Interview Neverwinter: What To Expect In the Upcoming MMO

[Azrael the cat]

I've never quite understood complaints that the game (or any game in this property) doesn't adhere faithfully to D&D rules. Tabletop RPG rules have always been concessions to the fact that unaided humans can't crunch big numbers in realtime. A system in which you can only work with 5% increments, as in any d20 system, or even only in 1% increments, as in percentile systems, is saddling itself with clunkiness from the outset. There's no reason to use such klutzy and inelegant fractions when you're working with computers, except that nerds LIKE their GOOD NUMBERS.

Because people want a game that does adhere to the rules faithfully. Is that so much to ask? A handful of games that follow the ruleset instead of the same shit over and over? With all of their quirks and faults and addendum there is a grand track record of the pen and paper rulesets being objectively and subjectively better than the "inspired interpretations" of them that mediocre game developers come up with. Period.

The claim that the only advantage of a d20 system is that humans can calculate the odds is a blatant lie that is oft-repeated by mainstream gaming news. First off, knowing how your character will change when you equip something is actually a useful piece of information if the game has any level of challenge whatsoever. Second, increments greater than 0.01337% result in discrete decisions that must be made regarding trade-offs. Discrete choices are more interesting. They are noticeable. A 1% increased chance to crit is not.

Furthermore, knowing the ruleset going into a game, one knows of far more viable character builds that could be interesting. Going in blind to a new system is oppressive and forces players into roles and builds that are traditionally recognized as viable.

...Now that I've read some of your other posts I want to stab you in the eye. Are you a marketing plant or just plain retarded?

I'm with Crawkill on this. I'd much rather see developers just make a good game, and judge it as a good game, rather than having 'good game' made less important than franchise fidelity. In particular, I get frustrated when fans complain about lack of fidelity rather than lack of, say, tactics, coherent themes, visual style etc.

It is very very rare in any medium for a franchise to maintain the same quality once it gets to the stage of people expecting franchise fidelity over just making a good game/book/flm. The new developers need to just take their own ideas and make the best game that they can make - it's the only way they're going to implement anything like the originality and artistry as the original.

Before you alll start raging, I'm not saying that this new D&D game (or FO3, for that matter) isn't looking like shite. But if FO3 etc are shite, it's because they're shite games, period. Because of derpy dialogue, poor combat design, theme-park world design, moronic collations of conflicting ideas, no consistency of themes and poor execution of what is there. If you're making a D&D game, going turn-based is sensible - not because of OMG fidelity to original system - but because it's central to the rest of the mechanics and why change what isn't broken? If you DID come up with an equally good real time system, however unlikely, there'd be no reason not to implement it (unless there was a glut of real-time games, and an underserved turn-based market, like there is at the moment).

Going for franchise fidelity over making good games/books/films is how you end up with the kind of pulp shite that comprises the extended universe writing from star trek and numerous other sci-fi/fantasy franchises, pulled apart by the weight of their own fanboys. DS9 gets the love it does because they were willing to utterly jettison franchise fidelity in favour of making a good series.

Criticise games because they're shite. Not because one team, with completely different strengths and weaknesses to that which made the original, operating in a completely different time period, decides to just 'make a good game'. Not that this is likely to apply to the game being discussed in this thread.

 

[godsend1989]

I don`t even try to download it, MMO`s are tricky, they will grab your soul in a matter of seconds and this one has eye candy graphics that makes it even more dangerous, stay safe kids, don`t try this at home.

 

[crawlkill]

we can summarize it thus: Fallout 3 used SPECIAL and a take on skill systems and was a waste of everyone's time so spiritual that if there'd ever been an afterlife it'd've been deleted just by Bethesda's managing that license. meanwhile, Baldur's Gate 2 used a second edition D&D system so painful to manipulate that, well, -even the two tabletop editions that have followed have been complete rewrites,- and I'm still slavering for the special editions and aching to hold off pirating the originals again now. RPGs don't provide meaningful challenge! they don't! they're exploitation machines! what's important is what -surrounds the mechanics.- the things -other- than the combat. it always has been. everyone knows Torment would've been better as interactive fiction. we labor through the combat in Torment to get to the dialogue. it isn't well-balanced. it's rarely, barely, fun. it's absolutely worth the slog to get to the "real game," but the idea that the NUMBARS are somehow sacred is...I have no words. "in space travel," said Slartibartfast. "the numbers are awful."

system. does. not. matter. all that matters is that the game fucking works and that you can fucking interface with it in a meaningful fucking way, which D&D has never provided. you can either interface with it casually and be a victim of its brokenness or interface with it obsessively and exploit that brokenness. neither is fun for anyone who isn't you in an online game setting. I'm not doing science here, faggots! this is basic psychology! what the fuck.

 

[Smashing Axe]

We’re absolutely an MMO. We’re a free to play, action combat MMO. Those are the key touchstones for what we think will set us apart.

I'm wondering exactly how they think this will set them apart. Isn't that what every MMO does, free to play or other?​

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Yeah, you've got nothing but contempt for games like ToEE and KotC but will readily drool over mindboggingly dumb shit like daily raids in MMOs. Thx, that was all the info we required. Now fuck off.

helo babygurl I has not exprass any positav opinion for this gaem only says ur dumb for hating it because it isnit DEENDEE NUMBERS ENOAF I would murder you if I had a knife

hahaha helo asspounder cretin, you didn't quite get the fuck off message yet?

 

[Infinitron]

system. does. not. matter.

And dock 100 brofists from Azrael for agreeing with him

 

[Lord Andre]

Every mmo that tried to steal WoWs crown failed but they still won't let it go. Dumbfucks gonna' dumbfuck.

 

[Infinitron]

Every mmo that tried to steal WoWs crown failed but they still won't let it go. Dumbfucks gonna' dumbfuck.

This one's not really a WoW clone though. They're not even trying to steal WoW's crown.

 

[Lord Andre]

Everyone is trying to steal WoWs crown. WoW is the holy grail of every asshole ever to crawl out of his mamma's crack and join the gaming industry with the express purpose of making money. They would sell their soul, they would sell their children's soul, they would buttfuck jesus if only - ONLY - they could get a bit of that action.

 

[J1M]

Because people want a game that does adhere to the rules faithfully. Is that so much to ask? A handful of games that follow the ruleset instead of the same shit over and over? With all of their quirks and faults and addendum there is a grand track record of the pen and paper rulesets being objectively and subjectively better than the "inspired interpretations" of them that mediocre game developers come up with. Period.

The claim that the only advantage of a d20 system is that humans can calculate the odds is a blatant lie that is oft-repeated by mainstream gaming news. First off, knowing how your character will change when you equip something is actually a useful piece of information if the game has any level of challenge whatsoever. Second, increments greater than 0.01337% result in discrete decisions that must be made regarding trade-offs. Discrete choices are more interesting. They are noticeable. A 1% increased chance to crit is not.

Furthermore, knowing the ruleset going into a game, one knows of far more viable character builds that could be interesting. Going in blind to a new system is oppressive and forces players into roles and builds that are traditionally recognized as viable.

...Now that I've read some of your other posts I want to stab you in the eye. Are you a marketing plant or just plain retarded?

let me just suggest to you that you don't know what 5% means. let me put it to the whole world: you have no idea what 5% means.

EASY ANSWER: human beings DON'T UNDERSTAND NUMBERS THAT GREAT. if you're a motherfucking NASA engineer, you have the right to contest me here. if you're a deadbeat sperg, like you sound, then get over numbers and accept products.

interestingly, I've never heard anyone else suggest that the advantage of a d20 system is that humans can calculate the odds. I didn't actually know there were other humans sharp enough to notice! if it's an "oft-repeated blatant lie of the mainstream gaming news," it's one they realized independent of me and I of them, and motherfuck but I'm proud of em.

Don't project your inadequacies onto the rest of us. I actually do happen to have a Math degree but that level of education is not required or uncommon in the RPG consumer base.

 

[J1M]

I've never quite understood complaints that the game (or any game in this property) doesn't adhere faithfully to D&D rules. Tabletop RPG rules have always been concessions to the fact that unaided humans can't crunch big numbers in realtime. A system in which you can only work with 5% increments, as in any d20 system, or even only in 1% increments, as in percentile systems, is saddling itself with clunkiness from the outset. There's no reason to use such klutzy and inelegant fractions when you're working with computers, except that nerds LIKE their GOOD NUMBERS.

Because people want a game that does adhere to the rules faithfully. Is that so much to ask? A handful of games that follow the ruleset instead of the same shit over and over? With all of their quirks and faults and addendum there is a grand track record of the pen and paper rulesets being objectively and subjectively better than the "inspired interpretations" of them that mediocre game developers come up with. Period.

The claim that the only advantage of a d20 system is that humans can calculate the odds is a blatant lie that is oft-repeated by mainstream gaming news. First off, knowing how your character will change when you equip something is actually a useful piece of information if the game has any level of challenge whatsoever. Second, increments greater than 0.01337% result in discrete decisions that must be made regarding trade-offs. Discrete choices are more interesting. They are noticeable. A 1% increased chance to crit is not.

Furthermore, knowing the ruleset going into a game, one knows of far more viable character builds that could be interesting. Going in blind to a new system is oppressive and forces players into roles and builds that are traditionally recognized as viable.

...Now that I've read some of your other posts I want to stab you in the eye. Are you a marketing plant or just plain retarded?

I'm with Crawkill on this. I'd much rather see developers just make a good game, and judge it as a good game, rather than having 'good game' made less important than franchise fidelity. In particular, I get frustrated when fans complain about lack of fidelity rather than lack of, say, tactics, coherent themes, visual style etc.

It is very very rare in any medium for a franchise to maintain the same quality once it gets to the stage of people expecting franchise fidelity over just making a good game/book/flm. The new developers need to just take their own ideas and make the best game that they can make - it's the only way they're going to implement anything like the originality and artistry as the original.

Before you alll start raging, I'm not saying that this new D&D game (or FO3, for that matter) isn't looking like shite. But if FO3 etc are shite, it's because they're shite games, period. Because of derpy dialogue, poor combat design, theme-park world design, moronic collations of conflicting ideas, no consistency of themes and poor execution of what is there. If you're making a D&D game, going turn-based is sensible - not because of OMG fidelity to original system - but because it's central to the rest of the mechanics and why change what isn't broken? If you DID come up with an equally good real time system, however unlikely, there'd be no reason not to implement it (unless there was a glut of real-time games, and an underserved turn-based market, like there is at the moment).

Going for franchise fidelity over making good games/books/films is how you end up with the kind of pulp shite that comprises the extended universe writing from star trek and numerous other sci-fi/fantasy franchises, pulled apart by the weight of their own fanboys. DS9 gets the love it does because they were willing to utterly jettison franchise fidelity in favour of making a good series.

Criticise games because they're shite. Not because one team, with completely different strengths and weaknesses to that which made the original, operating in a completely different time period, decides to just 'make a good game'. Not that this is likely to apply to the game being discussed in this thread.

Your argument here fails to address the fact that the majority of D&D games that are revered and hold up over time follow the ruleset very closely.

Speculation: Perhaps actually learning the ruleset forces the developers to become as familiar with the license as they like to pretend they are in interviews. Perhaps they learn a thing or two about game design by examining it and perhaps it is only the shitty developers who shit their pants at the thought of programming a pen and paper ruleset.

 

[Infinitron]

Neverwinter: What to expect?

Free 2 Play in less than 0 months.

Fixed.
RTFOP.

 

[Gerrard]

It doesn't let you run around while swinging a weapon (at least it looks like it from the video), combat already better than GW2.

 

[l3loodAngel]

Yeah, you've got nothing but contempt for games like ToEE and KotC but will readily drool over mindboggingly dumb shit like daily raids in MMOs. Thx, that was all the info we required. Now fuck off.

helo babygurl I has not exprass any positav opinion for this gaem only says ur dumb for hating it because it isnit DEENDEE NUMBERS ENOAF I would murder you if I had a knife

If he is not a troll alt I will be very disappointed.

 

[Konjad]

MMO? In the news section? Can we have some standards here, please? Pop that monocle back in, Infinitron, and find us some worthy news to discuss!

Here:
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/374932/gja-skyrim-voted-the-best-rpg/

In an immensely competitive category of prodigious RPG dev talent, Skyrim managed to edge ahead of Diablo III (Blizzard) and Mass Effect 3 (EA).

Well, if I had to choose one of these three then I'd choose Skyrim too. At least it's a LARP simulator, instead of terribly-fucked-cash-in MMO Diablo III and sex simulator ME3.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Sad but true. Both games make Skyrim seem like an incredibly deep, old-school RPG.

 

[Metro]

Sad but true. Both games make Skyrim seem like an incredibly deep, old-school RPG.

Are you saying we can't count on you to be the Codex Guild's tank?!?!?

 

[sser]

Oh cool, a pseudo-medieval fantasy world made into an MMO. I'm sure it will do great.

 

[sea]

Funny how he attacks "money grubbing" Asian MMOs, yet his entire interview reads like a list of buzzwords the marketing department demanded he mention as often as possible.

 

[HotSnack]

Funny how he attacks "money grubbing" Asian MMOs, yet his entire interview reads like a list of buzzwords the marketing department demanded he mention as often as possible.

Nah, what's funnier is that cryptic were bought by a chinese company, and since then all their mmos have been converted into the f2p money grubbing asian mmos format.