On Tuesday, Cryptic's Neverwinter soft launch/open beta started. While I was busy doing other things, I broke down and downloaded the client. It took ffoorreevveerrrrrr, probably because everyone else was doing the same thing. No time to play on Tuesday (not that it matters, apparently the queues were horrendous). And due to webcasting live with the
Beyond the Veil crew on a special night, I couldn't get on until about 8 p.m. last night. Sctrz, on the other hand, downloaded the client lickity-split during the maintenance time yesterday and logged in to try it out while I was webcasting. It was amusing to listen to her figuring out how to even move in the game, but she did blaze the trail and provide me pointers when I did finally get into the game.
Waaaaayyy back when I was a little kid, my older brother played AD&D, and DM'ed a couple of sessions for me and my other brother. I initially roled a dwarf (just like WoW, now that I think about it). Back then you rolled on stats before picking a class (unlike NW), and you were stuck with them, if you followed the rules. I think I picked a magic user of some kind, which as it turned out, dwarves couldn't do, so I switched to halfling.
One step of the creation process in NW involves a dice roll to see what your character's attributes will be. These are typical D&D categories: Strength, Constitution, Charisma, etc. If you don't like your rolled stats, you can re-roll. One reason for me to keep my current toon is that, on the first roll, she ended up with very high scores in all the important attributes for the cleric, plus a racial boost to one of them. I don't know whether I'll be able to manipulate those stats later (with additional points?). But I'm afraid if I re-roll when I re-role, I will not be so lucky the next time. [Edit: I found out from several commenters here and on G+ that the parameters are narrower than I thought, so I am leaning more toward re-roling Rowan now.]
Though I stuck with the tried-and-true role/class of Devoted Cleric, I thought I'd be a little different and roll a halfling. Thus, as Athene from the head of Zeus, was Rowan WildMarsh conceived and born. As might be expected from the folks who brought you Star Trek Online and Champions Online, the character creation and customization process is robust and detailed. I've been thinking I should re-role Rowan as a different race. I'm not sure I like her small size, next to the larger humans and half-humans in the game. She's also the only halfling I noticed the whole time I was in Neverwinter (the city) last night. Which could be either good or bad; I haven't decided. I think I made Rowan's boobs too big, though; not something I normally do, to be honest. Sctrz says she looks disproportionate, and I can't say I disagree. If there is a way to alter her appearance and I don't re-role completely, I think I will give her a reduction.
Sctrz re-roled as Zerena, a half-elf Control Wizard to accompany me as Rowan took her baby steps into the world of Neverwinter. Other people have covered the third-person shooter feel of the game controls. I'll just say that it took some getting used to, and I basically adjusted most of the combat keybinds to fit my habits on the Nostromo gaming pad and Logitech M570 mouse. Oh, and "B" is for BAGS!! Thanks to my WoW upbringing. I also wish I could zoom in/out to get better screencaps.
All in all, I had a lot of fun in Neverwinter, and will return with my lovely bride this evening. It was fun to have Sctrz be the knowledgeable one this time, a steely-eyed veteran of an hour and a half leading my wet-behind-the-ears newbie through the tutorial and the first little group instance before it was time for bed. And that . . . is another story.
I'm pretty sure the "rolls" are from a list of presets and/or have a cap on them. In Beta I spent time...uh..investigating this, and its basically just rotating you randomly through a dozen options.
ReplyDeleteI had a feeling, given that none of my stats were *horrible*.
DeleteI got to play a little bit last night myself. My impressions are here.
ReplyDeleteI made a Half-Elf Devoted Cleric and like Harbinger Zero says, I noticed with all the re-rolls that the stats were weighted. Primary attribute was never lower than a 16. Secondaries were never lower than 12 nor higher than 16, and the 3 non essentials all added up to 30... usually 10 10 10, but sometimes 9 10 11, etc.
I also made a Tiefling Control Wizard. With the racial bonuses I got 18 Int and 18 Cha, so that's been pretty nice so far in boosting my damage and crit rate. Enjoyed both classes. Played each for about an hour and barely made it through the tutorials, 1st dungeon and into level 5. Was a good evening.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm already contemplating my second toon, and Tiefling is up there, along with Half-Orc.
DeleteI found at work yesterday that some co-workers are playing, but on a different shard. Since I'm not terribly invested in my characters yet, I tried to get on last night to delete and re-make on the other server, but.. servers down.
DeleteThis morning I got in, though. Deleted the 2 characters then made a half-orc rogue. With the racial bonus I got 18 STR and 18 DEX, 12 CHA, and 10's for the non-essential stats. Didn't actually get to play it though -- had to come in to work. Perhaps tonight I'll see if I like the rogue. Or maybe tomorrow, but with TSW doing double AP, I'll more likely be farming mobs and missions in Transylvania. Time will tell.
I read your review, after roling a half-orc great weapon fighter. We'll see if it's too grindy. But I like her. I spent over an hour getting her look just right, then about 10 minutes in the game before it crashed.
DeleteThe double AP in TSW, plus yardwork, will limit my time in Neverwinter this weekend. But we'll give it a go tonight.