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I would favor a 6 mo release delay instead of an unpolished product.

oldskylanceroldskylancer Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Silverstars Posts: 0 Arc User
edited April 2013 in General Discussion (PC)
If you Cryptic needs more time, and Perfect World is willing to give it to them, I don't see any reason to stave off release until you guys are ready and we think you're ready. I'd still like to see and ongoing open beta during the delay period. This could be a great game but you've got to shake off the old way of thinking about MMO's. This ain't WOW. You've got a huge fanbase that loves the reference material. Listen to them and make changes accordingly. you can still offer monetization just recredit the account at full release. That way we the targeted gamer can give you constructive feedback, do actual real world testing, and you don't have to sweat an arbitrary deadline.


Bottom line we want you to succeed and we're willing to help.
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Post edited by oldskylancer on
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Comments

  • xeiken1xeiken1 Member Posts: 39 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    Agreed, although don't think they have that much time to polish it, it has been delayed several times already and money is finite.

    But yeah we all here want it to succeed and will do our best to make it happen.
  • silvergryphsilvergryph Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 740 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    If a delay is necessary then it is necessary. Personally, I don't think it is. Especially in light of the fact that there has been no announced date to delay in the first place. And the fact that there are still Alpha tests going on right now in between the beta weekends. And the rest of the plans for any possible further closed beta as well as open beta have not been released either.

    Also, keep in mind that no MMORPG has been released that was not called "unfinished" by some portion of their gaming community.
  • lyfebanelyfebane Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 312 Bounty Hunter
    edited February 2013
    I think having a long open Beta might be the way to go, basically the game released but with poeple realising it is still being added too and tweaked (beta), though that might just be because I want to play the game now:)
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  • syberghostsyberghost Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 2,474
    edited February 2013
    I would favor a six month delay too; and we're approaching the 18th month of the delay they got.

    No MMO has ever been released in a "finished" state, and none ever will. Ultima Online released in 1997, and has a new large-scale "polish" patch currently being tested, that hit the test server last Friday.
  • azureeternalazureeternal Member Posts: 8 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    There's so much that goes into the decision to delay or not delay a game, a lot of which isn't up to the developers, or even the publishers at times. Instead, much of this stuff rests on the shoulders of investors, who only want to see something tangible for their financial backing of a project. Regardless of whether the product is finished or not, many of the financial issues behind a game aren't logical, rather logistical. Unfortunately, with as many delays as Neverwinter has seen, one has to wonder how much of its release is out of the developers' hands at this point.

    Asking for a six month delay makes sense, if in fact the developers and their customers don't feel the game is ready, but it doesn't seem plausible from a financial standpoint. At this juncture, I'm sure it's being highly "encouraged" to get the product out the door, and into the hands of people who are willing to fork over the cash for it.
  • syberghostsyberghost Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 2,474
    edited February 2013
    Also keep in mind that as this is a pure Free 2 Play model, they are more free to just yank out anything that's not ready, and put it in later when it's ready. Jack's old policy "if it's not in at launch, it might as well never be in" simply doesn't apply, meaning they're more free not to remake the "Klingon mistake" here.
  • devoneauxdevoneaux Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    lyfebane wrote: »
    I think having a long open Beta might be the way to go, basically the game released but with poeple realising it is still being added too and tweaked (beta), though that might just be because I want to play the game now:)

    In the case of persistent games like MMOs that are technically never truly "Finished", an open beta is just a released game but buggier.
  • keirkinkeirkin Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    If you Cryptic needs more time, and Perfect World is willing to give it to them, I don't see any reason to stave off release until you guys are ready and we think you're ready. I'd still like to see and ongoing open beta during the delay period. This could be a great game but you've got to shake off the old way of thinking about MMO's. This ain't WOW. You've got a huge fanbase that loves the reference material. Listen to them and make changes accordingly. you can still offer monetization just recredit the account at full release. That way we the targeted gamer can give you constructive feedback, do actual real world testing, and you don't have to sweat an arbitrary deadline.


    Bottom line we want you to succeed and we're willing to help.

    As much as I agree with you about a delay in release, I totally doubt it will happen. :( Now I don't know how it is working with PWE but most game companies actually do have to sweat an "arbitrary" deadline. The key part of your first sentence is "and Perfect World is willing to give it to them", I'd be willing to bet dollars to donuts they are not. Very very sad, but most likely true. But I guess there is no harm in wishing. :)
  • keirkinkeirkin Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    devoneaux wrote: »
    In the case of persistent games like MMOs that are technically never truly "Finished", an open beta is just a released game but buggier.

    I agree but want to add, with less features too :)
  • quorforgedquorforged Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    I haven't played the beta, but what I've seen seems pretty polished to me. I've seen some glitches with voice chat, and occasional crashes, but heck, I had more problems with DDO and that's over 6 years old.

    What do you think needs to be polished?
  • bobcat1313bobcat1313 Member Posts: 1,089 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    I would rather have a polished game also, makes launchs alot better, beta weekend footage seemed very polished though.
  • arythorarythor Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 315 Bounty Hunter
    edited February 2013
    quorforged wrote: »
    I haven't played the beta, but what I've seen seems pretty polished to me. I've seen some glitches with voice chat, and occasional crashes, but heck, I had more problems with DDO and that's over 6 years old.

    What do you think needs to be polished?

    I can only comment on the content I played during the first beta weekend, but the game is fairly polished. From a technical standpoint, both the client and server were solid. I had no latency issues or disconnections, nor any crashes or graphical issues. So, at the very least, the game is playable.

    It is more a question of expanding what is there, rather than fixing what is there. For example, there seems to be a fair amount of missing audio (voiceovers, music, etc.) and missing item graphics. This is not surprising as this is often some of the last content to be added as development progresses.
  • ryger5ryger5 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    It's an unpopular opinion, but so would I.

    Here's what I would consider "unpolished":

    1. Foundry is not ready, or crashes a lot and is unstable

    2. Server(s) can't handle traffic making for frequent delays, queues and crashes.

    3. There isn't even a Wizard class ready at launch.

    4. There's only a small handful of armor looks and weapon types, like the kind of pittance we saw last beta.

    Having said all that, I am very confident, the game will be quite polished. Seems like the wizard is ready to roll next week and I've heard of no major complaints about lag yet and I'm sure the Foundry will open up in the last closed beta weekend.

    I think we'll see a launch in early June and it will be a relatively stable and successful launch.
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  • tronc8463tronc8463 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Silverstars Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    quorforged wrote: »
    I haven't played the beta, but what I've seen seems pretty polished to me. I've seen some glitches with voice chat, and occasional crashes, but heck, I had more problems with DDO and that's over 6 years old.

    What do you think needs to be polished?

    Difficulty level. Game is far to easy. Prefer they start it out crazy hard instead of hitting level 30 in 9 hours, with zero deaths. AI needs a massive overhaul. Standard monsters need to be buffed so as that 1 is challenging, 2 is difficult, 3 requires skill, 4+ requires group (I don't mean companions as group members I mean PC's. This is a MMORPG after all not a single player game).

    Choice. Limited character play style choice. Melee Cleric, Ranger with a bow, Bard, Battle Wizard, Swordmage, etc... I'm kind of lucky that the Guardian build is my preferred play style. But there are severe limitations on character creation and development.

    Guild Content. I haven't seen anything that justifies the need for guilds. I mean content within the game not player created contexts. I would love that MMO's were developed with guilds as a focal point instead as an after thought. I do love big raids but this isn't what I mean. I mean things in the game that when completed as a guild it feels rewarding and in turn rewarded. Not personally rewarded but as a guild rewarded.

    PvP. Zero information released on it that I've seen. We know it does exist to some extent. As there are in game purchasables with PvP tokens and 20 v 20 Event reminders in the calendar. But nothing beyond that.

    That would be my top things that require large amounts of time to fix and should be part of the game before launch. To clarify by launch I mean when the head-start program kicks in, which would be open beta.
    arythor wrote:
    I can only comment on the content I played during the first beta weekend, but the game is fairly polished. From a technical standpoint, both the client and server were solid. I had no latency issues or disconnections, nor any crashes or graphical issues. So, at the very least, the game is playable.
    Totally agree that the server and client seemed quite stable and playable, (180+ms) . A larger player base and PvP would probably be a more accurate test for server stability though. Bring on BWE2!
  • mintyfizmintyfiz Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    launching before the game is ready is something that has killed more than one MMO in the past.
  • quorforgedquorforged Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    tronc8463 wrote: »
    Difficulty level. Game is far to easy. Prefer they start it out crazy hard instead of hitting level 30 in 9 hours, with zero deaths. AI needs a massive overhaul. Standard monsters need to be buffed so as that 1 is challenging, 2 is difficult, 3 requires skill, 4+ requires group (I don't mean companions as group members I mean PC's. This is a MMORPG after all not a single player game).

    Starting out crazy hard is not a good idea for an MMO. There needs to be a difficulty curve, or new players will just give up. Getting it right is tricky, of course, and something they should definitely polish. Doesn't seem like something they'd need an extra 6 months for, though.
    Choice. Limited character play style choice. Melee Cleric, Ranger with a bow, Bard, Battle Wizard, Swordmage, etc... I'm kind of lucky that the Guardian build is my preferred play style. But there are severe limitations on character creation and development.

    Guild Content. I haven't seen anything that justifies the need for guilds. I mean content within the game not player created contexts. I would love that MMO's were developed with guilds as a focal point instead as an after thought. I do love big raids but this isn't what I mean. I mean things in the game that when completed as a guild it feels rewarding and in turn rewarded. Not personally rewarded but as a guild rewarded.

    PvP. Zero information released on it that I've seen. We know it does exist to some extent. As there are in game purchasables with PvP tokens and 20 v 20 Event reminders in the calendar. But nothing beyond that.

    This is all "more stuff", not "polish", to me. I don't think they should delay for any of this.
  • jedidethfreak823jedidethfreak823 Member Posts: 223 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    syberghost wrote: »
    Also keep in mind that as this is a pure Free 2 Play model, they are more free to just yank out anything that's not ready, and put it in later when it's ready. Jack's old policy "if it's not in at launch, it might as well never be in" simply doesn't apply, meaning they're more free not to remake the "Klingon mistake" here.

    It still applies. Want proof? STO has been free-to-play about as long as it was sub-based, and there's still no real Klingon faction to speak of, and a third faction is coming.

    Klingons will never be finished.
  • starkaosstarkaos Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    It still applies. Want proof? STO has been free-to-play about as long as it was sub-based, and there's still no real Klingon faction to speak of, and a third faction is coming.

    Klingons will never be finished.

    STO was a sub game for about 2 years. It has been F2P for about a year. Whether Klingons will be finished is based on the May update and the opinion of the players. My opinion is that it will be complete if it has as much mission content as the Feds had at launch. In an MMO, no faction can ever be truly finished. There is rumor that the May Update will include a third faction, but I seriously doubt it.
  • tronc8463tronc8463 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Silverstars Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    quorforged wrote: »
    Starting out crazy hard is not a good idea for an MMO. There needs to be a difficulty curve, or new players will just give up. Getting it right is tricky, of course, and something they should definitely polish. Doesn't seem like something they'd need an extra 6 months for, though.

    This is all "more stuff", not "polish", to me. I don't think they should delay for any of this.

    Guess we agree to disagree. To me the Choices, Guild Content, and PvP are essential elements that greatly impact on the longevity of the game. Yes some of the character builds might be considered "stuff" but others are intrinsic to D&D and MMO's in general. I mean no bows at launch (Open Beta).

    As for difficulty that's what the beginning tutorial zones are for. The tutorial zone shouldn't extend to max level. I would love to see statistics on how many people leave an MMO because it's to hard compared to how many leave because its to easy/not challenging/to buggy/already completed all content! Least hopefully the Foundry will address the lack of content issue.

    Beta is a time for testing. I say make it difficult as hell in the Beta then Carebear it down to a happy medium.
  • quorforgedquorforged Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    tronc8463 wrote: »
    Guess we agree to disagree. To me the Choices, Guild Content, and PvP are essential elements that greatly impact on the longevity of the game. Yes some of the character builds might be considered "stuff" but others are intrinsic to D&D and MMO's in general. I mean no bows at launch (Open Beta).

    Longevity, perhaps, but that's more about having enough content for people to keep playing the game, which can be added later, not getting them invested at launch. I think PWE would lose more by the delay than they'd gain from what you're suggesting.

    I couldn't care less about guild content and PvP, but I do want more character build choices, too. However, I don't think it's fair to characterize the current state as lacking "polish". The options we do have appear to have quite a high degree of polish.
  • tronc8463tronc8463 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Silverstars Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    quorforged wrote: »
    Longevity, perhaps, but that's more about having enough content for people to keep playing the game, which can be added later, not getting them invested at launch. I think PWE would lose more by the delay than they'd gain from what you're suggesting.

    To many MMO's release to early and pay the price. I suspect they would lose more potential income and greater damage done to their brand by releasing an incomplete product (Open Beta). People have waited 18months another 3-6months wouldn't kill them to have a more polished game then the state it currently is in.
    quorforged wrote: »
    I couldn't care less about guild content and PvP, but I do want more character build choices, too. However, I don't think it's fair to characterize the current state as lacking "polish". The options we do have appear to have quite a high degree of polish.

    Whether you care about it or not doesn't take away from the fact that without this option they lose even more potential income.
  • rohk007rohk007 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Silverstars Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    i would be fine with delay....if founders got into ongoing beta .
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  • firesnakeariesfiresnakearies Member Posts: 307 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    I'm not seeing a lot of reason for a delay, unless they have a lot of stuff unfinished that we don't know about.
  • ysil6969ysil6969 Member Posts: 42 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    tronc8463 wrote: »
    To many MMO's release to early and pay the price. I suspect they would lose more potential income and greater damage done to their brand by releasing an incomplete product (Open Beta). People have waited 18months another 3-6months wouldn't kill them to have a more polished game then the state it currently is in.



    Whether you care about it or not doesn't take away from the fact that without this option they lose even more potential income.

    18 months?? You're counts off. It's been a few years. Atari sold cryptic in May of 2011 and the game was scheduled to be released that year, so they'd been working on it already. What they've been working on for this long I have no idea, because nothing jumps out as spectacular.
  • tronc8463tronc8463 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Silverstars Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    ysil6969 wrote: »
    18 months?? You're counts off. It's been a few years. Atari sold cryptic in May of 2011 and the game was scheduled to be released that year, so they'd been working on it already. What they've been working on for this long I have no idea, because nothing jumps out as spectacular.

    How is my count off? Even if they released it in May 2011 that's 22 months ago. I was going by an August release date as mentioned in the Wiki
    Neverwinter is an upcoming Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for the Microsoft Windows platform in development by Cryptic Studios. It is scheduled for an early 2013 release as of August 2011
  • keirkinkeirkin Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    ysil6969 wrote: »
    What they've been working on for this long I have no idea

    It is not a AAA title, it has very limited (in the scope of most recent MMOs) budget and therefor man power. Man power equates to time. Most MMOs are in development for around 3 years, we don't even hear about most of them until they have been in development for about a year. I personally know of an MMO that is not to be named that has been in development for 14 months based on a popular IP that there is no buzz about. The only reason I know about it is because I am friends with one of the hackers and good beer and scotch makes for waggly lips. ;)
  • ysil6969ysil6969 Member Posts: 42 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    tronc8463 wrote: »
    How is my count off? Even if they released it in May 2011 that's 22 months ago. I was going by an August release date as mentioned in the Wiki

    It's been 18 months since it was supposed to be released. Those of us that were waiting a year + for the original release date, have been waiting much longer than 18 months.
  • wulfster42wulfster42 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 183 Bounty Hunter
    edited February 2013
    As bad as a delay would be right now (after all the advertisment etc that has been going on recently), a long beta would be worse. Yes, MMO's that release "early" often have big problems, but I was in the WoW beta and most of us thought the game was released very early and needed another 6 months. Same with City of Heroes (it was crazy for the first few days after launch), and DDO was released with bugs and small amount of content etc as well. All of those games did quite well though after a rocky start (and I played all of them for at least 6 months...and DDO for over 6 years).

    Long Betas though...can KILL games. You burn out your core players since they all get in the beta, and then when the game goes live, they loose all their characters. Game goes live and it's usually months before any really new content is added, and your core group of players are all bored to tears. I was in the Path of Exile beta and resisted playing too much to avoid that exact thing. I've also restricted myself to only playing up to the low 20's (instead of up to 30) in this beta (made alternative characters and tested for bugs etc in the early content instead)...just to avoid burn out.

    Long betas are good for finding bugs and polishing a game, but there are other ways to accomplish the same thing.

    Test the content and core classes you have, and release the game. If you can only test the content to level 30, then release the game with a temporary level 30 cap while the rest of the content is tested and polished, then up the cap a month later. It lets players try out the different classes and play in the game, and lets your beta testers keep their characters even after the cap is raised (since it's no longer in beta, you don't have to do a character wipe).

    Some game, is better then no game. Ongoing beta while a game is live, is better then a closed beta...which is better then an open beta (closed having a smaller burn out rate then open).

    I have beta tested many games so I'm used to replaying content, checking for bugs etc. If that is your mindset when you go in, then your much less likely to burn out. Most players don't have that mindset when going into an open beta though, and many stop playing once their characters go poof when the beta is over.

    I suggest releasing the game sometime in April if at all possible, even if there are still additions that need to be made in the future. It's important to keep interest in the game along with anticipation. Right now there are beta weekends to get everyone though March...but you can only have so many of those (before you hit burn out options again) even if you add a new class for each one.

    If the game doesn't launch within a month of the March 28th beta weekend, I think it will be bad for the game as a whole.
  • starkaosstarkaos Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    I find the first few months of an MMO to be paid beta rather than the actual game going live. Of course, with this game being F2P, then it is not as bad as those subscription games. Some MMOs take over a year to get out of paid beta. If it takes just six months or less to get this game out of "paid beta", then it will be decent. Paid beta is the period between the game going live and when the game finally reaches the point of where it should have been when it went live. Paid beta differs from person to person since everyone has a different idea of where the game should be when it goes live.
  • ryvvikryvvik Member, Moonstars, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 966 Bounty Hunter
    edited February 2013
    Signed for Cryptic/PWE to take as long as they like.
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