It’s clock watching time! I am sitting here, waiting impatiently for the Neverwinter servers to open, letting myself and all the other gamers avidly waiting for a peek at Neverwinter in to play. It was smooth sailing last time, here’s to hoping it’ll remain smooth this weekend as well! I am a bit concerned, given a few changes they’ve made to the game since the last weekend – evidently you can’t move anymore while casting, which rather detracts from the ‘action’ element for me, but I’ll be seeing how that actually plays out shortly! “You are not allowed to play” “You are not allowed to play” “You are not allowed to play” I wonder just how many other people are at their computers already slamming at the login servers. :)
My attention has largely been focused on Neverwinter, although there has been other news trickling through as PAX announcements have been coming out. Several games have entered new beta phases, more purchases have been made, and iTZKooPA has delivered more lore background on the deities of SMITE.
Hit the jump to see it all!
- This is news to no one who has read my opening blurb, but Neverwinter Beta Weekend #2 is this weekend, and we’ll be there! While you’re waiting, whether it be for the servers to open if you’re playing today, or for more info, check out our exclusive interview with Jack Emmert.
- iTZKooPA brought us the trailor and info on Carnival of the Ascended, the upcoming patch and party to celebrate RIFT’s 2 year anniversary.
- Wargaming.net isn’t the only place to check out historical gaming anymore, iTZKooPA told us where and how to apply for the closed beta of Navy Field 2, Nexon’s upcoming naval strategy game.
- I discovered that Salem: The Crafting MMO has entered the open beta phase, so anyone can play! it’s an interesting little game for sandbox lovers.
- To start off the Neverwinter weekly news, Cryptic opened up applications to join the Foundry Authors beta test! But I hope anyone interested jumped on that quickly, because they closed applications after just a few days. They also ran a Founder’s Pack giveaway! But have no fears, if you missed it, they’ve been hosting steady streams of weekly giveaways, there will likely be other chances.
- iTZKooPA found the trailer for Neverwinter’s Icespire Peaks zone! Personally, I’m still laughing at the guy I overheard condemning Neverwinter for “stealing frost giants from WoW.”
- iTZKooPA brought us more knowledge about the gods Neith and Poseidon, both of whom have made their grand entrances into SMITE. I have often used Neith as a character name in various MMOs, I wonder if it’s going to be harder to get now?
- iTZKooPA reported on the new raids coming to LoTRO with the Part 2 of Update 10. New instances and content is always exciting to see.
- Like pvp? If so, check out the Defiance PvP trailer that iTZKooPA dug up for us to enjoy! I’ll admit I remain fascinated by Defiance, and am curious to see how it goes.
- iTZKooPA has even more trailer fun, as he brought us the latest patch info for MechWarrior Online. A flame-free section of ground to practice new moves, what’s not to love?
- Mordil had all the details about the $10,000 SMITE tournament at PAX. A friend of mine actually makes a steady amount of spending money every year by attending video game competitions. I’m no where near good enough to even have the courage to try, but I’ll admit, it sounds terribly awesome if you do!
- It seems as though every week has another game company purchase, and this week is no exception. iTZKooPA told us about the purchase of Gas Powered Games by Wargaming.net. It sounds like this will wind up being a great move for all concerned, hopefully that will prove true!
- Richard Garriot is working on a new game – and this one sounds as though it will harken back to Ultima! Read what iTZKooPA learned about it, watch the trailer, and perhaps back the kickstarter!
Ok P, I’ve played Neverwinter for about three hours now. It’s definitely lite stuff compared to the deep and complex Secret World, but I’m still mostly enjoying it. I give it a B to B+ so far. A couple of questions: Did your zoom in/out work? Mine doesn’t. Also, have no idea what to do with or how to equip scrolls. And most importantly, when can I get some decent clothes???? ;) BTW, I did really like the character creation. They’ve streamlined it from STO.
Of the two, I find TSW’s world far more interesting, but I like NW’s combat and character appearance/generation much better. I intend on continuing to play both. Outside of the B mode, which you can’t play in, there is no zoom – which is annoying. What do you mean by equipping scrolls? As for decent clothes … my impression is that a lot of the fashion stuff isn’t in game yet.
I logged back in, did one quest, and it’s already going down for maintenance. :( Oh well, back to Secret World. Have to disagree with you slightly about combat in the two games. It’s kind of fun in Neverwinter, but in Secret World it takes some thought and finesse, and you have a dizzying number of options for your character build. I’m using blood magic in SW and it’s very powerful, but you have to be careful otherwise you end up eating all your health. btw, I kind of created the vampire character in SW that I had wanted to create in NW, but can’t. ;) Also, I don’t like in NW how you don’t seem to have a choice of skills other than your character class. I dunno, I kind of like the character creation options in SW. My only complaint is in some clothes my SW character looks kinda fat. lol I agree with you though in that physical character creation in NW is very good. I know it’s probably unfair of me to compare NW too much to SW, they are very different games. It’s just that SW is a very intense gaming experience and has definitely made an impression on me, compared to the relatively light NW. Anyways, I will continue NW later today. My NW character is Ymbria, btw, just like in SW. I know, I need to e-mail you. :)
I hear you. Part of what drew me to TSW was the array of choices for character builds – but quite honestly, for whatever reason, I just don’t like most of them as they play. I really want to like blood magic – but I can’t stand playing it. I really want to like swords – but I can’t stand playing it. Same with fists, elementalism … I just don’t like the way most of the abilities in TSW *feel* when you use them. So all my characters end up using AR/pistols because those are the only 2 weapons that I can tolerate. I keep going back and trying other things, because I *really really* want to experiment and I’m missing out on a huge part of the game by not doing so, but I wind up going back to AR/pistols every time because I just don’t like the way it plays. So while it’s true the character builds in NW are much more limited – that’s nothing unusual in a game, and since I actually like how the combat feels it’s not a problem for me. I have a lifetime account for TSW, so I play it off and on again and will continue doing so. But I play it for the content – the quests – so I never stick around with it for too long as I’m just not interested in actually *playing* it to do the required grinding for top end gear. I play the quests, have fun, then once it has hit the repetitive point where I am just mindlessly repeating quests because that’s all there is to do – I stop until the next update, or it’s been long enough that I go back to enjoy the quests again after a break. I will continue playing TSW for years and years and years, because the world is just that amazing. But for day to day gaming, the actual way it plays isn’t my cup of tea.
Nice reply P. I liked what you had to say. Funny though about the TSW builds. I’d been using blood magic exclusively, then other people said I needed to expand to another weapon, tried a pistol/blood mage combination, and hated it. I felt like I had traded one good weapon for two ‘meh’ ones, so now I’m back using blood magic exclusively.
I agree that the Neverwinter combat system is kind of fun. In fact my first serious thought about NW while playing last night was that I felt like I was taking a vacation from the sometimes stressful and draining Secret World. lol
btw, this is funny. I’m using my same Cryptic account for NW that I’m using for STO, so my STO friends could see I was online and wanted to know when I was coming back to STO. lol
Anyway, I was actually kind of tired when I tried NW last night, and I’m about to try it again now with a clearer head. btw, my Wizard Ymbria looks really cool, I just wish I could zoom closer.
Just wanted to mention for the ‘public’ record that Neverwinter is starting to grow on me. The combat is fun and a bit different for an MMO, and contrary to what I originally thought, you do have choices in your career progression. Also, the game does have a certain charm to it and its medieval sword and sorcery setting is maybe not quite as dark and serious as Skyrim or Game of Thrones. In the long run I can see myself returning to NW every so often as a break from the sometimes complex and draining Secret World. ;)
Glad you enjoyed it! It was fun grouping up. Though I didn’t get a good picture of your cool clothes to post! :(