Neverwinter is a F2P MMO from Cryptic Studios (City of Heroes/Villains, Champions Online, Star Trek Online) based on Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition. It features action combat, a robust player-created content system, and best of all, it's completely free. It has nothing to do with the Neverwinter Nights series. Let me reiterate that: it has nothing to do with BioWare's Neverwinter Nights series.
The game went into Open Beta on April 30th, 2013 and officially launched on June 20th. The first free content expansion was released on August 22.
The new Hunter Ranger class will be released this year.
A list of NeoGAF players is below. We are playing on Mindflayer, but the servers will eventually merge into one super server.
Official Site
Official Wiki
Character Web Portal (Good for Crafting)
Patch Notes
NeoGAF Neverwinter Player List
Name: GAF
Server: Mindflayer
To join ask anyone in the guild for an invite. Open the social menu, click find person, type in "GAF", and look at the guild column. If you are under level 15, you will need to send a friend request before you can send a tell. Alternately, post your username@handle in this thread.
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The game is set in the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms campaign.
The combat in Neverwinter is free-aim based and action oriented. It's more akin to a brawler ala DC Universe Online than the typical WoW-style action bar combat. There are no hitboxes, it is not a shooter, and it is fairly liberal on the accuracy front. I’d say it's the game’s biggest strength.
There are four types of abilities. As you level up, you have the option to unlock new abilities or upgrade the ones you already have. There are a limited number of slots for each ability type, so you will have to decide which abilities you want active. You are unable to move and attack at the same time. This fixes a common complaint levied at other action combat MMOs with regards to “floaty combat." The combat here feels weighted. It will take until about Level 15 before it really starts to flow, but trust me, it's a blast once you get there.
At-Will
Bound to the left and right mouse button, these two abilities can be used at any time.
Encounter
Bound to the “Q”, “E”, and “R” keys, these three abilities have a short cooldown between uses.
Daily
Bound to the “1” and “2” keys, these two abilities require you to fill up a combat meter before use. This is done by attacking and/or healing and usually takes two or three encounters to fully charge.
Class Special
Each class has a special mode which can be activated by hitting the Tab key. It affects each class differently but typically gives a boost to your abilities. For example, the Rogue goes stealth when it is activated
Neverwinter launched with five classes. Ranger and Warlock classes are in the works.
(Click the class name for a video.)
A support class that specializes in crowd control.
Healing in Neverwinter is much more active than clicking on healthbars and making numbers go up. You can “mark” enemies, which gives health to anyone who attacks them. Most of your other heals are AOE, but you will be spending just as much time attacking as healing.
Heavy armor DPS with a giant
Tank™
Lightly-armored, heavy-hitting DPS with stealth.
Everything in the cash shop is either a convenience or cosmetic. You can conceivably purchase everything with ingame currency.
“Astral Diamonds” are an in-game currency. They are earned a couple different ways, though completing Daily quests, which you get at level 10, give the most. Many things in Neverwinter require them. Want to put a rune in your gear? Pay some Diamonds. Want to rush your companion’s level up or crafting? Pay some Diamonds. Want to buy certain gear? You get the idea. Even the Auction House uses them over the traditional gold/silver/copper currency.
There is an open exchange market for you to either buy or sell Astral Diamonds for the real money currency. This is how you can purchase things in the cash shop by just playing the game or save some time by buying Diamonds for real money.
You can get by without paying anything. The need for Diamonds is noticeable, but not overly-intrusive. We do not live in a Marxist utopia, don’t expect to earn enough to get everything you want by casually playing. They want you to spend money. The important thing here is the actual game content is largely unaffected.
Building off Star Trek Online’s great player-made content creation system, Cryptic has rebuilt The Foundry from the ground up. It is considerably more powerful now, so expect to see some cool missions come from it.
Video #1
Video #2
What are the System Requirements?
Does this have anything to do with the Neverwinter Nights series?
No. Just because you did not have enough friends to play real D&D ten years ago doesn't mean we should have to suffer through your nostalgia wank.
Is this game heavily instanced?
Yes. Cryptic plans to eventually merge the three launch servers into one mega-server, so the game is designed around instanced zones.
Is the gameplay the typical “go x, kill y?”
Yes and no. There are certainly areas which feature that sort of content, but it also splinters off into instanced dungeon crawling which is pretty fun.
What is crafting like?
You send “hired” mercenaries out on missions for a set period of time. This can take anywhere from a few minutes to an upwards of 18 hours and feels more akin to a Farmville-esk game. Luckily you can manage your crafting on the Neverwinter web site without having to go in-game.
Should I play this?
If you read through the whole OP and are still intrigued, absolutely try it out. It's free, so there is no risk. Just don't expect anything special. It's "one of those" MMOs with better combat.
What is Neverwinter?
Story Trailer
