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Neverwinter resurrects its April Fools' Day event next week
Nope, it's not April Fools' Day, but it's going to look like it next week in Neverwinter. Cryptic is reintroducing Respen's Marvelous Game, its 2014 April 1st event, from November 13th to November 17th. The minigame turns your character into a tabletop miniature that slides around the tabletop skirmish map as you collect special dice currency and other rewards. Massively's Justin Olivetti included the event in his roundup of the top 10 MMO pranks of all time. The event's reprise leads into the launch of Neverwinter: Rise of Tiamat, which launches on November 18th. We've included pics of the event below![Source: Neverwinter press release]
Warner Bros. plans more layoffs through early 2015
The rocky situation for Warner Bros. is far from over. Game Informer is reporting that the conglomerate is planning more layoffs through "most business groups" starting this week and going through early 2015. Variety says that up to 1,000 employees from TV, film, and other divisions will be let go from the cuts. This report stems from a staff memo that discusses this internal, company-wide restructuring. While Turbine was not specifically mentioned, there is concern following the recent bout of layoffs that hit the Lord of the Rings Online developer.
Neverwinter: Rise of Tiamat coming November 18th
Neverwinter has been building to an epic showdown with its "season of dragons" storyline, and now with the advent of the game's fifth free module, it looks as though the final battle is about to begin. Rise of Tiamat will release on November 18th with an all-new series of quests and dungeons. Players will find out that the Cult of the Dragon is trying to bring back the titular five-headed goddess and destroy the town of Neverwinter. Naturally, the characters cannot let that happen. We've got the quick story trailer for Rise of Tiamat after the break, so give it a watch and prepare your hearts and souls for this conflict. [Source: Cryptic press release]
Massively Interview: Spinning Neverwinter's tall tales
Massively: Today we're joined by Neverwinter Senior Content Designer Randy Mosiondz to talk about the game's story. So Randy, how does the story of Neverwinter run parallel to the pen-and-paper campaign and how does it differ? In the cases of its divergeance, why did the team take those paths? Randy Mosiondz: In Neverwinter we usually try to parallel a lot of the Forgotten Realms story development that Wizards of the Coast has been doing over the last few years. At launch, the majority of our adventure zones were based on stories were being told in the Realms, primarily focusing on Valindra, the Crown of Neverwinter, Gauntlgrym, and the aftermath of the Spellplague. One of our main sources of inspiration was the D&D 4th edition Neverwinter Campaign Guide, which had a number of great story seeds. We did add a number of new zones that were not directly connected to that book but were still drawn from Realms lore. In a lot of these cases we simply wanted to make sure there was enough variety in storylines, environments, and monsters you encountered to ensure we covered all of the high points of the D&D adventuring experience. Whenever we do this, we consult with Wizards of the Coast on a weekly basis to ensure these storylines match up to their expectations of what fits in the Forgotten Realms.
DDO beefs up melee characters in Update 23
All hail patch day for Dungeons and Dragons Online! Hear the mighty dragons roar and witness the ancient vaults break open and spill their content goodness! For Update 23 hath arrived to change the game forevermore. Update 23 may not be the largest DDO patch to date, but it does contain several significant improvements. The biggest of these is a large buff to melee characters to balance that playstyle with those of other roles. Melee characters have new stats to help them with their efforts, including melee power, ranged power, and magical resist rating. Turbine has also unlocked the epic version of the Orchard of the Macabre instances, added in a new raid, included guild storage, and offered players the ability to create cosmetic variants of armor pieces with the new Mirror of Glamering.
Jukebox Heroes: Chatting with Neverwinter's Kevin Manthei
This week on Jukebox Heroes, we're sitting down with Cryptic Studios Composer Kevin Manthei to talk about his work on the studio's most recent title, Neverwinter. So Kevin, Can you introduce yourself and give us a little background on you and your history with the company? Kevin Manthei: Hi! I am Kevin Manthei, a Minnesota-born, California-living composer. I write music for film, TV and games. I have been doing this for over 20 years and have worked with most of the big publishers in the gaming world and have scored music on feature and indie films, television shows, and animated projects. Currently I just finished scoring the Guardians of the Galaxy section of Disney's Infinity 2 video game and am in the middle of scoring Season 3 of the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series for Marvel/Disney XD. I also recently started work on the animated series Transformers: Robots In Disguise for Hasbro/The Hub network. I have been working with Cryptic on music for its games since City of Villains. I have scored music for City of Villains, Champions Online, Star Trek Online and Neverwinter. Each project I worked on for more than a year, and each game has about 100 minutes of music I scored.
Neverwinter announces Rise of Tiamat module
Perfect World Entertainment has today announced Neverwinter: Rise of Tiamat, another chunk of the Tyranny of Dragons plotline that just so happens to coincide with the story in new Wizards of the Coast tabletop series of the same name. The module "brings a new paragon path for the recently released Scourge Warlock class" with both solo and group play. Highbies can hunt for artifact gear as they prep for the resurrection of the goddess Tiamat and the epic battle being so heavily foreshadowed. We've got screenies and the new trailer below.
The Siege of Neverwinter begins next week [Updated]
Perfect World Entertainment has just announced a new in-game Tyranny of Dragons-themed event for Neverwinter: the Siege of Neverwinter. Apparently, Justin was right not to trust those dragons. Those guys are always up to no good, trying to kick your favorite fantasy city in the knees. Are you going to take that? Are you? No. I didn't think so. From September 18, 2014 until September 25, 2014, players are tasked with defending Neverwinter from encroaching foes in the new Siege Battlefield area. Two new Heroic Encounters will challenge players with a variety of different battle types and assaults from furious dragons. Additionally, a new profession will enable players to craft defensive supplies and work to protecting the brave warriors who venture past the safety of the walls. Neverwinter promises "new fashion items, enchantments, companions, and more" for participation in the event.
DDO's Update 23 to buff melee characters and add guild storage
Preview patch notes are on Dungeons and Dragons Online's forums for the upcoming Update 23. These notes paint a picture of a considerable patch that includes a significant buff for melee fighters. "Update 23 brings a series of changes aimed at improving the ability of melee-focused characters to face some of DDO's toughest challenges, and bring increased balance between melee, ranged, and spell-casting characters," the team posted. Also slated for Update 23 are epic versions of the Orchard of the Macabre, guild storage on airships, a special mirror that allows the user to make a cosmetic variant of an armor piece, and a new feat called Epic Power that gives +3 melee power to characters level 21 and up.
Neverwinter auctioning off five Sergeant Knox companions
The famous Sergeant Knox, Neverwinter NPC questgiver extraordinaire, will be available as a special companion. For a short time, players can bid on one of these purple-quality companions through the auction house. The catch is that there will only be five such Sergeant Knox companions put up for auction during this event, which means that only five (or fewer) players in the game will own one, at least for the time being. As a gold sink, this will undoubtedly be quite effective to suck some of the excess money out of the economy. This special auction will take place from September 11th through the 14th.
Neverwinter's summer festival starts tomorrow
If it's Neverwinter, it must be summer, right? Now that you've stopped groaning, you might be interested to hear that the D&D MMO is kicking off its summer festival tomorrow. Cryptic is building on the previous year's festival by adding more content to the event. There will be a new summer-themed zone with daily quests, a water battle, new profession tasks, and a new dungeon for the web game Sword Coast Adventures. Players can try to grab a reward that they missed from last year or strive for one of the new prizes, such as the piñata or the Sunite Steed. The summer festival will run from Thursday, August 21st, through Thursday, September 11th.
Neverwinter expands artifact system
Cryptic is clearly in love with the artifact system in Neverwinter, having expanded it to include weapons and belts in the recent Tyranny of Dragons update. In a dev diary today, the team delivers additional details behind the new types of gear that will grow in power over time. Leveling up artifact equipment will take a lot of refinement, apparently: "These artifacts will use the familiar item refinement interface; however the primary difference being that other equipment is used to refine these artifacts rather than enchantments. Basically anything that can be equipped in the 12 slots on your character sheet can be used to empower these artifact." With Module 4 are six new level 60 artifact belts and 21 artifact weapons. The belts have a base attribute (such as strength) that can be increased from +1 all the way to +4, while artifact weapons have the potential for "the highest base damage numbers in the game." The studio said that it might expand the artifact system further if players show support for it.
Neverwinter's Tyranny of Dragons expansion live today
Perfect World has officially launched Tyranny of Dragons, the latest expansion for Neverwinter. The update features a new class (the Scourge Warlock), new heroic encounters, a new dungeon, and a new skirmish. Don't forget to check out the gameplay clip after the cut! [Source: Perfect World press release]
BioWare announces Shadow Realms, a D&D-inspired co-op dungeon crawler
BioWare has just announced a brand-new IP for the studio: Shadow Realms, a "4v1 story-driven online action RPG" that was inspired by the team's love of tabletop Dungeons & Dragons. Shadow Realms isn't a full-fledged MMO, but will put players in the shoes of contemporary Earth heroes who will jump between our world of technology and another of magic. The twist for the game is that a team of four heroes will be opposed by one player who will assume the role of a dungeon master-like Shadowlord. "With Shadow Realms, we decided that the Shadowlord should interact with and see the gameplay world in a similar way to the hero players –- albeit with better tactical knowledge," BioWare wrote. "Their objective is to stop the group of heroes by haunting them, setting traps, casting spells, summoning monsters, and controlling any monster in the level." The game will grow with episodic storytelling, offer "deep combat customization," and feature six classes. Shadow Realms is set to go into closed beta this fall.
Previewing Neverwinter's Tyranny of Dragons module
I'll give credit to the Neverwinter team for being straightforward and direct about its next module, Tyranny of Dragons: When the devs say "dragons," they aren't skimping on the premise whatsoever. Module 4 is dragons by the bucketful, shaping the tone and story of Neverwinter's present and future development. Earlier today, I sat down with Cryptic Art Director Matt Highison, who showed off Tyranny of Dragons' new content while talking about how dragons are just so, so cool. With other MMOs that I won't name creating expansions that are lacking in new races and classes, Neverwinter is bringing one of each to this update as well as a wealth of content for the players to explore. From randomized dungeons to the controversial pricing of the scaly Dragonborn, we hashed out the details behind August 14th's content release. Let's dive in!
Gameplay video tours Neverwinter: Tyranny of Dragons highlights
Those dragons, always being tyrannical, am I right? Neverwinter has my back on this, as Cryptic is already in overdrive to promote the upcoming fourth module, Tyranny of Dragons. Today the studio released a new gamplay video for the update, going through the major features of the patch. Cryptic talks about the DPS and cursing abilities of the spiffy Scourge Warlock class, gives a better look at the Dragonborn race, shows the several new heroic encounters for experienced adventurers, hints at the Cult of the Dragon storyline, and teases the additional level 60 skirmish and dungeon instances. Check it out after the break and let us know if Tyranny of the Dragons has you excited to play it!
Neverwinter exploit results in emergency maintenance, no rollback
Neverwinter's emergency maintenance this afternoon fueled speculation among players that another currency exploit was to blame and a rollback was imminent, but Perfect World Community Manager Akromatik says no rollback is planned. On the official forums, he wrote, Due to an exploit we had to bring down the servers for an emergency maintenance. The exploit was brought to our attention by our fantastic community. Your efforts, enabled us to find and implement a fix as soon as possible. Unfortunately the fix required downtime and will likely require additional maintenance following our investigation. While there is no rollback planned, we will be taking action against people who abused this exploit. Thank you for your patience, diligence and understanding. We will keep you updated as the situation develops. A serious currency exploit in May of 2013 after the game had soft-launched into "open beta" did in fact result in a rollback. [Thanks to Jeremiah for the tip!]
Neverwinter coming to Xbox One in 2015
Perfect World is porting Neverwinter to the Xbox One in China this year followed by a worldwide release in "the first half of 2015," according to IGN. The site interviewed lead producer Andy Velasquez who says that a consolized Neverwinter will boast "all the same races, all the same classes, [and] all the same maps. The content will be there with some minor exceptions." The Xbox One version of Neverwinter will not feature cross-play with the PC version, and Perfect World offered no comment on plans for other platforms.
DDO changes direction, focuses on player feedback
July's Dungeons & Dragons Online Producer's Letter is the second one from DDO Franchise Director Athena, and in it, she describes the changes coming to the fantasy MMO. While the original road map set in place last December by Rowan has been followed thus far, Turbine is looking to redirect further changes based on player feedback. Update 23 will bring the Epic Orchard of the Macabre, a new Epic raid, new enemies (including werewolves in Eberron), heavy armor improvements, and more. Update 24 will then bring new quests and a new event to round out the end of the year and the holiday festivities. Be sure to read the entire letter in the forums for more details on what's to come.
Jukebox Heroes: Dungeons & Dragons Online's soundtrack
I've never liked the Dungeons & Dragons Online soundtrack very much. Now that I've given you no reason to keep reading, please keep reading. It's an unsettling score that's heavy on discordant tracks and murky atmosphere but lacks a lot of memorable, earworm-worthy tunes. Plenty of it is done with a heavy-handed synthesizer in the mode of scoring a Saturday night B-movie. The Dungeons & Dragons moniker deserves better than this, I've always believed. But I'm not one to throw out an entire score when there are a few redemptive pieces within. And amid the minefield of moody music, there are a few tracks that rise to being quite listenable indeed. In fact, much of the recent work done for the game's two expansions have clearly done away with slam-dancing on the keys in exchange for an honest attempt at a good score. Listen for yourself; the studio's made 16 tracks available for free downloads. So let's see what makes it to the top of the DDO pile, shall we?
