> @zebular said: > For me, the most important things are the accuracy and delivery of "Realms Lore" and the viability of the Foundry. The prior of which this game satisfies me greatly. The latter however, I am left feeling neglected and abandoned. > > Specific Systems - The Foundry: > This was marketed as a selling point for the game yet after a few months into release, the Foundry has become more and more neglected and seemingly ignored. There are countless bugs that have been compiled and reported many times over, yet we see very little attention placed on the Foundry in regard to both bug fixing and making the system better over-all. A thread was made to gain feedback and in that regard, it has worked perfectly. Alas, we have seen no signs that any of that feedback as been taken into consideration. > > There is no real reason for players to do quality foundry missions or even make them. The player rewards are worthless and only short 15-minute quests are considered for the daily. The authoring rewards are nice but are dampened for those who want to make longer quality missions due to the only real player rewards come from doing quick 15 minute missions for the daily. > > This means players who make longer and very detailed quests are being stuck in the shadow of lesser quality and quicker missions. There is no incentive to do actually quality foundry content or missions longer than 15 minutes. > > I ask, nay I beg, please give the Foundry the funding and attention it deserves as was conveyed early on that it would be a cornerstone of the game itself. If you're looking for a real money maker, you have it already: The Foundry. You just need to finish what you started with it. > > Thank you for your time.
Look at CW's shield mechanic. The extra layer of protection it gives is pretty strong. Combined with some armor enchants it makes them more tanky that you would expect given their role. This becomes more and more of an issue if you also are looking at reducing the damage of other classes at the same time.
Look at CW's shield mechanic. The extra layer of protection it gives is pretty strong. Combined with some armor enchants it makes them more tanky that you would expect given their role. This becomes more and more of an issue if you also are looking at reducing the damage of other classes at the same time.
cw shield + rene heal + dodges + range class + control class i really have no idea what devs had in their mind.
Like we can trigger the healing at will. Like the CWs CC is not bad enough already in PvP. Like Negation is CW specific. Like Shield is not occupying either an encounter slot or class mechanics. Just...dont make urself ridiculous.
edit: well, did not resist, was not meant to spam the thread and go off topic;
A bit nosy NW-DKG7E99X6
"Hardcore" exploration journey and dungeon crawl. Read its description prior to trying it.
Regarding Domination PvP, people are staying away in droves due to imbalanced matches, there will be pre-mades with transcendent enchants and all artifacts ranked up to blue fighting normal PvP PUG players trying to just get ahead in PvP or do dailies. One simple fix for this is to create two queues, one for PUG groups the other for those already in a party at the time of queuing. It should be simple to implement... At the time you queue, the system checks to see if you are already in a party, something people who are in premades do routinely to ensure a win. If the system sees you are in a party already, then you get shunted across into the queue for party's, if the system sees you are solo and not already in a party, then you are shunted across to the queue for people not in a party. While not fixing the matching issue completely (as there will always be higher players fighting lower ones), it should fix the major issues of the same premade groups thrashing the other side over and over and over again with one side only getting 80 or so points. No-one likes this type of match and people stay away and avoid PvP because of it. It is a simple two-choice decision for the system to do prior to placing the player in a queue, are they in a party or not? PUG players will play other PUG players and premade teams will play other premade teams. At least those who are PUG players will have a more even match and we all know the closer matches are the most exciting ones.
Focus more on ability points and less on gear to get good stats. Second make the maximum ability points either 25 or 30 for each STR, DEX, CON, WIZ, INT, CHA. Third give the drows their proper racial bonus' we have to keep everyone involved. Fourth, Make there a minimum and maximum for all of the stats. I've been playing D&D since I was 10 these four steps might be the some of the best suggestions.
If these things were true there would be a select group of players , who, eventually get all there stats really high and become like gods in the game. They eventually become outcasted by the other players and don't even want to play anymore. Nobody is that good at everything even when there were dragons alive.
1. Difficulty/Playstyle: Neverwinter is a game in my opinion that shouldn’t be handling as a regular MMORPG. By that I mean it is annoying to have an action combat system and then stand in the same spot and hit the same monster for around a minute till it dies. I don’t need an action combat MMORPG if I can have the same plain boring combats in a pseudo round based MMORPGs. I had the most fun with Neverwinter as it was more like a Hack’n Slay experience and the difficulty and fun was “how many monsters and in which constellation can I pull till it is too much”. Another problem is that Neverwinter seems not build for regular combat where I must dodge one attack that can instantly kill me because there is a lag or delay, especially on a server cluster that supports different language clients and people access the game from around the world, this means you can’t support the accuracy that is needed to play in such a regular combat system. In my opinion difficult content is generated by other means. Movement patterns, different phase on monsters, monster help each other with different abilities, etc… it is not to give them more hit points and outgoing damage. So please give me my action combat MMORPG back.
2. Oathbound Paladin: You should take a closer look in this class. In PvP the class is plain broken and nearly unkillable and many powers intervenes with several other class powers from different classes generating several damage loops.
3. Foundry: Neverwinter is a D&D product. And as D&D Game people like to generate adventures, maps, etc. Another problem is that you, the Devs, seem to have your hands full with fixing bugs/exploits/stuff and generating new modules and often it looks like you are being understaffed or has not enough time because business is hard and if no new content is produced then player are bored and go to other games.
So you need simply another source of content but at the current state the Foundry is not viable. It doesn’t affect the game and work in the foundry is sometimes a bit tricky and to generate really different encounters is difficult to impossible. I would wish you would rework it. Give us the possibility to generate own monsters and bosses with own mechanic. Or rework it that every player could be Dungeon master of his own collection of dungeons and make an own set up of monsters, traps and bosses.
I personally think you are wasting a lot of potential with the Foundry. Editors in other game lead to a longevity of the game from over 17 years and generated a whole new genre of PC games. In an MMORPG this could be a powerful tool.
P.S.: What does echo with other player mean (English is not my native language)
Platypus wielding a giant hammer, your argument is invalild!
0
beckylunaticMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 14,231Arc User
P.S.: What does echo with other player mean (English is not my native language)
I'm assuming someone said something like, "I'd like to echo Bob's points" because that use fits this thread's context.
An echo is when sound reflects so you hear it repeated back to you. When you use it in this manner, it's like quoting a post and typing "+1", I agree, Bob already said everything I wanted to say, etc. All you have to say is a repeat of what someone else already said.
Thanks, everyone! By reading all these posts, I have an even better understanding of what you guys want. I've stated before, but I actually share these same concerns and I do bring them up to the devs every week, believe it or not. My personal main concerns are:
1) The 50% HP increase was way too much. I find it a little daunting when I'm running around with my Pally and I can barely dent things. The devs have agreed to go back into it and check out what they can do to preserve the balance and to make things less tedious.
2) Leveling from 60-70 does feel a bit slow. I've gotten an official response from the devs that the Stronghold content will help alleviate this. We'll see if it does.
3) Class Balance is always being looked at. There's so much to take into account that it will take time.
4) Bunch of bugs! @kvet, @kreatyve and I have been squishing bugs on Preview. If you'd like to help squish some with us, let us know!
Call me Andy (or Strum, or Spider-Man)! Follow Neverwinter on Twitter: NeverwinterGame Like Neverwinter on Facebook: Neverwinter Follow me on Twitter: StrumSlinger
Well, lots of demand for less grinding and more content.
...and 1/6th of posts requesting Foundry fixes/enhancements/leverage.
Seems pretty clear, if Foundry received some focus, foundry authors could provide more content that Devs could even take/copy/re-use and polish into "official" content like skirmishes, quests, zones, etc. Then they could produce much, much more content for ALL players and they would have more time to focus on content required by WotC storylines as well as more time to fix existing bugs and balance.
1. is really easy, a massive hitpoints reduction, and the damage should be also reduced again by 25-50%
1.1 normal dungeons/foundries/skirmishes, Dread Rind and Sharandar campaign areas -> max. level 70 normal enemies
1.2 Icewind Dale and Well of Dragons campaign areas -> max. level 71 normal enemies
1.3 epic dungeons/skirmishes -> max. level 72 normal enemies
1.4 take a look at the one-shot problem, and solve it
2. what about players, that are not part of any big guild with a lot of active players in it, or solo players in general?
how will those get better equipment on the level of Stronghold equipment, and how will they be able to level faster?
3. "balance" can wait, but there are a lot of broken things in this game, and that is where the Devs should start right now.
4. perhaps add new sticky threads in the bug reports forum, something like
4.1 race/class bugs
4.2 module 6 / 7 bugs
4.3 general game bugs
Bravo, Strummy! You are the first Cryptic employee to ask the right question to the right audience. May your courage and bravery never be forgotten.
So here's the thing, this game used to be great, but it's gone stale with the push to make both PVE and PVP strictly gear based. People are frustrated because they've invested a lot of time and maybe some money into the continuing success of this game, but we are all sitting here watching this thing wither away mod by mod.
In the early days of Neverwinter, people had very little work to do just to enjoy the game. A player could grind for BIS armor and weapons by running some dungeons and the only thing holding them back from performing well was a good build, a few enchant ranks, and general know-how. Smooth runs were possible for skilled players at any gear level in most dungeons and people actually made fun of the tryhards chasing Paingiver. AD was plentiful to those willing to farm a little bit. A common PVE drop could sell for a million and the amount a million AD would power up a toon was just enough to want to grind more. /lfg scrolled so fast you couldn't read it and pvp queues popped in 10 seconds or less.
ALTS. If I ever wanted a break from playing my main, I'd just make an alt and carry my experience over into whatever class I was in the mood for and work toward mastering a new character. The fast and easy accessibility of playing any class at a high level gave this game extreme replayability.
The addition of more and more boons really only served to discourage people from making alts, but the introduction of artifacts and artifact equipment has destroyed alt playing altogether. Now, it's just one main character + leadership drones due to the oppressive costs of gearing up. It's very sad to me to invoke on characters I cant afford to play because my main has all the power that I worked so hard to build up stripped from it every 3 months or less. Every time my build gets ruined due to a heavy-handed nerf or BIS gear change, I lose a little more desire to Sisyfus my way back up the hill again.
Real talk, if you have any interest in salvaging this game and bringing its population back to levels where there are so many people in PE that you have to change instances to stop the lag, a few important things need to happen:
1. Coalescent wards and Blood Rubies need to be much, much cheaper in the zen store. If there's a root to your problem, it's this. Pricing the best equipment out of reach to committed F2P players eliminates the skill factor from NW's general populace and thus the fun. Skill should also be able to beat less skilled at wider gear levels. It's boring to create a society of 'elite' players who have no idea how good they really are because they only have to compete against 1% of the population. If we are too far along the artifact and artifact equipment path to go back to BIS/BOE equipment, refinement points need to be so plentiful that leveling them up is a trivial task.
Whatever we all think of bots, they have kept the market fairly sane compared to the prices Cryptic expects people to pay for miniscule amounts of power gain per dollar. Charge more for character slots and make them easier to gear up. Make some (hundreds) outfits that are nice looking. Allow us to pimp ourselves out. Let us hide the damn soulforge and negation effects. Personally, I'd like something symmetrical to wear without stupid patches of bare skin in odd places and bathtowels tucked in the front of our belts. D&D movies from the 80s is a bad reference for design ideas. Charge us for things we like but don't need in order to enjoy the game.
2. Every class needs to work pretty much as well as every other class within their given scope. Roles should be defined by the way one builds their character and every path, feat, and power needs to bring something effective to the table. Overpowered and underpowered classes need to be addressed with more urgency and frequency in the form of multiple small tweaks, not devastating nerfs or buffs. Stop neutering my toons then charging me for a zen respec to fix what you wreck, which should either be free or purchasable for AD from the Wonderous Bazaar.
3. Almost every decision made for Mod 6 has been a total disaster. Most of the content was released buggy and unfinished. AD generation through playing has become non-existent. There's no consistency going from 1-60-70 and you have us all running in circles grinding the same unimaginative quests over and over and over. I never want to do the Elemental Evil quests again - they are that bad and equally unrewarding. Kill 40 Kiku birds and 50 slaad, lol. The PVE mobs are unbalanced to our gear levels and PVP is completely gear based with overpowered classes and broken items reigning for months at a time. To top this off, Cryptic is so desperate for money they are scamming people who pay hundreds of dollars for promotional items, then they don't deliver the goods!
2) Leveling from 60-70 does feel a bit slow. I've gotten an official response from the devs that the Stronghold content will help alleviate this. We'll see if it does.
Thanks Strum for getting back to us on this.
Could I ask if this means that the team consider the stronghold content to be an alternative source of xp in order to alleviate the issue? If that's the case, then it potentially alienates those players who choose not to be a part of a guild.
The content 60-70 within the elemental evil line really does need to be relooked at. I can't see that new content being a work around for the issue will be sufficient.
Focus more on ability points and less on gear to get good stats. Second make the maximum ability points either 25 or 30 for each STR, DEX, CON, WIZ, INT, CHA. Third give the drows their proper racial bonus' we have to keep everyone involved. Fourth, Make there a minimum and maximum for all of the stats. I've been playing D&D since I was 10 these four steps might be the some of the best suggestions.
If these things were true there would be a select group of players , who, eventually get all there stats really high and become like gods in the game. They eventually become outcasted by the other players and don't even want to play anymore. Nobody is that good at everything even when there were dragons alive.
Yeah really this needs to be addressed imo. I'd honestly prefer doubling all the bonuses these give to make it a much bigger impact. Or even more. You should notice a HUGE difference in HP on a 25 Con character versus a 15 Con character.
Racial bonuses also need to be addressed. An example is humans 3% Defense?! If you have 10k defense that's NOT EVEN 1% more DR!!!?
That bonus should be like +3 AC instead (1.5% DR).
Half Orc run speed? That's a joke.
Some of the races having like 1% gold find and HAMSTER or faster campfire recovery is just dumb. I mean it should all be equal stat wise. Halflings get 10% CCres(1200-1300 stat value) plus 3% deflect (1200 stat value) plus Con and Dex +2?!?!( at least 800 points each). So nearly 4,200 stat value!!!!!
Versus Human. 3 points lets say is worth 400 each = 1200. Only +2 to one stat (800) and then 3%defense? MAYBE +200 stats there. Total? 2,200 basically HALF the benefit.......
2. what about players, that are not part of any big guild with a lot of active players in it, or solo players in general?
how will those get better equipment on the level of Stronghold equipment, and how will they be able to level faster?
This ^^^. I can't wait to "level faster" in Strongholds with my guild of one member.
I guess a lot of small guilds will just vanish with Strongholds... and a lot of players with them.
I do believe in killing the messenger...
Want to know why?
Because it sends a message!
0
kieranmtornMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 382Arc User
One issue no one will probably mention, that grates on many. Losing weapon transmutes in the artifact upgrade cycle. I have a nice artifact weapon transmuted to look like the old Malborg Castle Orb. Even though the materials still exist, I can't make another one. So when I do the upgrade to the Stronghold Orb, unless I willing to flush a huge amount of RP, that look will be gone.
It's a minor detail, but it's a repeated annoyance.
2) Leveling from 60-70 does feel a bit slow. I've gotten an official response from the devs that the Stronghold content will help alleviate this. We'll see if it does.
And if you don't want to be in a Guild... what? Suck it up? Leave the game?
2. what about players, that are not part of any big guild with a lot of active players in it, or solo players in general?
how will those get better equipment on the level of Stronghold equipment, and how will they be able to level faster?
This ^^^. I can't wait to "level faster" in Strongholds with my guild of one member.
...and the slow agonizing grind continues.
This is apparently the Price you pay to have a Vanity Guild, You either invite more people in to Help or Move a Character into a Larger Guild.
Why even force players into joining a guild to get better equipment and xp rewards?
Why not offer several different ways to equal equipment for all players?
And how long will it take, until larger guilds start selling memberships for loot and xp?
Or perhaps it will be the other way around at some point, and they have to pay the remaining active players, to keep them in their guilds to do Stronghold content.
Anyway, the Stronghold module will just create another issue, that the Devs have to deal with at some point.
1) More Content
•More pvp types and maps
•Please give us an official 1v1 area where we can easily switch teams and fight on a mimic node
•Player housing (after mod 7 since I will be content with strongholds)
•I'd like a reason to do foundry quests. Give them special fashion or something that I can try to win
•Maybe a permanent fair type area where we can play games by ourselves or with people to earn prizes when we are bored
2) The Grind
•Too much RP/AD is needed
•Leveling and overflow exp is too much
•Account wide boons please. Alts ftw
3) Item and Class Balance
•Pally is too strong, SW too weak
•Elven/Fey too strong, soulforge is weak
And of course, fix bugs!
~Wish List~
•Let us flag our items as a). never discard b). never use for refinement c). never trade/sell. This way we have more control of our items and are less likely to make mistakes with them.
•Let us sit at tables and in chairs, especially in our guild SH
•Give us inventory tabs for our fashion, mounts, and RP
Why even force players into joining a guild to get better equipment and xp rewards?
Why not offer several different ways to equal equipment for all players?
Any how long will it take, until larger guilds start selling memberships for loot and xp?
Or perhaps it will be the other way around at some point, and they have to pay the remaining active players to keep them in their guilds to do Stronghold content.
Anyway, forcing players into a certain way to play a game will allways end very badly one way or the other...
You have a very limited Perspective and it is skewing this Judgement you are passing, Guild membership sales are a possibility once a guild gets it's marketplace to level 8, but more worrysome is there will be a minimum contribution requirement as opposed to sales because that is tracked per character. No One is Forcing you to do Stronghold, you can skip it completely The largest Strongest richest Guilds May be able to level up their Stongholds to awesome levels before Mod 8 Drops with All new equipment and stuff to do............
I am not sure about that last part. When the shard rewards are 10 for each specific quest given... and the amount needed to buy and then think about an upgrade, is such. I do not expect anything higher than a level 2-3 GH, before Underdark hits. As of now there is no way to buy GH upgrades... I am sure that they will be coming.
I do believe that "dead-weight" accounts and toons may be excised when the amount needed gets to be too great to manage with the active members.
I expect Underdark to be released just before Xmas... as long as it is before the 21st of December... it is still Autumn.
Atwil "At" - Tiefling TR / Saardush - Black Dragonborn GWF / White - Tiefling OP
2. what about players, that are not part of any big guild with a lot of active players in it, or solo players in general?
how will those get better equipment on the level of Stronghold equipment, and how will they be able to level faster?
This ^^^. I can't wait to "level faster" in Strongholds with my guild of one member.
...and the slow agonizing grind continues.
This is apparently the Price you pay to have a Vanity Guild, You either invite more people in to Help or Move a Character into a Larger Guild.
Why even force players into joining a guild to get better equipment and xp rewards?
Why not offer several different ways to equal equipment for all players?
Any how long will it take, until larger guilds start selling memberships for loot and xp?
Or perhaps it will be the other way around at some point, and they have to pay the remaining active players to keep them in their guilds to do Stronghold content.
Anyway, forcing players into a certain way to play a game will allways end very badly one way or the other...
You have a very limited Perspective and it is skewing this Judgement you are passing, Guild membership sales are a possibility once a guild gets it's marketplace to level 8, but more worrysome is there will be a minimum contribution requirement as opposed to sales because that is tracked per character. No One is Forcing you to do Stronghold, you can skip it completely The largest Strongest richest Guilds May be able to level up their Stongholds to awesome levels before Mod 8 Drops with All new equipment and stuff to do............
So, Stronghold equipment will not be better then any existing equipment?
From what i have seen this far, it will be.
And the same about XP rewards in Strongholds, looks like those will be better then anywhere else too.
And who says, that you won't need the Stronghold equipment in Underdark as base, if you want the better equipment from there?
I think my "perspective" about this new module is just fine, but you might want to adjust yours...
Please read my post... and ask for something along the lines of what I suggested. No one wants anyone to leave this game... we like the company.
I personally will offer my assistance in an effort to help you manage a SH in M7... IF they institute a non-guild party system for SH. You have your guild... you will need help getting your SH. Without us joining your guild... I am sure people would offer to help the people with solo guilds.
That is IF and WHEN the create such a system.
It may take you longer to build it up... but it will be yours.
I like being a hired gun that costs nothing to hire. All I would ask in return... is to pay it forward when you can.
Atwil "At" - Tiefling TR / Saardush - Black Dragonborn GWF / White - Tiefling OP
Comments
> For me, the most important things are the accuracy and delivery of "Realms Lore" and the viability of the Foundry. The prior of which this game satisfies me greatly. The latter however, I am left feeling neglected and abandoned.
>
> Specific Systems - The Foundry:
> This was marketed as a selling point for the game yet after a few months into release, the Foundry has become more and more neglected and seemingly ignored. There are countless bugs that have been compiled and reported many times over, yet we see very little attention placed on the Foundry in regard to both bug fixing and making the system better over-all. A thread was made to gain feedback and in that regard, it has worked perfectly. Alas, we have seen no signs that any of that feedback as been taken into consideration.
>
> There is no real reason for players to do quality foundry missions or even make them. The player rewards are worthless and only short 15-minute quests are considered for the daily. The authoring rewards are nice but are dampened for those who want to make longer quality missions due to the only real player rewards come from doing quick 15 minute missions for the daily.
>
> This means players who make longer and very detailed quests are being stuck in the shadow of lesser quality and quicker missions. There is no incentive to do actually quality foundry content or missions longer than 15 minutes.
>
> I ask, nay I beg, please give the Foundry the funding and attention it deserves as was conveyed early on that it would be a cornerstone of the game itself. If you're looking for a real money maker, you have it already: The Foundry. You just need to finish what you started with it.
>
> Thank you for your time.
100% agree
Look at CW's shield mechanic. The extra layer of protection it gives is pretty strong. Combined with some armor enchants it makes them more tanky that you would expect given their role. This becomes more and more of an issue if you also are looking at reducing the damage of other classes at the same time.
Like we can trigger the healing at will. Like the CWs CC is not bad enough already in PvP. Like Negation is CW specific. Like Shield is not occupying either an encounter slot or class mechanics. Just...dont make urself ridiculous.
edit: well, did not resist, was not meant to spam the thread and go off topic;
2. DR Bug....most anoying bug ever
3. Tiamat...i want the option to build me my own premade raid"
Thats all
If these things were true there would be a select group of players , who, eventually get all there stats really high and become like gods in the game. They eventually become outcasted by the other players and don't even want to play anymore. Nobody is that good at everything even when there were dragons alive.
2. Oathbound Paladin: You should take a closer look in this class. In PvP the class is plain broken and nearly unkillable and many powers intervenes with several other class powers from different classes generating several damage loops.
3. Foundry: Neverwinter is a D&D product. And as D&D Game people like to generate adventures, maps, etc. Another problem is that you, the Devs, seem to have your hands full with fixing bugs/exploits/stuff and generating new modules and often it looks like you are being understaffed or has not enough time because business is hard and if no new content is produced then player are bored and go to other games.
So you need simply another source of content but at the current state the Foundry is not viable. It doesn’t affect the game and work in the foundry is sometimes a bit tricky and to generate really different encounters is difficult to impossible. I would wish you would rework it. Give us the possibility to generate own monsters and bosses with own mechanic. Or rework it that every player could be Dungeon master of his own collection of dungeons and make an own set up of monsters, traps and bosses.
I personally think you are wasting a lot of potential with the Foundry. Editors in other game lead to a longevity of the game from over 17 years and generated a whole new genre of PC games. In an MMORPG this could be a powerful tool.
P.S.: What does echo with other player mean (English is not my native language)
I'm assuming someone said something like, "I'd like to echo Bob's points" because that use fits this thread's context.
An echo is when sound reflects so you hear it repeated back to you. When you use it in this manner, it's like quoting a post and typing "+1", I agree, Bob already said everything I wanted to say, etc. All you have to say is a repeat of what someone else already said.
Neverwinter Census 2017
All posts pending disapproval by Cecilia
1) The 50% HP increase was way too much. I find it a little daunting when I'm running around with my Pally and I can barely dent things. The devs have agreed to go back into it and check out what they can do to preserve the balance and to make things less tedious.
2) Leveling from 60-70 does feel a bit slow. I've gotten an official response from the devs that the Stronghold content will help alleviate this. We'll see if it does.
3) Class Balance is always being looked at. There's so much to take into account that it will take time.
4) Bunch of bugs! @kvet, @kreatyve and I have been squishing bugs on Preview. If you'd like to help squish some with us, let us know!
Call me Andy (or Strum, or Spider-Man)!
Follow Neverwinter on Twitter: NeverwinterGame
Like Neverwinter on Facebook: Neverwinter
Follow me on Twitter: StrumSlinger
...and 1/6th of posts requesting Foundry fixes/enhancements/leverage.
Seems pretty clear, if Foundry received some focus, foundry authors could provide more content that Devs could even take/copy/re-use and polish into "official" content like skirmishes, quests, zones, etc. Then they could produce much, much more content for ALL players and they would have more time to focus on content required by WotC storylines as well as more time to fix existing bugs and balance.
Encounter Matrix | Advanced Foundry Topics
1.1 normal dungeons/foundries/skirmishes, Dread Rind and Sharandar campaign areas -> max. level 70 normal enemies
1.2 Icewind Dale and Well of Dragons campaign areas -> max. level 71 normal enemies
1.3 epic dungeons/skirmishes -> max. level 72 normal enemies
1.4 take a look at the one-shot problem, and solve it
2. what about players, that are not part of any big guild with a lot of active players in it, or solo players in general?
how will those get better equipment on the level of Stronghold equipment, and how will they be able to level faster?
3. "balance" can wait, but there are a lot of broken things in this game, and that is where the Devs should start right now.
4. perhaps add new sticky threads in the bug reports forum, something like
4.1 race/class bugs
4.2 module 6 / 7 bugs
4.3 general game bugs
So here's the thing, this game used to be great, but it's gone stale with the push to make both PVE and PVP strictly gear based. People are frustrated because they've invested a lot of time and maybe some money into the continuing success of this game, but we are all sitting here watching this thing wither away mod by mod.
In the early days of Neverwinter, people had very little work to do just to enjoy the game. A player could grind for BIS armor and weapons by running some dungeons and the only thing holding them back from performing well was a good build, a few enchant ranks, and general know-how. Smooth runs were possible for skilled players at any gear level in most dungeons and people actually made fun of the tryhards chasing Paingiver. AD was plentiful to those willing to farm a little bit. A common PVE drop could sell for a million and the amount a million AD would power up a toon was just enough to want to grind more. /lfg scrolled so fast you couldn't read it and pvp queues popped in 10 seconds or less.
ALTS. If I ever wanted a break from playing my main, I'd just make an alt and carry my experience over into whatever class I was in the mood for and work toward mastering a new character. The fast and easy accessibility of playing any class at a high level gave this game extreme replayability.
The addition of more and more boons really only served to discourage people from making alts, but the introduction of artifacts and artifact equipment has destroyed alt playing altogether. Now, it's just one main character + leadership drones due to the oppressive costs of gearing up. It's very sad to me to invoke on characters I cant afford to play because my main has all the power that I worked so hard to build up stripped from it every 3 months or less. Every time my build gets ruined due to a heavy-handed nerf or BIS gear change, I lose a little more desire to Sisyfus my way back up the hill again.
Real talk, if you have any interest in salvaging this game and bringing its population back to levels where there are so many people in PE that you have to change instances to stop the lag, a few important things need to happen:
1. Coalescent wards and Blood Rubies need to be much, much cheaper in the zen store. If there's a root to your problem, it's this. Pricing the best equipment out of reach to committed F2P players eliminates the skill factor from NW's general populace and thus the fun. Skill should also be able to beat less skilled at wider gear levels. It's boring to create a society of 'elite' players who have no idea how good they really are because they only have to compete against 1% of the population. If we are too far along the artifact and artifact equipment path to go back to BIS/BOE equipment, refinement points need to be so plentiful that leveling them up is a trivial task.
Whatever we all think of bots, they have kept the market fairly sane compared to the prices Cryptic expects people to pay for miniscule amounts of power gain per dollar. Charge more for character slots and make them easier to gear up. Make some (hundreds) outfits that are nice looking. Allow us to pimp ourselves out. Let us hide the damn soulforge and negation effects. Personally, I'd like something symmetrical to wear without stupid patches of bare skin in odd places and bathtowels tucked in the front of our belts. D&D movies from the 80s is a bad reference for design ideas. Charge us for things we like but don't need in order to enjoy the game.
2. Every class needs to work pretty much as well as every other class within their given scope. Roles should be defined by the way one builds their character and every path, feat, and power needs to bring something effective to the table. Overpowered and underpowered classes need to be addressed with more urgency and frequency in the form of multiple small tweaks, not devastating nerfs or buffs. Stop neutering my toons then charging me for a zen respec to fix what you wreck, which should either be free or purchasable for AD from the Wonderous Bazaar.
3. Almost every decision made for Mod 6 has been a total disaster. Most of the content was released buggy and unfinished. AD generation through playing has become non-existent. There's no consistency going from 1-60-70 and you have us all running in circles grinding the same unimaginative quests over and over and over. I never want to do the Elemental Evil quests again - they are that bad and equally unrewarding. Kill 40 Kiku birds and 50 slaad, lol. The PVE mobs are unbalanced to our gear levels and PVP is completely gear based with overpowered classes and broken items reigning for months at a time. To top this off, Cryptic is so desperate for money they are scamming people who pay hundreds of dollars for promotional items, then they don't deliver the goods!
https://youtube.com/watch?v=bFEoMO0pc7k
Could I ask if this means that the team consider the stronghold content to be an alternative source of xp in order to alleviate the issue? If that's the case, then it potentially alienates those players who choose not to be a part of a guild.
The content 60-70 within the elemental evil line really does need to be relooked at. I can't see that new content being a work around for the issue will be sufficient.
Yeah really this needs to be addressed imo. I'd honestly prefer doubling all the bonuses these give to make it a much bigger impact. Or even more. You should notice a HUGE difference in HP on a 25 Con character versus a 15 Con character.
Racial bonuses also need to be addressed. An example is humans 3% Defense?! If you have 10k defense that's NOT EVEN 1% more DR!!!?
That bonus should be like +3 AC instead (1.5% DR).
Half Orc run speed? That's a joke.
Some of the races having like 1% gold find and HAMSTER or faster campfire recovery is just dumb. I mean it should all be equal stat wise. Halflings get 10% CCres(1200-1300 stat value) plus 3% deflect (1200 stat value) plus Con and Dex +2?!?!( at least 800 points each). So nearly 4,200 stat value!!!!!
Versus Human. 3 points lets say is worth 400 each = 1200. Only +2 to one stat (800) and then 3%defense? MAYBE +200 stats there. Total? 2,200 basically HALF the benefit.......
This ^^^. I can't wait to "level faster" in Strongholds with my guild of one member.
...and the slow agonizing grind continues.
Encounter Matrix | Advanced Foundry Topics
It's a minor detail, but it's a repeated annoyance.
Aelar Hawkwind - Archer
Karrin Feywinter - Mistress of Flame
Errin Duskwalker - Executioner
Darquess - Soulbinder
Why even force players into joining a guild to get better equipment and xp rewards?
Why not offer several different ways to equal equipment for all players?
And how long will it take, until larger guilds start selling memberships for loot and xp?
Or perhaps it will be the other way around at some point, and they have to pay the remaining active players, to keep them in their guilds to do Stronghold content.
Anyway, the Stronghold module will just create another issue, that the Devs have to deal with at some point.
•More pvp types and maps
•Please give us an official 1v1 area where we can easily switch teams and fight on a mimic node
•Player housing (after mod 7 since I will be content with strongholds)
•I'd like a reason to do foundry quests. Give them special fashion or something that I can try to win
•Maybe a permanent fair type area where we can play games by ourselves or with people to earn prizes when we are bored
2) The Grind
•Too much RP/AD is needed
•Leveling and overflow exp is too much
•Account wide boons please. Alts ftw
3) Item and Class Balance
•Pally is too strong, SW too weak
•Elven/Fey too strong, soulforge is weak
And of course, fix bugs!
~Wish List~
•Let us flag our items as a). never discard b). never use for refinement c). never trade/sell. This way we have more control of our items and are less likely to make mistakes with them.
•Let us sit at tables and in chairs, especially in our guild SH
•Give us inventory tabs for our fashion, mounts, and RP
SAMOTHRACE
Trickster Rogue
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I am not sure about that last part. When the shard rewards are 10 for each specific quest given... and the amount needed to buy and then think about an upgrade, is such. I do not expect anything higher than a level 2-3 GH, before Underdark hits. As of now there is no way to buy GH upgrades... I am sure that they will be coming.
I do believe that "dead-weight" accounts and toons may be excised when the amount needed gets to be too great to manage with the active members.
I expect Underdark to be released just before Xmas... as long as it is before the 21st of December... it is still Autumn.
So, Stronghold equipment will not be better then any existing equipment?
From what i have seen this far, it will be.
And the same about XP rewards in Strongholds, looks like those will be better then anywhere else too.
And who says, that you won't need the Stronghold equipment in Underdark as base, if you want the better equipment from there?
I think my "perspective" about this new module is just fine, but you might want to adjust yours...
Please read my post... and ask for something along the lines of what I suggested. No one wants anyone to leave this game... we like the company.
I personally will offer my assistance in an effort to help you manage a SH in M7... IF they institute a non-guild party system for SH. You have your guild... you will need help getting your SH. Without us joining your guild... I am sure people would offer to help the people with solo guilds.
That is IF and WHEN the create such a system.
It may take you longer to build it up... but it will be yours.
I like being a hired gun that costs nothing to hire. All I would ask in return... is to pay it forward when you can.