We dove deep into the nooks and crannies of Neverwinter yesterday, and tried out three of the game's five classes in the process. Garrett took on the Trickster Rogue, Neverwinter's sneaky class. See what he thought of the class beyond the break.

I started the character and blazed through the tutorial so I could catch up to Bill who was already playing. I chose the dwarf race by the way just because I thought it looked cool. The tutorial was great fun and gave you a sense of combat. However, it also gave me a false sense of security with my rogue. I was able to stand toe to toe with skeletons and monsters in the tutorial which gave me some confidence before we started our official dungeon run. 

Read more of Garrett Fuller's Neverwinter: Stabbity with the Trickster Rogue.

Been there, done that.

How about some new classes? Oh wait, too late. Already developed.

Well it seems like every developer has to learn for itself that warming up stuff that existed for ages is getting them nowhere over the long run.

God, this gets so old...

Originally posted by 4bsolute

Been there, done that.

How about some new classes? Oh wait, too late. Already developed.

Well it seems like every developer has to learn for itself that warming up stuff that existed for ages is getting them nowhere over the long run.

God, this gets so old...

I'm honestly not trying to pick, but you do know this is based on 4th Edition Forgotten Realms D&D right? These classes are FROM that PnP game, which is part of the foundation of all RPGs we play, hence the "been there" you're talking about.  They couldn't adhere to the FR canon and not have these classes.

Originally posted by BillMurphy

Originally posted by 4bsolute

Been there, done that.

How about some new classes? Oh wait, too late. Already developed.

Well it seems like every developer has to learn for itself that warming up stuff that existed for ages is getting them nowhere over the long run.

God, this gets so old...

I'm honestly not trying to pick, but you do know this is based on 4th Edition Forgotten Realms D&D right? These classes are FROM that PnP game, which is part of the foundation of all RPGs we play, hence the "been there" you're talking about.  They couldn't adhere to the FR canon and not have these classes.

4e is hogwash, it is to DnD what Phantom Menace is to SW..Shallow, cartoonish, dumbed down etc..

That being said this game looks like fun for what it is, a dungeon-romp, and i for one look forward to try it out.

Originally posted by shantideva

 

4e is hogwash, it is to DnD what Phantom Menace is to SW..Shallow, cartoonish, dumbed down etc..

That being said this game looks like fun for what it is, a dungeon-romp, and i for one look forward to try it out.

I think that's why it fits perfectly for an action-MMORPG like this. 4e always felt to me like the MMO-hybrid ruleset.

So it sounds like the Rogue Trickster is not a good choice for Solo play, which is a shame.

Are the classes not really balanced for Solo PVE, so for players that play Solo they will have to play perhaps the Guardian or Cleric?

Originally posted by Gel214th

So it sounds like the Rogue Trickster is not a good choice for Solo play, which is a shame.

Are the classes not really balanced for Solo PVE, so for players that play Solo they will have to play perhaps the Guardian or Cleric?

the rogue trickster can be a great solo play class, you just have to adjust to the different play style, the skills and of course realize that the baddies are constantly moving as well. as garret pointed out its all about position. the Rogue Trickster is a straight dps and if you remember the rogue in WoW it also had its good and bad  prior to wrath. you did what you could to survive. in the case of garret he had his trusty cleric companion bill. think of it.. your own heals. makes it kinda nice. you just have to learn to play the character and get your rotations set up right, "Bamf" a few times (lol i love that term) and drop a clone things shouldnt be too difficult after a while. the learning curve is there to allow you to adapt. Garret and the others didnt have a whole lot of time to adapt to thier characters. they started the tutorial, got to lvl 5.... boosted to 16 and jumped into a party based dungeon.. not alot of time to learn a characters full solo potential.

Assasins / rogues are always squishy in games, but with their main mechanic  'critcal strikes' ..  they can unleash massive dps very quickly, add positional attacks eg from behind the target and you can normaly do even more damage.

I am also wondering if this game as a threat generator, if so will it be like playing a rogue in say AoC where if you have a bad tank then you will take aggro very fast and die?.

Originally posted by BillMurphy

Originally posted by shantideva

 

4e is hogwash, it is to DnD what Phantom Menace is to SW..Shallow, cartoonish, dumbed down etc..

That being said this game looks like fun for what it is, a dungeon-romp, and i for one look forward to try it out.

I think that's why it fits perfectly for an action-MMORPG like this. 4e always felt to me like the MMO-hybrid ruleset.

 You are exactly right Bill. Wizard's of the Coast was shooting for the MMO hybrid crowd when they did 4th Edition. They were losing a lot of their customer base to the new trend of MMO's so they tried 4E. It was not totally succesful. Personally I think 3rd E was the best. The game looks fun and I personally really got into your stream, it made me feel like I was watching my old D&D days. I will be checking it out.

Originally posted by gaeanprayer
Honestly I agree with Bill, the 4e set was trash because it didn't belong in a PnP game, it belonged in a faster-paced game. I always thought console, but MMO will do. I have some complaints about the game but the ruleset isn't one of them, it seems pretty fitting actually.

Not to totally de-rail the topic, and I haven't played a lot of AD&D since 2nd edition (or maybe it was 1st?  Whatever AD&D was), but one innovation that 4E ruleset brought (I think) was the trash mobs.  I forget the exact terminology but they were level appropriate monsters that could be killed with 1 hit.  I haven't seen it incorporated here, and that's probably a good thing, but in wanting to be an epic bad ass like Bruener Battlehammer, it's cool to be able to one-shot bad guys.

There's already a 3E game, so this take doesn't bother me much.  The class customization in DDO is really awesome, so this more WoWish (but hopefully with more classes eventually - rumor has it that the archer ranger and a warlock will soon be added) can be a pretty good fit.  It would suck if they stay with just the 5 or 7 classes though.  D&D without Paladins, Battle Clerics, Monks, Druids and Bards just doesn't seem right.

3rd Edition was when they started moving to the WOW crowd.  The only problem was WOW was not really around back then.  WOTC was kind of the first game company to move to the ole easy to play, this skill does that so I win, type of game.

The pinacle of creative D&D was right at the introduction of 2nd edition kits.  That criss crossed with the massive influx of Forgotten Realms products/lore and the mass movement away from the original Greyhawk campaign.

4th edition was just a bigger coat of paint for what was started with the 3rd edition rules.

You would be hard pressed to tell the difference between a 4th edition D&D PnP game and a themepark MMO....sad, but true.

Originally posted by 4bsolute

Been there, done that.

How about some new classes? Oh wait, too late. Already developed.

Well it seems like every developer has to learn for itself that warming up stuff that existed for ages is getting them nowhere over the long run.

God, this gets so old...

*epic facepalm*