I'm wondering what the point of an "ask me anything" thread is if the answer to every question is "we haven't announced anything yet".
LOL... exactly.... he didn't answer anything. It was like one of those stupid magic eightballs....answer unclear, ask again later....I think he was trolling us.
Actually I wasn't aware of that. Thanks. My point still remains a bit valid. I admit though the idea of high levels makes me a bit sad. Levels in tabletop meant something. ... Granted this is all dependent on how they determine the value of levels. If having a difference in 2 levels between you and a mob is worthless then I'll be a bit sad.
What you have to remember though is this is going to primarily be played by MMO players, not people who have played pen and paper D&D. Sure, it will have a much higher percent of those who are at least more than passingly familiar with D&D, but the majority of people will, I think, be coming from some other MMO where they are used to seeing 50-100 levels and getting a lot of 'stuff' per level. The feeling of progression and gaining something for time played MUST be there otherwise people will quit. Even with D&DO, which stuck to 20 levels originally (not sure on now) broke each level up into like 5 separate smaller points where you got stuff, effectively making those 20 levels into 100.
If you want a serious hardcore pen and paper feel you aren't likely to find it here. Neverwinter is HIGHLY focused on action and, as a video game, it MUST cater to things 'video game players' want. Which in this case means a lot of levels, ease of using abilities, some kind of talent system, etc.
There are LOTS of vidoes out there from the last beta weekend that show off various aspects of the game that may help you decide if it's going to be right for you or not, but it would probably be more accurate to descibe Neverwinter as 'a fantasy action MMOG which happens to label things with D&D names'. I think you could probably consider it like Chocolate Chip cookies; while "Chocolate Chip" is prodomantly featured in the name, there is actually far more not-chocolate chip that makes up the cookie.
Granted, it's not impossible to make a game very close to the pen and paper rules, it's just that developers aren't interested in doing that just yet, as people have moved away from the Gold Box D&D love and it's not what people seem to want anymore (in great enough numbers to justify it to developers.)
Hopefully you'll have fun and enjoy your time in Neverwinter, but I think you may want to ... not put required expectations on what it will be just because it has the D&D name tied to it.
Even with D&DO, which stuck to 20 levels originally (not sure on now) broke each level up into like 5 separate smaller points where you got stuff, effectively making those 20 levels into 100.
If you want a serious hardcore pen and paper feel you aren't likely to find it here. Neverwinter is HIGHLY focused on action and, as a video game, it MUST cater to things 'video game players' want. Which in this case means a lot of levels, ease of using abilities, some kind of talent system, etc.
Hopefully you'll have fun and enjoy your time in Neverwinter, but I think you may want to ... not put required expectations on what it will be just because it has the D&D name tied to it.
-Edited for length-
Honestly, the levels weren't what bothered me. And you are correct DDO did change how their system worked. But the big stuff, like feats and new abilities were limited to levels as opposed to the enhancement points you get per level. I'm not coming to neverwinter expecting a 'Tabletop feel'. I have actual table top games for that. What I was hoping for is a challenge. Something really make me think. Not knowing the higher level and seeing folks on videos level up to 10 within an hour made me really cautious and nervous about how hand holding the game might be.
Either way I still have high hopes on the game itself. I think it will be fun, albeit maybe not the way I hope. I simply want this game to be the best it could be.
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ambisinisterrMember, Neverwinter ModeratorPosts: 10,462Community Moderator
edited February 2013
This thread was sominator's hello to the community. He is Neverwinter's dedicated CM, only started last week and only got introduced to the Community Moderators yesterday.
He's a great guy, very fun loving and it's a privilege to have him join the team.
However just because he said ask him anything doesn't mean he's able to answer anything. The community moderators have access to speak with a few Cryptic/PWE employees for most hours of the day and we also get the same 'we can't answer this' response to a lot of questions. In fact many questions the community or the forum mods could ask are still in the air within the company.
I'm sorry if you thought this thread was going to be a method to get more information about the game but that's not the case. It's merely a hello to let you guys know he's here and to let you all get to know him a little bit more. He'll of course answer any questions he can pertaining to the game but he's still bound to the same level of secrecy that the rest of the company is.
EDIT - Tinbender2, the only thing that can be said is that the Drow race WILL be free. If you don't trust that there's nothing Som, myself or anybody else can do in this situation.
The decision was made to give Heroes of the North a little more exclusivity for a period of time after launch and, yes, increase sales.
This is a free to play game but it's not free to develop or maintain. Cryptic will make you *want* to pay for features in the game. If you don't want to pay, wait.
The race is free...unless you refuse to wait 60 days. It's a pretty fair bargain in my opinion.
Feel free to use this thread to ask me anything you like, within reason.
Hello and welcome mate, I have a question thats been bugging me for a while here it comes.
Q: How does the drops in Foundry work? I mean can people just make a little crappy dungeon and then make it drop sick loot and just grind it... I have a hard time with understanding the whole drops in Foundry idea... Cause I don't want people to abuse it.. Hope you can answer
This thread was sominator's hello to the community. He is Neverwinter's dedicated CM, only started last week and only got introduced to the Community Moderators yesterday.
He's a great guy, very fun loving and it's a privilege to have him join the team.
However just because he said ask him anything doesn't mean he's able to answer anything. The community moderators have access to speak with a few Cryptic/PWE employees for most hours of the day and we also get the same 'we can't answer this' response to a lot of questions. In fact many questions the community or the forum mods could ask are still in the air within the company.
I'm sorry if you thought this thread was going to be a method to get more information about the game but that's not the case. It's merely a hello to let you guys know he's here and to let you all get to know him a little bit more. He'll of course answer any questions he can pertaining to the game but he's still bound to the same level of secrecy that the rest of the company is.
Oh... He is the new guy Squez said he hired, on NOCS episode 2 ?? Well if it means anything I approve Sominator as our CM
ambisinisterrMember, Neverwinter ModeratorPosts: 10,462Community Moderator
edited February 2013
rathura,
Drow will be free for everybody to use after 60 days post-launch.
Deathssickle,
Actually I believe Squez was referring to dezstravus who is the PWE head of CM's and also a stand up person who has been actively helping out with the Neverwinter Community.
argoyletMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited February 2013
What's going on with the Halfling? We were able to play a Halfling in the last beta, but now they've been removed from the launch races? Why? How is the half-orc who hasn't been seen in the paid beta yet, more ready for launch than a race we've already played?
The control wizard has an official class video and has been announced as being available in the 3/8 weekend beta. So why is there now some cagey lawyer talk being thrown about, along the lines that they haven't "officially" been announced. Is there a problem with the class? Will they still be available in the 3/8 weekend beta?
When was the decision to put a 60 day hold on the vanilla Drow made? Why was this quietly added to the faq on 2/20, but not officially revealed until today (2/25) after someone stumbled across the change?
rathura,
Drow will be free for everybody to use 60 days after launch.
Deathssickle,
Actually I believe Squez was referring to dezstravus who is the PWE head of CM's and also a stand up person who has been actively helping out with the Neverwinter Community.
-Halfling may be an oversight...and Half-Orc a bit of a leak because that hasn't been officially revealed...
-Again, may be an oversight. However I can tell you that the Alpha Testers have sent the poor wizard back to the drawing board at least four times as stated by Crypticmapolis in the NOCS. If he's not in at launch it's because he's not ready.
-In house it has been decided for a while. It was officially revealed, it just didn't get a huge banner stating 'read this to get angry'
This was of course going to be an unpopular decision. As mean as it sounds it wouldn't make sense to point it out and have the forums blow up like they are currently...and likely will continue to through the 60 days past launch.
Sorry for hijacking your thread Som! In this situation though I probably know more than you
-Halfling may be an oversight...and Half-Orc a bit of a leak because that hasn't been officially revealed...
-Again, may be an oversight. However I can tell you that the Alpha Testers have sent the poor wizard back to the drawing board at least four times as stated by Crypticmapolis in the NOCS. If he's not in at launch it's because he's not ready.
-In house it has been decided for a while. It was officially revealed, it just didn't get a huge banner stating 'read this to get angry'
This was of course going to be an unpopular decision. As mean as it sounds it wouldn't make sense to point it out and have the forums blow up like they are currently...and likely will continue to through the 60 days past launch.
Sorry for hijacking your thread Som! In this situation though I probably know more than you
Thanks for the information ambisinisterr! I understand that it must be hard for som to catch up on everything going on. A week is nothing to catch up on everything inside and outside of the game and I while some people mentioned here that it is somewhat a 'dream job', you certainly have to be born for it. Because its exhausting (which I know first hand because I worked in this branch as well).
Anyway, I kinda thought something like that about the mage. Balancing any D&D spellcaster class against the rest always seems to be quite a task, because their spells are much harder to put into a balanced setting where class A should not kill class B with a pointy finger of death. So I am excited to see if the class will be ready for the next BWE.
Is there any fly mount in Never winter? i mean like perfectworld international???
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roblhoblMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 15Arc User
edited February 2013
Another question, if you don't mind. As your company has stated on numerous occasions, it will be possible for players to attain Zen by selling Astral Diamonds. What I would like to have clarified is: will we be able to simply convert the one currency into the other with some ingame tool? Or will we have to auction them to other players? My concern is that in the latter case, I'm pretty sure Astral Diamonds would inflate massively, making this process not worth it. This is always the problem with game economies, just look at Diablo. There are too many players injecting too much into it, and your couple of Diamonds won't matter.
Actually, I have a second question. Will there ever be flying/diving mounts? And thirdly, what will our options of fast travel in the open world parts be?
Hello Sominator,
What do we have to do to be sure to get our packs ? My options are rather limited since I'm a nice-paladinish-guy and being nice isn't enough (or so my mum used to say) ?
rathura,
Drow will be free for everybody to use at least after 60 days post-launch.
Deathssickle,
Actually I believe Squez was referring to dezstravus who is the PWE head of CM's and also a stand up person who has been actively helping out with the Neverwinter Community.
Sorry dezstravus, I forgot your official title
Hate to keep this going here but this is where it was answered. So that 60 days is a maximum and not a minimum. Nowhere do I see anything that says they will release the drow in 60 days. I'm learnig with this company you better read everything twice.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
*sniffs* Me want ranger
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tempestwalkerMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited February 2013
Welcome and well met
:0)
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xearrikMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, SilverstarsPosts: 323Arc User
I heard that there is a Foundry Alpha from CerberusFilms, also, Rob Overmeyer told us he was looking for people who want in the Foundry Alpha, well could you get me in that(I really want to test it a lot and put out great content).
Also are you a volunteer or a hired guy?
I was thinking the same thing. Everybody on this forum would love to test it. I was like wtf?!?! If they need more people why not invite more forum members.
Da kitties don't speak for me, deez kitties speak fur us all!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I'll Keep this up till beta goes live. I'll improve it soon.
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daed76Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited February 2013
what weekends are the pcgamer keys going to get into the beta? the beta faq is not yet updated.
One question about ingame support and gamemasters. In the last closed beta I got stuck, the gap between two beams was too wide for my dwarf (need to drink more beer!)
Anyway...
I tried /stuck and nothing happened
Then tried /Stuck (capital letter) and got an error, I should use /Killme instead
With /Killme a window opened to file a bug report, the game automatically took a screenshot of me and logged my position. There was a tick to request game master support or a message they would contact me but nothing happened within the next hour.
In the end I logged off for ~30min to wait for the instance to reset, just my guild colleagues were a little annoyed to lose me.
I know it was beta and didn't bother too much. Was the staff tied up with other things or are there any game master at all during beta weekends? Will there be game masters available after launch to help out with those things?
Well met sominator! Glad to have you as part of the team! Hilarious and cool that you and ambi know the answer to life, the universe and everything. Which of course is definitely 42!
I was thinking the same thing. Everybody on this forum would love to test it. I was like wtf?!?! If they need more people why not invite more forum members.
I would actually doubt that. G.M.s are rare. While many may think they would like to become a G.M., and it may be possible to throw together junk in 30 minutes, good G.M.s, experienced G.M.s who take the time to weave together a cohesive story that not only makes sense, but is fun to play and balanced, will be very rare.
But yes, I'm sure they could easily find a few hundred experienced G.M.s who wouldn't mind dropping a dozen or more hours into designing a few adventures over the course of the week every week between now and launch.
Honestly they should have a team like that in Alpha already in order to crank out content for launch. And I still think there should be some kind of review board other than just a star / comment rating system. Sure, I wouldn't want to be the guy to tell people their stuff isn't good enough, but I don't want to go somewhere and be acosted by the 'Kick you in the balls' orc clan, or 'Sir *****alot', or talk to an NPC and get half of the text block as swear words. Because you know if there isn't some kind of review board that stuff is going to happen.
@roblhobl we haven't yet discussed publicly details about Astral Diamonds or travel within the game, but you can find a bunch of info about mounts in our latest Dev Blog!
Another question, if you don't mind. As your company has stated on numerous occasions, it will be possible for players to attain Zen by selling Astral Diamonds. What I would like to have clarified is: will we be able to simply convert the one currency into the other with some ingame tool? Or will we have to auction them to other players? My concern is that in the latter case, I'm pretty sure Astral Diamonds would inflate massively, making this process not worth it. This is always the problem with game economies, just look at Diablo. There are too many players injecting too much into it, and your couple of Diamonds won't matter.
Actually, I have a second question. Will there ever be flying/diving mounts? And thirdly, what will our options of fast travel in the open world parts be?
Hello and welcome mate, I have a question thats been bugging me for a while here it comes.
Q: How does the drops in Foundry work? I mean can people just make a little crappy dungeon and then make it drop sick loot and just grind it... I have a hard time with understanding the whole drops in Foundry idea... Cause I don't want people to abuse it.. Hope you can answer
Hello Sominator,
What do we have to do to be sure to get our packs ? My options are rather limited since I'm a nice-paladinish-guy and being nice isn't enough (or so my mum used to say) ?
Comments
LOL... exactly.... he didn't answer anything. It was like one of those stupid magic eightballs....answer unclear, ask again later....I think he was trolling us.
What does minimum of a 60 day wait for the regular drow have to do with exclusivity of the mezo renegade drow option?
I am confused as to how holding something for 60 or more days makes something else exclusive unless you intend to hold that something back forever.
What you have to remember though is this is going to primarily be played by MMO players, not people who have played pen and paper D&D. Sure, it will have a much higher percent of those who are at least more than passingly familiar with D&D, but the majority of people will, I think, be coming from some other MMO where they are used to seeing 50-100 levels and getting a lot of 'stuff' per level. The feeling of progression and gaining something for time played MUST be there otherwise people will quit. Even with D&DO, which stuck to 20 levels originally (not sure on now) broke each level up into like 5 separate smaller points where you got stuff, effectively making those 20 levels into 100.
If you want a serious hardcore pen and paper feel you aren't likely to find it here. Neverwinter is HIGHLY focused on action and, as a video game, it MUST cater to things 'video game players' want. Which in this case means a lot of levels, ease of using abilities, some kind of talent system, etc.
There are LOTS of vidoes out there from the last beta weekend that show off various aspects of the game that may help you decide if it's going to be right for you or not, but it would probably be more accurate to descibe Neverwinter as 'a fantasy action MMOG which happens to label things with D&D names'. I think you could probably consider it like Chocolate Chip cookies; while "Chocolate Chip" is prodomantly featured in the name, there is actually far more not-chocolate chip that makes up the cookie.
Granted, it's not impossible to make a game very close to the pen and paper rules, it's just that developers aren't interested in doing that just yet, as people have moved away from the Gold Box D&D love and it's not what people seem to want anymore (in great enough numbers to justify it to developers.)
Hopefully you'll have fun and enjoy your time in Neverwinter, but I think you may want to ... not put required expectations on what it will be just because it has the D&D name tied to it.
rabb1t's rambling podcast.
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?62081-Clarification-about-Drow-in-Hero-of-the-North-Packs
Rhun, Halfing Fighter of the Greater Weapons
Poor guy has no clue what he's gotten himself into. Best of luck
Honestly, the levels weren't what bothered me. And you are correct DDO did change how their system worked. But the big stuff, like feats and new abilities were limited to levels as opposed to the enhancement points you get per level. I'm not coming to neverwinter expecting a 'Tabletop feel'. I have actual table top games for that. What I was hoping for is a challenge. Something really make me think. Not knowing the higher level and seeing folks on videos level up to 10 within an hour made me really cautious and nervous about how hand holding the game might be.
Either way I still have high hopes on the game itself. I think it will be fun, albeit maybe not the way I hope. I simply want this game to be the best it could be.
He's a great guy, very fun loving and it's a privilege to have him join the team.
However just because he said ask him anything doesn't mean he's able to answer anything. The community moderators have access to speak with a few Cryptic/PWE employees for most hours of the day and we also get the same 'we can't answer this' response to a lot of questions. In fact many questions the community or the forum mods could ask are still in the air within the company.
I'm sorry if you thought this thread was going to be a method to get more information about the game but that's not the case. It's merely a hello to let you guys know he's here and to let you all get to know him a little bit more. He'll of course answer any questions he can pertaining to the game but he's still bound to the same level of secrecy that the rest of the company is.
EDIT - Tinbender2, the only thing that can be said is that the Drow race WILL be free. If you don't trust that there's nothing Som, myself or anybody else can do in this situation.
The decision was made to give Heroes of the North a little more exclusivity for a period of time after launch and, yes, increase sales.
This is a free to play game but it's not free to develop or maintain. Cryptic will make you *want* to pay for features in the game. If you don't want to pay, wait.
The race is free...unless you refuse to wait 60 days. It's a pretty fair bargain in my opinion.
Hello and welcome mate, I have a question thats been bugging me for a while here it comes.
Q: How does the drops in Foundry work? I mean can people just make a little crappy dungeon and then make it drop sick loot and just grind it... I have a hard time with understanding the whole drops in Foundry idea... Cause I don't want people to abuse it.. Hope you can answer
Anyone still searching for guilds you can check out HCG Hardcore Christian Gamers.
NW FAQ | HCG NW Host Site
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Oh... He is the new guy Squez said he hired, on NOCS episode 2 ?? Well if it means anything I approve Sominator as our CM
Seems like a good guy.
Anyone still searching for guilds you can check out HCG Hardcore Christian Gamers.
NW FAQ | HCG NW Host Site
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Drow will be free for everybody to use after 60 days post-launch.
Deathssickle,
Actually I believe Squez was referring to dezstravus who is the PWE head of CM's and also a stand up person who has been actively helping out with the Neverwinter Community.
Sorry dezstravus, I forgot your official title
The control wizard has an official class video and has been announced as being available in the 3/8 weekend beta. So why is there now some cagey lawyer talk being thrown about, along the lines that they haven't "officially" been announced. Is there a problem with the class? Will they still be available in the 3/8 weekend beta?
When was the decision to put a 60 day hold on the vanilla Drow made? Why was this quietly added to the faq on 2/20, but not officially revealed until today (2/25) after someone stumbled across the change?
Ok well it seems both are doing great jobs
Anyone still searching for guilds you can check out HCG Hardcore Christian Gamers.
NW FAQ | HCG NW Host Site
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
-Halfling may be an oversight...and Half-Orc a bit of a leak because that hasn't been officially revealed...
-Again, may be an oversight. However I can tell you that the Alpha Testers have sent the poor wizard back to the drawing board at least four times as stated by Crypticmapolis in the NOCS. If he's not in at launch it's because he's not ready.
-In house it has been decided for a while. It was officially revealed, it just didn't get a huge banner stating 'read this to get angry'
This was of course going to be an unpopular decision. As mean as it sounds it wouldn't make sense to point it out and have the forums blow up like they are currently...and likely will continue to through the 60 days past launch.
Sorry for hijacking your thread Som! In this situation though I probably know more than you
Thanks for the information ambisinisterr! I understand that it must be hard for som to catch up on everything going on. A week is nothing to catch up on everything inside and outside of the game and I while some people mentioned here that it is somewhat a 'dream job', you certainly have to be born for it. Because its exhausting (which I know first hand because I worked in this branch as well).
Anyway, I kinda thought something like that about the mage. Balancing any D&D spellcaster class against the rest always seems to be quite a task, because their spells are much harder to put into a balanced setting where class A should not kill class B with a pointy finger of death. So I am excited to see if the class will be ready for the next BWE.
Code of Conduct - Extended FAQ - PM me
Actually, I have a second question. Will there ever be flying/diving mounts? And thirdly, what will our options of fast travel in the open world parts be?
What do we have to do to be sure to get our packs ? My options are rather limited since I'm a nice-paladinish-guy and being nice isn't enough (or so my mum used to say) ?
Hate to keep this going here but this is where it was answered. So that 60 days is a maximum and not a minimum. Nowhere do I see anything that says they will release the drow in 60 days. I'm learnig with this company you better read everything twice.
:0)
I was thinking the same thing. Everybody on this forum would love to test it. I was like wtf?!?! If they need more people why not invite more forum members.
Anyway...
I tried /stuck and nothing happened
Then tried /Stuck (capital letter) and got an error, I should use /Killme instead
With /Killme a window opened to file a bug report, the game automatically took a screenshot of me and logged my position. There was a tick to request game master support or a message they would contact me but nothing happened within the next hour.
In the end I logged off for ~30min to wait for the instance to reset, just my guild colleagues were a little annoyed to lose me.
I know it was beta and didn't bother too much. Was the staff tied up with other things or are there any game master at all during beta weekends? Will there be game masters available after launch to help out with those things?
I would actually doubt that. G.M.s are rare. While many may think they would like to become a G.M., and it may be possible to throw together junk in 30 minutes, good G.M.s, experienced G.M.s who take the time to weave together a cohesive story that not only makes sense, but is fun to play and balanced, will be very rare.
But yes, I'm sure they could easily find a few hundred experienced G.M.s who wouldn't mind dropping a dozen or more hours into designing a few adventures over the course of the week every week between now and launch.
Honestly they should have a team like that in Alpha already in order to crank out content for launch. And I still think there should be some kind of review board other than just a star / comment rating system. Sure, I wouldn't want to be the guy to tell people their stuff isn't good enough, but I don't want to go somewhere and be acosted by the 'Kick you in the balls' orc clan, or 'Sir *****alot', or talk to an NPC and get half of the text block as swear words. Because you know if there isn't some kind of review board that stuff is going to happen.
rabb1t's rambling podcast.
There are a couple of good places to look for more info on the Foundry. The first is on our website here, and the second is a player-made post here.