Neverwinter: a Fantasy MMORPG

Neverwinter is a free-to-play fantasy MMORPG from Cryptic Studios and Perfect World Entertainment. In terms of the lore, it's loosely based on the old tabletop classic: Dungeons & Dragons. There are kobolds and erinyes. There are fighters, clerics, and rogues. There are, of course, both dungeons and dragons. In terms of the gameplay, it is pretty typical of the contemporary fantasy action MMORPG genre.

Now, I know what you're thinking. Free-to-play usually means pay-to-win, or "freemium," and there are few things in this world that are crappier than pay-to-win games. (I enjoyed the recent South Park lampoon of the "freemium" model.) However, Neverwinter isn't pay-to-win in the lowest, dirtiest sense. You can pay to win faster, but playing without paying is no more grindy or grueling than in any other MMORPG, and so far I haven't seen anything (non-cosmetic) you couldn't get through good ol' fashioned grinding.

I am currently playing my first and only Neverwinter character, a level 38 guardian fighter (pictured left). I'm using a PVE build I found here.

Here are a few more general observations:

• The game seems to have a pretty decent population of players. There are typically plenty of people in the chat channels and in Neverwinter's WoW-style dungeon queue when I am online.
• Questing is going to gain you experience much more quickly than running dungeons or "skirmishes," which are short, dungeon-like encounters.
• You'll get better gear in the dungeons and more gold in the skirmishes, and daily dungeon  and skirmish quests earn you "astral diamonds," which are useful for lots of things (e.g., they are the player auction house currency.)
• Neverwinter is on the "foundry" bandwagon, allowing players to design encounters for others to play through. There are daily foundry quests with decent rewards, but the only two foundries I have tried were ridiculously hard and kind of boring.

If I think of anything more I'd like to say about the game, I'll update this post.

If you decide to try Neverwinter, feel free to /w or friend me at Thom Shieldheart@captainwesting. I and a couple buddies are considering founding a casual guild. If you're someone who knows about this blog, chances are you're also someone who I would be happy to invite to join us.