Anyone bite on the Neverwinter nights Founder packages?

[SunnyD]

I bite on nothing. I preordered Torchlight II directly from PWI instead of getting it on Steam so I could also get the beta access. Have I received beta access yet? NO. wtf.

(No, I didn't buy TL2 specifically for NW beta access - I preordered via PWI instead of via other channels because of the perk of beta access)

good way to gurentee the game sucks. Make it F2P and have bunch of micro-transactions.
this game is doomed to fail.

Because Planetside 2 is failing miserably...

 

[gothamhunter]

F2P w/Microtransactions != failure because of it.

Source> the myriad of games that fit that description that are very successful and some very fun.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Yep, Star Trek Online is a great game if you like Trek. You can do almost everything without spending money.

Star Wars TOR is pretty good as F2P too, you can do everything except the endgame raids and crafting without spending cash.

 

[Rinaun]

I bite on nothing. I preordered Torchlight II directly from PWI instead of getting it on Steam so I could also get the beta access. Have I received beta access yet? NO. wtf.

(No, I didn't buy TL2 specifically for NW beta access - I preordered via PWI instead of via other channels because of the perk of beta access)



Because Planetside 2 is failing miserably...

Planetside 2 IS failing in many ways. The micro transactions are a total deterrent for quite a few people who would of otherwise played. I've had friends comment that it feels like Halo combat (very enjoyable) but they simply don't want to go through with the Freemium zoo that's PS2. The weapons are balanced nicely but some of the vehicle perks are still must-haves. It's still slow to gain credits even AFTER an increase of credit gain in many areas. Couple that with every server becoming a ghost town and you have the recipe for failure a year down the road.

 

[Ashenor]

Looks like the people that really bite are buying both the packs, so they are dropping $260 on it after reading the forums some.

If it was pure open beta and not a few limited weekends i probably would do the $59 to check it out now since i am bored.

 

[lupi]

got an email that I'm in the beta for this weekend. will probably check it out a bit to get a feel if it's worth anything.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Will they still have user created content like the old games did or is this just another cash grab exploiting a name we all cherish?

 

[Midwayman]

The trouble with F2P games is that they have to make them intentionally grindy in order to encourage people to buy the content. Basically you get a marginally playable demo and you have to pay for the 'real' game. Often you pay far more than if you had bought the game to begin with. I feel like F2P game are for people who are bad at math.

 

[Craig234]

Yep, Star Trek Online is a great game if you like Trek. You can do almost everything without spending money.

I'd like to agree but can't. I want to see the game do well, but have a lot to criticize.

Things I think the game got right are that it's very pretty (but pretty space views are only so much of an attraction, then ignored); and some nice scripted story missions.

However, I found the two types of gameplay - ground missions and space combat - to be not that good, contrived, space combat in particular pretty boring (not that it's easy to design a 'good' system, these star ships are not designed in theory to be suited to thousands of combats, saying 'target phasers, fire' only goes so far in gameplay).

And the game is just hugely confusing. Crew skills are a nightmare to pick, you find at least dozens of items you can't tell what they're for or which is better. It's a mess.

It just doesn't capture enough of the things that make the show enjoyable, outside of some of those story quests.

Admittedly, I only played up to the first 'promotion', I think 10 ranks, but from what I saw it didn't change that much at high ranks - that was subscribing for over a year.

I'd say it's worth a look but only a good game for a small number of people who not only like Star Trek but this gameplay.

 

[KMFJD]

I'm extremely hesitant about any games Cryptic makes these days

 

[Craig234]

The trouble with F2P games is that they have to make them intentionally grindy in order to encourage people to buy the content. Basically you get a marginally playable demo and you have to pay for the 'real' game. Often you pay far more than if you had bought the game to begin with. I feel like F2P game are for people who are bad at math.

Instead of a game designed to provide enjoyment and rewards for players, Free to Pay games are designed like an addictive product, needing to pull the player in to get invested in the game but by design having to create a lot of pressure on the payer to want to spend money. That only goes so far with content - so it seems pretty much all of them force players to spend to save hours of time to get something done after making them easy at first.

This isn't new to Free to Pay - games have long made level 1 to 2 a lot easier than level 50 to 51 - but it's gotten a lot worse with Free to Pay. Before, it was just needed to extend gameplay to make the game seem more substantive, but with F2P it has to get people to open their wallets over and over.

I installed 'FreeRealms', a sort of all-ages 'go around various varnival games' type F2P, and after a couple reasonably fun little games to play, suddenly I was running into 'hope you enjoyed that copper node to mine, here's an iron one for you if you pay', and 'here's a neat game to play if you pay - or there's a less rewarding one if you walk way over there for several minutes'. That was the end of playing that.

If it were just a game you buy, it'd have fun games easy to play, but unfortunately consumers reward the F2P model more.

 

[Craig234]

I'm extremely hesitant about any games Cryptic makes these days

I don't like [edit: NCSoft] shutting down City of Heroes - lot of players spent years invested in making characters.

 

[DigDog]

funny how nobody mentioned it's published by PWE. I'm a BLR player and i know the horrors of their management. They could screw up anything.

 

[MeldarthX]

*sighs* Cryptic had nothing to do with CoH shutting down that was NCsoft; you know the people that own it??

Seriously unless you actually know what's happening with Neverwinter or how the game is progressing; to say another pay to win; or because its ftp it's going to fail.....*shakes his head*

5 minutes you can see what they are doing; another 5 around these times can usually net you a beta key for free....

I'm playing; actually doing what a beta tester needs to submitting bugs.

So far; the game is fun; a lot of fun. It feels like DnD; *which while DDO feels like DnD; this feels a lot more like DnD*

Combat is a lot of fun; its active; you got to watch what you're doing; blocking is also active; and if you run out of power by blocking a powerful attack *it happens* you can't block until you've recharged that skill.....

City of Neverwinter *once you get inside* is extremely pretty......Is it the most graphically demanding game? Nope; there are bugs; but this is beta. Everything can be earned; far as I seen nothing is accessed off into paid corners......

The game needs work and some polish; but its looking very good.

Best of all is the foundry; allows you to create your own adventures and put them up to be voted on and played by others......yes very NWN style......

 

[lupi]

spent a couple hours into now and have a level 12 wizard. for the most points it's a pretty d&d lite game. they've even patched in some things since I've started playing that make gameplay better. Don't like all the combat animations, a little airbender'ish, and you can see in some areas where this microtransaction crap will be pretty heavily involved.

Be interested also to see how mobs evolve further, first several levels it was pretty easy mowing them down solo but once you hit about 10 you start to come across bigger groups that often contain one or more mobs with multiple hit point bars (compared to a standard mob). While in group play this would probably be the same play toughness as if you were solo, the effect if you just want to play solo is of interest to me. At least there doesn't seem to be much preventing you from just chugging health pots all day.

As far as the packages, if the top tier one was $99, I'd probably really consider it even for occasional gameply, but at twice that it's probably more of a non-buy.

 

[shortylickens]

The trouble with F2P games is that they have to make them intentionally grindy in order to encourage people to buy the content. Basically you get a marginally playable demo and you have to pay for the 'real' game. Often you pay far more than if you had bought the game to begin with. I feel like F2P game are for people who are bad at math.

"free" is for people who never had economics.

Nothing is free. Everything has a cost, whether its on you or someone else.
I like the Valve model better, and Google too.

These fucking MMO's with all kinds of DLC is not what I want from my gaming. Ditto Microsoft and their god damn Flight.

 

[GaiaHunter]

The trouble with F2P games is that they have to make them intentionally grindy in order to encourage people to buy the content. Basically you get a marginally playable demo and you have to pay for the 'real' game. Often you pay far more than if you had bought the game to begin with. I feel like F2P game are for people who are bad at math.

Opposed to those other games that have to be grindy in order to encourage you to buy monthly access for it?

My favourite model is still that of Guild Wars 1&2 - buy the box, have access to all the content, microtransactions that are convenience.

 

[nageov3t]

I'll probably try it when it comes out, but no way would I pre-order microtransactions from an MMO I've never played.

I'm not against the f2p/microtransaction concept, as long as it's carried out well... I thought it worked great in LotRO; The Old Republic -- where you had to pay just for extra action bar slots -- not so much.

 

[Midwayman]

Opposed to those other games that have to be grindy in order to encourage you to buy monthly access for it?

That has changed a lot in recent years. Most of the MMO's I've played have a relatively quick advancement with lots of content to burn through and the grind is really mostly at top level for gear. Keep the hard core guys happy with the grind up there. Most F2P games tend to make advancement painful past the first 'set the hook' stage. Yah, both have some element of grind, but where they are on the spectrum is different.

 

[Agent11]

If it uses the same ftp model as STO it could do really well.

 

[Craig234]

That has changed a lot in recent years. Most of the MMO's I've played have a relatively quick advancement with lots of content to burn through and the grind is really mostly at top level for gear. Keep the hard core guys happy with the grind up there. Most F2P games tend to make advancement painful past the first 'set the hook' stage. Yah, both have some element of grind, but where they are on the spectrum is different.

I think the history of MMO level grind is this:

The long history of RPG's centered on levelling chars. The game was levelling, by the time you hit max level, the game was about over.

So when MMORPG's were made, they copied the levelling as being what the game was about, with content made for level after level.

Thing is, after the players finished, say, the level 5-10 area, it was useless to them. It cost a lot to make the content that had very brief player use.

Further, some players could hit the max level fast - not allowing that make it take a really long time for other players. So they had players at max level - and found those players were very iomportant to their revenue to keep them playing, so they needed 'end game' stuff that could last months and years.

They started to realize that the 'levelling content' was very expensive to make for its use by players - that the levelling process was almost superlous if not annoying to many players to have to 'get through', while they had to make the big investments in the end game. I suggested it'd make sense to make an MMO that didn't even have 'levelling', just start chars at max level and make it all about raiding for gear and other advancement.

MMO's haven't quite done that, but as you note, they have greatly 'sped up' the levelling process to get chars to max level - it's almost more of training.

I'm still waiting for an MMO to do what I suggested would make sense for them - between gear, and faction rep, and zone access by killing bosses and more, there's plenty to 'level'.

Another benefit is that it could allow players to play together instead of the 'level 10 wants to play with his max level friend' and awkward 'match the level' features.

Personally, I like the levelling, when it adds to the story and enjoyment, but I think it makes sense for the devs to get rid of it.

 

[Rinaun]

A little off-topic, but it relates to Cryptic:

I found out today why Cryptic doesn't pick up any calls to their front desk; they don't even have a front desk employee! It's pretty disheartening to arrive at a beautiful facility such as the old Atari building in Los Gatos, only to be greeted by an empty lobby, some magazines, and a dilapidated phone next to a sign that says "CALL EXTENSION 500 FOR HELP!". You call the extension and customer service answers. Kinda weird, I know most publishers actually have a secretary on site 😛

 

[lupi]

that reminds me, I knew someone that worked there. he used to put together a wow mod compilation package, then started designed graphical mods for lotro. had to start getting mods on my own after he graduated college as he get an art job with the champions project.

 

[Rinaun]

that reminds me, I knew someone that worked there. he used to put together a wow mod compilation package, then started designed graphical mods for lotro. had to start getting mods on my own after he graduated college as he get an art job with the champions project.

Nice! I'm trying to get my foot in the door of the gaming industry since I'm within a year or so of graduating with a BS in Communications with some additional classes in programming/IT. I figured I would be a good candidate for the technical associate producer position, so I sent my resume in weeks ago. I never received a confirmation that they actually got my resume. I called twice, one time each week and both times got the answering machine. I even left a message the first week and never got a reply. I don't think this would worth mentioning if it wasn't for the dumbfounded look the customer service rep gave me for just visiting unannounced. It was almost as if they didn't know they aren't picking up the phones or something.

Maybe I'm just used to a different industry (Sales/Management), but the whole not having a front desk employee was pretty absurd. Why even have a lobby at that point?