Discussing the Next Major Feature Poll

The weekly polls we run on our site are a great way of quickly gathering community sentiments. The actual participation numbers are however an underrated additional aspect. Because we have some significant fluctuation from week to week, indicating that certain topics are generally of more interest. Our poll about the next major feature in Neverwinter was one of those polls that completely blew up. It was the second best clicked one only trailing Huntgate. That’s enough reason for me to dissect the results a little bit and discuss what I think could make sense for the game in the future.

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Everyone Loves New Classes

The poll first and foremost leaves no doubt that the community would love a new class. There’s nothing in the works as of right now because of resources and balancing woes, but if the devs ever think about a major addition, a new class should easily top the list. It should even be in line with their heavy focus on constantly bringing new players in. I guess many D&D folks would love to see their Monks and Druids in the game for example. A new class also always offers veteran players a new play style and more stuff to experiment with. And well, it’s about time since the last addition dates back to Module 6, which was released in freaking 2015!

So it might seem that it makes total sense to just focus on getting a new class ready. But unfortunately it’s not as simple. The balancing reasoning might sound like a boring broken record, but it’s totally valid. Unless the devs find parity amongst the stuff that’s currently in the game, how are they supposed to add another entity? I would go even further and say that they must commit to a global class role concept first. The current buff meta is a mess for many reasons and needs to be changed to something that’s more inclusive. The alternative would be making existing classes more flexible.

This unfortunately means that a new class, albeit topping our poll, might not actually happen in the foreseeable future.

This Is a PVE Game

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I also do believe that the poll showed that Neverwinter is mainly a PVE game. The class addition wish is universal of course, but I didn’t expect the “true raid” being so much stronger than the PVP option. I personally wouldn’t mind one or the other as long as the devs add some sort of competitive mode. It’s what really could elevate the game. It draws audience to Twitch and generally creates more hype than running random Heroic Encounters in random adventure zones. Challenge is never repetitive. There’s a reason why thousands of people choose to watch raids failing at the same stage of the same boss for hours. Go figure. Campaign content is what keeps Neverwinter alive short-term, but true competitive modes have the potential to generate content forever.

For the same reason a revamped Foundry would be nice. But it seems like the community has abandoned any hope for that to happen.

Player Housing

I’d also like to give a honorable mention to player housing. Totally not my cup of tea, but you can’t deny that players would like to see it in the game. Having your own piece of property seems to matter. It’s not that I would argue against it, I just think that other stuff is more important right now. But it’s indeed a prominent MMO feature that the game is still missing.

Also missing is the ability to earn ZEN ingame, but that’s obviously not going to happen. It was honestly just one of those unrealistic options that we threw in the poll and I wonder how much of the votes have to do with the current blacklogs on multiple platforms. Making ZEN available for ingame abilities would make the AD exchange obsolete and generally mess with the economy too much. It is however interesting that players feel the premium currency should be more accessible.

Conclusion

Although being the overwhelming favorite in our poll, a new class is probably still a couple modules away. If I had to guess then I think the most realistic short-term additions from the poll are competitive modes. The Tales of Old event and K-Team challenge already add some elements for PVE, and I assume that we are also going to see the Neverwinter Combat League as soon as the devs feel comfortable with the state of class balance.

I by the way am not the only one picking up our poll as discussion topic. YouTuber Nova also dished out his ideas in the video I’ve attached below. Have fun watching!

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What’s your take on the poll results? Share your thoughts and experience on our social channels, in the comments below, or visit our message board!

Neverwinter UN:Blogged is always looking for writers to contribute to the blog. If you are an active player and search for a way to spread your opinions, analysis, diaries or reviews to more than 75,000 regular visitors, then don’t hesitate and get in touch with us on our contact page or message board! We are currently especially looking for console and PVP content, but that’s not exclusive. There is no frequency requirement, you post how often you want.

j0Shi

j0Shi plays the Neverwinter MMORPG since the open BETA in 2013 and is a regular contributor to the blog and the whole UN:Project. Originally a Guardian Fighter, he has built up ALTs of all classes and plays on BIS/near-BIS level.

7 thoughts on “Discussing the Next Major Feature Poll

  • December 12, 2018 at 9:12 am
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    Just going to be blunt. The current team, no matter what individuals may be capable of, simply couldn’t produce a functional new class. Look at the mod 15 release FFS.

    Also, while I don’t care about housing one way or another, the people that think they can log off in one and log back in to it are mistaken. Without that, it’s nothing more that a WYSIWYG Foundry.

  • December 12, 2018 at 11:14 am
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    I think player housing could be viable, as the concept is basically just a miniature stronghold for a single character. … Unlike some MMOs, they wouldn’t have to worry about running out of space since they’re just instances.

    They can also make it a major purchase, so every single alt isn’t going to have a house. Make it a major investment, possibly with some zen-store add-ons. … It’s not worth the dev time if they can’t use it to generate revenue, but I think a lot of players would splurge for it, at least on their mains.

    I think pvp in neverwinter might never be popular because most players already see it as buggy and unbalanced. Even if they fix all the issues, it’ll be hard to turn players perceptions around.

  • December 12, 2018 at 4:26 pm
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    i doubt people would spend serious RL$ on player housing unless there was someway to flaunt it to your friends. That creates serious challenges to implementing player housing if the goal is another income stream. I’d look at providing more customization to strongholds over player housing since the costs can be shared over more people and can be shared with the guild and the alliance. They gave us a a small customizable space, but lets customize the stronghold. Surely we could do some relatively easy reskins of rock types, banners and flags, bridges, some customization of guard uniforms, etc. the dimensions of the structures don’t have to change. although i’d love for them to get that scaffolding out of my stronghold if they aren’t building anything.

    also remember the devs talking a year ago about adding a pvp combat zone in the stronghold for guild activities and testing?

  • December 12, 2018 at 6:27 pm
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    Well if they did decide to add another class it will most likely be some hashed over slapped together ordeal of taking powers from other classes and making slight changes as to make them seem like something new.

  • December 13, 2018 at 8:21 am
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    Considering how clunky the animations and overall feel of using the powers on Paladin is compared to the launch classes, I have no high hopes for a new melee class that is fun to play.

  • December 13, 2018 at 1:35 pm
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    Rokugan/Kara The. Don’t let Wow steal everything D&D… or at least a Monk class. Even Diablo has a damn Monk…

  • December 14, 2018 at 10:22 am
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    I really dont want to see a new class right now. There really are not a whole lot of DnD classes left that would translate well into the NW game. Moreover, the devs show a remarkable inability to balance what classes they have. I have NO confidence that they will balance a new class.

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