Neverwinter Nights 2 Community Update #9

Obsidian's public relations manager Shane DeFreest has once again stopped by the official Neverwinter Nights 2 forums to provide us with a ninth community update for the game. The full post:
Its Almost E3! Yes its that crazy time of year again where the world at large descends upon the Los Angles Convention center for 3 days of unparalled video game related mayhem! As many of you are asking yourself whats this specifically have to do with an NWN2 update. Well for one NWN2 will be one of the highlighted games being shown at the Atari booth and second we're going to break from the norm a bit and try and involve the community in addition to normal press that covers the show. What we'd like to do this year is find out what fan site mangers or contributors will be attending E3. If you run or are in the development stages of an NWN2 fan site please email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we'll make sure to get you in front of the game for a few minutes with the developer.

Now the rest of you who wont be at E3 are probably asking what do we have to look forward to in May. Well with E3 we'll be releasing a considerable amount of new screens and general info. Additionally, we'd like to announce that Neverwinter Vault & Neverwinter Connections are teaming up to host our May Developer chat with Obsidian. We're going to have it the last week of May so that all the E3 related info will already be out there. Exact date and time TBD.

So stay tuned for pleanty of NWN2 info. May is a crazy month and there will be alot of it. In the meantime, Charled Mead once again answers your questions.

Enjoy!

-Shane


1) Will those people we hire out for our strongholds be able to "send" our PCs/Companions on Quests for crafting items that require these elements to make them A: Uniquely suited to finishing some other quest, or B: Allow them to make already crafted items slightly more powerful in one or another regard (say, crafting a +1/+2 vs Undead, sword into a Holy Avenger +2/+4 Undead. Protection from Evil 10' Radius [Only as an example, here, it seems to be the most "famous" of swords...])

Charles: Previously created magical weapons can continue to be enhanced by spell casters, so the aforementioned +1/+2 vs undead sword could be further enchanted in a variety of ways. As to the nature of quests we've got to save some surprises!

2) Will the crafting system finally be a true crafting system where you will have to actually smelt your ore at a smelter and smith your weapon at an anvil. Or will we be stuck with the unrealistic crafting like what was in NWN where you just sat down in the middle of wherever and forged a sword or crafted a bow or wand.

Charles: We've taken a middle ground with this and it actually varies depending on what makes the most sense for what's being crafted and how. For example, scribing a scroll can be done pretty much anywhere. Crafting a Bow on the other hand must be done at a smith's workbench.

3) How is crafting being handled in regards to materials and tools? To elaborate my question; will a specific item, say, a sword, require materials like steel for the blade and leather for the hilt? Furthermore, will you also need a hammer, anvil and a forge to craft the item?

Charles: The materials will generally be fairly straightforward. Crafting a mithral mace simply requires a mithral ingot and an appropriate mold for example. As for tools, you'll need access to a smith's workbench and smith's hammer. Combine that with sufficient skill and voila!

4) Will there be some form of appearance customization during the crafting process? (Forgive me if someone asked this already). Obviously, you shouldnt be able to make a +1 broadsword that looks like a shoulderpad, but I'd like to decide what my blade, guard, hilt, and/or pommel look like while crafting.

Charles: We're not currently planning to support appearance customization via crafting.

5) Will shifters be able to use crafted items?

Charles: Crafted weapons will have all the same requirements and restrictions as regular weapons.