Should you play Neverwinter in 2021?

I love Neverwinter, but as with all things you love, you shouldn't be blind to the flaws they have.
An excellent D&D based action MMO with fantastically fun, frantic, fast paced combat and very weak, everything else.
Massive thank you to all my supporters on Patreon and Twitch, if you're enjoying the content then consider subscribing from only £1 a month.
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[@SkyTempleMusic]

Your coverage of MMO's is outstanding. You go through pretty much everything other youtubers simply dont.

[@JoshStrifeHayes]

Thanks, glad you're enjoying the content, there are many other mmo youtubers out there, i just cover what i think matters :)

[@skinniemcfats5292]

Josh is yet another person who doesnt understand what pay to win is, and hes supposed to be the 'mmo expert' /facepalm Neverwinter IS pay2win because you can spend now to win NOW. it doesnt matter if I can grind for 8 months to finally get that thing that enabled you to kill me 8 months earlier or not.

[@billy_cross]

@@skinniemcfats5292 I feel sorry for people like you. Wife my suck for you looking in your neighbors driveway and seeing that he has a better car or a nicer house or that his wife is hotter than your wife.

[@insidiouscoil8474]

The was probably the most informative and honest review I’ve seen yet for this game. Well done.

[@smileyface9459]

Except the combat is broken an he say it is good

[@alexwashington8785]

I just said this out loud 2 seconds before reading this comment LoL

[@derrickshoults3772]

Never winter is not just pay to win it’s pay to play lol. After the story good luck with grinding for a higher gear score

[@khairulbasirrudin732]

I agree this is a very honest review..Am level 49 now..Pls share how is the combat system broken?

[@weglarz]

@@khairulbasirrudin732 Some people think "it has flaws" means "broken"

[@willprotector]

Josh your critique is spot on. I loved leveling in Neverwinter-it has one of the best leveling experiences in an MMO. I also love the action-orientated combat, though it felt weird to get hit by something just because I did not hit the dodge button method to avoid it. The end game is awful- the time locked campaigns are not fun past a certain point. The grind is real and I am a VIP player! The Astral diamond runs became a job, not fun. And the random dungeon sorter tends to put you in the same crappy dungeons (looking at you Cragmire). Great game to go through making different character types-just don’t expect a rewarding end game.

[@actionman4520]

Mod 10 was turning point.After that it became daily grind job.Unrewarding game but community is awesome.Thing is you need to find active guild that actually do daily based events.Fun.

[@hansxy0]

True. Im now in the End Game and it isnt much fun. The only stuff i currently do is doing the Daily Dungeons for Astraldiamonds and the winterfest.

[@chaoticneutraldan9417]

Did you pvp? No? Then you didn’t play endgame

[@willprotector]

@@chaoticneutraldan9417 So only PvP qualifies for in-game content? Yeah, not so. Lots of a games have endgame content that isnt PvP. Neverwinter’s endgame started after level cap.

[@chaoticneutraldan9417]

@@willprotector no you misunderstood me. He stated in his review that there was nothing at endgame but a large grind with no rewards. I pointed out that there was also pvp. Pvp is there to give endgamers a break from the endless grind. It is for endgamers. I’m countering the argument that there is nothing for endgamers not claiming pvp has exclusive rights to endgamers.

[@godhand2018]

Dude I remember playing this game as a kid and being absolutely mind blown. This was the first MMO I've ever played maybe one of my first online games period.

[@remy-pierrebabin8517]

you must be young then :D

[@YouregayDailyanime-bc7hp]

Same it was my first and only mmo game ive ever played since it was free on my xbox and also i always saw my cousin playing it

[@BigBroccoli_]

Same this was my introduction to MMORPGs and why I am now obsessed with them. It will always hold a special place in my heart

[@thatgun6726]

If you play from a DnD players perspective and get a bit invested into the story's and things going on it can add more flavor for you. I've played games in the past just skipping all dialogue and cutscenes just to beat the game but as I got older I started wondering why I'm here and what I'm doing. Imagination is key!

[@GalacticUnderwear]

Appreciate the shout out, was surprised tbh :) but humbled aswell!! great breakdown josh. Loved it

[@JoshStrifeHayes]

You're one of the most consistent NW creators, glad to see you're still keeping at it :D

[@GalacticUnderwear]

@@JoshStrifeHayes Thanks brother. I will continue keeping at it :)

[@clementineschalchen330]

@@GalacticUnderwear Never trust a man who does “:)”

[@mayn90s19]

@@clementineschalchen330 never trust a woman who uses YT

[@FlamespeedyAMV]

@@clementineschalchen330 😈 this better?

[@magekazin]

Well put, I would add that recently each new mod has basically forced you to spend millions to get your character back to where you where before it dropped. Massive play style and build changes have happened and even more are to come. With that being said I loved this game and made a lot of friends in one of the biggest alliances in the PS4 version, but with the changes in content of the last handful of mods the elite players became more and more elitists and it was hard to find players to play with even though I used to run with some of the best players on PS4.

[@jpdub217]

I played this i think 7 years ago and loved it. I had no friends to play with me so I just started to drift away. I loved the capture the flag game they had and had decent gear from that. Not sure I would comeback, but I;m glad the game is still alive!

[@Marcosalgado1]

me my friend :D

[@joeljohnson9371]

7 years ago compared to now, yikes! Everything became simplified, they removed many maps and community driven content, even the combat is cookie cutter for most dps. Really not worth coming back imo

[@IAmKingHomey]

So it's basically like WoW. "Congrats on being the greatest champion the world has ever seen and acquiring the strongest weapons ever forged. Now go kill this bear that is stronger than anything you've ever faced before and I will give you a dagger I had lying around in a dusty chest that deals more damage than your bis gear you spend half a year on." It's ridiculous.

[@valor144]

This is normal though no? I Mean if you dedicate on getting good gear for a few MONTHS as is said in the video, it's normal that you 'll catch up with other players that is basically every MMO ever. Now the grinding part and the pay2win part (well pay2win faster at least) ,now that's a problem

[@Neo-Bladewing]

At least with the transition from Classic to TBC Classic, and to a lesser extent WotLK Classic, you'll be using your level 60 BiS gear basically all the way to 70, and then 70 BiS gear can last you to 80. It wasn't until Cata that your previously BiS gear is totally replaced by leveling greens. That's personally why I've moved away from Retail. There's no point in doing stuff when it's current when you can just wait a couple months and get handout gear that's vastly better. At least in the Classic games, working to a full set of BiS not only gives you the option of a perma-BiS character for that expansion, but also makes the next expansion's leveling process smooth and easy.

[@Farvadude]

@@Neo-Bladewing private servers are so advanced now that i haven't bothered to play retail since mists of pandaria came out and insulted the franchise's worldbuilding with pandering to the chinese market (which is stereotypical anyway. i bet chinese players would prefer something original rather than inspired by their particular culture when they already live in it). there's just no reason to. warmane has had stable servers with high quality scripting for years now. they've been around so long i've gotten all 10 of my characters to lvl 80 (with the boosted XP gain rate on the server that has the boost. i don't play on the normal rate server because i have too many other games to play and the boosted server has TONS of people on it. way more than were ever on live servers. but they modified the spawning and such to handle it. like i said they're really advanced now. it's not like it was 10 years ago)

[@Neo-Bladewing]

@@Farvadude I don't play on PvP servers. The open world experience is abysmal since I'm not a sadomasochist and some of the community it fosters is even worse. Some of my guildies and I played on a fresh TBC private server in preparation for TBC Classic and we all just sorta got to 70 and dropped it. Open world just wasn't fun.

[@AndragonLea]

@@valor144 Not really. Ideally your gear shouldn't immediately become obsolete once the effort to acquire it reaches a certain difficulty. I. e. if you're reaching end-game and your gear is BiS only because you worked for months to make it so, the next update or quest shouldn't immediately throw you a green or blue piece that outperforms it. Well-balanced games make very rare, mythic or unique pieces as good as common or rare gear 20 to 30 levels above it to make it, well, valuable. If you get really rare gear very early in the game you'll eventually outgrow it anyways, but you'd still have a piece that's viable for much longer than an ordinary piece of the same level to justify its rarity. Some games also work with making new gear sidegrades instead of straight upgrades, allowing you to play the same class differently or boost a different set of characteristics not commonly boosted by gear for that class, etc. tt.

[@lux_angie]

Love it! You covered everything perfectly, including why I had also finally quit after playing since PC release all the way through till July 2020.

[@futhington]

I remember playing Neverwinter with my friends and hitting the endgame Elemental Evil content and discovering that wow yeah it really is brutal and we couldn't adventure solo anymore. Plus we were badly optimised and not geared for higher level dungeons (none of us felt like getting VIP status either) so our few dungeon successes were hard won and by the skin of our teeth. You really nailed it honestly, the game is most fun early on and the combat rocks. It's the bit after that that sucks.

[@shawnangie1]

I quit the game. The power creep treadmill is insane and demotivating.

[@sunsetsleeper]

im sorry but its not pay to win but you take less damage if you pay for vip and many more buffs? sounds pay to win...

[@bubblynbassy]

@@sunsetsleeper You can buy VIP without money and it's permanent

[@latenight6815]

@@bubblynbassy you know time worth more than money right?

[@magnus2217]

@@sunsetsleeper you dont even take less damage

[@soyoucanchangethis]

@@bubblynbassy How?

[@cheeher3212]

End game progress is what ruins it for me. I don't want to grind for life just to get out geared by a newbie.

[@lokusbluete3068]

its not the endgame goddammit. the game was great. for a year. then they fucked it up. the contend stays. its just a piece of shit now

[@40sUphillBothWays]

@@lokusbluete3068 F2P will ALWAYS optimize for new player onboarding--until they twist it so badly it suffocates itself. It seems sometimes purposely. Most people aren't good gamers, and often this is due to many valid reasons. Mobile gaming is trash for the competitive itch, but it is where studios are heading. Hopefully pride incentivized studios crop up to port our jones on console and pc.

[@I8one2Many]

More like you grind for years and the devs make all your gear doodoo

[@hrayz]

Enjoy the content. Play the dungeons a few times. DON'T grind for the top Gear. Just have fun with the current content and upgrade when the new stuff comes out.

[@stellardust6954]

😂😂😂

[@JayFFAFAlesanaES]

8:29 "Just don't say anything bad about the game". So, like every echo chamber we label a "subreddit".

[@NobodySoldier]

I, once, dared post an analysis (rather negative I have to admit) of Final Fantasy XIV and why as an old player (played since the original release, playing with the same character) I was disheartened by the game. My post was explicitly stating that it was my opinion and wanted to hear their opinion. Well except for one or two answers, the 40 to 50 comments were about killing myself or leaving the game because it is perfect and the world should be worshipping it. So, yeah. Too many game dedicated subreddit are like that.

[@Tastygraph]

Watching your videos is almost better than actually playing an mmorpg :P Its a bloody crime that not more people know about your videos. Your knowledge and objective approach to the mmorpgs you play, is very much like a research paper... except not boring! Keep up the good work :)

[@lightish3754]

man i remember being 13 in 2015 and playing the shit out of this game every day, but never being able to get into the fun cool raids because i couldn't spend the time/money to do the sheer amount of grinding that was needed to get cyan artifacts. on the plus side, the armour designs were what made me want to become a character designer lol

[@felixyuen8225]

I loved Neverwinter. Played it during one of the most difficult periods of my life, gave me something to look forward to daily. Back then there were five classes only. Left cos endgame got a bit stale, and Icewind Dale wasn't out yet, so I gave up a gigantic stash of astral diamonds. Wonder if I can still access it if I return, haha.

[@shirophoenix01]

RIP Rothe Valley. I hate the fact that we can't adventure there anymore, it was one of my favorite locations :( .

[@bsm1214]

I've started this game today and some kind soul gave me a rat pet (lvl 150 I think) which is veeery strong. Thank you whoever you are!

[@optank4000]

Bad news mate. On preview (test server for those who don't know) they made sweeping changes to combat, companions, scaling, etc... Now if you have say a level 10 character in a level 10 zone it takes quite a few hits to kill them. The worst part is scaling. I put a few lego mounts and pets on that same level 10 toon and their was no difference in damage out put. I feel bad for all the players in game since this will kill their progression. A new level 80 player will only be about 5-10% damage lower than a maxed toon in every zone and dungeon. Great video!!

[@JoshStrifeHayes]

Back in 2019 i made a video called why neverwinter is dying and i specifically said its because they keep pulling strong players back into weakness. And now they've done it again.

[@DiMAAcadia]

I've been trying out the preview, my toon doesn't feel weaker, it actually feels better. They've found a way to end the ridiculous power creep, a start on making old gear not become outdated with every mod release and ways to smooth out scaling to be far less problematic. Combine that with the recent loot drop rate increases, and the future dungeon rewards improvements, and I'd say that the new Executive Producer Chris Whiteside is doing a great job of helping to turn things around in this game

[@BlueEternities]

This definitely makes me want to reinstall and check it out again. Got frustrated with the cash shop and tedious nature of mid/late game last time but definitely enjoyed the combat.

[@WayneWatson1]

Don't, you will regret it

[@joeljohnson9371]

You know I just realized Neverwinter is like a clone of BDO. Awesome tab targetting combat done right, but insane predatory and at certain times pay to progress cases that make endgame just feel like a boring second job, only you're losing money for this work :P

[@CouplesGamingTherapy]

You are the reason I am getting into MMOs... Now to share your videos with my friends so they can see how fun they can be.

[@VandyCaville]

1:45 so it's a freemium game. Like those crappy games on mobile that dont make you buy stuff. But makes everything so much faster.

[@JoshStrifeHayes]

Basically yes, so play until endgame then stop when the cash kicks in

[@AdamF878]

I’ve been playing GW2 for a few months now as my first ever MMO and enjoying it a lot, but this series has inspired me to download more MMOs for an auditioning binge over the hols... 6 so far and counting. Loving Neverwinter so far... exactly what I want from a game. I’m more of an enjoy the journey than the destination kinda guy, so the issues with the end game aren’t going to bother me much. Neverwinter is definitely a keeper, with BDO and WoW probably heading for the reject pile :)

[@maxbreaker]

Could you tell me the best free mmo aside from guild wars 2?

[@AdamF878]

@@maxbreaker I’m probably not the best person to answer as my experience is limited, but the MMOs that are free to play (to a point) that I’ve enjoyed so far are Neverwinter and Lord of the Rings Online. I’ve more exposure to non-MMO f2p games like Warframe and Path of Exile tbh.

[@JustDaZack]

One of the few MMOs I've played a bit in my life. Didn't catch me after a while but I still enjoyed my short time with it :)

[@aegisaingeal222]

Well damn. Just started playing for a week. Absolutely LOVE the flow. But If thats what the end game is like...welll. Guess I'm just gonna drop it now and not waste the time. I'll keep my eye open in hopes the end game gets overhauled.

[@WayneWatson1]

Unless you want to spend 2 years playing and grinding for free to get the enchants, mount and companion tokens to get what you need. That or spend major $$$ getting caught up to your guild

[@JarlHavi]

I’m actually like NeverWinter. Playing Warlock at the moment and it’s really fun. My companion at the moment is a wizard and we’re just melting enemies at the moment. I’m loving these areas where they feel like dungeons.

[@yocruzzz6016]

I play as a sun elf with a bow

[@ianjackson5281]

leveling up a new character is fun in this game, i am a returning player who was absent from the game for more than a year, came back and found out it had changed a lot and i struggled to play my class to start with so rolled a brand new character and started leveling up from 1 again to relearn how to play and really enjoying it so far, still not getting the hang of the new profession/crafting from the workshop though - apart from that really glad i started playing again, like some of the changes they made,

[@Nemoknowsnothing]

On the paper I like the game. In practice: I tried but never feel like coming back after a play session

[@WillofGodwin]

Man I miss this game. It sucks how the developers don't really care tho. The only thing that speaks to them is $$$

[@Elite7555]

What do you mean?

[@ibankibank]

Man, miss this old gold back then. Best Combat mechanic I've found so far, playing as Assasin and ranger jumped around so you not die. Its hard find this type kind of mechanic combat, fast paced, dodge, stun, slowed down etc. Miss the old days so much

[@joeljohnson9371]

I agree, hard to find a substitute MMO when you want to move on from Neverwinter because of this reason

[@Kalgert]

Hey there Josh, I popped over from your "Why Neverwinter is Dying" video, and I have to ask if there is any news about that private server for Module 2 that you mentioned back in the day? Been looking around but can't find any trace of it. I was interested in getting into the game and figured that the older version would be a good place to start off with.

[@Pax00Imperium]

Your experience and knowledge of the genre come through in your review here. You also have a delivery form that would do you well in documentary fields. Earned a sub from this soon to be first level character ;)

[@petervillent5573]

One thing Josh forgot to mention - back in the day (~2017) Neverwinter terminated their EU servers. So if you are living anywhere outside US, you'll be forced to play on the US servers which sometimes is fine but most of the time can be a lagfest. And that was what made me stop playing the game.

[@JustSputnik]

I’m a HUGE fan of D&D and didn’t know this existed, the only problem I have is trying to play a game that came out 5 years ago, but I’m already downloading and ready to play

[@stevedudeman]

The English Hunter Ranger!!! I've played about 2,500 hours of this game from 2014-2019 (Including DCing in your Fangbreaker Island YT video)and I pretty much agree with everything you said here!

[@Blue_Narciss]

You should do a revisit of this now that they've completely revamped the leveling system - max level has dropped from 80 to 20, sidequests are essentially no more and the leveling experience has been streamlined to doing everything including dungeons solo - it plays a lot like Guild Wars 1 now. You get rewards as you level up that can give you 100% off items in the cash shop, free bag space (I've gotten a free 36 slot bag from the level up rewards and a 42 slot bag from completing a zone), so I honestly haven't seen a need to buy anything yet. Granted, I did have 3 months of free VIP stacked from Twitch Prime over the years because I made an account and never bothered to play. Added the Bard class as well!

[@dayzerade]

Does this include console too?

[@klaimlamardo4767]

@@dayzerade They are nerfing the level up rewards so maybe it comes nerfed on console to. If not, abuse it to infinity.

[@SunderingLoki]

I stopped playing after I couldn’t ever get a team for a dungeon.

[@hevis6638]

I remember playing this when the game launched. It was hilariously broken, with dungeons being full of jump-through-the-wall skips and other exploits, and item duping exploits. The combat was really good though.

[@zeriel9148]

Good ol' foundry-exploiting days. I'm still extremely salty those exploits led them to completely cancel the foundry though--it was the only thing that really made the game unique imo, and was also tied into the identity of the franchise.

[@ZorotheGallade]

I once got kicked from a dungeon because I didn't know I had to jump off a cliff to basically skip half of it.

[@felixyuen8225]

@@ZorotheGallade Good times, good times. Also, for a long time it was only possible to find a party if you were GWF or CW because every other class was redundant.

[@joeljohnson9371]

@@felixyuen8225 it's so ironic now that wizard is the most hated/avoided of the dps group :P

[@joeljohnson9371]

@@ZorotheGallade probably pirate king retreat, it's likely patched

[@Greavence420]

was going to get back into this, and nearly did, was installing while watching. Then you reminded me why I too had quit, new modules making months of farming useless.

[@BgcPrince]

Fr

[@deenman23]

wow has been getting away with it for almost 20 years LOL

[@Spinelicker5]

I agree with you that the gameplay is the most action oriented, I've played many MMO's and this one is just so much fun! It feels like you are actually swinging the sword or casting the spells and moving, instead of just pressing a button and waiting for things to happen. Great Vid

[@maddog3467]

Lol you hvnt played any mmo then

[@Spinelicker5]

@@maddog3467 I liked Vindictus, and Elder Scrolls and Blade and soul, not to much of a WOW player or Archeage .....

[@maddog3467]

Eso is the only decent one from pvp to pve its great neverwinter is the shittiest game out

[@Spinelicker5]

@@maddog3467 Or like FFXIV... I don't like the wait period in actions, Yeah, ESO is pretty good. Keep on Gaming and Enjoying what you like. Games are fun

[@jmbl3572]

@@maddog3467 how much of your moms money have you spent on crown crates.

[@CloudKXII]

First time playing Neverwinter the game had a similar flow to BDO. It was fun leveling up to mid game but trying to get to end game is super grindy.

[@tristramemerge]

Hahaha BDO is extremely grindy too. Not mentioning Value Pack system is so unfair FreetoPlay players find it hard to sell items to central market with value pack. Time is more precious, thats what BDO make me realize.

[@Yogizilla]

Great video and insights as always, Josh! I would say that you're aboslutrly right about the burn-out factor but here is my take on it as a year one player still here: it's an MMO. Nerfing, reworks, grinding.. it's due course. You just have to be smart and honest with yourself. Some love min-maxing and being on the bleeding edge. For the average player, you can enjoy endgame content without going crazy. Endgame really manifests itself two ways. First, you have the grind fest to get gear that is only marginally better at a much higher cost. The low ROI there is to be expected and the insane pursuit is reserved strictly for those who want the bragging rights and can afford the investment. For the rest of us, the second experience is this: you improve on an ongoing basis and make adjustments as you go along. The fact that items from 6 modules back is still viable or "top tier" is impressive. It's a fine balance between keeping things fresh, making sure older content is still relevant, and giving everyone a chance to remain competent, if not competitive. As for the boons, the pursuit is one of many things that will keep you busy.. but they are not an absolute must. When they implemented the new boon point system, it made things more fair and now boons are simply the icing on the cake: they won't make you a superstar but they help a bit. Like you said, it ultimately comes down to skill. Play a toon you enjoy and build up your skills and knowledge.. the rest doesn't really matter. Have fun with it and temper expectations. I think the main reason people burn out and quit is because they have the wrong perspective. MMO's are constantly evolving things...when they don't evolve you end up with a system like in BDO: where BIS gear has not changed in years so they just keep increasing quality levels.. fail at upgrading and you can lose your gear forever. Oof... and talk about grindfest: farm mobs all day and hope for profitable drops. Sure, RNG can be hell but NW is certainly not the worst in that regard. Forsaken lockbox and Delvers event has proven that. 8)

[@JoshStrifeHayes]

Im really glad you're enjoying the game as it is and playing slowly, thats the best way. What will be interesting to see is, after a few more modules, will you feel the same or will you start to get irritated at the constant resets, let me know once you've gone through a few, genuinely curious to see how it affects you.

[@Yogizilla]

@@JoshStrifeHayes Over five years and still love the game. Resets don't phase me. Just a new challenge to take on!

[@fwoopoo202]

thats BS It's not "Due Course" for an mmo to rework GW2 and wow are still been played on private servers wether its calssic/TBC/WOTLK they are all the same game with the only "Change" (they didn't change much just add on existing features) were the feats in feat trees something that was outright removed from neverwinter. "i think the main reason people burn out and quit is because they have the wrong perspective" its not perspective of an mmo as i mentioned before games can stay the same and people will come back to them because the core gameplay/mechanics are fun its not a perspective its a fact. and neverwinter went from runing a dungeon to get an item to grinding dungeons endlessly for 5 unbind tokens its not a perspective its a fact. the lack of rewards from either runing dungeons to a combat system that limits my ability to customize my character (a core feature in an mmo) is exactly what drives people to quit which is why many people left mod 16 because it was about limiting players.

[@tkell31]

Sounds perfect for someone who just wants to play casually or if you feel like the best part of a game is the leveling experience with different classes/builds. Thanks, going to check it out.

[@roseszalay2869]

I like to play while listing to lectures because it helps me focus and retain information.

[@phant0mdummy]

@@roseszalay2869 funny how that works. I can't study for things, or even do basic tasks (mowing the lawn, chores, etc) without having some music or background distraction on. All week at work I have podcasts on constantly in the background.

[@darkadia6520]

Thank you for the end game warnings because I hate grindy games it becomes boring, but I will definitely play it and try out a lot of the classes

[@realleprechaun1706]

I never realized what it was I loved about neverwinter since I left to play other games... Now I realise it's the COMBAT... Oh the memories

[@DespicableMe007]

try GW2 ;)

[@stevenrobertson8866]

Been playing neverwinter on and off for years and tbh I like the changes it's actually making more ppl available for dungeons etc. Granted I'm not exactly happy I lost my 230.000 power and most of my augment companions are useless but I am enjoying using attack companions more. Yes it's a grind but once your armor augments are full having the best in slot armer isn't really needed and as long as you have decent armer from the last mod you can keep up, even with item level newbies don't have lvl 15 augments barksheild etc so you'll always be one step ahead of these new player's

[@jonathansoko5368]

Copium

[@joeljohnson9371]

This comment aged like milk 🥛

[@ichaysei]

I played Neverwinter for years before Mod 16 and I actually deeply enjoyed the system of being put down to "Tier 2" every mod... It meant that there was constantly something to do, even if that thing could be monotinous at times. But as you said in another video, Josh, it's friends that makes the game fun, even if you are doing monotinous gameplay :) Mod 16 ruined it though in my opinion, as, now, every mod, if you have a specialised character for something like Critical Hits/Damage, you literally lose the ability to do critical hits/damage at the start of each mod making your entire Neverwinter persona irrelevant, you're just the exact same hunter/wizard/healer as everyone else :/ Love the video though! I just wish Neverwinter reverted Mod16 when they realised that most of the playerbase literally stopped playing because of it lmao

[@elementalgaming59]

was one who stoped.. NerfOfTheBall they killed my cleric after a 4 year grind and i still was missing so much. get rank 12 gems and only like 3 lol Boom rank 15s now! ok i grind to rank 13-15 boom mod 16 drops and my toon is worthless completely a pally tank can out heal and buff a cleric. wish they would come out with a classic version like wow did... or if some one would..

[@mortonsalt649]

You should do an update video because your main selling point to continue playing this or start to was because of the combat. The last patch they just came out with essentially destroyed what made the combat fun in Neverwinter. I took your advice and a few days ago gave the game a chance and I was having FUN then they released this devastating patch yesterday, good thing this happened now before deciding not to spend money on this game.

[@JoshStrifeHayes]

The levelling is still fun, the combat change really hits you at the endgame.

[@mortonsalt649]

@@JoshStrifeHayes Leveling is not fun if I keep dying when it's out of my control.

[@KaijuStormWolf]

I've been hearing a lot of complaints about the "Combat Changes" they recently released for Neverwinter. I was wondering if you had a chance to try them and what you thought?

[@JoshStrifeHayes]

Exactly the same as mod 2 then 12 then 16, people will complain, leave, new people will come, the cycle starts over.

[@Agumon5]

@@JoshStrifeHayes Hey Josh, so did the changes do anything to make the game more pay 2 win? Big fan of your content BTW. Found your channel last week and have binged almost all of your vids, great content!

[@JoshStrifeHayes]

@@Agumon5 hey, welcome :) The changes are something they do every few years, completely messing up the established combat formula. Give them a few weeks to sort it out and it'll probably go back to being kinda fine.

[@Agumon5]

@@JoshStrifeHayes Thanks man !

[@mike54HDW]

@@Agumon5 this game is out of date no point of downloading literally there's way better mmos like black desert or elder scrolls no point of downloading a game that is dead and out classed by other mmos, hell this game is even worse then blessed unleashed and that's saying something

[@TwstedTV]

To convert astral diamond is not slow, Its actually astronomically a snail crawl. You are only allowed a certain amount of conversion per day. And When you purchase storage bags, its per character and NOT per account. So if you delete your character, well you guest it, your storage bags will go with it. Storage bags are NOT account wide. Storage bags cost $25+ dollars for 32 slots. And you also have to purchase it separately for the bank. With the amount of items that you have to collect in game, there is definitely not enough storage space to store anything. This is were the company hangs your balls out to dry. If you are not planning to pay for anything and want to completely play the game through its free path, you are going to be farming for items for a VERY VERY long time. As most limitations are put into place that hinders your progression. Main one is astral diamonds conversion. that in itself takes forever as you are limited per day. This is actually a very cool game to play, but it has MANY flaws within it that usually people tend to play casually for a few days or weeks and move on with life to something else, like Path Of Exile, Wolcen or other action rpg alike. The graphics in the game is outdated if you compare it to games that are in 2021 going on to 2022.....

[@KHIMERA609]

I admit it's been a few years since I stopped playing, but I doubt they've found a way to make all the classes relevant. Also I don't know how it is now, but, back when I was still playing, each module they added wasn't a new adventure, but a new batch of dailies.

[@WayneWatson1]

Now it's bunches of heroics

[@j255173]

I've never played Neverwinter but I did play vanilla WOW all the way to Cata and the way gear is structured in this game sounds exactly like WOW. One of the reason I stopped playing that game was because I couldn't take grinding gear for a couple of months and then with a new expansion came the realization that everything I had was useless. It was very frustrating. I like GW2s gearing system for that reason. The gear in that game is very balanced from exotic, to rare to ascended/legendary.

[@armyguy4124]

I am a level 80 Dwarf Cleric Merchant. I find having multiple characters of differing classes quite fun. And you can grind for your main.

[@Grynfelt]

After watching this, I'm gonna give it a go, even though the steam charts doesn't look promising for the player base but still.

[@tommyknocker5147]

You are right the combat was/is epic, however I quit.. When you start feeling like the cow that is being milked it is time to go, Mod 21 NEW combat "rework" killed it for me. ESO is my game now, it's combat is not as fun or responsive, but it feels more like an mmo and less like a farming simulator!

[@IAmKingHomey]

ESO is such a great game but like all elder scrolls titles it suffers from atrociously slow and boring combat mechanics. It's a shame, really :(

[@swickster]

I probably wouldn't have quit ESO if the combat didn't feel so floaty and boring lol

[@ryanorlando1122]

You hit the nail on the head with your end post comments. Biggest problem with NW is the lack of seperation between new players with money, and old players with thousands and thousands of hours of playing time and game experience. A lot of veteran players have and are leaving due to how easy it is to play end game content if your new but rich. If I was new to NW, I wouldnt expect any end game content until atleast 6 months of avid gaming. One way to fix this is to greatly improve the boons you get for finishing campaign content. The boons now are ridiculously low, no incentive for new players to play older content. Veteran players need to have an advantage over new players when playing epic dungeons. Hard work needs a payoff. If no payoff, than why stay, pay and play........ But I digress.

[@Yokkster]

I really like your reviews please keep on making these.

[@Gidon147]

"you can access every content in the game without paying" is such a non-helpful, throwaway phrase that, in my opinion, does not belong in a review, especially not for MMORPGs. Of course you can grind out all the content, it is not worth mentioning at this point. And yes, the game is absolutely pay to win, because you can pay to reach a specific goal faster (i.e "win"), that would otherwise require you to play the game. there is no gray zone here, or in any other example for that matter, that lets you pay to skip play time and would not be "pay2win". it's not "somewhat" pay2win, it is, by a very easy to understand definition, a 100% pay to win.

[@JoshStrifeHayes]

If by winning you mean maxing out all your stats, yep, you can indeed do that. If by winning you mean enjoying the combat, well you can do that from the beginning. If you feel you 'win' by completing the journey then just download the game, buy the level boost and campaign completion and boom, you win. If you feel you win by enjoying the process, journey more than destination thing, then you can have a lot of fun here. As for the 'access every area without paying', its an important element of the design because you CANT do that in warcraft, runescape 3, osrs, guild wars 2, final fantasy 14, or many other mmos.

[@Gidon147]

@@JoshStrifeHayes True that there is more ways to look at it, which however does not make it being pay2win a subjective thing. However sorry for becoming a little condescending there perhaps. I meant specifically Free2Play mmorpgs, not all of them. - none of the games you mentioned are Free2Play. They have different payment models and clearly distance themselves from the Free2Play concept. They do not give me an option to "win" without paying, which makes them irrelevant in a pay2win discussion. - It is, and this might sound a little unthinkable, unspeakable even, not that important in this case what anyones definition of "Winning" is when it comes to the debate about "pay2win or not". It is what the Game designer defines as "Winning". A Game, by definition, gives you an obstacle to overcome so that you are rewarded with "winning" (by overcoming said obstacle). Mind the word "fun" entirely missing in this definition. Now if a game gives me a choice of "do X times X to get your cool sword" or "Pay 20$ to get your cool sword", then the Game is designed around these two means of overcoming the obstacle between me and my sword, no matter what the sword actually does (i.e being cosmetic only). Here, The sword is the Game's win reward and both option A(Grind) and option B(Pay) are its win conditions. Mind that I am not arbitrarily trying to force the WIN word into this just to make a point. People just love so much to try to lie the whole paying part out of their game framework, make it look like it has nothing to do with their game, when it is an integral part of their Free2Play game. If give people the two options to either Grind or Pay for ANYTHING AT ALL in a game, it is automatically Pay2win. If paying is not your kind of winning or you don't see it as such does not matter, it just means you're trying to justify your (in the opinion of the designers) inferior playstyle, because clearly the best, most time-cost and button-press-efficient way to beat the game is paying up.

[@JoshStrifeHayes]

@@Gidon147 so in your definition, no mmo game in the entire world is free to play, ever.

[@JoshStrifeHayes]

@@Gidon147 in fact if you define winning as the ability to overcome X without paying, then neverwinter DOES have that.

[@Gidon147]

@@JoshStrifeHayes Oh no, I didn't say every Game is not Free2Play, only games like rs3 and warcraft which are pay2play (rs3 has an subscription model for example). All i say is, if you can EITHER play or pay, if you have those two options, then it is pay2win, regardless of free2play or not.

[@skroowi8105]

One thing I liked about the endgame progression in Neverwinter was that you do Tier 1 content to get tokens that you spend on the gear you need for Tier 2. If the piece you were looking for didn't drop, you at least could upgrade your gear and move on to something both new and tougher, rather than waiting for RNGesus to bless you with progression. At least, that's how it was a while back when I played, not sure how it is now. I felt rewarded for spending my time in game. In contrast, a game like Destiny 2 is based on RNG, where I could get 5 pinnacle engrams and 4 of them turn out to be boots or hats. If they'd implemented an actual progression system like Neverwinter has (or had, idk, that was a while ago) I'd still be playing that turd. With Neverwinter, there was always an end in sight. With Destiny 2, the question was always "How many times do I have to do this thing over and over until I get lucky?" I wish more games did endgame progression similar to Neverwinter.

[@blackcitadel37]

The video was on point. Just great. In my personal opinion, someone who played that thing for more than 3.6k hours: Short answer: No. It's not worth your time at all. Long answer: Cryptic's business model is based on keeping players in the "wannabe end-game" level. You create many characters, get hooked with the leveling experience and start grinding and spending money to run the endgame content. Then they decide to change everything overnight, nerf all the stuff you spent a lot of time and money to get and you're forced to gear up, grind and waste more money to get back to where you were. Rinse and repeat. On top of that, it's getting more and more P2W with every update.

[@Ph3nom3nalN0is3]

This was a game I touched so many years ago, ran a cleric and geared him out fully before any of those boons even existed (I believe I left when the first module campaign dropped). I was the good ol heal ward helping my party with buffs and keeping HP bars green. Rode a hellish horse of fire in my wake, a gift from my father who also played at the time, was a hell of a good time. Shame to know anything I'm wearing is so far behind that I'm essentially a max leveled naked :(

[@Mogojoegotube]

Been playing for about 3 years. I completely agree with what you said. It's incredibly fun and the combat system is a masterpiece. HOWEVER, this is coming from a very endgame player. Endgame is both very fun, and not very fun. As much as that might not make sense basically its somewhat exciting and fun grinding out the new gear and it's incredibly rewarding eventually getting it BUT it does take a hideous amount of time to get the gear. The moment a new module comes out BOOM the 'old' gear most of the time is completely outclassed. But if im being completely honest although I've spent quite a large sum of money on the game (for an 18-year-old lmao) and when I see my wonderful precious gear get completely outclassed by new stuff its demoralising and a bit sad. Seeing and playing a new module is incredibly exciting and I do like grinding out new gear as it's pretty much what the game is all about and its an MMO. I've never seen or played an MMO that isn't grindy. So yes id advise playing it but just DONT rush it. Otherwise, you might end up A. Getting bored of the game when you enter endgame and B. Spending real-world money that you probably don't need to if you just spend more time on the game.

[@dwightsmithjr5783]

Best response I’ve read...don’t rush it...especially if you know it’s an mmo and new modules/gear is coming next expac

[@joeljohnson9371]

So glad there's still teens playing this game, old people are nice, but that's almost the only people who are playing and I'm not trying to become old too fast now :P. But on a serious note, the demoralization that comes with knowing your hard work goes to waste every few months is not something good to continually build on yourself. Of course you did play for 3 years, but the game really is not at the potential it could be, and that is a reason why I'm depressed even watching these videos and knowing people are just playing another mmo, not playing through my memories of the real Neverwinter

[@jeffreywaugh926]

Your class descriptions are hilarious. “Just all around good guy the paladin. Long range bow and close range shenanigans” lmao

[@alyours2889]

Fair analysis....resist the temptation of investing $ in it...it will offer you 1 year or so of thrilling entertainment!

[@javimateo154]

I started playing neverwinter almost around 2 months ago. Combat system is the best out there. Very engaging. The problem is high-level geared. When you focused on this and try to get items fast, you are limited for astral diamond dairy refinement. So you try to repeat again and again same quest or dungeons and the reward rarely is worth the time u invested. One thing i have to add, it´s that maybe is not a p2win, but if you pay, your progression is quite faster. If you pay VIP, game progression is acceptable. If not, game is horrible. I think if they get a good balance between time invested and reward obtained, it would be even better than it is. Neverwinter put a barrier to players when they undestand how much time have to spend to get high-level geared. It plays too much with random rewards, and the chances are too low. They have everything they need to improve the game, but sometimes i think they are too greedy to make what they have to.

[@jbaisden]

I just started playing because i was listening to critical role. I normally always go wizard but went warlock and am ridiculously OP or i feel that way. Only lvl 10 though.

[@flaviocatarino4328]

Amazing content. Well paced, informative and straight to the point. Keep the good work

[@ZorotheGallade]

The game developers just love to piss all over the players whenever they find a way to make progress while also having the tiniest shred of fun and are quick to nerf them to the ground, while leaving big glaring bugs and balance issues unaddressed for months.

[@WayneWatson1]

exactly and their marketing team does everything to suck major $$ out of you. The game is funded by suckers gambling

[@omnipotentpumpkin9755]

Excellent review! You really did your research well for this, you hit the nail on the head for absolutely everything. Bravo sir!

[@NikolayNikoloff]

You hit the nail on this one dude! It's the combat system in the game and hooked me on the game. No other MMORPG have similar combat experience which is both fun and satisfying to do both casual and on high level content. Been playing NW on PC for almost 4 years now and have 6 toons all close or above 30k item lvl. The game have its flaws but overall it's a good game and if you're looking for chill MMORPG this is the game for you.

[@stellardust6954]

Originally played WoW... Now I'm older and less life as a parent. I love this game. I love D&D. I love the mix and now that it's on console, soni can be around my family and not in my office or laptop. F2P also means people who support the game with real cash should move ahead rather quickly compared to to the F2P folks... Get over it.

[@Karakla08]

I miss the Neverwinter Uncensored Community. They had real knowledge about the game but the admin of the site quit as the game goes to shit.

[@maximilianooltra8614]

Thanks for the summary mate, that's exactly the kind of information I was looking for abt NW. Cheers!

[@MolagsBols]

Left ESO for BDO... Leaving BDO and trying this. The endgame grind is fine by me. The BDO grind starts your first day and never ends. Wasted so much money on BDO and ESO is just bad, the combat sucks and I crash every 30 minutes lol hopefully this game can get me through until I can find something else or maybe fall in love and stick with it. Won't be spending any money on this game tho I've learned my lesson with p2w and it's never worth it.

[@yous4810]

Did you try FFXIV?

[@MolagsBols]

Has it made it to Xbox?? I haven't kept up with it but if it's on console I'll definitely try it out.

[@joshuaroe1402]

@@MolagsBols I'm pretty sure it is on console

[@ScreamQueen1990]

Maybe it’s just my play style, but i love eso and hated bdo ,FFXIV, bless unleashed, and never winter.

[@jessayaki9496]

Love your vids. My friend and I are looking for a new game for play for a while. We liked the action combat of Tera, but it's pretty quiet these days. Maybe we'll give this one a try.

[@lordemeth1802]

Late reply do you and your friend still play

[@lillyswift1052]

The game is fine, all content is free, but customer support is one of the worst among all online games. Do not pay a dime, once you paid enough they have 100 reasons to ban your account without proper reason

[@AbstractType1]

Why would they ban a regular paying player instead of a FtP player?

[@lillyswift1052]

@@AbstractType1 trust me, they ban both if you affect their economy, even through legal play

[@wilfredoriveraestremera5088]

@@AbstractType1 i got a lot of my frends gettin band just because the name of jose or ariel on a character is ofencive and got ban and they was using the real name of them lol

[@calltothekindred1147]

*Looks at my 1300 hours* Oh god the end game. As someone who hit the top 5% of players, within one of the top guilds, and probably (at the time) top alliance on PC with minimal money sinks. (One mount, a pet, small assortment of things, and monthly service). I had issues with the end game. I was at one point was waiting for content and enjoyed it. I stopped playing for about 2 years or about two modals (dino and vampires) I came back and I was very sad. For those who know I had the dragon flight gear completely decked out. This was thee end game gear. For awhile it out performed latest module gear. When I got the box with the blue gear from raven it hurt that blue gear was better than the gear I spent hours with my guild/alliance to earn. I would have been fine if it was mid tier gear. After doing some of the ravenloft content I would have to switch it out or replace it with new dragon flight gear. Nope it became worse than the stuff on the ground. I understand that there is a power creep and to keep the game alive old gear does get worse, but that hurt and I think tainted my experience playing. One day I want to go back, but it would be hard without any friends that play it anymore.

[@Guilemouse]

That was well put and well written, I sympathize fully without doing the end game myself. I think the journey must be worthy of your destination and hopefully you will go on more journeys in the future.

[@xXG3TPWNEDXx]

I have 6,000 hours in this game. It was once a beautiful game. Amazing combat, party synergy, classes were unique and fun to play. Recent changes in the last year or two have absolutely bombed this game. You get punished for all the time spent in game when you are end game. You get nerfed. You get the hard worked for stuff smited into the ground and have to rebuild over and over. They did 2 combat reworks all which have made the game worse. Boring and uninteresting by over simplifying everything. Worst of all the game is ridden with bugs like you wouldn't believe. So many bugs with every patch and so many bugs left unfixed. If they do bother to fix something it takes months. It's went into such a massive slump from what it use to be. The developers are some of the absolute worst. They don't like player feedback and anything that is fun will be taken away at some point. They have committed the biggest mmo sins time and time again. Even the most positive of people have had their spirits broken. Not to mention they have the nerve to put packs into the cash shop for 200$ for exclusive in game content. Yes free mmo needs money to survive i know. But the greed the impose is absolutely barbaric.

[@MarinoKadame1]

The day they removed player made dungeons because they were mostly pissed off at players making better content than the official content was when I didn't want to come back even if I quit before that because I mostly was doing daily chores that became dull.

[@xXG3TPWNEDXx]

@@MarinoKadame1 And that hasn't changed. I don't play the game anymore but, I have friends that still do. It's the same daily bs. Content has improved a little I have to admit. However, they made all the classes so boring and uninteresting. They simplified everything and took out all the unique things in the game that made it worth grinding and building for. Now everyone has the same cookie cutter build and the freedom to express your style is long gone. You basically just log in and do the same daily stuff regardless of the content. Meanwhile they are trying to shove the cash shop down your throat. They have cycled through developers like crazy. It leaves the game in a constant change as every developer has some grandiose idea that turns the game into a steaming turd. Then shortly after they quit and it recycles. Seems no one wants the turd so they play hot potato with it. Meanwhile players voices go unheard and the game will never see better days.

[@nolgroth]

I quit at Mod 13. Came back at Mod 21 and the first thing I noticed is that everything is governed by item level, which means every new character will go through the exact same content in the exact same order. With all the goodies I got to respec my characters, I was able to get to ~IL 24k. A new player buying some $50 pack can hit IL 30k. That's when I knew Neverwinter was never going to be more to me than an occasional distraction. I don't mind a little bit of grind but I hate a lot of pointless grind.

[@andreastrapp3518]

So true. Playing AD&D since the 2nd edition and having red all R.A. Salvatore Books, there is no alternative to Neverwinter for me. BTW, I like the combat system and hate the grind. The good thing is that there is no need to do it, since my hunter ranger has all the boons and becomes up to speed as soon as a new module is out.

[@kluafoz]

Josh loved the video and yes I know it's a year old... I came here from your newer video about Neverwinter. I do have a question as to what game there is out there that you grind for a super epic legendary weapon and it stays that way throughout the next expansion?

[@annabaelfire2173]

I started playing yesterday. I'm already a level 31 tank fighter. seems fun so far. Don't plan on spending any money on it though.

[@JoshStrifeHayes]

Thats the best way to play :)

[@aledi1430]

that's actually terrible. How can you play without reading story books about the characters, quests and dialogues carefully?

[@joshuaroe1402]

@@aledi1430 I am guessing you just hit the skip dialogue button lol

[@magnus2217]

If your playing solo then you probably should choose the other fighter paragon path, tanks are more for dungeons and won't do as much damage so it will take a lot longer to level up

[@haroldfarnal8996]

LOL! I remember grinding in JD years ago and then waking up the next day to check what my progress only to find out that I was booted out from the server.

[@nickbritton4853]

End game is about fine tuning. That's what makes vets outclass new players. By the time you level companions, mounts, insignias, enchants, you will always be way stronger than a newbie at the start of a new mod. Also, the events are really fun too

[@mehrdadr1542]

I agree with your comments about end game play, i pretty much quite the game when MOD20 came and they practicaly changed everything as it was changed a year ago, the prospect of going through all the grinding we had to do in mod 18 and 19 was not something i look forwarded to

[@antongunther3977]

Man I remember the beta of this game. I wonder if my old account is still around

[@onetailedjin]

You should go see man

[@KayoYuuki]

I was surprised, didn't know this was a thing, I logged back at my main cap lvl wizard and I got one shot by a level 40 mob, I thought it was a glitch I couldn't believe the gear it took me so long to get was now trash, and I had to pay if I wanted a new character slot which would be fun for a while but inevitably end in the same way and I remember the endgame feeling a lot like a mobile game, just daily grind repetitive stuff, so I quit now I'm trying ESO and Ffxiv, much better games.

[@-SashaAlex-]

Not worth playing the game if they keep changing the end game with every new module. Soooo no. I had enough of their horrible monetization, small inventories, horrible grind for the in-game currency, and abysmally low drop rates for gear.

[@Khaz8969]

isn't those gear resets normal in MMO´s?

[@Thorocious]

I'm fucking sold man! Shocked I never seen this game before, downloading now.

[@lambertodgr8]

I have a friend who plays neverwinter 24/7 it's his life he only stops to sleep .His wife brings him his food to his keyboard .He has been trying to get me to start playing .After watching this Video I have decided he is INSANE . Thanks a lot I wo t even begin to play . Think I'll move " climb Mt Everest " 1 post above neverwinter in my bucket list .

[@vdec9774]

The best way to play the game is to find some friendly players in a guild and, after 2300h in the game it's the social aspect that keeps me comming back

[@TheBlabor]

I am level 80 item level 12000 ...what is guild in this game???how to be in a guild???

[@vdec9774]

@@TheBlabor if you realy want to find a guild, the best way is to just ask someone to invite you to one

[@rotarycomet]

Very nice vid again, like always. Thank you!

[@xpcmania]

The Devs "kill" the game with MOD 16

[@BgcPrince]

Yeah they completely ruined hunter ranger for me

[@edhunt4680]

Not played the game. I was looking to see if it was worth it whilst waiting for other newer games to release. This review was awesome and has inspired me to give it a go. Thanks

[@tyreewalker1459]

That moment when you watch the same youtuber over and over again and realise you never subbed... Luckily it was an easy problem to solve :)

[@zsrlmsb2470]

I subbed accidentally on first video but never unsubscribed, just watched a lot more of his videos and was kinda surprised when I wanted to finally sub... Well, that sub was not a mistake, just a happy accident.

[@YannMetalhead]

Your reviews are really good; no bullshit, straight to the point.

[@lacai527]

who cares Misc.... Boo is the king of the country! edit: OMG OMG! you must gather your party before venturing forth!!!!!

[@Forced2makethis2vote]

Thank you. Decided not to play, but liked and subbed for the quality content.