Neverwinter Nights Online. (Cryptic Studios)

[Ironwood]

http://neverwinter.gamepedia.com/Ability_Score_Rolling

Yeah, scores are predetermined.  Uh, Good ?


Stealth you get at level 10.  Tab button.  Apparently.  It was the same in WoW.

[Shannow]

ahhh thanks for info on Stealth. Still fucking ridicolous you don't get it till lvl 10.

I like the fact that you can upgrade your stats as you progess. Makes the non-random part of them palatable.

[Signe]

Did you see the recent report about Glasgow being pretty much the hive of scum and villiany of Europe ?  I was upset at that.  I've been to Naples.

No, didn't see that report but I've lived in England and they say that all the time.  They seem to forget Hull is in England.

Typical Hull resident:

[Pezzle]

http://neverwinter.gamepedia.com/Ability_Score_Rolling

Yeah, scores are predetermined.  Uh, Good ?


Stealth you get at level 10.  Tab button.  Apparently.  It was the same in WoW.

The point being, if stats are predetermined, why is there a roll?  I can accept a design decision not to allow random rolling or point buy.  If you go the array route why not just show them to the player and let them pick?  The entire rolling process in this case is stupid.

[Ironwood]

I don't disagree.

Anyone who doesn't just roll until they get what they want on that table is an idiot.  Or, like me, someone who didn't know about the table before they hit OK.

 

[Signe]

A lot of those things you mentioned, Pezzle, like the alt button and mouse buttons being for combat, are the same way in Tera.  It took me a while to get used to it.  I was constantly attacking NPCs at first.  I'm very little still and I'm hoping somethings get more sensible like the identifying and theif-y stuff.  I'm addicted to thieves, too.  I rolled and rolled and never got a 20 in anything, so I had to settle for 19 +2 in dex for the thief and the same with the sorc.  I think.

[Phred]

Apparently they had an "unexpected hardware failure" last night. I think some network gear failed, causing it to be down. I know the outage affected both STO and Champions as well.

The voice acting is beyond awful; it's so bad, it's wrapped back into funny/amusing.

It's still not as terrible as rift though. I'm usually quite insensitive to voice acting but Rift actually caused me pain.

[Ingmar]

For the 4E haters - mechanically this seems to have almost nothing to do with 4E or really any other form of D&D beyond at a cosmetic level, so you have nothing to fear on that front at least.

[Zetor]

But... but... it has a 20-sided die in the center of the UI!  

BTW, for those who played my quest -- unfortunately the weird flickering / blackout thing in the U-shaped sewer rooms is a bug with the room itself, can't do anything about it. Will probably add 3-4 easy kobold groups into the more desolate areas for some more fightin'. I also appreciate the comments! As an aside, the foundry browser is pretty broken atm, and shows only like 30 quests... a good portion of which are just pure mob farms. Ah, COH MA flashbacks.

e: for Lantyssa

[Stormwaltz]

The Dwarf particularly fucked me off.  I wonder how you people react to actual Scottish people.

I expect most Americans mistake them for Irish people.

[Signe]

Those are leprechauns. 

[Mrbloodworth]

This is surprisingly not shit.

[Sjofn]

The biggest issue I have with this game, aside from the janky running animations and the apparently state-mandated plunging necklines on EVERYTHING, is that there's no DM. 

[Malakili]

The biggest issue I have with this game, aside from the janky running animations and the apparently state-mandated plunging necklines on EVERYTHING, is that there's no DM. 

Yeah, the DM Client in the other NWN games was so revolutionary.  I am surprised no one else has tried to do an RPG with a toolset/DM Client like that of NWN 1 and 2.   

That being said, the game is overall better than expected.  I'm starting to think that the key to enjoying an MMO is not following it pre-release and therefore HAVING no expectation.

[Zetor]

The biggest issue I have with this game, aside from the janky running animations and the apparently state-mandated plunging necklines on EVERYTHING, is that there's no DM. 

This'll get a bit better after Foundry authors get the ability to use DM notes (basically raid warning-style text in the middle of the screen) and tie it into the trigger system. It's on the dev shortlist, which means... buggerall, probably.

[Malakili]

The biggest issue I have with this game, aside from the janky running animations and the apparently state-mandated plunging necklines on EVERYTHING, is that there's no DM. 

This'll get a bit better after Foundry authors get the ability to use DM notes (basically raid warning-style text in the middle of the screen) and tie it into the trigger system. It's on the dev shortlist, which means... buggerall, probably.

Oh you guys mean like the DM in DDO...  Yeah, that was nice also.

[Threash]

It was more of a narrator than a DM, but i did like it.

[Sjofn]

Yeah, I meant the narrating DM, like in DDO. He was the best.

[Stormwaltz]

Yeah, I meant the narrating DM, like in DDO. He was the best.

That was Gary Gygax. Of course he was the best.

[Sjofn]

No, not the Gygax ones (he only did a few). Those were fine, but there was the Main DM who was the actual best. 

[bhodi]

I approve of the state-mandated plunging necklines on everything, being a male chauvinist pig. I also noticed there is a bust meter on character creation.

[koro]

 

[Sjofn]

I approve of the state-mandated plunging necklines on everything, being a male chauvinist pig. I also noticed there is a bust meter on character creation.

I don't mind the bust meter, because the small side of the scale allows me to not have a back-breaking rack. In fact, I APPLAUD the bust slider. Also my fat hobbit actually looks kinda chubby, so that's nice.

[WayAbvPar]

Downloaded this overnight...will check it out tonight. Fairly sure I am going to hate it, but willing to at least give it a look.

[Goumindong]

No, not the Gygax ones (he only did a few). Those were fine, but there was the Main DM who was the actual best. 

This is 100% absolutely true.

My comments having played to 10 as a wizard.

Gameplay:

Good: Its actiony without being a click fest. Tactics and timing matter. They seem to have set the game up so that there are multiple methods of comboing abilities in practical and fun ways. Targeting is fluid and fun if a little bit hard to hit the guy you want sometimes.

Limited number of abilities and a good layout to use them. The translation of the daily/encounter/at-will system from 4e went very well and provide a lot of flexibility. 3-4(for wizard) skills with a cooldown, 2 skills you can always use, and 2 skills that you can trigger as you build up special meter.

Bad: There is no animation canceling. They put these nice big red circles on the ground so you can avoid big enemy attacks but if the enemy starts that at the same time you started a long animation you might not be able to get out. Let me cancel my animation and dodge away from the incoming AoE. Otherwise whether or not I avoid those has more to do with whether or not i got caught at the wrong time rather than anything of my doing. Let me stop attacking to move if i want to, or make the dodge abilities interrupt channels.

Kinda Bad: Enemies in some area respawn way to fast. When teleporting around to avoid melee attacks i often run into groups that I cleared moments before.

Also in this camp: DDO had an amazing system for traps. They were fun, engaging, visual and able to be avoided once triggered(or used against enemies). So far i haven't really seen anything like that which is kinda disappointing.

Character Progression:

Good: They got rid of the DnD stat methods. They are not nearly granular for an MMO. The change to % bonus abilities is very good. As a wizard you can max damage (Mix int/charisma with a 1-2 point advantage to int) or max control (max wisdom, int/cha secondary). I imagine there are similar things you can do as other classes.

Bad: Character creation rolling mechanics are dumb. Just give me point buy or let me choose and select an array. Inability to choose "dungeon" skill is kinda poor. Especially because it seems to mean that fighters find secret doors and rogues do not. Which is uhh weird. In 4e anyone could take up that mantle and the ability to do so really opened up party compositions. No longer was it "we need a rogue and a wizard" it was 'we need anyone with ritual casting and someone with the skill to disarm traps'. It should in this game too.

[koro]

Bad: Character creation rolling mechanics are dumb. Just give me point buy or let me choose and select an array. Inability to choose "dungeon" skill is kinda poor. Especially because it seems to mean that fighters find secret doors and rogues do not. Which is uhh weird. In 4e anyone could take up that mantle and the ability to do so really opened up party compositions. No longer was it "we need a rogue and a wizard" it was 'we need anyone with ritual casting and someone with the skill to disarm traps'. It should in this game too.

For dungeoneering/thievery/religion/arcana, you can use all those nodes and things through store-bought kits, at something like 1.2 silver a pop. You still need a rogue to disarm traps, but those are frequently avoidable.

Of course, Foundry stuff can kind of dick you over a lot easier, since creators can attach a specific class' ability to a dialogue check, which kits can't help with.

[Tannhauser]

Played this for the first time today.  Doesn't suck!  Playing as a Guardian Fighter I like the timing of blocks, shield bashes etc.  Only level 8, but things are humming along with decent loot, rewards, coin, story and action.  Going to try the first group skirmish, see how that goes.

I love love love that every now and then there is a goodie hidden or a crazy npc hanging out off the quest path.  It gives the illusion the quest isn't on rails. 

As for negatives, too early to tell, but I'll echo the inability to cancel animations.  Sure I'll think of more.  Maybe mob density/respawn.

Played a fun game for four hours for free.  That's good entertainment value.  I'll be watching their progress closely, hopefully they don't go in a direction I can't follow (GW2).

[AcidCat]

Well so far I like this game better than Rift, which I paid fifty bucks for, so that's something.

[Rokal]

This is pretty fun. Doesn't have the build depth of DDO or the rare platforming/puzzle parts that made DDO feel so unlike every other stale MMO, but it's pretty and the combat is fun.

[Xilren's Twin]

I noticed just now you have to have at least a lvl 15 character before you can access the Foundry.  Is that a recent change?

[Ingmar]

Already kind of bored by level 5. Glad I didn't pay anything.

My first impression can be summed up as: DDO did this same game better, years ago.

[Goumindong]

Already kind of bored by level 5. Glad I didn't pay anything.

My first impression can be summed up as: DDO did this same game better, years ago.

I feel like this game will work better because it has abandoned the D20. You no longer have to min/max your character to obscene amounts to be competitive and you don't have as much of a "gear check" because gear while having a large effect doesn't have nearly as large as it did in DDO. As far as i can tell the rough maximum difference that stats will end up making is like 300%. In DDO the difference was upwards of 40000% [Max 1900% from to-hit plus bonus damage/tank]

If you took the stats behind this and made DDO it would be a really amazing game.

[Zetor]

I noticed just now you have to have at least a lvl 15 character before you can access the Foundry.  Is that a recent change?

It's always been that way. The only way to bypass that limitation was to buy the $200 pack [lol].

[Ginaz]

Already kind of bored by level 5. Glad I didn't pay anything.

My first impression can be summed up as: DDO did this same game better, years ago.

I played DDO twice over the years.  Couldn't make it past the 1 hour mark before I uninstalled each time.  Neverwinter is a better game, imo.

[Fabricated]

I played to level 13 just now. It's pretty fun but every new element of the game seems to have like a dozen currencies or some shit tied to it.

So far there is:
Zen
Astral Diamonds
Gold
Trade Bars
Celestial Coins
Astral Coins (or whatever the other deity coins are)
Wow Style Seals

And all of these of varying usefulness and interchangability.

Also the game is pretty shameless with trying to lead you by the balls to the cash shop. Right now there's a special purple lockbox that can have a mount or other various high-powered goodies in it. It can drop for anyone because I happened to get two of them. The catch is you need to buy a key with Zen (the direct $ currency). Yeah no thanks, so I throw away the lockboxes. I find 2 more. Repeat.

The Foundry/skirmish thing is pretty cool however.