Neverwinter Interview

Cryptic’s Neverwinter MMO is the subject of a recent interview with lead producer Andy Velasquez offered by MMORPG.com. What editions inspired the mechanics, launch content, when we’ll get more news about the “Foundry” level editor and more are all part of the piece’s discussion. Here’s a snip:

MMORPG: Why did you all personally choose the 4th edition rule-set? There are a lot of D&D folks who dislike 4th Edition.

Andy Velasquez: Well Neverwinter is not exclusively a D&D 4th edition rules game and we draw inspiration from all of the different versions of D&D. For example we have things like Magic Missile as an ability for Control Wizards which is incredibly evocative of the D&D experience regardless of which edition you are a fan of. Our use of At Will, Encounter and Daily powers obviously draw directly from D&D 4th edition but we did that because we liked how it fit onto what we were trying to do with combat, not because we are beholden to a specific edition. For example Healing Surges, another mechanic from 4E, didn’t really work for the game we were making and so we did not implement it into our game. Our focus has really been on making a fun game that resonates with fans of D&D in general as opposed to any specific subset of them.

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MMORPG: Can you talk about how dungeon delves will fill that (raid mentality) for players looking for that type of content?

Andy Velasquez: Personally I feel like our Dungeon Delves are huge improvement over the overall raiding experience that I have personally experienced playing MMOs. When I think about what I loved during my time raiding in other MMO’s it was always the joy of getting mah phat lewtz and the challenge of taking down interesting content with my buddies. What I hated was the slog that almost always came with it.

Our Dungeon Delves are still the places where you will be going to get your phat lewt. They are still where you will find the some of the most interesting bosses, monsters and locations Neverwinter has to offer and you are your friends will be challenged to take down all of the content in them. Yet they are meant to be shorter less grindy affairs than traditional MMO raids.