And the Neverwinter server instability woes continue to be fixed at a remarkable pace. I continue to be just astonished at the rate of communication and effort the devs are putting forth to deal with the various connectivity issues players are experiencing. The servers have just been brought down again, for an expected 2 hour maintenance, with still more stability fixes. If you’ve had a difficult time getting into dungeons, skirmishes or PvP – rejoice! They continue to focus on these issues, and today’s patch brings us more fixes. Hopefully this frenzy continues! I have to say that each patch is definitely and noticeably improving my game experience – I actually managed to join not one, but 5 skirmishes yesterday during a skirmish event.

I am playing on the Dragon shard, and I was impressed when there was a response to the problem within minutes. The server went down, I went to the Neverwinter Facebook page, hit refresh, and there was an update letting me know that they were aware of the issue and looking into it. I very much laud the communication coming from Cryptic/PWE in this regard, and hope to see it continued.

Hit the jump for the patch notes.  Continue Reading

It’s always a bummer when the servers have to go down for lengthy periods of time, but it seems especially torturous when the game still has that shiny new game smell. I can feel myself getting the shakes already! :)

But in this case, I have to give Cryptic/Perfect World credit for being quick to respond to server issues. Once the servers opened yesterday there were lots of server issues as they were slammed – heck there’s still a queue long enough that I had a wait on my Hero account with priority login status this morning. But honestly – what game doesn’t have a frustrating “launch”? Quotes because this is still open beta – while it can be considered to be a soft launch as there are no further character wipes, it is still a beta. I expect these sorts of issues at an actual real launch. But they are on top of things – I was impressed last night with how quickly they were responding to login issues.

And today there’s a maintenance to deal with many of the problems that cropped up. I am particularly pleased to see the stability and login fixes. Hit the jump for the patch details.

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Let the confusion begin! Hot on the heels of Turbine Entertainment announcing Helm’s Deep, the latest expansion for Lord of the Rings Online, Perfect World Entertainment unveils further details on Helm’s Hold. The zone, announced for Neverwinter late last year, will feature an assortment of nasty demons, deformed victims of the Spellplague and the devil worshipping followers of Rohini.

Be forewarned, Helm’s Hold is anything but safe. Adventurers of the action-oriented MMORPG will run into foul creatures of varying ferocity and size, including Rohini’s charmed pet dragon Chartilifax.

Players looking to see exactly what separates a Deep from a Hold can check out the Helm’s Hold lore trailer and monster trailers after the cut. More into static pixelated goodness? There’s a gallery of your upcoming fearsome opponents after the cut as well. The media is guaranteed get you ready for the April 30 open beta launch date. It’s nearly your last chance to grab that Founder’s Pack. Continue Reading

During our PAX East 2013 interview, Jack Emmert let us in on a secret. That Neverwinter, the company’s action-oriented MMORPG set in the Dungeon & Dragons universe, would be heading to open beta very soon. Unlike some other developers out there it appears that Cryptic Studios wasn’t leading on gamers. Cryptic Studios and Perfect World Entertainment announced early today that Neverwinter will move to its open beta testing phase on April 30.

But before gamers get full access with no fear of wipes, there’s one final hooray for those early adopters and lucky beta key winners. Next Friday, April 12 until Sunday, April 14 eligible players will receive 60 hours to hone their experience farming routine. Of most interest to some will be another topic discussed during the interview, a first crack at Neverwinter’s Profession system. Be it Leadership, Leatherworking, Mailsmithing or Platesmithing, all four profession will be available to those interested.

“We’ve never been in a better place launching a game,” said Jack Emmert, CEO, Cryptic Studios. “While the entire team is focused on launching Neverwinter’s Open Beta on April 30, we still wanted to thank those committed Founders who stuck with us. Since the beginning of Neverwinter’s Beta Weekends, our Founders have shown us that Neverwinter offers engaging game mechanics, unique features and a gameplay experience that is parallel to subscription or paid games. They have become our biggest supporters and we wanted to give them Beta Weekend 4 as a token of our appreciation.”

After the jump is the latest trailer, What is Neverwinter, and a collection of new screenshots. Time is running out to become a Founder and acquire guaranteed beta access and exclusive items.
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