I have essentially given up on MMOs as a genre, though this does have me intruiged, provided the "User generated content" can actually be a viable thing to incorporate into an MMO. If so I will be all over this. Otherwise... Really enjoying Hawken atm and Kingdoms of Amalur is essentially WoW + Fable - all the tedious and annoying people getting in the way.


Quote shield: Understand when I say this, This post simply represents my opinion on it.
Genuine Inquiry: What exactly defines the WoW model as you put it here? We've seen other MMOs move away from the subscription model (albiet some only after a token run of a few months) and Guild Wars has finally decided to to allow XP to be shared amongst all participants. You mean basing it on quests?
By broken WoW model I am pointing to the game play mechanics that WoW refined from other MMOs, and other MMOs have pilfered from WoW. The confusion is understandable and completely my doing. By "model" I was saying the structure/plans other MMOs are seemingly locked into. Where as understandably in a context of MMOs, Model typically refers to the process of monetization. So sorry, completely my error.

___________

But yes, MMOs are stuck in this structure of you play a (usually) voiceless mook sent out to find great adventure in the same sandbox as about 2-4k other identical mooks doing the same, Moving from town to town performing menial tasks on your way to "fame" as you actually only eek out a meager living by harassing the local wildlife, trying to gain items that will allow you to carve out enough profit to keep you going on your endless quest of training and expenses. Gaining strength by helping lazy, apathetic villagers that always have some reason they cant take care of their own. You spend this "life"in pursuit of stronger weapons and gear that will make you formidable enough to actually try to find the adventure youve been promised for 50+ levels only to realize that the "adventure" is and has always been tedious grinding, time sinks, statistical micromanagement that got you to that point, only now, you have a core of people you are essentially indebted to/familiar with that you just end up either helping others in content youve already done, or rolling another toon in order to have something to do while you wait for the next expansion pack of content that you can now effectively blast through in 2-3 months time and find yourself right back in the same place.

If TOR had not been so determined to mimic WoW in copying that formula and banking on its dialog/cutscene engine being enough, it would have been a step in the right direction. GW2 also made similar valiant attempts to offer that new advent but still fall short of the intended mark. MMOs want to grow, but it is hard for anything to grow when you have a lumbering juggernaut in its death throws hiding you from the sunlight you need for energy. With MMOs there is a world of potential that is honestly being squandered. So until something can break away from that system of failure, MMOs are going to not only remain stagnate but might even begin to wilt away all together as other game types offer similar mechanics like char development, or online community building.
 

UnSub

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Riobux said:
What D&D rule-system will the game be using? I couldn't seem to find any information on the website.
It's meant to be action combat (not turn based) but I believe it adheres closer to the 4th Ed rules overall. However, only 5 character classes at launch I believe.

TheBelgianGuy said:
I am so sick of all these hundred MMORPG's launching every year.
I'll take the 'hundreds' as a bit of hyperbole, but the number of MMOs announced and launched have dropped off substantially because the market overall has failed to bring in new customers and the big project have pretty much all flopped.

And besides, the first Neverwinter computer game was a MMO, so this is coming full circle.

Cryptic / Perfect World is behind Neverwinter, so although it will get the F2P model mostly right, there will be complaints about lockboxes that require RMT to buy keys for. Although there is a way around that: don't pay money to open the lockboxes.
 

sXeth

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Nov 15, 2012
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Riobux said:
What D&D rule-system will the game be using? I couldn't seem to find any information on the website.
None of them based on nay sort of gameplay videos (Fighters racking up 1000s of damage in seconds), its very loosely in Forgotten Realms setting wise (Except Uthgardt are apparently giant monster-dudes... and not normal human barbarians).
 

R Man

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I think that developers (or publishers?) look at Wow and see:
WoW is making money.
WoW is a MMO.
Therefore MMO's make money.
This of course ignores the fact that World of Warcraft and Blizzard may have been successful for other reasons. For a start Warcraft 3 was very popular, and the expansion was released in 2003. Just over a year later Wow was released, still burning hot with success. Not to mention Blizzards good timing.

On the other hand this Neverwinter RPG doesn't have the same advantage. Neverwinter Nights 2 was released on 2006, and this is coming 7 years later. Too late I think. And it will have to face competition from Blizzard...
 

Abomination

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Oh boy, another F2P MMORPG, just what the industry needs.

Also comes with a recognised brand name attached!

This seems to be decision making 101.
 

Milanezi

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I've got nothing to complain about the pirate, reminds me a lot of some Forgotten Realms books, but... The DESIGN of the characters, all of them, they're so burly, almost like Marcus Fenix lol Reminds me of WoW and The Old Republic, WoW, however was BORN this way, so whatever, it`s not the same thing here...