I’ve played each of the five available classes in Neverwinter through the beginning quests and they were all enjoyable. I have my personal favorites but no class felt gimped in comparison to the others. The one flaw of the five classes so far? Quite simply the scales are tipped in far of those that prefer melee classes, there is currently only one pure ranged dps class and one healer class that is also ranged for dps.
The Classes
Control Wizard, who unfortunately none of my screen shots took during severe server lag yesterday afternoon, is ranged dps. They appear to be an arch-typical mage class (imagine that, archetypes in a Dungeon and Dragons game!). Game play was fun without feeling uber squishy those first couple of levels and enemies were pretty quickly dispatched.
The Great Weapon Fighter class is a two-hander melee dps class. Extremely fun and powerful feeling from the very first weapon attack, no feeling gimped by heavy armor and a huge sword.
The Guardian Fighter class is the tank class. The play style, at least initially, is very similar to that of the Great Weapon Fighter except for the sword and shield. Holding aggro was not a problem and killing enemies did not take much longer than the dps classes.
Trickster Rogue is the archetypical rogue, massive burst damage followed by stealth. Damage the rogue puts out is incredibly, to be honest it felt more like I was dual wielding claymores rather than daggers. Enemies were dying fastest on the rogue, other classes feel slow in comparison.
Devote Cleric is the ranged healer for Neverwinter and the class I’ve played the most. High survivability and decent damage output make for an incredible immersive and fun play style.
Summary
So far, truth is the game is a blast but it isn’t going to entertain those looking for an immersive social game. The feel of the environment and the quests are all very reminiscent of the Neverwinter series. However, so far I haven’t had a need to group with anyone to kill anything quest related, I haven’t died or even come close to dying. Players have the ability to heal others as they run by or stop and help kill a mob. Personally, I prefer my games this way. I prefer questing at my own pace and play style rather than being forced to play in a manner that suits the group. This is not true for all gamers however, and if you want that elusive “social” experience will gaming I can’t see Neverwinter being the game of choice. Don’t misunderstand me, servers are packed and chat is never quiet. There is plenty of opportunity for social interaction and joining a guild, but the overall feel of the game is that of a single player game set in a muliplayer world.
There is a cash shop and the cash shop currency is called Zen. The conversion rate from Zen to dollars appears to be 1:1. Thus buying extra bag spaces will cost you real world money. So the cheapest, non-quest reward bag, will cost you $6.00 for 12 slots or $10.00 for 24 slots. Yep if you want extra bags be prepared to pony up real life money for at least 2 extra bags per character. The cash shop contains cosmetic items, mounts, dyes, and various other items. There is no subscription fee to play the game. The cash shop, which is normal for Perfect World Entertainment games, is pretty standard. Extra bank space is also a real world expenditure, as are extra character slots.
I don’t have a problem with the cash shop model or the free to play model. Would I think it wise if they offered a subscription model option in addition? That’s a no brainer, it’s asinine not to offer the option of a subscription. Need models that work, try any Sony Online game or Turbine game out there. Bioware has implemented a model that works well also. Why would any company only go strictly free to play when there is a chance to have a sustained, reliable revenue stream completely baffles me.
I have completely enjoyed my experience in Neverwinter so far. It reminds me of Guild Wars 2 in many ways, minus all the hype and BS that accompanied that title.
This is really a fantastic post so keep it up for more post so keep it up for more post because this is really a superb post and know more about this click here.
ReplyDeleteNice post. It does remind me of Guild Wars 2. It is the game I wish I had when I was a teen / in my twenties. In response to your subscription question, it would seem that they are like that commercial where Jimmy Fallon asks the little girl if she would like more cash and she says no. Or maybe they are content to grind out the cash from each user one at a time because a subscription could cost them impulse buyers. In any case nice write up.
ReplyDelete