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nordveig
Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 146 Arc User
I like this MMO but I have decided I'm going to give it a miss for awhile till they add new content. Sure one of the main reasons is the small number of classes but also the solo content. There is a lot of content but it seems to be lacking quality, most of it is generic, mundane and boring but the combat makes this MMO fun. Even though I'm glad we are getting new classes the content is something the devs need to think about serioulsy. They have tried, for example I like the story concerning Linkletter and his wife, this content is good because I get emotionally involved in the world and characters. Also there seems to be quests which only certain races can do, I like this because the choices you make in character creation get involved in the story but I think they way it was done was too mundane and simplistic. It would also be nice if your background could also be involved in the content.
We also need a bit more immersion. I think the way the professions have been done isn't really in the spirit of a fantasy MMO. Clicking a button and then getting the end result that seems like another computer game like railway tycoon. I think we need more simulation like we are actually performing the task eg in leadership I think it would be better if we actually went up to npcs to perform the tasks as oppossed to just clciking on a button.
More open world? Yes this would be nice but I have a feeling maybe this may not be possible ( so they may have settled for instanced content instead) because this game was not originally designed to be an MMO so there maybe constraints, but if you can make it more open world I would be happy. I haven't checked out fury of the feywild or shadowmantle yet I'm just waiting for more content.
But to repeat again my biggest gripe is the content. It needs to be more like an rpg, more emotional involvement and we need to make choices that affect the storyline. Not just kill this and collect that.
We also need a bit more immersion. I think the way the professions have been done isn't really in the spirit of a fantasy MMO. Clicking a button and then getting the end result that seems like another computer game like railway tycoon. I think we need more simulation like we are actually performing the task eg in leadership I think it would be better if we actually went up to npcs to perform the tasks as oppossed to just clciking on a button.
More open world? Yes this would be nice but I have a feeling maybe this may not be possible ( so they may have settled for instanced content instead) because this game was not originally designed to be an MMO so there maybe constraints, but if you can make it more open world I would be happy. I haven't checked out fury of the feywild or shadowmantle yet I'm just waiting for more content.
But to repeat again my biggest gripe is the content. It needs to be more like an rpg, more emotional involvement and we need to make choices that affect the storyline. Not just kill this and collect that.
Post edited by nordveig on
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**Off-topic** If you have not yet tried the Witcher series of computer RPGs you may wish to do so. They have a very good story arc, are well written, and your choices do have consequences. The 2nd game has 16 different endings depending upon your choices during the game, including earlier ones that may come back to haunt you at the end.
As far as combat I have to admit I'm a fan of the way this one plays. I also like the traditional style mmo as well. They both have their pros and cons. I have to say that I like how mmo's are moving forward to a more action based style though as I feel more connected than I have in the past to some other games.
The foundry is a nice addition. I have wanted to play out some ideas in my head for a long time and it's truly a very cool idea. I do feel sometimes though that it is used as a way to add game content while allowing the game itself to falter a tad where it could shine more. Having said that again I reiterate what a great concept is. Some of the quests in the foundry seem to be put together without much thought and I feel kind of sad about that. Others I have played are really great and have branching stories and aren't all action even though this game tends to push you in that direction. I do like the action style but some puzzle challenges and thought make it intriguing to continue.
I am not turned off by the amount of classes in this game. They each have a pretty unique feel to themselves. I do wish there was more than one healer type though. I would welcome more dps and tanks as well as long as they feel unique enough to justify adding another. They shouldn't be added just because people beg for them. They should be added because they bring something new to the table. Of course the only choices are going to be tank, dps and heals but they need to have a different concept than those we have already.
The amount of development time that would be required for choices would also be huge. Consider that if you wrote a story that consisted of only 4 either choices along the way. You would need 16 different instances to be created at a minimum, and you would somehow have to be able to let those choices be permanent for those players that chose that path without it impacting others that chose a different path. Perhaps that technology does exist, but the infrastructure to support it would be much larger.
I do not mind the number of classes currently available. You have to start somewhere, and I know there are going to be more released as time goes on. My biggest gripe about the classes it that they are so limited in comparison to what the core game actually allows them to do. Thieves, Wizards, Clerics, Rangers all have many more skills in the core rulebooks than what they are given here. I can only imagine the possibilities if Thieves could actually pick locks, Wizards were able to use their utility spells, Rangers could actually track things.
Some of the writing is truly very inspired, the Lich in Neverdeath Graveyard as an example, but most is very bland. This I do blame on the consumer. Most don't even bother to read the what the NPCs have to say now. They click and then off they go to follow the sparkly trail. I would be willing to bet most players have never been into the rooms that branch off of the main path in the dungeons.
Even if the technology exists to create involving stories with meaningful choices, 85% of the players wouldn't care for it. They just want the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and could care less what is to the left and right.
What do you mean "perhaps". It does exist. There is no reason to not have intriguing dialog just because some people don't read the dialog. Also where do you get the stat of 85% from? You can't just make a statistic up of the top off your head. Other mmos are proof that the technology exists and is implemented. Everyone may groan when I say it but WoW has been doing this for a long time now. Yes I know they are a behemoth in the industry but scripting events like this isn't just in mmos and you don't have to instance them. It has been in many games not just in mmos and for a long time. Would it take longer to write sure. However the way you write that you make it seem as if it wouldn't be worth it.
Also your idea that you would need 16 different instances because of 4 choices is also stretching a little. That would only be the case if there were multiple branches coming from each choice with each choice leading a different way. It could be written in a way that you end up in the same spot in the end or the middle of all of it.
This is exactly what would make this game better! If you ever played a thief in WoW you know you could pickpocket people. That was a really fun tool. They also had lockpicking skills to open chests they found. I know why they are slim lined though as a lot of this game is slim lined. Let's be honest if you want a robust D&D mmo you need to go elsewhere.
First of all I'm one of those people that rarely reads the quests. But I'm writing because I don't think you understand why people like me don't read them.
It's not that we don't like the stories or playing rpgs. We just don't think mmo's are a good rpg experience and can't be. So we don't play mmo's for those reasons. We play mmo's for grouped combat with other players.
When I want an rpg experience I turn on my ps3 and play a console game. I play mmo's because I want to fight something as a team.
NWN however has much more rpg elements than other mmos and I like it.
The foundry system in NWO has very great potential making great rpgs. There are already good ones in it.
But the population 99.9% wouldn't see it other than finding 4 short quest for AD.
As another player who has these tendency's, I ALMOST agree with you.
I just fire up my P.C., and play Mass Effect, one of the old Black Isle games
But I also found a cool MMO called The Secret World which DOES have a real Story and Voice Acting and even a PLOT.
So I go there when I need those things.
And I hit up Champions Online when I need a Character Creation Fix (if you haven't tried that yet, you need to. It is UNREAL).
Neverwinter is where if go when I need to HIT something.
Which, right now, is more often then not
'Wen considered the nature of time and understood that the universe is, instant by instant, recreated anew. Therefore, he understood, there is in truth no past, only a memory of the past. Blink your eyes, and the world you see next did not exist when you closed them. Therefore, he said, the only appropriate state of the mind is surprise. The only appropriate state of the heart is joy. The sky you see now, you have never seen before. The perfect moment is now. Be glad of it.' Terry Pratchet The Thief Of Time
I have no idea why you would say that, Guild Wars 2 has multiple branches with a real plot and story line and that's an MMO. From what I hear TOR is even better. So it can be done with an MMO and this is something that the devs should think about serioulsy improving.
It shouldn't just be done because it's what we want to an extent it should be done on principal out of respect for the Neverwinter franchise and D&D. It doesn't do this game justice if it's just to run around kill and collect thing.
It's good that we have the foundry but ultimately the foundry should be there to supplement the game. From what I understand the foundry was created to try and create an MMO which was true to the spirit of Neverwinter Nights, therefore it stands to reason that to try and keep to the spirit of Neverwinter the rpg elements should be improved.
The two other mmo's you talk about, I've played, the story there wasn't that interesting either. Granted better than some mmo's but still nothing compared to a console rpg. Honestly both games bored me to death.
The foundry is in a bad place right now. Because of exploits in the start of open beta. This means the xp, gold, and loot drops are at a slower rate than zone slaying. Ignoring xp as it's really quick to level and you are going to be at sixty in a couple days no matter what you do, you will still always need gold. If you don't want to spend ad and flip it for things to sell to a vendor on the ah that means you need to kill things lots of things and that takes time. That means if you want to spend your time in areas of the game that you enjoy the most, for me that is dungeons, you are going to farm open area's, and since there are only so many hours in the day, that means the foundry gets left by the wayside.
Thanks for the shout out to the Foundry. Quite a few of the authors found their way here from NWN (1 and 2) module building, and lots have old-school bioware RPG memories that they try to recapture.
While there is a limit to the technology (the building tools make it quite difficult to make a branching/choices-driven story), there are quite a few very good tales out there that pull you in and invest you emotionally in the experience, while still having fun gameplay.
While the rewards are meager (or just plain poor), if you're mostly looking for a good experience, the Foundry has quite a bit to offer the story-seeker if you can filter through the piles of "Arena" quests.
Come check out the Foundry forums sometime
I can't speak for TOR because I haven't played it, but I kinda see what you mean. I thought the story for GW2 was alright but that's considering everything else that they provide in GW2. Don't you think it would be better if this MMO tried to to improve the story instead of leaving it how it is?
Well that's just all round depressing.