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First Impressions - Review of the Beta of NeverWinter - by zWolf
wesgar
Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Silverstars Posts: 0 Arc User
I played Neverwinter Online the WHOLE weekend - pretty much that and sleep is all that I did - I LOVED the game, after playing this game at PAX last August, in 2012, I really didn't think it was going to 'grab me' like that, but it did.
Here is a 'link' to an over 3 hour long play session of when I first started my Cleric.
http://www.twitch.tv/zwolfman/c/1909625
I turn on Game sound at about the 10 min. mark - and move the screen out to the proper 'ratio' at around 45 mins.
Here is my written review after having played a Dedicated Cleric to Max Level (30) and a Trickster Rogue to about around level 15:
Is it fun to play?
YES! Most definitely it is! I LOVED it; the fact that this is an Action MMORPG really upped the 'fun factor' to me. Of course folks need to go into the game with their expectations set. This game shares 'lore' with the D&D franchise setting in the sword coast, but it is NOT the pen and paper game. This game shares the distinction of being played on a computer, but it is NOT Never winter nights 1 or 2 where you would control a group of characters in strategic combat (if you used the 'pause button' you could almost get the sense of turn based game play with those.) I have played the Pen and Paper game, I have Played Never winter nights 1 and 2 and I can most definitely assure you this game is NOT, either of those games. So, don't go chasing after playing it hoping that it IS and you'll enjoy your experience much more.
What it DOES do well, is capture the rich lore and 'feel' of the setting - I loved the art design choices made, and the stories seemed well suited to the setting (yes, I've read a few of the books too.) for me, the amount of skills available to me at one time, seemed perfect for what I needed to accomplish - I still felt like I was making strategic decisions for what skill to use when. There was also a depth to the game in that I had a deep set of skills to choose from. I could pick which ones to set on my 'active' bar and use those. By changing those, up, you could really alter the ‘style’ of game play that your character had.
I tried to play with a 360 controller, and I think it will be possible, but, after about an hour, I went back to keyboard and mouse... there were a few things not 'polished' with it, and unfortunately I have forgotten what they were. I think it mostly had to do with not having access to all of the abilities that I needed – I don’t think I ever figured out what you were supposed to use for the ‘tab’ key for instance. And there were other things that should have been accessible via the controller that weren’t. at this stage, the keyboard and mouse felt great. That said, if the ability to customize the buttons on the 360 controller were implemented, I could see that being a viable option. (though you would still want your keyboard close for out of combat uses, for movement and combat – I think a controller would work fine.) As a matter of fact, I imagine that I could have programed the 360 in the computer settings and got the effect that I wanted out of it – but – it really wasn’t a priority for me – I just had it connected and figured I’d pick it up n see what it felt like.
As for the Active Skill ‘amount’ argument - No there were not as many active skills as there are in other MMO's, but honestly, I really never missed having 6 x 12 hot key's to choose from - the action and combat was fluid and felt great! I was engaged the whole time. Combat was solid - it was paced well enough that there were 'harder' fights spaced out between fights that you didn't have to use all your powers on, that it kept things exciting, without slowing down the game while you waited for your skills to recharge. Also there was some player created content from the forge that was killer hard! My first death was in a player made adventure.
Speaking of death... I don't even remember a 'death penalty' so - other than walking back to continue your quest, there must not be one... this will disappoint some, and relive others - I found it fine. I like a heavy death penalty in single player games - but in group games, I don't as it causes a different chemistry in Groups. (Remember that guy in EQ that made you lose hours of work cause of his dumb mistakes? ya - experience loss - the death of many an online friendship. :-P )
I'm running out of time for my review, so, I'm going to summarize - I really enjoyed it! I'm REALLY looking forward to playing more - I REALLY hope it's not clear till 'December' when it's released - sigh.
Regarding Stability, Sound and other things:
Personally I didn't have manny issues with disconnecting. The sounds were great, other than an annoying thing that if you stood in certain areas, the 'speech loop' would run over and over and over again till madness ensued, or, till you remember your 'mute' button... I hit Mute EVERY time I'd enter the market... there was one annoying guy 'shouting' out his wares, that started to peel the paint off my wall his voice was so grating.
The other 'negative' sound thing was - I was in an area - clock tower, I think, and it was NON STOP combat music... like the kind that pops on in a final fantasy battle scene. Holy COW that is just not something you should have to listen to for more than 20 seconds every 5 minutes you know? So, I popped music down to 0 in settings, and there it stayed for the remainder of my weekend. I cannot speak to the 'music' quality other than to say; in my first adventure sessions it was so annoying that I turned it off. I'm sure this is something they can fix by retail.
The voice chat was hit or miss in the groups that I was in – meaning that sometimes you could chat with folks in your party, and sometimes you couldn’t. (Pretty much it was like every other game that has Voice chat in it,) so, like all the other games that have voice chat, I'll most likely be using Mumble or Ventrilo unless this is something they resolve. (Not a deal breaker - just par for the course at this point.)
Stability (revisited)-
Stability was better than many a triple A MMO at retail release - I'm looking at you Sony and blizzard - if this was a retail release - I'd rate it above average as far as stability and getting connected to the game goes. Of course, you’d have to consider that it was a ‘limited’ release – had every one that ‘wanted’ toplay been able to play… who knows, right?
That said, over the course of 25 -35 hours of game play, I'd say I experienced a Disconnect once every 6 hours or so. And each time getting back in was a snap. With disconnects happening, during ‘prime play time’ (Saturday evening, it was a tad worse,) However, stability was well within 'tolerable' standards - even for a retail release, so, hopefully it can only get better.
There were a couple of other things that I wanted to add as 'improvement wishes' but - I didn't write them down, and they weren't big enough that they stuck in my head - sooo, I have forgotten them, other than the fact that I know I had the idea, so I know that there is room for improvement. Oh! I just remembered one, to the left of the mini map, there are some handy 'notification' indicators for upcoming events and what not -they stick out pretty far into the 'play area' but, there is a nice button you can press that tucks them away right up next to the mini map. Unfortunately, in this version of the game, EVERY time you changed areas, or left a dialog with an NPC then they indicators would extend out to full size - very annoying, but I'm sure it's something that they will fix in future renditions.
Bottom line: I loved the game, and can't wait to play more.
5 classes? sure that's not a bunch of options - but they have the 'main' core abilities taken care of, and it's plenty to have fun with till they come out with more. I loved both the Cleric, and the rogue - they both played VERY differently.
The Cleric:
Dedicated Claric seemed to play more like a traditional 'mage' would in these kinds of games - I used him like a ranged spell caster, most of the heals came from spells that I'd use on enemy's that would then provide 'healing' to party members - I didn't feel like a traditional 'cleric' where I would stand back and focus heal my party - but after a while, I really got into how it played. I 'do' kind of miss the feel of being the 'healer' but - I must say I quite enjoyed casting spells to hurt, that also 'healed' - oh, I have to say that this was 'my style' of play, and that I think a person 'could' probably play closer to the action if they wanted - and perhaps could even be more of the dedicated 'healer' if they put the right skills on their bar - I chose the 'mix' dps / healz and had fun with it.
The Rogue:
Holy cow was combat fun with this guy! I grouped with a Cleric and I felt freaking unstoppable! Zip in, Zip around, laying waste to my enemies! It plays VERY positional - and probably works best in a group where it can easily get in behind or to the side of an enemy and take advantage of HUGE flanking bonuses. I REALLY like the way this guy played.
And now, for some discussion regarding the question that is on all of our minds;
Is it 'Pay to Win' or can it be enjoyed 'free'? I should start this with a caveat, to mention that it looked like they were really trying to keep their monetization strategy under wraps for now... so everything that I talk about is just me looking at the bits that were poking through - we really don't have enough info. To make clear call's on this aspect yet. That said, here is what I think:
I HATE that it is 'free to play' as I always, ALWAYS end up spending more money in 'free' to play games that I enjoy than I do in subscription based games. That said the developers have repeatedly made the statement that they are focused on making a very FUN to play game first - and then they are hesitant to talk about how they are going to 'monetize' it. Even in this beta, the 'monetization' thing wasn't super apparent - BUT, you could see the area's where it's set to latch on.
My preliminary opinion, with pretty much NOTHING to base it on, (kidding there were plenty of 'tells' in the game even at this stage,) is that the game really WILL be enjoyable free of charge. At least it has the potential to do so. I also think that the first place people will spend some cash will be on 'bags' and storage - that might be a bit of a 'pinch' playing for free - though via quests it looks like you do get some space expansion as you would expect.
How ‘Pay to Win’ Is it? - Not 'too' bad. The 'pay to win' part is hidden nicely AND it looked like there was a path that normal 'play' would allow you to advance your character in the same direction, so 'paying' was more of a 'time benefit' than a 'pure advantage', which is great. For me, the 'pay to win' aspect fell well within the 'tolerable' range. For reference, a 'cash shop' for items that give advantages that are available for 'pay' but can't be obtained by 'free' players - is outside of my range of tolerance - I did not see such things in the game. (And hope it stays that way.)
There will be lots of cosmetic things to buy, - Mounts, Dress up costumes, dye's etc. - all that's to be expected. the area that a guy 'could' go over board is by buying the 'bits' required to 'upgrade' your companion (runes,) and your equipment (I forget the name - I'll refer to them as 'enchants') Basically, you 'can' find these bits in game, and you CAN buy them off of the auction house from other players, that either 'bought them' or found them - so, 'buying them' with real money is just 'speeding up' the game for those that want to pay - (tolerable in my opinion,)
That said, you could spend a lot of time or money upgrading those Runes and Enchants. You merge 4 tokens/runes of one level, to get 1 token/rune to a level higher. The chance of failure increases at higher levels, and a failure costs 1 of the runes that you’re using to level up. You will be able to 'buy' (or perhaps find,) an item that will ensure success - (it wasn't in the beta, but the slot for it was.) So, to get a level 3 rune you would need at least 16 level 1 runes, to make 4 level 2 runes - which could make 1 level 3 rune. To make a level 4, you'd need to start with 64 Level 1 Runes. The Failure rate was %10 to upgrade to level 2, %20 to upgrade to level 3 and %30 to upgrade to level 4 - so you can count on using more than the minimum.
Anyway - this all 'sounds' complex, and I'm sure that there will be some good tutorials made by the Dev's to explain it all - for instance, it took me and a friend 10 mins or so, to figure out that the color of the upgrade slot, corellated to colors on the upgrade token - and that you would get the upgrade that matched the color of the slot.
Basically this 'upgrade token' system is one way to 'monetize' the game, and for players to 'speed up' the advancement if they don't want to 'find' the runes and enchants on their own through regular game play. And I DID get quite a few rune/enchant drops, which I could use, or sell, then take the cash made, and buy the ones that were appropriate to what I needed. So, a person 'could' use this area to 'pay to win' a bit - but it looks obtainable via normal play as well. The one thing to keep an eye on is how this will affect PvP. At max level, it's just a 'time vs willingness or ability to spend money' issue. As you level up though, it could be a very real 'pay to win' balancing concern.
Sorry to take so much 'review' time on this - but - the monetization process is extremely important to me in these games - I don't want to invest a ton of time, only to find out that I can't progress farther without dropping a ton of cash. Of course, we can't know for absolute 'sure' yet what the future will hold - but, in my opinion, everything that I see, places this game well within the tolerable zone. On the 'pay 2 win' scale.
Ok, I'll wrap it up! I loved the beta, and can't wait to play more! I’m happy to plunk down a bit of my cash to support this game and hope that they don't try to 'force' me to feel like I have to pay to continue to enjoy it at higher levels. So far, all indicators are that they developers are working diligently to make a fun to play game, with areas that you 'can' support the game but not feel like you 'have' to pay to enjoy it - and that's all good in my book. More power to ya! Just keep your non developer marketing friends in check and we will all be happy campers.
Thank you,
Wade "zWolf" Hone - out.
Here is a 'link' to an over 3 hour long play session of when I first started my Cleric.
http://www.twitch.tv/zwolfman/c/1909625
I turn on Game sound at about the 10 min. mark - and move the screen out to the proper 'ratio' at around 45 mins.
Here is my written review after having played a Dedicated Cleric to Max Level (30) and a Trickster Rogue to about around level 15:
Is it fun to play?
YES! Most definitely it is! I LOVED it; the fact that this is an Action MMORPG really upped the 'fun factor' to me. Of course folks need to go into the game with their expectations set. This game shares 'lore' with the D&D franchise setting in the sword coast, but it is NOT the pen and paper game. This game shares the distinction of being played on a computer, but it is NOT Never winter nights 1 or 2 where you would control a group of characters in strategic combat (if you used the 'pause button' you could almost get the sense of turn based game play with those.) I have played the Pen and Paper game, I have Played Never winter nights 1 and 2 and I can most definitely assure you this game is NOT, either of those games. So, don't go chasing after playing it hoping that it IS and you'll enjoy your experience much more.
What it DOES do well, is capture the rich lore and 'feel' of the setting - I loved the art design choices made, and the stories seemed well suited to the setting (yes, I've read a few of the books too.) for me, the amount of skills available to me at one time, seemed perfect for what I needed to accomplish - I still felt like I was making strategic decisions for what skill to use when. There was also a depth to the game in that I had a deep set of skills to choose from. I could pick which ones to set on my 'active' bar and use those. By changing those, up, you could really alter the ‘style’ of game play that your character had.
I tried to play with a 360 controller, and I think it will be possible, but, after about an hour, I went back to keyboard and mouse... there were a few things not 'polished' with it, and unfortunately I have forgotten what they were. I think it mostly had to do with not having access to all of the abilities that I needed – I don’t think I ever figured out what you were supposed to use for the ‘tab’ key for instance. And there were other things that should have been accessible via the controller that weren’t. at this stage, the keyboard and mouse felt great. That said, if the ability to customize the buttons on the 360 controller were implemented, I could see that being a viable option. (though you would still want your keyboard close for out of combat uses, for movement and combat – I think a controller would work fine.) As a matter of fact, I imagine that I could have programed the 360 in the computer settings and got the effect that I wanted out of it – but – it really wasn’t a priority for me – I just had it connected and figured I’d pick it up n see what it felt like.
As for the Active Skill ‘amount’ argument - No there were not as many active skills as there are in other MMO's, but honestly, I really never missed having 6 x 12 hot key's to choose from - the action and combat was fluid and felt great! I was engaged the whole time. Combat was solid - it was paced well enough that there were 'harder' fights spaced out between fights that you didn't have to use all your powers on, that it kept things exciting, without slowing down the game while you waited for your skills to recharge. Also there was some player created content from the forge that was killer hard! My first death was in a player made adventure.
Speaking of death... I don't even remember a 'death penalty' so - other than walking back to continue your quest, there must not be one... this will disappoint some, and relive others - I found it fine. I like a heavy death penalty in single player games - but in group games, I don't as it causes a different chemistry in Groups. (Remember that guy in EQ that made you lose hours of work cause of his dumb mistakes? ya - experience loss - the death of many an online friendship. :-P )
I'm running out of time for my review, so, I'm going to summarize - I really enjoyed it! I'm REALLY looking forward to playing more - I REALLY hope it's not clear till 'December' when it's released - sigh.
Regarding Stability, Sound and other things:
Personally I didn't have manny issues with disconnecting. The sounds were great, other than an annoying thing that if you stood in certain areas, the 'speech loop' would run over and over and over again till madness ensued, or, till you remember your 'mute' button... I hit Mute EVERY time I'd enter the market... there was one annoying guy 'shouting' out his wares, that started to peel the paint off my wall his voice was so grating.
The other 'negative' sound thing was - I was in an area - clock tower, I think, and it was NON STOP combat music... like the kind that pops on in a final fantasy battle scene. Holy COW that is just not something you should have to listen to for more than 20 seconds every 5 minutes you know? So, I popped music down to 0 in settings, and there it stayed for the remainder of my weekend. I cannot speak to the 'music' quality other than to say; in my first adventure sessions it was so annoying that I turned it off. I'm sure this is something they can fix by retail.
The voice chat was hit or miss in the groups that I was in – meaning that sometimes you could chat with folks in your party, and sometimes you couldn’t. (Pretty much it was like every other game that has Voice chat in it,) so, like all the other games that have voice chat, I'll most likely be using Mumble or Ventrilo unless this is something they resolve. (Not a deal breaker - just par for the course at this point.)
Stability (revisited)-
Stability was better than many a triple A MMO at retail release - I'm looking at you Sony and blizzard - if this was a retail release - I'd rate it above average as far as stability and getting connected to the game goes. Of course, you’d have to consider that it was a ‘limited’ release – had every one that ‘wanted’ toplay been able to play… who knows, right?
That said, over the course of 25 -35 hours of game play, I'd say I experienced a Disconnect once every 6 hours or so. And each time getting back in was a snap. With disconnects happening, during ‘prime play time’ (Saturday evening, it was a tad worse,) However, stability was well within 'tolerable' standards - even for a retail release, so, hopefully it can only get better.
There were a couple of other things that I wanted to add as 'improvement wishes' but - I didn't write them down, and they weren't big enough that they stuck in my head - sooo, I have forgotten them, other than the fact that I know I had the idea, so I know that there is room for improvement. Oh! I just remembered one, to the left of the mini map, there are some handy 'notification' indicators for upcoming events and what not -they stick out pretty far into the 'play area' but, there is a nice button you can press that tucks them away right up next to the mini map. Unfortunately, in this version of the game, EVERY time you changed areas, or left a dialog with an NPC then they indicators would extend out to full size - very annoying, but I'm sure it's something that they will fix in future renditions.
Bottom line: I loved the game, and can't wait to play more.
5 classes? sure that's not a bunch of options - but they have the 'main' core abilities taken care of, and it's plenty to have fun with till they come out with more. I loved both the Cleric, and the rogue - they both played VERY differently.
The Cleric:
Dedicated Claric seemed to play more like a traditional 'mage' would in these kinds of games - I used him like a ranged spell caster, most of the heals came from spells that I'd use on enemy's that would then provide 'healing' to party members - I didn't feel like a traditional 'cleric' where I would stand back and focus heal my party - but after a while, I really got into how it played. I 'do' kind of miss the feel of being the 'healer' but - I must say I quite enjoyed casting spells to hurt, that also 'healed' - oh, I have to say that this was 'my style' of play, and that I think a person 'could' probably play closer to the action if they wanted - and perhaps could even be more of the dedicated 'healer' if they put the right skills on their bar - I chose the 'mix' dps / healz and had fun with it.
The Rogue:
Holy cow was combat fun with this guy! I grouped with a Cleric and I felt freaking unstoppable! Zip in, Zip around, laying waste to my enemies! It plays VERY positional - and probably works best in a group where it can easily get in behind or to the side of an enemy and take advantage of HUGE flanking bonuses. I REALLY like the way this guy played.
And now, for some discussion regarding the question that is on all of our minds;
Is it 'Pay to Win' or can it be enjoyed 'free'? I should start this with a caveat, to mention that it looked like they were really trying to keep their monetization strategy under wraps for now... so everything that I talk about is just me looking at the bits that were poking through - we really don't have enough info. To make clear call's on this aspect yet. That said, here is what I think:
I HATE that it is 'free to play' as I always, ALWAYS end up spending more money in 'free' to play games that I enjoy than I do in subscription based games. That said the developers have repeatedly made the statement that they are focused on making a very FUN to play game first - and then they are hesitant to talk about how they are going to 'monetize' it. Even in this beta, the 'monetization' thing wasn't super apparent - BUT, you could see the area's where it's set to latch on.
My preliminary opinion, with pretty much NOTHING to base it on, (kidding there were plenty of 'tells' in the game even at this stage,) is that the game really WILL be enjoyable free of charge. At least it has the potential to do so. I also think that the first place people will spend some cash will be on 'bags' and storage - that might be a bit of a 'pinch' playing for free - though via quests it looks like you do get some space expansion as you would expect.
How ‘Pay to Win’ Is it? - Not 'too' bad. The 'pay to win' part is hidden nicely AND it looked like there was a path that normal 'play' would allow you to advance your character in the same direction, so 'paying' was more of a 'time benefit' than a 'pure advantage', which is great. For me, the 'pay to win' aspect fell well within the 'tolerable' range. For reference, a 'cash shop' for items that give advantages that are available for 'pay' but can't be obtained by 'free' players - is outside of my range of tolerance - I did not see such things in the game. (And hope it stays that way.)
There will be lots of cosmetic things to buy, - Mounts, Dress up costumes, dye's etc. - all that's to be expected. the area that a guy 'could' go over board is by buying the 'bits' required to 'upgrade' your companion (runes,) and your equipment (I forget the name - I'll refer to them as 'enchants') Basically, you 'can' find these bits in game, and you CAN buy them off of the auction house from other players, that either 'bought them' or found them - so, 'buying them' with real money is just 'speeding up' the game for those that want to pay - (tolerable in my opinion,)
That said, you could spend a lot of time or money upgrading those Runes and Enchants. You merge 4 tokens/runes of one level, to get 1 token/rune to a level higher. The chance of failure increases at higher levels, and a failure costs 1 of the runes that you’re using to level up. You will be able to 'buy' (or perhaps find,) an item that will ensure success - (it wasn't in the beta, but the slot for it was.) So, to get a level 3 rune you would need at least 16 level 1 runes, to make 4 level 2 runes - which could make 1 level 3 rune. To make a level 4, you'd need to start with 64 Level 1 Runes. The Failure rate was %10 to upgrade to level 2, %20 to upgrade to level 3 and %30 to upgrade to level 4 - so you can count on using more than the minimum.
Anyway - this all 'sounds' complex, and I'm sure that there will be some good tutorials made by the Dev's to explain it all - for instance, it took me and a friend 10 mins or so, to figure out that the color of the upgrade slot, corellated to colors on the upgrade token - and that you would get the upgrade that matched the color of the slot.
Basically this 'upgrade token' system is one way to 'monetize' the game, and for players to 'speed up' the advancement if they don't want to 'find' the runes and enchants on their own through regular game play. And I DID get quite a few rune/enchant drops, which I could use, or sell, then take the cash made, and buy the ones that were appropriate to what I needed. So, a person 'could' use this area to 'pay to win' a bit - but it looks obtainable via normal play as well. The one thing to keep an eye on is how this will affect PvP. At max level, it's just a 'time vs willingness or ability to spend money' issue. As you level up though, it could be a very real 'pay to win' balancing concern.
Sorry to take so much 'review' time on this - but - the monetization process is extremely important to me in these games - I don't want to invest a ton of time, only to find out that I can't progress farther without dropping a ton of cash. Of course, we can't know for absolute 'sure' yet what the future will hold - but, in my opinion, everything that I see, places this game well within the tolerable zone. On the 'pay 2 win' scale.
Ok, I'll wrap it up! I loved the beta, and can't wait to play more! I’m happy to plunk down a bit of my cash to support this game and hope that they don't try to 'force' me to feel like I have to pay to continue to enjoy it at higher levels. So far, all indicators are that they developers are working diligently to make a fun to play game, with areas that you 'can' support the game but not feel like you 'have' to pay to enjoy it - and that's all good in my book. More power to ya! Just keep your non developer marketing friends in check and we will all be happy campers.
Thank you,
Wade "zWolf" Hone - out.
Thanks,
zWolf / Wesgar
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
zWolf / Wesgar
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Post edited by wesgar on
0
Comments
That feature was 'off' for the beta test weekend, but apparently it had been available earlier to some of the closed beta testers, there were several 'foundry' user created quest lines that we could enjoy - I ran 8 or 10 myself. I was super enthused by what I saw so far. The ability to make our own adventures is going to make having 'content' a non issue. It was very cool!
zWolf.
zWolf / Wesgar
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I played all weekend with a Razer Onza, and found you just had to hit "enter" twice after any transaction is all. It was very smooth, fighting was intense, and worked extremely well. If they don't fix the bug, try that the next play weekend as the workaround.
yes, I think that controller play is definitely going to be an option - once I get serious about playing - I'll be digging deeper into making sure that it works - my preliminary 'take' was that it was definitely something to look further into. thx for the post re: the Onza.
zWolf / Wesgar
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Hmm. id'e like too hear a official response form the Dev's about this , its my understaning that last week end dwas the only and first closed beta. Soo i think cryptic built these dungeons weather its the user tools or not is another matter, that way they can get alot of woowss and ahhs but in reality when a joe like my self trys too build said dungeon it wont be as nice thats my 2 cents.
I've watched 4 to 5 foundry playered missions, some of them the creater was names of people on this site. Some looked really nice mmorpg has hour of footage of 2 or 3 missions. I've seen one where you start off the dungeon in a cage, I seen one where you had to pick flowers for a statue, and enter a house to kill drow and spiders(I liked that one) I liked the first one too.
EDIT: Some of them was bad also.
Closed beta testers have been making UGC content for a while now.
How does one go about that? I would love to try out making some content to see if I'm any good at it, and I believe we are part of closed beta. (as we played all weekend minus a few hours sleep :-) )We have the Founder's pack, and Guardian pack.
Cryptic's games are NOTORIOUS for server stability issues.
I crashed twice all weekend and none after the patch.
The foundry content was created by actual beta testers, not founder early access users.
Again, that's due to the fact that there's hardly anyone on.
The servers will likely play pretty good through all the CB weekends, and likely even during the Open Beta. However, as soon as the game goes live, the game will have server issues from moment one, until eternity.
Klashin01, thanks for the response, I think it's good to see dissenting opinions. I picked that quote of your post to reference there, because I think that one thing hit's the nail on the head. I'd say 'bingo' you nailed it, and for folks that are expecting a lot more out of the game, or for it to be very diffrent than an action MMO in Forgotten Realms, they 'may' end up disappointed.
- that said, if you go into the game and all you expect is 'an action game turned MMO set in the forgotten realms universe, my bet is you will be pleasantly surprised at all the extras that you find. There are ton's of debates about what makes an RPG an RPG - in this case, it fit's the common perception in that you get Experience and level up, and increase your skills and abilities that way.
Also, You take on the 'role' of a character, and attempt to immerse yourself in the game world - success of course, is partially attributed to how much you attempt to immerse yourself as a user. by that I mean that I found that I could hop from quest giver to killing monsters pretty easy, and not have much immersion, but when I read the quest text, and 'played along' I felt much more involved in the experience. A person 'could' even go so far as to turn off the quest objective indicator and be forced to 'explore' a bit in order to find where they needed to go and such. (not something 'I' would do, but the option is still there for the more 'hard core' among us.)
The main thing though, is if your expecting something, and you pay $200 and then don't get what you were expecting, your going to feel disappointed - like Klashin01 did. I had played the game at PAX, for 15 or 20 minutes, so I kind of knew what I was getting into - for me, my expectations were much lower than what I ended up getting. I had the opposite experience in that I entered the game expecting 'just an action mmo' and ended up finding a very enjoyable Role Playing Game in there. I'm super glad I plunked down the money to get into the beta, but I certainly empathize with Klashin01.
better luck next time!
zWolf / Wesgar
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Ya, for sure - this was a 'light weight' test - the 'proof' is gonna be week one of commercial release. THAT's when it really matters! I might take my 5 day head start, play like I did this weekend (I should be able to get to level 40 something if they don't change experience gains much (which they may,) and then take the next 2 weeks off while the 'rush' hits - lucky for me, I have been eager beaver at enough MMO openings, that my expectations of success are in the dirt - (can I log in, can I stay on for more than 10 minutes, can I play at a higher than 7 fps, can I get back in withen 15 minutes of getting DC'd - that = acceptable for an opening week for me now - it's SAD how many games can't even achieve that though! - I'm looking at you Diablo III.)
zWolf / Wesgar
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Thank you, as for the 'pay to win' arguments that I made, mostly it's me being 'hypothetical' and looking at what I saw in game - and comparing it to similar mechanics in other games - so here is the current 'pay to win' method that you'll find - and like I said in the review / for me, this is 'acceptable' - it may not be for others.
There is the ability to add items to your gear to improve it. The same goes for companions, At low levels, you will not be able to find enough of those enchanting items and runes to compete with some one that is willing to 'pay' for them. (you would out level the content before you found enough runes / enchants - for instance, to get a level 4 enchantment, you'd need to find at least 64 items, and not have any failures during creation (which is unlikely.) from my play to level 30, I'd say I found maybe '25 to 40' max - and of course those were all spread out in types - so you'd have to trade to get all of one kind.
A person willing to pay, could easily buy the 256 or so level one runes / enchants that he would need to get a level 5 enchantment. This guy now has an item that he bought that will let him advance a tich faster than you. This is not a big deal in PvE -as most often, that guy is going to be actually helping every one else in his group. However, when it comes to PvP, that's a different flavor - folks that plunk down gobs of cash, if those Runes and Enchants are allowed in PvP - it 'could' greatly affect the effectiveness of the players that paid more.
so, that's the 'grey area' of Pay to Win that comes into play with Perfect World Games - but for me at least, it is indeed 'grey' and how they have it implemented is acceptable to me.
At 'high level' the playing field is leveled in my opinion, because, at that point, it's just a matter of 'grinding for the Runes and Enchants' (or time,) vs paying for them to speed up the process. Personally I don't plan to spend much time playing PvP as I level, PvP has always been an 'end game' event in my mind... something just to 'dabble with' as I leveled. So, this little 'pay to win' strategy is no big deal in my book.
for reference, in my book, if you have items, gear and weapons, available for 'pay' that give an advantage to you, and that you can't get in game via regular play, - that is definitely in the 'black' area - I don't even wana play that kind of 'pay to win' game. but this, with their 'upgrades' and rune levels and such - I'm ok with.
the possible 'pvp' issue could be remedied by limiting the rune level you could use based on what level your character was / or disabling runes / gear improvement buffs in PVP or several other ways. or heck, just leave it alone - I'm good with that even, (but many folks won't be.)
anyway, that's my take on what is 'pay to win' about the game - not to shabby really, but it's not as pristine and pure as say 'league of legends' where you ONLY have cosmetic upgrades available for purchase.
zWolf / Wesgar
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http://www.twitch.tv/zwolfman/c/1909625
I turn on Game sound at about the 10 min. mark - and move the screen out to the proper 'ratio' at around 45 mins.
zWolf / Wesgar
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