I've played a few F2P MMORPGs that have come in the early 2010's, including too much Neverwinter. I've played this on-and-off again from 2015 until now and saw significant developments and expansions - from the janky mess with poor quality of life, to something that loads and feels much better 10 years later. Also, I've never played The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Morrowind or Skyrim, just Daggerfall.
This feels like a good MMORPG, while suffering from the typical MMO problems. There's daily quests that can completely absorb players into unfun loops, fetch quests and an unchanging landscape littered with other distracting players.
However, there's some seriously good questlines in here. Knowing a little bit of Elder Scrolls lore helps to understand what's going on, but the precursor to Daggerfall storyline is new, making this a good introductory point for the entire series. While some of the stories are very interesting and requires player choice for how some areas end up - while creating no significant impact on the landscape, just NPC interactions - is a pleasant relief from these kinds of games. There's also some interesting change-ups from the usual MMO quests of "find this," "slay this," or "get this and bring it back", including a time I had to solve a murder based only on hints that ghosts gave me.
The combat feels much better than other third-person MMORPG systems, where hitting, blocking or getting hit actually have a feel of weight to them. Maybe not as much as a Dark Souls, but it does make a game like Neverwinter feel like an arcade cabinet version of an action-RPG.
For people looking to get into this game on a free weekend, I highly recommend avoiding uninteresting side-quests or daily quests, especially at early levels. Running on a second character in a different starting location was definitely improved by focusing on the interesting story arch of their faction's region.
This feels like a good MMORPG, while suffering from the typical MMO problems. There's daily quests that can completely absorb players into unfun loops, fetch quests and an unchanging landscape littered with other distracting players.
However, there's some seriously good questlines in here. Knowing a little bit of Elder Scrolls lore helps to understand what's going on, but the precursor to Daggerfall storyline is new, making this a good introductory point for the entire series. While some of the stories are very interesting and requires player choice for how some areas end up - while creating no significant impact on the landscape, just NPC interactions - is a pleasant relief from these kinds of games. There's also some interesting change-ups from the usual MMO quests of "find this," "slay this," or "get this and bring it back", including a time I had to solve a murder based only on hints that ghosts gave me.
The combat feels much better than other third-person MMORPG systems, where hitting, blocking or getting hit actually have a feel of weight to them. Maybe not as much as a Dark Souls, but it does make a game like Neverwinter feel like an arcade cabinet version of an action-RPG.
For people looking to get into this game on a free weekend, I highly recommend avoiding uninteresting side-quests or daily quests, especially at early levels. Running on a second character in a different starting location was definitely improved by focusing on the interesting story arch of their faction's region.