So, Neverwinter is going to be an MMO after all

[Olgar]

"action based" free to play.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/119/1198498p1.html

[slothinator]

The comments section is pure gold. I thought this forum was full of whiners, complainers, and "DOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", but those people are hilarious; sad, but hilarious.

[LucidLTS]

"action based" free to play.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/119/1198498p1.html

Drat. I was really looking forward to just plain multiplayer online. I'll put up with MMO if that's what it takes to get the rules and style I like, but MMO adds nearly nothing for me.

Well, at least they haven't scrapped the Foundry, to my mind that holds the key - user developed content (if it isn't crippled by a poor design tool) promises an endless and swift stream of new adventures.

This announcement is a blow, but I'm still positive.

But don't worry, Turbine, there is room in my life for two video games :-)

[Dolphious]

Kind of surprising that they would go with such a similar model as DDO. This is definitely a game I've had my eye on, but I've been burned way to many times looking forward to a game that turns out to be **** to get too exited about anything I haven't gotten a review on by someone I know.

<edit>

Drat. I was really looking forward to just plain multiplayer online. I'll put up with MMO if that's what it takes to get the rules and style I like, but MMO adds nearly nothing for me.

For sure. Diablo 3 seems to be going this way also. I likewise don't really have a *problem* with it, but what's wrong with regular old multipayer? Unless there is a good reason for making something an MMO it just adds a lot of potential bugs, lag, hacking, etc problems.

[die]

yea more DnD the better.

[GeneFrenkle]

They will have to do an awful lot of work to catch up with DDO, if they want to compete in that space. The main advantages I can see would be possibly more up to date graphics engine and user created content. Even then you know user created content will be questionable, probably 80% garbage, 20% play-worthy at best.
Other than that they would be hard-pressed to implement even a fraction of the features and variety of options not to mention number of quests DDO has. I'm not sure why they would compete in the same space? 4th edition is pretty much a flop from PnP perspective, that's why Pathfinder now exists. I don't see it holding much favor in an MMO either, but then again maybe it will attract non DnD enthusiasts?

[Bladedge]

Hope this will get Turbine to Introduce a real cosmetic system, spears, halberds and other missing weapons and stop messing with parts of the UI that work.

We just might see Turbine raise the Adamantine curtain even higher on DDO about future updates to keep cryptic eyes at bay.

[My2Cents]

What do you define as Multiplayer vs. MMO?

They said they were planning a release date by the end of 2012 but their description would seem to imply that many of the details are vague. A year isn't all that long in the development game.

It all sounds great in a press release. I am a skeptical person by nature, with good reason.

[DnD3]

This can only be good for us, the more competition the better for this game. How good is 4E though? Don't play PnP but I heard 4E is very balanced(which is a great thing, always annoyed how some people playing 3.5 found it acceptable that casters can bend time and space and melee stayed on a more realistic path of just hacking and swinging) compared to 3.5?

[Uska]

Seems kind of funny to be coming out with a 4E dnd MMO when it seems Monte cook might be working on 5E dnd

[Uska]

They will have to do an awful lot of work to catch up with DDO, if they want to compete in that space. The main advantages I can see would be possibly more up to date graphics engine and user created content. Even then you know user created content will be questionable, probably 80% garbage, 20% play-worthy at best.
Other than that they would be hard-pressed to implement even a fraction of the features and variety of options not to mention number of quests DDO has. I'm not sure why they would compete in the same space? 4th edition is pretty much a flop from PnP perspective, that's why Pathfinder now exists. I don't see it holding much favor in an MMO either, but then again maybe it will attract non DnD enthusiasts?

Appears the powers that be agree with you on 4E as 5E might be out in a year or two

[Chai]

4e as a video game? Thats what it was reverse engineered from anyhow.

More power to it.

[Ziindarax]

Hope this will get Turbine to Introduce a real cosmetic system, spears, halberds and other missing weapons and stop messing with parts of the UI that work.

We just might see Turbine raise the Adamantine curtain even higher on DDO about future updates to keep cryptic eyes at bay.

This:

Turbine will need to work hard to compete with Neverwinter Online when it releases. Granted, players probably won't be able to make their own items through the content generator (at least, not with the degree of freedom that Turbine currently enjoys), however the prospect of making your own adventure packs is much too tempting for many D&D players imo.

Back when BioWare was running/supporting Neverwinter Nights 1 (2 was done by Obsidian), there were numerous player-made adventure packs.


Only time will tell.

[Dark-Star]

The game will be defined by its combat engine, and secondarily its content and sustained "fun" factor. Without succeeding at those, it will fail regardless of the setting or rule set.

[Quarterling]

It's fourth edition, so I'll pass.

[Antheal]

They will have to do an awful lot of work to catch up with DDO

Not if they make it an actual "Dungeons & Dragons" MMO instead of a "generic medieval/high magic fantasy loosely inspired by D&D".

[Arel]

User generated content does add a lot of playtime to anything worth playing in the first place, to those willing to go beyond the 'official' content. Then again, let's not forget Sturgeon's Law too quickly now. UGC is only worthwhile if the people behind it actually have a good set of brain cells.

[learst]

From the article, apparently Cryptic is making all content (i.e. quests) freely available. But they will be charging mostly for cosmetics and classes.

I strongly believe that selling merely cosmetics will not be a sufficient to keep the game afloat. Selling classes can be profitable - but I really have a hard time imagining where will Cryptic be making money from.

[Seamonkeysix]

From the article, apparently Cryptic is making all content (i.e. quests) freely available. But they will be charging mostly for cosmetics and classes.

I strongly believe that selling merely cosmetics will not be a sufficient to keep the game afloat. Selling classes can be profitable - but I really have a hard time imagining where will Cryptic be making money from.

The "NWN Store"

[yawumpus]

User generated content does add a lot of playtime to anything worth playing in the first place, to those willing to go beyond the 'official' content. Then again, let's not forget Sturgeon's Law too quickly now. UGC is only worthwhile if the people behind it actually have a good set of brain cells.

How much of DDO do we generally run anyway?

I'd be very happy with a couple hundred extra quests, with maybe 10 of them worth running. We are typically expected to cough up $10 for at best half of that anyway, why not see a bit more (knowing Warner/Turbine, I'd expect to pay more for user generated/marketing vetted content than dev content anyway).