Neverwinter Announced

It's not out until Q4 2011, but I thought some of you guys would be interested in this:

Neverwinter Press Release wrote:ATARI AND CRYPTIC STUDIOS ANNOUNCE NEVERWINTER™
COMING IN 2011 FOR PC

Storyline for new Co-op Roleplaying Game Inspired by R.A. Salvatore's Upcoming Book Trilogy

Los Angeles, CA (August 23, 2010) -- Atari, one of the world's most recognized videogame publishers and Cryptic Studios, the acclaimed developers behind City of heroes, City of Villains, Champions Online and Star Trek Online, announced today the development of Neverwinter for PC. Neverwinter is a new online roleplaying game based on Wizards of the Coast's global property Dungeons & Dragons and the beloved city of Neverwinter.

Once a bustling location, Neverwinter has faced a great many disasters in the past hundred years. Rule of the city remains unclear following the unfortunate demise of the last Lord of Neverwinter and factions still battle for dominance after the all-consuming Spellplague took a high toll on the population. Even Neverwinter's dead are beginning to rise from their graves and march upon the city they once called home.

"We're beyond thrilled to develop a brand new version of Neverwinter. It's been years since the original became a gaming icon and we're honored to work with such a great franchise," said Jack Emmert, COO of Cryptic Studios. "We've been working closely with Wizards of the Coast and R.A. Salvatore to create an authentic D&D adventure filled with compelling fiction and exciting gameplay."

In Neverwinter, players choose to become one of five classic D&D classes and team up with friends or computer-controlled allies to form five-person co-op groups. Players also create their own storylines and quests utilizing an extremely user-friendly content generation system, tentatively codenamed Forge.

"Wizards of the Coast is excited to invite millions of fans back to Neverwinter with the launch of R.A. Salvatore's Gauntlgrym,” said Liz Schuh, Brand Director for Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast. "And we're excited about the prospects for great digital gaming experiences based on this epic world.”

Neverwinter for PC is scheduled to release in Q4 2011 and is part of a multi-platform event, including a book trilogy from New York Times best-selling author R. A. Salvatore and a tabletop roleplaying game from Wizards of the Coast. Book one in Salvatore's Neverwinter trilogy, titled Gauntlgrym, releases on October 5 of this year and lays the groundwork for the Neverwinter storyline. The novel previews the settings, characters and monsters from the PC game and details the events that lead up to this highly anticipated PC gaming experience.

To learn more about the game, please visit: www.PlayNeverwinter.com

http://www.playneverwinter.com/press

Hmmm co-op so plays like Left-4-Dead (2) - but then adds some type of online dungeon creation player/DM interaction....

That part may have merit if your in to pen and paper D&D may be fun online so you all don't need to be together in one room, but pisser that it's not a MMO.

Thanks Sarge.

Well, from what I've been able to gather, it's going to follow the DDO outline of everyone will be able to see each other in town, but the adventures themselves will be instances. I think it is going to be an MMO with a fan created twist.

My biggest concern is the picture I see for the game.

I see a Ranger, Rogue, Barbarian, Mage and Cleric.

What, no Paladin? That sucks.....

On the flip side, I might be done with my tests by Q4 2011. hehehe

Could the Barbarian just be a example in that you could make your Fighter class a barb, Pal, or Fighter?

Atomm wrote:I see a Ranger, Rogue, Barbarian, Mage and Cleric.

What, no Paladin? That sucks.....

On the flip side, I might be done with my tests by Q4 2011. hehehe

He was holding the camera duhhhhhhhhh

Sarge, I hope that's true.

I'm really interested in trying this out, but I wish it was Bioware instead of Cryptic.

Yep I should be nice and AFK by then

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/neverwinter...p;mode=previews

More info and Duck's right. It's not quite an MMO. I'm not sure about this.

Also, from what I have read about version 4 of the rules, it is trying to be a table top version of WoW.

I have high hopes for this, but I really think it is going to fall short. Seems to me like they want to make something similar to the Bioware games that get a monthly revenue stream. Even using the name and place of Neverwinter feels like a money grab to me.

Since it's so far off, I guess it won't matter. We'll find out more as time goes on.

Oh and they list the classes and races. no barbarian, just a straight fighter. I hope they have subclasses because straight fighter sucks.

Atomm a decent article that speculates about the impact to DDO that Neverwinter may have.


http://www.massively.com/2010/08/27/explor...nter-nightcaps/

Cool. Reading now. Thanks Bubba.

Considering it's more than a year off, I don't see it doing much at the moment.

Also, the v4 rules have a lot of haters out there. Since DDO is 3.5, that will help. I just wish it was Forgotten Realms instead of Eberron.

Bubba, that article was spot on. It doesn't answer a lot of questions, but it says exactly what I am thinking.

Here is a great interview with the head of cryptic. So far, I haven't had high hopes for this, but this interview really intrigues me. It definitely makes me feel like there is potential. One of the reason's I would get bored with WoW was the same "collect 10 orc pelts" questing over and over. It seems like he really wants to stay away from that and focus on the story line. That really sounds good to me.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6041...d_a_.php?page=1

Did anyone get a chance to read that article?

Definitely an interesting read. The two things I really dislike about DDO are the grinding for levels and the $15/month that I'm paying to play the damn thing. The grinding I could do without completely and I hope they solve that balance piece of the game. The subscription is more than I want to pay (not that I am stopping yet 🙄)and definitely keeps me from buying anything else in the meantime.

New site up with video -

http://www.playneverwinter.com/

Looks like it will be subscription based though. Pisser.

These things don't need to have a persistent server which needs MMO sub fees.

Whatever happened to the persistent character [a'la Diablo/Neverwinter Nights/Baldur'sGate]...? Oh wait I bet its leather and sometimes folds, thats what must have gotten in the way.

When are they going to figure out a way to require sub fees for the machines themselves... and don't say play-on.. crap.


Seriously though, private servers/persistent characters.. set 'story arcs' + fan created story arcs.

Cryptic knows how to put fan created content in their MMOs but still, I don't like sub fees when I don't have enough time to play the games I own that don't have sub fees.

Duck, came here to post just that.

It does look pretty darn good though..... And I am so partial to Neverwinter......

I love the ability to make and share your own quests - but man a subscription.... (RB)

yeah it doesn't matter who makes this game, I'm buying it. I love small group multiplayer games more then any other type. Who doesn't love forgotten realms? 4th edition D&D isn't terrible, its just not AD&D so no one loves it.

http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/23/ma...erwinter-and-a/

With Battle.net and Steam out there, will we have to be online to play Neverwinter?
Yes, you will have to connect to our servers. Just like an MMO, that is a similarity.

So there's no offline play?
There is no offline play.

What type of business model are you going to use with this?
We haven't announced that yet -- we've got some kooky (subscription) plans that I think people will like.


boooooooo hisssssssss booooooooo

Who doesn't like Kooooky? I mean, this place is full of Kooooky!

Duck wrote:With Battle.net and Steam out there, will we have to be online to play Neverwinter?
Yes, you will have to connect to our servers. Just like an MMO, that is a similarity.

Hopefully this is cracked in a short amount of time, though that may be a reason to 'not' buy it on steam. Other than Duck's current issues.

[this being the servers, not the game]

I re-re-re-downloaded BF:BC2 to try that verify all files and - nada - still comes up with CD Key in use every time I try to play multi-player.

Single player -no problem, multi - I'm F'd

Duck wrote:I re-re-re-downloaded BF:BC2 to try that verify all files and - nada - still comes up with CD Key in use every time I try to play multi-player.

Single player -no problem, multi - I'm F'd

At least the singleplayer was nice in that game. Still want to finish it...

Duck,

I'm starting to wonder if your key got swiped. I've heard of it happening in other BF's.

Might have to contact EA or Steam and let them know whats happening.

BTW, I jumped in about a month ago and played Vietnam, which was really all I ever played, and there were only 5 servers with people on them. Kind of sucked.

I have - 3 x each and each time they say its the other guys problem.
EA says because you have it through STAEM they need to reset your S/N and issue a new one.
STEAM says its EA's game and they need to reset your S/N and issue a new one.