On last week’s Foundry Focus I was once again joined by a member of the Neverwinter Development team. Andy Velasquez, Lead Producer for Neverwinter, swung by to talk about the upcoming free expansion, referred to in D&D terms as a Module, Fury of the Feywild. While Andy was not able to tell us last week it has been recently confirmed that Fury of the Feywild is due out August 22nd 2013.
I was able to ask Andy a number of questions that members of the community have been seeking answers for. One of the first things we talked about was how is the game treated differently now that it is live as opposed to when it was still considered in Beta. You can jump to 3:20 in the video to hear all what Andy had to say about it but the answer might surprise you. A lot of it has to do with the support structure around the game. While Andy pointed out that they always had GMs, Customer support, and the Community Team (Sominator!) they now have a more structured way they approach pain points for the players and how they process player feedback in addition to working on Module 1.
Andy also confirmed that we will see Fury of the Feywild on the test server. During the interview Andy could not tell us when this would happen because the release date for Module one was still under wraps. Now that we know Fury of the Feywild is due out August 22nd I would not be surprised to see the new content on the test server with in the next two weeks. That would give them roughly 30 days to work out all the bugs.
Andy and I also went in depth about the new campaign system. This takes place at 7:10 into the video. The campaign system will help guide medium and long term goals through the new module. While the campaign system does involve questing it is more involved than that. The first of three areas in the new adventure zone is Blighted Groove. Once you complete certain tasks you will eventually open up new areas to explore and instances including a new 5 man dungeon. The campaign system will help guide you along. In addition, one of the long term goals for the campaign system will even reward players with new powers.
In a bit of disappointing news it appears that we will not see a new class until closer to the end of the year. This should coincide with the release of the second module. Previously Cryptic has mentioned that we could expect to see modules on a frequent basis. As of now this frequent basis will equate to a new module every quarter.
In addition to those topics, Andy and I also discussed whether we will see free respecs on the test server, why there are still 3 servers instead of just 1, how they are progressing on updates for the foundry search tool, and more. Andy even addressed player’s concerns about in game store prices being too high.
Join us again this week as we get back to the basics and instead of talking to developers we spend our time playing through your creations. You can join me on the Dragon Sever live at 9:30 pm EDT on Thursday if you want to participate in game. If not you can always watch and join the chat room live on our MMORPG.c om streams channel. I hope to see you there, and remember to stop and read the quest text.
Robert Lashley / Robert Lashley is a Staff Writer and Online host for MMORPG.com and RTSGuru.com. Rob's bald and when he isn't blinding people from the glare on his head talking in front of a camera you can chase him down on twitter @Grakulen
Check out more Foundry Focus:
- The Duplication Debacle
- Foundry Focus 6: Bored of the Rings
- Rob Overmeyer on the Foundry Focus
