Neverwinter Previews
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Category: News ArchiveHits: 1925
Atomic Gamer:
I want to point out a couple of things about this crosshair system before we go on. First, this can be a rather chaotic way to play when you're in a dungeon with four other players, each with a henchman, and up to a dozen enemies mixed in with everyone at once, so it will take some practice to get used to it. Second, it should be stressed that the crosshair is there mostly for picking targets for heals and attacks, not to turn the game into an aim-based third person action-RPG. Your basic attacks will automatically hit enemies and can't be dodged with regular movement, although any targeted AOE-type spells can still miss or be avoided by enemies (and that also means players in PvP). And on top of that, there's also a dodge system where you've got a small stamina bar and can use it to get out of the way of a big melee attack from a boss or just to quickly dive out of the targeted area of an AOE, cone, or other splash attack - all of which are denoted by red areas that appear on the ground as you fight. You can just normally walk out of these areas as well, but the dodge does seem to give you a short period of invincibility, making it good for getting away from even regular attacks, and since there's currently no collision with enemies it can get you out of trouble even if you're completely surrounded.
Beyond this, there's a henchman interface that allows you to tweak and rename one of several henchmen, then summon or dismiss them whenever you're out of combat, a whole talent system to play with, and several spell-type skills that you load up. Neverwinter isn't one of those MMOs that throws forty spells at you and expects you to have them all on your bars at once; instead, you pick from several basic spells, your two auto-attack-type abilities on your mouse buttons, two charge-up attacks, and finally a separate mode that can only be deployed for a short while, and it adds new powers to all of the rest of your abilities. (Or, at least that's how it worked on the Cleric I played.)
While MMORPG.com has a 2-hour-long recording of a live stream of the title with a developer from Cryptic Studios, which should offer a pretty comprehensive look at the game in its current state.
