I have many fond memories of NWN and the various PWs. I also love MMOs. So I have high hopes for this. I really hope The Foundry will allow players to create some great content.

My fear though is that it will feel like CO or STO. Although I like those games, they feel a bit... cheap.. somehow. 

Originally posted by redcapp
Touching article, but I see no reason to have any faith whatsoever in Cryptic.  The fact that this game shares the neverwinter title really means nothing to me.

Same.

The next time Cryptic even comes close to meeting player expectations will be the first time.

When you are talking Cryptic, the question is not can they fill the shoes, but what will the shoes be filled with. (Based on Cryptic's track record, I am betting with something brown and having an uncanny resemblance to poopie.)

First off let me just say thank you Suzie for a wonderful article, I always enjoy your work.  Secondly, God bless you for pulling through such a horrible ordeal and even though I have been blessed to of never been a victim of any horrible afflictions I do know the power of MMO's or rather the appeal of role playing a character in a persistent world.  It allows me and many like us to escape the trappings of many real life issues.  Mine is my work, I have been a Police Officer since 1988 and I see alot of stuff in my daily life that has probobly scarred me for life.  MMO's are my saving grace as it allows me to vent my frustrations and escape the evils of this world to live out a fantasy life in another.  Again thanks for sharing your story and I who-heartedly agree with your assessment on persistent worlds.  :)

Lastly I purchased NWN 2 but never played it, as I was stil lengrossed in DAoC and Asherons Call at the time of its arrival so those persistent worlds was enough for me.  However I have long been a P&P RP'er (since 1982) and Forgotten Realms was always my favorite setting.  In fact Drizzt remains my all time favorite fantasy character and almost all my online personna's are pattered after him, from the dark skinned grey-haired looks (even if theres no Dark Elves in the game I am playing)  My current GW2 character is a long grey-haired , dark-skinned Human Warrior.  Every since The Crystal Shard released in 1988 (coincidently enough, the same year I became a Cop) I have loved The Forgotten Realms since I first played the Swords of the Iron Legion module that same year.

I agree with you also that the Foundry system is going to be huge and will usher in hopefully a paradigm shift in the genre as UGC, I feel is the new innovation to usher in an era of unrestricted endgame content for themeparks.  In theory, if the Foundry system works good will we ever hear about a lack of endgame content in a themeaprk game ever again.  This is a wonderful and exciting time in the genre IMO.

For me at 41 years of age, It's the story when it comes to them filling the shoes part.  I ahve been reading novels since the 80's of this area of D&D I love them and I hope the storyline does the the neverwinter world justice.

From the well known Drizzit,to Chauntea Moonfire the druid goddess of the moonshae isles to Azure Dragonbane...and I forget the halfling with the gem but himm too!

Originally posted by wayubb

For me at 41 years of age, It's the story when it comes to them filling the shoes part.  I ahve been reading novels since the 80's of this area of D&D I love them and I hope the storyline does the the neverwinter world justice.

From the well known Drizzit,to Chauntea Moonfire the druid goddess of the moonshae isles to Azure Dragonbane...and I forget the halfling with the gem but himm too!

Regus  :)

Well it was medicine that saved Suzie’s life. But the idea that a video game helped her get through all that does not surprise me. Continuing to get enjoyment out of what we have enjoyed in life seems to be a great tonic while suffering from serious illness.

I do question how well player generated content will go down in today’s MMO market. On the one hand it could be the answer to content locusts who reach end game in a month. On the other today’s players have learnt to be spoon fed by their games, I do not think that encourages players to step up and start desgining.

But I do hold out hopes that NW will herald a new direction for MMO’s. As always though, do not preorder, wait for those reviews.

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Originally posted by staran
I beta'd nwn and played it and its sequels and expansions for years.This isn't nwns. Hardly any classes and races.And cryptic isn't known for adding storied content on a regular basis.

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Whether the game does well will largely depend on whether they continue to actively engage the modder community. So far, they've done a marginally decent job at that.

If *good* content can keep getting developed by the community, the developers could focus their efforts on updates to add functionality - races, classes, paragon paths, epic destinies, modding options, and so on.

Who needs Neverwinter, or Dungeons & Dragons Online, or any other MMORPG games when there are amazing persistent worlds for NWN 2 such as Baldur's Gate? NWN 1 is in its elderly years but NWN 2 is in its prime age right now. The evolution of NWN 2 and persistent worlds hasn't been standing still all these years. The persistent world of Baldur's Gate alone has been experienced by thousands of players over the last 2-3 years and the release of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition one or two months ago gave it an even greater popularity boost.

hey , what part of amia did you play? were you in the underdark playing a drow?

In STO the foundary was basically 100 really terrible Star Trek stories and one really good one.

If they worked with content creators to develop some real tools it'd be amazing.  Basically you should be able to build bosses and creatures like how you can in the open soure CryEngine.  Either that or have access to an insanely high number of mobs and be able to program in behaviors.

Generally speaking the games that have great user created content (Starcraft 2, Skyrim, GTA4) work with content creators to make great mods.

Originally posted by troublmaker

In STO the foundary was basically 100 really terrible Star Trek stories and one really good one.

If they worked with content creators to develop some real tools it'd be amazing.  Basically you should be able to build bosses and creatures like how you can in the open soure CryEngine.  Either that or have access to an insanely high number of mobs and be able to program in behaviors.

Generally speaking the games that have great user created content (Starcraft 2, Skyrim, GTA4) work with content creators to make great mods.

Originally posted by troublmaker

In STO the foundary was basically 100 really terrible Star Trek stories and one really good one.

If they worked with content creators to develop some real tools it'd be amazing.  Basically you should be able to build bosses and creatures like how you can in the open soure CryEngine.  Either that or have access to an insanely high number of mobs and be able to program in behaviors.

Generally speaking the games that have great user created content (Starcraft 2, Skyrim, GTA4) work with content creators to make great mods.

Foundry in MMO is a new experience and ofcourse there are problems - however they are coping up well. Most of the problems are caused by exploiters.

For example, many missions in STO were exploit missions as doing 3 foundry missions a day gave you reward - they made 1 second trash missions.

Cryptic finally found the solution by tagging missions with certain length of time to be giving that benefit only.

Similarly now exploiters have found another way - neauter the mobs by using half-walls so their attacks can't reach you but you kill mobs and get XP. Cryptic might come up with a solution to it eventually.

However the fact that foundry has survived till now even with the best of efforts from exploiters is a great achievement. It also shows that developers are learning and constantly improving this new experiment in MMOs. Its working despite the best efforts of exploiters and thats all it matters.

For lack of content, cryptic also has removed barriers to foundry and are basically making it completely free - as they have realized only a small fraction of players make content - just for appreciation and not monetary benefits. So they are even laying out red carpet for foundry authors.

All this involvement and taking foundry seriously instead of giving up halfway due to few problems - is what excites us players about the foundry.