New D&D Online: NeverWinter - R.A. Salvatore Source

[Melbosa]

Source: http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/56744/Neverwinter-Online-Coming-in-2011

The rumors are confirmed. Atari and Cryptic Studios have just announced that they are working on a co-op RPG simply called Neverwinter. Neverwinter is a new online roleplaying game based on Wizards of the Coast’s global property Dungeons & Dragons and the beloved city of Neverwinter.

    Once a bustling location, Neverwinter has faced a great many disasters in the past hundred years. Rule of the city remains unclear following the unfortunate demise of the last Lord of Neverwinter and factions still battle for dominance after the all-consuming Spellplague took a high toll on the population. Even Neverwinter’s dead are beginning to rise from their graves and march upon the city they once called home.

    “We're beyond thrilled to develop a brand new version of Neverwinter. It's been years since the original became a gaming icon and we’re honored to work with such a great franchise," said Jack Emmert, COO of Cryptic Studios. "We've been working closely with Wizards of the Coast and R.A. Salvatore to create an authentic D&D adventure filled with compelling fiction and exciting gameplay."

    In Neverwinter, players choose to become one of five classic D&D classes and team up with friends or computer-controlled allies to form five-person co-op groups. Players also create their own storylines and quests utilizing an extremely user-friendly content generation system, tentatively codenamed Forge.

    “Wizards of the Coast is excited to invite millions of fans back to Neverwinter with the launch of R.A. Salvatore’s Gauntlgrym,” said Liz Schuh, Brand Director for Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast. “And we’re excited about the prospects for great digital gaming experiences based on this epic world.”

    Neverwinter for PC is scheduled to release in Q4 2011 and is part of a multi-platform event, including a book trilogy from New York Times best-selling author R. A. Salvatore and a tabletop roleplaying game from Wizards of the Coast. Book one in Salvatore’s Neverwinter trilogy, titled Gauntlgrym, releases on October 5 of this year and lays the groundwork for the Neverwinter storyline. The novel previews the settings, characters and monsters from the PC game and details the events that lead up to this highly anticipated PC gaming experience.

They have their website up too, if you want to know more.

Website: http://www.playneverwinter.com/

[Mr. Analog]

On the one hand I think that's pretty cool, on the other hand I wonder how many people out there would still be keen on playing in that universe?

[Melbosa]

Well it is Forgotten Realms, and is based around one of the top 3 writers for Wizards at the moment.  But yeah, not sure how well it will do, as DDO didn't do so hot.

[Thorin]

Cool that it's based on the 4th edition rules.  Cool that it's intended to be played as a co-op team.  Cool that Atari's in on it, as I really liked Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, their 3rd-edition-based game.  Weird that it'll only allow five "classic" classes.

[Melbosa]

And only a 5 man co-op team as well is weird... most MMOs have a player base that can support at least 8 player teams.  But I guess the magic number in the paperback is 5 man groups.

[Mr. Analog]

And only a 5 man co-op team as well is weird... most MMOs have a player base that can support at least 8 player teams.  But I guess the magic number in the paperback is 5 man groups.

I think 5 is a good size for any game, if you get the right ratio of healer to high-DPS ranged attackers together you can whip through most challenges pretty easily in most games I would think, with only five you really need to balance.

[Melbosa]

Being a DM for the Paper Edition of 4.0, I think it will definitely be easier for game balancing, the 5 man group.  Was just saying that Cryptic knows how to do it larger .

Its funny this title.  You have a great author, a successful MMO developer, and a long standing Game Software developer, as well as one of the largest RPG companies on the planet.

Will it play like an MMO?  Will it play like previous Neverwinter Nights games on the PC?  Or will it be something completely different?

[Mr. Analog]

I think it will be as WoW-like as possible, just with a NWN setting.