Neverwinter Online starts its open beta

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**Melissia**

http://nw.perfectworld.com/news/?p=877121

The most anticipated free MMORPG of 2013, Dungeons & Dragons® Neverwinter, is officially in Open Beta. Join millions of other adventurers in the Forgotten Realms as they combat beasts and vile creatures on Faerûn to defend the city of Neverwinter against Valindra Shadowmantle and other iconic creatures in Dungeons & Dragons®.

There will be unrestricted access to new content including:

- Increased level cap of 60.

- Explore past The Chasm including Mount Hotenow for only the bravest and most experienced adventurers.

- Hundreds of new and playable user-generated content available immediately in the Foundry.

- Access to Gateway, a web portal that allows players to remotely access in-game status information via their desktops, tablets, or smartphones. In its initial state, players can craft, view their characters, buy and sell in the Auction House, monitor guild activity and daily events, and access their mailboxes.

- And, much more!

Log in now and create your own unforgettable memories in Neverwinter. Don’t forget to discuss your excitement on the official Neverwinter forums. And, be sure to share your personal tales of victory – or defeat – with other adventures. Strategize the most optimal dungeon delve route, share PvP and PvE tactics, discuss class roles, and anything else that may be on your mind!

We’re so, so incredibly thankful and honored to have the best fans a team could ever ask for. We can’t wait to see every one of you in game enjoying Neverwinter in Open Beta!

Sincerely,

The Neverwinter Team

Dunno if anyone's participating. I'll wait and see, myself. Not enough money or a working desktop anyway at the moment.

**purplefood**

I was in the previous closed beta.
It was really good.
I'm definitely going to be in this.

**Melissia**

Can you give a description of the gameplay? The videos,trailers, screenshots, etc don't help much for me.

**Palindrome**

I'm downloading it now. I don't have much hope for it though.

**Kain**

Never liked the Forgotten Realms anyway. Greyhawk is the one true premade D&D setting. Faerun and Eberron are merely pretenders to the throne.

**Ma55ter_fett**

Well I'll give it a shot.

**Tazz Azrael**

Hell I'm going to give it a shot, loved Neverwinter Nights so I may as well see if this game is butchery/ decent or great

**purplefood**

Melissia wrote:
Can you give a description of the gameplay? The videos,trailers, screenshots, etc don't help much for me.

It's a lot more...
Dynamic?
Combat is far more fluid and mobile than something like WoW or its clones...
It's more like an Action RPG than an MMO in terms of how the combat works...

**Melissia**

That's not hard, WoW and its clones are about as dynamic as a wet noodle laying on a flat surface.

**purplefood**

Yeah but most MMO's use that kind of combat system...
At any rate this far more fun than most MMO's I've played so i'm gonna be playing it, probably as a Rogue since that was my closed Beta character.

**BryllCream**

Every single mmorpg since wow has had combat that is "nothing like wow", and always is. I got duped by kotor online (how they had the gall to use that name, I don't know) and I will not be duped again.

**Ma55ter_fett**

Currently 6708 people infront of me in the que

yay...

**purplefood**

BryllCream wrote:
Every single mmorpg since wow has had combat that is "nothing like wow", and always is. I got duped by kotor online (how they had the gall to use that name, I don't know) and I will not be duped again.

I know exactly what you mean but this is different...
Try it for yourself, it's an open beta you don't need to pay to play it...

**nomotog**

Isn't is free to play? You never have to pay for it.

**purplefood**

Exactly...
It's worth a go. I only saw the videos before I played it but even then you can tell the combat system is different than the regular one.

**Cave_Dweller**

Might be fun, the foundry feature they're advertising where you can create your own maps and adventures would be pretty awesome.

I'm gonna queue it up for the weekend! See you online

**johnscott10**

It seems to me they are using a Guild Wars 2 style of combat, which I very much appreciate. I hadn't heard of this game until today. I plan to try it even just for a day or 2.

The foundry has me very interested.

I know trailers don't help but this might give a better idea of the game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_Uzka-2Mz8&feature=player_embedded

**Tyranid Horde**

Is it totally 100% free, or will there be microtransactions in the game like other games Perfect World have made, like Blacklight?

**johnscott10**

Theres most likely micro transactions similar to most of Pefrct World games.

**Shrike325**

I can't imagine a F2P MMO that doesn't have micro transactions. They need to make money somehow.

**Ahtman**

Shrike325 wrote:
I can't imagine a F2P MMO that doesn't have micro transactions. They need to make money somehow.

No one has said there won't be micro-transactions. The question is whether or not it will be pay to win or not.

**purplefood**

Advertising!
Actually an MMO with product placement would be... odd.

**Soladrin**

Well, there´s a mount that costs around 40 euros.

**Palindrome**

Ahtman wrote:

No one has said there won't be micro-transactions. The question is whether or not it will be pay to win or not.

Apparently not, at least while levelling. Star Trek Online is made by the same company , it uses the same payment methods and you can happily reach the end game without paying a penny.

The problem with STO though is that the top tier ships all cost real cash and can't be bought with in game currency (well technically they can be if you really want to spend 6 months grinding dilithium for several hours a day); literal pay to win. I hope that a similar situation doesn't occur with Neverwinter, obviously the game needs to be paid for but there are better ways to go about it.

The game itself really starts getting quite hard at about level 10, those Orc mini bosses are really tough and numerous, healing potions are really expensive and guardians have no way to heal themselves until about level 15.

**Grundz**

Melissia wrote:

Dunno if anyone's participating. I'll wait and see, myself. Not enough money

I guess free isn't good enough, only play games that pay you?

**Ahtman**

Palindrome wrote:
Ahtman wrote:

No one has said there won't be micro-transactions. The question is whether or not it will be pay to win or not.

Apparently not, at least while levelling. Star Trek Online is made by the same company , it uses the same payment methods and you can happily reach the end game without paying a penny.

The problem with STO though is that the top tier ships all cost real cash and can't be bought with in game currency (well technically they can be if you really want to spend 6 months grinding dilithium for several hours a day); literal pay to win. I hope that a similar situation doesn't occur with Neverwinter, obviously the game needs to be paid for but there are better ways to go about it.

The game itself really starts getting quite hard at about level 10, those Orc mini bosses are really tough and numerous, healing potions are really expensive and guardians have no way to heal themselves until about level 15.

Star Wars: The Old Republic's Cartel Store is actually pretty good about this. It is almost entirely cosmetic, with stuff to help level (xp boosts, unlock some content for free players that want to do it), but not to much that effects end game.

**Skinnereal**

I've been on NWNO at the 2nd beta, and since Tuesday.

The game is more point-and-shoot than WOW-type games, and there's no targetting involved. You point at a mob, and press a button to throw powers at it.

It is based very heavily on 4th-ed DnD, so at-will powers are the left- and right-click mouse buttons. You learn 'encounter' powers with a short time-out (10 seconds or so), and daily powers, which you charge up by hitting baddies. These use the keyboard to use.

**Ahtman**

I want Sorcerer and Monk dagnabbit!

**Spyder68**

Downloaded it last night, figured id give it a try.

**easysauce**

Personally been a big fan of the NwN series in particular, and D&D in general, really looking forward to this and have the beta enroute

I like the free to play supported by micro transactions,

discourages fancy marketing dropping a pile of plop in our laps for 60$, this way we play for free and decide if we want to reward the developer, and ourselves, with paid items.

So long as its not pay to win ofc, should always be a free way to do everything in game.