Change of Opinion?

     I'd sort of decided I didn't like Neverwinter. The controls feel weird compared to what I'm used to and I don't like the character models as well as I want to. The lack of ability to 'interact' with my character for screenshots as easily as I do in other MMOs makes it a bit harder for me to get attached to them. But I'd seen a few blog posts on it and in a bit of WoW doldrums I'd been poking around a considerable amount in every other MMO I'm currently poking around in, so I thought... maybe at level 10 you haven't given Neverwinter a very fair shake. So in I went.
     Maybe it was partly the combat in Wildstar, maybe it's just practice but the combat doesn't feel quite as annoying as before, though I do still keep trying to run with the mouse and getting yelled at for not having a target. It's just that drastically distant from the other MMOs I play control wise. I got invocation. That's pretty neat. I leveled a bit more and got a companion! I started opening up features of the game.

     Daily Foundry quests and Daily Dungeons. A cute little puppy companion. Forgotten Realms, which is my favorite D&D setting. And Drazek. He was my very first MMO character and I do like having him again in Neverwinter. I'm enjoying this a bit. The professions feel sort of hard to understand but you can work on them in a browser without even going into the game?! There's a silly little rolling dice game on the side to level your companions?! Okay maybe I do like it a little.
     I tried one foundry quest last night, and atmospheric creepy story one. It was not bad, but not great. I'd have liked a little more of the story somehow... not sure how they'd have done it though. Didn't leave constructive feedback for that reason, just gave them a good rating. Did another today for my daily foundry.

     Wow. I loved it. Maybe part of it was because I know Forgotten Realms so the lore is familiar. I knew what the 'end boss' would be before I got there... but I didn't anticipate how they had set up the final battle. It was awesome. I won't spoiler it here, but  this was part of it.

     The hard to see guy up there 'tanking' is Drazek's Man-at-Arms companion, Randon. The dog in the earlier pictures is his Damaran Shepherd, Kerith. I left a five star rating and a tip for that Foundry quest... and then when I finally talked myself into logging off...clicked on Foundry to see what the editor looked like. I don't understand it at all, but I want to learn. I'd love to translate some of the favorite campaigns I've DMed into it as best I can.
     I've tried the daily dungeon as well. The dungeon was interesting but if I had thought there was a lack of communication in WoW dungeons, I had my eyes opened. Nobody talked. Everybody needed on everything they could. I joined in after the first roll. Combat was more roflstomp than complex but I suspect that changes at higher levels. I wasn't overly impressed or displeased by the dungeons. It's a means to a shiny reward end.
I do have a slightly more favorable review of the game this time.
Things I like: 
Companions. (Though it does seem like I would possible need to shell out real currency for anything better than white quality. :/ Still the system is fun.)
Foundry: OMG I love this idea. I may not do daily dungeons every day or every time I log in, but I do foresee doing the daily Foundry quest fairly often. And providing I can figure out the editor... I'd try writing at least one myself.
Story: (with caveats) At this level the story is very very linear. It's interesting and enjoyable, though unless I wait a bit I'm not sure about replayability.
Invocation: My God loves me and gives me presents. Nice.
Things I'm less impressed with: 
Screenshotting: It's a favorite hobby of mine and Neverwinter definitely lacks versatility in that respect.
Vendors: Holy cow there are so many vendors, one for pretty much everything and right now it's so confusing trying to figure out where to go for what.
No paladins: Seriously? Definitely a core D&D class. Definitely my favorite and just not an option. I won't complain about class variety, they covered the gamut decently well and I didn't expect 20 options or anything. But the fact that I can't be a paladin still rankles. (Even if hunter ranger, my second choice, is amazing and fun)
Overall: For me this -is- a fun game. I love Forgotten Realms and I am definitely finding it inspiring when it comes to maybe helping me break out of my DMing slump as well. There isn't an open world so much as a map you can travel here and there on. The controls feel strange, but overall in a way that works for it. It's like D&D translated as best they could to an MMO. And I am glad to have Drazek back.

The closest to a candid screenshot I can manage.

An Evening in Neverwinter

     Most of my non-WoW gaming is done late at night after everybody else has gone to bed and things have settled into the quiet that allows me some time just for me. I've gotten very fond of MMO night time as a result. Last night I spent the evening in Neverwinter.
     I'm still not sure how I feel about this game. It's very D&D in some ways. It's got actual drow and I love that. I love it so much that I made one. Of all the characters I have in MMOs Drazek is the only one I've actually made in multiple ones. He was a character I played in my first online MUD. He was my first character in Everquest and later the closest thing I had to a main, though since the First had been on a friend's account he ended up with his name spelled Drazzek instead. He's had an incarnation in DDO as well, and now he's my ranger/hunter in Neverwinter.
     He was level 7 when I started the evening and after a few hours with plenty of afk time for other random things I was doing in the background he was level 10 when I finished the evening. I had fun really, but I still can't decide what I think of this game. And well that's no surprise, level 10 is a little early to really tell.
     The controls are different and aren't very intuitive to me at all. They are interesting, but I don't feel comfortable in them and I can't help disliking the lack of control I have over views for screenshots, even if it is nice that it pops the UI down automatically for them. Then again the characters, though the customization for them is better than WoW (what isn't?) aren't really very much to look at when they're done.(I admit it, I play MMOs for the pretty sometimes and I wish Drazek up there was a little better looking. Or that I could even see him a bit better most of the time to see the customizations I have done.)
     But for all the things that bug me about the controls there are a couple of aspects to their playstyle that are interesting, or that are with the class I've chosen. There are big ground effects that show up as circles for Drazek to dodge out of, and he darts around enemies and tries to keep his distance so the fights do feel very dynamic. The controls for attack are simple so even though I can not master the camera view without thinking about it and keep trying to click my mouse buttons to run I can remember what all of my attack buttons do so far even though it had been weeks since last time I'd played it. So it's got pluses. He's just picked up professions so hopefully I'll be able to develop an opinion on those at some point. So far I can't really figure out what I'm doing, but half the fun for me is trying to figure things out before looking them up.
     I haven't really tried any yet, but I love the idea of player created content through the Foundry so I'm hoping to take him off and try some of it out at some point, and maybe if I get a chance try my hand at making something of my own. I've got a few D&D plots I wouldn't mind translating over.
     I'm not playing any of the other places Drazek has lived any more, but I think for a little while at least, he's at home in Neverwinter.

Bonus screenshot of the original Drazzek that is the only one I have.