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Initial Thoughts on NW
gelatinouscoat
Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 16 Arc User
It's downtime: so time to write something since I can't play. It's basically a collection of my views on the game so far.
Party UI
The party UI is borderline useless. In any party UI I would like to be able to:
Individuality (Cookie-cutter builds)
I have played one character to 22 and another to 15 so far. Neither has had any substantial build choices to make. Powers almost fill up the entire tree before moving on, and the second & third tiers are very minor.
Things to consider:
Toolbar/Action Bar/Whatever & Combat
The combat as it stands, for *EVERY* character I have played, revolves around pressing Q, E, R, Tab, 1, 2 and the mouse buttons in apprioriate order as an when they are available. Daily powers are special, so 1 & 2 don't get pressed much. I can not move while using powers, and once something is surrounded, the only advantage of moving is to avoid being hit. I like the little warning circles before an enemy power is used, and it does mean that having basic twitch skills is rewarded, but typically it's just an interlude before going back to cycling Q, E, and R, with the occasional 1 or 2 (but not both!). Once you get over the gorgeous eye-candy of some of the effects, fundamentally it is not fun.
Targetting is also a problem. I would like to lock on one target and no matter where I move my mouse, so long as they are in my field of vision, I want to keep them targetted.
The combat feels more like Tunnels & Trolls than Dungeons & Dragons. But it is very pretty.
Things to consider:
What, no weapons?
It may be a fault of 4e, I don't know. But my Cleric...has no mace. No dagger. Not even an Improvised Clubbish Device(tm). Sure, I probably would not want to use it with all my goofy powers, but ... sometimes it's just more satisfying to whack something with a mace.
Things to consider:
Some Good Things(tm)
This may all sound quite negative, but I do actually enjoy the game despite the beta-status flaws. The reason I am making these comments is because it is beta and I assume feedback may be valuable.
Things I like (with more suggestions):
Conclusion
This is just a "First Impression". I've played for a while (not long), and will continue to play. In reality, the only things that are likely to put me off are:
But, I guess I may not be the target audience. And despite that, it is still fun.
Party UI
The party UI is borderline useless. In any party UI I would like to be able to:
- specify a quest I want to run
- specify the level range of players I want (perhaps auto-filled by quest choice, but editable)
- specify the classes I am wiling to accept
- see leader and who else is already in the party (including their class & level as well as the notes I may have written about them, if any)
- see the settings of the party
- optionally limit the list to quests that I am eligible for. This should be optional because I may be willing to relog
Individuality (Cookie-cutter builds)
I have played one character to 22 and another to 15 so far. Neither has had any substantial build choices to make. Powers almost fill up the entire tree before moving on, and the second & third tiers are very minor.
Things to consider:
- making the third tier a very powerful update, but lock out other 3rd tier choices at the same level. Or something like that.
- add more options so not all CWs have cold attacks. We need other elements as well as other control options. Charm? Hold?
- More items in the hot bar!
Toolbar/Action Bar/Whatever & Combat
The combat as it stands, for *EVERY* character I have played, revolves around pressing Q, E, R, Tab, 1, 2 and the mouse buttons in apprioriate order as an when they are available. Daily powers are special, so 1 & 2 don't get pressed much. I can not move while using powers, and once something is surrounded, the only advantage of moving is to avoid being hit. I like the little warning circles before an enemy power is used, and it does mean that having basic twitch skills is rewarded, but typically it's just an interlude before going back to cycling Q, E, and R, with the occasional 1 or 2 (but not both!). Once you get over the gorgeous eye-candy of some of the effects, fundamentally it is not fun.
Targetting is also a problem. I would like to lock on one target and no matter where I move my mouse, so long as they are in my field of vision, I want to keep them targetted.
The combat feels more like Tunnels & Trolls than Dungeons & Dragons. But it is very pretty.
Things to consider:
- moving while using powers
- target-lock and/or tab-targetting
What, no weapons?
It may be a fault of 4e, I don't know. But my Cleric...has no mace. No dagger. Not even an Improvised Clubbish Device(tm). Sure, I probably would not want to use it with all my goofy powers, but ... sometimes it's just more satisfying to whack something with a mace.
Things to consider:
- a line of powers for clerics and wizards that works with a weapon, rather than the
icon/orb thingy
Some Good Things(tm)
This may all sound quite negative, but I do actually enjoy the game despite the beta-status flaws. The reason I am making these comments is because it is beta and I assume feedback may be valuable.
Things I like (with more suggestions):
- crafting is excellent. It is exactly as it should be: not intrusive, optional, in background, and useful. I do not want to spend my day in front of a smithy. I play games like this to explore and kill stuff
- graphics. Gorgeous. I like the fact that my gear appears.
- tinkerbell quest guide. OK, it's buggy, but it's also very helpful. No more "How do I get to the quest".
- the loot mechanic. It could be tweaked (eg. optional settings to say "Need/greed if usable", "Pass if unusable". I would probably also remove 'Need' -- too many people seem to choose 'Need' just because they *can* use the item. If 'Need' is kept, it should just add 30 to the roll, and have a (long) timer that applies if the person gets the item. Make it a costly choice.
- companions. Permanent, trainable, equipable companions are great. That said, they need to be able to reach max level. Or at least be able to survive in level 60 content. I hope they can (not there yet!).
- foundry. Brilliant idea. I'd like some basic data on foundry quests: eg. what is the intended level range? Perhaps even collect stats: at what level do most soloers succeed without dying, and at what level do most 5 person parties succeed without dying.
- the F2P model. I like the idea of never buying content. I like the attempt at making the game playable without $$$. I hope it remains so. Some of the things (Enchanted Keys), are an annoyance, but when/if I buy stuff, I will feel it is a reward for the producers based on my appreciation of their game. This is good.
Conclusion
This is just a "First Impression". I've played for a while (not long), and will continue to play. In reality, the only things that are likely to put me off are:
- Cookie-cutter non-choices
- Bad party UI
- T&T combat
But, I guess I may not be the target audience. And despite that, it is still fun.
Post edited by gelatinouscoat on
0
Comments
1.. Add 2 more servers, and double current server capacity. Servers are pretty much full (Today in Enclave 40+ shards all with 100+ people in them. Just in the Enclave area..)
2.. Lag. People say it's just me, and some of it could very well be because of my laptop but I doubt it. On other games I can duel client and stream videos and all the sorts while playing and barely lag if anything, but this game I usually close pretty much everything i can before I play
3.. Be more convenient. 5 people to make a guild is a tad difficult to round up especially with how fast Zone chat zooms on by. Also speaking of zone chat.. It should burn.
4.. PvP Domination -> The only thing pvp about this minigame is the fact you do get to hit other people.. But you can totally lose the match even if you annihilate the other team in fights. The idea is to hold bases? I want Pvp mini-games not King of the freaking hill.
5.. PWE to buy me a case of beer for this downtime.
I still like the game alot. Zen could be half of what it costs i would actually look at spending cash on the game if it was.
Its pretty easy thou. I havnt died once or come close to it. And i am a Thief not a tank. I think they should tweak damage system or something cause come on. I am level 20 and even in area that gives warning monsters are higher lvl then you. Its still not hard havnt died yet.
Auctionhouse better interface for posting more then one item at a time. Like posting 25 seperate auctions of the same item.
I think the consensus is that NW Rogues are probably the highest DPS in PvE. Seems odd. They *should* probably be the highest DPS but only if someone else is taking agro...which seems not to be the case.