Neverwinter MMO

[eKo]

Yay! We're gonna have a Halfling army .

It's like a regular MMO (including instances & PvP) rather than DDO. It's based in Forgotten Realms and on the 4e ruleset, but that's where my knowledge of DnD ends. They're using what I assume are custom classes: Trickster Rogue, Controlling Wizard, Devoted Cleric, Guardian Fighter & Great Weapon Fighter with skill trees & feats, but I have no idea how well they correspond to the official rules. The cap is level 60 btw.

A really cool feature is The Foundry which lets you create your own adventure which can then be published and played in game. I played one so far (I am Slayer) and it was really good.

[Saxif]

Bah, 4e, meh.  Tbh I don't have 4e hate but I prefer 3.75 which is Pathfinder.  They made some serious changes going into 4e and it polarised the communities.  My grp dislikes it alot, I have only played 1 or 2 games of 4e, it seemed ok but dumbed down and streamlined and very balanced.  I find variety is the spice of life, not melange ;p 

They should check out the White Wolf stuff and come up with some good ideas imo!

[Cernos]

Well I tried Guardian Fighter and got him through the noob zone. Seemed what you'd expect for sword and shield in a MMO. But I couldn't get my Halfling male looking how I wanted so will reroll him.

Then I tried Trickster Rogue and wow what a difference. Fast paced, very twitchy but lots of fun. So, I now have a level 8 Halfling Rogue called Cernish on Beholder.
I think you need my 'handle' to find me though, which is @Cernow

[Brigh]

my character is called Brigheiss - no idea what my handle is

can't currently connect as giving server down message but will try again later

[Cernos]

my character is called Brigheiss - no idea what my handle is

can't currently connect as giving server down message but will try again later

Your handle is your account name and is needed to add friends because the system is <charactername>@<handle> and only the handle part is unique - wonder how long before two Legolas are spotted in the same location, imagine their disappointment

Servers were down for maintenance but back now.

[Brigh]

Been enjoying this game so far, the challenge of completing quests with the only healing available being HP pots has certainly added a new way of fighting - I was just going toe to toe with enemies but now I'm a lot more responsive to their moves etc.

I've now got a healing companion now so I might just end up going toe to toe again but I'lll try not to

Brigh

[Cernos]

Been enjoying it too. The solo game is quite challenging because of the combat mechanics and the D&D style lack of health regen outside of campfire and potions. That said, I got my heal companion now and it does make things easier.

The game looks great visually and seems quite polished for beta. It definitely captures some of the D&D feel and the player-made content is a nice touch.

I did a few skirmishes on my rogue last night, the orc assault. Zergy fun, 10-15 minutes a run.

I also did my first dungeon at around level 18, the Cloak Tower. Standard PUG rush with very little tactics, but we got through it ok. Nice environments, boss fights were standard tank n spank. But it's a noob dungeon so probably not representative of what comes later.

The F2P experience seems fair while levelling. The cash shop seems mostly aimed at convenience and cosmetics rather than content unlocks, plus the inevitable powerups / boosters and keys to unlock the gambling chests. There's a useful post on Reddit here which explains how the currencies and cash shop works. I think it'll be possible to enjoy the game casually as F2P as long as you can restrain yourself and not feel the need to open every purple chest they throw in your way

[Shi]

hey guys,
ill drop by!

[Cernos]

Hey Shi, be good to see you. We're on Beholder shard (server). We have a chat channel sorted out, so post your handle once you're in, or say hi and will invite.

[Lasiien]

A little chat with Cern yesterday made me realise I need to plan my toon a little or I'll just end up paying lots of zen for respecs Anyway got me looking for a character planner which was surprisingly hard to find, found one so i thought I'd share it:

http://reyva.com/resources/neverwinter-powers-feat-simulator.9/

[Saxif]

So when does this actually get launched?  You lot gonna have it completed by then or what?

[Lasiien]

Not sure about launch but as there is no character wipe its kinda academic if you ask me. Still plenty of bugs but you can play the game free of charge and still have some real fun, however if you start to spend in the store I think it could get ultra expensive !

Plenty of d&d fun to be had so when you get your house sorted Sax come and join Cern and I were just talking today about how cool the treasure chests that attack you like in d&d are

p.s. pretty easy to level, within a week of pretty casual playing i am level 30, cern is level 40 the powerleveler

[Lasiien]

well, you called it Cern - your 'MMO launch radar' was correct and they did a rollback. Lukily i only lost a couple of levels, forums are full of whine also I see! Strange they didn't make the decision sooner really.

[Cernos]

Yeah, they took too long to act and decide. I don't think a 7 hour rollback is enough, I can't see how anything but a full wipe can fix the problem.

Turns out the bug that was exploited has been around since closed beta and was inherited from another Cryptic game, STO where it also happened. People claim to have been quietly abusing it for weeks and laundering the proceeds, but it only went into meltdown at the weekend because someone posted the details of the exploit on the forums.

It seems beyond foolish to mix an open beta with a live cash shop, especially if they knew this exploit was in the wild and not fixed.

Shame because the gameplay is fun. But it feels like you're adventuring in the midst of RL fraudsters, money launderers and gold farm slaveshops.

[eKo]

My SSD (an OCZ Vertex 2) decided to give up today, luckily I have an old HD lying around, so I'm now reinstalling Windows (it's installing updates (137, zzz) now). My games & data are on seperate harddrives so it's just time lost reinstalling and not data loss. I was planning on buying a new, bigger capacity, SSD anyway, so I guess it might as well be now . Will RMA the old SSD anyway, since I might be able to use in my Mom's laptop (which is slooooooooooow).

I'll logon once the updates are installed.