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Making it Great once again.
highlyunstable
Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 343 Arc User
The previous Mods gave us so much to play for, from achieving certain gear with set bonus' in dungeons, to getting our boons, and so on, in a fun way. One of the best aspects of this game was, you always strived to get better and stronger, to be able to be that top dog in damage, kills, etc. To be able to take a hit and keep on rolling with almost God like abilities, THAT was the fun of this and most games, to become a TRUE Epic hero. This game has, for some unknown reasoning, changed, and the powers that be have decided that, your desire to create a unique character is not to be. They give us very limited choices now, as to what to wear and what to play, it has become a "ONE SIZE FITS ALL" cookie cutter game. This seriously needs to change if this game is going to achieve its' TRUE potencial and become the most loved, played, and profitable game on the planet.
This is so simple it boggles the mind:
1.) Bring back the gear we once had with set bonus' (but updated to refelct new game play)
2.) Reduce the HP of all critters by 25%
3.) Eliminate 3 of the new areas (Drowned Shores, Reclaimation Rock and Firey Pit)
4.) Reduce all levels of Sharandar, Dread Ring, IWD and Well of Dragons to level 61-65 with the same effect on players as entering the Dragon areas in Graveyard/Ebon Downs/Icespire Peak etc.
5.) Revamp Spiward to level 70-73 play to resemble IWD. (having to achieve certain quest before moving on to other parts of the map) maybe to include new boons?
6.) Remove the requirement of a key for all Dungeons, BUT, install one additional chest that can be opened with a "special" key. (same as Shores of Tuern)
7.) Reduce the amount of XP needed to lvl up from 60-69 by 20%
The idea here, is to make the game FUN, with goals everyone can achieve in a reasonable amount of time, that can make this game great once again.
I, along with so many other players, would happily once again invest both time AND money into NWO.
Just something to think about.
Thank You.
This is so simple it boggles the mind:
1.) Bring back the gear we once had with set bonus' (but updated to refelct new game play)
2.) Reduce the HP of all critters by 25%
3.) Eliminate 3 of the new areas (Drowned Shores, Reclaimation Rock and Firey Pit)
4.) Reduce all levels of Sharandar, Dread Ring, IWD and Well of Dragons to level 61-65 with the same effect on players as entering the Dragon areas in Graveyard/Ebon Downs/Icespire Peak etc.
5.) Revamp Spiward to level 70-73 play to resemble IWD. (having to achieve certain quest before moving on to other parts of the map) maybe to include new boons?
6.) Remove the requirement of a key for all Dungeons, BUT, install one additional chest that can be opened with a "special" key. (same as Shores of Tuern)
7.) Reduce the amount of XP needed to lvl up from 60-69 by 20%
The idea here, is to make the game FUN, with goals everyone can achieve in a reasonable amount of time, that can make this game great once again.
I, along with so many other players, would happily once again invest both time AND money into NWO.
Just something to think about.
Thank You.
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These are amazing ideas... and honestly... the best suggestions on how to fix this game that I have read... and you expressed them so succinctly.
Well Done
I would like to add another... point. Fix ALL of the classes so that there are 3 equally needed and balanced trees available to anyone.
Good point, but as this game has so many bugs, one can only hope it is already on their "LIST OF FIXES".
Everyone gets the same gear, which looks the same and offers no cool set bonus, everyone has the same BiS main hand and off-hand, everyone chooses the same class paths because half of the classes only have a single viable path that is actually useful/survivable in end-game content.
It's just lazy and sloppy. Mod 6 was entirely lazy--just lay out a fat grind fest with minimal effort to create any sort of new compelling content or stories, instead make these chumps slog through the same 4 meaningless quests over and over again until they get to 70, just so they can get a new artifact that everyone has + now they have to refine all over again.
I'll be the first to admit that I don't entirely agree with this post. But there are things that I do agree with. I realize no one is here to listen to my own thoughts on this, but more voices doesn't hurt at all, I suppose. And I apologize if this comes off as me knowing better or something, I really don't intend that. These are just my thoughts on this, and what I'd think might help, just kind of piggy backing off of your list.
1) Bring back the gear we had with set bonuses.
Eh. I'm not the biggest fan of this one, but mostly because generally there was only one or two armor sets that were useful per class back when those were things. If they did this, and managed to actually make the set bonuses able to be good on all of the armors, then that'd be one thing, but I do not trust them to be able to do this, though in all fairness, this would be rather difficult to do.
2) Reduce the HP of all critters by 25%
I'm going to go one farther. I can see what they were trying to do with this, but I don't think it works. At least not in the field. Really, what they needed to do was to shift their damage away from those very quick strikes. They should still hurt, but it shouldn't necessarily be devastating. Honestly, I'd think it'd be fine on paper... in dungeons. Not on the campaign areas beforehand. Otherwise, they didn't need to increase the HP at all for campaigns. It's terrible for classes like Paladin and Cleric (The one I main, btw, so I know how that grind feels.)
3) Eliminate three of the new areas (Drowned Shore, Reclamation Rock, Firey Pit)
I don't agree with this one at all. I can agree that they can be a grind, but that's due to how the Vigilance Quests are spaced out, more than anything. I, personally, like going back to these areas. It's a neat thing to see what happens after you went through the area!
To fix this one, you'd need to work with the experience on Vigilance Quests more, as well as how many you need to get through the area. I remember getting more XP from the quests themselves, yet only needing 10 of them to move on to the next area. I think this'd work out well here, even, given that each mini area in the previous zones needed about... oh, 8-9 quests or so? And with this, there might be a possibility of running into new quests on alts.
I still think that fighting the bosses in these zones should be a one time thing, like they are in the Drowned Shore. It helps with the immersion some.
4) Lower the levels of the campaign areas (Sharandar, Dread Ring, Icewind Dale, Well of Dragons) to Lv. 61-65, with level scaling to the proper levels of the area.
Not exactly in agreement with this. I can see where this comes from, but I'm not in agreement. I don't think these areas should be able to be accessed entirely until Lv. 70, because it's pointless to try them as they're too strong for most levels before that. (They should still probably have their levels reduced a bit, though.) Like, Sharandar and Dread Ring being at Lv. 71 and IWD and Well of Dragons being at 72. Cause honestly, the soloable stuff shouldn't be ridiculous.
If one does go the route of alternate levelling, then you'd need to space them out more like leveling zones instead of campaign zones, which would make the boons really kind of awkward.
5) Revamp Spinward Rise to Lv. 70-73 play to resemble Icewind Dale (ie, Unlock the different areas through quests), and possibly add boons?
It would get the same complaints the current Lv. 70 areas get. I think Spinward Rise is in a good spot right now, personally, though the big heroic encounter could stand to be more profitable, considering how big of a thing it is, but maybe that's just me.
6) Remove all dungeon chest keys, but have a separate chest in each dungeon that you'd need a key to open. (ie, like in Shores of Tuern)
... I have no problems with this. Carry on.
7) Reduce the XP from 60-69 by 20%
Something needs to be done about this, yes, but just a flat reduction probably wouldn't work. You'd need to work the level curve into the area for it to feel comfortable. The areas themselves need to be reworked to, I guess, actually feel like you're not being held there artificially. Put them more in line with the other areas. Not necessarily get rid of the vigilance quests, but just to have to do less of them. It'd make replayability in those areas a little bit higher.
I'm not exactly good enough to pull my own views back down into a short list, and I apologize, since I do kind of ramble, but these are my own feelings.
Also, since a friend of mine would probably shake his head at me if I didn't point this out, do fix Shadow of Demise. Or change the tooltip, if how it works now is how it's supposed to work.
Going back and reintroducing the older sets of armor would be in ADDITION to the elemental, something that NON-PvP'ers (and PvP'ers ) could get in a lower level dungeon, instead of the having to play in a dungeon that now requires you to wear gear, that you cannot even get UNTIL you complete that dungeon, which is the most senseless thing I have ever heard of.
This format is what alot of us grew to love about the game, you have goals that were achievable in a reasonable amount of time, at this pace, there are a so many that realized that the goals are just to much work to achieve and thus, all the fun went right out of the game.
There is no reason why they cannot have the best of both worlds, Fun and playable and grinding and hard to suit ALL players. Who said it had to be only one, or the other? I say, bring back the basics that made this game so great, and enhance it for those that love to grind at the same time.
Just a thought.
Problem with that. You had Spinward Rise at 70-73, so what would there be for 65-70? And if you put Spinward Rise where it is now, then what is there for Lv. 70s to solo? The level scaling is not exactly stellar, and it would be rather awkward for there to not be a fully "Lv. 70" area around, with Spinward, the Lv. 66-69 area being the biggest solo area around.
I can understand why you'd want the other areas (Sharandar, DR, IWD, WOD) to be lesser level, but I still think they work fine as Lv. 70 areas. It gives you something to do that isn't just running dungeons all the time. It may not be the most fun, but it's something to do, and boons are (mostly) intended as endgame improvements to your characters when your levels have stopped coming in. At least that's how I see it.
Also, most of the areas were mostly there to level up until Module 4 started putting things into them to go back to for campaign progress.
Also, re-introducing the armor sets. Let me get this straight, so you want to reintroduce them in a harder dungeon from what we have now? Let's say Tier 2? Fine, then. I'm just saying, if they can make the different armors have set bonuses that are each fairly useful, then fine, we do have armor variety. If not, then there's going to be only one armor set that's by far the best. High Prophet, for example.
If you mean that you should get them in a dungeon lower than the current Tier 1s, then why would you upgrade to the Elemental gear and the armors we currently have? Why would you get rid of your upgraded High Vizier or Avatar of War? What benefit would there be? If they could run current content, then they would still be better than what we have just because of the set bonuses. Extra stats don't mean much. High Prophet was a Tier 1 set for DCs. It was still seen as better than most T2s and Campaign gear.
When I say updating the Vigilance Quests, I mean to put the progress more in line with other areas, and put experience in a similar type of situation. You should be able to get to 70 by the end of the campaign, or at the very least get into Lv. 69. And instead of doing 16, 16, 16 for each area, I'm saying 10, 10, 10. That in itself would save time. And yes, this includes adjusting experience to get you a similar distance towards the next level. I guess with this one, what I'm saying is "trim down the quests you have to do to get the same amount of distance towards the next level."
Fun fact, in total, Whispering Caverns has 31 quests in it. Granted, some are just "Go here" quests to get more, but still. That would be about how much I would shoot for in a high-level adventuring zone in Neverwinter, maybe a little more, maybe a little less, but around 30.
I think the point is that you could solo through the campaign content to level up, and then Spinward would be re-worked into a more story-driven campaign style area like IWD.
Basically, instead of this lazy slog of a grind that they made 60-70, and then just pushing all of the existing campaign to 70+, they should have created some real progression where you are actually working toward and earning things on your way to 70, rather than just doing mindless quests for hours simply to level up.
As the game is set up now, they have pushed too much content to endgame and made the 60-70 grind incredibly boring. Imagine as a new player, you can't access hardly any of the "real game" (IWD, Sharandar, DR, etc), and instead you have to spend weeks now (after XP changes) grinding these boring repetitive quests just to get to level 70 so you can "actually play", if you will.
I'm not saying how the experience works now is perfect. It's still bad, I will admit this. But you know what? This is why, what I basically want, is to put the newer areas more in line with the other areas leading up to this one. I never claimed that it was even decent. But to just bump down all of the solo content for earlier levelling content is not exactly a good idea, as it would still leave you nothing to do. Or at least not much, when you do get to Lv. 70. People already complain about how they have nothing to do right now as it is, even with how much there is.
Also, with the Spinward Rise thing. To be able to do that, they would need new villains, because none of these cults can work on their own. Completely new build up, completely different villains, it would be far too much effort for something that doesn't necessarily need to be redone if it can be balanced right up until then. And it would be a very poor representation of the Elemental Evil campaign to a greater degree than you'd believe what it is now. At least we see all of the villains here.
Not to mention that just shoving the campaigns back to be the first leveling zones in the new patch would be rather annoying to older players, who've been subjected to them for far longer. And they would have to be completely redone anyway with their quests to be able to be done in a decent amount of time, else you'd have to wait weeks to finish even one of them. And if you say "Just do the other ones", then you simply just assigned people to do dailies to level up for at least 6 levels, if you have Spinward Rise in its normal location. You think it's a grind now? Well, I hope you like dailies, because you'll not be getting a lot from them.
You say "think of the new" but you ALSO have to think of the old, too. The current state of things is not that great for new people, but shoving all of the end game content up to being leveling content would be rather... annoying to try and pull off successfully. Not to mention, if this was done, no matter how successful they were at moving the endgame content down, people would complain about how lazy Cryptic is, and how they should have made new areas to be able to level up in so they wouldn't have to go through these areas that they've been through countless times. Imagine if they messed this up, too. That would also be a catastrophe. But this is my own speculation.
I'm still going to back what I really want: To put the 4 new areas more in line with the older leveling areas. That's what I think would work decently well for this. Getting from Lv. 60/61 to Lv. 69/70 within the 4 areas, each about 30 quests to them that'd be required to go through. It's my opinion, even if it's not a popular one.
Bringing back epic gear is truly needed, as there were 3, 4 or 5 different sets of armor you could choose from depending on what you perferred, to limit that to only 2 Alliance and 2 elemental was mind boggling, having more choices makes for better game play, and being creative is what PRG's are all about. Otherwise why even have armor, make each toon already dressed and you get more powerful base stats as you level, plus more powerful weapsons of course.
The change to the xp system was not needed or even wanted, they should revert it and compensate players for this mess.
Same goes for invoking, sit down, take some time, and then start to think about rewards in there, that players actually would love to see and have use for.
And that should also include seasonal/special events, those should motivate players to actually play the game, and not promote more sales through the ZEN shop.
Hint: If players have fun, they tend to actually spend more money on a game... if you try to force players to spend money, they tend to leave.
The difficulty should be adjusted:
Easy content: skirmishes, Dread Ring and Sharandar campaign areas
Normal content: dungeons, Icewind Dale campaign areas
Difficult content: epic skirmishes/dungeons, Well of Dragons campaign area
And dungeons and skirmishes should require real teamwork, and vote kick should only work, if someone does not contribute or is afk.
Or vote kick should only work, if the complete group is formed through normal invites, and only the group leader can start a vote kick.
As for the claims about players "leaving in droves" - please, get a grip on yourself and read the nonsensicle BS you're writing. (Those of) you don't have a clue so stop trying to pretend you're in the know or that you are important enough that so many others think the way you do. People leave, new people come in: it's called churn and attrition. So FYI: Not only do you not sound very authoritative you actually come-off looking idiotic and self-important.
Here's the thing: newer players don't have a clue about how things used to be and they don't care. So the way things are now and the new direction the game is taking is simply the way it's going to be whether you like it or not. You can either adapt or leave. It really doesn't matter because if you leave someone new will just take your place; churn.
I'm not defending Cryptic at all, just stating facts. And the fact is that none of us are anywhere near as important as we think we are. We are a single raindrop in a thundershower. So the truth is: suck it up and drive on or GTFO.
I'm personally finally getting worn down after playing Cryptic games for so long (even with a lifetime sub to Champions and Star Trek I never play those anymore) - I'm playing Neverwinter less and less and have my eyes open on a new shiny that's in closed beta right now. The thing is that I don't go out to the movies or buy Cable TV: I spend my entertainment money on games like this. But they (being Neverwinter) just aren't giving me anything interesting enough to throw money at them anymore. Sure, I've spent a LOT of money. So what? I got what I payed for and I enjoyed. It means nothing. And if I were to whittle away my Neverwinter playtime to almost zero I still would not consider it a loss. I got the entertainment I paid for.
So let's just keep it real. Because D&D ain't all that.
2. It should be possible to combine foundry levels into the branched chains -- let us save the tags for each player independetly and later request stoerd values -- whether player used one or another end in the previous quest.
3. It shouldn't be all just about grind. Add beautiful open locations where players can not just fight, but socialize as well.
4. Houses. Please, houses and neighbourhoods. And all those new items for them.
Thanks.
Well-said and I concur. My rant is more directed at the self-important posts above, as though anything any of us say is taken as seriously as we hope. I was just saying: it is what it is.
Sure: we the players can influence things but it takes a helluvalot of voices speaking a better language, such as your post, rather than silly proclamation of "players leaving in droves" and "this game is dying" and all the rest.
But we also need to remember this ship turns as smoothly and quickly as the Titanic. Mod 6 was the iceberg. The good news is the ship will survive. How smoothly she sails from here on out is the real question at hand.
I see where you're coming from, but the things about Mods 1-3 was that there were alternatives that were still as good and almost as good. Yes, Fomorian and Fallen Dragon were BiS. But if you couldn't get them, or you didn't like the stats on them, you had Dread Legion or Ancient weapons instead. In Mod 4, the artifact weapons were BiS, yes, but the old weapons could match them until they were upgraded to epic, and there were so many different artifact weapons, you had a choice. Now, the only things worth using are Elemental weapons or Ensorcelled Mulhorand weapons, and the latter has no bonuses attached, just stats and weapon damage. I would advise buying yourself some ensorcelled mulhorand and rare gear, and get back into it. It is still a fun game, even though your gear is worse to start.
Okay, I just wanted to make my point a little better. I honestly think the difficulty is okay, but the XP nerf is unacceptable. My changes would bring a little of the old back in, while keeping the basis of Mod 6. Also, the real reason I want another gear set is that none of the gear for GFs has the defense and deflect I am looking for, and none of the gear for HRs has any deflect (talking about PvE). Currently the best defensive stats for PvE are HP and deflect (lifesteal is good for some classes too), and no set has a focus on the latter for HR. That was my personal motive for that suggestion. I also hate the current ring system, while I loved the variety of the old one. It's also an extremely basic and easy change; they already have all the names and stat arrays, no need to actually come up with anything. Just introduce them. And in reference to your last sentence, I'm just trying to make it sail as smoothly as possible with some useful suggestions that we know really work.
First off, if you even BOTHERED to read the hundreds and hundreds of post, not to mention ACTUALLY talk to Guild leaders as I have, yes, players are leaving at a good rate, my guild alone has lost amost 30 players out of 70, and I know many other guilds have lost a great number of players, now... this also includes players that only log in to do blessing and professions and then log out, ss I do with 9 of the ten toons I currently have.
For new players, no.. they have no clue as to how mods 2-5 played out, BUT, I can tell you from knowledge that, the generation coming in has a short attention span, as can be verified my almost ALL game makers, that is why they rush to get new content out, to keep their interest and keep them playing. NWO has enough play for a few weeks, and then there is not much to actually hold lot their interest, yes, some will stay, but a good amount will leave as the game has little reward for the amount of work you need to put in.
True Story
Some other mmos have (intro, catch up dates) on a new released every once in awhile, its about the only time its worth joining then.
I dont know if neverwinter will ever get to that point or not, but right now the cycle is really heavy on "if your new, dont bother"