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My Comprehensive Review of Neverwinter
hiddenfate
Banned Users Posts: 0 Arc User
Broken up into sections! Now all I need is to make 3 ironic comments and I'm as good as half the game critics out there. Moving on...
Storyline 7/10
Nobody can claim that D&D doesn't have a comprehensive storyline (without being murdered by nerds) and I will say that this section of the forgotten realms is very interesting. The first time through you'll lap up every bit of this plot (if you bother to listen to it that is). The second time through you'll take a pitchfork and torch to Cryptic's HQ for restricting foundry authors as much as they have, because playing through that developer-made story a second time is nothing short of torture (you can try and level up through the foundry but it'll take 4 times as long because the developers arbitrarily decided so).
Summary: interesting storyline hampered by lack of replay value and lots of repetition.
PvE Gameplay 6/10
Before you hammer a nail into my forehead for this let me justify. Every single PvE quest in this game is the exact same thing. Go to point A, kill monster B, get shiny magical piece of candy C, and bring said piece back to D for a bag of Exp and a reference to another person so you can do it again. There are a few gems like the Lich sidequest in the Neverdeath graveyard with some great voice acting and writing which essentially was the same thing but actually done well with a story undertone and less grind for no reason because exp.
Whoever wrote that lich quest, stick with the humor type quests. That's what you do best. People who are level 60 and haven't leveled up a character for 2 months still remember that quest. Also it doesn't have to be humor it could be dramatic or depressing.
Other then that there isn't much to be said about PvE gameplay. I like how you have a limited selection of powers to use at any given time, it means that if you screw up in your choice you have to create a distraction and hide so you can change your loadout before a monster tears off your head.
Summary: decent mechanics if buggy and glitchy, let down by poor questline structure and very few actually unique and memorable quests.
PvP Gameplay 4/10
Those points are for Gauntlegrym (4/5) by the way. Domination gets no points and may AO have mercy on whichever developer thought that was a good idea. You don't get ranked fairly if you're a healing DC (and thus do very little in the way of killing), you don't get punished if you leave your team to die at the hands of their enemies without even trying, and you don't stand a chance if you decided that you want to play a little domination to break the monotony of PvE gameplay (because any Premade will have a Gear Score that will kick your rear end). Is it so hard to lock player's equipment when they enter the arena and group players together based on Gear Score? If I have 9k I don't want to go against people with 16k+.
The main problem I have is that so much of the PvP is a direct knockoff of Guild Wars Alliance Battles (guantlegrym is fairly unique though). But don't get me wrong, if you want to knock off Guild Wars' PvP systems then seriously go right ahead (it's like when a shooter knocks off Half-Life, why "not" knock off the best). Just don't water it down and rip out the fun elements. Guild wars had massive Alliance Battle maps where capturing points actually summoned NPCs to help you defend (and it was 16 vs. 16!). Cryptic's domination matches are 5v5, have 3 points where no NPCs exist, and the entirety of the 2 maps are quite small with very few routes to get between the points without running into somebody. I can't decide if Cryptic wants us to kill each other or capture points, which is sad because a separate arena where the entire point is killing each other could hold up on its own.
Summary: Guantlegrym has great elements and gameplay if a little lacking in balance (you pretty much need a 110% mount to beat it). Domination is...no.
Foundry PvE 8/10
I would actually give some of the quests I've discovered in the foundry a perfect 10/10 but since I'd also give some of them a -500/10 I have to dock points. The foundry is a really fun aspect of the game because it breaks the monotony of kill X for no reason because Exp. Some of the foundry quests have really elaborate backstories and teach a history of a long forgotten time. Some of them have a hidden twist that makes you do a double take (of which I am guilty). Some of them have incredibly fast paced combat where you're too busy slaughtering and worrying about your dwindling healthbar to think too much about plot. And it's rather sad because all of these could have been improved if the foundry developers had more access and control over rewards, timers, if/and/else statements, and even the most basic level of scripting.
Summary: Great concept, interesting questlines, only weakpoint is the arbitrary restrictions. (not detail restrictions, performance is important)
Visuals 9/10
This may be more because those cartoony graphics on World of Warcraft irk me than because Cryptic did a great job... whatever, my review my rules. 9/10
Summary: ^re-read until you no longer need a summary.
Developer-Player Connection 4/10
So how well to the developers and players connect? How much do the players feel that the developers are listening to them? Obviously very little. Especially since all 4 of those points come from the preview shard. Bravo on 4/5 for that by the way.
Any half-decent game developer will ask their players what they want and then deliver it. Unfortunately, a quick scouring of the forum posts show that the Neverwinter developers don't even ask what to deliver. They just make something new, shove it into the preview shard, then push a hopefully balanced version of it into the game, and finally fix all the bugs that came to light because it was rushed out to meet deadline. I said "Bravo for the preview shard", not "rely solely on the preview shard for player feedback" it's a step forward not a panacea... and you can stop hugging it.
The thing is a simple weekly poll that's actually maintained by developers (not players, not moderators, Developers) could easily pump 3 or 4 more points into this section for a passing grade. Players would feel like at least some of their issues are being listened to and the developers would get some decent, numeric feedback that they could work with. The best part is that it's difficult to screw up, unless you, say, made a poll that showed you didn't have a clue what your players were suggesting/requesting, such as making a poll about a mount instead of asking us about PvP modes and options we'd like to see... sorry had to check something...
Summary: The only connection that exists is the Preview Shard which is only a small step in the right direction. There is no developer presence on the forums and a lot of people are left feeling isolated from the developers. If strong action isn't taken by the developers to repair this gash I can see it causing Neverwinter to bleed out.
Overall Summary: Neverwinter is a game with many interesting mechanics and a ton of good concepts and ideas, but it's let down by a lot of poor decisions and poor implementation of good mechanics. It's worth playing and seeing how it grows but even one wrong move will take it down the gutter to generic sewers.
There are a lot of good ideas in the forums on how to fix these mechanics but based on the preview shard so far, developers are listening to none of it. Hopefully they don't repeat the same mistake as many other MMOs because I actually would like to see these good mechanics thrive.
Storyline 7/10
Nobody can claim that D&D doesn't have a comprehensive storyline (without being murdered by nerds) and I will say that this section of the forgotten realms is very interesting. The first time through you'll lap up every bit of this plot (if you bother to listen to it that is). The second time through you'll take a pitchfork and torch to Cryptic's HQ for restricting foundry authors as much as they have, because playing through that developer-made story a second time is nothing short of torture (you can try and level up through the foundry but it'll take 4 times as long because the developers arbitrarily decided so).
Summary: interesting storyline hampered by lack of replay value and lots of repetition.
PvE Gameplay 6/10
Before you hammer a nail into my forehead for this let me justify. Every single PvE quest in this game is the exact same thing. Go to point A, kill monster B, get shiny magical piece of candy C, and bring said piece back to D for a bag of Exp and a reference to another person so you can do it again. There are a few gems like the Lich sidequest in the Neverdeath graveyard with some great voice acting and writing which essentially was the same thing but actually done well with a story undertone and less grind for no reason because exp.
Whoever wrote that lich quest, stick with the humor type quests. That's what you do best. People who are level 60 and haven't leveled up a character for 2 months still remember that quest. Also it doesn't have to be humor it could be dramatic or depressing.
Other then that there isn't much to be said about PvE gameplay. I like how you have a limited selection of powers to use at any given time, it means that if you screw up in your choice you have to create a distraction and hide so you can change your loadout before a monster tears off your head.
Summary: decent mechanics if buggy and glitchy, let down by poor questline structure and very few actually unique and memorable quests.
PvP Gameplay 4/10
Those points are for Gauntlegrym (4/5) by the way. Domination gets no points and may AO have mercy on whichever developer thought that was a good idea. You don't get ranked fairly if you're a healing DC (and thus do very little in the way of killing), you don't get punished if you leave your team to die at the hands of their enemies without even trying, and you don't stand a chance if you decided that you want to play a little domination to break the monotony of PvE gameplay (because any Premade will have a Gear Score that will kick your rear end). Is it so hard to lock player's equipment when they enter the arena and group players together based on Gear Score? If I have 9k I don't want to go against people with 16k+.
The main problem I have is that so much of the PvP is a direct knockoff of Guild Wars Alliance Battles (guantlegrym is fairly unique though). But don't get me wrong, if you want to knock off Guild Wars' PvP systems then seriously go right ahead (it's like when a shooter knocks off Half-Life, why "not" knock off the best). Just don't water it down and rip out the fun elements. Guild wars had massive Alliance Battle maps where capturing points actually summoned NPCs to help you defend (and it was 16 vs. 16!). Cryptic's domination matches are 5v5, have 3 points where no NPCs exist, and the entirety of the 2 maps are quite small with very few routes to get between the points without running into somebody. I can't decide if Cryptic wants us to kill each other or capture points, which is sad because a separate arena where the entire point is killing each other could hold up on its own.
Summary: Guantlegrym has great elements and gameplay if a little lacking in balance (you pretty much need a 110% mount to beat it). Domination is...no.
Foundry PvE 8/10
I would actually give some of the quests I've discovered in the foundry a perfect 10/10 but since I'd also give some of them a -500/10 I have to dock points. The foundry is a really fun aspect of the game because it breaks the monotony of kill X for no reason because Exp. Some of the foundry quests have really elaborate backstories and teach a history of a long forgotten time. Some of them have a hidden twist that makes you do a double take (of which I am guilty). Some of them have incredibly fast paced combat where you're too busy slaughtering and worrying about your dwindling healthbar to think too much about plot. And it's rather sad because all of these could have been improved if the foundry developers had more access and control over rewards, timers, if/and/else statements, and even the most basic level of scripting.
Summary: Great concept, interesting questlines, only weakpoint is the arbitrary restrictions. (not detail restrictions, performance is important)
Visuals 9/10
This may be more because those cartoony graphics on World of Warcraft irk me than because Cryptic did a great job... whatever, my review my rules. 9/10
Summary: ^re-read until you no longer need a summary.
Developer-Player Connection 4/10
So how well to the developers and players connect? How much do the players feel that the developers are listening to them? Obviously very little. Especially since all 4 of those points come from the preview shard. Bravo on 4/5 for that by the way.
Any half-decent game developer will ask their players what they want and then deliver it. Unfortunately, a quick scouring of the forum posts show that the Neverwinter developers don't even ask what to deliver. They just make something new, shove it into the preview shard, then push a hopefully balanced version of it into the game, and finally fix all the bugs that came to light because it was rushed out to meet deadline. I said "Bravo for the preview shard", not "rely solely on the preview shard for player feedback" it's a step forward not a panacea... and you can stop hugging it.
The thing is a simple weekly poll that's actually maintained by developers (not players, not moderators, Developers) could easily pump 3 or 4 more points into this section for a passing grade. Players would feel like at least some of their issues are being listened to and the developers would get some decent, numeric feedback that they could work with. The best part is that it's difficult to screw up, unless you, say, made a poll that showed you didn't have a clue what your players were suggesting/requesting, such as making a poll about a mount instead of asking us about PvP modes and options we'd like to see... sorry had to check something...
Summary: The only connection that exists is the Preview Shard which is only a small step in the right direction. There is no developer presence on the forums and a lot of people are left feeling isolated from the developers. If strong action isn't taken by the developers to repair this gash I can see it causing Neverwinter to bleed out.
Overall Summary: Neverwinter is a game with many interesting mechanics and a ton of good concepts and ideas, but it's let down by a lot of poor decisions and poor implementation of good mechanics. It's worth playing and seeing how it grows but even one wrong move will take it down the gutter to generic sewers.
There are a lot of good ideas in the forums on how to fix these mechanics but based on the preview shard so far, developers are listening to none of it. Hopefully they don't repeat the same mistake as many other MMOs because I actually would like to see these good mechanics thrive.
Post edited by hiddenfate on
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This discussion has been closed.
Comments
I don't expect everything to change over night, but I think it will get better in time.
Branch Lead
On the off chance the developers look at it and one of them actually smacks the person who thought domination was a good idea.
Besides I could post it up on external websites but then there'd be even less chance that someone who it might affect will see it.
My YouTube Channel
A Comprehensive Review of Neverwinter <-- Read it!
1-60 is really awesome.
End game PVE is boring after 1-3 months of playing once you master them. They ain't hard anyway.
End game PVP is just bad. Anything outside of legit premade match are pretty much a kill fest for exp player and a boring suicidal act for the causal players.
What I do is try to mix PVP and PVE so it keeps things interesting. Like I bring my cw to do LMD once a while not for anything just try to have fun and help out some new players.
The visuals are mostly quite nice, very pretty game. I like the character, weapon, & armor models a lot more than I had expected.
I like the quest system more than the OP seems to; what bothers me about the gameplay is the overflow of unidentified green loots that are, at best, only marginally an upgrade, & can't be sold for their proper worth without being identified ... but by 30th level, the flow of ID scrolls seems to have dropped to a trickle. I noticed this in Beta, too; I assume it's their way of prodding me to spend Astral Diamonds or something. Moderately irritating, especially with low bag space. At least the enchantment system seems better than it was in Beta.
The crafting system is ... um ... well ... OK, I do it, just for the heck of it, but it's not very impressive.
The player base seems to be either mostly relatively friendly, or at least silent & neutral, & either of those work for me.
I'm not the least interested in PvP, so I can't comment on that. I also can't comment on life at the upper levels, because I only got to 47 in Beta, & so far only 32 on this second go-around.
One last comment -- & this isn't on Cryptic/PW at all, but .... 4th Edition just doesn't feel very D&Dish, to me. My tabletop group uses Pathfinder, & honestly, I just can't see the reason behind 4th Ed. But that's probably for the Off Topic forum, so I'll stop before I go ranting
Let your life proceed by its own designs
Nothing to tell
Let the words be yours, I'm done with mine ...
As to others in the thread, I can only contribute this: Cryptic's Star Trek Online was just this side of complete waste-of-time trash. Sure, the graphics were great, but the game-play monotony was laughable. It felt like it was designed for eight year-olds. But it is power I.P. and that's why I stayed with it.
But now, four years later it's 500% different game. The technical feats the Devs there have accomplished and the new content is more than could be possibly hoped-for in the first year, possibly 18 months of life for it. There's no doubt the Dev over there love the Star Trek I.P. and want STO to be the best MMO game to exist and they're working hard to make that happen, no matter the subjectiveness of the goal.
I throw hope and faith at the Neverwinter development team for the same thing. It will get better with time, they will improve everything as they are able, add new content as they are able and basically take the game to new heights we cannot even now imagine. The problem is that it takes time and we all are impatient.
Take solace in the fact that at least it's alive and continuously being worked on for improvement. One. Step. At. A. Time.