Many game journalists seem to be satisfied with Neverwinter beta, and I have the impression that things are progressing quite well. Despite of this I see a lot of preconceived hatred projected towards Neverwinter. I see Mmo fans or old fashioned RPG enthusiasts spewing out remarks of unreasonable contempt, and I think this is certainly unfair. Perhaps Cryptic studios could emphasize the following points to try to appeal to that kind of crowd slightly more:
1. Neverwinter is not as simplified as it seems to be. There is still reasonable character development and depth through skill points, feats and strategizing of appropriate skill layout for various situations etc. To be honest I am slightly worried that currently we can't choose classes but only progress with pre-generated builds (which limits customization), but it seems many more builds are coming for our enjoyment so this could be also emphasized.
2. Neverwinter is still a D&D game. Just because this game doesn't play like baldur's gate or neverwinter nights it doesn't mean the D&D aspect is ignored. If I am not mistaken the game is based on a modified D&D 4e ruleset.
3. This is not just another MMO. Neverwinter might have some traditional MMO elements, but it also has Foundry and excellent and addictive combat. Yes Tera and GW2 had engaging combat as well, but I think Neverwinter has these things working in a much more refined form.
Basically it would be a shame if despite of so much positive coverage from the media Neverwinter somehow failed to garner the support and appeal of gamers when the game goes live.
volcxxxMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, SilverstarsPosts: 0Arc User
edited February 2013
1. PWE is responsible for community management and all adversiting around. This.
2. Ridicilous prices of packs annoyed many people (pay2play beta)
3. People see PWE (everyone in mmo know that PWE making ONLY play2win games)
I have nothing against PWE, played couple of their games (Raiders, BOI, WOI) and i know what Neverwinter will/can be
Anyway, "cash must flow" so im ok with p2win/p2play game model.
Old "Blood and Sand: Unchained" quest Played more than 100 000 times!
> TRY IT NOW!
zeruinMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited February 2013
I'm fine with the game not catching on immediately.. the less people that play it initially only opens up the possibility of claiming some cool names at launch! :cool:
I'm fine with the game not catching on immediately.. the less people that play it initially only opens up the possibility of claiming some cool names at launch! :cool:
Different people can have the same name anyways. You just can't name all of your own characters the same thing.
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lanessar13Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, SilverstarsPosts: 8Arc User
edited February 2013
As I read elsewhere, haters are drinking the hater-aid, and it's sour grape flavored. This phenomenon happens on EVERY MMO project since Age of Conan, per my memory.
Ignore the haters. They don't turn people off of a game (unless the reader is really stupid). Most will log in and try it for themselves. If they like it, they will stay. It's that simple. I've heard those people chanting doom and gloom (and honestly, I see the same user names) on every forum you can imagine.
Some of these people are "paid instigators", paid by the competition to diss the game. I joke not. During TOR's beta, there was one person who had been railing against it and spreading all sorts of BS about the game. He was selected to play the beta. About a week later, he posted a link to his blog "Can't take money to kill a good game" or similar title. Pretty scary; I'd understand that in politics, but not over a few hundred thousand dollars in a game release.
0
countmagusMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 5Arc User
As I read elsewhere, haters are drinking the hater-aid, and it's sour grape flavored. This phenomenon happens on EVERY MMO project since Age of Conan, per my memory.
Ignore the haters. They don't turn people off of a game (unless the reader is really stupid). Most will log in and try it for themselves. If they like it, they will stay. It's that simple. I've heard those people chanting doom and gloom (and honestly, I see the same user names) on every forum you can imagine.
Some of these people are "paid instigators", paid by the competition to diss the game. I joke not. During TOR's beta, there was one person who had been railing against it and spreading all sorts of BS about the game. He was selected to play the beta. About a week later, he posted a link to his blog "Can't take money to kill a good game" or similar title. Pretty scary; I'd understand that in politics, but not over a few hundred thousand dollars in a game release.
I suppose you are right. This is basically the first MMO I have looked at before it's launched. (I usually wait till they go f2p or look for a trial.) So much unreasonable and malicious hatred. I have seen paid instigators bash other games and spam good things about their company's game before as well (At least I suspected.), so I guess it's all normal then.
1. PWE is responsible for community management and all adversiting around. This.
2. Ridicilous prices of packs annoyed many people (pay2play beta)
3. People see PWE (everyone in mmo know that PWE making ONLY play2win games)
I have nothing against PWE, played couple of their games (Raiders, BOI, WOI) and i know what Neverwinter will/can be
Anyway, "cash must flow" so im ok with p2win/p2play game model.
^this.
Every MMO under PWE is heavy pay-to-win (Raiderz, PWI, Forsaken World, BOI, WOI and more)
This game is not even out yet they are selling rare weps and Astral Diamonds in founder packs....
0
jim1771Member, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 0Arc User
As I read elsewhere, haters are drinking the hater-aid, and it's sour grape flavored. This phenomenon happens on EVERY MMO project since Age of Conan, per my memory.
Ignore the haters. They don't turn people off of a game (unless the reader is really stupid). Most will log in and try it for themselves. If they like it, they will stay. It's that simple. I've heard those people chanting doom and gloom (and honestly, I see the same user names) on every forum you can imagine.
Some of these people are "paid instigators", paid by the competition to diss the game. I joke not. During TOR's beta, there was one person who had been railing against it and spreading all sorts of BS about the game. He was selected to play the beta. About a week later, he posted a link to his blog "Can't take money to kill a good game" or similar title. Pretty scary; I'd understand that in politics, but not over a few hundred thousand dollars in a game release.
link or you lie.
0
zeruinMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 0Arc User
Different people can have the same name anyways. You just can't name all of your own characters the same thing.
say whaaaaat?! I seriously doubt 2 people can have the exact same name on the same server.. There aren't really any modern MMORPGs that would allow that, especially if there is a mailing system.
0
lanessar13Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, SilverstarsPosts: 8Arc User
say whaaaaat?! I seriously doubt 2 people can have the exact same name on the same server.. There aren't really any modern MMORPGs that would allow that, especially if there is a mailing system.
Actually, it can be/has been done, and iirc, Cryptic Studios pioneered the concept in Champions Online. Your "name" is hooked (invisibly) to your account name or e-mail address so that folks actually *can* have the same character name. This is why it won't work to name *all* your characters the same name, as the name would then lose that unique (but invisible except to the game engine) distinction...
say whaaaaat?! I seriously doubt 2 people can have the exact same name on the same server.. There aren't really any modern MMORPGs that would allow that, especially if there is a mailing system.
In neverwinter you can take the same name with different people, and there is only 1 server.
It works much like a email, you will see people's name like Jinka, but in reality there's a link behind it that you can also see but not in chat or on there char like Jinka@Jinka000.
That way making the real name unique but the visible name not
First of all this is F2P.. second there has been alot of fantasy games lately, Rift, GW2, and of course everyone's eyes are on Elder Scroll Online. All they need is to get this on Steam. 10k+ concurrent user daily, easily and it start to roll from there.
Especially because of ESO hype its gonna be hard to do anything related to Fantasy gaming...
say whaaaaat?! I seriously doubt 2 people can have the exact same name on the same server.. There aren't really any modern MMORPGs that would allow that, especially if there is a mailing system.
It's because there's an @username or cryptic name or something attached to each player's character name. You have to have a unique account name or whatever, but not character name.
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hardicon1Member, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 12Arc User
say whaaaaat?! I seriously doubt 2 people can have the exact same name on the same server.. There aren't really any modern MMORPGs that would allow that, especially if there is a mailing system.
all cryptic games are like this at least co and sto, coh wasnt. its a part of the global handle thing that you will be known in game as. for instance my global handle would be hardicon, as that is my user name, but i could name my character <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> and 3 million other people could also be <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>, doesnt matter because its your global handle that matters.
also to the op, its more a cryptic thing. cryptic doesnt have the best rep among gamers. many gamers feel cryptic kind of screwed up coh and cov and jack emmert had a real annoying attitude towards the players back then. his response to us back then when we brought up concerns is shut up, im jack emmert, im the god of videogaming and I know what players want, i know what is best for games and I know what is best for you. after that city of heroes went from a game that was growing nicely to nearly dead, this also happened right after wow came out. most players just left. then cryptic got out of coh and left matt miller and his team to pick up the pieces and what did cryptic and jack do, immediately start a competitor game in champions online to compete with coh. then they took one of the most beloved sci fi titles in history star trek and made a game that was really just lack luster at first, no idea what it is like now but it was bad at first, real bad, the only trek thing in it was you had spaceships.
yes neverwinter looks good, but cryptic has burned alot of bridges in the past due to jack imo. they are gonna have to earn that trust back with alot of players and are gonna have to earn it over time, its not like players are just gonna start liking what they do just because a game looks decent in beta, a beta that you had to pay 60 to 200 dollars to get into on top of that, for a free to play game. add in that it is free to play and pwe behind it also and this good looking game in beta could turn real bad into pay 2 win and in effect pay 2 play if you want to get anywhere. i hope it doesnt and i will be playing but im not gonna start hailing cryptic as the next blizzard. they will have to earn my business in the future, if this game required me to spend any money i wouldnt be getting it, im only trying it because its free to play and if I dont like what i see then when it releases with the cash shop then im gone quicker than a ho can drop her panties.
How I'd put this shorltly that competition in fantasy mmo genre is rough.. you shoudnt show anykind of weaknesses like F2P model or be in the back with some other crappy F2P games.
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starkaosMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited February 2013
The problem with STO's launch is that it was originally developed by a company that hardly did anything and Cryptic was given a MMO that had a very short development time since the other company squandered all their time. If Cryptic had STO first, then it might have been a better game, but that is pure speculation on a hypothetical situation.
I guess everyone has their own opinion, all I see is every news outlet gushing over Neverwinter also I would rather see a company take EvE online's approach to advertising years 1-3 than Biowares current approach to advertising. Overhype a game and the internet will do everything in it's power to hate on it. The game has a loyal following already and good press, that needs to build naturally not be driven by a hype machine.
I love the ideas behind this game, but am a little concerned with it being free (I usually play subscription games)...I'm not against buying things in a cash shop (have bought tons of things to make myself comfy, no worries there), so long as they're not consumables...I only want to buy unlocks and whatnot (no p2w stuff).
There's probably a lot of people like me who have certain concerns about the f2p ness of the game, and this will be why there's a lot of pre-emptive doubt flying around.
The second issue people will have (and this WILL be whined about, I can guarantee this) is how the game is very instanced, and not all open MMO ish. This is something gamers just love to hate. That said, it doesn't bother me at all - I only care about how fun a game is, not where I have to be to have my fun, or how many people are around me at the time.
It's because there's an @username or cryptic name or something attached to each player's character name. You have to have a unique account name or whatever, but not character name.
Here's how it works. Every account has a "display name" that people in game see. Let's use "syberghost" for an example, and "foolishlobster" for another. (No idea if that's your in-game display name, and if it isn't, don't tell me. )
We can both create a character named "Bob Jones". If we talk in channels, people (who have @names turned on; more about that in a moment) will see:
zone> Bob Jones@syberghost: hey Bob, what's up?
zone> Bob Jones@foolishlobster: nothing, what's up with you?
zone> xXxDrizzt4EVAxXx@lolnubcakeswut: WTB [+1 Sword of Buttkicking] PST
zone> Bob Jones@syberghost: nothing, just /ignoring this doofus who doesn't know how to use the Auction House.
zone> Bob Jones@foolishlobster: true, true
Now, during the beta weekend, @names were evidently turned OFF by default. With them off, you'd see:
zone> Bob Jones: hey Bob, what's up?
zone> Bob Jones: nothing, what's up with you?
zone> xXxDrizzt4EVAxXx: WTB [+1 Sword of Buttkicking] PST
zone> Bob Jones: nothing, just /ignoring this doofus who doesn't know how to use the Auction House.
zone> Bob Jones: true, true
...which is horribly confusing, so I recommend Cryptic turn it on by default, but if they don't, you can manually. Or, if you hate @names, you can leave it off and just deal with the fact that in the real world, sometimes you don't know which Bob Jones people are referring to.
I should also add; for account security, what you actually type to log into the game won't be "syberghost" or "foolishlobster", it'll be something else. So people don't know your account login from seeing your display name, it's just your global handle.
This also means, I can send email to @foolishlobster, and you'll get it even if you are not playing Bob Jones today, you're playing Alice Jones instead.
Many game journalists seem to be satisfied with Neverwinter beta, and I have the impression that things are progressing quite well. Despite of this I see a lot of preconceived hatred projected towards Neverwinter. I see Mmo fans or old fashioned RPG enthusiasts spewing out remarks of unreasonable contempt, and I think this is certainly unfair. Perhaps Cryptic studios could emphasize the following points to try to appeal to that kind of crowd slightly more:
1. Neverwinter is not as simplified as it seems to be. There is still reasonable character development and depth through skill points, feats and strategizing of appropriate skill layout for various situations etc. To be honest I am slightly worried that currently we can't choose classes but only progress with pre-generated builds (which limits customization), but it seems many more builds are coming for our enjoyment so this could be also emphasized.
Those new builds require new classes, since your class IS your build. Sure, you may be able to change up a couple of skills for your use, but it's not going to be anywhere near as situational or dynamic as, say, Guild Wars.
As far as skill point allocation, only two stats will make any use of additional skill points - the ones that Cryptic has determined are for your class. Putting them anywhere else is a waste of a skill point.
2. Neverwinter is still a D&D game. Just because this game doesn't play like baldur's gate or neverwinter nights it doesn't mean the D&D aspect is ignored. If I am not mistaken the game is based on a modified D&D 4e ruleset.
It's DnD in name only. It is not based on a modified DnD ruleset of any edition - it's based on a Champions Online reskin.
3. This is not just another MMO. Neverwinter might have some traditional MMO elements, but it also has Foundry and excellent and addictive combat. Yes Tera and GW2 had engaging combat as well, but I think Neverwinter has these things working in a much more refined form.
Their "action combat" is just a refined version of STO's "shooter mode." It is nothing more than a different take on the same MMO elements.
Basically it would be a shame if despite of so much positive coverage from the media Neverwinter somehow failed to garner the support and appeal of gamers when the game goes live.
If it doesn't appeal to gamers when it goes live, it will be solely because WE'VE BEEN HERE TWICE BEFORE WITH CRYPTIC. Nothing they've said or shown has told anyone that this will be different from Star Trek Online or Champions Online in any meaningful way. THOSE games didn't garner the appeal of gamers because of how horrible they were AS GAMES.
Could this be different? I certainly hope so. I've given Cryptic a lot of money, and would actually like something to come of it that I can truly enjoy. However, they haven't shown it to be different, and that's what will cost them.
THOSE games didn't garner the appeal of gamers because of how horrible they were AS GAMES.
Could this be different? I certainly hope so. I've given Cryptic a lot of money, and would actually like something to come of it that I can truly enjoy. However, they haven't shown it to be different, and that's what will cost them.
STO is hugely successful by any MMORPG measure other than "a serious threat to WoW", which nothing achieves in the West.
STO is hugely successful by any MMORPG measure other than "a serious threat to WoW", which nothing achieves in the West.
No, it isn't - at launch, it had about 300,000 accounts, which fell to five figures within a year. Yes, they have many more free players, and are making some money, but it is not "hugely successful" by any stretch of the word. Guild Wars 2, a game many people on this board LOVE to beat up on for whatever reason, has utterly destroyed STO by every measure of success, and I'm not sure I'd say that IT is "hugely successful."
No, it isn't - at launch, it had about 300,000 accounts, which fell to five figures within a year. Yes, they have many more free players, and are making some money, but it is not "hugely successful" by any stretch of the word. Guild Wars 2, a game many people on this board LOVE to beat up on for whatever reason, has utterly destroyed STO by every measure of success, and I'm not sure I'd say that IT is "hugely successful."
So a little over 2 mil in box sales with the vast majority of people ( just look at all of those dead servers) no longer even bothering is utterly destroying a game that just increased it's dev team again and has at least six districts full every time I log in???
Gaming forums, particularly official forums for a particular game, often have a very negative vibe, dominated by trolls who crave attention by trashing things they either don't understand, or most certainly lack the actual skill to correct (most couldn't recite even the most basic principles of object oriented design and methodology).
So yes, of course, the game needs more love. Indeed, you could go so far that the entire gaming culture could use a lot less whining, mewling and prattling and a lot more genuine discussion, collaboration and a sense of genuine community.
The general noise you hear from most of the negative postings are either:
1. Dooooooooooooom
2. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Number 2 is usually followed with "I want the game for free and I want it now, now, now", or "I have some pedantic criticism of the game and will now spend hours of my life distributing those criticisms on this forum."
These are the same people who would join a Ernest Hemingway appreciation society and spend every meeting screaming, "Hemingway sucks, why don't you jerks read more Batman comics like I do?"
Ignore them, this game, like many others, is a vast, complicated system requiring a large team of talented people to produce. It takes years of coordinated effort and management to release them. Will it be a perfect system? Of course not, no endeavor is, but to those of who appreciate great MMOs and particularly those of us who have supported D&D for decades, this is clearly a watershed moment for the brand and for fantasy role playing in general.
Haters are gonna hate, they aren't capable of doing much else, and they shall sing in their chains like the sea.
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The question is why they had to sell rare weapons and in-game currency in "founder pack"? Path of Exile and Team Fortress 2 are free to play as well but they never sold any currency, only cosmetic stuff and yet PoE got 150 000 players at start of open beta and 2.5m $ from supporters, TF2 is Valve game and they have 60-50k gamers on servers any time. Why Neverwinter had to start as pay-to-win?
The question is why they had to sell rare weapons and in-game currency in "founder pack"? Path of Exile and Team Fortress 2 are free to play as well but they never sold any currency, only cosmetic stuff and yet PoE got 150 000 players at start of open beta and 2.5m $ from supporters, TF2 is Valve game and they have 60-50k gamers on servers any time. Why Neverwinter had to start as pay-to-win?
A rare weapon doesn't always translate to the most powerful weapon or even a powerful weapon, nor did they ever say you could not get the exact same weapon by doing delves or adventuring.
Like I always said some will scream P2W no matter. :rolleyes:
Dude i just gave an example of two play-to-free games that have huge success without selling any weps nor in-game currency, do you think Neverwinter will last longer than those two? This aint 2006 with all chinese MMOs milking money from gamers...
Selling "game money" which is astral diamonds and weps with unique stat is pure Pay-to-Win.
No, it isn't - at launch, it had about 300,000 accounts, which fell to five figures within a year. Yes, they have many more free players, and are making some money, but it is not "hugely successful" by any stretch of the word. Guild Wars 2, a game many people on this board LOVE to beat up on for whatever reason, has utterly destroyed STO by every measure of success, and I'm not sure I'd say that IT is "hugely successful."
I agree. The new box sale benchmark at launch for a successful game is around a million (e.g. AoC, SWTOR, GW2, etc). That was set about 4 years ago.
NW-DT4OV7EXH
Every time they idiot-proof something...they make better idiots.
Comments
2. Ridicilous prices of packs annoyed many people (pay2play beta)
3. People see PWE (everyone in mmo know that PWE making ONLY play2win games)
I have nothing against PWE, played couple of their games (Raiders, BOI, WOI) and i know what Neverwinter will/can be
Anyway, "cash must flow" so im ok with p2win/p2play game model.
Old "Blood and Sand: Unchained" quest
Played more than 100 000 times!
> TRY IT NOW!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ecy4o6JqLc
Different people can have the same name anyways. You just can't name all of your own characters the same thing.
Ignore the haters. They don't turn people off of a game (unless the reader is really stupid). Most will log in and try it for themselves. If they like it, they will stay. It's that simple. I've heard those people chanting doom and gloom (and honestly, I see the same user names) on every forum you can imagine.
Some of these people are "paid instigators", paid by the competition to diss the game. I joke not. During TOR's beta, there was one person who had been railing against it and spreading all sorts of BS about the game. He was selected to play the beta. About a week later, he posted a link to his blog "Can't take money to kill a good game" or similar title. Pretty scary; I'd understand that in politics, but not over a few hundred thousand dollars in a game release.
I suppose you are right. This is basically the first MMO I have looked at before it's launched. (I usually wait till they go f2p or look for a trial.) So much unreasonable and malicious hatred. I have seen paid instigators bash other games and spam good things about their company's game before as well (At least I suspected.), so I guess it's all normal then.
^this.
Every MMO under PWE is heavy pay-to-win (Raiderz, PWI, Forsaken World, BOI, WOI and more)
This game is not even out yet they are selling rare weps and Astral Diamonds in founder packs....
link or you lie.
say whaaaaat?! I seriously doubt 2 people can have the exact same name on the same server.. There aren't really any modern MMORPGs that would allow that, especially if there is a mailing system.
*sigh* When was TOR released? Over a year ago? It'll take me some time to find the darn thing.
Server: Mindflayer
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Actually, it can be/has been done, and iirc, Cryptic Studios pioneered the concept in Champions Online. Your "name" is hooked (invisibly) to your account name or e-mail address so that folks actually *can* have the same character name. This is why it won't work to name *all* your characters the same name, as the name would then lose that unique (but invisible except to the game engine) distinction...
In neverwinter you can take the same name with different people, and there is only 1 server.
It works much like a email, you will see people's name like Jinka, but in reality there's a link behind it that you can also see but not in chat or on there char like Jinka@Jinka000.
That way making the real name unique but the visible name not
Especially because of ESO hype its gonna be hard to do anything related to Fantasy gaming...
It's because there's an @username or cryptic name or something attached to each player's character name. You have to have a unique account name or whatever, but not character name.
all cryptic games are like this at least co and sto, coh wasnt. its a part of the global handle thing that you will be known in game as. for instance my global handle would be hardicon, as that is my user name, but i could name my character <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> and 3 million other people could also be <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>, doesnt matter because its your global handle that matters.
also to the op, its more a cryptic thing. cryptic doesnt have the best rep among gamers. many gamers feel cryptic kind of screwed up coh and cov and jack emmert had a real annoying attitude towards the players back then. his response to us back then when we brought up concerns is shut up, im jack emmert, im the god of videogaming and I know what players want, i know what is best for games and I know what is best for you. after that city of heroes went from a game that was growing nicely to nearly dead, this also happened right after wow came out. most players just left. then cryptic got out of coh and left matt miller and his team to pick up the pieces and what did cryptic and jack do, immediately start a competitor game in champions online to compete with coh. then they took one of the most beloved sci fi titles in history star trek and made a game that was really just lack luster at first, no idea what it is like now but it was bad at first, real bad, the only trek thing in it was you had spaceships.
yes neverwinter looks good, but cryptic has burned alot of bridges in the past due to jack imo. they are gonna have to earn that trust back with alot of players and are gonna have to earn it over time, its not like players are just gonna start liking what they do just because a game looks decent in beta, a beta that you had to pay 60 to 200 dollars to get into on top of that, for a free to play game. add in that it is free to play and pwe behind it also and this good looking game in beta could turn real bad into pay 2 win and in effect pay 2 play if you want to get anywhere. i hope it doesnt and i will be playing but im not gonna start hailing cryptic as the next blizzard. they will have to earn my business in the future, if this game required me to spend any money i wouldnt be getting it, im only trying it because its free to play and if I dont like what i see then when it releases with the cash shop then im gone quicker than a ho can drop her panties.
I guess everyone has their own opinion, all I see is every news outlet gushing over Neverwinter also I would rather see a company take EvE online's approach to advertising years 1-3 than Biowares current approach to advertising. Overhype a game and the internet will do everything in it's power to hate on it. The game has a loyal following already and good press, that needs to build naturally not be driven by a hype machine.
There's probably a lot of people like me who have certain concerns about the f2p ness of the game, and this will be why there's a lot of pre-emptive doubt flying around.
The second issue people will have (and this WILL be whined about, I can guarantee this) is how the game is very instanced, and not all open MMO ish. This is something gamers just love to hate. That said, it doesn't bother me at all - I only care about how fun a game is, not where I have to be to have my fun, or how many people are around me at the time.
Here's how it works. Every account has a "display name" that people in game see. Let's use "syberghost" for an example, and "foolishlobster" for another. (No idea if that's your in-game display name, and if it isn't, don't tell me. )
We can both create a character named "Bob Jones". If we talk in channels, people (who have @names turned on; more about that in a moment) will see:
zone> Bob Jones@syberghost: hey Bob, what's up?
zone> Bob Jones@foolishlobster: nothing, what's up with you?
zone> xXxDrizzt4EVAxXx@lolnubcakeswut: WTB [+1 Sword of Buttkicking] PST
zone> Bob Jones@syberghost: nothing, just /ignoring this doofus who doesn't know how to use the Auction House.
zone> Bob Jones@foolishlobster: true, true
Now, during the beta weekend, @names were evidently turned OFF by default. With them off, you'd see:
zone> Bob Jones: hey Bob, what's up?
zone> Bob Jones: nothing, what's up with you?
zone> xXxDrizzt4EVAxXx: WTB [+1 Sword of Buttkicking] PST
zone> Bob Jones: nothing, just /ignoring this doofus who doesn't know how to use the Auction House.
zone> Bob Jones: true, true
...which is horribly confusing, so I recommend Cryptic turn it on by default, but if they don't, you can manually. Or, if you hate @names, you can leave it off and just deal with the fact that in the real world, sometimes you don't know which Bob Jones people are referring to.
This also means, I can send email to @foolishlobster, and you'll get it even if you are not playing Bob Jones today, you're playing Alice Jones instead.
Those new builds require new classes, since your class IS your build. Sure, you may be able to change up a couple of skills for your use, but it's not going to be anywhere near as situational or dynamic as, say, Guild Wars.
As far as skill point allocation, only two stats will make any use of additional skill points - the ones that Cryptic has determined are for your class. Putting them anywhere else is a waste of a skill point.
It's DnD in name only. It is not based on a modified DnD ruleset of any edition - it's based on a Champions Online reskin.
Their "action combat" is just a refined version of STO's "shooter mode." It is nothing more than a different take on the same MMO elements.
If it doesn't appeal to gamers when it goes live, it will be solely because WE'VE BEEN HERE TWICE BEFORE WITH CRYPTIC. Nothing they've said or shown has told anyone that this will be different from Star Trek Online or Champions Online in any meaningful way. THOSE games didn't garner the appeal of gamers because of how horrible they were AS GAMES.
Could this be different? I certainly hope so. I've given Cryptic a lot of money, and would actually like something to come of it that I can truly enjoy. However, they haven't shown it to be different, and that's what will cost them.
STO is hugely successful by any MMORPG measure other than "a serious threat to WoW", which nothing achieves in the West.
No, it isn't - at launch, it had about 300,000 accounts, which fell to five figures within a year. Yes, they have many more free players, and are making some money, but it is not "hugely successful" by any stretch of the word. Guild Wars 2, a game many people on this board LOVE to beat up on for whatever reason, has utterly destroyed STO by every measure of success, and I'm not sure I'd say that IT is "hugely successful."
So a little over 2 mil in box sales with the vast majority of people ( just look at all of those dead servers) no longer even bothering is utterly destroying a game that just increased it's dev team again and has at least six districts full every time I log in???
Wow...go figure....:rolleyes:
So yes, of course, the game needs more love. Indeed, you could go so far that the entire gaming culture could use a lot less whining, mewling and prattling and a lot more genuine discussion, collaboration and a sense of genuine community.
The general noise you hear from most of the negative postings are either:
1. Dooooooooooooom
2. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Number 2 is usually followed with "I want the game for free and I want it now, now, now", or "I have some pedantic criticism of the game and will now spend hours of my life distributing those criticisms on this forum."
These are the same people who would join a Ernest Hemingway appreciation society and spend every meeting screaming, "Hemingway sucks, why don't you jerks read more Batman comics like I do?"
Ignore them, this game, like many others, is a vast, complicated system requiring a large team of talented people to produce. It takes years of coordinated effort and management to release them. Will it be a perfect system? Of course not, no endeavor is, but to those of who appreciate great MMOs and particularly those of us who have supported D&D for decades, this is clearly a watershed moment for the brand and for fantasy role playing in general.
Haters are gonna hate, they aren't capable of doing much else, and they shall sing in their chains like the sea.
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
A rare weapon doesn't always translate to the most powerful weapon or even a powerful weapon, nor did they ever say you could not get the exact same weapon by doing delves or adventuring.
Like I always said some will scream P2W no matter. :rolleyes:
Selling "game money" which is astral diamonds and weps with unique stat is pure Pay-to-Win.
I agree. The new box sale benchmark at launch for a successful game is around a million (e.g. AoC, SWTOR, GW2, etc). That was set about 4 years ago.
Every time they idiot-proof something...they make better idiots.