Neverwinter

theJoshFrost

There's a Free-to-play MMO coming out made by the guys who made City of Heroes/Villains, Champions Online, and Star Trek Online called Neverwinter. Supposed to be based around 4th edition D&D, and I'm raaaather excited.

I used to play WoW a lot until around 2010 when it started getting terrible. I haven't touched any MMO since (typically I don't like them, but I like the Warcraft universe).

Though what really makes me excited about this new one is the Foundry feature, where it's essentially a mission/map editor that's in the game where you can create your own content. I think that's a BRILLIANT idea if implemented properly.

Any one else hear anything about Neverwinter, and are excited for it? Or do you think it'll be bad? I've never played any of the developers previous MMO's, but I haven't heard too many bad things about them.

ajwz

$200 to play as a drow.

They can piss right off.

theJoshFrost

ajwz said:

$200 to play as a drow.

They can piss right off.

Agreed that that's probably not an ideal monetization method, saying "$200 to play as a drow" isn't very accurate.

You get way more than just the drow. It's essentially just paying for VIP access to every beta weekend they have until release. So far they haven't said anything about any classes or races having to be paid for on launch. All those perks are strictly for the semi-closed semi-open beta at the moment.

Though my interest will wane tremendously if they go down the D&D Online path and restrict classes and races by making you pay for them during the actual launch.

Kitteh_On_A_Cloud

@theJoshFrost: Still, 200 bucks for VIP access still is a LOT. I for certain know I can't and won't pay that. I'm not a walking piggy bank.

Drugar

Wouldn't want to play as a drow if they paid *me* 200,-.
Other than that, I might give it a shot. Looks sort-of interesting, though also awfully generic.

theJoshFrost

Kitteh_On_A_Cloud said:

@theJoshFrost: Still, 200 bucks for VIP access still is a LOT. I for certain know I can't and won't pay that. I'm not a walking piggy bank.

I agree. So, you don't really have to pay it. Just there for people who want to (for whatever reason) pay 200 dollars for the nifty little extras in the beta. I'm not sure if any of that stuff will cross over into launch. To be honest it seems more like a Press Pack; something reviewers can do so they can show off the beta on Youtube. But like I said, I'll be very upset if the Drow still have a price tag at launch, or any other race for that matter.

Drugar said:

Wouldn't want to play as a drow if they paid *me* 200,-.
Other than that, I might give it a shot. Looks sort-of interesting, though also awfully generic.

Here here. For whatever reason I like the style they went with. It's kinda off-cartoony. Maybe it's cause I played WoW for so long. But compared to what else is out there, the aesthetic doesn't really pop at all.

Moomintroll

Anyone else like the idea? Keeps drow rare and makes the company some more monies. (great idea imo!)

Vnavekul

Any decent gaming press won't have to pay 200 dollar for that content, @theJoshFrost. I can tell you that much.

theJoshFrost

Vnavekul said:

Any decent gaming press won't have to pay 200 dollar for that content, @theJoshFrost. I can tell you that much.

You're probably right. I was thinking along the lines of people like TotalBiscuit, AngryJoe, etc on Youtube, but I think at this point even they would get some exclusive what nots. Devs are becoming more aware with how much sway online personalities have.

rexreg

i have a feeling i'll be playing Baldur's Gate, instead...

ajwz

Moomintroll said:

Anyone else like the idea? Keeps drow rare and makes the company some more monies. (great idea imo!)

Keeping drow rare is one thing but why choose to do it by limiting them to wealthy people?

You supporting the oppressive bourgeois imperialists then?
eh comrade?
eh?

Moomintroll

ajwz said:

Moomintroll said:

Anyone else like the idea? Keeps drow rare and makes the company some more monies. (great idea imo!)

Keeping drow rare is one thing but why choose to do it by limiting them to wealthy people?

You supporting the oppressive bourgeois imperialists then?
eh comrade?
eh?

I was just following orders!

Zanian

The drow race itself won't cost anything upon launch. For the $200, you will get a unique outfit, a mount, familiar and a lot of stuff that will be purchasable from the in-game store. And VIP access of course. Possibly also some sort of "good" drow sub-race/surfacer/background/Drizz't-lookalike feature, but I can't say for sure yet.

If you are one of those who tend to spend a buckload of cash on microtransactions (I know I am. I have a problem, I'll admit), then you end up saving more than 50% in the long run. (The store items you get adds up to around 400-500 bucks.
(Whether that means you will get a near infinite amount of rare loot, or just that everything will be crazy expensive; I don't know.)

It's basically a Pre-CE-Item-Pack-Dealy for the die-hard fans. I doubt many will sell, since it's a lot of money for a game you don't even know you'll like yet.

ajwz

Zanian said:

The drow race itself won't cost anything upon launch.

Source?

theJoshFrost

Sylvus_Moonbow said:

I don't know, really.

The Foundry feature to build maps does sound like fun, but I haven't seen anything with a conversation editor or scripting language. How can one make detailed conversations with Bluff, Persuade, Intimidate checks to move the dialog forward?

All I see from videos is fighting. Are they just marketing it as a dungeon romp to level and loot then? If so, that would be why there haven't been videos showcasing dialog options, character development or plot arcs and twists.

Not my thing. Now, Neverwinter Nights, that's a toolset to mimic for future games - give the player full control to make their own adventures, with multiplayer / Dungeon Master functionality - and let the imagination run wild!

The key word here is marketing. I think the marketing for Neverwinter has been rather dreadful, because you're right, the only videos online are videos of well, the combat. There are a couple Foundry videos but as far as I'm aware, the Foundry isn't 100% complete yet. I know you can make rather extensive dialogue trees in the game, so I'd have to assume you can connect them with skills in some way. They said they want the Foundry to be easy to use, but also "complex". But what does that mean in the long run?

ajwz said:

Zanian said:

The drow race itself won't cost anything upon launch.

Source?

I've heard that the only thing exclusive to the Foundry drow is the background it comes with, along with a few appearance features. I'm awfully bad at googling, so I can't provide a source that isn't a forum post or something along those lines, but I also can't find a reliable source that says the drow race IS exclusive to the foundry buyers.