I know lots of adventurers out there have different opinions and provided feed back on some of the issues on MOD 10 so far here are mine:
The Good:
1. I absolutely love the new zones! The environment, the music, and the surprises. Take for instance Lonelywood, it is very hard to see monsters while running through the forest so you have got to be more cautious otherwise you will have to deal with them. It feels like i'm more immersed in the environment and it feels more like an adventure. Of course some will comment that its the "newness" of the campaign and it will get old eventually, which is possible but I can honestly say that I haven't felt immersed in a zone since I first went to Sharandar...
2. All the work up to the release of Mod 10. Lots of art blogs and explaining how the new content was made. Yeah, yeah, for the hardcore gamer's I know it's not going to effect how the game is played but there are plenty of us DnD fans that like see a module come to life and like reading about how the game is made especially before its actually released. I think Mod 10 had the most blogs prior to release and its a good idea, get people looking forward to the new content. Also, helps players like me get more immersed in the new content.
3. l liked viewing the changes on the preview server worked and being able to accelerate through the content to get to the end of the campaign. Lots of Feedback posts were created to inform and help shape Mod 10. There was lots of programmers on Cryptic's end providing the structure/reasons for changes we were seeing and letting us see those changes first hand. Then on the other side there were the gamers/testers providing our point of view on these changes. There was lots of good input on both sides which is more than we had in the past when big changes were around the corner. Good work to the people providing constructive feedback and thank you Cryptic for listening to that feedback.
4. Almost forgot one of my favorites so far, umm beside the scenery, being able to stack ID scrolls to 999, OMG, yes more of this please. Absolutely love this change it should be considered for all VIP items, i.e. bound keys......
The Bad:
1.
http://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter/#/discussion/1221259/a-story-of-boots. This reminds of how painful it was to get the gloves when black ice first came out, I didn't like it then and I don't like it now. I personally think there is to much RNG in this game and there is no real way to earn some stuff either through gameplay, auction house, or zen market.
To hammer my point home, it will soon be 1 year since underdark and the +5 ring were released, my mate and I have yet to see a single +5 ring, and when it does happen, its probably not going to be a bad or not very useful ring. We are not casual gamers (well she is casual compared to me) and between us we have 7 sets of the twisted weapons, just to give you an idea on the minimum time we have run Demogorgon. The move to make +4 rings better was a big up check but the fact remains the +5 rings are not attainable through any other means other than RnG.
What is your time expectation for us to actually achieve getting BiS gear through RnG? In theory for everyone 1 player that gets that +5 or legendary item the first time they can there is another player out there that will never see that item drop in the games lifetime because of RnG. For the love of gaming, Cryptic, please give a us a way to "earn" this gear, I don't think the gamers are asking for it to be easy to get this gear, just another avenue for us to get it other than RnG.
2.
http://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter/#/discussion/1221143/remove-the-ef-resist-requirement-from-fbi. Ohh, umm empowerment, none really liked this when IWD was released and people don't like it now. Personally, I don't mind the idea of empowerment gear I just think your backwards on how it should work. IMHO, it should not drain as fast if used in Byrn Shandar, Lonelywood, and Cold Run, and should not drain at all if used in FBI.
The everfrost (EF) mechanic should be an environmental mechanic that when the player without EF gear gets hit with takes significantly more damage and this damage is increased as they get closer to the source of the power i.e. the Ring of Frost and FBI. If the player has EF gear and takes EF damage that damage is then converted by the gear and instead damaging them empowers the gear. The empowerment would be buff (not continuous buff and the strength dependent EF damage converted) and would hinge on ability usage and lets just say that extra power would increase dps, increase defense, or increase healing, kinda like a power pack that enhances your abilities . If the gear was used somewhere other than IWD and specifically the new zones, then it would decay.
The Ugly:
1. I think along with the artwork blogs I would request some more Lore/Storytelling blogs. Take for example the EF mechanic that you introduced (i like this). The gamers have no real back story on it. Maybe it is an arbitrary damage mechanic you the game markers came up with to make this campaign relevant, not a problem. But the gamer's groan because its seem like another thing we have to grindout to get into the new dungeon for no other reason that that is what you the game makers decided. To ease that pain and make it a little more immersive, maybe come with a great story line of why we have EF damage in the first place.
Here's how as a GM I would spin EF damage: The main goal of the story is to stop the frost giant's from activating the ring of power. The first thing we got to figure out is what exactly is going on in IWD. What we know is that the giants have the ring and need to activate it. In the process of activating the giants unlock the ring it in phases.
1st phase, monster in IWD are now empowered, there abilities are stronger and they do more damage and can take more damage (Bryn Shander, Lonelywood, Cold Run, and FBI monsters).
2nd phase, the environment get much colder the closer to the source the player's get and will actually get a DoT and debuff that gets more damaging the closer to the source they are. The ten town people figure out how to overcome EF but need ingredients to build the players the gear they need to mitigated (potions, boon....) and overcome and re-purpose the EF mechanic in the players favor (EF gear). A small DoT and debuff (let the gamer's figure this out) get added as soon as players make it to Cold Run, and the DoT and debuff as players progress through FBI to the point that without a way to mitigate the damage they will eventually be killed by its effects.
Because this gear is dependent on EF mechanic, it will not decay as much or not at all in regions were EF exits. The gear will decay in area's were EF doesn't exist and in fact will be less effective if not used in these environments. Now, the players have reasons to get and use this gear and it also makes them more effective while using this gear in the proper environment and wont decay as fast....
2. Let the gamers figure out some of the mechanics. What I mean by this is coming up with an arbitrary number (EF resistance) to enter FBI is boring. Let us figure out how EF works as we close in on the source (Ring of Winter and the frost giants activating it), some people like figuring stuff like this out, i'm one btw. As soon as FBI is accessible let us go there with our tarnished but well used Mod 5 gear (i have some of this gear) and watch and listen as we die trying to figure out what is going on.
Yep, I would become a little frustrated to have to get and use different gear but at the end of the day I would figure it out. I would enjoy the process of figuring this out a whole lot more than looking at the 28 percent EF resistance requirement to even enter the new zone. The 28 percent is even more frustrating to consider when there are players saying they can run this zone on the preview server without a concern for EF requirements or the mechanic.
The only problem I would have with getting new gear at the end of the day is the fact that now I have a 4th set of gear in my inventory. The 4th set is not really the problem either, its not desirable to lose the inventory space, but the fact that to be effective i have to swap my enchants every time i swap my gear to achieve maximum optimization of my character. I don't like doing this, not because of the gold it cost to swap, but the ineffectiveness of the whole process (time sink) and also it leaves me open to accidentally destroying a high level enchantment, I have done this once in a bonding rune swap.... If it was easier to swap enchants the requirement to have a 4th set of gear wouldn't even bother me.
@strumslinger @asterdahl @commanderander just some idea's to be considered.
Gaming community what do you think?
Thanks for reading.
Comments
So, from my perspective - Mod 10 has been a grind too far.
The experience of difficulty was relative to the group you traveled with, similar to the way it is now.
Here's my take on the "old" dungeons and their difficulty: If I went into a dungeon with my core group it didn't matter which one we did because they all were terribly easy. Some times we would go into Epic DV just to knock the weekly out and we had a person in our group that did not have the Epic DV achievement, we never had any problems with getting it one and done. With that said we normally did CN because because it gave us the best RoI for our time. If I wanted a real challenge (and I did this quire often), I would pug epic DV, now that was difficult, you never knew what you would get in the pug and epic DV was the "hardest" dungeon to pug IMHO.
The content we have now is very similar as far a difficulty in relation to the old dungeons. In my core groups we breeze through all the content. When I pug it doesn't always meet with success. However, there is one dungeon I will not pug, not because of difficulty but because of coordination and a pug group doesn't always offer good coordination. Ohh, the dungeon is eGWD.
Back on topic.
I have no problem with EF requirements and a new armor set. Getting new armor in this game is relatively easy when compared to other MMO's, where DKP determines wither or not you get an item from a Boss mob if it drops, so the new armor thing is moot. It's going to happen when content gets updated (this is the nature of the MMO beast), new better gear will always be introduced.
For instance, in this game most of the current mod's allowed you to buy the armor with campaign currency (which I like and think was pretty smart), but for some reason we go all the way back to mod 3 with how black ice armor was obtained.
I'm not a fan.
It literately almost took me 2 months to get the gloves to drop, absolutely was p.o.'d by the whole process. I pvped a lot back then and the black ice set was actually not bad, and for once I could PVE/PVP with that same set and still be competitive (not top spectrum but competitive). So, basically I only had one set of armor to maintain for both PVP and PVE, yeah the degrade sucked but i spent a lot of time in IWD so harvesting black ice was not a problem.
Fast forward 7 mods and now I have 4 sets of armor to maintain (to be optimized in the different zones). I can not put high level enchants in them all, to expensive, but swapping enchants to other gear is painful and leaves you open to accidentally destroying those high level enchants. So, I just leave the enchants in the gear I use mainly and gimp (this is a retaliative term because i understand that i can get away without the optimized gear and still succeed) myself going into the other zones.
I know i'm reaching for the moon here but would love for a different more efficient way to swap my enchants but I know that is not going to happening any time soon or at all. We're allowed to dream right, that the point of having a feedback thread is it not???
Adding to the Ugly list:
There was missed opportunity to do small upgrade to the crafting system by incorporating them into the new content. I think using Tailoring, Platesmithing, Leatherworking, and Mailsmithing with similar requirements as crafting unified elements would go a long way to help ease some of the grind associated with this mod plus breathe some new life in the non masterwork craftsmen.
If the Unified Element process was used in the above professions in obtaining the new crafting components (lanolin, animal fat... etc) of the new campaign it would have helped out a lot with the grindiness of the new campaign.
I think upgrading at least 1 crafting component per Mod is not asking for to much. The alchemist is probably the most relevant crafter (not including master craftsmen because those are pain to get and leadership once you get above lvl 20) and its because it's needed to upgrade gear through elemental empowerment. They could have went the same route with the above mentioned craftsmen and saved on some of the groaning they have within the gaming community now.
IMHO, if something like this was available I would say that Cryptic wouldn't have to make the crafters automatically update with the new recipes (they are trying to make a living on a FTP game after all), instead make the recipes available in 3 places: 1.) The campaign store 2.) Trade bar merchant (reasonable price) 3.) Zen market, bundle the recipes with something else and at reasonable price (<2500 for all craftsmen recipe upgrades).
Also the armor itself doesn't seem to have better stats than what already existed so other than to get into a new dungeon it really seemed like there was no point.
You're supposed to be playing it, HAVE FUN and support the devs and publisher for taking it steps further and give you more fun.
You get rewarded with a fun game, the teams behind it get rewarded with $$ and keep working on the game.
That's how the system is supposed to be working.
Since the introduction of Elemental Evil, things have been going downhill FUN wise, with the exception of some tweaks a few months ago (on EE campaign quest rotation and mindless grinding).
MOD 10 is the same grind as MOD 6 minus trash mobs hitting like ten ton hammers.
Then come the 10.5 paywalls in progression, key changes and the game is slowly turning into a pay to progress model, under the table.
I understand there needs to be some balance between investing time / money to progress but they're kinda making it near impossible with the time needed on the new stuff, if you want to grind it out that is.
Add the VIP / Trade bar store coal ward removal, and you just can't think of spending another dime to support these people cuz you can never know what else they will remove from services you've already bought and payed for.
Good thing I've never spent real $$ for the VIP I had bought so far, I'd be furious.
Can't wait to see what MOD 11 will be...
--
I'll never retrace my steps.
Some of my best friends are Imaginary.