Tread Further Into D&D’s Neverwinter With A New MMO
Perfect World Entertainment has come aboard with Wizards Cryptic Studios to take players deeper into the city of Neverwinter. Together the team is working on a brand new MMORPG in which players will be able to explore the new D&D setting from The Forgotten Realm. The game will introduce new quest lines, characters, lore, and action that hasn’t been seen before.
The main idea with this new MMO is to focus on action-based gameplay. Players will encounter fast-paced combat with a new system that allows players to control the tempo of battle. The game will be heavily class-based, however, and players will be rewarded with action points to activate more powerful spells and abilities.
The storyline in Neverwinter will see players seeking The Crown of Neverwinter in hopes to restore the city to its former glory. There will be plenty of evil enemies to fend off, including undead, orcs, and massive beasts. A unique quest line has been developed to show players the progression of the city’s fight to reclaim its once well-respected reputation.
There will be an introduction of themed zones in the MMO, all of which will be unique and ready to be explored. You can fight back the orcs in the Tower District, which has been burned town and turned into a battlefield. The Temple of the Spider is open to any player brave enough to tackle its horrors. Personally, I’m not a fan of spiders but it always seems that the games I play find a way to throw in the biggest and nastiest-looking spiders they can find. Neverwinter is no different. You could explore Mount Hotenow, a massive volcano which houses the immense Dwarven city of Gauntlgrym. Finally, if you’re really feeling energetic, you can tackle some bloodthirsty werewolves in Vellosk while you attempt to protect the Sword Coast.
Classic D&D races will be available in the game, such as Human, Half-Elf, Elf, Drow, Dwarf, Tiefling, and more to come when the game launches. Since the game will be focused on class-based gameplay, there will be some epic class selections to choose from. Players can take up the roles of:
- Guardian Fighter – Defend your allies and fight on the front lines with a sword and shield. This is a tanking class.
- Trickster Rogue – Dual-wield blades and deal high amounts of damage on enemy lines. This is a DPS class.
- Control Wizard – Control the field of battle by casting massive arcane spells at the blink of an eye.
More classes are to come when the game releases, and I’m expecting to see a Cleric and possibly Druid before everything is set in stone. After all, how can we have tank classes without healers? Well, I suppose a tank could heal themselves, but that’s too much work!
There will also be instances within the game that will see players grouping into five-man teams to tackle high-level bad guys. These dungeons will be filled with traps, monsters, and treasures galore that are open to players who think they’ve got the skills to survive. Certain zones will play host to specific unique events as well, from public missions to instanced events and special dungeons.
The Neverwinter MMO is shaping up to be quite the contender for fans of the genre. The game is set to release during the 4th quarter of this year, which puts it sometime during this winter. That would be very appropriate, I think. Like many other MMO titles out there, Neverwinter will launch as a free-to-play game. There will be no monthly subscription fee to play, which makes the game that much more alluring. As a fan of both MMO games and Dungeons & Dragons, I will most likely give the game a shot. Do you still need something to sweeten the pot? Well then, let me do that for you. Neverwinter will come with its own content-creation tool that will allow players to shape and add to the world by building their own adventures, just as DMs do in the tabletop RPG!
You can register for the game on its official website, and when you do you’ll automatically get placed in the pool for beta testers. More details on the game will release soon, including info on enemies, new zones, and new classes. Let’s keep our fingers crossed to see a Half-Orc Barbarian class!
