Neverwinter Online: Official Sexiest Creature

Not what anyone expected (probably not even the designers). Why?

Because there is no saving throw.

If you look at him when he dances (they're all male) you're stuffed.

[Added to the Gallery.]

Neverwinter Online: Questionable Payment

So, while bad guys probably get paid a lot of cash (or are just idiots)...

As of this post you still cannot cash in these IOUs. :(

[Added to the Gallery]

Neverwinter Online: Blacklake Burning

Just one of those questions that no one asks...

We'll never know.

[Added to the Gallery]

Neverwinter Online: Finding a +6 Item

 Not that I've played tabletop D&D in a while...
 

 But I think that would still be the case.

[Added to the Gallery]

Neverwinter Online: Arcane Reservoir Challenge

For those who want quests that aren't in the game. :P

It's been awhile since I made a challenge post, but I thought I'd do one for the Sharandar Weekly in Neverwinter Online. Most people fly through it these days (myself included), literally just running past everything to murder the boss and leave. Well, if you want to mix things up here's the task for you:

Get all four of the NPC Reservoir Guards to the final room.
 

This is the finish line.

Note that they will vanish when you hit the boss cut scene but that's fine, if all four of them made it there alive you win. As your gear score improves you also might want to add a few extra options like:

Complete the quest solo
Complete the quest in under 3 minutes

Shouldn't be that tough and if at first you don't succeed, don't worry too much since you'll probably be doing this quest every week at some point. :)

Neverwinter Online: How to avoid fall damage

An easy tip for those new to the game...

Physics does not apply. 

[Added to the Gallery and Tutorial sections]

MMO Design: Enemies should be like Plants

If we're farming we may as well be gardening.

I hate weeds. If left alone they grow and expand and become a lot tougher to remove. It does feel better removing a huge cluster than a single tiny sprig though. Now imagine if we translate that into MMOs. Lots of spawn points on the map but they all start out as weak critters with little loot. Much like there are different types of weed, these don't need to all be the same type though.

Areas that are frequently farmed or tended will spawn more of those weak critters again. Those less frequented will have mobs "grow" into stronger versions. Maybe a lizard becomes a small dinosaur or a spider becomes a bigger spider, and the loot becomes better. Maybe you can't get dragon scales until a lizard evolves that far.

Obviously the map design and available travel modes will play a big part in this setup. On a flat plain with teleporters equally spaced out among the spawns it's likely the player population will simply murder everything fast enough so that nothing will ever "grow" (though the "growth" stages only need to be a matter of minutes in between). In maps like in Guildwars 2 that has secret zones, jumping puzzles, bridges and gates that are only open when set conditions are met, this system might be better as it will force people to venture out and/or to return to zones already done in search of "big game".

Do you think such a system would be good in your (or any) MMO?

[Added to the Design Folder.]