Official Feedback Thread: Ostorian Relics

rgutscheradev

On this preview build, players will have a chance to hunt for Ostorian Relics and exchange them for Voninblod, a powerful magical substance. Voninblod will serve a number of important uses in Storm King’s Thunder.

Access

You’ll need to be on the Preview Shard to test these features. Note that many of the top gear pieces will require multiple runs of the new dungeon (Fangbreaker Island), which will (by design) be extremely challenging. Also, this dungeon will not be available right away -- it will be unlocked later in the Preview Shard’s life cycle.

Features

• Search throughout the zone for ancient relics from the lost kingdom of Ostoria.
  
• Exchange them for Voninblod, a powerful magical substance.
  
• Voninblod will have multiple uses:
  • Advance campaign progress
    
  • Purchase items in the campaign store
    
  • Create powerful new armor items (“Relic Armor”)
    
  • Charge those armor items to even higher levels of power
    

Known Issues

• Most of the UI is (extremely) placeholder, especially the creation UI for the new armor items.
  • Note this UI is only available if you find a (rare) armor core, so you may not experience this problem.
    
• The armor charging procedure currently uses black ice rather than Voninblod.
  • Again, this will only affect players who manage to acquire one of these armor pieces. We hope to have this (and the UI problems) fixed before too many players on Preview have to deal with the issue.
    
• Many missing icons.
  

Feedback Desired

We’re interested in any and all things you can tell us about the Ostorian Relic experience. As always, we’re especially interested in smaller changes that we can make in the time we have before launch. But suggestions for larger changes are welcome as well -- just keep in mind they may need to wait for later. Some things to consider:

• Can you gather Ostorian Relics at a reasonable rate?
  
• Are some sources of Relics or Voninblod much better/worse than others?
  
• Are there enough things to spend Voninblod on?
  
• Is it clear how to engage in the system? Where to go, what to do?
  

Here’s how to give feedback:

• Respond to this forum post.
  
• Type: Bug or Feedback (Please only choose one)
  
• Format: Please use boldface text for the Type, and then type your feedback in the body of your post. If you are listing a bug please have this text in RED, and if you are posting an opinion or feedback please use LIGHT BLUE.
  
• Concise feedback is best
  
• Screenshots are much appreciated
  

Examples of Feedback

Bug: I can’t turn in Rare Ostorian Relics
Although I could turn in Common and Uncommon Ostorian Relics, I couldn’t turn in Rare ones. There just wasn’t an option for them at the turn-in vendor.


Feedback: HEs give too much Voninblod
The HEs give so much Voninblod that I have no desire to ever hunt for Ostorian Relics. I just do HEs and I get all the Voninblod I could ever use.

gankdalf

wrong thread

rgutscheradev

ejziponken said:

Feedback GIGANTIC ENCHANTMENT:
I think it should have two stats only. The ones with three always feels kinda "meh".

I agree the 3-stat ones have always felt "meh", because they gave the same total as 2-stat, so they were harder to use for no real benefit.

Do people still feel that way now that 3-stat gives more total stats than 2-stat? (Note this change affects all the 3-stats, including existing ones -- not just Giant.)

scathias

Instead of forcing the players to farm for this gear and thus not getting many people to unlock/obtain it, could you please stick the gear in a store so we can purchase the gear an actually give it a proper testing?

oldbaldyone

scathias said:

Instead of forcing the players to farm for this gear and thus not getting many people to unlock/obtain it, could you please stick the gear in a store so we can purchase the gear an actually give it a proper testing?

The biggest problem with preview....people don't want to spend days on preview waiting to test your game for you, just to have that progress wiped out and have to do it again on live. The time sinks and grinds for some things need to be removed or reduced. The free testing you are getting would be much better if people didn't have to work so hard to do it for you.

Yes, we can copy a toon over, but a LOT more people would test things if the time sinks werent in place or reduced.

Also, the Blackice grind wasn't very popular the first time around....not sure copying the mechanic will be much more popular unless these relics drop in all zones.

scathias

rgutscheradev said:

ejziponken said:

Feedback GIGANTIC ENCHANTMENT:
I think it should have two stats only. The ones with three always feels kinda "meh".

I agree the 3-stat ones have always felt "meh", because they gave the same total as 2-stat, so they were harder to use for no real benefit.

Do people still feel that way now that 3-stat gives more total stats than 2-stat? (Note this change affects all the 3-stats, including existing ones -- not just Giant.)

3 stat enchants at r12 have 460, 230, 230 now

Based on this i would still not use a r12 3 stat over a 2 or single stat because it is still harder to use than it is worth it. the stat spread is just too wide when i would rather have increased stats in a couple specific places. If the 3rd stat is not what i want to focus on then it is a waste

back in mod 5 these 3 stat enchants would have been awesome to help avoid diminishing returns on stat stacking, but now with no caps in place investing in only a couple places is far more effective

beckylunatic

scathias said:

I had no idea that 3 stat enchants were buffed.

They've been like that for a while, but I'm not sure how long. I didn't realize it wasn't common knowledge, and thought it was primarily the lack of specialization putting people off them.

scathias

beckylunatic said:

scathias said:

I had no idea that 3 stat enchants were buffed.

They've been like that for a while, but I'm not sure how long. I didn't realize it wasn't common knowledge, and thought it was primarily the lack of specialization putting people off them.

r12s on live are still 420,210,210

beckylunatic

scathias said:

beckylunatic said:

scathias said:

I had no idea that 3 stat enchants were buffed.

They've been like that for a while, but I'm not sure how long. I didn't realize it wasn't common knowledge, and thought it was primarily the lack of specialization putting people off them.

r12s on live are still 420,210,210

Yeah, apparently I'm wrong about this one.

rgutscheradev

R12 Tristat Enchants: 460/230/230 (up from 420/210/210).
Let the theorycrafting begin!

@scathias, @oldbaldyone: You are right we don't always do a great job of unlocking preview content to make it easily testable. In this case, though, testing these new gems isn't very high on the list of things that need player time -- they are stat gems on existing curves, and aren't likely to benefit much from testing. We'd rather people spend more time with some of the other zone content -- things that are at higher risk of breakage.

Also there's something to be said for "normal" progression too -- if certain things are too hard to get, or it's too hard to progress at certain points, we want that feedback, and it can be concealed by temporary stores that give it out for free (or much cheaper) on playtest. All that said, if you guys see particular things that you feel need more playtesting, and are too hard to get to, let us know -- I'm sure there are cases we've missed!

scathias

rgutscheradev said:

R12 Tristat Enchants: 460/230/230 (up from 420/210/210).
Let the theorycrafting begin!

@scathias, oldbaldyone: You are right we don't always do a great job of unlocking preview content to make it easily testable. In this case, though, testing these new gems isn't very high on the list of things that need player time -- they are stat gems on existing curves, and aren't likely to benefit much from testing. We'd rather people spend more time with some of the other zone content -- things that are at higher risk of breakage.

Also there's something to be said for "normal" progression too -- if certain things are too hard to get, or it's too hard to progress at certain points, we want that feedback, and it can be concealed by temporary stores that give it out for free (or much cheaper) on playtest. All that said, if you guys see particular things that you feel need more playtesting, and are too hard to get to, let us know -- I'm sure there are cases we've missed!

I was more thinking of having the gear unlocked. You are absolutely correct that having r12 enchants in a store wouldn't make much difference. It is reflex now to ask for this stuff though because of very bad experiences we have had when items were not provided (orcus set, warlord's inspiration). many people want to know if the Chill of winter boon is going to be too strong or not, but practically no one is going to finish the boons on preview who will be interested in testing that boon in the environments it will be strongest in (pvp) and how well it balances with classes like SW or CW who have a lot of dot based encounters (and thus seem like they would get far far less use out of the boon). Avalanche took months to fix before and with chill of winter you have tried to head off the issues that avalanche had but i doubt we will find out for sure until a month after this goes live.

Anyways, i think i went off topic

gankdalf

rgutscheradev said:

ejziponken said:

Feedback GIGANTIC ENCHANTMENT:
I think it should have two stats only. The ones with three always feels kinda "meh".

I agree the 3-stat ones have always felt "meh", because they gave the same total as 2-stat, so they were harder to use for no real benefit.

Do people still feel that way now that 3-stat gives more total stats than 2-stat? (Note this change affects all the 3-stats, including existing ones -- not just Giant.)

YES. I still feel the same. Most builds focus on one or two stats and to get them high rather than have three low ones. I would LOVE if you guys could change this enchant to HP+deflect and crit+recovery.

80 more stats is simple not enough and I rather stick with the lower two-stats option. Its really hard to find a build that profits from 3 stats. Like me for instance, Im a CW and I have no use for defense in my high HP/deflect build. I would actually keep using silvery/radiant rather than this 3-stat enchant.

Also I wouldn't mind at all if you changed the old ones too but I can understand that players who spent AD on those could upset if they suddenly changed. But this new one can still be changed in time and I hope thats going to happen. PLS PLS PLS!!!

rgutscheradev

ejziponken said:

I would LOVE if you guys could change this enchant to HP+deflect and crit+recovery.

We have crit + recovery coming on another enchantment that should be available sometime during this module (although not necessarily at launch).

I would like to do HP + Deflect at some point in the not-to-distant future (in fact, I've been wanting it for my Hunter/Ranger on live :P). I don't think it makes sense to change the existing 3-stat into a 2-stat, though. There aren't that many 2-stat combos left, and we shouldn't use them all up at once -- they are a precious resource!

So I'm afraid for this module you'll have to be happy getting one of the 2-stats you want, and be patient for the other to come in the future!

beckylunatic

I was running combinations for 2-stat enchants earlier and if crit/rec is coming, then arpen/rec is the only offensive combo left, and if HP/deflect is conversely not coming, then the crit/rec enchant likely rolls with def/LS.

(Because there really are not that many combinations available without introducing new attributes.)

scathias

beckylunatic said:

I was running combinations for 2-stat enchants earlier and if crit/rec is coming, then arpen/rec is the only offensive combo left, and if HP/deflect is conversely not coming, then the crit/rec enchant likely rolls with def/LS.

(Because there really are not that many combinations available without introducing new attributes.)

def/LS means Defense/lifesteal in this case? since we have a deflect/lifesteal already.

And future enchants could always start combing offense and defense stats into offense slots or defense slots. sacrifice defense ability for offensive ability and vice versa

gankdalf

rgutscheradev said:

ejziponken said:

I would LOVE if you guys could change this enchant to HP+deflect and crit+recovery.

We have crit + recovery coming on another enchantment that should be available sometime during this module (although not necessarily at launch).

I would like to do HP + Deflect at some point in the not-to-distant future (in fact, I've been wanting it for my Hunter/Ranger on live :P). I don't think it makes sense to change the existing 3-stat into a 2-stat, though. There aren't that many 2-stat combos left, and we shouldn't use them all up at once -- they are a precious resource!

So I'm afraid for this module you'll have to be happy getting one of the 2-stats you want, and be patient for the other to come in the future!

You can also look at it this way: Since there is a missing HP+deflect enchant, everyone who uses those stats, are at a disadvantage and being forced to use single enchants and have less total stats than others that already have their two stats combos on one of the already released enchantments like brutal, savage or vicious. You said it yourself, you have been waiting for it.. I know a lot of players that are also waiting....

Counting only my defense slots, I have about 840 stats less than anyone using 2-stats enchants. It would more than double if I also counted the offensive slots if I were focusing on crit/recovery.

So it actually make a lot of sense switching Giant enchantment to 2-stats with the already mentioned stats combos. Why even bother releasing enchants that a very small population wants and will use? I almost never see anyone with Black Ice enchantment or any of the other 3-stats ones..

Holding on the release just to have something later on is NOT okay. You can hold the 3-stats ones and do something better with them later on. Maybe 420+320+220 or something.

There is literally NOTHING that speaks for not changing something players dont want into something they do want and have been waiting for a very long time. Like years. It does not take much to change the stats on the enchantment and we are weeks away from a release.

Unknown

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kalina311

+1

scathias said:

rgutscheradev said:

ejziponken said:

Feedback GIGANTIC ENCHANTMENT:
I think it should have two stats only. The ones with three always feels kinda "meh".

I agree the 3-stat ones have always felt "meh", because they gave the same total as 2-stat, so they were harder to use for no real benefit.

Do people still feel that way now that 3-stat gives more total stats than 2-stat? (Note this change affects all the 3-stats, including existing ones -- not just Giant.)

3 stat enchants at r12 have 460, 230, 230 now

Based on this i would still not use a r12 3 stat over a 2 or single stat because it is still harder to use than it is worth it. the stat spread is just too wide when i would rather have increased stats in a couple specific places. If the 3rd stat is not what i want to focus on then it is a waste

back in mod 5 these 3 stat enchants would have been awesome to help avoid diminishing returns on stat stacking, but now with no caps in place investing in only a couple places is far more effective

sorce

On the subject or armor - introducing another Black Ice reinforcement (aka Mod 3), then this is going to be a no from me. Fine for people with one toon, for the group that play multiple toons this becomes a nightmare to manage - plus still doing all the other dailies and Stronghold things.

Triple/Double Stat Enchants - The sooner you bring out the rest of the double ones the better, Agree with @ejziponken - the triple stat ones need a buff, no one uses them because the stat combinations always have one stat you dont want and the numbers dont boost to the levels needed.

beckylunatic

scathias said:

def/LS means Defense/lifesteal in this case? since we have a deflect/lifesteal already.

Yes, defense and lifesteal.

userutf8

ejziponken said:

rgutscheradev said:

ejziponken said:

Feedback GIGANTIC ENCHANTMENT:
I think it should have two stats only. The ones with three always feels kinda "meh".

I agree the 3-stat ones have always felt "meh", because they gave the same total as 2-stat, so they were harder to use for no real benefit.

Do people still feel that way now that 3-stat gives more total stats than 2-stat? (Note this change affects all the 3-stats, including existing ones -- not just Giant.)

YES. I still feel the same. Most builds focus on one or two stats and to get them high rather than have three low ones. I would LOVE if you guys could change this enchant to HP+deflect and crit+recovery.

80 more stats is simple not enough and I rather stick with the lower two-stats option. Its really hard to find a build that profits from 3 stats. Like me for instance, Im a CW and I have no use for defense in my high HP/deflect build. I would actually keep using silvery/radiant rather than this 3-stat enchant.

Also I wouldn't mind at all if you changed the old ones too but I can understand that players who spent AD on those could upset if they suddenly changed. But this new one can still be changed in time and I hope thats going to happen. PLS PLS PLS!!!

HP + deflect works as well as crit + recovery. Those are at least worth making.

vteasy

agree, it looks like you are going to work in some sort of black ice empowerment, similar to mod 3. That feature was not highly regarded then and think the reception today would be the same. If the empowerment is permanent then by all means move forward with it. If you are determined for empowerment (recharging armor/weapon every couple hours) I would suggest making it so that empowering lets the player chose the stats that will be added to the gear. Would be kinda cool to be able to change stats with empowerment every few days.

and yes to jump on the train, we all want HP/deflect. If you are gonna make 3 stat ones you may want to buff them considerably. maybe have the first 2 stats same as a 2 stat enchantment and have the 3 stat significally reduced. or consider adding (regen/stamina gain/AP gain/Combat advant, etc) as the 3rd (small stat). this is the kinda of thing that would excite veteran players

Unknown

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crizpynutz

rgutscheradev said:

ejziponken said:

I would LOVE if you guys could change this enchant to HP+deflect and crit+recovery.

We have crit + recovery coming on another enchantment that should be available sometime during this module (although not necessarily at launch).

I would like to do HP + Deflect at some point in the not-to-distant future (in fact, I've been wanting it for my Hunter/Ranger on live :P). I don't think it makes sense to change the existing 3-stat into a 2-stat, though. There aren't that many 2-stat combos left, and we shouldn't use them all up at once -- they are a precious resource!

So I'm afraid for this module you'll have to be happy getting one of the 2-stats you want, and be patient for the other to come in the future!

Oh nice, a crit + recov enchant!

Unknown

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silverkelt

AGREED .. + me into that group, no empowerment on armors please.. for the love of everything please. Enough other HAMSTER to do, we dont need this sort of busy work.

qexotic

silverkelt said:

AGREED .. + me into that group, no empowerment on armors please.. for the love of everything please. Enough other **** to do, we dont need this sort of busy work.

Agreed here too. However, my immediate thought is that packs of Ostorian Relics will be made available from the Zen Store so that players don't have to spend play time collecting them. They can just buy them from Cryptic

When Black Ice Armour existed that had to be recharged all the time, I absolutely hated it and was really, really pleased when it disappeared. The idea that it may be returning makes the new Mod unappealing since it is clear that you will need some of the new armour simply to survive in the new areas. If that turns out to be the case, then I may be waving bye bye to NW.

Unknown

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beckylunatic

I don't mind having specific types of damage and resistance. I feel that when done well, it brings a complexity into games that is often lacking in Neverwinter. But, I've managed requirements to be able to increase a variety of resistances in other games by using the smallest items possible to swap out (typically jewelry), or by using buff consumables, or even preparing resistance spells/auras. Really depends on the mechanics available.

The part that's objectionable here is further taxing of inventory space, due to keeping multiple gear sets for different content. The more granular you get with gear that is needed in one place but less good elsewhere, the more sets are needed to be optimal. At worst now: PvP, resistance vs. demonic content, resistance to everfrost, maybe you get your best general stats from a mix of other equipment with no special bonuses, maybe you own a legacy set. We need to be able to pick up hundreds of different types of items in order to not have to stop for inventory management every five minutes, and you constantly want us to haul around even more stuff. People who are completely maxed out on potential available inventory space still have problems, so the issue is not solved by forcing more people to throw money at it (and buying bags should feel like paying for convenience, not paying for the privilege of even being able to play).

The empowerment mechanic, I am also opposed to reintroducing. I'd mostly forgotten it because it was something I honestly mostly ignored, since I tend to take the attitude that if my gear is good enough that I'm not getting killed all the time, I don't need to chase a few stat points, but in principle, I dislike equipment that decays in this manner. But it's probably not a dealbreaker for me because I'm liable to just ignore it and use the base values.

gankdalf

Black ice armor that had to be charged was one of the worst features this game ever had when it comes to gear.
I will never do that again. I dont get why we going back to that again? Was there anyone who actually liked that?.. I doubt it.

Also Im against any gear that has specific resistance for specific zones. Im not doing that either. Even if I wanted to use that, I dont have space even with all runic bags and fully unlocked bank.

I rather see an permanent enchantment item that I can use on my gear for different resistance types. So I can have it all on one gear set. Like a reinforcement kit that can be removed and transferred to any new gear I want in the future. These kits shoulc ofc also STACK with all types of resistance the game has.

Im sorry but these items has to go and never come back. It will severely hurt the Mod10 experience.

darthtzarr

No charged gear please