Veteran Gamer's / GM's Thoughts on NW.

garlandx

XX -- Warning: Long Post -- XX

INTRO (Skip if you want)

Not many games these days had me drooling with the exception of Kingdoms of Amalur, Skyrim, and Dungeon Siege 3. On the MMO Front, WoW made me play for a good 8 years (on and off / since patch 1.05). Guild Wars 1 for 2 months. Guild Wars 2 for 2 weeks (They had dodging... but where the hell was the blocking?).

However, Turbine's Dungeons and Dragons Online had me for 3 months (and 500 bucks outta my pocket). I loved the combat so much, I spent tons of cash on it. Haha. Bad me. I know.

I played all the Neverwinter series and loved the aurora toolset. It kept me on for months just modding. The Movies PC Game did the same for me too because of its ease of use. That's what made those games shine. Modding and customizability.

I've also played / GM'd many PnP DnD games since 2nd edition so I know all about the rulesets pretty well... plus I have spent months implementing and tweaking them for better scalability and realism. So, my self-taught knowledge in game design stems all the way from that.

I've been on and off playing other MMOs, but none just seemed to cut it.

Then, Neverwinter came along.

This game looks like it will keep me for a long time and will take a huge chunk of cash out of my pocket too. But, I'm gonna wait until it's all ironed out before that happens. That's assuming it competes well against The Elder Scrolls Online (which it will).

I do marvel at some of the intelligent design choices made for Neverwinter to accomodate the MMO market and for real-time combat, but it is not without design flaws... especially seeing them from the eyes of a veteran.



ON TO THE POINT

1. HIT POINTS -- Really? Are so many hit points / health points necessary so early in the game? I can see the design meant for this to ease the player from worries (which I think is smart)... but I also see it being a drag on server processors during higher level sessions. I think the health numeral design choices are a little too lax and does not apply the appropriate pressure on a player. I can see between 35 to 100 being fine and 5-25 per level afterwards with a common damage of 5-15 DPS without damage reductions but what they are representing in game is too much. It looks more like a casual gamer's design to me. This lax-ness also doesn't promote strategic thinking to some degree and becomes more of a grind / click fest to watch the animation show. This will probably change during later levels though, but it leaves a casual gamer's impression early in the game.
   
   
2. ARMOR CLASS -- I think it's very smart that Cryptic removed the archaic armor class system for a damage reduction table. The ADnD AC had very little scalability and did not make sense after being on higher levels. The 3rd edition tried tweaking it with a scaled Attack Rating system (+20/+15/+10/+5), but again that felt strange. Eventhough, it took me a good 2 years of number crunching research and fractional mathematics to find a very good streamlined answer to this that even a child can understand... I am glad Cryptic killed it for Neverwinter. As for my formula system I developed for dice, I'd be happy to offer it upon request.
   
   
3. MANA POINTS / SPELL SLOTS -- I noticed for mages that they didn't have either mana nor spell slots. I think the design choice was to focus on combat rather than spell management. I like it, but I also dislike it. In terms of realism, it doesn't make sense. Part of the fun of being a mage was awesome power and spell management. Which means conservation of magic with wands, scrolls, and magical equipment, as well as configuring your spell book. Neverwinter kills all that with simple skills as spells. I don't play a mage, so I don't gripe about it. But from a GM's point of view, I don't like it. It's too easy and casual. But, I also think Cryptic did this because warrior classes lacked the amount of skill sets that mages can invoke. The design was probably meant to give fair grounds.
   
   
4. SAVE THROWS -- Save throws were removed in favor of resistances and Raid ground markers. I think this is an excellent choice. Save throws were originally meant to represent that effect, but were limited to basic mathematics, dice limits, and a lack of physical / kinetic representation. I think it's a smart move. Games should not be about numbers and number crunching. It should be about fun.
   
   
5. CAMERA -- Going off the core rules subject, I think they need to make the camera customizable. I don't like how I am forced to this far ranged proximity for a camera. I want to see the action up close. It's more visceral that way. More personal. I think Cryptic did that so the player can see the whole battle grounds and adapt to the oncoming changes. I personally had no problems playing up close with all these changes in other games, but I don't like being forced into a perspective the designers think is fun.
   
   
6. GAMEPAD -- DDO had almost full gamepad support, but not gamepad friendly inventory systems. I can see a lot of NW's designs accomodating for gamepads and I do support it. The only change I would make for that would be a more friendly inventory. I await full support from cryptic's implementation on the full release.

CONCLUSION (Whew!)

I would say more, but this post is long enough. Every other thoughts are just minor ones. Even if my gripes are unheard, Neverwinter is still a game worth playing. And I found it very smart (and a very good investment) that Cryptic included the foundry for Neverwinter. The combat and foundry alone seperates this game from most MMOs and should attract a large crowd.

I also liked the fact that Cryptic avoided some design mistakes Turbine did for MMO (which Turbine later fixed... to a degree). I want to say this game is a WoW killer... but there are just a few things that prevent it from being that. I wish I could put my finger on it... but I can't.

Oh well... happy gaming!

~Garlandx

fcrowles

Apples and Oranges. Knickknack paddywack.

imivo

garlandx wrote: »

MANA POINTS / SPELL SLOTS -- I noticed for mages that they didn't have either mana nor spell slots. I think the design choice was to focus on combat rather than spell management. I like it, but I also dislike it. In terms of realism, it doesn't make sense. Part of the fun of being a mage was awesome power and spell management.

Control Wizards and Devout Clerics have to manage cooldowns and action points, though, which is a form of spell management. If you blow your encounter cooldowns at the wrong time, you are looking at 8-16'ish very long seconds. Worse, even, if you use your daily powers at the wrong time, or at the wrong target/area, and then don't have access to them what may be minutes. You also have to manage your spell setup, depending on where you are and what you do. And there is stamina, which in case of Control Wizards limits the ability to blink -- this, too, needs to be managed at higher levels where you can't take a couple hits.

In MMO terms, not having an artificial resource like mana makes the game faster paced and less tedious. In other games, having mana frequently meant standing around and doing nothing while the blue bar recharged, or sitting down an drinking water/etc while the rest of the group waited impatiently for the mana user. Not a fun element in MMOs.

absidy

I'm surprised that an actual GM is unfamiliar with 4th edition D&D.

lucidp2k

garlandx wrote: »

WoW made me play for a good 8 years (on and off / since patch 1.05).

...Hrm, doesn't exactly speak highly of your taste in online gaming..

I'm surprised that an actual GM is unfamiliar with 4th edition D&D.

- absidy

crutacea

i'm just agree with point 3 , MANA POINTS/SPELL SLOTS

i dont get any problem with other points