Hey guys I am so freaking excited for NWN coming back and was curious if the game sells well enough could a new official expansion actually happen?
I believe, don't quote me on this, that they said it's not off the table. Currently, they're looking into it as a possibility. From what I can remember, they said this on one of the last two livestreams.
However, first they need to get the game out, and work on integrating specific features and make sure CEP is compatible, and ect. I'm not sure everything that needs to be done, but that's the jist of it.
It would be insane not to ship some new expansion with the game, even if a really small one. They need something to showcase what the updated engine is capable of visually, and they need new assets to do it justice. At the end of the day, screenshots of next level visuals is what will attract the general public, not a long list of "under the hood" tweaks.
Expansions I think is the true goal here, to really develop NWN further. That's why it's so important the EE will sell well and attract old players and new players. And that's why they need to pull a bigger rabbit out of the bag with NWN than with the Infinity engine EE's. A big fat happy rabbit. :P
I actually find a new expansion quite probable. It allows Beamdog to monetize the development of new graphical assets to integrate into the game without dealing the burgeoning task of redoing all of the original content AND breaking compatibility with previous modules. It just makes sense for that to be the next product release.
That being said, you're probably going to be waiting 3-4 years for it. There is lot of stuff to fix in NWN1 and making sure that EE's serverclient is worth porting to is going to take a while.
I would like a higher level official module as one of the expansions, perhaps even following on from HoTU. There seems to be a lack of decent high-level modules around.
I would like a higher level official module as one of the expansions, perhaps even following on from HoTU. There seems to be a lack of decent high-level modules around.
Follow-up from HotU is exactly what I was thinking. Perhaps even merging the OC? Infinite dungeons does exist, but it's not quite the same thing.
While an epic level expansion could be fun for single player, I don't see epic assets being all that useful for PWs. At least there's a lot of other content I'd like to have before the epic stuff.
Epic content is quite thin as it is. There are like, what, half a dozen epic spells in the game? The cap of 40 is fine, they just need to expand upon what is already there, else you are gaining levels for no reason.
The concept of a multiplayer server where everyone is eventually "epic" or godlike doesn't make much sense to me. The epic levels lose their meaning.
I remember playing a Sorcerer on a PW who got to level 18 or so and could already mass murder dragons and giants. I don't really see the need for mortal PC's to get more powerful than that as DM's will also run out of interesting things to throw at them.
And pumping monster stats to provide a challenge doesn't create any meaningful new content.
Well an expansion might not be that hard to make there dozens of campaigns made by all kinds of people so its in the realm of possibility very much so.
The thing about all that epic level stuff (and high levels in D&D in general) is they are fun to aspire to but unfun to actually play.
The most fun and balanced level range seems to be around 5-15.
Low level characters don't have a lot of abilities to play with and lvl 1 characters especially have too few HP. Dying in one hit is not fun. I was hoping 5e would give lvl 1 characters a HP buff to around 20 HP but I guess you can always house rule it. I generally prefer level 1 HP = Con score + max HD. And on level ups average HD + con modifier. A level 1 Wizard with 14 Con would have 18HP (+5 HP / level) and a level 1 Fighter with 16 Con would have 26HP (+9 HP / level).
The way 3e is set up, high level characters start requiring very high level enemies to be challenged as a horde of low level opponents can't hit them anymore. High level content on PW's gets kind of silly when your average adventuring day means slaughtering armies of giants. The big impressive dangerous monsters become more of a mundane chore. Things would be more exciting if an army of goblins could actually threaten high level PCs and high level enemies would be more special.
yeah 3E does a very bad job a power scaling on levels, in HoTU i easily soloed it on the hardest difficulty, ironically the reason why i soloed it was because my companion was in the way and slowing me down ( hahaha ) and also they werent necessary because i was kicking so much butt
in my opinion how the BG series does epic level play is WAY more balanced, hell level 2 spells like hold person and draw upon holy might are still amazing at epic level play, and there is even a challenge in watchers keep where you are fighting..... orcs, you know those level 1 pansy enemies, they found a way to make level 1 baddies a challenge but 3E struggles to do so
3e is revolving too much around magic items. You get +5 natural AC, +5 deflection AC, +5 to this and that AC and suddenly the power gap is enormous. Capping magic items to +3 is something that can easily be done with NWN though.
And then there are a bazillion buffing spells that mostly stack with each other and have long durations.
I prefer a system where your AC increases slightly with experience levels and magic items have far less impact than they do in 3e. And where defensive/offensive buffs are moderated by a concentration requirement i.e. choose one that is most appropriate for the situation instead of stack 10 long duration buffs after every rest and look like a christmas tree on steroids.
Comments
However, first they need to get the game out, and work on integrating specific features and make sure CEP is compatible, and ect. I'm not sure everything that needs to be done, but that's the jist of it.
Personally, I like nwn2 interface and graphics a lot better and would rather play that but the toolset imho in a nightmare.
I am hopeful they will ship new expansion packs in the future!
That being said, you're probably going to be waiting 3-4 years for it. There is lot of stuff to fix in NWN1 and making sure that EE's serverclient is worth porting to is going to take a while.
New base classes:
Archivist
Favored Soul
Psion
Warlock
New kit: wild mage, wild sorcerer
New Prestige Classes
Mystic Theurge
Archmage
Hierophant
Duelist
Runecaster
Shadow Mage
Incantatrix
Diabolist
Demonologist
Hospitaler
Hellfire Warlock
Cerebremancer
New Epic Prestige Classes:
Netherese Arcanist
A proper template system
Level cap up to 60 or beyond
Infinite dungeons does exist, but it's not quite the same thing.
I remember playing a Sorcerer on a PW who got to level 18 or so and could already mass murder dragons and giants. I don't really see the need for mortal PC's to get more powerful than that as DM's will also run out of interesting things to throw at them.
And pumping monster stats to provide a challenge doesn't create any meaningful new content.
Low level characters don't have a lot of abilities to play with and lvl 1 characters especially have too few HP. Dying in one hit is not fun. I was hoping 5e would give lvl 1 characters a HP buff to around 20 HP but I guess you can always house rule it. I generally prefer level 1 HP = Con score + max HD. And on level ups average HD + con modifier. A level 1 Wizard with 14 Con would have 18HP (+5 HP / level) and a level 1 Fighter with 16 Con would have 26HP (+9 HP / level).
The way 3e is set up, high level characters start requiring very high level enemies to be challenged as a horde of low level opponents can't hit them anymore. High level content on PW's gets kind of silly when your average adventuring day means slaughtering armies of giants. The big impressive dangerous monsters become more of a mundane chore. Things would be more exciting if an army of goblins could actually threaten high level PCs and high level enemies would be more special.
in my opinion how the BG series does epic level play is WAY more balanced, hell level 2 spells like hold person and draw upon holy might are still amazing at epic level play, and there is even a challenge in watchers keep where you are fighting..... orcs, you know those level 1 pansy enemies, they found a way to make level 1 baddies a challenge but 3E struggles to do so
And then there are a bazillion buffing spells that mostly stack with each other and have long durations.
I prefer a system where your AC increases slightly with experience levels and magic items have far less impact than they do in 3e. And where defensive/offensive buffs are moderated by a concentration requirement i.e. choose one that is most appropriate for the situation instead of stack 10 long duration buffs after every rest and look like a christmas tree on steroids.
Guess that's getting a bit off topic though.