# More on SWORD COAST LEGENDS: Campaign Tools & Starting Races



## Thyrwyn (Feb 18, 2015)

Thanks for the heads up! Great interview.


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## Paraxis (Feb 18, 2015)

This,  "I know I want to play a Half-Orc, my sons want to play Dragonborn and my wife a Teifling - so we can probably expect to see the Teifling soon after launch!" , made me belly laugh. 

This game looks so good, I am so excited I am actively trying to make myself less excited so as to not set the bar too high, like I do with some movies.


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## Zaukrie (Feb 18, 2015)

I don't play video games other than Rocksmith. ......but this is tempting.


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## Gnarl45 (Feb 18, 2015)

It looks really good. I hope this gives us an idea of the type of 3rd party material we'll be seeing in the future.


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## Osgood (Feb 18, 2015)

The game looks really interesting. But count me among the disappointed by the focus on FR.


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## Mirtek (Feb 18, 2015)

I still fear that we'll see a loot of DLCs and micro transactions to unlock these monsters and traps to be placed by the DM. The way they price the pre order levels makes this seem likely


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## Sailor Moon (Feb 18, 2015)

I'll believe it when I'm sitting there playing it.


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## Sigbjorn_86 (Feb 18, 2015)

Check out the portfolio of nSpace. A long list of handheld ports and licensed shovelware, including some Olsen twins games. Hopefully they have a good game in them, but I suspect they were chosen based on their ability to quickly deliver finished products.


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## I'm A Banana (Feb 18, 2015)

It sounds good, but there's reasons to be skeptical (not least among them being that real-time DMing has been a tough nut for videogames to crack in a satisfying way). So far the marketing copy is doing its job. I want to see reviews and I want to see details before I commit, but I'm cautious about licensed D&D videogames.

I do like hearing stuff like this...


			
				Tudge said:
			
		

> a DM could very easily recreate the entire fifth edition starter set campaign complete with NPCs, locations and enemies




....that level of fidelity is pretty nice, I just hope it's not over-stated (a company president's first job isn't to be accurate, after all. ).

I also am a little disappointed to hear this...


			
				Stewart said:
			
		

> As we dive into our annual stories, Forgotten Realms will be the backdrop for those adventures.




"Annual stories"....sounds like 1 mega-adventure per year is in the mix, and FR is to be the setting for those. It doesn't rule out other campaign settings, but it probably rules out large-scale games/adventures set in them (unless those setting blow stuff out of the water sales-wise, perhaps).


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## Derren (Feb 18, 2015)

More evidence that this game will be a linear dungeon crawler and not a RPG many people expect it to be.
Unless there is a huge surprise with the "deep campaign tools" the DM will be limited to placing objects on already preexisting maps.

And of course there is the DLC bloat incoming. It is highly unlikely that a RPG Neverwinter or Baldurs Gate style would lock races and classes behind DLCs. But for a dungeon crawler it is fitting.


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## AstroCat (Feb 18, 2015)

This sounds absolutely fantastic! Very much looking forward to this game and hoping it has a long life with tons of modules and extras added over time.


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## Mirtek (Feb 18, 2015)

Sigbjorn_86 said:


> Check out the portfolio of nSpace. A long list of handheld ports and licensed shovelware, including some Olsen twins games. Hopefully they have a good game in them, but I suspect they were chosen based on their ability to quickly deliver finished products.



 Don't you worry. Remember how well Arena of War turned out


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## Leatherhead (Feb 18, 2015)

> MMORPG.com: What have you done developing this game to make it feel like fifth edition as opposed to 3.5, 4.0, or the open 20 systems?
> 
> Stewart: As Wizards of the Coast was developing the latest edition we very specifically wanted to take emphasis off the rules and focus on the feel of the game. As part of the playtest and creation of the new edition we looked back at all previous editions and made sure we had clear ideas and descriptions for the most important elements. An example is magic, more specifically let's focus on the fireball spell. It isn't important that the Fireball spell does 8d6 damage or has 150 range in all our games, but is instead important that in each instance it is a mid-level spell that explodes and causes a wider range of damage. In other words, for our partners it's critical they capture the feel of the latest edition of rules, but not necessarily the specific mechanics.
> 
> Tudge: In SCL we have adapted the fifth edition tabletop ruleset to better work in a videogame; however, n-Space and Wizards of the Coast have worked very closely to ensure we deliver an experience that feels "true to D&D."




This bit has me apprehensive.


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## Paraxis (Feb 18, 2015)

Leatherhead said:


> This bit has me apprehensive.




It makes me hopeful, there are certain things that work better in a video game than do on table top and vice versa.  If they don't follow the rules of 5e perfectly I am more than fine with that.


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## Mirtek (Feb 18, 2015)

Leatherhead said:


> This bit has me apprehensive.



What's to be worried about? We're clearly getting a game with as much to do with the 5e rules as Neverwinter has to do with the 4e rules.

It'll use familiar names to re-create the "experience" (TM) while not caring about any actuall rules in any but the vaguest sense


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## Leatherhead (Feb 18, 2015)

Paraxis said:


> It makes me hopeful, there are certain things that work better in a video game than do on table top and vice versa.  If they don't follow the rules of 5e perfectly I am more than fine with that.




Naw. What works in a turn based strategy game, works in a turn based strategy game. The difference is how much math the system can take and having pretty moving pictures/tokens. Virtual card games are all the rage now, for instance.

It's only once you do genre shifting when things can go sour.


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## Remathilis (Feb 18, 2015)

Leatherhead said:


> This bit has me apprehensive.




Understandable, but as someone who played both NWN and BG/IWD, I can say both of those games played fast-n-loose with the rules as well. I think they are interested in getting the tone down rather than a Faithful Translation of 5e's rules.


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## casterblaster (Feb 19, 2015)

Baldurs Gate had the 2e rules running (the best it could in a video game) behind the scenes. It didn't work out for you very well if you just smashed the mouse button as fast as you could, everything worked based off your character sheet and the rules. I may be wrong but this is what it sounds like they are recreating in a sense. Quasi real time game, you can play it real time but you really wont get the most out of it unless you use the pause and plan attacks. Baldurs Gate, Kotor, DAO are on the top of my list of rpgs. I have faith in the game, if its on line only I will be disappointed and I hope it has a great single player experience. Not much into online play.


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## Gecko85 (Feb 19, 2015)

casterblaster said:


> Baldurs Gate had the 2e rules running (the best it could in a video game) behind the scenes. It didn't work out for you very well if you just smashed the mouse button as fast as you could...



Not only  that, you had zero chance if you didn't pause OFTEN. Paused was pretty much the natural state of the game most of the time.


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## Uchawi (Feb 19, 2015)

I like the concept but execution is everything. You have to maintain enough eye candy (map making tools and tiles) for a diverse experience, while making it simple for the DM to modify. My biggest challenge with online games is using a tool like fantasy grounds. It takes too much time to prepare the maps, tokens, etc. The second challenge is having compelling adventures, which applies to both tabletop and online. They would need a perfect storm of having the ability to create content, availability of prepackaged adventures, and ease of use as a DM to get me involved. But overall, it would solve a lot of problems with trying to find a tabletop group. But I may already be expecting more than the product intends to offer.


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## Sonny (Feb 19, 2015)

Sigbjorn_86 said:


> Check out the portfolio of nSpace. A long list of handheld ports and licensed shovelware, including some Olsen twins games. Hopefully they have a good game in them, but I suspect they were chosen based on their ability to quickly deliver finished products.




They got a influx of Bioware employees a couple of years ago - in fact three of the five people leading the project have worked on titles like NwN, Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age 1, and the Mass Effect series.


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## Sonny (Feb 19, 2015)

Derren said:


> More evidence that this game will be a linear dungeon crawler and not a RPG many people expect it to be.
> Unless there is a huge surprise with the "deep campaign tools" the DM will be limited to placing objects on already preexisting maps.
> 
> And of course there is the DLC bloat incoming. It is highly unlikely that a RPG Neverwinter or Baldurs Gate style would lock races and classes behind DLCs. But for a dungeon crawler it is fitting.




_However, as huge fans of the Sword Coast region, the opportunity to set our story there was simply too much to pass up. *DMs, on the other hand, are free to build campaigns anywhere within the Realms they choose.*_

Having a map creator/editor isn't surprising, unusual, or that deep when it comes to content creation tools for PC games.


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## Shasarak (Feb 19, 2015)

This looks nice, but I wonder how the mechanics are going to work _like_ 5e?


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## Paraxis (Feb 19, 2015)

Shasarak said:


> This looks nice, but I wonder how the mechanics are going to work _like_ 5e?




The defining mechanic of 5e is advantage/disadvantage if that is expressed I think they can call it inspired by or influenced by and get away with it.


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## TarionzCousin (Feb 19, 2015)

I'm always disappointed when an official press release contains misspellings.

The correct spelling is "tiefling." It's pronounced "tee-fling." For more info, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Tiefling

/rant

Having extensive DM powers sounds great to me. If the game is great, I wouldn't care if they set it in Whimsyshire.


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## Dire Bare (Feb 19, 2015)

Kamikaze Midget said:


> "Annual stories"....sounds like 1 mega-adventure per year is in the mix, and FR is to be the setting for those. It doesn't rule out other campaign settings, but it probably rules out large-scale games/adventures set in them (unless those setting blow stuff out of the water sales-wise, perhaps).




I'm pretty sure the annual stories they are talking about are for the tabletop game, which the video game will mirror. Just like Neverwinter does currently. (if you already got that, sorry)

It doesn't bother me at all, because the Realms is awesome and makes a perfect "standard" D&D setting, which is what I want for most licensed D&D games. Plus, I've been playing video games set in the Realms since the Gold Box series, so it's home. Besides, who in their right mind really expected anything different? Of course WotC and their partners will be setting most of their stories in the Realms, I never expected otherwise.

While I would love to see a Dark Sun, Ravenloft, or Eberron game, none of those settings have the interest and sales power (for tabletop or computers) that the Realms does. And it doesn't mean we'll NEVER see a game set in a non-Realms setting, it's just unlikely. Or at least, few and far between. Also, the current NWN and Neverwinter communities have built tons of adventures set in various D&D settings, including homebrews, I don't see why that can't continue with Sword Coast.

It'd be great if WotC and partners could put out tons of games, tabletop, computer, and otherwise set in all of the classic settings plus new ones . . . but that just isn't even remotely realistic.


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## Jiggawatts (Feb 19, 2015)

I just want to know what year in DR the game will be set in. I'm much more likely to pick it up if set in the 1300s than the 1400s.


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## Paraxis (Feb 19, 2015)

Pretty sure they will set it at the most current point in time, WoTC has said they want to tie in the big story adventures across multiple platforms.  The dragon queen stuff is already in Neverwinter MMO, and the Elemental Evil one is going to be introduced as well.  

So I would imagine they want the future story lines to be able to go into this game game too, one of the reasons I bet it is set in the realms.  They want the organized play, the big adventure paths, and the video games to all be able to be doing the same stuff essentially.


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## Nebulous (Feb 19, 2015)

Interesting.  So they're going to play fast and loose with the crunchy parts of 5e.  That's fine with me actually.  I mean, the game could be either really great or really bad, but i don't think that will have anything to do with whether fireball does 8d6 damage or not.


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## Giltonio_Santos (Feb 19, 2015)

I don't know about the whole real time DMing thing, but when I think about how much power you can put in a map editor, I always remember the Warcraft III world editor. If more than 10 years ago Blizzard delivered that level of customization, I believe it's about time for someone to deliver the kind of experience nSpace is describing. Let's wait and see.


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## Sonny (Feb 19, 2015)

TarionzCousin said:


> I'm always disappointed when an official press release contains misspellings.
> 
> The correct spelling is "tiefling." It's pronounced "tee-fling." For more info, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Tiefling
> 
> ...




While it does annoy me when press releases are inaccurate, this isn't an official press release... it's an interview. The writer made a mistake.


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## Krypter (Feb 19, 2015)

>"[...] and my wife a Teifling - so we can probably expect to see the Teifling soon after launch!" 

Now we see who really runs this software company.


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## DMZ2112 (Feb 19, 2015)

Gotta love video game journalism.  No discussion of implementation, no discussion of DLC strategy.  The writer could have just Instagrammed himself making out with the game box and we'd all have saved a lot of time.


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## Gecko85 (Feb 19, 2015)

DMZ2112 said:


> Gotta love video game journalism.  No discussion of implementation, no discussion of DLC strategy.  The writer could have just Instagrammed himself making out with the game box and we'd all have saved a lot of time.




Damn, I miss NextGen magazine. It was soooo good. They would have absolutely dug deep into game mechanics, back-end tools, etc. It got watered down when it was sold and became Next Generation magazine, but even that was better than the rest.


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## Jiggawatts (Feb 19, 2015)

Paraxis said:


> Pretty sure they will set it at the most current point in time, WoTC has said they want to tie in the big story adventures across multiple platforms.  The dragon queen stuff is already in Neverwinter MMO, and the Elemental Evil one is going to be introduced as well.
> 
> So I would imagine they want the future story lines to be able to go into this game game too, one of the reasons I bet it is set in the realms.  They want the organized play, the big adventure paths, and the video games to all be able to be doing the same stuff essentially.



So no Blackstaff, no Open Lord Piergeiron, no Halaster in Undermountain. 

Sad panda.


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## Fallen star (Feb 19, 2015)

I will buy this and play single player only, since isometric party-control is my favorite style of RPG video game. Hopefully the campaign doesn't suck. 

The DM mode and multiplayer mean nothing to me unless they provide some sort of in-game match making.


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## barasawa (Feb 19, 2015)

For running games online I really like the Tabletop Connect, but it's not a game in itself, it's a virtual gaming table.
If anyone wants to check it out, it's at http://www.tabletopconnect.com/

As to trying to modify things in a pseudo-video game realtime in SCL, yeah, I highly suspect it will end up frustating & complex, or just to simplified to do much. I guess we'll just need more info or even a demo to help clarify that.


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## jhingelshod (Feb 19, 2015)

Mirtek said:


> We're clearly getting a game with as much to do with the 5e rules as Neverwinter has to do with the 4e rules.




I'd be amazed if NWN had managed to pull that one off, being published in 2002, a full 6 years before the publication of the 4e phb.


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## Trickster Spirit (Feb 19, 2015)

jhingelshod said:


> I'd be amazed if NWN had managed to pull that one off, being published in 2002, a full 6 years before the publication of the 4e phb.




I believe Mirtek was referring to _Neverwinter_, the D&D MMO released in 2013, not Neverwinter Nights.


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## jhingelshod (Feb 19, 2015)

Trickster Spirit said:


> I believe Mirtek was referring to _Neverwinter_, the D&D MMO released in 2013, not Neverwinter Nights.




DOH! Sometimes I'm so dumb I frighten myself. I put it down to being on holiday for the week.


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## Shasarak (Feb 19, 2015)

Jiggawatts said:


> So no Blackstaff, no Open Lord Piergeiron, no Halaster in Undermountain.





Did they not pass away with the time jump?


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## Kramodlog (Feb 19, 2015)

Shasarak said:


> Did they not pass away with the time jump?




Halaster and Khelben sacrificed themselves to save stuff. Piergeiron, I'm not sure. Probably old age.


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## Jiggawatts (Feb 19, 2015)

It's funny, all these years later and the 100 year time jump and slaughtering of NPCs still bothers me.

I maintain a smidge hope for a retcon or reboot one day.


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## Shasarak (Feb 19, 2015)

Jiggawatts said:


> It's funny, all these years later and the 100 year time jump and slaughtering of NPCs still bothers me.




You and me both.

It makes it worse to know that it was to try and appease people that did not even like Forgotten Realms.


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## Sailor Moon (Feb 19, 2015)

To be honest, I think the damage is already done and FR will never attract the crowd it once had.


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## Curmudjinn (Feb 19, 2015)

I wonder how useful the creation kit will be for creating campaigns. Are we talking NWN/SR:R-scale toolkit? I hope so, but made easier for any gamer to wrap his head around. I don't know about you, but I'd like to see some persistent servers up and running like the old NWN days.


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## GX.Sigma (Feb 19, 2015)

Leatherhead said:


> This bit has me apprehensive.



I've only played Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, but I know those games would have been massively better if they didn't use the D&D rules as literally as they did. Without a DM to enforce consequences, everything came down to nova-rest-nova-rest. Spellcasters were annoying and overpowered, fighters were boring and weak, and you had to quicksave before every single room because a vampire would jump out and level-drain your cleric, and there was no way to continue. I don't want to play a game like that ever again.



Derren said:


> More evidence that this game will be a linear dungeon crawler and not a RPG many people expect it to be.
> Unless there is a huge surprise with the "deep campaign tools" the DM will be limited to placing objects on already preexisting maps.



They say you can recreate the entire Lost Mines of Phandelver adventure with locations and NPCs, so it must be pretty deep.


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## Galendril (Feb 19, 2015)

In regards to keeping in the spirit of 5e, I hope they include concentration.  It goes a long way in reducing the overpowering effect of spellcasters.


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## BrockBallingdark (Feb 20, 2015)

I'm hopeful but it's too early to know.  I'm so deathly board of the FR setting but if that DM toolkit is anything like how Neverwinter's was, I'll buy it.


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## The_Silversword (Feb 22, 2015)

Where does this leave Neverwinter? I just made it to level 60, I really dont want to start all over again.


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## R_Chance (Feb 23, 2015)

The_Silversword said:


> Where does this leave Neverwinter? I just made it to level 60, I really dont want to start all over again.




It leaves Neverwinter as what it is... a totally different game in a different genre aimed at a different audience. Sword Coast Legends is aimed at a single player and NWN style coop group of players / DM. It's not an MMO. I doubt the existence of either game will have any effect on the other.  That's just my opinion of course, but there hasn't been any information provided to contradict it and, logically, there is little reason to think there is any reason the market couldn't support two D&D based games appealing to different groups. 

Having said the above, you can't always count on rationality prevailing. Anyway, Neverwinter is of no interest to me while I have considerable interest in SCL. If the tool set is robust enough I'd like to put together material based on my own game / setting. And a good NWN style single player / coop campaign is always welcome.


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## Wolfskin (Feb 24, 2015)

The_Silversword said:


> Where does this leave Neverwinter? I just made it to level 60, I really dont want to start all over again.



Good news for you: after the Elemental Evil story-arc launch, Neverwinter will have every character class extended up to level 70, and the new Paladin class! I don't think WotC is planning to cut the support for Neverwinter anytime soon.


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## Eejit (Feb 24, 2015)

I think an important aspect is going to be if the game allows/facilitates DMs sharing their user-made campaigns. If it does allow that it'll be a big feather in its cap from many CRPG gamers who loved NWN. If not they're gonna be royally pissed and many will probably refrain from purchasing.


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## Dire Bare (Feb 24, 2015)

Wolfskin said:


> Good news for you: after the Elemental Evil story-arc launch, Neverwinter will have every character class extended up to level 70, and the new Paladin class! I don't think WotC is planning to cut the support for Neverwinter anytime soon.




With Sword Coast, we'll have three MMO or MMO-like D&D games to choose from! D&D Online is still actively supported, as is Neverwinter, plus the new Sword Coast Legends! I think that's pretty cool, as each existing game has a different feel that I switch back and forth from.


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## Leatherhead (Feb 26, 2015)

More information:
http://www.pcgamer.com/sword-coast-legends-dev-on-adapting-5th-edition-dd/


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## Burticusb (Jul 6, 2015)

So... is WotC going to support all three games? Neverwinter, DDO, and SCL? I'm thinking at some point one of them might be getting shut down... likely the one getting the longest in the tooth. And they just got Warlocks too! =(


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## Dire Bare (Jul 6, 2015)

Burticusb said:


> So... is WotC going to support all three games? Neverwinter, DDO, and SCL? I'm thinking at some point one of them might be getting shut down... likely the one getting the longest in the tooth. And they just got Warlocks too! =(




WotC doesn't have direct control over any of the three games, as they are all licensed. They will all likely continue to be supported as long as people are playing them, and it won't be WotC who pulls the plug, but rather the software company that publishes each game.


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## Burticusb (Jul 6, 2015)

That's what I'm hoping for, just not sure how the licensing part of it goes, but you are probably right. I can't wait for this game! Those other two are fun, but I have been waiting for a game like this for what feels like forever...


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