Noobie Help: Quick List of Stuff I wish I knew before I learned the Hard Way

heethin · January 2015

DISCLAIMER: This list is way biggerer than I expected, but I got a lot of help and it has blossomed. You may need to be familiar with *some* Neverwinter jargon. I recommend a touch of time in game... follow the quest paths, get to maybe level 8 and then come back. You won't have done irreparable damage to your character. If things go well, come back a few times as you gain experience and things that made no sense to you early on will start to have more meaning. Good luck. If you feel something is missing or confusing, I'd be delighted to clarify.

GENERAL

A good intro from the early days and another.
PC - Need in-game help? Use the unofficial chat channel, type "/channel_join NW_Newbie"
PC - There is a chat channel dedicated to players who don't use exploits or cheats. Join via "/channel_join NW_Legit_Community"
On Identification:Only use scrolls to identify gear (and sell it) to the point where you can get your first mount for 5gp. (If you pay Zen for a mount, then there is no reason to hoard gold by identifying and selling gear.)
On Identification:After that, don't ID anything green your characters can't use. Exception: Refinement of Artifact Gear begins at level 60.
On Identification:Equipment that is "Recommended" is not always better. The game uses a simple sum of statistics and it fails to include key aspects in the calculation.
On Identification:Understand how trade-able an item is before you get it.
"BoP" = Bind on Pickup. As soon as your character touches it, it's staying with them until you sell (not trade), use, salvage, or discard it.
"BoE" = Bind on Equip. Trade-able. Anything on the Auction House is BoE. You can get it, pass it between your characters or resell it, up to when your character wears or uses some aspect of it.
"BtA" = Bind to Account. You can't put it on the Auction House, but you can move it between your characters.
Also - The Devs have goofed a few times during special events by mislabeling BoP companions as BoE. People have been "burnt." Before you spend hours grinding for a companion, take a few seconds to search the interwebs for related news.
On Inventory:Don't skip the quests in Blacklake District or Neverdeath Graveyard, they give you free bags.
On Inventory:Dragon Cult 20-slot bags have often been a better buy on the AH than the Bags of Holding from the Zen Store.
On Inventory:Bags you buy are NOT transferable between your characters, and they may bind immediately, and without warning, if you have an open bag slot.
On Inventory:The bag from the Dragonborn pack can be claimed on all characters.
On Inventory:Do not buy a Bag of Holes.
On Inventory:An item is Recommended when it has a gold glow around the icon in your inventory.
On Inventory:Shiny purple enticing lockboxes drop during battles and may have prizes inside. You may purchase keys to open them (usually about 100 Zen (~50 kAD) per key/lockbox). I can't speak to how good the lockbox loot is. I can say that it is perfectly OK to discard the lockboxes, if you choose not to buy the Zen keys. I have one slot in my bag dedicated to them. Eventually, when the game offers a new style, I discard the old pile. Some lockboxes have become quite valuable when held long enough for them to become rare.
The Monies:Don't buy Zen through Steam, use Arc.
The Monies:Don't use Astral Diamonds to buy from the in-game vendors if you haven't first compared prices on the Auction House. If an item is on the AH, it is probably cheaper than the game's built-in vendors like the "Wondrous Bizarre."
The Monies:Don't buy anything in AD that you can buy in Gold. Gold is only valuable at the beginning of the game, the most exciting things will be bought with Zen or Astral Diamonds. At level 60, you will have more Gold than you know how to spend.
The Monies:The seals (from Bounty Hunters) in each zone are not valuable, they get you equipment that would be good for a character who hasn't completed the tasks needed to earn the equipment.
The Monies:Send Gold to your other characters using the Bank in Protector's Enclave. Open your Bank window. At the bottom of the pop-up, there are fields to deposit and withdraw Gold.
The Monies:Pass Astral Diamonds between characters using the Astral Diamond Exchange (on the Gateway, the tab with the symbol for Zen and Diamonds). On the character with AD, create an offer to Buy Zen at a price of 50 AD each. Then, with the "Listings" tab, cancel the offer. On the needy character, in the "Buy Zen" tab, click the "Withdraw" button.
The Monies:Lockboxes often come with a special currency, Tarmalune Trade Bars, which can be exchanged for additional items. This is a Bind-on-Pickup currency and, therefore, is unlike other items in the lockboxes which are usually Bind-on-Equip or account-bound. Therefore, if you wish to purchase items with the Tarmalune Trade Bars for a character, it is advisable that you open your lockboxes with that character.
PC - The Gateway:Visit the Gateway (It is not available for XBox players). Try the Sword Coast Adventures when they become available to your character (requires level 10? and a companion). You will get a free dog companion.
PC - The Gateway:With the Sword Coast Adventures, every day, every character can get free stuff... not big stuff, but stuff.
PC - The Gateway:From the Gateway, you can interact with your inventory. So, when your inventory gets full, you don't need to visit a merchant. (Therefore, don’t choose the Artifact “Aurora’s Whole Realms Catalog” *solely* for the easy access to a merchant.)
On Teaming:You don't have to do any of the team dungeons or skirmishes as you level, though you may miss a title. Some of the gear you win is good respective to the level.
On Teaming:Please take a moment to understand dungeon etiquette.
On Teaming:Your character's class has an effect on how quickly you can queue for Dungeons. For example, GFs queue quickly. HRs don't.
To get items out of the mail, you must go to a mail carrier or box. There are a few in Protector's Enclave (one near the main entrance, Coriol Street Gate), but they are rarely in other zones.
Mimics are treasure chests that attack when you open them. To identify a mimic before it attacks, hover your cursor over all chests. If there is an olive-green money bag at your pointer, it's a treasure chest. If it has nothing, the chest is a mimic and will attack you if you activate it.
You may find that you have no quests. (This is likely if you are questing with someone else.) Try building experience with Skirmishes, Dungeons, Invoking and Foundry quests. When you gain a level, check back with Knox. He will eventually give you something to do.
You can use a companion before one is given to you by the game at level 16. They often sell cheap on the AH.
Save your coalescent and preservation wards.
It takes about 40-60 hours to get to level 60, another 15 to get to 70. Leveling up is mostly linear… it does not take much longer between levels as you increase.
When a chest requires a key, you can keep the key if you decline the reward... a nice option if you don't get the desired loot and don't want to pay for another key.
Finished all of your quests and want to go back to the questgiver(s) at a recent camp fire? Try changing the map instance (see bottom right of your map window) which places you at the closest campfire.... Or...
PC - There is a set of foundry quests under NWS-DCBUN62WF which can be used to get you back to Protector's Enclave from some of the most far off places in each adventure zone.
PC - Here's how to test your build and preview new releases via the preview server.
PC - Here is a list of dungeons which were removed temporarily with Mod 6. You may still get their quests, but they are not completable.
PC - Dailies - You can get and turn Rhix Dailies in PE to turn in and get skirmish, foundry, and dungeon quests by pressing "L". In the lower left is a button that brings up Rhix's quest dialog.
Xbox - There's no foundry for Xbox.

LEVEL 10 - Heroic Feats and Paragon Paths. Want to follow a Build?

At level 10, you get the option to personalize your character with Heroic Feats and, later, you can choose a paragon path. Below are some well known builds. I don't have one for all classes, and I have not tried them all, I simply see these recommended frequently. I don't claim these are current, or what you want... but they are good places to start. (Recommendations are Welcome.)
Kaelac's Guide to Devoted Clerics
Ironzerg's Guide to Control Wizards
Azrael's Guide to Guardian Fighters
KatoZee's Hunter Ranger Trapper Build
Vell Crowe's Soulbinder Damnation Build

LEVEL 10 - Professions

Most professions offer more character development ("I imagine my character is good with leather..") than booty. To get lots of AD, they must be Worked and require considerable start-up costs.
Leadership is the exception. It is the easiest profession to get value out of, but it takes a long time (4 months?) to get to level 20 where that value really kicks in. Other professions must be used to unlock slots.
Another exception (somewhat) is Jewelcrafting. It offers BiS Personalized Gear which can't be obtained any other way than through the profession. There's some decent instruction here on how to do it.
Alchemy is an easy profession to get a tier 3 result and unlock an extra slot. This is because the rare tasks that can give tier 3 results are much earlier in the Alchemy than with others. Though progressing in Alchemy is subject to RNG, if you don't have all of your slots open, it's probably the fastest to get to level 20. (If you have AD... you can buy a lot of the resources that are used for experimentation and steamroll Alchemy).
Artificing is quick to level up, so it is useful for unlocking slots, too. Its 800 XP "Deep Wilderness Gathering" is 6 hours compared to others' 8 hours and its purple, rank 3 people are usually cheap.
For Profession Assets: Study the auction house for a while to find cheap assets. It can be cheaper to buy 4 greens and upgrade to 1 blue than purchase a blue asset; ditto for 4 blues to 1 purple conversion.
If there is a current or new lockbox with a profession box as a potential drop, a Zen store sale on profession boxes, or some event that has a BoE drop of something profession-related, assets will be cheaper. Watch for them, as people will open them hoping for something specific, and then unload the things they don't want and keep undercutting each other. In these cases, things are usually cheapest over the weekend.
Corollary: if something new comes out in professions, (like jewel-crafting) that shares an asset with the profession, the prices will sky-rocket for it, and probably be highest over the weekend.
For a task that can utilize more than one asset, the Optional slots can be filled with any asset for that profession.

LEVEL 10 - PVP

PVP can be frustrating if you aren't aware that it can be loaded with people who are spending money or who have high level characters supplementing low level alt's.

LEVEL 11

Pray (Invoke your God) frequently, with Ctrl+I at the camp fires once it becomes available. It is necessary to have first completed all of the Blacklake District's quests, and you'll need to complete a quest for invoking from Sgt. Knox.

LEVEL 15 - Enchantment/Refinement

Don't refine enchantments after you've tried it and learned how. (Here's why.) After that, sell enchantments or use them. It is cheaper to buy a higher level on the AH than it is to refine. You probably won't have the option to buy upper level Artifacts (available level 20ish), so refining Artifacts is a good use for Enchantments you don't wear.
Before you get to 60, your gear will change often. Getting the 'right' enchantment for your build will be fairly meaningless. Radiant (yellow) enchants are a great bet, they offer power or hit points which are always useful.
My preference for early gaming is Azure (blue) enchants in Utility slots for experience gain. If you can get Dragon Hoard Enchantments... they are *vital* for the artifact refinement boosts they drop. PVPers might want Dark (magenta) for movement.
Before level 60, Rank 5s are a good target, but not required for PVE. For early PVP, Rank 5s are a pretty decent balance between cost and power. Of course, they may not put you on par with the most dedicated PVPers.
Your native success rate for creating a weapon or armor enchantment from an enchantment shard is 1%. Yes, 1%. <<=== why you should save Coalescent Wards.

LEVEL 16 - Companions

At level 16, a quest gives you a free companion. The Apprentice Healer is the only free healer you can get. Even if you only use him between battles, the savings in healing potions is excellent. PS. He is saying, "I have one word for you... *Leeches*."
You cannot have more than one of a particular type of Companion active. To clarify, two Strikers (style of companion that does damage) are OK... Two Sellswords (one type of the Striker genre) are not allowed to be active.
On XBox, Augment Companions are widely regarded as the most important to have... on PC, that suggestion is contestable. See the discussion started by Ironzerg on this reddit thread.
If you get an augment companion you may be surprised to see that the Gear Score reported in your character sheet does not change. However, the individual statistics that your augment supplies will change.
It has been noticed that the stats for "3 stat enchants" (Black Ice and Draconic, for example) do not show in your companion's stat sheet. When using a bonding or eldritch runestone, or an augment, they do show up in your character's stat sheet, though it may be necessary to dismiss and re-summon to see it.
Only a SUMMONED Augment companion will give you its full stats. If you have more augments in your stable, you will only get their active bonus.
If you have a Jewel (from Jewelcrafting) that increases the Regen/AP/Stamina stats for the equipment you have on an augment companion, the Regen Jewel does get reflected in your character stats but the AP or Stamina increases do not. My uninformed opinion is that is an oversite and it may get fixed... it's easy enough to test ... but fair warning before you blow your AD.
It is usually cheaper to buy Purple companions outright than to upgrade a lesser to purple.
Before buying a companion, is it the one that you want? Learn about companions' active bonuses.
At low levels, the companions with straight stat bonuses (such as "Armored Orc Wolf, +100/190/300 Critical Strike") may have appeal, but as your performance increases, you will get greater benefit from those with percentage adjustments (such as "Blink Dog, +2/3/5% Combat Advantage Damage").
Your companion gear slots are not level restricted! Put max level gear on them for best results. How about these?

LEVEL 20

You get a free token for a temporary/rental mount at level 20. You probably don't have enough gold to buy a mount outright. Use the rental mount. Probably, by the time its timer is up, you will have the Gold. When you have the Gold, use it to buy a mount. There's no better use for it.
If you decide you want a non-standard mount, strongly consider buying a Purple Mount with Zen. It will be available to all your current and future characters. Upgrading Mounts is not cost-effective, mounts on the AH are Bind on Equip (BoE) and not available to more than one character.
For the “Artifact Recovery” quest in Cragmire Barrow, you get to choose between 3 very powerful artifacts. [Reiterating for PC...] The Aurora’s Whole Realms Catalogue is cool, because it opens up a Merchant wherever you are. HOWEVER, before you choose the Catalogue for its Merchant function, remember that you can sell items in your inventory from the Gateway at any time.

LEVEL 60

Look into buying high powered Blue gear on the AH.
XBox - Here are some tips on how to prepare for Module 6 (due in September).
XBox - When you are level 60, you will want to start paying attention to the possibility that you've overloaded on a stat. ie, HR can easily have too much Armor Penetration for PVE.
Xbox - Look into Armor Sets (4 similarly styled pieces with a bonus for wearing a set). Understand how to grind for them, purchase them.
PC - Get 2 characters to 60 and do the The Vault of the Nine quest is (not available on XBox). Bring a friend though... it's intended for level 70 toons. The artifact that you win can be used by all of your characters at the same time (for your other characters, pick them up from the Reward Claims agent). These arties cannot be used to refine other arties, their only downside.
PC - From Level 60 to Level 70, you will get to play along with Minsc and Boo. If you do, you will also get to adventure in these zones: Drowned Shore, Reclamation Rock, the Fiery Pit, and Spinward Rising. In each zone you will be asked to perform 16 Vigilance tasks in each of 3 areas.... so 4 zones x 16 tasks x 3 areas... and you can perform more Vigilance tasks than that. You do not win much from the first three zones, and you do not need to do all of the Vigilance tasks. Spinward, however, is different. Starting at level 65(?... there abouts), do all 48 of its vigilance tasks to get a free artifact mainhand. You can also skip Spinward, if you have enough progress in the Tyranny of Dragons campaign for the "Dragonforged Artifact" task.
PC - Any Vigilance task can randomly give Unified Elements and Elemental Aggregates. You can check for this when you are picking up the tasks. Rewards reset every hour.
PC - Recommendations for what to do once you get to 60, until you can get to Spinward. Highest Priority First...

LEVEL 70 - PC-Only Campaigns

Most people who are not yet at level 70 find these campaign areas... daunting. I'd recommend you level up to 70 or bring good help before adventuring in them.
In the Dread Ring, make quick progress on the boons by focusing on the dungeon lair quests (Death Forge, Phantasmal Fortress, Dread Spire). You don't need to do the other dailies every day. Also, you can lessen your grind with Priceless Thayan Antiquities or Thayan Relic Fragments, which you may be able to find on the AH or get them from Unearthed Lockboxes or Rusted Iron Lockboxes. Turning these in will reward you with enough campaign loot to get to your first few boons in no time.
In the Death Forge, you can prevent some of the Adds from joining the fight by interacting with the Soul Batteries / Caskets that she spawns.
You can buy the first two Sharandar Boons (buy Fomorian Concoctions on the AH, use them at the Sharandar Merchant to turn them into Gold Crescents), and have them almost immediately, but doing so does not reduce the time that it takes to get to the rest of the boons.
You can use the Barbarian relics stockpiled by one toon to make Ice Wind Dale easier on other toons, meaning you can just do the daily (Needless Distractions) and be done. 20 relics give ample supply to pay for the boons and black ice shaping. You will still need to chase a bit for the 300 black ice, but it's not too bad.

... Thanks to my guildies and the Neveredditors for their help on this.

And thanks in advance for your ideas.
--heethin

zazaaji · January 2015

heethin wrote: »

GENERAL
Here's a good introduction from the early days of the game: http://www.reddit.com/r/Neverwinter/...s_have_joined/

You messed up the link, it's trying to redirect to a url with the "..." in it, which is messing it up. I'm guessing you mean to link to: http://www.reddit.com/r/Neverwinter/comments/1e42r7/i_just_started_playing_and_my_friends_have_joined/ (Try clicking yours and clicking mine, yours goes to a dead link, mine works).

PS - Thanks for the info. I'm new to the game and this all seems useful.

Also - About the gateway - you should point out that you need a companion just to start the Storm Coast Adventures. It won't let me start without one.

EDIT: I see you made note of those two points now. Thanks

wimpazoid · January 2015

Have a friend just getting started, will link him here for a read. Good job.

ixalmaris · January 2015

Finished all of your quest and want to go back to the questgiver(s) which are conveniently located next to a camp fire? Instead of having to run through a mob infested zone you can simply change the map instance which places you at the closest campfire.

rashylewizz · January 2015

These are really good tips that you don't really learn from anywhere

blackjackwidow · January 2015

Nice - here's a couple that I think are helpful.

While leveling, ID blue items only, unless you're going to use a green drop. Sell everything you can't use, sell the green ones without identifying.

Once you're level 60 with an artifact weapon, you can id all the level 60 drops to help refine your weapon. (my opinion - it is not worth buying id scrolls to id green items to refine an artifact weapon, except maybe if it's a main-hand weapon which will give you a double bonus. But, if you've got tons of id scrolls, might as well use them.)

Alchemy is the easiest profession to get a tier 3 result and unlock an extra slot. This is because the rare tasks that can give tier 3 results are much earlier in the profession than with others.

For Profession Assets: Watch the auction house - daily for at least a couple weeks - to find cheaper assets. It can be cheaper to buy 4 greens and upgrade to 1 blue than purchase a blue asset; ditto for 4 blues to 1 purple conversion. If there is a current or new lockbox with a profession box as a potential drop, a Zen store sale on profession boxes, or some event that has a BoE drop of something profession-related, assets will be cheaper. Watch for them, as people will open them hoping for something specific, and then unload the things they don't want and keep undercutting each other. In these cases, things are usually cheapest over the weekend.

Corollary: if something new comes out in professions, (like jewel-crafting) that shares an asset with the profession, the prices will sky-rocket for it, and probably be highest over the weekend. Remember, you don't have to use the main asset in the optional slots.

Once you have the assets and have unlocked the slot, you can mail them to alts to use for the same thing, or sell them back on the AH. Many times you can make a profit by patience - buy 8 blue 'workers' over time (for any profession, just make sure they're all for the same one). Upgrade them to 2 purple workers, run a 'gather X' task using them both for a 100% speed gain, then sell the 2 purples on the AH for a tidy profit.

Use your celestial coins to buy the campaign treasures chest every 6 days. They stack, so only open them once you hit a point where you need more currency for either Dread Ring or Sharandar. Also, you can buy Fomorian Concoctions for Sharandar and Onyx Fragments for Dread Ring very cheaply on the AH (Auction House). Turn them in to the bounty hunter in the area to buy the campaign currencies.

jorifice1 · January 2015

This needs a Sticky.
Seriously.
And an In Game note to check it out on a First Character.
It would save many people much frustration.

My own little addition to your List would be to treat your entire first 0-60 Playthrough as one big extended Tutorial. Don't get too attached and don't get to disappointed if they turn out poorly. Don't invest anything into them and, after you hit 60, start a whole new Character and transfer over everything that you can. Repeat as often as necessary in order to find that one Character that just really "Clicks" for you. And if it turns out to be your First, after all, then at least you now have some Mules and a future A.D. Generating Leadership Army. Maybe some day you could play them enough to get all of the Class Artifacts from Icewind Dale.

heethin · January 2015

Veryyyyy nice input, all. Thanks.

Unknown · January 2015

This content has been removed.

rhoriangelus · January 2015

Don't forget the two free arc codes, one of which gives you an account-wide green companion - fbyjHBUe and PD9CcZ0Z

henry404 · January 2015

Well, I never knew that about the mimics. Nice one. Mind you, I know where most of them are now and, tbh, I like opening them anyway because they make me laugh even though they have killed me more than once when levelling. The game needs more surprises like that, more undetectable mobs, more patrolling mobs, a few random traps and mimics. Stuff to keep us on our toes.

azahron · January 2015

Definitely a great list of tips! I've learned many of them the hard way over time. xD

phrendon · January 2015

Can someone explain the character rolls? What you are shooting for for each class and/or race? How do you know you have a bad roll and need to re roll? This is invaluable info.

bashteros1234 · January 2015

Great tips - I would mention the importance of the ability roll of your character, because it's very expensive to change it afterwards (my main is still a cw with few cha and much wis). Not really game-breaking (because leveling only take few days) but annoying for people who realise it with lvl 60.

heethin · January 2015

To:

Can someone explain the character rolls? What you are shooting for for each class and/or race? How do you know you have a bad roll and need to re roll? This is invaluable info.

My opinion is that you should invite yourself to screw up ... try the character that is most interesting to you. Neverwinter is a very forgiving game, and you can either have a great time regardless of your character or you can work to improve the character... or after you learn a few tricks, you can start fresh. It really doesn't take that long to level back up to 60 once you've done it. Because you know the tricks, you've explored ... been there done that... leveling the second time is probably half (or better) as long as the first time.
****************
On:

Great tips - I would mention the importance of the ability roll of your character, because it's very expensive to change it afterwards (my main is still a cw with few cha and much wis). Not really game-breaking (because leveling only take few days) but annoying for people who realise it with lvl 60.

I agree totally. I don't think that this is the best place for a discussion on the ability rolls... first off cause, after all this time, I don't feel confident that I know how to prescribe a good one, given all of the play styles and flexibility in the game. And secondly, I think I'll leave class specific recommendations to the people who have put time into optimizing their characters. I've got a GF that I'm pretty happy with and a HR that I love but that I'd probably do differently, (but I'm not sure yet how) if I were to start over.

heethin · January 2015

The game needs more surprises like that, more undetectable mobs, more patrolling mobs, a few random traps and mimics. Stuff to keep us on our toes.

I like your attitude. Honestly, until the dungeons around the Well of Dragons (and the mimics), I didn't think the traps were worth even having in the game, when they went off they had such little effect... more of a nuisance than anything else. If they are going to be in the game, give them some punch.

heethin · January 2015

Use your celestial coins to buy the campaign treasures chest every 6 days. They stack, so only open them once you hit a point where you need more currency for either Dread Ring or Sharandar. Also, you can buy Fomorian Concoctions for Sharandar and Onyx Fragments for Dread Ring very cheaply on the AH (Auction House). Turn them in to the bounty hunter in the area to buy the campaign currencies.

That's interesting advice... first time I've heard it, to be honest. Can you elaborate a little more? My approach has been to go the full 7 days as it has presented me with (rarely, yes) Preservation and (more rarelier) Coalescent Wards, in addition to the normal enchantments or refinement goodies.

blackjackwidow · January 2015

heethin wrote: »

That's interesting advice... first time I've heard it, to be honest. Can you elaborate a little more? My approach has been to go the full 7 days as it has presented me with (rarely, yes) Preservation and (more rarelier) Coalescent Wards, in addition to the normal enchantments or refinement goodies.

When you open the Cache of Campaign Treasures you can choose either the Cache of Sharandar treasures (30 Feywild Sparks) or Cache of Dread Ring Treasures (30 Thayan Scrolls & 1 Thayan Cipher). Each is contained in its own chest that also stacks. It greatly helps reduce the grinding to get the sparks and ciphers needed to unlock the campaign tasks.

Once the campaigns are done, I switch to the Coffer of Wondrous Augmentation, but to me, the 100% percent chance to help with getting your boons far outweighs the 1% (-ish?) chance of getting any preservation wards. Plus, you don't need the wards as badly as you need to unlock the campaigns. (my opinion of course)

henry404 · January 2015

Assuming you occasionally do a few of the Dread Ring "side quests" the limiting factor on those boons are the Ciphers and you can only get one each day for doing the lair (Death Forge etc). So every 6 invoking days can save you one day towards your boons. On balance I prefer to wait for the chance at a coal ward though. It probably helps that I still really enjoy the Dread Ring.

One of the other currencies can also be obtained from the rewards guy who accepts Onyx in return. The interesting thing about Onyx (and many other reward drops) is that they are not bound so you can mail unused stuff from one toon to another (or even to/from a friend/guildie).

heethin · January 2015

Yah. I like your logic to getting the Campaign Treasures. I'll add that. Thanks.

sylveri0n · January 2015

heethin wrote: »

Yah. I like your logic to getting the Campaign Treasures. I'll add that. Thanks.

Yeah I do the campain treasures too, but I only focus on the Sharandar ones. I've leveled 5 guys through the campains and it always seems that I am done with DR and IWD way before Sharandar just because of those blue spark things.

f2pma · January 2015

give this guy a medal

awsome guide

ironzerg79 · January 2015

You don't have to do any of the dungeons or skirmishes as you are leveling.

There's unique titles for completing an adventure zone, including the main quests, the dungeon and the skirmish. If you skip a skirmish while leveling, you miss the chance to get the title until a CtA comes around with that skirmish. Personally, I wouldn't skip any skirmishes while leveling if you're big on titles.

heethin · January 2015

Personally, I wouldn't skip any skirmishes while leveling if you're big on titles.

That's worth mentioning, thanks, Zerg.

Keep 'em coming!

kvet · January 2015

heethin wrote: »

(Opinion) If you are playing with other people, it is not usually in your team's best interest if you use powers which scatter your enemies. This is because Area of Effect powers lose their value if opponents are spread out.

THIS. 100x This. I want to punch every CW that runs in and drops Ice Storm and blows all the mobs in all directions. It prevents me (a CW) from using Steal Time and Shard effectively, and it instant takes all melee toons out of the fight. Ice Storm is useful in SOLO play only, you shouldn't even have it slotted if you're playing cooperatively.

Anyway -- this is a really good list. Thanks

heethin · January 2015

Thanks, kvet. I updated that section a bit, cause I agree with you... I know that there are cases where they are useful, but it's astonishing the number of times (even in level 60 pugs) where people use knockbacks indiscriminately. My fault for trying PuGs I guess... *shrug* they're convenient.

On the one hand, users could be ignorant. But, when I make mention of it at the beginning of a run, and they still do it, there's a part of me which thinks they are intentionally reducing the team DPS so they get a greater chance at "Paingiver"... (my little conspiracy theory of the day).... I'd be shocked if that worked, but who knows what's going on in people's heads.

Anyway, there are threads and threads discussing the pros/cons of knockbacks. I wouldn't chose to turn this thread into another one, so hopefully our mentioning it will encourage a couple of people to educate themselves and improve their performance in a team.

query523 · January 2015

A note on enchantments. While leveling your gear will change often enough that getting the 'right' enchantment for your build will be fairly meaningless. Your best stats for AD ratio is at R5s. Since your gear changes so often R5 radiants are the best bet because at no point in the game does enyone ever complain that they have too much power or too many hit points. especially if you intend to PVP with the afforementioned alts. It won't put you on par but a lot of them compete low-level over-geared because they are not that good to begin with. Dark for the utilities because you won't be able to afford hoards.

heethin · January 2015

query523 wrote: »

A note on enchantments....

Good point. Radiants are very flexible and useful when your gear is changing quickly.

bbrightstone · January 2015

Something I think everyone should do: consider how much you would spend on a game for a PC, PS4, or XBox that will take up about 200 or more hours. Buy that amount of zen. Take that zen, buy an epic mount. Do whatever you want with the rest, but once you hit level 20, the epic mount is a drastic game changer. I'd also recommend a purple quality Leader companion for leveling.

Something else not mentioned here: if you download Arc and then search the interne for "neverwinter Arc codes" you can find a list of codes to input in the Arc interface that will give you lots of various things, including an account-bound Striker companion. Strikers aren't always the best companions, but it's still a good one to have slotted until you get better.

jorifice1 · January 2015

If you have the cash to spare and feel that you have a toon that will stand the test of Time, consider getting them an Augment Companion early. They are the best Companions in the game and have been since Beta. They make you do everything that you do do, do better. They can equip items of any level at the start and transfer that all to you.

bioshrike · January 2015

Here's my $0.02, (some may have already been mentioned):

1. While leveling, only ID items you intend to actually use - sell everything else.

2. Especially early on, you change out gear to frequently that it isn't worth it to bother slotting enchantments. I tend to accrue lots of R1 enchants, for instance, while leveling up a new character - I hang onto them and let stacks build up, until i start getting R2 enchants, and use those R1's to refine my first artifact.

3. Plan ahead - unless you plan on buying a respec later, don't focus so much on what powers are good *now* - think about whether you'll use said powers at 60+. The pre-60 game is easy enough that you can use what powers you're forced into, anyway.

4. Familiarize yourself with enemy aggro range - you'll get a sense of how close you can get to enemies before they notice you. This is also very helpful for determining what groups of enemies you can run through on your mount, vs which you should simply fight head on.

5. You can sell items from the gateway inventory screen, no matter where you character is in the game world - this is a great tactic to employ, especially if bag space is limited.

6. If you're able to save up enough, or if you have some Zen to convert to ADs, you can get a Dragon Cult 20-slot bag on the AH for about 215K ADs - converted to Zen, this works out under 500 Zen - a much better option than buying a bag of holding for Zen.

7. Companions - Around level 11-16, you get a quest to get your first companion. As loathe as I am to promote this companion, the apprentice healer is the only free healer you can get - even if you only use him between battles, the savings in healing potions is immeasurable. There are several green-quality healer or tanking companions that can be had for under 15K ADs, currently. These are quite useful, and with the upcoming max level increase coming to all companions with Mod6, they'll be even more useful.

8. Bound leveling-up items - you'll get bound potions, bound med kits, and so on, as you level up, (these tend to have a bluish outline to the item graphic) - make sure to use these first, before going to the unbound ones. Along with this, the level-up boxes sometimes have coupons - if you do plan to buy Zen store items, make sure to check for these. IIRC, there's typically a companion discount coupon around level 11, a mount coupon around level 20, and a character slot one in the 50's.

9. Prioritize targets - after you've played for a little bit, you'll notice that certain enemies are either very annoying, or have attacks that can really ruin your day - if you have any sort of control power, (stun, daze, etc), it is a good idea to single out these problem enemies, and take them out ASAP.

Noobie Help: Quick List of Stuff I wish I knew before I learned the Hard Way

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