Neverwinter Interview

There's a new Q&A with Cryptic Studios' Lindsay Haven on Capsule Computers, in which the Neverwinter systems designer tackles questions about her role on the team, the game's races and classes, other areas of The Sword Coast they intend to explore, and more.
Classes are a bit few in number at the initial release of the open beta. Can we expect more free classes to generate new characters or will they need to be purchased? Any hints to what new classes may be in the making?

We are currently working on new classes. I can't say what classes we are working on, but I can say that we are looking at the most popular class in D&D history and listening to the Neverwinter community. We have room to expand in that direction because there are a lot of classes available to us through the Dungeons & Dragons lore. At this time we don't plan on charging players for playable classes.

As noted in one of the title's latest trailers, Gauntlgrym may be a traversable area. What has Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic Studios done to ensure the legitimacy lore and books of environments such as the ancient primordial forge?

We are always looking for ways to integrate IP story into Neverwinter. For Gauntlgrym we have taken the areas directly from the the Neverwinter Campaign Setting book and getting approvals through Wizards of the Coast on the content. Gauntlgrym is a very big place; the main focus at the launch of this zone is the Iron Tabernacle area (including an ancient dwarven armory and crypts), but we may be doing other areas like the primordial forge at a later time.