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Any other Neverwinter Nights PW players here?
WSIMike
Member Posts: 5,564
... and if so, what PWs (servers) do you play on?
I'm in a bit of a lull as I wait for FFXIV and The Secret World to bring me back into the MMO fold; nothing else has me excited.
So, I've recently gotten pretty much full-blown back into Neverwinter Nights. It was my introduction to online multiplayer and I played it like a fiend for about 1.5 years... back when I scoffed at the idea of paying to play an online game (ha!).
It's awesome to play it again.. the graphics, the music all brings back memories. And as far as character customization, well... hard to get much better than AD&D with all the classes, feats, skills, etc. etc.
The servers I used to play on are gone, but I see the NwN community is still quite alive and kicking, with a few servers going that have a pretty high traffic rate; not bad for a 7 year-old game. And, having tried and been disappointed in NwN 2 (as are many others, I've learned), it seems NwN1 is seeing a little bit of a resurgence.
So I was wondering if anyone here also plays, and what PW's do you play?
Currently, my time is split between "Heart of Winter", which is an action-centric PW with a focus on PvP (and it seems to get pretty crazy on there if the shouts are any indication. I've recently started on Dawn of Nordock which is a RP-specific server but has a lot of great stuff in it and some very cool people. And, finally, for my non-PvP action fix, I'm also starting out on what is a major upgrade of "Path of Ascension", called "Higher Ground".... they've done a lot on this server, including finding a way to script it so you can go above level 40, among other things.
Soo... anyone else a NwN player?
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Comments
I just this year started playing NWN , but I never played it online . Just went through on my own. The 3rd one I think HoTU I just couldn't get into . Restarted it 3 times now and don't think I will go back going to give NWN2 a try though.
I played NWN for a couple of years before I started WoW. Hated the boxed campaign, but loved playing on player-made servers.
Great fun, and I met some cool people. When I switched to WoW, there were some things I really missed.
Don't Know if you know Cheyenne, but I played on her server (can't remember the name) the most. She and a few others put a lot of love into it.
Added: Ah, it was called dedrellaban or something like that. Great module. TY little grey cells.
Added:
It was a great game for building your own stuff, too. Damn, that was fun.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
NWN2 was not made by BioWare, and I have heard it has some serious issues.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
NWN2 was not made by BioWare, and I have heard it has some serious issues.
Well, they have improved it... somewhat. But it's very much an inferior addition to the franchise.
The camera is abominable, the characters look *horrible*. Elves look like aliens. The storyline, as far as I could tolerate the game to play it, was decent.
As far as building online PW's... again... terrible. Though you can yield some beautiful results, putting together a PW for NwN2 is an exercise in patience. Trying to connect to one is even worse. Every time something is moved in a given map, a brand-new walkmesh has to be created and you have to re-download it, which can be a pretty big file. I used to think having to download HAK files for various NwN1 servers was annoying. NwN2 dwarfs it in that department.
For the time they spent on it, Obsidian did a pretty terrible job on NwN2, IMO.
What really puts NwN2 to shame is playing The Witcher. The Witcher is built off the original Aurora Engine - the one that powers NwN 1. It's been heavily modified and upgraded... DX9 instead of OpenGL, etc... However, it runs beautifully, looks amazing and doesn't require exessive tweaking to *hopefully* make it run.
As I talk to people in the NwN1 community, many are in the same boat... They were excited for NwN2... tried it... were disappointed... went back to NwN1.
As for playing through the single-player campaigns in NwN1. To be honest, I never finished any of them. I started on the first one, but got tired of being in a city - not enough change of scenery. 95% of my time playing NwN has been on custom servers.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
The latest two patches have vastly improved NwN2 PW play.
I recently bought an alienware lap top and NwN2, looks great on it.
As for NwN2 PW's I enjoy Realms of Trinity, KoW and The Depths is implementing some MMORPG like systems, including a trait system as is found in LOTRO. The Depths also includes custom classes and class progression trees.. IE Scout has to branch off to Ranger or Rogue at level 7, and then again at level 13 the Ranger/Rogue has to branch off to Dervish/Brigand or some such... I'm enjoying NwN2.
TYVM for the info, Mike. Shame that NWN2 turned out so bad, when just an upgrade on NWN would have been great.
An MMO which allowed player-created content might be sweet if the tools were good. I made a lot of stuff for NWN, and would love to get creative again.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Wow! You were posting my thoughts. Neverwinter Nights was the first game that actually pulled me into online gaming. I spend around 3-4 years on various RP servers playing and creating zones (The Guardian Chronicles, Legends of Fehl etc.) and I still think that game has the best atmosphere and community.
I've still got friends who play on the RP servers that are alive and kicking, I guess I'm just too lazy on installing the game, all the expansion packs and various HAK-packs that some servers use. (Though, I think HAKs are good, the more content, the better.)
I also tried NWN2 and played on a server called Frontier for approx. 6 moths, not sure if it's alive anymore. I still have some screenshots left from those times, damn good times.
I don't know I kinda liked it when i tried it out but was told to understand the story line to go back and do the first NWN which i have done except the 3rd one. Did anyone else lose interest or track of that story line in HoTU? Will let you guys know what i think of 2 when i get around to playing it . Although I prefer to play them offlne
Nope, I actually found the story more compelling than the OC and SOU.
I know what you mean.
I got to the point where I stuck to a few servers I liked, rather than have to install more files just to try new ones. Plus, there's something special about playing in a world which you helped to create.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I know what you mean.
I got to the point where I stuck to a few servers I liked, rather than have to install more files just to try new ones. Plus, there's something special about playing in a world which you helped to create.
Indeed... There's always a tight-knit community on those - well... almost always. Some of them are pretty clique-ish and not very open to "outsiders". But for the most part, I've never quite experienced a community like I did on some of the better PWs.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Lots of NWN2 hate on here. I can understand, given all the bugs and sub par expansions - but it's still a solid game. I poured hundreds of hours into NWN2 all said and done (enjoyed it more than NWN). It's too bad they can't seem to release another normal campaign though. Every expansion they put out just adds more half assed game mechanics to navigate.
I can't vouch for PW servers though, I never got into them with either game.
All this talk about NWN really gives me the urge to try it again. Like you Mike, there aren't really any mmos out right now that seem worth the time (the two you mentioned seem like the most interesting games-to-watch-for), so I've been in a gaming slump while I look for something fun to pass my time. This always seems to happen when I have some free time, naturally lol.
Anyway, I'm thinking about trying NWN again, but I'm not really sure how to go about getting updated. Do they have an all-in-one compilation for NWN? It'd be great to get the game and all the expansions in one purchase, or at least most of them - I can always buy the extra ones seperately if need be.
I'll check out all the PW you guys have mentioned, and if you know of any others, by all means, list them
. Thanks in advance for the info.
You can get the Diamond Edition for super cheap at Amazon. Or if you're lucky, some retail stores might have a copy left (I still see them from time to time).
When you get it and have everything installed, don't bother trying to do updates through the launcher - it's slow and likely won't work anyway. Go to the official site, download and install This File. It will "rebuild" the game, so to speak, and get you up to 1.69, which was the final update for NwN1.
Also... if you plan to play on PW's, make sure you grab the CEP (Community Expansion Pack). It's large (about 1 gig), but has tons of stuff and many PWs use it. You can get that Here. It'll find your installation of NwN and put everything where it belongs.
After that, you should be good to go!
Good luck!
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
You can get the Diamond Edition for super cheap at Amazon. Or if you're lucky, some retail stores might have a copy left (I still see them from time to time).
When you get it and have everything installed, don't bother trying to do updates through the launcher - it's slow and likely won't work anyway. Go to the official site, download and install This File. It will "rebuild" the game, so to speak, and get you up to 1.69, which was the final update for NwN1.
Also... if you plan to play on PW's, make sure you grab the CEP (Community Expansion Pack). It's large (about 1 gig), but has tons of stuff and many PWs use it. You can get that Here. It'll find your installation of NwN and put everything where it belongs.
After that, you should be good to go!
Good luck!
Awesome, that's exactly what I needed, thanks
.
I tried checking some of the gaming store websites to see if they had it in their stores, but unless there just happens to be a copy hidden somewhere that wasn't accounted for, I guess it's safe to assume that online is my only option. I'm just so damn impatient lol.
I'm going to go ahead and order it from amazon. Hopefully, I'll have it by wednesday of next week.
Hope to catch you guys around - let me know which PWs seem interesting.
Yeah I played these for a very long time. I even had a dwelling and dungeon I made in one of the bigger ones at the time... I can't remember the name of it but my part of it was called Nailo's Dwelling and I had a huge dungeon with a dragon at the end that people farmed for days haha.
There were some really great PW's. One was really hardcore with perma death and I remember sneaking around in this law enforcing guild and hiding behind a chair during a meeting. A GM saw me and right after this evil mastermind approached me and took me to her hidden base out in a cave past about 10 traps and secret doors and I joined an evil society. We eventually burned the village and the world changed forever. At a point you could really only viably advance by XP handed out by GM's for role playing in the world. Man MMO's would be cool if they could incorporate half the stuff NWN persistant worlds had.
I mean why not develop a huge suite of GM tools and hire some rock solid GM's to constantly be in the world. It could be really cool.
Absolutely. If it was done right, new content would be very cheap to the company, reducing their costs. Reduced costs mean they don't need as many subs to be profitable.
I'd like to see someone try it.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Well there is a game called Linked Realms that I had a lot of fun in. It's not AAA or anything, but it was ISO view with multiple lands that linked together. Players could build their own and expand the world. It is a really cool idea and a very sandboxey fun little game.
Still Heroes of Telara sounded like they may be trying to do something similar but on a grander and more automated scale. I am interested tos ee wht they come up with in that game.
I hear ya. When I started playing MMOs and was still playing NwN, I thought something like that many times; "If some of the people creating the more advanced NwN servers got together and made a MMO..."
Bioware really put the power to virtually anything you want in that game in the hands of the players. I've seen some fantastic stuff done. One PW had, I believe, 4 distinct cities/factions. Each had their own local economy, and then there was a "global" economy. The economies were trade-based, and it was all dynamically tracked. The same one had a Gladiator Arena where you could either challenge other players to a duel or NPCs.. Other players could bet on the winner and could spectate, though they couldn't interfere. That was custom-coded as well. A friend who ran another PW for a time created a random dungeon generator and random quest generator for his, which were both inspired by the random instances and mission kiosks in Anarchy Online, incidentally.
In all, yeah... some fantastic work was, and still is, done with NwN.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Well, my copy of nwn came in last night, got it installed and patched accordingly, and then played a little. I've got to say, I'm disappointed with the lack of pve-type PWs. I only noticed one last night that didn't have pvp and it had 2 players in it.
Don't get me wrong, I love pvp as much as the next guy, but I haven't really been in the mood for it lately. Not to mention, I really don't know much about the game, and I'm sure I'd get steamrolled the second I set foot on one of the pvp servers.
I was really looking forward to some good ol' fashion dungeon crawling and story telling, in a relaxed, non-pvp, environment. Are there any PWs like that, that I'm missing? Any with at least around 10 or more people that play regularly?
I had one other question too - are the campaigns supported online? I mean, is it possible to play through them with a couple of friends?
Yes, you can mutli-play the official campaigns.
I can't suggest any servers, as I haven''t played in a few years.
Look for one called 'cheyenne' or 'Dedralleben'. The official boards at BioWare might still be up, and you could also try gamefaqs.com.
Good luck, and enjoy.
OH, one more thing: You can always make your own server and advertise it to get some folks to try it out and even contribute to your world. From what I have heard, NWN still has many people making new content.
Wow, NWN really could use a new version. So many memeories. So much potential.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Well your question about playing the campaigns online was handled, so I'll answer the one about the PW's...
There's a variety of different PWs on there, ranging from pure dungeon crawl, to story-centric to heavy RP.
Something to keep in mind here, these are independently built PWs put together by the players, so while you *will* see some very involved ones, in terms of how much custom work has gone into it, you're not going to see something on level with a professionally developed expansion or something like that. You're not likely to find many chapters worth of dialog and deep, engaging stories, or well-developed characters/NPCs.
Not to say that there aren't any stories to be experienced, just don't expect something like what playing the main campaigns would provide you. These are put together by players, for players, with hosting often payed out of the builders' own pockets, though many will accept donations to help.
I myself play on Path of Ascension (Higher Ground) which isn't so much story-based (at least not that I've seen yet) as it is based on a setting. New Nordock is RP heavy where most of the story content takes place through interactions between players' characters.
Look in the Story-PW and Story categories and see what you can find there. Good Luck!
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Thanks for the info guys
.
I guess I must have missed some of the tabs the other night because when I went checking around for servers again, I found a bunch of them that I had missed, and quite a few of them had a nice population. I'm relieved to find that there's a bunch that are not so pvp-focused.
I'll be sure to check out the servers you guys suggested.
Thanks again!