Neverwinter takes an action bent because "it's a whole lot of fun"

Cryptic Studios is pretty open about why it has risked alienating hardcore D&D fans with an action-style control scheme for Neverwinter: it's fun.

Not fun to cause nerd rage, although obviously that is enjoyable in and of itself; Neverwinter lead producer Andy Velasquez told MMORPG.com that Cryptic just wants to make Neverwinter a good time.

"There are awesome blurby things that I can, and often do say like 'we looked at the trends in the market' or 'we saw the potential of being the first F2P Action MMO' that explain why we went down this road," he said.

"But, there is also my personal favorite reason: because it’s a whole lot of fun."

Velasquez said Cryptic tried out three control schemes including a more traditional tabbed aiming system as seen in older RPGs, and even considered leaving all three available.

"After much iteration and playtesting we ended up picking this control scheme because it was the most fun. Done and done," he said.

Neverwinter is expected to launch at the end of the year.

Thanks, Massively.