NeverWinter

[Kaos Arcanna]

I got an email about becoming a founder of that game yesterday. I've actually been considering giving it a try, but does anyone else find it odd to be
offered such email before they let you see how the game plays?

[Tenzhi]

I got that one, too.  And I similarly thought that there was no way I was spending 50 to 250 bucks to see how the game plays on Beta "weekends"... just the weekends are all you're guaranteed.  I don't know if they're not doing a full beta test or if the founders packages only get you in for stress testing, but it seemed silly to me.

[Ampithere]

There's a ton of gameplay videos.

More to the point though, I don't think it's odd at all. It's just a preorder. Calling it a founder pack is just a fancy name the marketing team came up with. This is the new standard practice. Guild Wars 2 did it. I believe SWTOR did it. I'm sure others did as well.

The game does actually look very fun. It just makes me nervous because we all know how Cryptic operates. Make a game and move on. I don't want it to be like CO where they just add new shinies to the cash shop and there's barely ever any new content.

[General Idiot]

The game does actually look very fun. It just makes me nervous because we all know how Cryptic operates. Make a game and move on. I don't want it to be like CO where they just add new shinies to the cash shop and there's barely ever any new content.

Neverwinter is pretty much the reason Cryptic only makes token updates to CO and STO these days. Everyone's working on the new game. And given how much longer it's been in development than either of its predecessors were, I'm cautiously hopeful that it might turn out alright. Because all CO/STO lack is polish and quantity of content for the most part, and a year or more extra development time should logically result in both to some extent.

Although, this is Cryptic we're talking about. Logic occasionally doesn't apply with them.

[dwturducken]

There's actually a fairly lively discussion on the forum about this. The forum is open, and you can log in with your PWE account, which I found a bit odd. Is it further into the beta process and closer to release than I had heard? I didn't even realize closed beta had started, and people were saying that they had gotten their keys from handouts at conventions.

[Lily Barclay]

I ordered the middle Founder's pack. I'll be exploding with info about this game when I can, but for now all I can say is I really expect this game to be a hit. My first beta weekend is Feb 8, and I don't believe there are any NDAs in place. I should be able to spill about it then. If anyone else is playing, my Cryptic ID is @zanarkheneld. (I'm also in champions) I don't know what the server names are yet, so I'm not sure where I will be yet.

[dwturducken]

They don't seem to use a named server system. There was some discussion of this over on the Plan Z side, but I know that I have logged into Champions with two friends and had to click something in the team interface to join the other two on "their" server. I expect NWO to work similarly.

I'm looking forward to the game, but it was a year before I spent any money on CO, and I still haven't spent a dime on STO. I'm reserving judgment until I can play it for a while.

[General Idiot]

The great thing about Cryptic's games is you don't HAVE to spend a dime on them unless you want to actually subscribe, thanks to the questionite/dilithium/whatever neverwinter calls their inevitable equivalent exchange. Especially in STO currently, the exchange rate is low so you can make 150 or so zen every day with just the two free character slots.

[Lily Barclay]

Neverwinter will not have a subscription model.  It is pure f2p. They'll make money off of character slots and cosmetics and mounts and stuff.

[Knightslayer]

There's a ton of gameplay videos.

More to the point though, I don't think it's odd at all. It's just a preorder. Calling it a founder pack is just a fancy name the marketing team came up with. This is the new standard practice. Guild Wars 2 did it. I believe SWTOR did it. I'm sure others did as well.

The game does actually look very fun. It just makes me nervous because we all know how Cryptic operates. Make a game and move on. I don't want it to be like CO where they just add new shinies to the cash shop and there's barely ever any new content.

End of Nations did it when it was still scheduled to release late '12, Defiance is doing it right now, Planetside 2 did it.
Pretty sure there's quite a few, SWTOR's was just CE and Digital edition though - they just gave all the active accounts the Founder title for free at some point (sometime during the first or second month?) and advertised they were going to do it in the hope of getting any doubters to quickly decide to jump in before it was too late, which is pretty much the reason behind the whole "founder" thing if you ask me - "Get it now before it's too late!"

[Knightslayer]

Neverwinter will not have a subscription model.  It is pure f2p. They'll make money off of character slots and cosmetics and mounts and stuff.

Weren't they going to include some Gold pack/VIP option?

[Lily Barclay]

Weren't they going to include some Gold pack/VIP option?

Not for a subscription, no. The expensive founder pack gives you priority access to servers and the to two give you guaranteed beta access, but that's as far as the VIP goes. There will be no subscription model at all.

[Tenzhi]

There's a ton of gameplay videos.

Did a brief search on Youtube and most of what came up was from several months ago.  Of course, all a gameplay video can really tell me is that I definitely want to *try* a game.  I have enough experience with games to know that even if it looks great when someone else is playing it, it doesn't mean I'm going to like it when I actually get my hands on it.  And with PC games there's the added variable of how well it's going to work with my particular system.

[Lily Barclay]

Did a brief search on Youtube and most of what came up was from several months ago.  Of course, all a gameplay video can really tell me is that I definitely want to *try* a game.  I have enough experience with games to know that even if it looks great when someone else is playing it, it doesn't mean I'm going to like it when I actually get my hands on it.  And with PC games there's the added variable of how well it's going to work with my particular system.

Well it's completely f2p, so you can try it out if you're so inclined with no risk, really.

[Tenzhi]

Well it's completely f2p, so you can try it out if you're so inclined with no risk, really.

And *that's* the point at which it would make more sense to offer me nifty packages to spend money on rather than offering me pricey packages with the dubious lure of trying it out early.

[Lily Barclay]

And *that's* the point at which it would make more sense to offer me nifty packages to spend money on rather than offering me pricey packages with the dubious lure of trying it out early.

Yeah. I don't see any of the packages actually being worth the money they are charging. I bought the middle one because I want to support the game and would have paid that for it if it did have a box price. I'm also a sucker for Founder's titles in games I really like, and I have reason to believe I will like this game, so I got it.

I'm really not suggesting anyone else buy the packs, but for me it was the right decision. My husband decided he didn't want one, and would just pay for what he wanted from the game after launch.

However, if anyone does buy the packs... I will be available to play with during the beta weekends. =D I also know a fair amount about the game and should be able to help with info and stuffs during the beta.

[Tenzhi]

I'm really hoping to like the game.  I watched a couple of the character class preview videos I found and it looks potentially fun.  Didn't see a video for Clerics, or archers of any sort, unfortunately.  A brief glance at the forums seems to indicate that there isn't an archer option yet (seems to be a ranger class in the works).

[Lily Barclay]

I'm really hoping to like the game.  I watched a couple of the character class preview videos I found and it looks potentially fun.  Didn't see a video for Clerics, or archers of any sort, unfortunately.  A brief glance at the forums seems to indicate that there isn't an archer option yet (seems to be a ranger class in the works).

That sounds consistent with what I know.

[malonkey1]

Ew, no, it's based off 4e. I have no issue with others enjoying it, but I'm gonna wait for the Pathfinder MMO.

[Tenzhi]

Ew, no, it's based off 4e. I have no issue with others enjoying it, but I'm gonna wait for the Pathfinder MMO.

While I hated running 4E for tabletop, it seems pretty well tailored for video games with its reliance on 'cooldowns' of a sort and positioning.