Neverwinter MMO

[Kazyth]

Been tooling around a bit in the Neverwinter MMO now that it's in open beta, and have been enjoying it quite a bit so far.  Anyone else here dipping their toes into it?  If so, what do you think?

[Chris Brady]

Great Weapon Fighter here on Dragon Server.

The first day the servers were horrid, but they got it settled down in less than 24 hours.

I like the fact that the 'Foundry' is free to play with.  I haven't really tried it yet, but I've done some of the missions that people made.  Pretty good tools.

I also like that you have skills, and if you don't have the skill, you can get 'tool kits' to help you gather stuff.

I've only played a couple of days, and am at level 7-ish, so that's all I got.

Wish they had more Paragon Paths, or at least different weapons for the GWF, like an ax or something.  Although I do love the Greatsword as a weapon.

[Kazyth]

Devout Cleric here, on the same server.

I skipped the first day, when the queue was up to 5k or greater on all three servers, but the next day things were fine and there hasn't been a wait since.  Seems less pay to win than a lot of free MMOs I've played, which is nice.  The Foundry seems pretty cool, like the Architect feature in City of Heroes/City of Villains, but you don't have to subscribe to use it.

The skills thing is interesting, though it's a touch annoying that each one is one use, and they can break so easily.  Still, a good way to keep money moving in the virtual economy.  Not terribly happy that you have to use Astral Diamonds to bid on things and purchase special gear, but you -can- earn them in game without spending Zen, which is nice.  Slower, but nice.

Right now I'm level... 15 I think.  Pondering trying a Defense Warrior because I love to have a tank and a healer available.  I'm sure as they go they will release different greatweapons and paragon paths and such, along with different varations for the base classes.  Still, trying not to get too invested, in case they do a full wipe when the game gets out of beta and goes live.

[Sel Nar]

Trickster Rogue, same server.

No queues for me, and holy crap can I lay out the damage fast; When you get a skill at level 3 that does well over 100 damage, you kinda get that giddy/evil smile of 'Lookit all those numbers' that I only got before when I was playing a Splinter Weapon/Barrage Ranger in GW1.

Mechanically, the game feels similar to a hybrid of GW2's 'limited skills' and ease of movement and DDO's thematic setting. There's a few quality-of-life things that need to be poked at, such as having to de-equip your offhand weapon before equipping a new one, instead of just selecting 'equip to offhand' via inventory or character screen, and the weapon selection is rather limited at the moment, but, otherwise, It's good fun, and gets me my D&D fix that I haven't had since 2001.

[Kazyth]

I do enjoy the D&D Fix.  Most of my favorite early fantasy books were D&D stuff.  Elminster, the Harpers, Drizzt, and all of that.  Just wish we had even one or two more character slots to start with.  I want to try all the classes for a bit, to find the one I like.  I just hate having to delete to make more room, and I'm not willing to spend money on a beta.  Ah well.  First world problems, and all that.

[Moraline]

I'm surprised that you all aren't on the Mindflayer server - it was voted the Unofficial RP server. I guess it doesn't matter much as they are planning on merging all 3 of them in a couple months anyways.

I created a GWF today (my first character.) So I haven't got to far in it as I only played for a hour or so.

The game itself seems to play smoothly and the graphics are pretty good. I'm impressed with how well it plays on my old desktop computer with the quality set to maximum (the coding for the game is well put together.) I always played SWTOR or GW2 with graphics set to low so I could get smooth framerates.

[Kazyth]

Honestly, I didn't check on that.  I probably should have, as I have a marked preference for playing on RP servers.  Then again, right now I'm just enjoying running around and soloing.  If needs be, I can always make a toon or two on Mindflayer instead.

I do like that they don't place any racial restrictions on classes.  You can be a Halfling GWF or a Half-Orc Rogue if you want.  Of course, you sacrifice a bit of Ability Score bonus if you don't go for one of the optimal races for that class, but it can still be a lot of fun.

And I'm with you there on the smooth rates.  I have a decent rig, but I still have to tone down GW2 a bit to keep things smooth the whole time.  I get mad lag in Neverwinter proper at peak hours, but outside of that, things run smoothly and I enjoy the mobile combat of it more than I enjoyed GW2 combat.

[Chris Brady]

Yeah, didn't check on that either, Mora.

Oh, and I do have a complaint about the GWF.  I also made a trickster Rogue for the fun of it and dear Goshenheimer the DPS on that class.  The GWF isn't tough enough for it's lower damage cycle, I'm finding.  When I play him, he's taking a LOT of damage in a single fight, despite wearing Scale which technically is a heavy suit of armour.

[Kazyth]

True, but you have to remember that the Rogue is heavy on dodge and deflection.  Not to mention he is killing single targets faster.  The GWF is meant to be DPS/Offtank, while the Rogue is meant to be pure, pure, sweet DPS goodness.  And holy hell is there a lot of it.

Thus far the only class I haven't dabbled in is the Control Wizard, mostly because my Devout Cleric is quite casty as it is.  And he's even more fun now that I've reached the right level for one of my favorite features from EQ1 and SWOTOR, the Companion.  It's quite nice that they have so many options for companions for soloing and for understaffed groups.  Of course, the really awesome ones seem to cost Zen to buy, but that's a F2P business model for you.  Right now I'm happy with my NPC tank.

[Chris Brady]

Are Companions humanoids or animals?

[Kazyth]

Both and more.  Your initial choices around lvl... 15 or 16 are a humanoid tank, cleric, wizard, or a dog to choose from as your freebie.  After that, you can buy with Zen or I think Astral Diamonds things like a galeb dur, an Ioun Stone, floating shield, a honey badger... all sorts of different things.

[Chris Brady]

I see, neat!

* Chris Brady makes note to get a Cleric for his GWF.

[apygoos]

I'm surprised that you all aren't on the Mindflayer server - it was voted the Unofficial RP server. I guess it doesn't matter much as they are planning on merging all 3 of them in a couple months anyways.

I created a GWF today (my first character.) So I haven't got to far in it as I only played for a hour or so.

The game itself seems to play smoothly and the graphics are pretty good. I'm impressed with how well it plays on my old desktop computer with the quality set to maximum (the coding for the game is well put together.) I always played SWTOR or GW2 with graphics set to low so I could get smooth framerates.

midnflayer is the RP server? who knew! i didnt when i joined with my Guardian Fighter :) i also have been playing with a cleric and RPing a little as we level. prepping to get on now actually

[SinXAzgard21]

I to have given this a go, I was in closed beta but never really got very far.  Real life was kinda in an uproar.

[Kazyth]

You should, it's fun.  I may use my second character slot to make a toon on Mindflayer, so I have two options to hang with E-peeps on.  If I wasn't already almost 20 with my Cleric, I'd re-roll there, but I don't want to run the same class twice.  It's a thing of mine.

[SinXAzgard21]

I guess I'll be giving it one more go, though I'm not gonna get my hopes up.

[Kazyth]

Eh.  It isn't groundbreaking, but when it was called a cross between DDO, Tera, and GW2 I had to agree with that.  You move around a lot for the combat, flanking bonuses are a thing, there are no mana bars, just timers.  The graphics are pretty good, it runs decently on older computers, and as stated you don't have to buy anything to enjoy the game.  It makes things easier to do so, sure, but that's the F2P model.  There are various ways to get Astral Diamonds as you level, which can be sold for Zen (much like the GW2 gold for gems thing), both of which are the prime currency for buying things from the AH or specialist merchants.

It has a "Build Your Own Adventure" feature, which you can access to creat with once you get at least one character to a certain level.  Can't remember what it is off the top of my head, though.  Solo and group friendly, solid gear drop rates so you don't have to use the AH if you don't want to, all of the classes are fun in their own ways.  There have been far, far worse MMO debuts, both F2P and non-F2P.  And this one is still in Open Beta.  Given that, and the whole free thing, I think it's worth giving a shot if you have even a little interest in it.  *shrugs*

[SinXAzgard21]

Eh.  It isn't groundbreaking, but when it was called a cross between DDO, Tera, and GW2 I had to agree with that.  You move around a lot for the combat, flanking bonuses are a thing, there are no mana bars, just timers.  The graphics are pretty good, it runs decently on older computers, and as stated you don't have to buy anything to enjoy the game.  It makes things easier to do so, sure, but that's the F2P model.  There are various ways to get Astral Diamonds as you level, which can be sold for Zen (much like the GW2 gold for gems thing), both of which are the prime currency for buying things from the AH or specialist merchants.

It has a "Build Your Own Adventure" feature, which you can access to creat with once you get at least one character to a certain level.  Can't remember what it is off the top of my head, though.  Solo and group friendly, solid gear drop rates so you don't have to use the AH if you don't want to, all of the classes are fun in their own ways.  There have been far, far worse MMO debuts, both F2P and non-F2P.  And this one is still in Open Beta.  Given that, and the whole free thing, I think it's worth giving a shot if you have even a little interest in it.  *shrugs*

Yeah, I've played the closed beta for a bit as I said.  I've also been giving FF XIV beta a go and that is barely going into phase 3 closed beta and will be out later this year... Which it shouldn't... But anyways.  I'm gonna give Neverwinter another shot since I really need a DnD fix.

[Kazyth]

... you need to roll a Halfling GWF.  >_>  I'd do it myself if I had another slot free.  But I don't, so it falls to you.

And sorry, I meant the little wordblurb up there to be more for folks who might read this and aren't sure if they wanted to give it a try or not. :P

[SinXAzgard21]

... you need to roll a Halfling GWF.  >_>  I'd do it myself if I had another slot free.  But I don't, so it falls to you.

And sorry, I meant the little wordblurb up there to be more for folks who might read this and aren't sure if they wanted to give it a try or not. :P

Why a Hafling GWF?

I'm rolling a dwarf guardian fighter.  I think it is funny that the ranger and Drow are not available yet.  Also, what server are you on?

[Kazyth]

My main, a devout cleric, is on Dragon.  I have a Half-Orc Guardian on Mindflayer.

And Drow are technically available now, if you paid the 200 dollars for the founder pack.  No ranger yet, but no doubt that is coming along.

As to why halfling GWF... because the idea amuses me.  Tiny little halfling running around smashing things with a greatsword.

[SinXAzgard21]

My main, a devout cleric, is on Dragon.  I have a Half-Orc Guardian on Mindflayer.

And Drow are technically available now, if you paid the 200 dollars for the founder pack.  No ranger yet, but no doubt that is coming along.

As to why halfling GWF... because the idea amuses me.  Tiny little halfling running around smashing things with a greatsword.

If only it was an axe....  Yeah, I wouldn't have dropped 200 on this game.  While I love DnD this wouldn't have been a smart 200 dollar investment.

[HairyHeretic]

What are the queues like atm? I created a character (control wizard tiefling) the day it opened, and the queue was about 11,000. I haven't checked back since.

[Kazyth]

No queues at this point.  Other than opening day, there has been instant logins with no wait.

[HairyHeretic]

Might check it out in a couple of days when I'm on my weekend.

[Kazyth]

Here's a little primer of things I've learned from playing the Beta thus far for anyone thinking of starting.

The game won't tell you when you are able to put earned Power Points into new powers.  The Powers screen tells you when they should become available (when you have spent 5 power points, ten, and so on), but it's up to you to check and see if you've actually met the criteria yet.

You only get 3 active encounter powers, max.  You can collect all of them still if you want, of course.

You have two passive power slots, which are kinda hard to see, on your action bar, and like the encounter powers they have to be slotted to be active.

Every class has one gathering skill that they don't need kits for.  Rogues get theivery, clerics get religion, wizards get arcana, and both fighter classes share dungeoneering.  No class currently has nature.  If you want to gather everything, you'll need to keep a couple kits for the other gathering skills handy in your inventory.  The kits can break, and they are used up if you successfully gather something.

The gathering nodes will give you random tradeskill bits.  It isn't like a lot of other MMO's where a tree gives you wood, an ore vein gives you ore, etc.  Any one of those nodes above could give you linen, some iron ore, a bit of leather, and maybe a minor enchantment to slot.

If you prefer to solo, you get your first companion at 16.  The game is good about giving you quests directly at level up to introduce you to new mechanics.  There will be quests to go visit this person about learning your tradeskills, that person about getting your first companion, this priestess about channelling for the favor of the gods.  When you level up you -can- just use the C key to go to your character sheet and spend your points, but I suggest actually using the U key.  It'll show you everything you have earned for your level up, including the mechanics quests.

Money isn't useless in the game, but you can buy your way easier if you want.  Much of the really good stuff that you might want to buy (stuff from the auctionhouse especially) is bought with a second currency called Astral Diamonds.  You can earn these in game, through channeling, doing quests, even through some tradeskills, but it takes a while to build up a good supply of them.  When you can start channeling (around 11 if I recall), it has a one hour cool down, so try to do it as soon as it becomes available.  Not only does it get you a free buff, but it can net you some Astral Diamonds as well.

That's it for now, but I'll stop by and drop off more as I come across things.

[WildCat]

at a glance, looks like it requires downloading?...

I grow trepedatious.

[Kazyth]

Indeed it does.  Like pretty much any MMO out there you just download the client, let it patch, then launch and play.  It's free to download though, and totally free to play, so there's really nothing to be worried about.  If you don't enjoy, just delete it, and you've spent nothing but a bit of time.  *nods nods*

[SinXAzgard21]

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Here's a little primer of things I've learned from playing the Beta thus far for anyone thinking of starting.

The game won't tell you when you are able to put earned Power Points into new powers.  The Powers screen tells you when they should become available (when you have spent 5 power points, ten, and so on), but it's up to you to check and see if you've actually met the criteria yet.

You only get 3 active encounter powers, max.  You can collect all of them still if you want, of course.

You have two passive power slots, which are kinda hard to see, on your action bar, and like the encounter powers they have to be slotted to be active.

Every class has one gathering skill that they don't need kits for.  Rogues get theivery, clerics get religion, wizards get arcana, and both fighter classes share dungeoneering.  No class currently has nature.  If you want to gather everything, you'll need to keep a couple kits for the other gathering skills handy in your inventory.  The kits can break, and they are used up if you successfully gather something.

The gathering nodes will give you random tradeskill bits.  It isn't like a lot of other MMO's where a tree gives you wood, an ore vein gives you ore, etc.  Any one of those nodes above could give you linen, some iron ore, a bit of leather, and maybe a minor enchantment to slot.

If you prefer to solo, you get your first companion at 16.  The game is good about giving you quests directly at level up to introduce you to new mechanics.  There will be quests to go visit this person about learning your tradeskills, that person about getting your first companion, this priestess about channelling for the favor of the gods.  When you level up you -can- just use the C key to go to your character sheet and spend your points, but I suggest actually using the U key.  It'll show you everything you have earned for your level up, including the mechanics quests.

Money isn't useless in the game, but you can buy your way easier if you want.  Much of the really good stuff that you might want to buy (stuff from the auctionhouse especially) is bought with a second currency called Astral Diamonds.  You can earn these in game, through channeling, doing quests, even through some tradeskills, but it takes a while to build up a good supply of them.  When you can start channeling (around 11 if I recall), it has a one hour cool down, so try to do it as soon as it becomes available.  Not only does it get you a free buff, but it can net you some Astral Diamonds as well.

That's it for now, but I'll stop by and drop off more as I come across things.

Well that is just fantastic.  I've been just going quest to quest and didn't even realize that I could do that stuff... Wonderful.

[Kazyth]

It isn't as terrible as all that, especially not the gathering stuff.  You don't get XP for gathering, and frankly you'll need to do a LOT of work before you get anywhere near to making gear that would be better for you than what you get as drops and quest rewards.

Tradeskills are also pretty different.  More like SWTOR than anything.  You don't do them yourself, you get hirelings to go do them for you, with a given amount of time taken depending on the task.  Time that you can, of course, cut down on by spending astral diamonds.  Also, if you really want to dabble in tradeskills, you can wander zones outside of Neverwinter to find nodes tucked away here and there.

That's one of the things I like about this game.  It encourages you to go exploring every nook and cranny for hidden chests and nodes.  Which are often protected by more baddies, so you get extra XP and drops as well.

[Geeklet]

... you need to roll a Halfling GWF.  >_>  I'd do it myself if I had another slot free.  But I don't, so it falls to you.

I know you werent talking to me, but... It has been done. I had been wanting to try out this game, so.... There is something awesome about swinging a sword around that is larger than you are.

[Kazyth]

*laughs*  The who doesn't matter.  Only the result matters.  In this case, the result is exactly what I wanted.  A tiny halfling with a hugenormous sword.  *nods nods*

[Blythe]

Gonna give the MMO a try and see how I feel about it. I'm in desperate need of another MMO to kill some time with.

Now to decide what I want to play as....hmmmm.

[SinXAzgard21]

I need to log back on at some point.

[Kazyth]

I'll give you a quick rundown if you'd like, Blythe.

First off, all of the classes can solo, especially once you get your free companion at 16.  When you get to the upper levels, the basic free companion starts to lag behind, but for a long while they are very helpful.

The Trickster Rogue is a lot like rogues in other MMOs.  Great burst damage to single targets.  It works a bit differently though in a few ways, not the least of which is that you have limited stealth.  When you unlock stealth (at level 10), when you activate it you have about 5 seconds of stealth, in which you have combat advantage.  More damage, higher crits, all that.  Using any powers but your at-will/autoattack ones use up some of that time, as does taking damage (from an AOE or the like).  You can spec for more stealth time, though, and you have tricks to help refill the bar faster.  And they look cool with all the stabbing.

Devoted Cleric is the best solo class in my opinion.  If you don't care to group much until the higher levels, the Devoted Cleric has it easy.  Lots of different heals, solid damage, can easily be specc'd to DPS or to full heal, or somewhere in between.  Again, a bit different from other healer MMO classes, though.  Much more bent towards healing attacks, heal over times, and the like, with a bit of control put in for fun.  At 10 unlocks the Divine Power bar, which fills as you do damage, and can be activated with tab to add extra power to your encounter powers.  Changes your at will powers to a channeled direct damage, or a channeled direct heal.

Control Wizard is not what you would expect, if you are used to WoW and the like.  Most of the CW's control is in interrupts and debuffs.  You can extend the duration of their control through speccing, but these guys are much more Direct Damage/Control.  You will move around a lot with them, temporarily freeze enemies, and do a lot of direct and aoe damage.  Like the other classes, at 10 you unlock Arcane Mastery, which you build with your at will attacks, and adds power/extra effects to your encounter and daily powers.

Guardian Fighters are tanks, pure and simple.  They snap aggro, the generate aggro, and they do it well.  Can be specc'd to DPS surprisingly well, though, and they have decent AOE abilities.  Honestly, they are pretty much like a tank from any other MMO.  Good for soloing, too.

Great weapon fighters are DPS/AOE melee strikers.  They hit hard, they can clear trash mobs well, and they can make decent off tanks/backup tanks.  Currently they are considered a little bit of a gimp class, but I've seen a lot of builds emerging that make them very viable in groups and solo.

Just a few class observations from me, given that I've tried them all.  (Cleric is still my fave).

When you unlock professions (around lvl 10 or 11, if I recall), for anyone who doesn't plan to spend money on the game, I would suggest looking into leadership first.  You'll outlevel the equipment you can make with the other professions fast, while Leadership will net you xp, money, tradeskill goods, and Astral Diamonds, which can be traded for Zen (the pay-real-money-for currency) to buy things from the Zen store.

Happy Neverwintering!

[Chris Brady]

Great weapon fighters are DPS/AOE melee strikers.  They hit hard, they can clear trash mobs well, and they can make decent off tanks/backup tanks.  Currently they are considered a little bit of a gimp class, but I've seen a lot of builds emerging that make them very viable in groups and solo.

I can attest to this.  The GWF doesn't have the armour to withstand sustained attacks against them, and unfortunately compared to the Trickster, they don't do nearly as much damage to anything.  They do lag behind.  Not to mention that they don't have any real defensive options.

The Rogue gets a Dodge, the Guardian gets his shield.  The other two classes get 'teleports' (of sorts) but really, they don't need them too much because they're ranged.  The GWF has a dash which is slightly trickier to use, and is mainly designed to get you INTO the fight, as opposed at mitigate damage.

They need a slight tweak before they're as viable as all the other classes.  I figure more damage OR more damage reduction and they'll be good.

This has been my experience going from 1-30 (so far)

[Blythe]

Oh, Kazyth, thanks! I ended up making a half-orc control wizard, and I'm really enjoying the game. I'll keep in mind about leadership at level 10. <3

[Kazyth]

Sure thing!  There are finally some build guides and such going up, but feel free to shoot me a PM or ask questions here if you have any.

I'll include a few other things that I've learned here.

You have only 16 bank slots, and have to spend Zen for more, there is no way to earn more in game.  (Besides saving up Astral Diamonds and traiding them for Zen)
By level thirty you will have earned two additional bags for your personal inventory, both as quest rewards.  Again, outside of that, they are ultra-rare drops or can be bought with Zen, or from the AH with Astral Diamonds.

Everything bought and sold on the AH uses Astral Diamonds.

When you unlock Channeling at level 11, you will want to log in and do so at least once a day.  You get special coins the first time you channel each day, and they will vanish entirely if you go a day without channeling.  They can be saved up and used for some really good gear and perks, though, if you have the patience.

Foundry quests are good ways to patch up your level if you lag behind the suggested quest levels for a zone, which can happen.  So are skirmishes and dungeons.

Explore everything, don't just follow the glowing trail.  This game LOVES to hide chests and resource nodes in side rooms, behind wall hangings, and behind stairs.  If you just follow the trail, you'll miss out on a lot of free goods.

And lastly, unless you are looking for a guild or group, turn off zone chat.  It is absolutely cluttered with a flood of crap, at least in Protectors Reach.  They haven't made seperate channels for LFG and the like yet.

[SinXAzgard21]

Sure thing!  There are finally some build guides and such going up, but feel free to shoot me a PM or ask questions here if you have any.

I'll include a few other things that I've learned here.

You have only 16 bank slots, and have to spend Zen for more, there is no way to earn more in game.  (Besides saving up Astral Diamonds and traiding them for Zen)
By level thirty you will have earned two additional bags for your personal inventory, both as quest rewards.  Again, outside of that, they are ultra-rare drops or can be bought with Zen, or from the AH with Astral Diamonds.

Everything bought and sold on the AH uses Astral Diamonds.

When you unlock Channeling at level 11, you will want to log in and do so at least once a day.  You get special coins the first time you channel each day, and they will vanish entirely if you go a day without channeling.  They can be saved up and used for some really good gear and perks, though, if you have the patience.

Foundry quests are good ways to patch up your level if you lag behind the suggested quest levels for a zone, which can happen.  So are skirmishes and dungeons.

Explore everything, don't just follow the glowing trail.  This game LOVES to hide chests and resource nodes in side rooms, behind wall hangings, and behind stairs.  If you just follow the trail, you'll miss out on a lot of free goods.

And lastly, unless you are looking for a guild or group, turn off zone chat.  It is absolutely cluttered with a flood of crap, at least in Protectors Reach.  They haven't made seperate channels for LFG and the like yet.

Yay cookie cutter builds... Yeah this may get uninstalled now.

[Thorne]

That's what 4e /is/, and it's one of the things I despise about the system in table-top play. In a computer game, it works. Although it might take me a while to get my head around combat-cleric /throwing/ things. That's a new one.

If I ever have a chance to log in and play her some more, I'll let you know what I think, other than, 'grab ALL THE SHINY THINGS!' which is ... actually, how I play all MMOs. The sparkly thing just ensures I won't get lost. If I run into any vampires though, we're gonna have words - and I'm going to want my Turn Undead abilities back. ;p

[Kazyth]

Yeah, 4e was not at all for me.  It felt... silly, I guess.  I would bring M:tG cards with me and tap mana for my powers, as I kept them on little notecards.

As for the game itself, they'll be introducing more classes and races, as well as more paragon paths and the like.  For now, it's all about the power build.  Given that it's 6.00 to respec, most folks are sticking with one build, be it a DPS cleric, heal cleric, or Control Cleric for the moment.  Until they at least get more Paragon Paths out though, yeah, it's going to feel cookie cutterish.  Then again I felt that way in GW2 really.  Not quite so heavily, but still there.

[Saerrael]

Interested in giving this a spin and currently downloading the client.
Been looking around the web and my research is telling me it's not unusual for this download to be slow. I'd like to know if that is true or if there would be anything (short of tearing down my firewall, that is) I could do about this.

[Kazyth]

Nothing you can really do.  The download was slow as hell for me too.  Comes from PWE's limited use of extra servers and the like.  I actually just set it to download for me and then went to bed, installed and patched it in the morning.

You'll just have to be a bit patient.  But given that it's entirely free, a little patience was easy for me to come by.

[Saerrael]

Thank you, dear. I really was just looking for a bit of confirmation *smiles*

[Kazyth]

Figured as much.  Sorry if I came off as snippy.  Haven't had my caffine today, and the headache's been getting to me.  Going to snag a Dew and get that resolved before I really start growling and biting at folks.

[Saerrael]

You didn't come across as snippy to me, don't worry.

Also! Has anyone tried the Foundry yet? That is one aspect that I would love to try, myself. And, this being Elliquiy, I do expect a few very well written quests to be out there ;)

[SinXAzgard21]

Mine was downloaded and patched with in an hour....

[Chris Brady]

You didn't come across as snippy to me, don't worry.

Also! Has anyone tried the Foundry yet? That is one aspect that I would love to try, myself. And, this being Elliquiy, I do expect a few very well written quests to be out there ;)

You have to be level 15 to get access to it.  I was curious too, but I'm going to see about getting to 60 first.

[Saerrael]

You have to be level 15 to get access to it.  I was curious too, but I'm going to see about getting to 60 first.

Thank you!

I'm not interested in hitting max lvl (been there, done that), myself and probably will start tinkering with the Foundry when I can unlock it.

[Kazyth]

I've been looking a the Foundry too.  Mostly because I enjoyed the architect stuff from CoX, even if it wasn't as flexible as the Foundry is.  They do still have in common the fact that they are used as much for storytelling as for grinding XP to powerlevel, though.

I've done more than a few Foundry missions already, mostly for the Astral Diamonds from the daily quest.

[Chris Brady]

Right, I should do those.

FYI, I am Slayer and, oh what was it called, something Blacklake are pretty good.

[Saerrael]

I wrote and published a Foundry quest. It has been mostly just for practise and it is very short, but I have learned a lot from it. I also already had an idea for a campaign, so this short, open ended quest that leaves the player with more questions than they started out with will be followed by a longer, more interesting quest.

I've found quite a few bugs in the Foundry itself to work around, so I wouldn't advice it to anyone who'd wish to whip up a quick Foundry quest. But those who want to write out an Epic Story and don't mind to take a week or more to set such up should definitely look into it.

If you're curious about my very short 'let's see what this button does' kind of quest, you can find it at this short key;
nw-djs69cyz9

[Blythe]

I've played Saer's quest, so it's worth taking a look at.  :-)

Also, I finally get time to play and I had my character at level 20 and what happens?

They have a giant exploit in the auction house, and it takes the game down, essentially.

*grumbles*

Just when I finally stopped sucking at the game.  :'(

[Slywyn]

I've been playing on Mindflayer.

I got lucky in that when they did the rollback all I'd done was turn in a quest that was already finished and bought some stuff from a vendor.

Didn't miss much, only a few bars of exp.

[Blythe]

I'm on Dragon.

And woohoo, the rollback did not affect me remotely! <3

[Oneiros]

Published my first foundry quest today.

It was... rather ambitious, so it might be bugged >.> I've run it a few times and so has Saerrael and I think I've caught all the game-breaking bugs. Anyone who wants to try it:

NW-DC12XMKAC

I think it's... maybe 20 minutes? I'm not positive, the initial runs were VERY short but I've made it much longer.

[Ebb]

Have started playing around with this, as a GWF Halfling on Mindflayer (coincidentally; hadn't noticed the request on this thread when I picked him). I'm a longtime DDO player, but thinking of switching to something new, so figured this was worth a look.

A couple of questions for those who have played more. Some of these may be very elementary, or answered somewhere in the documentation that I haven't bothered to read:

1) "Skirmish" means what exactly? Is this the PvP area? And if so, is it even worth venturing in there, or will a new player get curb-stomped instantly, and then cursed out?

2) Are Foundry missions adjusted for your character's level, or are they set for a certain level? I didn't see an indication of "this mission is scaled for a party of 4 characters of average level 12", although I might have easily missed that.

3) For missons that do have a set level, is there an advantage to running something that's over your head? An xp bonus or the like?

4) Is the game set up so that re-running quests is expected or required for leveling? I'm thinking of DDO here, where for reincarnated characters the XP demands are so high that it's very typical to run a small subset of the available missions sometimes dozens of times in order to progress, and there's a whole metagame based around choosing quests to run so that you don't paint yourself into a corner down the road. (Not at all trying to start a comparison thread here, though.)

5) Do people tend to form groups? If so, how? I'm used to the LFG screen from DDO, and there doesn't seem to be anything like that. Is it just done through the open chat channel? Do you need to physically be next to a character in order to invite them to a group?

6) Is there an in-game benefit to building dungeons in the Foundry, as an incentive to get people to do so? I guess I'm wondering whether "dungeon crafter" is a reasonable career path, or if it's more of a player-level reward (prestige and honor, adoration of your peers, etc., etc.)

So far it seems fun, though maybe a little repetitive. Dive into the monster-filled areas, run around killing stuff until your hit points are low, and then haul ass back to a campfire. I can imagine that in a party there might be more along the lines of tactics, and my guess also is that other classes have more trickiness to them. But this seems like a good intro so far.

[Oneiros]

I've been playing a trickster rogue, I do a ton of damage but I can barely take any, so there is a lot of tricky maneuvering. I like it a lot.

1. Skirmishes are PvE. Basically a group against several waves of enemies, and a boss or several mini-bosses. It's worth queuing for them, especially if you do dailies.

Coincidentally, PVP is actually really fun in Neverwinter, and I generally hate PVP.

2. Yes, Foundry quests scale to the level of the person entering them. Most of them are doable solo.

3. Regular quests? I don't know for sure. I haven't tried to do a quest that was over my head, either solo or with a group.

4. I haven't gotten to max level yet, but I'm about level 40 and from what I can tell, you generally don't have to do repeatable quests to level up. There ARE some repeatable quests, and there are daily tasks (dungeon runs, skirmish, PVP, foundry) that are worth doing for Astral Diamonds, and you gain levels pretty quickly from those.

5. There are group queues, where you sign up and it will automatically form a team for you to do dungeons or skirmishes. However, these only allow you to queue for dungeons at your level, so if you're higher/lower than the recommended level for a dungeon or skirmish, you're restricted to using the zone chat to go 'Lfg for skirmish!'

6. I heard you can get special mounts or loot rewards from building a popular Foundry dungeon, but I don't know for sure. If people like your dungeon, they're asked if they want to leave a tip of Astral Diamonds. I always leave tips at dungeons I enjoyed.

For a free game, I honestly think it's really nice. There is a currency that you can buy with real money, but anything that uses that currency is attainable via grinding, which I like - you can either invest time or money, but you dont have to do both. I look forward to there being a bigger RP community setting up in game, myself. I love RPing and I miss doing so in an MMO setting.

[Kazyth]

Same here, Fedora, to the RP thing.

Now, one thing I do know to look out for for Foundry quests is that some of them are specifically designed with a group in mind.  While they will scale to your level, it will be a scaling to your level that unleashes baddies in numbers and power that are intended for groups.  Most Foundry quest descriptions will tell you if they are meant for just one player and their companion or not.

It hurts a whole lot not to listen to the "This is intended for a group of X or more" warnings, as a heads up.  There doesn't appear to be any sort of bonus for doing a quest over your head, besides the baddies being worth a bit more xp because of the higher level.  It's only really a negligable difference, though.  If you find yourself a few levels below the zone you end up in, you should very much give Skirmishes, Dungeons, and Foundry quests a go until you are the right level again.  Makes things smoother, gets you AD if you do the dailies, and you might meet some cool people in the bargain.

[Ebb]

Thank you, both Fedora and Kazyth. This is enormously helpful, and the kind of thing that's sometimes tricky to search for in a FAQ or forum.

As a reward... more questions.

1) In grouping, do people tend to use voice or typed chat? (Actually, I haven't even checked - is voice chat built into the game?)

2) I think I missed a bit of terminology, and this sounds stupid, but whatever. What is a "dungeon"? Is that distinct from the quests that I'm dutifully following along as they're handed to me? (Last one was wererats in the sewers of Blackwater, I think.)

3) Are there benefits to joining a guild outside of the obvious one of finding people to group with? Should one be wary of signing up with a guild -- are there any predatory practices going on?

4) When grouping, are there greedy actions you can take that are frowned upon? Here I'm thinking again of DDO, which rules out this kind of thing by having all treasure in chests be keyed to characters when the chest opens, so it doesn't really matter who does the opening. Is the case here similar?

I think roleplaying in the game would be fun. It seems to not exist in DDO, except in particular guilds, and to be fair it's hard to roleplay when everyone has been through the same quests umpteen-dozen times anyway. A new setting with no spoilers like this one has a lot more potential, at least for me. I haven't used my second character slot yet, so if anyone wanted to give a new level 1 party a shot, that could be fun.

[Oneiros]

You're welcome. I'm a weird person who likes answering questions when I can ;)

1. There is a voice chat built into the game, but most groups either figure out what to do in silence or use the text chat.

2. The term 'dungeon' usually refers to a larger area with more enemies and bigger bosses (and better loot) that you generally proceed through in a linear fashion with the help of a group. You generally can't solo dungeons unless you're a very high level and the dungeon is a very low one. The areas where you go when you're sent on a mission or quest by an NPC is usually called an 'instance' (though that term can also refer to any map).

3. I'm honestly not sure about the benefits or risks of joining a guild. Anyone else have any help on that one?

4. When doing normal quests or missions as a group, it's generally good etiquette to figure out an order for looting chests and stick to it.

Loot that is green (uncommon) quality or above will have a roll, where you can either say you need it (going to use it) or greed it (going to sell it) or pass (don't want it). Needs get priority over greeds, but rude people can still ninja a piece of loot by rolling 'need' on something they aren't going to use. It's considered bad form but there isn't really anything you can do about it.  When a loot roll comes up,  I will usually wait to see what everyone else rolls to see if I'm grouped with a ninja.

In dungeons or skirmishes, chests usually respawn or are lootable by everyone - you all just take turns looting stuff. There are also smaller loot... objects, that are openable by class. You can either open it for 'free' by being that class, or you can buy a 'kit' to try and open it (a consumable object which isn't guaranteed to work). In a group, it's considered good form to only open class loot objects that belong to your class, and not use a kit.

[RubySlippers]

Well its a Cryptic game so that automatically means user friendly and usually graphics are suited to lower tier computers. And I play Champions Online and Star Trek Online so enough said I had to try this.

I have an Elven Trickster Rogue I find it freaking awesome it has a recharging ranged attack, is devastating in close combat if played right and how can you one not like the big attack called Bloodbath where you just stab lots of baddies in a ferocious attack.

I have a Human Control Wizard and find it just as evil between unlimited magic missiles, the ice ray, hurling a big icicle at baddies and sometimes they just shatter and the area ice storm power its cool as hell as well.

The issue I have is having to learn to block or defense rush out of the way prudently depending on my character.

So far I give this game a solid overall B+.

[Hemingway]

I decided to give the game a shot the other day, along with the girlfriend. We're actually having fun, though we haven't played very far yet. I'm playing a Guardian Fighter at the moment, and I'm thinking of making another character I can play by myself. I'm not sure what to make yet, though. My go-to class in games like that is the warrior-type, and I like the look of Great Weapon Fighters, I'm just ... considering if I should try something else, at the risk of getting stuck in just one class.

[Ebb]

Up to level 20 on my little Halfling Great Weapon Fighter now, and still having fun. So far I've found soloing much more fun than grouping randomly. Every grouping experience I've had has either been five people running off in random directions and getting slaughtered, or four people who've done the quest a hundred times racing through while I follow the little glowing trail and try to keep up. Hopefully finding a guild or starting to build a friends list will make those parts more enjoyable. Also it looks like if you don't pick "Need" you're never going to get any loot, which is unfortunate.

Meanwhile I'm still impressed by the Foundry system (the playing, haven't tried the creating yet), which looks like it'll go a long way toward relieving the boredom of doing the same missions over and over.

Level 20 also seems to be sort of a breakpoint where the need to spend money starts to become more pressing. There are mounts, but it looks like it will be difficult to afford them without kicking in a little real cash. I'm in favor of supporting a game that I'm getting some fun out of, but I don't want to throw money down a hole for something virtual that's going to get outdated in two weeks either. (Thanks for purchasing Mount(tm)! Would you be interested in upgrading to SuperMount(tm)?)

[Oneiros]

There seem to be some issues with GF abilities right now, just so you're aware. They seem to be working on it, but their blocking ability seems to be broken (you get it at level 10 I believe). I think GWF's have some problems as well, but not as bad as the GFs at the moment. These issues should be fixed eventually, but there's no telling when >.>

Rogues, clerics, and control wizards are all pretty fun though.

Also! It's really not necessary to spend real money. As long as you're diligent in picking up loot and identifying items before selling them to vendors, you can make the money for a mount pretty easily. The beginning mounts are kinda slow, but they get you around. That said, the mounts you buy for zen or astral diamonds ARE faster, but not necessary. You can upgrade to a better mount whenever you feel like, or never at all.

Plus you get three 'rental tokens' when you hit level 20, that let you rent a slower mount until you can scrape together the five gold for your own. Each token lets you rent a mount for five in-game hours - meaning five actual hours of playing the game. I was able to easily get five gold together before even my first mount token expired.

[Ebb]

It could be I'm missing something obvious on the moneymaking front. Currently I pick up just about everything, identify it and then if it's not useful to equip sell it. At level 20 I have just over 1 gold, I think, and the starting mounts go for 5. I don't think I've spent money on anything other than some healing potions early on, before I got my cleric companion / doc-in-a-box.

Does it matter to whom you sell things?

This might also be a side effect of the grouping I've been doing, which really has resulted in very little loot. Soloing Foundry quests has been more lucrative; I might just focus on that.

[Hemingway]

So, I've played through the intro as the most badsas half orc great weapon fighter ever. I mean, those guys are seriously kickass.

Half-orcs, I mean. The class ... ehh. I've played other MMOs for a long time, so I know the power of a class initially doesn't necessarily reflect its power later on, but I noticed right away the the great weapon fighter is less powerful than guardian fighter initially.

[Oneiros]

I actually found doing solo questing (not in the foundry) to be the easiest way to make money, especially since the foundry seems to have a bug with the loot chests right now. Those quests have better rewards and the random mobs running around drop coins, gear, scrolls, and whatnot. Plus your gear keeps up with you better as you level, you usually get a replacement for something as a quest reward right as your old piece is getting obsolete. Questing through areas had me at 4 gold and change by the time I hit level 20.

[Chris Brady]

GWF survivability is a still a bit rough.  Especially with the current level 15 cap for your healer (usually the best choice for soloists) minion.  Not impossible, but it can be something of a frustration.  Just an FYI.

[Blythe]

It could be I'm missing something obvious on the moneymaking front. Currently I pick up just about everything, identify it and then if it's not useful to equip sell it. At level 20 I have just over 1 gold, I think, and the starting mounts go for 5. I don't think I've spent money on anything other than some healing potions early on, before I got my cleric companion / doc-in-a-box.

I actually found doing solo questing (not in the foundry) to be the easiest way to make money, especially since the foundry seems to have a bug with the loot chests right now. Those quests have better rewards and the random mobs running around drop coins, gear, scrolls, and whatnot. Plus your gear keeps up with you better as you level, you usually get a replacement for something as a quest reward right as your old piece is getting obsolete. Questing through areas had me at 4 gold and change by the time I hit level 20.

I'm going to second Fedora on this, except I had about 3 gold + change at level 20, because I'm an easily killed control wizard who buys healing potions to a crazy degree. Solo questing really lets you make money faster, and I admit that solo foundry quests on the side are letting me make some cash, too. I just replace my equipment as I go using quest rewards as well.  ;D

[Kazyth]

I think possibly the Cleric is the easiest one to make money on, all things considered.  With solid damage, solid healing, decent armor, a decent dodge power, and a tanky companion, I spent almost nothing except on the kits for resources.  And I stopped that fairly quickly as well, because they really aren't worth the money.  The professions generally have ways to gather needed resources without spending money.  And the Leadership profession itself when you level it a bit has some decent ways of getting you AD and cash for nothing more than an investment of patience, as you just send your mercs out to do things for you.

The main pressing "Need to spend money on" thing that I found has been Banks slots, really.  You quickly run out of bank slots, or inventory slots, if you try to hold onto much of anything.  I like to hold onto the runes and such, so I can build up bigger and better ones, but unless you've bought extra bags or extra bank spaces, storage very quickly becomes an issue.

Other than that, the free basic companion starts to be less useful the more you level, because the free basics can't level past 15 currently.  They will eventually be releasing training manuals for them that will allow you to level them further, but if you solo a lot and depend on your companion, in the mid 30's you'll start to feel that gap pretty hard.

[Dovel]

This looks interesting. I registered for the site so I shall download it and try it out. I play DDO from time to time so this should be a nice change while still keeping in the D&D rule set. Hopefully a good sized RP community takes hold.

[Oneiros]

The main pressing "Need to spend money on" thing that I found has been Banks slots, really.  You quickly run out of bank slots, or inventory slots, if you try to hold onto much of anything.  I like to hold onto the runes and such, so I can build up bigger and better ones, but unless you've bought extra bags or extra bank spaces, storage very quickly becomes an issue.

I actually get around that by mailing runestones/enchants to myself. They don't bind, so you can take all your extras, and put in just '@yourusername' as your recipient. The cool thing about the mail is if you send it to yourself like that (not specifying the character), you can pick up that mail on ANY character. Of course you only get two character slots in a free account, but it's still nice to be able to grab runestones on the character that needs them.

I assume mail times out eventually (like it does on WoW) so you probably want to grab them every once in a while. But since you'll probably be taking them out to fuse them occasionally, it's not difficult to make sure they stay active.

[Saerrael]

I actually get around that by mailing runestones/enchants to myself. They don't bind, so you can take all your extras, and put in just '@yourusername' as your recipient. The cool thing about the mail is if you send it to yourself like that (not specifying the character), you can pick up that mail on ANY character. Of course you only get two character slots in a free account, but it's still nice to be able to grab runestones on the character that needs them.

I assume mail times out eventually (like it does on WoW) so you probably want to grab them every once in a while. But since you'll probably be taking them out to fuse them occasionally, it's not difficult to make sure they stay active.

That was a brilliant idea and I'm thus using it. <3
I used it in WoW, and I can't really say why I haven't been doing it in Neverwinter. *chuckles*

I think possibly the Cleric is the easiest one to make money on, all things considered.  With solid damage, solid healing, decent armor, a decent dodge power, and a tanky companion, I spent almost nothing except on the kits for resources.  And I stopped that fairly quickly as well, because they really aren't worth the money.  The professions generally have ways to gather needed resources without spending money.  And the Leadership profession itself when you level it a bit has some decent ways of getting you AD and cash for nothing more than an investment of patience, as you just send your mercs out to do things for you.

The main pressing "Need to spend money on" thing that I found has been Banks slots, really.  You quickly run out of bank slots, or inventory slots, if you try to hold onto much of anything.  I like to hold onto the runes and such, so I can build up bigger and better ones, but unless you've bought extra bags or extra bank spaces, storage very quickly becomes an issue.

Other than that, the free basic companion starts to be less useful the more you level, because the free basics can't level past 15 currently.  They will eventually be releasing training manuals for them that will allow you to level them further, but if you solo a lot and depend on your companion, in the mid 30's you'll start to feel that gap pretty hard.

I'm now a level 60 Cleric with the tanky companion and I can honestly say that doing just about anything at that level solo takes about three times longer than the other classes. Sure, you don't die (and, if you're not distracted, your rank 15 companion doesn't die either), but, man... you need patience in abundance!
And, no, I'm not interested in running dungeons. At least, not with random PuGs... >.> I don't quite fancy to be the main tank and heal at the same time.



Trading AD to Zen is a nice way to get things you may or may not need. Like... a respec token (which is 600 Zen). This doesn't say you'll be able to make Zen easily. The rate last time I checked it was 350AD to 1Zen. But, it's there. And that is quite the thing for a F2P.


The Foundry is what is keeping me coming back, though. It has its flaws and utterly annoying bugs, yes, but creating ones own quests is very rewarding.
(Running Foundry quests also underlines the dullness of Cryptic's own quests...)

[Blythe]

I was utterly torn between purchasing additional companions or getting a mount. *sigh* I had to go with companions--I really needed the cleric companion. And I got a sellsword for good measure.

Now I'm broke. Back to saving for a mount again.  :'(

[Saerrael]

The Foundry has basically eaten my soul by now~ Still...! Sharing screenshots not yet available to the public of my upcoming quest.

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

[Oneiros]

There are a bunch of item key giveaways going on right now (http://nw.perfectworld.com/news/?p=925171) I just redeemed a bunch, most of them give away packs of potions and altars and whatnot, but three of them also give away exclusive fashion mask items (one per character):

Gamespot is giving away a potion pack with a Sun Mask bandana
http://www.gamespot.com/event/codes/neverwinter-gift-pack-giveaway-20130626/

MMORPG.com is giving away a potion pack with a lion mask
http://www.mmorpg.com/giveaways.cfm/offer/455/Neverwinter-Gift-Pack-Giveaway.html

Ten Ton Hammer is giving away a potion pask with an Ivy mask bandana
http://www.tentonhammer.com/neverwinter/giveaways/gift-pack

Hurry, there seems to be a limited number of these they're giving away.