Drum roll, please; the furious debates can finally end over whether paid betas are live launches with twirly fake mustaches...till the next dubious MMO goes into beta.
For anyone living under a rock, Neverwinter "officially" launched today, June 20, 2013!And with it, a detailed announcement of features for its upcoming first expansion, called a "module" and named Fury of the Feywild, located on the
upcoming expansion webpage.
(For the OP, here's my review.
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Speaking personally, throughout the past few months in closed and open beta, Cryptic has done two great big things--renewed my faith in Cryptic, and renewed my faith in the fantasy MMORPG genre; and to some extent, reinvigorated my faith in the evolution and improvement of MMOs in general, along with the help of other innovative titles such as The Secret World and City of Steam, and Linkrealms (for being an indie MMO made by three dudes), and the Earth and Beyond Emulator (for proving that "out of print" MMOs can be turned into well-balanced, full-featured "used books"). And they didn't have to invent a new setting to do it, instead turning to a forty year-old franchise that's as diverse and imaginative as the many skilled hands who have added to it over the years.
The pre-launch event has been fun, with portals opening up all over the heart of the city and Valindra Shadowmantle's minions spilling out to cause trouble (a nod to worlds gone by, perhaps). This time, thankfully, there were more than eight survivors left to tell the tale. And reap all the loot. Especially that part. It'll be great to be able to say "I was there," in the years to come, which is something I wasn't able to say about City of Heroes' humble beginnings.
It helps that the most evolved edition of the Foundry is in Neverwinter. I've been picking up games for user generated content ever since the age of 9, with Adventure Construction Set, one of EA's greatest hits...in 1985. I picked up City of Heroes in March 2009 because of Issue 14: Mission Architect. I know it ran some people off, but it also brought a community of storytellers together. I met some of my best gaming pals through Mission Architect, and developed for the first time a notion of having "favorite authors" inside of a game who weren't developers. Amazing times we live in.
After reading about Neverwinter's Foundry tools, I'm pretty sure things are about to get even more amazing. Here's hoping some of my favorite authors move to Neverwinter (and if you're reading this and ever received praise from me for your arcs in City of Heroes, please reply or PM to let me know). The other day, I tipped my first favorite Neverwinter author 500 Astral Diamonds--a neat feature--his name is Zebular, and he created a story arc named "The Dweomerkeepers", which is probably the best introduction to the richness of the setting that I could have hoped for. You should check it out (and remember to click "Ask another question" or its equivalent before walking away from contact NPCs--you'll be rewarded with a mother load of lore).
As a newcomer to the setting, but not pen-and-paper universes, I never expected Neverwinter and the Forgotten Realms to be such interesting places. And Cryptic displays the grandness of the setting masterfully, with all of its peoples, conflicts and history given much more than cursory nods. Yes, Cryptic, the same folks who bought and bafooned their way through the Champions property without actually championing much of the setting. The writing isn't quite up to par with The Secret World or some parts of the Lord of the Rings Online, but I'd call Neverwinter a close third that actually matches toe-to-toe in some story arcs, and makes up for the rest by just being the Forgotten Realms. They've come a long way from Millennium City, and it shows like the bright, silvery light over Celestia. Oh, heh, sorry...that's the astral realm of a triad of lawful gods in the Forgotten Realms universe.
And here's hoping they bottle some of that up and take it back to Millennium City.
