Worlds Factory managed to arrange a Neverwinter interview with Cryptic‘s Lead Designer Zeke Sparkes. The D&D, Forgotten Realms based fantasy MMORPG is almost upon us and will enter Open Beta at the end of this month; we’ll have more articles approaching the proper release, but for now, enjoy this new information!
WORLDS FACTORY: First of all, welcome to our network! It’s a pleasure to have you here. Can you introduce yourself and the game briefly for those few players that are still oblivious to it?
ZEKE SPARKES: Thanks for having me. My name is Zeke Sparkes and I’m the Lead Designer for Neverwinter. I’ve been with Cryptic for close to eight years now and worked in pen and paper games for about eight years before that so I’m thrilled to be part of this team.
Neverwinter is a new MMORPG based in and around the city of Neverwinter in Dungeons and Dragons’ Forgotten Realms. It is an action combat MMO that is free to download and free to play!
WF: We know that for launch the game is going to be centered around Neverwinter and the surrounding areas. However, it seems safe to assume that the game world will slowly get bigger, as all MMORPGs ever did. While Neverwinter is certainly a tremendously famous location in Faerun, there are other regions and cities that the fans have come to love either while playing the RPG or the CRPG: Silverymoon, Baldur’s Gate, Waterdeep, just to name a few. Will it be possible, according to your agreements with Wizards of the Coast, to expand the game (maybe with themed expansions) to include these and/or other cities and locations, or are your restricted in any way to Neverwinter and its surroundings?
ZS: For launch we are focused on the rich history and areas around Neverwinter. Our stories take you to the Sword Mountains, Helm’s Hold, deep into the forests of Vellosk, and even farther. It’s a pretty big range even at the beginning, but like you said, we are always going to want to add more and Cryptic is known for continually supporting our games after launch. So you can expect to see more adventure in the future. Who knows where those journeys will take place?
WF: When the initial information on the game was released, we were told that the story was centered around liberating Neverwinter, because certain parts of the city were overrun by monsters. I’m wondering if this will only be done through instanced adventures or maybe there’s some open world aspect to it; also, can we expect players to actually make an impact to the city’s cleansing, in a similar way to the Ahn Quiraj event featured long time ago in World of Warcraft, or will you just handle this via some update or expansion, restoring Neverwinter to the former glory on your own as a story advancement step?
ZS: Most of the story is based in a part of the city which is already reclaimed and rebuilt by Lord Neverember. Players will be venturing out from that relative safety into the rough or deadly areas of the city still in the clutches of evil. The showdowns in those areas do usually happen in instances, often inside our 5 man dungeon instances. It gives us better control over what’s going on and we can advance stories there in a way that doesn’t spoil it for the people standing next to you.
WF: You’ve talked about two types of events, instanced ones and contests, but you also explicitly said that there will be more. Can we expect dynamic events similar to the ones available in Guild Wars 2 or RIFT, where players band together “on the fly” to defeat a rising threat, or perhaps you have something different in mind?
ZS: Sure, in addition to special instances and in-zone contests, we have quite a few events that add reward bonuses to particular types of content. These bonus events cycle regularly and help highlight particular parts of the game so there’s always something a little different going on whenever you log in. We also have a special event focused on one of our end game content showpieces.
WF: Very little is known to this day about endgame. Can you talk about your approach to this part of the game? How do you plan to keep the players interested in the long term? Is there a chance that you will add bigger instanced challenges (similar to raids in other games) if there is enough interest for them?
ZS: We’ve had end game in mind since early on in development and wanted to make sure we launched with a good experience. There’s plenty of familiar stuff for players to look forward to like tons of amazing gear, hard and challenging versions of earlier dungeons. We also have a few tricks up our sleeve beyond that as well.
The event I mentioned earlier is a mixed PvE PvP competition that takes place in the lost dwarven city of Gauntlgrym. It’s a larger scale gameplay than anything players encounter while leveling. We will have more details down the road so stay tuned for all the juicy details; it is super fun! The whole office has a blast each time we playtest it internally.
WF: The Foundry might very well be the master key to increase the game’s longevity, given that enough players become interested in creating content with it. That said, some users are worried that this could cause you to develop less official content. How often do you plan to add new content to the game? Do you already have a schedule for post-launch updates?
ZS: We love supporting and adding to our live games! One of the really cool things about making an online game like an MMO is that you don’t ever have to be done or stop. We get the chance to keep adding those great ideas that couldn’t make it for launch. Even cooler is we sort of stop being the vision holders for the game once it goes live and that torch passes to the players themselves. So while we have plans and ideas as to what we’ll be adding in the future, all of that can and most likely will change once our players settle in and we see what it is about the game they love and what they don’t. The one thing that won’t change is how frequently and thoroughly we plan on adding to the game!
The Foundry doesn’t really change that philosophy at all. It’s a way players can get involved and tell their own stories. We want people to feel like they can get in and recreate all those great adventures they wrote for their D&D groups over the years. It is very exciting!
WF: We’re still in the dark about PvP, but I’ve been told during the Gamescom presentation that the mode will be featured at launch. Is there anything more that you can say right now? I imagine it will be arena combat, since all characters are technically working together, or did you plan something for large scale PvP as well?
ZS: Yes you’re dead on about arena combat. You’ll have access to a couple of arena maps while leveling your character. Each match is 5v5 and is focused on a Domination style of game play where the objective is to capture and hold particular points on the map longer than your opponents. At the end of the match you get XP, gold, and even items as rewards based on how well you and your team do. So you can actually level through PvP if you like. I already mentioned Gauntlgrym a little bit so you’ve probably got an idea that there’s more and bigger PvP to be had at end game as well.
WF: The last question would be, obviously, about the release date. The game has already been delayed into Q1 of 2013, but it’s looking less likely with days passing that Neverwinter can release in the first quarter. Can we expect the game within Q2 or is there still a lot more to do on your side?
ZS: You can expect it in early 2013. We just announced our Open Beta date - April 30.
