I got sent a message form MMORPG and am watching a guy play live.
http://www.twitch.tv/mmorpgcom?utm_campaign=twitch_favorite_up&utm_content=&utm_medium=cms_email&utm_source=20130207en
I'm assuming it is OK for him to show this right?
Well he is answering many basic questions.
Game is very easy to solo everything as his rogue he says, he says traps are very easy to avoid, but combat fun, and game nice overall but too easy is his main complaint.
There are open areas to play in, but a lot of the game is similar to D&D Online instanced quests and areas.
"An updated D&D O is how he describes the game" so if you enjoy D&D Online you should like this.
Watch and see and learn!
Comments
The only thing I'd like to point out is that if you weren't in a city you were in an instance. This is not the case with Neverwinter. There are lots of combat locations and quests which take part completely within persistent zones.
How many people can go into these persistent zones? I have not seen any streamed yet.
D&D Online also had big open maps that were outdoors and not dungeons with quests on them. But you could only go in with about 5-6 players max and clear it out that way.
How many can play on these at once?
As a player what bothered me is that if I went *anywhere* I could run into monsters I would be in an instance. Anywhere underground, in a sewer, out of the main cities...pure instance.
While in some ways it is similar I don't consider it an "instanced" game like I do with DDO. As some other have stated it's the 'happy medium' since instances make life more more enjoyable than constantly competing for content.
I'll answer what other questions I can later.
I can't wait to get my hands on this, but I am assuming beta area's are extremely limited this weekend. How it comes across streaming is narrow corridors, instanced game. Instances within instances. Now I'm ok with that, I rather have it feel much more expansive (and it may be, just not seeing it yet) but some mmo'ers will just not give a second thought if it's all instances in general. I love DDO by the way, so yes I'm ok with instances, to me they play out like DND Modules.
I'm watching them right now in an "open area" and they said you still find instanced content within the open area.
Also I don't see anybody else in this open area other than their party.
They made it to some sewers and had to go into an instance or zone in, etc. and still I have not seen anybody else in this open area but their party.
So still no answer to my question, how many is max in one "open area" that is not a city?
Foundry Content:Guide - Custom Channels and List (NW-DHBU9OTOS)
Asset upgrading poll.
I sm well aware of DDO's garbage instanced 'just outside of city' zones. That's the part I hated most about DDO and Neverwitner is NOT like that. If you're not in a quest/dungeon you're in a persistant zone even if there are mobs to kill.
As for which areas are open, the main areas are all open. Every main location in the city and most travel-to locations are all persistant zones. It really shouldn't be that hard to see other players in open zones.
There are more instanced quests than persistent quests though so my best guess is they are simply spending a lot of time going through the quests rather than exploring unless they are, for some reason, not a part of the Founders Beta Test.
Part of the reason why you haven't seen anyone else wandering around in what might be open world areas is pretty obvious: it's not that it's instanced, it's because there's no one else there.