State of the Game Livestream [1/30]

nitocris83 · January 2018

Tune in for a State of the Game Livestream!

Date/Time: Tuesday, January 30 from 1-2pm PST (When is this for you?)

Where: twitch.tv/perfectworld

Fun Fact: The image of the Broken Crown was chosen by @mimicking#6533 as it is his favorite tavern.

hawkeyel · January 2018

Will you have a transcript of this for any that will miss this livestream. I do hope more time will be given toward looking forward rather than backward. Really want some ideas of what is in the works to come ,fully understanding that things can and often do change but general plans going forward are always welcome. And in my view needed for the long term health of a game. Keep hope alive a game without hope is just another dead game. Thanks and good hunting.

kalina311 · January 2018

When are we getting a new Pvp map and new Pvp rewards so we can have the Pvp with the Devs event : D that I already proposed and was liked by @mimicking#6533

theguiido · January 2018

Yeah, PvP rewards, new maps, that would be awesome. Competitive Queue would be the sickest thing.

Also, any more details on how class balance will work from now on? I know Julia spoke about how it won't be complete singled out overhauls anymore, so if we could hear the devs take on that as well, that would be awesome.

https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter/#/discussion/1237262/we-need-a-team-competitive-queue-w-leaderboard This link is to a post on competitive queue.

https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter/#/discussion/1237309/to-the-devs-a-fleshed-out-suggestion-for-pvp-rewards/p1 This link is to a post regarding PvP rewards! Both links you guys should check out!

nitocris83 said:
Hey everyone! I wanted to chime in to reiterate something we've been saying on streams and in the forums for a few months now: we are no longer going in the direction of doing completely overhauls to one class at a time. We have moved to a system of identifying the biggest needs across all classes and working on them in tandem. This allows us to make quicker decisions and changes across the board instead of waiting for optimal time to scope out a full rework of just one class.

lukejones77 · January 2018

Module 12 has been very unfortunate with it's party composition, leaving almost half of the classes feeling very marginalized.
The design (3DPS+tank+ healer, as per the random queue constraints), doesn't even come close to how people are actually playing it.

In particular, the choice of class for the DPS role has shown very, very strong bias for a particular class, leaving others to abandon their favorite class, abandon the game, or play an unsatisfying game.

I've seen resulting fallout affect relationships between guildies and even friends. The class relevancy discrimination has affected the vibe of the game, in a disruptive, negative way.
I think many players are hoping that module 12 was the "transition" module to tougher content, and hopefully by module 13 you'll fix the class discrimination, and their enjoyment of the game.

This issue is extremely relevant, if not central to, the "state of the game", and it would be great if you covered it - give hope to those that play currently "unwanted" classes.

Thank you.

kreatyve · January 2018

hawkeyel said:
Will you have a transcript of this for any that will miss this livestream. I do hope more time will be given toward looking forward rather than backward. Really want some ideas of what is in the works to come ,fully understanding that things can and often do change but general plans going forward are always welcome. And in my view needed for the long term health of a game. Keep hope alive a game without hope is just another dead game. Thanks and good hunting.

Video of the stream will be available to watch on the Perfect World Twitch channel following the stream, as is always the case with the official live streams.

Unknown · January 2018

This content has been removed.

zerappus · January 2018

Neverwinter's Class Balance program is going nowhere because the NW Developers won't address a particular systemic imbalance.

The systemic imbalance is the Great Weapon Fighter. This class 5/5 all upside, no downside. How can you balance the classes when one class is perfect? Everyone else is beholden to 4/5, 3/5, 2/5 and the occasional 5/5, while one class is all 5/5.

I was reading a recent Reddit thread about class "pros and cons". Sure enough the "con" for GWF is that it is "boring".

High base damage
Instant cast/instant activation (high rate of attack) = Spiderman
High burst damage = Hulk
Damage buff = Hulk
Damage mitigation = Hulk
High speed/mobility = Flash
Excellent Single target DPS
Excellent Multi target DPS

If you combine the Hulk/Spiderman/Flash, it's basically Superman. And Superman has a kryptonite for that very overpowered reason.

Where is the downside to this fully synergized class? Ask even the NW Developers, they won't come up with any.

GWF is basically a high-speed, nonstop, repeating, high-burst shotgun. I was just reading the Trickster Rogue fixes preview

patchnotes and there's a micro minutiae nitpicking over the low damage ticks of the Smoke Bomb. The damage was decreased

therefore, an extra tick was added (reasoned the post). That same GWF instacast repeating shotgun would have dispatched the

mobs to the River Styx before the 2nd tick. There's no competition using a long cast, short activation, ticking dots like smoke bomb.

Two solutions:

1) Lower many of those 5/5s.

2) or raise some bar to 6 or 7 instead of 5 for some classes.

I've heard MimicKing (or another developer) declare the TR should be the single-target master.

As for my specific class, Stormwarden Archers, we have no competitive single burst damage.

Our single target capstone is a dud. We can't take advantage of Soul Sight Crystals with +50% damage.

Our range feat tree buff advantage give us no team buffs and our companions won't even attack at long range (depriving us of bonding runestone benefit)

Split the Sky and Rain of Arrows have long cast times just like Smoke Bomb for TR. By the time they activate, the mobs are already dead or nearly dead.

Then Cordon of Arrow on preview was nerfed to hit/control 1 mob, lowering the power to about 1/3 and essentially
lowering DPS by about a half since, we have to single out those mobs. They ought to revert it back to the live Cordon
before you release it to Mod13, because it has zero utility other than to depress our already low dps.

Trappers and Combat already hit 50% - 100%+ more than Archers. GWF hitting at least 100%-200% more.
Where else you can find a 10k DPS demanding 13k+ only for Folly? Or a 10k hitting 29m at Thrones with ease and efficacy?

There is currently a great Great Weapon Fighter bubble ( just like the Bonding Runestone bubble ). And it's getting bigger everyday because the newer players are rolling GWF and players who see the distinct, unfair and advantageous position of the class are switching.

So, how are the NW Developers gonna solve this systemic problem and ever growing bubble?

Unknown · January 2018

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Unknown · January 2018

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bronto111 · January 2018

Guilds are a communist Dictatorship

Look at it this way :youre toon is in a guild that you do not own ,you have to be the rank 7 owner of the guild to own it.
Yet you and many others are the slaves (or tenants)that grind away leveling up The owners guild.
Only the owner gains these benefits permanently from youre efforts to fill the coffers.
You however CAN be kicked out for any reason ...or for no reason and you loose all benefits and all the items you worked so hard to earn to fill that coffer.
I personally had this happen where the owner one day started kicking EVERYONE in the guild while i was logged in ,when i asked why his response was "im selling the guild to someone else".So thats the end result of being forced to donate daily amounts in order to stay in a high rank guild ...only to be kicked when it reached max rank anyway.

Or you leave for any reason ( fed up with the dictator in charge?)or like you take a break and come back to find youre out in the cold guildless.
IF you are not the rank 7 owner of the guild you are in then it is not yours simple as that.and how is this fair to those who work so hard to level that guild up,if they leave they loose everything,they loose the boons that they probably didnt choose to build anyway,and may not have been the ones they wanted either.
And then to make matters worse when you join a different guild the new guild may have entirely different boons to the one you left and then you have to rebuild youre toon cause you have the wrong stats,or too many of one stat.(how many guilds have lifesteal and explorers boon??thats what i always wanted).

Then theres the other side of the coin ...some players are bone idle and have no interest in leveling up someone elses guild but they do want the boons ,so they join a guild for boons but do nothing for the guild.

And the other problem is that the boons are most usefull for low level toons with low item levels but these toons cant get into high rank guilds where the boons are highest and most usefull.and since guilds also have a cap on how many alts can be in the guild it puts a hard limit on players that have many alts,i know some guilds have had to put a limit on how many alts per account are allowed in .

There are solutions to all of the many problems with the way guilds are setup:
1: do away with the boon structures ranks ,one boon structure = that boon and the boon scales to charactor level AND item level,this way level 70 toons @ max item level get the least benefit while new alts @ no item level get the most benefit.
This change would also be hugely beneficial to less active guilds that have smaller numbers playing as they will be easier to build boon structures.

2: Put a timer on the charactor sheet for guild boons of each charactor so when they join a guild it starts counting down from 385 days (one year) when the timer reaches zero the guild boons of that guild become permanently avaliable to that charactor.
You could add to this some triggers for example a day only counts down by one if the charactor logs in and donates to the coffer that day.if the charactor does not log in or donate to the coffer on one day the timer wont count down that day.
This would also eliminate the need to join a guild just becuase they have the boons you want or need instead of joining a guild becuase theyre fun to play with.By this system anyone could eventually have all guild boons unlocked on a charactor...and since you can only equip one of each type anyway makes zero difference to the game balance.And even better once boons like the explorer boon are unlocked you can join a fun guild without loosing the benefit of that boon...which lets face it is only usefull when you have enough guild marks to buy maps and the rest of the time is a wasted boon.

2b: ALTERNATIVELY increase the number of boon structures so each guild CAN eventually build every boon but still as per 1:,that way you dont need to leave a good guild to eventually get every boon avaliable.Let players choose what boon they want and not what the owner chose to build!

3: Guild ranks are obsolete and serve no purpose except to increase the grind required by all the slaves and tenants of the guilds owner.
Guilds SHOULD be simply a way to join together like minded individuals to make getting parties together to do hard content easier and to make it more social.
Putting guild rank limits on things like mastercrafting and mastercrafting resource maps (and also items from temp vendors) is really pointless ...its just anouther way of forcing people to join guilds that they might not prefer to be in.so if you want to do mastercrafting or just want to turn your guild marks into some items to sell you cant unless youre in a high rank guild ...or theres a high rank guild in youre alliance.
And most high rank guilds have zero interest in having low rank guilds in their alliance.
And since im in a rank 5 guild and new mastercrafting coming out i once again have to leave and go looking for a high rank guild to get the new recipies which i already did the last time new recipies were added and its very frustrating.

Anyone who objects to what ive suggested is either a guild owner OR deluded into thinking the guild they are in is somehow theirs,and no matter how benevolent the owner may appear it is still the owners final decision as to what goes on in THEIR guild.

Guilds should be there to make leveling a charactor or alt and doing content easier and NOT for the charactors and alts to make leveling someone elses guild easier!

There is enough GRIND in real life without more of it in a game ,people want to play to have fun so please bring back the fun and cut back the grind.

BRING BACK THE FUN, BRING BACK THE FUN, BRING BACK THE FUN,
PLEASE???

bronto111 · January 2018

Dungeons...whats wrong and how to fix them:

I do have solutions to the many things everyone hates and complains about with the current state of dungeons but first ill list the problems.

Loot is tied to random number generator (RNG) and as a result only a few get what they want or need and everyone else gets screwed.

The result of RNG tied to things everyone needs and many want and poor/super bad drop rate =
people have to grind them and that means speed runs,that results in players forced to min/max their toon and party composition in order to do as many runs as possible as fast as posible in order to maximise their chances of getting the one item they want/need.
The end result of this is that some classes are seen as not optimal for speed runs and get left out in premade parties and any toon thats not max item level is also not optimal for max speed runs.
When you consider the recent debacle with Ultimate enchanting stones and poor RNG ,every toon needs 60+ ultimate enchanting stones and =600 + dungeon runs (per charactor) you see why speed runs are the only option.
Cryptics answer is to increase the drop rate slightly ...which doesnt solve anything at all,players like me with more than one toon are still only going to want speed runs bhecuase of the sheer quantity of ultimate enchanting stones we require,
ADD to that the items required for mastercrafting like fartouched residuum and manticore hide ,manticore mane also with a bad drop rate tied to RNG and nothing changes becuase min/maxxed teams doing speed runs are the only viable way to get what you want/NEED in any reasonable time.

RNG means that some like myself NEVER get anything while some get frequient rewards they require,all becuase of chance.I have never had a +5 ring,NEVER had fartouched/manticore item drop,NEVER had ultimate enchanting stone from dungeons,and recently opened 1000 lockboxes and their sub boxes and ALSO got ZERO ultimate enchanting stones.

So far cryptics response to the speed runs is to make dungeons MORE difficult to try to slow down and limit the speed parties.
Dont get me wrong i think RNG has a valid place for some loot and rewards but it shouldnt be used on everything or as randomly as it currently is.

Solutions:
1:
dungeon loot should be broken into catagories and each catagory should have 3 ranks (high medium low reward) from which each player can choose the high reward from only one catagory and low/medium reward from the other catagories.
These catagories would be :
"choose ONE high reward from one catagory and low/medium from the other 2 catagories"
Crafting (ie fartouched residuum/manticore hide/manticore mane as the high reward)
Gear (+5 rings/item level 500 gear as high reward)
Refining (ultimate enchanting stone/ultimate mark of potency as high reward)
"OR one item from ONE catagory of PET/MOUNT/ARTIFACT"
PETS
Mounts
Artifacts

Now PET/MOUNT/ARTIFACT catagories are tied to RNG but every pet/artifact/and mount is given EQUAL rating but only ONE is displayed for each catagory.
Further to this the list of possible pets/mounts/artifacts should be smaller for some lower tier dungeons while the high end dungeons such as Tomb of nine Gods whould have the full list,
This means that it would be possible for a sought after artifact such a Forgehammer of Gond to eventually get rolled for one lucky player But if they choose that as the reward they cant choose the rewards from the other catagories,So if the PET/MOUNT/ARTIFACT that is rolled is not one that is desirable to that player they can choose something from CRAFTING or GEAR or REFINING that is desirable.
Now when you consider just how many artifacts there are in the game you can see that the odds of one particular one coming up are still extremely rare even when they all have an equal chance,but at least you get to choose anouther item that is equally needed or wanted.
Also lesser dungeons such as castle never may not have the every option but only the some of the options for gear/refining and a limited list for PET/MOUNT/ARTIFACT catagories so it means the high tier dungeons are still the most valuable to run and repeat.

2:
All dungeons should scale to the number of players AND the total item level of the players,
while the required item level and compositon for a full party remains the same there should be i slightly higher item level requirement to solo or duo the same dungeon.
Dungeons are suposed to be about only 2 things ...enjoyment (fun) and rewards for succeeding.
Enjoyment comes from being chalenged with dificult to avoid game mechanics etc.

an example of this is valindras tower,i can solo this as GWF but what makes it fun is the final boss fight...if valindra grasping hand grabs me AND my pet does not attack the hand im dead and restart ,If the hand grabs my pet its ok and if the hand gets ME and my pet attacks the hand it good and have a chance to win.Added to the challenge is the casks that spawn more mobs,beating valindra gets harder the longer it takes as more mobs = more damage to try to dodge.I find valindras tower solo is far more fun than doing tomb of nine gods speed runs as a party.

While many prefer to do content in a party there needs to be the option to do the same content in smaller parties and parties that are not maxed item level,or even solo while still giving the same rewards and chance of success.
Sure a full premade min/maxed party would have a faster run BUT not as much fun,
currently the state of dungeons is such that if you are NOT a max optimal party and you succeed after an hour or more of henious dificult play and multiple deaths you still dont get any rewards at the end then the fun dies which is where section one would benefit everyone.

In summary these changes would benefit everyone ,while still leaving a certian randomness to loot everyone would still have a choice.And everyone would still get something they WANT/NEED from every dungeon run.
Further more it would also eliminate many of the complaints about class balances in PVE content as these complaints all revolve around the perception of some builds and classes being sub optimal for max speed runs.Some complaints are true BUT only becuase currently it is NECESSARY to do 1000's of speed runs to get anything worthwhile.

BRING BACK THE FUN!
PLEASE??

Unknown · January 2018

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spidey · January 2018

zerappus said:

I was reading a recent Reddit thread about class "pros and cons". Sure enough the "con" for GWF is that it is "boring".
/snip...some BS about GWFs

Wow...that was fast. The 7th post and claiming for a class nerf...thats really funny. But it is like a good friend told me ingame:
"If you cant play any good and your to lazy to learn your own class? Just blame other players/classes and the devs"

BTT:

We need mor skins! We dont need another stream where julie asks mike 1 hour how his breakfast was! We need a clarification why in mod 12 C ( new mod is not 13....sry.) old things like restauration comes back! No new ideas, so we bring old stuff from icewind back?
What we need is increased lootchanges. What we all need is more real content. What we need the most? Just listen to the community! Dont try to make things only available for money. In Mod12 C you can buy new weapons from the ZEN Shop...pppllllzzzzzz!!!! Dont make this nice game to a p2w game. Thx.

And P.S.:
FGS!! Plz dont listen to some funny Trapper HRs with no clue. Thx

Ah...btw:

There is only 1 Spiderman!!!

Spidey

Unknown · January 2018

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spidey · January 2018

dragonwizard#9636 said:

The problem is hardcore players think its fun to repeat the same dungeon for 16 hours dayly.

Nop. No hardcore player defines that as fun..no one.

dragonwizard#9636 said:
The casuals refuse to do so.

Yes. Harcoreplayers too if the grind is too much.

/snip some good stuff, some just 2 cents.

dragonwizard#9636 said:
Thats why I like my new monster hunter as it has both single player and multiplayer components.

Than stay away...i hate it when ppl comparing 2 different mmoprgs...makes no sense at all. I play NW. I dont hunt any dumb monster over and over again, i dont need 20+ ppl raids and i dont need PVP.

Unknown · January 2018

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wintersmoke · January 2018

sky1stname said:
I'm excited for what the future holds
is " survive the tomb " the next 13b upcoming module ? just guessing
Umh I have two Changes that I want to see .
They are:
1. Accumulated effort system design please.A guaranteed drop for something u've worked hard for, at least for the hunts
2. Uhm New system again . You gonna keep feeding the hungry wolves please

"Get Into the Tomb" is mod 13... "Survive the Tomb" is mod 13b

Unknown · January 2018

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bitt3rnightmar3 · January 2018

I know you guys have to do these streams while you're at work but it's the middle of the day on a Tuesday. How did you decide the time of these kind of events? It seems like many people wouldn't be able to attend.

ecrana · January 2018

bitt3rnightmar3 said:
I know you guys have to do these streams while you're at work but it's the middle of the day on a Tuesday. How did you decide the time of these kind of events? It seems like many people wouldn't be able to attend.

The fewer people that attend, the less rage they have to contend with.

kemnimtarkas · January 2018

Thank you Julia and Thomas for the updates in the State of the Game talk.

From what I heard - sounds like 2 more mods this year after M13. And some hints that maybe the drought for a new class and/or race may finally be coming to an end after M13. Maybe.

And finally - updated content in events. Just wish it could have happened with SoN. Looking forward to what the new events might be as well.

designedbyrng · January 2018

@nitocris83

My guess for the binary message in David's twitter tag art

G - 01000111
A - 01000001
M - 01001101
E - 01000101
S - 01010011

The tiny size and quality of the steam made it very hard to actually determine what the bits were.

Unknown · January 2018

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mynaam · January 2018

dragonwizard#9636 said:
State of the Game? too much focus on 1 percent endgame players whilst angering the other 99 percent.
Lack of new content, ad nerfs, marginalized classes, poor to none loot drops, bad and outdated graphics , lack of weapon -gear variation, laaag, and hopeing for some fixes but eeh I am at the pessimistic stage of abandon all hope those who expect good news.

From what I saw in the stream is the BIS players are the only players the will get content for the future

vaultamor · January 2018

bronto111 said:
Guilds are a communist Dictatorship

Look at it this way :youre toon is in a guild that you do not own ,you have to be the rank 7 owner of the guild to own it.
Yet you and many others are the slaves (or tenants)that grind away leveling up The owners guild.
Only the owner gains these benefits permanently from youre efforts to fill the coffers.
You however CAN be kicked out for any reason ...or for no reason and you loose all benefits and all the items you worked so hard to earn to fill that coffer.
I personally had this happen where the owner one day started kicking EVERYONE in the guild while i was logged in ,when i asked why his response was "im selling the guild to someone else".So thats the end result of being forced to donate daily amounts in order to stay in a high rank guild ...only to be kicked when it reached max rank anyway.

Or you leave for any reason ( fed up with the dictator in charge?)or like you take a break and come back to find youre out in the cold guildless.
IF you are not the rank 7 owner of the guild you are in then it is not yours simple as that.and how is this fair to those who work so hard to level that guild up,if they leave they loose everything,they loose the boons that they probably didnt choose to build anyway,and may not have been the ones they wanted either.
And then to make matters worse when you join a different guild the new guild may have entirely different boons to the one you left and then you have to rebuild youre toon cause you have the wrong stats,or too many of one stat.(how many guilds have lifesteal and explorers boon??thats what i always wanted).

Then theres the other side of the coin ...some players are bone idle and have no interest in leveling up someone elses guild but they do want the boons ,so they join a guild for boons but do nothing for the guild.

And the other problem is that the boons are most usefull for low level toons with low item levels but these toons cant get into high rank guilds where the boons are highest and most usefull.and since guilds also have a cap on how many alts can be in the guild it puts a hard limit on players that have many alts,i know some guilds have had to put a limit on how many alts per account are allowed in .

There are solutions to all of the many problems with the way guilds are setup:
1: do away with the boon structures ranks ,one boon structure = that boon and the boon scales to charactor level AND item level,this way level 70 toons @ max item level get the least benefit while new alts @ no item level get the most benefit.
This change would also be hugely beneficial to less active guilds that have smaller numbers playing as they will be easier to build boon structures.

2: Put a timer on the charactor sheet for guild boons of each charactor so when they join a guild it starts counting down from 385 days (one year) when the timer reaches zero the guild boons of that guild become permanently avaliable to that charactor.
You could add to this some triggers for example a day only counts down by one if the charactor logs in and donates to the coffer that day.if the charactor does not log in or donate to the coffer on one day the timer wont count down that day.
This would also eliminate the need to join a guild just becuase they have the boons you want or need instead of joining a guild becuase theyre fun to play with.By this system anyone could eventually have all guild boons unlocked on a charactor...and since you can only equip one of each type anyway makes zero difference to the game balance.And even better once boons like the explorer boon are unlocked you can join a fun guild without loosing the benefit of that boon...which lets face it is only usefull when you have enough guild marks to buy maps and the rest of the time is a wasted boon.

2b: ALTERNATIVELY increase the number of boon structures so each guild CAN eventually build every boon but still as per 1:,that way you dont need to leave a good guild to eventually get every boon avaliable.Let players choose what boon they want and not what the owner chose to build!

3: Guild ranks are obsolete and serve no purpose except to increase the grind required by all the slaves and tenants of the guilds owner.
Guilds SHOULD be simply a way to join together like minded individuals to make getting parties together to do hard content easier and to make it more social.
Putting guild rank limits on things like mastercrafting and mastercrafting resource maps (and also items from temp vendors) is really pointless ...its just anouther way of forcing people to join guilds that they might not prefer to be in.so if you want to do mastercrafting or just want to turn your guild marks into some items to sell you cant unless youre in a high rank guild ...or theres a high rank guild in youre alliance.
And most high rank guilds have zero interest in having low rank guilds in their alliance.
And since im in a rank 5 guild and new mastercrafting coming out i once again have to leave and go looking for a high rank guild to get the new recipies which i already did the last time new recipies were added and its very frustrating.

Anyone who objects to what ive suggested is either a guild owner OR deluded into thinking the guild they are in is somehow theirs,and no matter how benevolent the owner may appear it is still the owners final decision as to what goes on in THEIR guild.

Guilds should be there to make leveling a charactor or alt and doing content easier and NOT for the charactors and alts to make leveling someone elses guild easier!

There is enough GRIND in real life without more of it in a game ,people want to play to have fun so please bring back the fun and cut back the grind.

BRING BACK THE FUN, BRING BACK THE FUN, BRING BACK THE FUN,
PLEASE???

Dont be a crappy guild like you were then but i have to disagree with almost all of what you have said, maybe this game just isn't for you.

Unknown · January 2018

This content has been removed.

State of the Game Livestream [1/30]

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