Maze Engine Preview Patch Notes NW.60.20160201a.1

terramak

Welcome to Neverwinter's new module: The Maze Engine! See the announcement post here!

Campaign: The Maze Engine - Feedback Thread
The Maze Engine campaign is now available! Start by talking to Sergeant Knox or the Neverwinter Guard messenger in Protector's Enclave, or Bruenor Battlehammer in Mantol-Derith. All level 60 characters now have access to Mantol-Derith.


Updated Queue System - Feedback Thread
Our queue system has been updated! We're still in the process of updating the UI and clearing up the flows to be more intuitive.

The update introduces the following features:

• Allows players to set up premade groups for queues that require more than 5 players (e.g. Tiamat, Demogorgon, Stronghold Siege).
  
• Allows players to set up queue groups separately from the party they're in.
  
• Allows players to enter "Private mode," allowing them to bypass composition requirements and opt out of auto-refilling.

A dev blog outlining the feature in greater detail will show up in the coming weeks.


Revived Dungeons
Four dungeons from the past have been revived: Cloak Tower, Pirate King's Retreat (formerly Lair of the Pirate King), Frozen Heart, and Caverns of Karrundax! Like Cragmire Crypts, Gray Wolf Den, and Temple of the Spider, once players reach the minimum level for the dungeon, they'll be able to go back and play regardless of level. For more info, follow this link: Developer Blog: Dungeons to Delve

Note for NeverwinterPreview only: This week, Caverns of Karrundax is available. The others will be available in future Preview patches.

Feedback threads:
Caverns of Karrundax


New Mount System - Feedback Thread
Mounts no longer have to sit in your inventory when you don't have them selected. Now, your character will have a stable for all mounts they've bound to themselves - And not only that, but once that character has access to a movement speed, they'll be able to apply that movement speed to any mount they own!

In this update, players can now ride the mounts they want to ride without worrying that their favorite is too slow, or doesn't have a passive bonus they want. More details can be found here: Developer Blog: The New Mount System!


Stronghold Economy Changes - Feedback Thread
We've made some changes to Stronghold progression and economy. Details can be found in the feedback thread above, but in short, here are some of the main changes you'll see:

• Astral Diamond costs reduced substantially (~50-90% in many cases).
  
• Tyranny and Fey campaign currency costs reduced significantly (~20-40% in many cases).
  
• Guild Mark gain from AD and Glory contributions doubled.
  
• Profession tasks that allow players to make crates of certain supplies, to then contribute to the Stronghold.

Release Notes: NW.60.20160201a.1
Note: Some features and updates may be omitted.


Content and Environment
Strongholds

• Castle Never is now in the dungeon daily quest pool.

General

• Bandit Slayer achievements now explicitly include pirates as well.
  
• Fiery Pit: Players no longer occasionally spawn inside terrain when exiting the Cistern.
  
• Intro quests for Cloak Tower, Frozen Heart, Pirate King's Retreat, and Caverns of Karrundax have returned.
  • NeverwinterPreview only: These won't show up until all four of those dungeons are available on NeverwinterPreview.
• Reclamation Rock: The quests "Holding the Line" and "Besieging the Rock" no longer give a player credit for tasks that party members have turned in.
  
• Skirmish and Call to Arms contacts no longer have a dialog option to join a queue.
  
• Temple of Tiamat is now joined via a queue, rather than having to go to the door.
  
• The Mount tutorial has been updated. The Mount Requisition Token associated with the new tutorial now gives a permanent mount instead of a temporary one.

Combat and Powers
General

• Life Steal Severity has been added to the game as a Rating stat. Currently, it can only be found in a handful of places.
  
• Life Steal now properly displays as "Life Steal" in the combat log, rather than "Health Steal."
  
• Powers that allow players to teleport to enemies now respect the size of the enemy. This reduces the likelihood that Trickster Rogues, for example, will teleport directly into a dragon.

Buffs, Debuffs, and Effects

• The following effects now cannot be dispelled:
  • Certain reinforcement timers
    
  • Empower (Greed of the Dragonflight)
    
  • Madness (Demogorgon)
    
  • Soul Sparks
    
  • Thunder Spike (Greed of the Dragonflight)
    
  • VIP Health Bonus

Companions

• Phase Spider: The version of this spider in the Trade Bar Store now properly shows an Active Companion bonus of a 5% reduction to Combat Advantage damage received.

NPCs

• Enemies in 3-player dungeons now have slightly lower health.
  
• Enemies in 3-player dungeons now have longer cooldowns on their signature / charged powers.

Items and Economy
Artifacts

• Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue: This power no longer requires the player to stop moving before activating, and is no longer interrupted on movement.
  
• Elemental Artifact weapons and their Collection pages are now more consistent.
  
• Golden Dragon Longsword (Oathbound Paladin): This weapon now requires level 60 to equip, down from 70.
  
• Sigil of the Hunter: The DoT component of this artifact's active power now properly applies at Mythic quality.
  
• The buff granted by the Stronghold Weapon set is now called Stronghold Unity, and its tooltip now properly states that it grants 2% per stack, rather than 1%.
  
• The Lostmauth Artifact Set name now properly displays as "Lostmauth's Hoard," rather than "Valindra's Set."

Mounts

• Armored Axe Beak: The combat power, Spinning Axe Strike, is now properly identified as AoE damage.
  • This allows it to be affected by AoE Resistance and various other AoE affecting abilities.
    
  • This power now also has slight damage variance, and is properly affected by damage resistance.
• Armored Giant Strider: The combat power, Strider Fire, now has slight damage variance.
  
• Black Ice Warhorse: A typo has been addressed in this mount's description.
  
• Greater Rage Drake: Several typos have been addressed in this mount's description.
  
• Medium Waterdeep Horse: This mount is now Rare (Blue) quality.
  
• Medium Adventurer's Horse: This mount is now Epic (Purple) quality. The flavor text has been updated to state that it is heavily armored, rather than lightly armored.
  
• Reanimated Destrier: This mount is now Rare (Blue) quality.
  
• Shadow Wolf: The Epic (Purple) quality version, which was previously available for a limited time, has been renamed to Elite Shadow Wolf.
  
• Silverback Bear: The level required to use this mount is now 4, down from 60.
  
• Silverback Bear: This mount's description no longer claims it wears armor.
  
• The Bulette mount acquired from Dougan Hammerfist's NCL store has been renamed to Challenger's Bulette.
  
• Wolf of the Wild Hunt: This mount is now Rare (Blue) quality. Its speed bonus is now 80%, increased from 50%.

Wondrous Bazaar

• Gilded Giant Spider now costs 750,000 Astral Diamonds, down from 1,000,000.
  
• Level 60 gear has been replaced with cheaper, transmute-only versions of these items.
  
• Medium Waterdeep Horse now costs 500,000 Astral Diamonds, down from 700,000.
  
• Turmian Merchant Garb has been moved to the Trade Bar Store.

General

• 3-player dungeons now grant Seals of the Adventurer, rather than various other types of Seals.
  • Older Seals can no longer be purchased for Ardent Coins in the Invocation store.
    
  • Seals of the Drake, Lion, Manticore, Pegasus, and Drake can now be traded for Seals of the Adventurer at the Adventurer Seal Trader.
    
  • The trader dealing in these Seals can be found at the Seven Suns Coster Market in Protector's Enclave.
    
  • These Seals can be used to purchase gear of a wide variety of levels. They can also be used to purchase bags of 500 Rough Astral Diamonds, as well as basic Rank 5 enchantments.
• 3-player dungeons now give a significant amount of experience when completed.
  
• Mount Training Manuals now grant the equivalent Mount Movement Power, rather than trying to upgrade a mount.
  
• Normal Skirmishes now give a significant amount of experience (roughly half that of 3-player dungeons) when completed.
  
• Salvageable / Transmutable versions of the gear from Castle Never's previous incarnation has returned in the newly-updated version.

terramak

Campaign Updates
More details coming in a future post or edit. For now, you can take a look at campaign task costs, item costs, and various vendors to see what's been updated.


User Interface
Bank

• If the Account Shared Bank cannot be accessed, Gold and Trade Bar labels are now properly hidden and no longer overlap the error message.
  
• In the Guild Bank, changing permissions no longer occasionally changes permissions for different ranks than the one selected.

Character Sheet

• Enchantment / runestone context menus now show the name of the selected enchant / rune.

Collections

• When clicking Zone Rewards when talking to specific contacts, the Collections UI now shows up properly.

Inventory

• Tooltips on Companion stats no longer occasionally take several seconds to update.

Key Binds

• A key can now be rebound to open the Companions UI ("=" by default).
  
• A key can now be bound to open the Mounts UI ("[" by default).

Rewards

• When opening items that show a reward window, the quality presented by that window now more consistently reflects the best-quality item in the pack.

Gateway

• Trade Bars and Guild Marks now properly show in the Inventory.

Stability and Performance

• Several issues that could cause instability, stalls, or crashes have been resolved.

---

Phew, glad I reserved this slot for overflow notes.

For more details, see these links:
Announcements / Dev Blogs
Announcing Neverwinter: The Maze Engine
Developer Blog: Dungeons to Delve
Developer Blog: The New Mount System


Feedback Threads
Official Feedback Thread: Maze Engine Campaign
Official Feedback Thread: Match System
Official Feedback Thread: Caverns of Karrundax
Official Feedback Thread: Mount System
Official Feedback Thread: Stronghold Economy Changes

instynctive

Thank you, @terramak ! Very informative and detailed.

;-)

terramak

Hah!

anim3k

Terramak is a owlbear? or previev serwer?

terramak

NeverwinterPreview has been patched with the new Maze Engine module.
Owlbear's characters have been wiped and now has the latest Underdark build on it (in case we need to test an upcoming live build during the Underdark module's lifetime).

mrvincent1959

Cant log into preview...guess I gotta wait til 3pm.

miserinha

Any chance for a zen market mount with 140% speed? Most people can't afford them based on the current price of the Auction House, and it's going higher and higher everyday with the new mount system.

xgrandz02

@terramak
Yea yes please put atleast a 140% mount to Store,..Come on,
The price for legendary mounts is growing and growing 10M-20Millions of AD + just for 140% speed ?
it's just Ridiculous! Absolutely Not casual player friendly.

anim3k

Is not ridiculus, is lockbox u need be lucky or rich, STOP crying please.

terramak

The NeverwinterPreview shard is unlocked. Still working on the detailed release notes. Feedback thread links added to original post.

mrvincent1959

"Profession tasks that allow players to make crates of certain supplies, to then contribute to the Stronghold."

I like that, lets c how it goes.

torontodave

*Chants with all the villagers with pitchforks*
"Foundry Silverback Bear at 140%"

mmm1001

Hmm, cost reduction for Stronghold ... it is kind of unfair for us, who are almost ready with max level ... but whatever

muratozkan17

Our guild is almost going for 20th level stronghold upgrade. we have 10+ level 9 buildings. We have made this expensive way, and now you make this easy for others? How fair is this cost reduce gonna be?

urabask

muratozkan17 said:

Our guild is almost going for 20th level stronghold upgrade. we have 10+ level 9 buildings. We have made this expensive way, and now you make this easy for others? How fair is this cost reduce gonna be?

You're crazy if you thought the prices were going to remain unchanged.

muratozkan17

urabask said:

muratozkan17 said:

Our guild is almost going for 20th level stronghold upgrade. we have 10+ level 9 buildings. We have made this expensive way, and now you make this easy for others? How fair is this cost reduce gonna be?

You're crazy if you thought the prices were going to remain unchanged.

I am just expressing my idea/feelings. You can mind your own business bro

mrvincent1959

Finished 3 man Karrundax, then got disconnected. First part of Karrundax, my teammate got stuck and could not move. He relogged, then ok. Also in the first half none of my circles were showing up for Astral Shield for example. It worked later in the dungeon.

Was able to change mount ...havent tested any more than that.

mrvincent1959

I was just told in game by a dev that most of the new(old) dungeons will NOT have Epic versions (in this module). They will only be available as part of the leveling process and from the looks of it, at least for Karrundax, it is a 3 man dungeon.

d66723225

Is there a reason epic lockbox mounts don't get uniform statbonusses?
The older lockbox mounts like apparatus of gond/owlbear only get 2000 in a stat while the newer ones like axebeak get 4000 in a stat. Considering you didn't do this for the older legendary mounts since they do get 4000 in a stat this should apply to the epic mounts as well. Otherwise you might as well buy a zen mount instead (those give 2k in stats as well). And seeing as the new mounts have 4000 in a stat it is intended that lockbox mounts should be superior to zen mounts.
So please raise the stat bonusses of all epic lockbox mount to 4000 it only makes sense. You will be making old lockbox mounts worthless ottherwise.

kolatmaster

mrvincent1959 said:

I was just told in game by a dev that most of the new(old) dungeons will NOT have Epic versions (in this module). They will only be available as part of the leveling process and from the looks of it, at least for Karrundax, it is a 3 man dungeon.

miserinha

mrvincent1959 said:

I was just told in game by a dev that most of the new(old) dungeons will NOT have Epic versions (in this module). They will only be available as part of the leveling process and from the looks of it, at least for Karrundax, it is a 3 man dungeon.

mrvincent1959

Well let me just say that he said there will not be Epic versions of the reworked dungeons. Not talking about CN here. Im sure you will be able to do some of them after you hit level 70, and you will be scaled down, but NO Epic versions from what I was told.

So, when I said that they will ONLY be a part of the "leveling" process, that is not true.

miserinha

mrvincent1959 said:

Well let me just say that he said there will not be Epic versions of the reworked dungeons. Not talking about CN here. Im sure you will be able to do some of them after you hit level 70, and you will be scaled down, but NO Epic versions from what I was told.

So, when I said that they will ONLY be a part of the "leveling" process, that is not true.

Still, that's a big loss for me, i'm mostly a PvE player, was expecting to have some new(old) challenges, it would be better - at least for me - if they delay the launch and add an epic version of those dungeons.

scathias

d66723225 said:

Is there a reason epic lockbox mounts don't get uniform statbonusses?
The older lockbox mounts like apparatus of gond/owlbear only get 2000 in a stat while the newer ones like axebeak get 4000 in a stat. Considering you didn't do this for the older legendary mounts since they do get 4000 in a stat this should apply to the epic mounts as well. Otherwise you might as well buy a zen mount instead (those give 2k in stats as well). And seeing as the new mounts have 4000 in a stat it is intended that lockbox mounts should be superior to zen mounts.
So please raise the stat bonusses of all epic lockbox mount to 4000 it only makes sense. You will be making old lockbox mounts worthless ottherwise.

the snail, axe beak and strider get a legacy only since the devs do not want to rock the boat by reducing their stat bonus. The old lockbox mounts are still valuable though as some of them have bonuses that zen store mounts do not, as well as having unique appearances

terramak

Just FYI, Castle Never will be disabled again in 20 minutes. The dungeon's still seeing some work, and while we temporarily activated it for the Play with the Devs event, we don't expect to have it active for the coming weekend.

Thanks for the feedback all around. Ultimately, as far as Strongholds go, we want smaller guilds to be able to make progress. The larger / more determined guilds still have the benefit of being there first - and even with these costing changes, it still takes plenty of time to catch up. Still good feedback either way.

flyingleon

Well, what a surprise that only normal version of the dungeons will be available. This should be clearly stated in the blog.

aimeesellers

Seriously? I am VERY disappointed that there will be no epic versions of the returning dungeons. So... what exactly took so long to "redo" them if they were not updated to at least epic? Has no one been listening to anything we have said about wanting more END GAME CONTENT????