Revisiting Blog Posts: HeyRogers Reddit AMA (December 2014)

Browsing through content from years ago is both embarrassing and tons of fun. It’s mostly nice to read old opinions on certain topics and take a stroll down memory lane. But there are obviously also some bold predictions that never happened or stuff that makes you cringe because you can’t believe that it was actually posted. This column was created to uncover everything! We revisit old posts and discuss both the topic and the content in hindsight!

Introduction

Since it’s the first piece of a new column I’d like to add a little context to the intro above. Going back to old posts is both interesting and a necessity. When I change stuff on the blog I have to make sure that old posts are still functional. I pretty much only have to check layout related issues but often re-read the full thing. While doing this I’ve stumbled upon more than one facepalms or topics I’d like to revisit. So hey, why not make a series out of it and let you guys join the fun, right? So without further ado, let’s go back to our first post!

AMA Reddit with Producer HeyRogers from December 2014 (Link)

The post we’re going to revisit today is one of the very first ones on the site. In December of 2014 Producer HeyRogers joined the official subreddit for an AMA, in which he mainly talked about the upcoming Elemental Evil update. We know today that the module would turnout to be one of the worst in Neverwinter’s history. So let’s see how HeyRogers tried to sell it and more importantly, how we evaluated the AMA back in 2014!

[su_quote]There were no specifics given on the upcoming Module 6, but he revealed it will be as big or even bigger than Module 3, because they won’t have to align with WotC content/storyline this time. Mod 3 brought open world, a PVP campaign, the Leaderboard and Heroic Encounters to the game. You can definitely argue the impact those additions had, but it was indeed an enormous update overall so Mod 6 will likely feature plethora of new features (“2 HUGE things 4 big things 1 medium thing 1 totally strange and unexpected thing” to be exact).[/su_quote]

Nobody could anticipate that Elemental Evil would be such a gigantic fail, but at least were were cautious enough to throw in that the mod used as comparison (Icewind Dale) also didn’t turn out too well. More interestingly however, I wonder what those huge/big/etc. things were? Looking at the feature list, the HUGE stuff is probably the level cap raise and the Oathbound Paladin class. The big things could include Enchantment or Artifact level increases, although this is technically part of the cap raise. But what does “strange and unexpected” refer to? Minsc and Boo? I’m lost here.

[su_quote]The stuff he shared about PVE was mostly underwhelming. They are […] exploring (ways) to add more difficult “epic” versions of older dungeons to the endgame. From the sound of it […] this dungeon thing is at best two or three modules away.[/su_quote]

Hey Rogers (ha!), we’re still waiting. What did happen to this feature? Also funny that they did the contrary in the mod by removing a large amount of the dungeons instead. Oh well…

[su_quote]One big disappointment was calling off the queue system for Tiamat due to technical limitations, which would have brought a little bit more reliability to the fight.[/su_quote]

Oh wow, this was indeed really annoying. Most of you probably haven’t witnessed it, but Tiamat back in the day was a full pug-fest, because you had to enter the instance solo and then were randomly grouped up with other people that entered the instance at the same time. “A little bit more reliability” is the understatement of the year by the way. This was a true pain.

[su_quote]On the bright side: There will be housing at some point and more classes sooner that we might think![/su_quote]

“Sooner than we might think” probably refers to “never”. Unless they somehow count that Guild Hall thing as “housing”, both features have yet to make the game. FOUR YEARS LATER!

[su_quote]We know there will be a dual spec or power layout at some point, but they haven’t said anything that should make you really confident it is happening in Mod 6.[/su_quote]

Hand over that “The Prophet” title Nova. We called loadouts before Mod 6! Kind of… I guess?

[su_quote]In terms of PVP there is some good and bad news. Bad: No more maps and game modes for at least this module (I’d say even the next two to three).[/su_quote]

How about no more maps for the next 10 mods? Because that’s what it’s looking like right now!

[su_quote]Good: But he also did say that the changes in Mod 6 will impact both PVE and PVP gameplay and that they had recent success with running a leaderboard-centered tournament on the Russian server. Best guess is they will finally come up with some sort of premade-queue/challenging system to separate competitive and casual PVP, maybe even make the normal ranking a solo queue.[/su_quote]

Oh yeah. The changes definitely did affect PVP… for the worse! Paladins were unbeatable and caused major balancing woes. Back then we also still had some sort of hope that they would do something for the game mode. They brought in the solo queue, which was progress, but they failed til today to really give PVP a competitive environment (that can’t be exploited). Reading this really makes you *sigh* because you suddenly realize that not a lot of things have changed for PVP since then.

Final Words

That’s the recap of the post’s topic and content! Overall I was really surprised how solid it was given that the site was just starting out. We have changed formatting and layout since then, but in terms of what was written this definitely could have been posted today. In fact, we’re still doing those reviews whenever an AMA rolls around. So it’s something that definitely stuck with the site over the years. But don’t fret, we’ll definitely get to much more embarrassing things in this column!


Were you around when HeyRogers did his AMA in 2014? What’s your opinion on the stuff he said and our post? Share your thoughts on our social channels, in the comments below, or visit the corresponding thread on 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.

One thought on “Revisiting Blog Posts: HeyRogers Reddit AMA (December 2014)

  • September 1, 2018 at 11:37 am
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    “We know today that the module would turnout to be one of the worst in Neverwinter’s history”

    Hey, j0Shi, you have a typo here. Mod 6 was THE worst update of ANY kind in ALL of Neverwinter’s history, EVER.

    It was ONE of the worst updates in the entire history of PC gaming, from 1988 to 2018. If not THE worst.

    >:8o

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