Neverwinter really doesn't want you to group up.
if you are in a group, you cannot leave an area unless your entire party is standing at that exit... this includes party members who are currently offline... and party members who are 20 levels under you and in another zone. This means if you are trying to go to the same zone, you have to leave party, THEN you can go to that zone and rejoin the party.
Getting around the map is a nightmare, you cannot leave an instance except at a specific exit to the zone... some zones have multiple exits but the one i'm currently in only has one, one that will take me 15 minutes of jogging to get to... There isn't even a "hearthstone" alla WoW or TP Scroll alla Diablo. Nor a waypoint system like guildwars. (Though once you do get to the end of a map you can choose where you are going freely.) The problem with this, I wanted to do a dungeon with a friend, meaning we both have to be at the dungeon entrance, which is a 15 minute run from the entrance to the zone... However he has no clue how to get there, so I had to run back to show him the way... 30 minute jog. I guess they REALLY want you to buy those fucking mounts, huh?
I've ranted on this subject before, but standing still to cast... drives me fucking insane. neverwinter's combat is clunky, slow, and awkward. Movement interrupts some abilities, some abilities don't allow you to move. So there is this weird hirearchy of what abilities override other abilities, and the "move" dodge overrides everything except being knocked down held or disabled. Of course the only class with "dodge" is the cleric, because that makes sense :D Oh and its a "utility power" from 4th edition D&D, other classes get a sprint, or teleport or what not.
So not only can you not move while attacking, there are these constant aoe zones you are supposed to get out of, except you can't move except when you click dodge. Or if you stop attacking and wait 1-2 seconds for the animation to finish, THEN you can walk out of the AOE, but by that time its probably gone off. XD So its like it wants to be guildwars 2 (which has a very nice dodge function) but forgot to allow you to move...
But then I unlocked my "divine power" or some such bullcrap... and suddenly while attacking (a channeled ability) I can move around while attacking! it made the game feel so much better... except I can only use that power for a very limited amount of time and then its back to painful suffering movement.
The user interface is pretty pisspoor, and the default ability key layout sucks terribly. q,e,r are your encounter powers (essentially, powers with a short cool down) right and left click on the mouse is your at will powers (no cooldown, but a short attack animation time) then 1,2 are your "daily" powers (essentially an ability you can only use after building up a "limit gauge" like mechanic) then tab is your something weird power, and shift is your utility power. then 3,4,5 are your quickslot items
From that layout, it would have been perfectly easy to put your at will powers on an auto attack, allowed you to move around with them.. then only forced you to stand still while casting your other powers... and maybe just gave us a 1 through 0 hotbar like EVERY OTHER GAME ON THE PLANET and let us lay things out as we pleased.. Maybe a couple extra hotkeys for q and e. (I personally rebound e to moustbutton 4, then moved r to e, so my thumbbutton just causes an AOE blast :P seemed like a good idea)
Oh and then the priest has two types of "limit gauges" :P the normal daily power one, and a divine power one... which changes her entire skillset to do something slightly different.
Last but not least, the writing is boring, the quests are linear and lead you by the nose.. (litterally, there is this golden sparkling trail leading you to EVERY FUCKING LITTLE THING YOU NEED TO DO) I get it, people are lazy, but at least make us put some thought in to it instead of "follow the yellow sparkle road" for 40 hours. You don't need to read anything to play, just click 1 repeatedly to accept quests, then follow the gold sparklies, click 1 again on whatever they lead you to (or kill everything in the area) and you are done with the game. :\
I'm not asking for hardmode getting lost in the wilderness game... but I would like at least a semi-open world with multiple ways to complete the quest... Maybe I'm just spoiled by guildwars2, every "quest" is always there if you are in the area, and there are multiple paths to solve it... kill soemthing.. collect something, help something, maybe even do something unexpected. I guess in my mind, guildwars2 is the ideal, if you can't at least match it, you're MMO is going to be terrible.
I do hope they fix the problems in neverwinter, I want to make maps, I want to essentially GM this shit, but as it stands now, its looking like I won't be able to keep playing without ripping my hair out :P
