Twenty Bucks on Neverwinter

Trying not to miss a single clue, I cautiously made my way through the alchemical laboratory located in the very center of the ransacked mansion, and suddenly stumbled upon a huge glowing stone the size of myself. I approached closer, apprehensively studying the surface of this gigantic oddity, and carefully read the inscription left for me by the person who created this quest.

“It’s just an ordinary magical crystal,” the inscription read.

Ah, it’s just an ordinary magical crystal. We march on. Again, we carefully step over centuries-old dust and fragile test tubes scattered everywhere, finding clear and obvious clues, while incidentally wiping out a couple of elves or so.

This quest was created by an ordinary user, and there are now hundreds, or perhaps even thousands, of such DIY adventures in Neverwinter. And at first glance, it would be unfair to judge the entire game based on a single third-party addition. But the truth is that this quest describes Neverwinter perfectly.

Neverwinter is an MMORPG, operating on the currently popular free-to-play system, and in addition to not being too demanding of the player with requirements or requests to spend money on various trinkets, it also provides players with a level editor called Foundry, which allows creations in the form of adventure instances – both for groups of players and for those who like to travel solo – and then share them.

All this is done very masterfully – new quests appear constantly, and they are also sorted by rating and various characteristics, among which, for example, the expected time to complete. This means that, in addition to a solid campaign, PvE battles, and PvP brawls, Neverwinter has a body that constantly grows with the appearance of each new adventure.

That’s great. In Neverwinter, you will always find something to do, something to return to, and considering the constantly changing event calendar, there is also a wide variety of available quests. And we love variety, don’t we? When I look at the local assortment, I want to scream like a monkey in a cage or even open the window and yell “VARIETY!” so that all the honest people can hear me. Maybe nobody will care, but at least I won’t keep it to myself alone.

The only problem is that a good portion of this variety is incredibly boring.

Initially, the battles leave a pleasant impression. In this regard, Neverwinter seems like a mix of traditional MMORPGs and action-RPGs. From the former, the game has inherited its structure and organization – peaceful locations, crafting, guilds, and players who run around the city shouting something like: “LF CW and DC for SP!!!” But the battles seem as if they were borrowed from something like Diablo – you swing your saber and dodge blows to your heart’s content without a hint of the limitations typical of MMORPGs. As you level up, you gain access to a half-dozen class abilities that are activated with hotkeys. All this is very simple, and you master the combat system without unnecessary fuss.

In its best moments, the game feels very fast and powerful. It took me only three minutes to find a skill that allowed me to fling the bodies of helpless enemies several meters around me – this gave me many minutes of pure and unclouded happiness from, it seemed, unremarkable throwing of unfortunate zombies off bridges and ledges. Such moments can be a lot of fun.

However, not for long. Ahead of you awaits very, very much, and the game situations quickly become similar to each other. Enemies appear only in specially designated zones, constantly, and sometimes right within half a meter of you. If you literally massacred three orcs a couple of minutes ago, rest assured – the green scum will appear again soon, and in the very same place.

Most of these guys are quite passive and will ignore you until you approach closely. Moreover, between all the monsters that roam the expanses of Neverwinter, there is very little difference – an axe-throwing orc behaves almost the same as a bandit-archer or wererat-archer. And regardless of whether you play alone or with friends, a simple strategy of maximum damage will always be more useful than an elegant tactical approach.

Most of the game time you will be cutting, hacking, kicking, slashing, stabbing, beating, etc., but in between skirmishes you will invariably follow the sparkling path that will lead you to the next goal, whatever it may be. Need to kill someone? It’s right here. Retrieve an item? Please, left, right, left again, then straight to the three-meter birch tree. This twinkling path leads you like Ariadne’s thread wherever you want, except for a few open locations you’ll find nearby, and not only find, but most likely meet some enemies there, asking for another beating.

This is my personal grievance with Neverwinter. This game reduces the impression of adventure down to simply moving to a specific place, where I need to either clean someone’s face or gather some trinkets, or both together. This happens in many games, but Neverwinter hides this RPG core not very skillfully. It can’t make it interesting enough. It doesn’t allow you to ponder a choice or make a decision, it just hands you a set of tasks. What should be an engaging adventure turns into a shopping list. The process is very transparent. Even the metaphor of being thinly dressed comes to mind.

To gain access to the Foundry and personally look at how quests are created, I had to level up at least one of the characters to level 15. And those hours of gameplay felt just horrible. It’s not that I spent a lot of time on it, but that very soon I was literally forcing myself to drag myself to point A to kill enemies B there, then collect a bunch of items C, and then take it all to point D. A constant “Groundhog Day,” but in a fantasy setting.

In its best moments, the game feels very fast and powerful. It took me only three minutes to find the skill with which I scattered the bodies of helpless enemies several meters around me – this gave me many minutes of pure and unclouded happiness from what seemed like a trivial act of knocking hapless zombies off bridges and ledges. Such moments can be very entertaining.

However, not for long. Ahead of you awaits much and more, and the game situations quickly become similar to each other. Enemies appear only in specially designated zones, and constantly at that, sometimes right half a meter from you. If you literally killed three orcs a couple of minutes ago, rest assured – the green scum will reappear very soon and in the same place.

Most of these guys are pretty passive and will ignore you until you get up close. In addition, among all the monsters that roam the expanses of Neverwinter, there is very little difference – an axe-throwing orc behaves almost the same as a bandit-archer or rat-werewolf-archer. And no matter whether you play alone or with friends, the simple strategy of maximum damage will always bring more benefit than a graceful tactical approach.

Most of the game time, you will have to hack, chop, kick, slash, stab, beat, etc., but in the breaks between brawls, you will invariably follow the sparkling path that will lead you to the next goal, whatever it may be. Need to kill someone? It’s right here. Collect an item? Please, left, right, left again, then straight to the three-meter birch tree. This twinkling path leads you like Ariadne’s thread anywhere, except for a few open locations you will find nearby, and not only find but most likely meet some enemies there, asking for another thrashing.

This is where my personal grievance with Neverwinter lies. This game reduces the impression of adventure to simply moving to a specific place, where I have to either clean someone’s face or gather some things, or both. This happens in many games, but Neverwinter hides this RPG core very clumsily. It is unable to make it interesting enough. It does not give you time to think about a choice or make a decision, it simply hands over a set of tasks. What should be an exciting adventure turns into a shopping list. The process is very transparent. A metaphor even comes to mind – scantily clad.

To gain access to the Foundry and see how quests are created, I had to level up at least one of the characters to level 15. And that’s hours of gameplay that seemed just terrible. It’s not that I spent a lot of time on it, but that I very soon literally forced myself to drag to point A to kill enemies B there, then collect a bunch of items C, and then take it all to point G. A complete “Groundhog Day,” but in a fantasy setting.

I make no decisions, think about nothing, know nothing, experience no worries or troubles. Who gives me the quest? What difference does it make. What does he need? None of my business. None of this matters because the artifact I need to acquire is just an excuse for another courier run and yet another relentless slaughter. The Forgotten Kingdoms is a wonderful setting, seemingly created for the imagination’s wild flights, but in Neverwinter, it’s simply lost. Context and complexity are pushed to the background. Of course, you can read a host of various stories here, but there is not one in which you could seriously participate.

This RPG can boast large, and often very beautiful locations, and sometimes it makes sense to stray from the beaten path and look for some secrets, but Nevewinter is not one of those games that encourage curiosity. This game is not about that. This is a game about a club that crashes with a crunch on the heads of enemy foes, as they splash fountains of gold coins, about collecting equipment, the characteristics of which are one and a half agility better than the one you’re wearing, about cities where ground-in traders live, who buy old clothes from you without a shadow of emotion, staring blankly ahead because their souls have fully tasted the meaninglessness of monotonous existence.

Sometimes I needed to recognize some items falling from monsters before I could use them, but it was easy because the monsters always dropped enough recognizable scrolls. And that meant another task for me – routine work poking around in the inventory, connecting one item with another. So routine that sometimes I just stopped and wanted to send it all to hell. Moreover, all these items were disposable, completely devoid of meaning or connection to anything, for soon I would inevitably exchange them for something more valuable.

In action-RPG games, you are usually constantly leveling up and improving your character – how else? But agree, equipment must be interesting, opponents – diverse, and battles – exciting, but Neverwinter can only cope with the latter of these elements, but even this sword is quickly blunted by monotonous repetition.

It’s a very engaging game but in small bursts: rapid dungeon runs, desperate PvP battles, individual plot fragments, and even a quest where you are sent to look at three different barricades. Short game sessions minimize repetition. Additionally, the game sometimes looks really cool, although the animation seems awkward in places, and the voice acting is terrible.

It is worth noting some interesting technical solutions like crafting right in the browser window, installing updates on the fly, and a simple and understandable interface – searching for events, parties, quests, and players becomes exceedingly simple. Also, it’s easy to learn. You can jump over previously completed instances. The game does not pressure you to rush to buy in-game currency, which is truly useful only for accessing random loot, where there might be items that you will obtain one way or another in the near future.

And of course, Neverwinter allows you to create your own quests, and so we return again to that gigantic glowing crystal. The crystal that had a very indirect relation to my adventure, just as all these random details have a very indirect relation to Neverwinter. The Foundry is a very simple level editor, but until it or the game itself becomes more complex, it will not allow you to create a quest that will be different from what Neverwinter can offer.

Perhaps Neverwinter has greater potential. Maybe it will grow and flourish beyond all this, but the game can only be judged by what it represents at the moment, not by what it might become. And right now, many user adventures are akin to Neverwinter itself – you just go somewhere, start a fight, and collect trophies.

But again, if that’s enough for you, then know that Neverwinter is a free, easy, and very, very simple game that you can give as much of your time as you wish. And don’t call it just another F2P trash.

Twenty dollars

In this article “Twenty Bucks” (because we don’t have money to burn), we will try to find out what you can buy on the F2P expanses of Neverwinter with a green piece of paper featuring President Jackson’s image. Is it the wealth you can only dream of? Or imaginary trinkets that slip through your fingers with a single touch? Read on, brave adventurer.

The goal of this part of the review is to explore the F2P market on a deeper level – how much can a game give you for $20, i.e. the cost of a budget game? How expensive is it to play a particular game? How much will it hit your wallet? As for Neverwinter, it turned out to be damn useless in this regard.

Launching an F2P game, it’s very difficult to keep yourself from cynical thoughts – you already expect the game to start twisting your arms in one way or another. Of course, they will say that you don’t need to pay a penny, but you need to break down that wall, find that merchant, find a shortcut, realize that it’s damn long, boring, and inconvenient, and eventually understand that you should have paid a little to avoid all of this. And then again. And maybe more? But just not here.

Neverwinter stunned me. I started playing it with certain expectations, but in the end, I reached the maximum level without encountering a single reasonable reason to spend even a penny. However, that doesn’t mean I resisted spending money on meaningless trinkets. But in Neverwinter, there was nothing that would have given me a more enjoyable gaming experience if I had decided to spend real money on the game.

So, what can I spend my $20 on?

First of all, you come across Nightmare Lockboxes, which are also one of those elements through which the game will most actively tickle your inner thrill. The lockboxes drop randomly, and to open one, you need to spend 120 Zen – the in-game currency from Perfect World, which can be purchased with real money. The box can contain a random item or items: anything from trivial enchanting tokens to the most coveted prize – the Armored Nightmare. This is the best horse in the game, a magnificent creature that can only be obtained if luck smiles upon you when opening the lockbox. According to the developers, you will definitely want such a horse – every time someone gets lucky with this big prize, the game screams it out loud, and an appropriate orange-brown inscription flashes in the middle of your screen. Damn, now I want one too!

However, such stimulation is difficult to call aggressive. It is rather inspiring. You don’t need this Armored Nightmare. You can easily get yourself a mount at around level 20. Yes, it’s slower, but it does its job well. If you want to upgrade your mount, there are also ways to do it in the game.

How to speed up the process? Actually, all you need is Astral Diamonds (AD), one of the four hundred and seventy in-game currencies in Neverwinter. These “denominations” are used to purchase items in the Auction House, as well as from some merchants who sell various useful items like teleportation scrolls, identification scrolls, and some enchanting items… not that important. However, AD can be quickly obtained in the game. For example, you can earn a decent amount by selling good loot in the Auction House – people will gladly pay for your luck, or rather, for the items you managed to obtain thanks to your luck. In addition, worshipping a chosen deity also gives you a few thousand AD per day. Or, of course, you can simply buy some Zen with real money and exchange them for AD on the player-driven in-game financial market. However, at the moment, it is not working. To upgrade your horse to the second level, you will have to spend 800,000 AD. It’s not an unrealistic amount to obtain in the game, but it’s not the smallest either. However, to upgrade to the third level, you will need over 2 million AD. So, yes. The temptation to use real money will be very strong.

How much? Quite a lot. About 50 euros in direct conversion to Zen. It’s beyond our budget.

So, we have $20. By exchanging them using stupid stone blocks, we get approximately 1640 Zen. According to the current exchange rate (before the madness that happened this weekend), we earned 365 AD for 1 Z, which totals to 598,600 AD. What can we buy with this money?

You can open a guild bank – it will cost an outrageous 400,000 AD, which even at a superficial glance resembles a damn silly science fiction tale. You can also buy 3 enchanting items of rank 12 – a complete waste of money that you can imagine. How about 13,302 identification scrolls? Or 150 teleportation scrolls to return home to Protector’s Enclave? In addition, this money is enough to buy any of the epic sets, the price of which starts at 1.5 million. Although, in fact, they are useless.

Now let’s not convert dollars into AD. (I must admit, I spent $20 of my own money on diamonds to increase the speed of my horse. That’s how it goes. I just did it. And these money are not taxed!) Let’s stick with Zen currency. We have 1640 Z – let’s see what we can get with it.

A very useful purchase could be a Bag of Greater Holding – 24 additional slots in the inventory will never be redundant. Even though you start with 60 slots. Another nice addition could be Scrolls of Life. I didn’t have them in the game, but one such scroll allows you to resurrect right on the spot with almost full health, which is preferable to respawning at a nearby camp. Five of these scrolls cost 300 Z, which is twenty-five resurrections.

There are plenty of similar bonuses that can only be purchased in the Zen store. For example, a Stone of Health, which can instantly restore your health 50 times. This happiness costs 500 Z, so you can buy three of them right away. Don’t want to? There are also various fashionable trinkets like baubles, clothing dyes, etc. No, not interested. What’s next? Oh, companions!

Neverwinter is designed in such a way that you can play it alone if you want. You don’t have to look for a party, you can have a companion pet, although it can also be a human character (which is referred to as “it,” which is quite rude). Several of them are available for free, and they are quite good. However, there are also those that can be purchased. Our budget allows us to buy a wolf or a hawk – they are decent pets, but not the pinnacle of perfection, as both are limited to level 15. However, the best choice – and you come to this thought very slowly – is the Honey Badger, which costs 3500 Z.

I didn’t have enough 1400 Z to buy the Sword Coast Riding Horse, which has a speed of 110%, which is the maximum that local mounts can achieve. I also didn’t have the same amount to buy a riding grizzly (80%), 2400 Z – for an Armored Bear, Heavy Worg, and Heavy Howler, each of which also has a speed of 110

In addition, you can enhance your character, purchase slots for companions (although I don’t quite understand why people need these companions), rename your character (400 Z), and so on. But let’s be honest. Is this really how we want to spend our hard-earned money? Silly Nightmare Chests – that’s why we’re here! We’re going crazy and we need that stupid purple horse! To hell with pluralism, diversity can go to hell!

To open the chests, you will need an Enchanted Key. One key costs 120 Z, and a bundle of ten can be bought for 1125 Z. For 1640 Z, you can get 14 keys, and therefore open 14 chests. So let’s do it!

… Some time passed…

Sigh.

I didn’t find the Armored Nightmare for myself.

But what did I find, you ask? Fortunately, I also got some useful things, although mostly it was junk – a bunch of enchanting items that can be used to upgrade weapons and armor, which in turn also drop randomly, but for free. If you’re lucky enough to get items of rank 3 or 4, expect universal envy. Although I have had items of rank 6 drop for me, which I managed to sell for a very good amount at the Auction House. In addition, I came across two idols that could be exchanged for 30,000 AD. Everything else can be considered unnecessary junk, except…

My new pet! Phoera, a magical firebird that can be leveled up to level 30, which is much higher than that useless companion who just follows me around. I opened this box quite a while ago and have become very attached to Stravinsky – that’s what I named the bird. He’s not very strong in battle, for example, during fights with serious bosses he doesn’t live very long. But he knows how to distract. He’s an aggro pet that draws the enemy’s attention to himself, while I can sneak up from behind and make a sneaky attack. Stravinsky is an excellent partner.

Well, I feel like I’m in the unusual role of a defender of gambling games, because Nightmare Lockboxes are nothing but a roulette. Most likely, you’ll get some worthless junk or coins from one of the many local currencies. The chances of winning a mount are extremely low, just like the chances of getting a fiery pet like mine. It was pure chance, so I’m torn between the thought that it was a waste of money and the joy of owning this little creature. However, it’s still a waste of money, no doubt about it.

So, Neverwinter is a true F2P game. You can actually play it for free, having access to all the content and enjoying it without even spending the advertised twenty dollars. However, if you still want to invest real money in your character, purchased expansions can be useful, but never necessary, and thanks to them, you definitely won’t get ahead of those players who don’t pay (except for a slightly faster “nightmare” horse, which literally speeds ahead of everyone). In the end, it comes down to trusting yourself – will you resist the temptation to press the button to open one of the aforementioned lockboxes for no apparent reason. And even in that case, you can exchange AD in the Zen store, albeit at a draconian rate of 43800 to 120, without spending a single penny.