Eight Days ‘til Neverwinter: What You Need to Know

For those of you who have been following my articles, blog, recently established community group, or had the opportunity to speak with me in person, it’s been pretty clear that I am very excited for Neverwinter Online. As a long time MMO and Dungeons & Dragons nerd, it’s the perfect combination I have been waiting for since World of Warcraft lost its sheen. Alongside that enthusiasm has come some admittedly borderline-obsessive research behavior. Today, I plan to share the highlights of what to expect and what you need to know to be prepared for Neverwinter’s soft launch, which is happening April 30^th.

The first thing you need to know is that the game isn’t actually releasing on the 30^th, Cryptic is simply releasing the game into open beta without any further character wipes. What this means in layman’s terms is that the game isn’t ready yet, but looks great and is completely playable. Things that are still missing are things such as extra classes, more fine-tuning for class balance, and some additional items, zones, etc. are still incomplete. Cryptic has decided it’s better to get the product out there, and to let players begin playing (and paying, of course), so that they can continue to get funding to further improve the game, rather than having to try and fund raise off the promise of a good game later on. What this means to players is that the game is still not perfect, and there are going to be lots of changes coming quickly once the game goes live on the 30^th. There is currently no official release date announced, but given the continuous state of the game between beta and live, no official release date is really necessary.

The next important thing to know is that Neverwinter isn’t your typical MMORPG. Cryptic clearly has an image of D&D that they’re trying to achieve, and they go about that image in a very specific way. Rather than trying to create a sandbox environment that players interact with, Neverwinter emulates the D&D storytelling style. What this means is that the entire game is story-driven and location based. The entire game of Neverwinter is instanced, with no overarching open world. While this may be a turn-off to some exploration-driven players, I encourage you to give the game a chance: the world Cryptic’s developers has put together is beautiful and there are lots of opportunities to climb and explore to your heart’s content. Plus, it’s totally free to download and play, so there’s nothing to lose by giving it a whirl.

The available races and classes in Neverwinter closely emulate the D&D origins of the game. The races available at launch are humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, Tieflings (half-demons), half-orcs, half-elves, and Drow. Drow are currently only available to players who have purchased the $200  Hero of the North founder’s kit, but will be made available to all players 60 days after the game’s launch (I believe they mean the actual unannounced launch date, but no details on the situation are currently available). There are no restrictions for class and race, meaning you can make the character that is perfect for what you’re looking to explore. The game is also highly receptive to story-driven players who want to write a history for their character leading them up to the events of the game.

There are currently five available classes available in Neverwinter, with a sixth to be released shortly after the game is live (no current ETA).

The Guardian Fighter, or GF, is a heavily armored class equipped to take hits and engage the focus of the enemies. To those more familiar with the holy trinity of gaming, this class is the staple tank of Neverwinter. The Guardian Fighter uses a one-handed weapon and a heavy shield, and stands at the forefront of every battle. A brief informational video about the Guardian Fighter can be found on thisYoutube page, which shows some of the cool and interesting moves the Guardian is equipped with, including an awesome ground slam ability that knocks enemies into the air.

The Trickster Rogue, or TR, is an agile, shadowy striker with a heavy focus on killing a single target at a time. The Trickster Rogue has lots of mobility, and benefits from striking his enemies from behind, or from stealth. The Trickster Rogue dual-wields one-handed weapons, though they have a wide array of ranged attacks as well. A video featuring the Trickster Rogue can be found on thisYoutube page, which shows the play style of the Trickster Rogue, which involves blinking and dodging between opponents, sneaking gratifyingly brutal strikes in between rolling and jumping around the battlefield.

The Control Wizard, or CM, is a class that is perfectly summed up by its name. Specializing in frost and arcane magic, the Control Mage is all about staying two steps ahead of your enemies. With an incredibly awesome blinking ability (on a 3-4 second cooldown), the Control Mage is able to freeze, choke, and stun his opponents into submission. While most mage classes are very slow and cumbersome to make up for the awesome power they wield, the Control Mage is agile and ferocious, with acrobatic casting animations, and an area of effect explosion ability from even the lowest levels. The preview of the Control Wizard can be found here, displaying the visceral feel that the Control Mage successfully conveys with every attack.

The Devoted Cleric, or DC, is a unique combination class that breaks away from the typical role of clerics, priests, etc. in both MMOs and D&D. The Devoted Cleric has access to a number of offensive spells with beneficial supporting effects, making them equal parts blaster caster and area control/healer. The Devoted Cleric is a genuine hybrid class, actively healing, damaging, and controlling the battlefield from the back lines, rather than just spamming heals. The Devoted Cleric wields a divine focus, and wears heavy armor, meaning they can even step into the fray if need be. Neverwinter has done a great job of breaking the Devoted Cleric away from the simple description of “healer”, but the holy trinity is still alive and well. Players who don’t like to wait for groups and don’t mind not being #1 on the damage charts (which are currently included!), should absolutely check out the Devoted Cleric. The video for the Devoted Cleric can be found  at this link, which shows the divine wrath of the Devoted Cleric at work.

The Great Weapon Fighter, or GWF, is a heavily armed and armored melee fighter who wades into combat, drinking in the rage of his foes. Wielding a two-headed weapon, the Great Weapon Fighter specializes in a flowing dance of slaughter. They swing the weapon in great arcs, causing area of effect damage to enemies all around them. The Great Weapon Fighter is also capable of taking a few hits, and is a more-than-able off-tank, especially at the lower levels of the game. The Great Weapon Fighter is all about getting and staying in combat, building up their damage as they continue to fight. Gaming veterans may also be excited to hear that Neverwinter has continued the long tradition of “Spin to Win”, paying homage to Harod in World of Warcraft or Garen in League of Legends, as well as many others, with the Great Weapon Fighter’s ability Spinning Strike, which is exactly what it sounds like. To check out Spinning Strike and a few of the Great Weapon Fighter’s other abilities, check out the Great Weapon Fighter intro.

Neverwinter developers have promised many other classes to come, and have even put out a list of their eventual plans, which can be found at this link. The only confirmed classes are those above, as well as the Ranger, which has been confirmed by Cryptic community managers, and can be seen briefly at 1:14 in the Great Weapon Fighter demo video.

Neverwinter takes place in the city of Neverwinter, on the continent of Faerûn, in the universe of the Forgotten Realms. This is a highly magical world, in which wizards and heroes are commonplace, and the gods actively grant favor to their most loyal worshipers. Neverwinter has suffered immensely in the years preceding the game, and the game begins with the current Lord of Neverwinter (Dagult Neverember) sending out a call to heroes of all kinds to come and help the city reclaim its once glorious title. This call to arms provides an umbrella cause for players of all kinds to travel to the city, where the game’s plot opens.

The final thing for Neverwinter fans to keep in mind is that the game is ultimately a story-telling device. From the first moments of character creation all the way to the most complex aspects of the Foundry System, Neverwinter strives to give players an engaging experience in which they play through stories, or create stories for their friends to engage in. The game is “meant” to be played with the role-playing mentality turned on, and they give you all of the tools you need to create your own custom character, including a spectacular character customization screen, and an unlimited space in which to write your character’s backstory and personality.

Given all of these great RPG tools, I encourage players who can’t keep their excitement together to work on a story for their character, and to check out some of the amazing resources available for those who are interested in exploring the Forgotten Realms universe a little more closely. If role-playing and story writing aren’t exactly your cup of tea, there is plenty of discussion on the official community forums, as well as community pages such as the Neverwinter sub-forum on Reddit. There is also a wiki that has been officially endorsed by the Cryptic team, run by Curse.com, which can be found here.

For those of you who simply cannot wait until the 30^th, Neverwinter’s doors will be open to Heroes of Neverwinter ($200 kit purchasers) on the 25^th, and will be open for Guardians of Neverwinter ($60 kit purchasers) on the 27^th. For individuals still searching for a community to play with, WarCry will be having an official community presence in Neverwinter, headed up by myself. For those of you who are interested in joining the WarCry community, I encourage you to check out our guild webpage, which can be found at http://warcrynw.enjin.com/.