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Neverwinter: The Good, The Bad, and The Very Ugly
orioxtheg
Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 20 Arc User
Having played in the closed beta and now the release with two level 60's, decided to give my thoughts on the game.
The Good:
1) Combat is by far and bar none the best I have ever experienced in any MMO, or RPG for that matter. It is similar to Guild Wars 2 or TERA Online (or in some ways, Dragon Nest), but much smoother, more fluid, and interesting. You owe it to yourself to check out the combat in this game, even if you have no intention of playing it long-term, just to see how good MMO combat can be.
2) I don't know what programming wizards they hired to make this game, but it is a masterpiece of optimization. Running on a good system it looks very nice, with only some minor graphical glitches that I've noticed. Running on a very low end system that won't even run most games, it runs a steady 60 FPS and still looks decent. I can't imagine how they made this happen, as games that don't look or play nearly as well run far more poorly.
3) You can purchase anything in the cash shop by using in-game currency with an easy to use exchange system. This would normally help to reduce concerns about "pay to win" (but see below to understand why it doesn't).
4) There is a large amount of content at launch, including PvP battlegrounds, hundreds of quests, and dozens of dungeons including a large selection of end-game PvE content.
5) The Foundry provides further content, specifically is allows Neverwinter to have the most challenging 5-man PvE content of any MMO.
The Bad:
1) There are some fairly important bugs and gameplay issues. The auction house is basically broken, with 90% of its functions buggy or simply not working. You can still do very basic things but don't bother trying to search or sort.
2) Pick up groups are an issue (like in every other MMO), but made worse here by missing the ability to vote. Basically, a random player is selected as leader and they can do anything they want, including take all the loot and kick party members at any time, even during combat.
3) Some content feels like it should have been in before launch (launch = final wipe, I don't play the semantics game of "open beta") such as being able to level up companions, class options, and class paths.
4) The Foundry, while allowing for interesting quests and extreme challenges, has no actual rewards that are worth anything. I understand the reason for this (due to exploits) but it is a shame none the less.
The Very Ugly:
1) If there was ever a game that was "pay-to-win" this is that game. Using real money you can log in for the first time and by the end of your very first day: A) be level 60 with any class (using profession XP rushing),
have the very best gear and enchants in the game (buying it with astral diamonds), and C) solo the final dungeon and final boss of the game (using infinite instant full HP potions and self-rez scrolls there is already a youtube video of someone doing this). In other words, if you are willing to pay, you can "beat" the entire game including the hardest dungeon and best gear in 1 day. With that said I should point out that at least in PvP you can't use the insanely OP potions/scrolls from the cash shop, so that is good.
2) Exploits. Lots of Exploits. All the Exploits, this game has them. There was the Foundry exploits where people would make mobs that couldn't hit you in packs of 50+ and you could level up in one day and get tons of loot. They fixed that one, mostly. There is the afk in PvP exploit where people make groups just to afk in the battlegrounds because you get a ton of XP and glory points for losing, in fact you get MORE for losing quickly than you do for winning slowly (per minute). People are multi-boxing and running 5 accounts all of them afk to level to 60 and farm xp and glory doing this. Once you exploit your way to 60 now you can start the REAL exploiting, in the dungeons. There are exploits where you can pull bosses to their max range, get them stuck and then kill them easily. Worst of all at the moment there are exploits involving damage calculations where certain classes can 1 shot anything in the game, including the final boss of the final dungeon (plenty of videos of this on Twitch). There are exploits where people reset a final boss to farm it dozens of times in minutes. Basically, people who are using these exploits now before they are fixed, will be 6 months to a year or more, hundreds and hundreds of hours ahead of anyone else in the game (except those willing to pay tons of real $$$ to catch up). What the cheaters are doing right now in a few hours will take you a hundred hours or more to do once this is patched, but there is absolutely no reason to think that they won't get to keep all their exploited loot and money.
Conclusion: I thought, and I still think, that Neverwinter has the potential to become the first truly great F2P MMO ever made. It has revolutionary combat that sets the standard for every game prior and every game to come. But it has some HUGE obstacles to overcome first which right now have basically ruined the experience. However, since the game is free I think every MMO fan should download it and check it out, if for no other reason than to experience the combat before uninstalling and waiting for the major issues to be addressed.
The Good:
1) Combat is by far and bar none the best I have ever experienced in any MMO, or RPG for that matter. It is similar to Guild Wars 2 or TERA Online (or in some ways, Dragon Nest), but much smoother, more fluid, and interesting. You owe it to yourself to check out the combat in this game, even if you have no intention of playing it long-term, just to see how good MMO combat can be.
2) I don't know what programming wizards they hired to make this game, but it is a masterpiece of optimization. Running on a good system it looks very nice, with only some minor graphical glitches that I've noticed. Running on a very low end system that won't even run most games, it runs a steady 60 FPS and still looks decent. I can't imagine how they made this happen, as games that don't look or play nearly as well run far more poorly.
3) You can purchase anything in the cash shop by using in-game currency with an easy to use exchange system. This would normally help to reduce concerns about "pay to win" (but see below to understand why it doesn't).
4) There is a large amount of content at launch, including PvP battlegrounds, hundreds of quests, and dozens of dungeons including a large selection of end-game PvE content.
5) The Foundry provides further content, specifically is allows Neverwinter to have the most challenging 5-man PvE content of any MMO.
The Bad:
1) There are some fairly important bugs and gameplay issues. The auction house is basically broken, with 90% of its functions buggy or simply not working. You can still do very basic things but don't bother trying to search or sort.
2) Pick up groups are an issue (like in every other MMO), but made worse here by missing the ability to vote. Basically, a random player is selected as leader and they can do anything they want, including take all the loot and kick party members at any time, even during combat.
3) Some content feels like it should have been in before launch (launch = final wipe, I don't play the semantics game of "open beta") such as being able to level up companions, class options, and class paths.
4) The Foundry, while allowing for interesting quests and extreme challenges, has no actual rewards that are worth anything. I understand the reason for this (due to exploits) but it is a shame none the less.
The Very Ugly:
1) If there was ever a game that was "pay-to-win" this is that game. Using real money you can log in for the first time and by the end of your very first day: A) be level 60 with any class (using profession XP rushing),
have the very best gear and enchants in the game (buying it with astral diamonds), and C) solo the final dungeon and final boss of the game (using infinite instant full HP potions and self-rez scrolls there is already a youtube video of someone doing this). In other words, if you are willing to pay, you can "beat" the entire game including the hardest dungeon and best gear in 1 day. With that said I should point out that at least in PvP you can't use the insanely OP potions/scrolls from the cash shop, so that is good.2) Exploits. Lots of Exploits. All the Exploits, this game has them. There was the Foundry exploits where people would make mobs that couldn't hit you in packs of 50+ and you could level up in one day and get tons of loot. They fixed that one, mostly. There is the afk in PvP exploit where people make groups just to afk in the battlegrounds because you get a ton of XP and glory points for losing, in fact you get MORE for losing quickly than you do for winning slowly (per minute). People are multi-boxing and running 5 accounts all of them afk to level to 60 and farm xp and glory doing this. Once you exploit your way to 60 now you can start the REAL exploiting, in the dungeons. There are exploits where you can pull bosses to their max range, get them stuck and then kill them easily. Worst of all at the moment there are exploits involving damage calculations where certain classes can 1 shot anything in the game, including the final boss of the final dungeon (plenty of videos of this on Twitch). There are exploits where people reset a final boss to farm it dozens of times in minutes. Basically, people who are using these exploits now before they are fixed, will be 6 months to a year or more, hundreds and hundreds of hours ahead of anyone else in the game (except those willing to pay tons of real $$$ to catch up). What the cheaters are doing right now in a few hours will take you a hundred hours or more to do once this is patched, but there is absolutely no reason to think that they won't get to keep all their exploited loot and money.
Conclusion: I thought, and I still think, that Neverwinter has the potential to become the first truly great F2P MMO ever made. It has revolutionary combat that sets the standard for every game prior and every game to come. But it has some HUGE obstacles to overcome first which right now have basically ruined the experience. However, since the game is free I think every MMO fan should download it and check it out, if for no other reason than to experience the combat before uninstalling and waiting for the major issues to be addressed.
Post edited by orioxtheg on
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Comments
By the time I get to 60 these will be fixed and the foolios doing them will of moved on to some other game .
1. I believe that's not actually "paying to win", more like "rushing to level up." At the end game levels, most of us will have the same opportunities to get the same gear, enchants, companions, and all those other things paying players purchase at early levels. They get it much sooner, we just get it later and by spending "time." It doesn't necessarily affect the balance in any way because all of us have access to the very same things the paying players can purchase. They just have the means to get it faster.
2. But if it wasn't for these people finding out about these exploits while still in open beta, Cryptic would never have known of it. It's only a matter of time before they completely patch it up.
It doesn't directly affect players, but the exploits these people do in dungeon runs may have a significant impact with how the economy for epic tiered items behave. But only for the select items that they get to farm. These cheaters also most probably will not profit with them as much until the other players of the game get to the point where they have the diamonds to purchase these items.
Unless they significantly reduce the prices in the Auction House, which will in turn harm the other people trying to sell the same items.
If massive exploit enabled farming continues indefinitely, expect everything to become worthless. I'd think that's a problem if you ever intend on playing after you hit 60.
My thoughts exactly!
Still I probably would've mentioned the "weapon-enchantment"-p2w thing as a pvp/pve problem additionally.
That's what P2W is
There's no such thing as Pay for Convenience... If you can spend IRL money for in-game items like gear, consumables that aid in combat, and etc then it's Pay to Win. You're given the option of spending time or money basically. If Pay for Convenience was anything, I'd say games where all you can buy are things like cosmetic options or xp boosters and the like.
That being said, given that the game is 100% free, it's hard to complain about it being P2W. I do wish they would reevaluate costs on certain goods. Feels weird to spend what I would on monthly sub for a tiny bag. My workaround for this is just trashing enchantment runes.
Actually, that's incorrect. If you can purchase items in game that you cannot otherwise get through in-game currency, THAT is pay to win. The zen/AD market is criticized, but allows every player access to every item and service in the game. If you want it badly enough.
Narp. Being able to purchase in-game items that you cannot otherwise get via game currency is P2W, but being able to doesn't negate that fact. The most valuable commodity in an MMO is time, and when you can circumvent it, that's P2W. Some examples of it are worse than others, but it is what it is.
This is the convenient definition made up by the PWE Defense Force.
Being able to turn real world money into items that can endlessly resurrect you at the end of a dungeon is the raw EPITOME of "pay 2 win".
You are literally PAYING MONEY to WIN THE FIGHT...
Before I watched this video, I thought that orioxtheg was joking or at least exaggerating in his post.
What a sad game....