Meet Neverwinter's new Executive Producer!

nitocris83
nitocris83 Member, Cryptic Developer, Administrator Posts: 4,300 Community Manager
in News & Announcements
Next Tuesday, December 17, Chris Whiteside will be joining us for the Driftwood Tavern Community Stream. Chris joins the team as the new Executive Producer for Neverwinter and brings with him some exciting ideas and initiatives for the community. He will be taking questions during the stream but please feel free to leave questions in this thread ahead of time!

Please tune in December 17 at 11am PT on twitch.tv/crypticstudios!
Tagged:
«13

Comments

  • zebular
    zebular Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 15,270 Community Moderator
    Welcome and Well Met, Chris!
    [ My Character Bios | Discord: Zebular#9524 | In Game: @zebular (PC) • @MtnDewFreak (XBOX) • @Terraseer (PS4) ]
    Zebular
    [ Support Center • Rules & Policies and Guidelines • ARC ToS • Guild Recruitment Guidelines | FR DM Since 1993 ]
  • rjc9000
    rjc9000 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 2,398 Arc User
    What happened to Foss?

  • micky1p00
    micky1p00 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 3,540 Arc User
    rjc9000 said:

    What happened to Foss?

    Not related, Foss is Lead Designer, the new person is Executive Producer.
  • rickcase276
    rickcase276 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,399 Arc User
    Thomas Foss is still Lead Developer. Just splitting up the roles he was doing, more than likely.
  • cts2000#2706
    cts2000#2706 Member Posts: 86 Arc User
    Why did Gordon quit?
  • hastur905
    hastur905 Member Posts: 172 Arc User
    Can you tell us what exactly what your job is? What area's of the business will u be hands on, and what do think you are bringing ,with your experience, to the game? Understanding that you are still getting your feet wet, but what do you feel are the hot spots that need to be addressed first, and under what timeline do you feel that these can be accomplished?
  • cwhitesidedev#9752
    cwhitesidedev#9752 Member, Cryptic Developer Posts: 253 Cryptic Developer
    hastur905 said:

    Can you tell us what exactly what your job is? What area's of the business will u be hands on, and what do think you are bringing ,with your experience, to the game? Understanding that you are still getting your feet wet, but what do you feel are the hot spots that need to be addressed first, and under what timeline do you feel that these can be accomplished?

    Absolutely will do during the stream thanks Hastur.

    Chris
  • wilbur626
    wilbur626 Member Posts: 1,000 Arc User
    edited December 2019
    @cwhitesidedev#9752 I have a follow-up question; Are you the GW2 Chris Whiteside? Mr Whiteside Ridge himself?
    Elite Whaleboy
  • silverrrrrrr
    silverrrrrrr Member Posts: 145 Arc User
    Hi Chris!

    This question is super important. I must know. What is the best flavor of ice cream?
    Leader of Heralds of Lurid Dusk

    Silv3ry on YouTube

  • joe7777
    joe7777 Member Posts: 509 Arc User
    Welcome to soon-to-be-hell Chris! At least for Lv80s anyway :tongue:

    2 questions from me: 1) What is your stance on fixing, and I mean PERMANENTLY fixing old longstanding bugs that either go unfixed or resurface after being fixed in terms of priority? 2) Do you think Infernal Descent will be the TRUE "Never"winter? XD
  • cwhitesidedev#9752
    cwhitesidedev#9752 Member, Cryptic Developer Posts: 253 Cryptic Developer
    joe7777 said:

    Welcome to soon-to-be-hell Chris! At least for Lv80s anyway :tongue:

    2 questions from me: 1) What is your stance on fixing, and I mean PERMANENTLY fixing old longstanding bugs that either go unfixed or resurface after being fixed in terms of priority? 2) Do you think Infernal Descent will be the TRUE "Never"winter? XD

    Hi Joe,

    I will share my thoughts on question 1 during the stream and in regard to question 2 ;)

    Chris
  • rjc9000
    rjc9000 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 2,398 Arc User
    edited December 2019
    cwhitesidedev#9752 said:

    [Are you the GW2 Chris Whiteside? Mr Whiteside Ridge himself?]
    I am.

    Chris


    Huh, now I'm curious.

    I never played Guild Wars 2, but from what I can research, your Guild Wars 2 wiki page says that you dropped from ArenaNet in March 2015 to do consulting work. From what trail I can follow, you then moved to Red 5/Firefall, then things didn't go as planned with Red 5 . I am not sure what happened afterwards, but then you ended up here in California with Cryptic.

    So what caused you to sign on with Cryptic Studios/Neverwinter in particular (assuming it isn't a deeply personal/NDA based reason)?

    How often do you plan to hold the CDPs/CDIs for NW?

    Do you visit or plan to visit the NW subreddit to hold an AMA and/or get ideas from the subreddit?

    There are probably way more questions that could be asked, but these are the ones I'd want to ask off the top of my head.

  • thefiresidecat
    thefiresidecat Member Posts: 4,486 Arc User
    hi glad to have you on board,

    My question is are you reading the forums to get a feel for the player base and what we're looking for? in the past year the game has gone in some directions that have alienated many of us. it really feels like no one is listening to or caring about what we actually want and like in the game vs whatever whim someone has on the other side. it would be nice to feel like the direction the game goes in is in synch with the vast majority of players. Even the beta testing from all reports the beta testers are totally ignored with their feedback. what's the point right? Many of us are passionate about this game and have stuck around for years but it's getting hard to stay on board. When Item by item the things we love about it are being scrapped.
  • cwhitesidedev#9752
    cwhitesidedev#9752 Member, Cryptic Developer Posts: 253 Cryptic Developer
    thefiresidecat said:

    hi glad to have you on board,

    My question is are you reading the forums to get a feel for the player base and what we're looking for? in the past year the game has gone in some directions that have alienated many of us. it really feels like no one is listening to or caring about what we actually want and like in the game vs whatever whim someone has on the other side. it would be nice to feel like the direction the game goes in is in synch with the vast majority of players. Even the beta testing from all reports the beta testers are totally ignored with their feedback. what's the point right? Many of us are passionate about this game and have stuck around for years but it's getting hard to stay on board. When Item by item the things we love about it are being scrapped.

    Hi Firesidecat,

    Thanks for your comments and questions.

    I will talk to your points in the stream and meanwhile check out the new CDP

    https://arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter/#/discussion/1253338/cdp-topic-game-content-accessibility

    Thanks,

    Chris
  • kreatyve
    kreatyve Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 10,539 Community Moderator
    Welcome Chris!

    It's great to see the EP posting on the forums and interacting with the player base!

    I look forward to seeing what changes you bring to the game. :)
    My opinions are my own. I do not work for PWE or Cryptic. - Forum Rules - Protector's Enclave Discord - I play on Xbox
    Any of my comments not posted in orange are based on my own personal opinion and not official.
    Any messages written in orange are official moderation messages. Signature images are now fixed!
    kuI2v8l.png
  • cwhitesidedev#9752
    cwhitesidedev#9752 Member, Cryptic Developer Posts: 253 Cryptic Developer
    kreatyve said:

    Welcome Chris!

    It's great to see the EP posting on the forums and interacting with the player base!

    I look forward to seeing what changes you bring to the game. :)

    Many thanks Kreatyve. Proud to be a member of the team and looking forward to working with the community buildings worlds!

    Chris
  • rangerreek
    rangerreek Member Posts: 56 Arc User
    Hail and well met, Mr. Whiteside! Glad to have you in the family. Look forward to getting to know you.
    Fight with honor, die with glory!
  • darthpotater
    darthpotater Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,160 Arc User
    Welcome to NW.

    Put your best armor to work here, people rages at every change, good or bad :D

    I hope you can bring the game some things that are neccesary, as more QA testing, and more engage with the community.

    Good luck sincerely.
    Lescar PvE Wizard - Sir Garlic PvE Paladin
    Caturday Survivor
    Elemental Evil Survivor
    Undermontain Survivor
    Mod20 Combat rework Survivor
    Mod22 Refinement rework Survivor
  • demarw2#2749
    demarw2#2749 Member Posts: 70 Arc User
    edited December 2019
    Hey Chris, welcome to Neverwinter. It is always good to have some new creators with new ideas.
    Post edited by demarw2#2749 on
  • sobi#1980
    sobi#1980 Member Posts: 401 Arc User
    @cwhitesidedev#9752

    Hi Chris and a warm welcome to you.

    Ever since you have joined, i have seen an escalating improvement in this game so your influence is already taking effect and that is good to know.

    I had a question which i personally feel like NW is hung up on. What do you feel is the defining quality of the game NW? Do you feel that NW is actually implementing changes to improve what makes NW better from other MMO's? This will become more clearer as you see new major MMO's releasing next year.

    If you happened to wonder what my opinion is regarding the above, the defining quality is "COMBAT system" for me. I cannot fathom any other quality being more important than this.
  • kstubble#4883
    kstubble#4883 Member Posts: 34 Arc User
    hello and welcome @cwhitesidedev#9752

    i hope you have a great time working with neverwinter. I have really enjoyed the game since i started playing in module 9 a couple years back.

    However, I have noticed a consistent downward trend in the player base since i joined on pc and am worried that it will continue. i know steam charts are not everyone on pc and do not include xbox or ps4, but those numbers match my experience on pc with the number of people online, the number of instances available, the number of folks around in guild/alliance and in dungeon queue wait times. instances are becoming fewer and fewer everywhere, in new and older content. even winterfest today had fewer instances than last couple years.

    anyways, if you are able to answer:

    what exiting plans (if any) do you have to boost the game player base and improve in game numbers (get new players, entice players that have left to come back, keep players etc.) and would you consider using twitch, you tube, discord, steam, etc to help promote the game itself, especially in conjunction with a new module drop? I mean really use gaming resources, not just pay a popular streamer to stream it once or send a single obscure announcement out through bleeding cool or ign (had to learn about the new module from a link in discord cause it wasn't even on arc yet).

    will neverwinter online/cryptic (staff) be able to keep up with the existing content and provide new and fresh content? the game has a huge amount of content and introduces "new" modules often. for example: will nwo/cryptic staff be able to keep up with the multitude of bug fixes; keep updating ongoing content every module (like professions, stronghold quests, legacy campaign quests, etc) that should be updated with every new module but keep getting overlooked or pushed back again and again; increase the number of dungeons in the queue list (it is quite small for the age of the game imo-where are the old dungeons-why are they not permanent); provide truly new content with exciting new concepts (stop rehashing old things like heroic encounters, demonic heroic encounters and old code for new places (vallenhas)), etc.???

    thank you for your time and again, welcome! look forward to your stream
  • brewald
    brewald Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 212 Arc User
    @cwhitesidedev#9752

    Hi Chris, welcome to Neverwinter.
    I assume you are ready to answer to undreds of questions ;)
    Brewald - GWF 18.3k
    Eleonore - CW Mof Renegade 17.5k
    Harlgard le Vieux - OP Prot 18.3k
    Valrik - DC AC 18.2k
    Furiela - SW Temp 18.1k
  • micky1p00
    micky1p00 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 3,540 Arc User
    edited December 2019
    What aspects, that you are willing to share) of the current workflow (Neverwinter productions) in your opinion need improvement? What aspects are in your opinions are the strong points of the production, and should be kept as is, applied to other things, and/or learned from?

    What insights you think you can take from the other companies and games you were part of and apply to NW?

    Any insightful postmortems, or common pitfalls that game companies tend to fall into? Anything that can apply to NW?

    Do you consider the external IP NW based on (D&D WoTC) something that makes production easier or shackles that often restrict and create overhead?

    Thoughts about the release structure in NW, and the length of iteration, where most updates from class balance to fixes, QoL and content are around the 4 month mod releases?

    This is while good for content, is extremely slow in terms of "broken" items, class balance, and other aspects.

    Also to note code merge issues where changes that done during a mod life, a reverted on next mod release due to probably code merging.

    Tales of Old was a good example of a good idea, IMO, but was overshadowed by multiple bugs, some still not fixed. Same with other aspects, like professions reworks, counter stats, and multiple other ideas, that in their base are good but the implementation is lacking, probably due to dead lines. Will this be just the way it is, or anything considered to alleviate the issue? To allow more polished release of complex changes that take more than a single mod. And on the other hand more rapid fixes of events and important bugs.

    What is the general priority of the content, system and design focus? Luring new players, or the retention and periodic return of established players? In recent mods there was a significant devaluation of everything veteran players accumulated and worked for while at the same time there were added significant shortcuts for new players, catch up gear, legacy campaigns, quick ways to get significant gear (MEs). To the point that a player who didn't play for a year returned in a better position over if they would have tried to keep up with the changes. Will this be the ongoing philosophy? Turnover over retention?

  • oremonger#9999
    oremonger#9999 Member Posts: 213 Arc User
    @cwhitesidedev#9752

    Hi Chris, Welcome!
    I was once a very active member of the Neverwinter community and played the game on a daily basis for years. I still haunt these forums on occasion in the hopes that this game will return to the game so many of us once loved.

    I was an officer in a very active guild with a full roster. I spent hours gathering information about this game for my guildmates and posting about it on our forums. We had several weekly events that were always full and several officers who went out of their way to provide entertainment and direction for our guild. We had a purpose and reason for playing and spending. Although we were of many different skill levels we were always able to play together no matter the content or the challenge. (No longer possible today because of Scaling, BUGS and "Balance"!)

    Sadly, over the years I saw many of our members leave this game due to mismanagement and bugs. The lack of communication from developers and changes made to classes in the name of balance were the death knell for many more.

    We are still waiting for balance by the way. I have seen MOD 19 suggested as a time when this will be addressed. ARE THEY SERIOUS?? They break the game for MANY classes in MOD 16 and then EXPECT people to wait for MONTHS for a fix? What exactly are we supposed to do while we wait? I can give you a clue.... Play something else. Each and every day that passes it is easier to NOT play Neverwinter.

    RANT: Priorities are truly messed up at Cryptic. Some well documented bugs have been around for YEARS. If you break something FIX IT! For crying out loud even the tooltips are wrong 50% of the time. Do not make massive changes to game mechanics / classes and then worry about fixing things later! The number of Warlocks alone that I know who no longer play is depressing, let alone the others. /RANT

    Many more stopped playing or participating because most of our hard earned accomplishments in our Stronghold became useless and ALL of the events became bugged and unplayable for MONTHS after MOD 16 and some have not recovered to this day.

    Our pleas and feedback fell on deaf ears so we stopped giving it and also stopped spending and ultimately many more of us just stopped playing.

    What do you plan on doing to bring these people back? Is this a cut your losses situation?

    When will we see love for Guilds and Strongholds? I know of several people who logged in every week just for guild events. No events + HAMSTER rewards + bugged content = no people.

    When will we see a "Bugtober" again to fix these often YEARS old bugs? Just take a few minutes to read through the bug threads on the forums both on live and preview. Notice how many that were reported on preview went to live and then on to XBox and PS4... Truly sad.

    When can we spend money on something and it still have value next week? I personally stopped buying Zen when almost everything I bought became obsolete over night. Even lockboxes have no value now, so why even buy keys?
    Don't even get me started on the nerfs to VIP and companions. What is the point of spending when everything will be useless in the next MOD?

    You have your work cut out for you, I wish you luck! Hopefully you can get the DYS out of the DYSFUNCTION that has plagued this game for the last few MODS.



This discussion has been closed.

Categories