Was looking to play an MMO recently. I have played most MMO's at one point or another since UO / EQ. (exluding most Korean MMO's) Some I have played a lot, like EQ, EQ2, WoW, & ESO over the years. Most have turned to shit. Nostalgia can pull me back in though.
Anyhow, I decided to give Neverwinter a try. The last time I played was around 8 years ago for a couple of months. This info is after having played on and off for a couple of weeks now. Full new player experience, no outside information gathering, no attempt at meta, and no rushing. This is strictly what I gathered as a new player. As a sidenote, I stopped playing the TTRPG at 3.5.
- Level cap is 20. You don'gain exp by killing mobs. You gain levels by doing the main questline. At certain milestones, the main quest will reward you a level. Took a little getting used to but I have no real qualms with this.
- Each area that a questline happens in is called an Adventure. Your first adventure starts in Neverdeath Graveyard. You do a series of quests with numerous NPC's taking part, then upon completion of all quests, you go back to the city turn it in and go off on another adventure to a new zone.
- I tried each class up to a certain point. In most MMO's I usually play one of the evil type classes so I ended going with the Warlock. Paladin was fun. The Bard has you actually press buttons in sequence for some abilites, to play your instrument. It was cool. The Cleric also seemed quite fun. The classes were somewhat varied in playstyle.
- The classes are, Barbarian, Paladin, Fighter, Warlock, Bard, Cleric, Rogue, Wizard, Ranger. Some classes have two specs to choose from like the Cleric can be either a DPS or a Healer, while some like the Rogue can only be DPS. At some point while you gain levels you will be presented with an the option to choose which one you wish to be. As a Warlock, upon reaching level 11, I was presented with two Paragons. Hellbringer (DPS) or Soulweaver (Heals). I went Hellbringer.
- Most of the usual races are represeted. Humans, Half Elf, Drow, Halfling, Wood Elf, Tiefling etc. Then there are some oddballs locked behind a paywall like one called a Menzoberranzan Renegade
- These adventures are all soloable. A friend took pity on me and joined for a day and it was quite easy going. After he bailed, I went back to soloing and found it a tad bit more challenging. This isn't like current WoW or EQ2. Mobs actually have a healthpool and you need to use your abilities to kill stuff. No one shotting.
- There are a lot of bosses to fight. Some really cool looking ones too. They are presented in a quick cutscene as you approach. So far they all have quite simple mechanics which I am fine with. There are "get out of the fire" markers on the ground like most MMO's use nowadays.
- There has been a good amount of monster types that follow the D&D Monster Manual feel.
- The game is janky to control. You get used to it, but it is stiff.
- The combat is action, not tab target.
- Most enounters are just that, encounters. Groups of mobs rule the day. It plays more like an ARPG (grim dawn, diablo 3, path etc) than a classic MMO.
- There are NPC companions. They can either be a tank, dps, or healer. So far I have only used a healer. They can use companion gear. There are a very large amount of companions. There appears to be numerous ways of getting them. I am sure some involve money. They are super helpful, maybe a bit OP.
- I joined a guild. They have a stronghold (guildhalls) with a lot of daily quests. Some require a group some are soloable. I didn't do much in that regard.
- Guilds can form Alliances so you can join guilds together in a common chat channel and find like minded people.
- Reading guild / alliance chat on occasion, it appears the playerbase is on the older side. At least with this group of people. They seem to be meta gaming pretty hardcore, spending a lot of RL money, and just grinding things out as quick as they can. Might be an anomaly, but I doubt it.
- The graphics show their age but are cozy. The art style is actually very good. The zones are varied and interesting. Old graveyards, full moons, snowy peaks, haunted forests, old mines, dungeons etc. I find the graphics quite pleasing overall. But I like the graphics from Piranha Byte and Spiders games a lot, so take that for what its worth.
- I have everything on highest setting and the game runs fine. My spec are way above the recommends. I put the game on a much older PC and it ran fine on that too.
- The music ranges from good to decent
- The sounds effects, while not super high quality, are actually really good and suit the various classes and monsters.
- The ambient sounds are excellent. I recommend turning those up.
- There are a lot of mounts. Some are behind a paywall. Some get handed out as you do your adventures. I have a couple of horses, a bear, and snail . They each have a paragraph of lore. They can also have mount only items you can attach to the mount slots. They also have differnt quality levels to them like gear does. And they offer you an ability to choose from that goes on a mount only section of your hotbar as well as some passives.
- Speaking of hotbars, you gain new abilities at various levels. Your hotbar has sections to it. So it's not a "place all moves anywhere" setup. You have moves that only go into certain areas of the hotbar. As you gain new abilities you will need to decide which of them you want to use. You will not have a hotbar filled with every move. It is limited in space.
- You don't loot the mobs you kill. They drop gold etc on the ground and you move your character over it.
- There is a good amount of lore to collect. It is kept in a seperate tab. Each adventure zone has some really interesting lore. If you are a fan of the setting then you will already be familiar with a lot of the lore its based off of.
- For crafting you get an instanced workshop. It has leveling. You have a little office inside the workshop where you can go over NPC' applications to see if they are a good match. You send them out to gather items (instant if you have enough morale points or timers if you dont.) and to create items. You are more like a boss than a crafter. This is one of the parts of the game I haven't experienced much yet.
- The NPC's quest givers are all voiced. It would appear that they changed voice actors at various stages of the game. Because sometimes the same NPC will use a different voice. The voice acting has been fine.
- If there is any wokeness then it would be in parts of the game I have yet to see. The quest dialogue is distinctly not woke so far.
- As you kill mobs, on occasion, a lootbox will drop. These lootboxes contain a huge amount of possible items. Mounts, currencies, companions, and a lot more. To open these boxes you need a key. A key cost money. Each key is 1 Dollar USD.
- They have a monthly option called VIP. You spend what amounts to 10 USD and you get various perks. One of the perks is 1 key to open up these damned chests once a day. Other perks appear to be more fast travel less mount usage , workshop related things, and extra currencies as you play.
- The monetizaion appears to be very robust. I have yet to spend any actual money, so it can be played without spending a dime. If I were to get into the game, I would calculate around a minimum of 10 - 15 dollars a month. So about the price of a WoW / FFXIV sub. I am certain that the people really into the game are spending a lot more than that though.
I am not sure if I will keep playing. I usually like to devote my attention to one game at a time. With this one I have also been playing a couple of other games on and off as well. But I have yet to hit level 20, so I am going to do that at least. I have a feeling the monetization is going to get heavy handed once reaching max level. I am not one for spending inordinate amounts of money on MMO's. I enjoy MMO gaming a lot, but I have grown callous and jaded to their schemes. I think approaching this game from a more casual perspective is the right mindset to have.