Neverwinter 2013 vs Shroud ot Avatar

Just started NW and I hate to judge a game based on being level 3.

But I generally like the gameplay. Combat so far is smooth and simple. I can see the redundancy already in the skills so it will be interesting to see how they deal with that.

But the WASD, twitch dodging, camera, and controls so far are basically how I would have designed them.

 

My first online game was Neverwinter Nights hosted by AOL. Playing it I got my first glimmerings of how expansive and fun an online game with other people playing it could be. I enjoyed the single player NWN and NWN2 games and even dabbled in the online modules others created using the Aurora toolset.

So when I heard that NWN was returning in an MMO I was curious and somewhat excited to see what it looked like. Prior to their letting people into Apha I checked out the videos and was worried at their continually showing "trickster rogue", "guardian fighter" and "control wizard". Never having played the 4e rules of D&D I really didn't understand why there weren't other types of rogues, fighters and wizards shown. The gameplay shown looked ok, the breadcrumb trail for quests looked very dunce-friendly which concerned me. I was willing to give it a shot though and awaited my chance to see the game for myself. I will say targeting system was better then the stale tab-targeting, although I would have liked to see a bit more "aiming" when using ranged weapons.

Well that chance finally arrived and I rolled a rogue, as I always do in a new game. Gritting my teeth I picked the "trickster" rogue and entered the world. From the start the blatant one path only quest system was off putting, not even the illusion of freedom. The Wow like quest system with all the handholding features like minimap, dots marking quest locations were there along with new "features" like the breadcrumb trail were depressingly obvious.

Rather then turn this post into a tome, I will say I leveled up to 16 with that character, then decided to try my hand with the fighter. I rolled a "guardian fighter" /sigh and started him in the world. I was dismayed to see him on the exact same path as my rogue and played him until level 6 or 7 before dullness overtook me. I decided to try PvP so I rolled a rogue and quick leveled him to the mid 30's and entered an instanced PvP Q (I hate such features as easy Q's). PvP in NWO is as bad as it was in Wow, "all broth and no fish". The only thing that could make it worse is having cows and pandas as player races! :

Honestly I was unimpressed with NWO. Using 4e rules just ruined the RP in this RPG. As another poster said, all the classes felt the same, the races were just window dressing and all had the exact same feel, none of the different NPC reactions depending on what race you play as in EQ. It's a good thing that this is a F2p game otherwise I would be demanding my money back had I bought the game!

Given what we know so far about SotA, I can say with confidence that SotA will be totally different then NWO, it'll actually be Fun!

I know some people have said they liked NWO. Please don't take my review as a personal slight. It takes all kinds of people to make up the world and not everyone will like,or dislike the same things as I, and that's a good thing! Personally I quickly grew to dislike Wow for many reasons, and NWO follows Wow in many ways. Millions of people seem to like Wow, so I am the odd one here. A title I accept gladly

NWO's one redeeming feature is the Foundry. It's an improved version of the Aurora toolset. It uses the same interface as the Aurora and has loads of options for creating rooms, caves,outdoor settings, pretty much anything you could wish for. The dialog system is excellent and allows for in depth quests with loads of variables and possibilities. You can add NPC's and monsters, change their appearance, clothing, armor and edit descriptions and pretty much everything about them. I would love to see such a system eventually brought into SotA letting the players create adventures in the world for players and their friends to enjoy. Especially good quests could even be added to the main game!

 

Maybe I'm the only the one really enjoying Neverwinter . But, I wouldn't dream to compare it to Wow, seems more like Diablo but better gameplay (I only ever liked Diablo 1).

I wouldn't compare Shroud to anything other than Ultima's imho.

 

OK, so I'm like level 30 in NW now. Really like the gameplay. There's a lot SotA could learn from this game as the gameplay really is state of the art. Too many skills / poorly organized but still the best combat of any MMO.

The path is optional for a quest. You can turn it off. Actually you bypass most of the good loot if you follow if because the good stuff is off the path.

I agree that the graphics aren't great.

The have a very different take on crafting than I've seen. It's not something to fully adopt, but there are some very good ideas with the time it takes to craft and incorporating helpers.

The progression and builds are just weird. It's probably a legacy from the D&D rules.

I don't love the cash shop. It's sort of annoying everywhere.

The companions are kind of cool, but we could do more.

The most annoying thing in the game other than the cash shop is the use of need/greed/pass for PUG groups. People just need on everything making loot stupid.

 

Wow, I didnt know 4th edition had gotten so bad (I myself am an AD&D fan). I was expecting the game to play out more like DDO (based off of 3.5) although I loved how true DDO stayed to its PnP roots, I think that the game was hindered by the sluggish combat.

@PrimeRib Yeah that is what I have been seeing myself.
As far as the need/greed/pass mechanic... You are correct, it doesn't work. It seems like every time I group with someone, they just select Need on everything, and then I disband the group.


I think a lot can be learned from Neverwinter and other similar games that are getting modernized. I for one miss the expanded skill system of the older games/editions (Swimming, Searching, Climbing, Tumbling, etc.) characters feel very cookie cutter without a good number of skills to pick from. This is also one of the many things I like about UO.

The two things that I really dont like about Neverwinter was the way they implemented their spell/abilities, and the dumbing down of class roles. I prefer the way that DDO handled their skills/feats, and this is probably more to do with the change in edition from 3.5 to 4th. The oversimplification of roles down to where a Trickster/Rogue just stabs things until its their turn to click on the interactable object, is just inexcusable.

 

You know it's getting bad when even FINAL FANTASY games are linear.

 

if SOTA is going to be anything like UO its going to be AMAZING and as much as i loved the neverwinter nights games the new Neverwinter is terrible its like they have tried to clone WoW with neverwinter stuff i was greatly disappointed

 

Man

After playing it for months I absolutely love me some Neverwinter. Trust me their is some things that piss me off and I know the world is dead. But it is so much fun to play it. I am a huge pvp fan and the combat is so damn smooth and flawless. I definately can't wait for SotA but NW is not bad for now.

 

I played NW2013.

2 hours later, I uninstalled NW2013.

It's a boring, run of the mill joke that's using D&D flare to lure people in.

 

What specifically turned you off from it? I haven't played it yet but did want to check it out.

 

Well from what I've seen the folks producing Pathfinder online are DandDers and developing the game around that. Of course it's at least 2 years out. But has promise.

 

Well first off the character customization awesomely sucks. You run around and everyone looks like their from the same family. Secondly the game is overly simplistic, even if you turn the snail trails off a child could rule the game.

 

I got a control wizard and cleric to 60. I don't really play much, just log in once in a while for the PvP. I may try the new ranger class coming soon.

As I said earlier, I simply love the combat controls and gameplay. It took a little to get used to, coming from a 3rd person game like WoW / gw2, but I really, really like it. The skill trees are just weird and the skills have some cooldown whac-a-mole to them but the controls are perfect.

I'm not sure there's much as far as RP / end game. But you can make your own story / dungeons and share them with others.

There's a little buy to win and a lot of grind to win.

People will hate me for this, but I think there's some good innovation in the crafting system. You certainly wouldn't want it as is, but there may be some useful aspects as far as how it deals with an apprentice and use of real time.

 

NWO is one of the worst games I've ver played. This takes intelligence of gamers and throws it out the window in a trade off for jumpy controller pad type gameplay.

But by the fans of NWO in this thread, it seems like SotA should actually be aiming to clone it. What is the matter with you guys? New game pls.

 

It's a bunch of "go here, do this" stuff, with really annoying combat where you have to smash the dodge button and boing around.

It just felt really stale.

 

Oh that isn't all either. Hell you can't even gather materials for crafting, or craft things yourself. You have to use NPC minions to do both, it is a real joke.

The game tells you everything, forces you to group up with others, it is not an open game of any kind. Endless mindless grind questing.

And no, you can't just "create your own RP" that is also a joke, I got so bored all I was doing was healing people in danger zones with my cleric for a day. I got maybe one conversation from another player out of 100 from it.

If you like zombies, go play NWO, cos it will turn you into one.

 

You make that sound so tempting...but I think I'll watch some Let's Plays or something first.

 

...wait, what? Why? HEMPY NOOOOOOO



Come back. We have cookies! And fish tanks in the hangar! And more importantly an awesome space sim by Chris Roberts!!!

Dude seriously, why? And for that matter, how did you get a refund anyway?

 

In all honesty, at this point we don't know, and can't say...
But if SoTA can be almost as good as SWtOR or WoW, then I'll be happy with it.
Can it match Guild Wars (1 not 2...or even 2, I guess), probably not, but that is a high bar to match, no one can blame a game for falling short of that mark.

 

Oh my, i certainly hope its better than Guild Wars! I was bored to death playing that game. Absolutely no depth IMO.