Neverwinter Nights Online. (Cryptic Studios)

[Ironwood]

Yes, that is particularly stupid.

[Tannhauser]

Crafting is like SWTOR-lite which is pretty cool.  I'm pretty bummed at the lack of alchemy (loved that since UO) but the Leadership craft is interesting.  Send your guy out to feed porridge to poor orphans.  Some of training times are quite long, which makes me wonder.  But the ability to craft thru the website?  Very nice!  Hopefully I won't be noticed at work. 

I like the dungeons.  Hack and slash with a few traps sprinkled in and goodies here and there.  Kill the big bad and take his stuff.  You fight more than one mob, makes it more epic.  Again, like SWTOR.  The devs have been paying attention it seems. 

Did my first skirmish.  It was quick and easy with a couple of cool mobs I hadn't seen before and some loot.  The group was GF (me)/GWF/Wiz x2/Rogue/Priest and we did well.

It doesn't feel too much like DND, but it feels like a fun game so far.  Can't believe Cryptic made this.

[bhodi]

I swear they must have rolled dice to determine pricing because buying two character slots, $6. Okay, great. Respec a character in one of those slots? $10. What? Buy a bag for one character? $10?! You've got to be kidding me. The bag thing is starting to get obnoxious, and the bags that you can buy aren't even that big.

[Goumindong]

wizard is not far behind

Wizard is like trololo OP. I kill zone mobs faster than two rogues at the same time and I am not even optimized (Teifling should/might do slightly more deeps than human does)

I think a lot of the problem is that people make characters that have a lot of only 1 stat. Starting with 20 int, 13 wisdom, 13 charisma is a bad idea. You leave like 40% DPS on the table right there. (well not quite but it gets amplified once you get to your paragon path).

It is unfortunate that the game does not spell out what stats so for you before you roll. I think a lot of people fall into the trap of maximizing their primary attribute. However for each class there is at least one secondary attribute which is just as, or more important than the primary attribute in increasing damage and should be, if maximizing DPS raised at the same or a faster rate.

[Ingmar]

What would help is if the stats actually did what they do in, you know, D&D.

[Signe]

Wizard is mind-numbingly easy.

[Falconeer]

I put more time into this game and clearly it is not for me. Or it is not for the Me from 2013. I would have loved it a few years ago. Here are a few random thoughts. Please remember that I don't mean to say that those who like it are idiots and I am as right as a Schild. Still feel like pointing out a few things:

I think this game is really, really bland on so many aspects that I can barely wrap my head around all the positive buzz it is getting. Because seriously, this totally looks and feels like LOTRO with a dumbed-down version of the Tera combat.

We all agree that it has nothing to do with D&D except for the names of the towns. So after a few fake dice rolls, what you actually get is pretty much the most basic and trite kind of medieval fantasy you can think of. Yeah, maybe you can call that "classic", but it's so classic that I've had enough of it. It's everywhere, isn't it? In Neverwinter, due to the "classic" setting, there is not one single touch of originality. I mean, after being exposed to thirty years of dwarves and elves, this is beyond BEYOND boring. Whoa, sure it's me but I couldn't even bear the new Hobbit movie for the same reason so forgive me if I am not impressed with the Forgotten Realms or whateverness. But hey, if that's your thing, fine. This might explain why settings like Rift get the label of "uninspired and bland" but this thing gets pretty popular. It's "classic", so it doesn't have to worry about being boring.

So, at first impact what you get is the 1676th version of any generic Fantasy MMORPG. There's really not A SINGLE THING new outside of the combat mechanics. Sure, companions are as cool as they were in SWTOR but I don't think that's what kept people playing after the first ten minutes. Is it?

Seriously:

- Character creation is meh (mening the usual).
- The RPG mechanics, stats, points, numbers, are meh (meaning the usual).
- Graphics are meh (meaning the usual).
- Voices are meh (usual)
- Plot is meh (usual).
- Quests are meh (usual).
- NPCs are meh (usual. Or maybe I should start changing the word "usual" with "classic").
- Mobs are meh (usual classic).
- Weapons and armours look meh (absolutely usual).
- Itemization is meh (isn't it?)
- UI is meh (super usual)
- Every fucking thing is absolute and utter MEH! (usual usual usual classic classic classic).

There's only two things redeeming it from the trainwreck category: the foundry, and the combat.

- The Foundry has immense potential. It's so smart to really build a game like this around what could seriously be endless (and free) content. I really hope this will eventually start a real trend and that lots of MMORPG in the future will be built with something like this in it. Seriously, no matter how weak it is at the moment, the potential is huge. And they will certainly improve it. It makes me want to stick with it just to access the free player-created content and feel like I have infinite dungeons to visit.  

- The combat: the combat is nothing but a much much dumber version of the Tera/RaiderZ/Dragons Nest/Vindictus one. it works similarly, it's just sloppier. There's no real defensive mechanic (except the character with the shield) outside of ground targeted stuff that you can move out of, so the positioning that seems so important here (just because it was not at all in previous games) is only a shadow of what it is in Tera where it's an organic part of every fight, trash mob included (and don't get me started on bosses). So, for fairness, I am really happy this game has this new form of combat, and I would have loved it a few years ago. Now it just feels like the prototype of something that can be played somewhere else in its final, finished, smoother form.

Ultimately I think this game is an infinite pile of MEH. It's mediocre at best in pretty much every single aspect, except the Foundry. And the combat, while "groundbreaking" for Western games, has been done much better in other free games already. I honestly think that the reason Neverwinter is having lots of positive buzz is because a) it's free so everyone feel like giving it a shot. And b) when they do, they realize that HELLO! action combat is fun and fuck that old tab-targeted bullshit. This is particularly true if they don't usually try Asian games maybe or are turned off by their style. That's OK.

But when the honeymoon phase will be over the only thing that will save this will be the Foundry, which I really admire. Other than that, if it weren't for the "new" combat, you would probably all be sccreaming "WHAT THE FUCK, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! THIS IS THE SAME RUBBISH YOU WERE TRYING TO FEED ME 5 YEARS AGO! GO THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!".


EDIT to add: To clarify, things don't have to be "new" or innovative for the sake of it. I think the inherent level of MEH of this game isn't uniquely dependent on the fact that it doesn't have enough "new" stuff. I think the whole execution is really bland and feels "cheap", that's my problem.

[Stormwaltz]

(Not ignoring you Falconeer, just want to read that later...)

One question, one oddity.

I reached 30 and was told "YOU MUST PICK A PARAGON PATH." Except there's only one "choice," with a note on the sidebar saying "more Paragon Paths to be added later, lol." I have no idea if later means when I reach a higher level and I should wait, or if it means, "whoops we ran out of time - ship the game!" It appears I can't spend any more points in skills unless I "choose" a path.

Anyone know anything more? I can't find anything about Paragon Paths in Google (aside from articles dating from last fall that say "coming later").

And the oddity... there appears to be only one pair of pants in the game. At level 31, I'm still wearing the same pair of pants I started the game in. I have never seen another, unless you count the cosmetic shit-slinging-serf pants I got at level 5 or so. These pants have precisely one stat: +1 AC.

Conclusion: In Neverwinter, pants have been made entirely optional.

[Threash]

I made me new pants with leathercrafting!

[Ginaz]

(Not ignoring you Falconeer, just want to read that later...)

One question, one oddity.

I reached 30 and was told "YOU MUST PICK A PARAGON PATH." Except there's only one "choice," with a note on the sidebar saying "more Paragon Paths to be added later, lol." I have no idea if later means when I reach a higher level and I should wait, or if it means, "whoops we ran out of time - ship the game!" It appears I can't spend any more points in skills unless I "choose" a path.

Anyone know anything more? I can't find anything about Paragon Paths in Google (aside from articles dating from last fall that say "coming later").

And the oddity... there appears to be only one pair of pants in the game. At level 31, I'm still wearing the same pair of pants I started the game in. I have never seen another, unless you count the cosmetic shit-slinging-serf pants I got at level 5 or so. These pants have precisely one stat: +1 AC.

Conclusion: In Neverwinter, pants have been made entirely optional.

If you level up your crafting professions, you can make new pants (and shirts!).

[UnSub]

It's a casual MMO from a studio that makes casual MMOs. I can see a lot of the lessons Cryptic has learned from its other games in there.

Don't know if I'll ever spend any money on it, but as a F2P? It's good.

Has anyone set up a BC guild on Bat Country that will inevitably be deserted within 30 days time?

[Ingmar]

I've really only played the one character, but he has 3 paragon paths available to him (trickster rogue.)

[koro]

I've really only played the one character, but he has 3 paragon paths available to him (trickster rogue.)

You're probably looking at the Feat paths. There's a button at the bottom of the Powers tab that lets you see Paragon paths, and there's always just one available.

[Phred]

Seriously:

- Character creation is meh (mening the usual).
- The RPG mechanics, stats, points, numbers, are meh (meaning the usual).
- Graphics are meh (meaning the usual).
- Voices are meh (usual)
- Plot is meh (usual).
- Quests are meh (usual).
- NPCs are meh (usual. Or maybe I should start changing the word "usual" with "classic").
- Mobs are meh (usual classic).
- Weapons and armours look meh (absolutely usual).
- Itemization is meh (isn't it?)
- UI is meh (super usual)
- Every fucking thing is absolute and utter MEH! (usual usual usual classic classic classic).

Isn't it amazing with all this going against it that so many people are having fun in it. Maybe, just maybe, you're a burned out old has been with no clue what's fun in an MMO anymore? Just a thought. And before you think I'm some pissed off fanbois, I wasn't expecting much from this game because of Cryptic. I thought they couldn't design their way out of a paper bag. Imagine my surprise when I found they'd delivered a fun game. It may not be original or ground breaking or any of the talking points you want to hit but it's fun and not many companies manage that nowadays.

[Tannhauser]

Eh, I think Falc had some good points.  I just look at it through the lens of f2p and find a lot to like about it because of that.

I mean seriously, a FREE game where you can make your own adventures and thousands of other players can play them?  Can you imagine Blizzard or Bioware allowing this? 

Tried out Marvel Heroes this morning.  Free beta, same as this.  Didn't much care for it so I'm not playing it.  Nor will I write a screed about it.  Not out any cash.

[Ingmar]

Seriously:

- Character creation is meh (mening the usual).
- The RPG mechanics, stats, points, numbers, are meh (meaning the usual).
- Graphics are meh (meaning the usual).
- Voices are meh (usual)
- Plot is meh (usual).
- Quests are meh (usual).
- NPCs are meh (usual. Or maybe I should start changing the word "usual" with "classic").
- Mobs are meh (usual classic).
- Weapons and armours look meh (absolutely usual).
- Itemization is meh (isn't it?)
- UI is meh (super usual)
- Every fucking thing is absolute and utter MEH! (usual usual usual classic classic classic).

Isn't it amazing with all this going against it that so many people are having fun in it. Maybe, just maybe, you're a burned out old has been with no clue what's fun in an MMO anymore? Just a thought. And before you think I'm some pissed off fanbois, I wasn't expecting much from this game because of Cryptic. I thought they couldn't design their way out of a paper bag. Imagine my surprise when I found they'd delivered a fun game. It may not be original or ground breaking or any of the talking points you want to hit but it's fun and not many companies manage that nowadays.

Really? Has-been? Sure you aren't a pissed of fanboi.  

There's potential here, but it is unrealized potential for the most part. There's so much half-assed get it out the door lack of polish going on here. In 6-12 months it might be a pretty good game.

[Merusk]

I made me new pants with leathercrafting!

Yep. There's also a few drops in dungeons but they're not common.  I got a blue pair for my cleric out of the 2nd dungeon but that was the only pair I'd seen for any class.   Best to just craft them.


And yes, there's just one paragon path. So you can respec later! 

[Ginaz]

Seriously:

- Character creation is meh (mening the usual).
- The RPG mechanics, stats, points, numbers, are meh (meaning the usual).
- Graphics are meh (meaning the usual).
- Voices are meh (usual)
- Plot is meh (usual).
- Quests are meh (usual).
- NPCs are meh (usual. Or maybe I should start changing the word "usual" with "classic").
- Mobs are meh (usual classic).
- Weapons and armours look meh (absolutely usual).
- Itemization is meh (isn't it?)
- UI is meh (super usual)
- Every fucking thing is absolute and utter MEH! (usual usual usual classic classic classic).

Isn't it amazing with all this going against it that so many people are having fun in it. Maybe, just maybe, you're a burned out old has been with no clue what's fun in an MMO anymore? Just a thought. And before you think I'm some pissed off fanbois, I wasn't expecting much from this game because of Cryptic. I thought they couldn't design their way out of a paper bag. Imagine my surprise when I found they'd delivered a fun game. It may not be original or ground breaking or any of the talking points you want to hit but it's fun and not many companies manage that nowadays.

Really? Has-been? Sure you aren't a pissed of fanboi.  

There's potential here, but it is unrealized potential for the most part. There's so much half-assed get it out the door lack of polish going on here. In 6-12 months it might be a pretty good game.

While I might question Falc's tastes in games (with all the gushing over TERA the past while, TERA is the very definition of "meh" for MMORPGs imo) I can understand why he might not like Neverwinter.  It has a lot of the same old, same old tropes MMOs have used for years.  I'm still finding it pretty fun but I'm aware of its faults.  For me, though, the fun vastly outweighs its faults.

[Ginaz]

I made me new pants with leathercrafting!

Yep. There's also a few drops in dungeons but they're not common.  I got a blue pair for my cleric out of the 2nd dungeon but that was the only pair I'd seen for any class.   Best to just craft them.


And yes, there's just one paragon path. So you can respec later! 

Theres also some sort of short term profession...ah...hourly? where you can craft a blue item.  Not sure how often its available but there is a 60 min timer for it.

[Numtini]

Isn't it amazing with all this going against it that so many people are having fun in it. Maybe, just maybe, you're a burned out old has been with no clue what's fun in an MMO anymore? Just a thought. And before you think I'm some pissed off fanbois, I wasn't expecting much from this game because of Cryptic. I thought they couldn't design their way out of a paper bag. Imagine my surprise when I found they'd delivered a fun game. It may not be original or ground breaking or any of the talking points you want to hit but it's fun and not many companies manage that nowadays.

I was thinking earlier that GW2 was a fantastic game that they forgot to patch the fun into. This is a terrible game that they put some fun in.

[Sjofn]

Put me down for thinking this game has a lot of potential but as-is, is not going to keep my interest for very long. I think part of my issue is that I've played 4E, so I know what other builds some of these classes could have, and I want to play those builds. So while I'm playing my cleric, I'm thinking "man would I rather the smacking kind rather than the laser kind." And it also frustrates me because I suspect I won't be able to build my characters the way I want (like there are some laser cleric abilities I would perhaps dip into with my smacking cleric, as an example), because they're going to keep them segregated the way the 2h fighter and the shield fighter are, and that makes me sad.

Basically, I think I would like this game better if it was more honest about having nothing to do with D&D.  

[Hoax]

Isn't it amazing with all this going against it that so many people are having fun in it. Maybe, just maybe, you're a burned out old has been with no clue what's fun in an MMO anymore? Just a thought. And before you think I'm some pissed off fanbois, I wasn't expecting much from this game because of Cryptic. I thought they couldn't design their way out of a paper bag. Imagine my surprise when I found they'd delivered a fun game. It may not be original or ground breaking or any of the talking points you want to hit but it's fun and not many companies manage that nowadays.

I think it'd be good if you never went out on a limb sharing your thoughts on anything ever again.

Also when you react like such a sperglord fuckwit to someone reasonably pointing out how bland and mediocre the parts that make up the whole of this game seem to him. That makes you a fanboi by definition.

*the spell checker needs sperglord added*

[kildorn]

I do believe Astral Coins are the single most dickish daily mechanic I've ever seen in an MMO. You get one for praying every day. So far, so good. You lose ALL of them if you fail to pray for a 24 hour period.

I'm not entirely sure what they're used for yet, I'm just terribly amused at a currency that deletes itself if you dare take a day at the beach.

[Phred]

Really? Has-been? Sure you aren't a pissed of fanboi.  

Maybe I should have used over the hill. I thought the phrase sounded a bit pissed off but couldn't think of a better one.

There's potential here, but it is unrealized potential for the most part. There's so much half-assed get it out the door lack of polish going on here. In 6-12 months it might be a pretty good game.

But then you're the guy who said that DDO did everything NWN does better years before. Where was the dungeon finder and skirmish mode in DDO? I forget.

[Sjofn]

I do believe Astral Coins are the single most dickish daily mechanic I've ever seen in an MMO. You get one for praying every day. So far, so good. You lose ALL of them if you fail to pray for a 24 hour period.

I'm not entirely sure what they're used for yet, I'm just terribly amused at a currency that deletes itself if you dare take a day at the beach.

hahahaha what

[Stormwaltz]

You can use them by going to the panel of your inventory that tracks the four quadrillion currencies in the game.

If you have the tenacity to save them up for a full year, you can buy an angel as a companion.

EDIT: I had the two currencies confused. The angel is not bought with the stuff that poofs. The stuff that poofs costs 1, 3, 5, or 7 coins. They start with party poppers, and end with a small chest of companion enchantments. The professions pack (5 days) seems most useful to me.

[Zetor]

You actually get TWO different coins for praying 1/day. One of them has a limit of 7, and disappears if you miss a day... you can spend this on craft materials and gear enhancements (basically gems). The other type of coin doesn't disappear if you miss a day, and it can be spent on dyes (cheap), mounts (expensive... 150 coins, iirc), level 60 blue weapons (also expensive), and the angel companion.

[Goumindong]

I do believe Astral Coins are the single most dickish daily mechanic I've ever seen in an MMO. You get one for praying every day. So far, so good. You lose ALL of them if you fail to pray for a 24 hour period.

I'm not entirely sure what they're used for yet, I'm just terribly amused at a currency that deletes itself if you dare take a day at the beach.

In your currency tab you can click "spend" next to them. You can buy up to 4 tiers of "stuff" (not sure if you get the stuff below or not) with prices of 1,3,5, and 7. Its basically a login bonus mechanic. With the option to bail early.

[90Proof]

I also had Falconeer's meh* reaction when I watched my son play the game.  However, I am really curious to see how the community generated content works out. 

[Saxo]

I reviewed this game on another site:

--

You should always try a game for yourself before you listen to internet strangers, but don't expect to be amazed. Neverwinter leaves a decent very first impression, but scratch the surface anywhere and it's plywood underneath. It's clear that it's designed after Perfect World's formula (and a formula that is tragically common in today's MMORPG market): they serve you a three-course meal, the first dish tastes great but the second one is crap; then they tell you that the third course will taste as good as the first one if you pay, but you have to take their word for it. Oh, and in this case, the third course costs like $200 for a dish that you can get elsewhere for $60.

It's really quite bad. The dungeons look neat at first glance but it's a cardboard facade. The combat mechanics are absolutely primitive, and the "difficulty" lies not so much in challenging fights as in just not giving classes the tools to do their jobs. Clerics can't heal anywhere near as well as traditional MMORPG healers can, but the other classes don't have the survivability that you'd expect them to have as compensation for the cleric being more like a GW2 support mage. The guardian can't hold aggro for shit, but the other classes can't really tank the mobs they invariably get on them as a consequence of some of the worst aggro mechanics since EQ. The great-weapon fighter is just a weird and largely useless failure of a tank/dps hybrid.

Everything is directed at the cash shop and towards making you feel forced to open the ol' wallet. You want more than the two small bags you get as quest rewards while leveling? $10 in the cash shop (or like four weeks of grinding dungeons if you won't pay). And that's per bag, which will bind to your character, so you'd have to spend like a hundred bucks to get bags for two characters. Want more than two character slots for your account? Pay up. Want more than fifteen bank slots, which you absolutely must have because you'll find DOZENS UPON DOZENS of items you have to save up and combine later? Get out the Mastercard. Want a fast mount so you can actually win the battlegrounds? $40 please. Do you demand the conceited right to respec your character? $5 per! The list goes on and on with shit that all other MMORPGs offer as basic features but Neverwinter expects you to pay extra for. When creating your character, you have to pick from a number of preset stat sets and the creation process deliberately refrains from telling you what the stats actually do, so when you find out later on that you have to reroll, I hope you haven't already spent $40 on BoP bags. That can't possibly be intentional, though, right? The game boasts of being free to play, but you'd have to spend a few hundred dollars to get the standard features that you take for granted in other games. It's like being offered a free soda but the bottle costs fifty bucks. Hey, you can always drink it out of your cupped hand! Aren't they generous?

It's theoretically possible to get most of that shit via gameplay and the accumulation of a currency called Astral Diamonds, but we're talking months of farming to get the aforementioned fundamental gameplay necessities, let alone any actual luxuries. Keep in mind that ADs are also the currency used on the auction house, so if you want to save up for bags or bank slots, you have to literally opt out of trading. Even identify scrolls and enchanting your items costs AD, so saving up for bags or whatever is a huge sacrifice in character power. They've done their very best to present the appearance of everything being obtainable without paying while making it so unrealistic that one might as well not even acknowledge the possibility.

People keep praising the Foundry feature which is basically a map creation tool where you can make a dungeon and allow others to play in it. I don't buy into that; players are not game developers and can't make content that meets even the lowest conceivable standard, so I expect the hurrah will die down once people start to realize that all of these dungeons are actually horrible. There's no approval process, you can just make a big room with a turd-shaped cluster of treasure chests in the middle and run the "dungeon" over and over again, which people are exploiting the shit out of. Meanwhile, the game itself has practically no meaningful content after the leveling phase; it's just a collection of dungeons, about twelve or so, and then they have three difficulty tiers (including normal which is depleted while leveling). The endgame consists exclusively of extra heroic 5-mans, the world is your oyster!

Everything else is equally shit. Everybody can roll need on everything, and everything including endgame purples is BoE so everybody just rolls need so they can sell it if they win something that isn't for their class. If someone leaves your group, you just have to leave and start over after replacing him. Mobs just spam-CC in PvE so that the poor fucker who's trying desperately to tank will enjoy being stunned about 75% of the time. Wanna know what the main taunt mechanics in this game is? It's an ability that you cast on your target which then amplifies the threat you generate, but if the mob hits you the debuff disappears, so the tank must not get hit by the mob he's tanking. Brilliant design.

The list of criminally poor game design could go on like that for five pages, but the worst part is that you get to suffer through it while being constantly bombarded with reminders that everything would be better if you paid. When you die, you're given the option of rezzing instantly at full health if you pay a little. Crafts tend to take hours, but you can click a button to make it instant for a price. Your companion needs to go home to the farm for an hour in order to level up, but you can do it instantly with a small injection of sweet problem-solving cash. You can swing your credit card at literally everything in this game and fix the gamebreaking issues that the developers have intentionally implemented in order to tempt you into doing just that.

But the controls are kinda neat and also leveling is fairly cool for the first few hours because there's a lot of solo quest instances and it almost feels like playing NWN during that delicious first course of the dinner. The developers seem to have been under the impression that they were developing an action RPG, because the few places where it emulates that genre is the few places where it's decent whereas the game fails spectacularly whenever it tries to be an MMORPG. After making a mockery of Star Trek Online, Cryptic/PerfectWorld must not have felt like they'd ruined quite enough beloved franchises, so I guess they set their sights on Dungeons & Dragons this time around and they certainly did their part to ensure that nobody else will try to put D&D and MMORPG into contact with eachother again for a long, long time.

[Falconeer]

While I might question Falc's tastes in games (with all the gushing over TERA the past while, TERA is the very definition of "meh" for MMORPGs imo)

As a little sidenote, my appreciation of TERA is just for a few elements that are unquestionably good: Combat and visuals. These two things are undisputably top notch, and that's where my gushing begins and ends. Everything else is more or less in the realm of MEH, agreed.

[Malakili]

I reviewed this game on another site:

Your review is terrible.  If you want to rant about a game, fine, but don't call your rant a review.

[Pennilenko]

It is a terrible review. While often acceptable for many situations, profanity ruins reviewer credibility. Your review feels like you played the game very little and then relied on testimony from angry people. You also made the assumption that your reader already agrees with you.

I have two level 30 characters now and i havent felt the need to pony up any cash. I am not saying the game is good or bad. I am saying that my play experience does not match the new guy's review or falcon's either.

[bhodi]

Yep. That's not a review, that's an angry, bitter rant. Which is fine, we do angry and bitter here.

I do agree with most of it, especially about the cash grabs, but I disagree about the foundry - I think you're going to see some fantastic content come out of it.

But, the game's free. Have an hour or two to spare? Download it and try it for yourself. I'm enjoying it so far, but I've grown casual in my old age. I've got one level 21 and one level 10. Sure, the fun will run out, so I'll put it down and check back in 6 months.

[Pennilenko]

I'm enjoying it so far, but I've grown casual in my old age.....Sure, the fun will run out, so I'll put it down and check back in 6 months.

This is the position I am in with gaming. I have my own business, am back in college, and have an almost two year old. I don't give my soul to games anymore, mostly because there isn't enough of it to go around. When this game starts punching me in the dick in order to get to my wallet, I will likely go play another free game until the cycle repeats and then I will move on again.

I still hope that someday another sub game comes along that lets me have fun and doesn't punish or limit me for being casual. I really hate the free to play model and how it is dictating the design philosophy in the industry. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Wildstar.