1. XP gain and XP needed to level up was just fine.
Sure, you could reach 70 fast, when there was a double XP event running, but you also have to count in the overflow.
It's not just leveling from 1-70 and you are done, you also have to fill your overflow again and again and again to have a RANDOM CHANCE at getting ONE power point per round.
And starting to sell XP booster in the ZEN shop at the same time... is... just... plain... wrong.
2. It would be nice to see those dungeons back in the game, but for now, i would rather like to see some real bug fixing every week, before Strongholds hit the game.
3. There should be real content to keep players buzzy, content where you can use the gear you have finished upgrading. And there should also be more then one way to upgrade items fully...
4. Where would be the problem to let an event run for the full week, so that everyone has a chance to participate?
5. About the member limit for guilds, this is probably only here to prevent large guild from burning through the "content" to fast.
But some certain guilds will still burn through the content anyway, since they have a lot of maxed out players standing prepared for it.
And i wouldn't be surprised to see a ZEN shop item coming with Strongholds, that will upgrade your guild with xx more member slots per xxxx ZEN.
Last but not least, the last game changes have driven a lot of casual players away, and new casual players might stay for leveling their characters from 1-60, but when they see what they have to invest to get from 60-70, and if they even make it that far, what they have then to put up with to fill the overflow... they just move on and find themself another game.
Just look for yourself : http://steamcharts.com/app/109600
I know, those numbers are not really accurate, but they show a trend, that should give Devs and managment something to think about.
Honestly I don't really care whether the missing dungeons come back or not. Why? I'll have to copy and paste the reasons since the forums don't appear to support direct links to individual posts (or I just can't figure out how to do it)
]
I'm sick of this.
I'm sick of undodgeable arrows that one-shot for 90k.
I'm sick of undodgeable acid spit from spiderlings that one-shot for 90k.
I'm sick of undodgeable ranged attacks from hexers and deathlock wights that one-shot for 90k.
I'm sick of undodgeable, "no-red-zone" 50-foot jumps from barbarians that one-shot for 90k.
I'm sick of undodgeable barbarian spears that take over 50k HP off in a single hit.
I'm sick of burning up 30 to 50 health kits in a dungeon or skirmish run.
I'm sick of pressing "5" to use my health stone and having it *not* heal while it goes on 18-second cooldown.
I'm sick of pressing a movement key four or five times in rapid succession and still not being able to dodge with full stamina.
I'm sick of getting one-shotted by cutthroats for 90k with a single swing -- from ten feet away.
I'm sick of having to wait 18 seconds to drink another potion while 5 enemies in a solo quest kill me.
I'm sick of being unerringly chased by enemies that are supposed to be dazed.
I'm sick of mod 6.
The point is, even if the missing dungeons come back, the difficulty is still obscene. I know, the response will be, "but we lowered the difficulty,"
No, you didn't, and we both know it. Changing the damage an enemy does from 135k to 90k still one-shots all but the most BiS, and increasing their HP by 50% makes it far harder. Once again, why? Answer: because enemies in encounters are never alone. While you're taking 50% longer to kill one enemy, his buddies are killing you off.
The difficulty is obscene, and the "change" to lower it was halfhearted at best and a cynical at worst. In my honest opinion, it was nothing more than a token change that purports to lower difficulty without actually doing so.
The title of this thread is "Cryptic is pushing me away from their game". Above are the major reasons why I feel the same way.
Harper Chronicles: Cap Snatchers (RELEASED) - NW-DPUTABC6X Blood Magic (RELEASED) - NW-DUU2P7HCO Children of the Fey (RELEASED) - NW-DKSSAPFPF Buried Under Blacklake (WIP) - NW-DEDV2PAEP The Redcap Rebels (WIP) - NW-DO23AFHFH
My Foundry playthrough channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ruskaga/featured
Cant we skip mod 7 and yust go mod 8. Pve content is gone in to thin air like fireworks Almost no solo content left either to relax with. Playing sinds closed beta, the game is atm not what i should be sadly, still hoping it gets better again, but loosing confidence in it
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drkbodhiMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 2,378Arc User
Oh believe me, I bring it up every week. Every. Week. It's not just me, but the devs want them back, as well. For the time being, they're currently swamped with Strongholds as it's something that's completely different than what they've done in the past.
Why should I believe any word of what you're saying ?
Oh believe me, I bring it up every week. Every. Week. It's not just me, but the devs want them back, as well. For the time being, they're currently swamped with Strongholds as it's something that's completely different than what they've done in the past.
Why should I believe any word of what you're saying ?
Because there is a difference between optimism and pessimism? I'm a pessimist myself, but I do believe the reports are going up-stream and there is no evidence or reason to believe @Strumslinger is misleading in that statement.
If you are that jaded it may be time to consider quality time elsewhere to rejuvenate your outlook on things?
Can I just say how nice it is to see Andy posting in one of these threads. Having a conversation is what it should be about. It would be great if he had more time to spend on this.
For me the biggest issue really is not that there aren't changes being made, it is gameplay issues. When persistent Lag spoils the experience the rest doesn't really matter. Although of course once the game runs well there are a number of things to fix. But no fix replaces functioning gameplay.
even if you played for 2 years like myself im bored since they took all the dungeons away all i have to do is 1] pvp till i get a full set or 2] run all failies for boons. once that is do e its either run tiamat [snore] or run some of my least favorite dungeons... why the f did you take all those other awesome dungeons away?
3. Serious question: once you're done leveling up all your artifact weapons to the max, what would you do next?
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gee i dunno something fun? dungeon [oh wait nm] pvp? [ehhhh] play an alt? [fun!] play some sword coast adventures? pretty much anything but refining is fun. REFINING IS NOT FUN.
A bunch of you are talking about the lack of dungeons, which I addressed earlier, but I can address it again. I want them to return just as much as you guys do. I report it every week. I miss them.
I also agree that the HP increase was a bit much, as well, and have also brought it up. It takes a bit too long for things to die and my OP is not necessarily built for damage output.
I like having conversations with you guys, but please refrain from putting words in my mouth...it isn't nice . I play this game just like you guys and share many of the same concerns. As I speak, I'm working with players to reproduce some of the major bugs that have been brought up.
Call me Andy (or Strum, or Spider-Man)! Follow Neverwinter on Twitter: NeverwinterGame Like Neverwinter on Facebook: Neverwinter Follow me on Twitter: StrumSlinger
1. At first, leveling was too fast, which is why the development team increased the XP gain. True, they might have increased the grind by more than what players are used to, but in my personal opinion, eight hours isn't really that much for an MMO. That being said, Strongholds will make it easier to level in that range.
2. This has and will again be brought up to the devs. Just remember, those people with crazy gear had to start somewhere and probably got defeated a lot too in their journey to becoming who they are now. With great power comes great responsibility.
3. Serious question: once you're done leveling up all your artifact weapons to the max, what would you do next?
4. We sometimes have it during midweek, but people are more likely to be free on weekends due to needing to work on the weekdays.
5. The guild cap was made so that the little guilds don't get crushed. Strongholds is all about gathering together and creating something you can be proud of; working together to not only build your stronghold, but to recruit other members.
Sharandar, IWD, Dread Ring: You're supposed to do these after Elemental Evil now. If you're a new or casual player, this change doesn't exist as this is the way the game is supposed to be played now.
3. What would I do.. play alts? One of the most fun things you can do in mmo's. Have baby toons. But you can't in this game because unless you have a leadership army its so ungodly expensive. I used to have the best time playing alts. For the average player this is impossible?
4. Who cares if people are more free on the weekend.. we dont work 24 hours a day. Just run it for 7 days. We can do it after work or before work.. at some jobs even at lunch.
To my sadness this game is taking many directions because of poor marketing decision making. Make better choices for the player, resolve some major balance issues for pvp, fix bugs for pve, scale your content accordingly but it should always be alt friendly. People spend money on alts because they want them to match their mains. Lol and focus on the foundry a bit. While I don't create.. what a waste of a good creative resource. You have mini game developers that you could pull content from.. and don't.
Lastly... how does past content go after elemental evil.. soooooooo Valindra's attack on NW and the rebuild is after elemental evil?? Really dude? Didntknow we traveled back in time when that tree exploded in the middle of town.
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silvergryphMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 740Arc User
I actually agree that leveling was too fast. I'll go a step further and say that it is still too fast. The fact that the OP expects a "new player" to be over level 60 is good evidence of this.
The XP needed 60-70 is a good pace for the Epic Tier of the game. But, it feels like hitting a wall compared to 1-60. However, I don't think the best choice is to make it faster to get to 70.
The problem that creates the wall is actually in the middle (Paragon Tier). Heroic Tier (1-30) is OK , but Paragon Tier (31-60) should take about twice as long as it does. There is already enough sub-60 content to support that. You should have to visit almost all the map points to get to 60. The only places that all of my characters have been to are Blacklake and Neverdeath Graveyard. To get bags. Encourage us to experience all the maps so much work went into.
What we need in the Epic Tier is not a reduction in XP requirements, but rather more things to do besides the Daily grind. Stronghold might do it for guilded characters. I can only hope Underdark will do it for the rest. A reward system that encourages more Foundry play would help a lot too.
Overflow takes way too long for what it rewards you with. It should either more reliably reward a Power Point and have its other rewards substantially improved, OR it should require fewer XP.
1. At first, leveling was too fast, which is why the development team increased the XP gain. True, they might have increased the grind by more than what players are used to, but in my personal opinion, eight hours isn't really that much for an MMO. That being said, Strongholds will make it easier to level in that range.
Launch Mod6 XP ranges were okay. The lack of interesting story and attractive/new maps is a big detractor, couple that with Vigilance quests with the take four and do again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again on four separate areas means I avoid it like the spellplague. For me, this is probably the second biggest problem with Mod6 and your current direction for this game. There are probably close to a hundred repetitive grind-style MMOs with fetch and bounty style quests. I'm not playing those, and you aren't going to attract that crowd with a game like NW. You are going to get those that want a D&D game (Lore, location, race, class, DMs, and story focused individuals) and a majority of them want a story behind their hunting/bounty and fetch quests.
I disagree what others have said about leveling 1-60 being too fast, but my opinion on this is not based on the rush to get to end game, as there really isn't anything there. I'm a completionist I guess you could say. I want to have alts of every class and I want to get them to 70 (or the max level whatever that may be). It may be some type of OCD or something, don't know and don't care to. Does that mean I want BiS... well sort of. Artifact gear and enchantments really messes with my vibe. Others, especially the devs want the max stuff to be a goal or an achievement, something earned after a long struggle. I don't want to get into what I think of this philosophy on a pile of binary with no physical/real-world representation or value just yet. Just look at what I use for my picture (I need to change it as my promotion has finally gone in) that is a real achievement. This earning concept they use is a misplaced form or work and work != fun. I play for fun, entertainment, and other things I will get into more on other points. I personally don't see max level artifacts, artifact gear, enchantments, or max armor as achievable, I see it as insurmountable based on time, average drop, RP amount required. So I'm forced to settle. Settling makes me "unhappy" or "uneasy", I guess you could say, so the other aspects of the game need to be fairly spot on or compelling... and well they aren't.
2. This has and will again be brought up to the devs. Just remember, those people with crazy gear had to start somewhere and probably got defeated a lot too in their journey to becoming who they are now. With great power comes great responsibility.
We aren't leading nations, commanding armies, or aspiring to be gods. There is no "great power" or responsibility in any players actions. There is also very little respect from this top echelon, or elitists, community is very uncommon and it is found only among a shortlist of players.
3. Serious question: once you're done leveling up all your artifact weapons to the max, what would you do next?
Do the same for every alt, and future alts. Explore every inch of every map. Work on all those achievements that don't seem to get much mention. Kill mobs for the heck of it. Do every thing your game has to offer, participate in every event, HE, dungeon available just to do it, not because I have to. Find and collect everything there is to have. Level and obtain every single companion... I can keep going, but I would basically do everything I can't because of how you all have made things.
Would this mean that there is an absolute limit on my time here? Yes, but continually dangling little withered carrots on sticks in front of my nose, only to blow it all away after I have them every so often will mean I reach that limit much faster. Depending how you do it may also mean I spend a lot of time after leaving making sure everyone I come into contact with stays away from your products and spreads the word.
This whole concept of earning, or achievements, are ultimately meaningless. Perhaps its a factor of some people having way too easy a life, or never having had to struggle for things, or maybe it is a deep seated and disguised masochism. Probably something else entirely, but that thing I use for my picture? That is an actual achievement, that was earned. It is also a duty and a responsibility. This game itself in its software and all it represents to Cryptic is an achievement, it is work produced and money earned.
The digital pixels we get for toiling in the virtual environment are not achievements, they are not earned, or any existential notion with the pure exception of the neuron pathways formed in the experience and the chemicals released in its obtainment. This is for entertainment, so if you expect me to hand over real, physical representations of achievements in reality, like money, you are going to need to address what entertains me and others, and provide a path to that.
5. The guild cap was made so that the little guilds don't get crushed. Strongholds is all about gathering together and creating something you can be proud of; working together to not only build your stronghold, but to recruit other members.
Can't say I agree, but I don't have a solution of my own that would have been any better. Others, though, have expressed a lot of ideas how this could have been done. Picking out the ones that are good ideas from the ones that are just disguised greed and self-interest is hard though.
Sharandar, IWD, Dread Ring: You're supposed to do these after Elemental Evil now. If you're a new or casual player, this change doesn't exist as this is the way the game is supposed to be played now.
It's a mistake trying to railroad people to dance to your tune. Despite what more diplomatic people will tell you, most really hate being told what to do or being forced to do it (and yes, making things virtually impossible to do until you do other things first is forcing them).
Another mistake is taking things that people enjoy, rely on, and appreciate away from them. Dungeons gone, nerf this and that, change mechanics constantly while breaking whole classes. You need to stop thinking of your customers as swindlers, cheaters, abusers, and enemies. A doctor doesn't treat every cut by hacking off the limb, even if that was required for a few, he treats every case separately.
On an old side note... So you give mobs more HP, so in the end they do more damage because they are around longer. New armor for 61+ requires more HP on all of it... this is, and still is the wrong path. Why did anyone ever think this was the right way to go?
Another question, why did the Devs only improve the hitpoints and damage of NPCs that fight against players, but left the player friendly NPCs untouched?
Companions should be improved at least in the hitpoints department, and some supportive NPCs, like those in Arcane Reservoir, should receive an upgrade as well.
1. At first, leveling was too fast, which is why the development team increased the XP gain. True, they might have increased the grind by more than what players are used to, but in my personal opinion, eight hours isn't really that much for an MMO. That being said, Strongholds will make it easier to level in that range.
The major problem is that this is a hindsight and there is no content to accommodate for the increased XP cap. It's no fun finishing the last zone of the leveling area at level 68 and having to grind the same random quests over and over.
Other MMO's may have started with the higher XP cap but they have the content to make sure that it did not feel like a massive hamster wheel. They would have multiple quest hubs and different quests to make sure that once you did complete a zone, you were either at the level cap or you were able to move to the next area.
They should of just kept campaign areas with viable XP and it would still be level 60+ but the area would just be scaled within proper levels of your toon. So you want to Sharandar and DR to be 2 levels higher? Then just make it 2 levels higher than the player. At least that would still allow people to have a goal to shoot for while STILL leveling. There is only so much mindless grinding in Spinward that I can take, and that is just on one of my alts. It's a complete nightmare to play any more than that.
+1
The only way to lengthen the progress is to create more quests and the daily design is a very poor one to say the least. Players are not progressing through a true story like 0-60 but repetitive tasks. Imho the progress to the level cap should be linear and then dailies, grind kicks in. Of course resources are not there to design a whole new storyline to make leveling take more time, so this is the typical Cryptic-like workaround.
I agree leveling was a bit too fast, but it was as much a business decision as it made sense. The game stalls progress in many areas to a) ensure that players are occupied until the next content is released and b) to push them into buying convenience upgrades from the ZEN store.
60-70 would not be to bad if IT HAD A STORY LINE.
No one is having fun completing sets of 16 quests only to move on to 16 more. At least with 1-60 there was a story that you were going though a campaign.
With mod 6 apart from the quests at the start I have no idea about the story what is going on between 60-70 how are we helping does repeating the same quest 3 times do anything? Also the quests give absolute <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> XP most people just go and farm a big monster over and over rather than doing the quests.( I guess that will get nerfed soon) And no one is going to buy the stupid XP booster from the zen store and everyone here knows that why they did the changes to why the bonus rate XP was changed.
Also the power point <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> i have not got a single power point this mod.
@strumslinger Yes strongholds looks good but at this point its only going to kill off the rest of the game. I have looked at it and we don't have the time to farm for strongholds while still having to farm 1800 protector seals for the gear. also the XP loss for having to salvage our weps. we are going to lose 80% of the RP we put into it. Its really hard atm convincing people to stay like we had a person see the new +4000 AP mounts and be like **** this P@W s**t. people are sick of a lot of the design decisions.
Seriously Strum... for a whole lot of us of players in NWO, maxing out our Artifacts WILL NEVER happen as a lot of us will be in retirement homes or have passed away. SERIOUSLY. I have played for 2 years and have but one Artifact to orange. Yes, I play multiple toons (4) and most of them have epic artifacts, but to EVEN CONCEIVE that any of them, let alone one toon will get maxed before I am 60 yrs. old is a stretch. (I am 51, employed and make great money). either that or Mod 18 will be coming out and the Artifacts I had are no longer viable and now we are trying to lvl up a NEW artifact. I did put real money into this game prior to Mod 6. but even at that, the fun was the the journey to get better through dungeons, Foundries, Skirmishes, etc. That fun for a lot of us is gone as are the Dungeons, Foundries, Skirmishes etc for Lower gear players.
To get BIS you need you need rank 12s, 10s are the new 7s, teal artifacts, orange artifact weapon/offhand. The people complaining about the artifact weapons are the ones already have their enchants, like me, think what that looks like for a new player. stuffthatwillneverhappen.jpg
1. At first, leveling was too fast, which is why the development team increased the XP gain. True, they might have increased the grind by more than what players are used to, but in my personal opinion, eight hours isn't really that much for an MMO. That being said, Strongholds will make it easier to level in that range.
2. This has and will again be brought up to the devs. Just remember, those people with crazy gear had to start somewhere and probably got defeated a lot too in their journey to becoming who they are now. With great power comes great responsibility.
3. Serious question: once you're done leveling up all your artifact weapons to the max, what would you do next?
4. We sometimes have it during midweek, but people are more likely to be free on weekends due to needing to work on the weekdays.
5. The guild cap was made so that the little guilds don't get crushed. Strongholds is all about gathering together and creating something you can be proud of; working together to not only build your stronghold, but to recruit other members.
Sharandar, IWD, Dread Ring: You're supposed to do these after Elemental Evil now. If you're a new or casual player, this change doesn't exist as this is the way the game is supposed to be played now.
Regarding your point 1: True, leveling up from 1 to 60 in this game as compared to other games were comparatively faster. Which was the point I made in your post asking for feedback that had made this game unique, fun and casual friendly. This was such a strong and positive point which then drew a huge crowd to this game. In short this game didn't felt like a grind. Is that really a bad thing? Why do you want to be the same as other mmo in regard to the grinding factor now? The side effect to fast leveling is also players are more willing to reroll characters or play new classes as they are introduced. That means low level maps are always buzzing with activities. Players are also more than willing to optimize their builds to min/max or to try new builds. Again that means they are spending more time in the game, not less. In short, there is "replay" value. It also caters to alts. It's too simplistic to look at the leveling curve and judge it being easy without taking into consideration its benefits in other areas. Ask yourself, you want player retention? How many players have you gained/lost in mod 6? You have the stats after all.
Regarding your point 2: I'll give you the benefit of doubt that mythic gears so soon after mod 6 came out is possible. I only ask that you check the players' gear legimitacy.
Regarding your point 3: The lack of end game content is more appropriately a Dev's question. I'll drop you a hint : Foundry? More hints : more raids, crafting, trying out new classes, new builds, PvP, decorating player housing etc. You want players to spend more time right? Put out more contents. The main issue here is there are less and lesser options. Previous dungeons are gone. Tiamat still? Premade Raid? Foundries are......
I also agree that the HP increase was a bit much, as well, and have also brought it up. It takes a bit too long for things to die and my OP is not necessarily built for damage output.
'A bit' doesn't begin to describe how difficult solo content is for squishy classes. Try taking a freshly levelled CW into the Portal to Tuern quest, even in full 115 blues. It's brutal.
At least an OP can complete it, even if it takes longer.
60+ content seriously needs to be looked at if Neverwinter wants to keep existing players and attract new ones.
3. Serious question: once you're done leveling up all your artifact weapons to the max, what would you do next?
One thing that I used to greatly enjoy doing prior to mod 6 was leveling up companions. For some companions that were especially fun, I'd put some crazy enchantments and gear on them and see what they could do. For instance, it was a lot of fun springing my phase spider on unsuspecting witherers, and my powrie Teelu is truly the right hand of death. To this day I'm amazed that we still don't have any goblin companions. Goblins are way too much fun to not have as one.
Two things have prevented me from enjoying this since mod 6: first, the inactive companion limit, and second, the difficulty of critters.
My main has 96 companions: at any time she has 91 inactive and 5 active. That leaves 5 inactive slots open that I'm reluctant to fill in case one comes along that I really want (such as the aforementioned goblin). I have an enormous backlog of unbound companions in the bank and unclaimed ones at the rewards agent that I can't enjoy.
The difficulty issue has two parts. The first one is that with enemies being so tough, I can't afford nearly much to "screw around" with a companion that can't keep me alive. Sharandar used to be a relaxing place to level up and try out new companions: now it's a tiresome, constant life-or-death struggle. Putting a new companion through his paces doesn't fit into that well. The second part is somewhat related: with enemies hitting so hard, companions just can't stay alive for very long. Sure, they can auto-revive once they reach a certain level, but there is still no way to really enjoy them before then, and after that point they're always dropping like flies anyway. This is another way that mucking up the difficulty balance has had collateral damage.
Harper Chronicles: Cap Snatchers (RELEASED) - NW-DPUTABC6X Blood Magic (RELEASED) - NW-DUU2P7HCO Children of the Fey (RELEASED) - NW-DKSSAPFPF Buried Under Blacklake (WIP) - NW-DEDV2PAEP The Redcap Rebels (WIP) - NW-DO23AFHFH
My Foundry playthrough channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ruskaga/featured
I also agree that the HP increase was a bit much, as well, and have also brought it up. It takes a bit too long for things to die and my OP is not necessarily built for damage output.
'A bit' doesn't begin to describe how difficult solo content is for squishy classes. Try taking a freshly levelled CW into the Portal to Tuern quest, even in full 115 blues. It's brutal.
At least an OP can complete it, even if it takes longer.
60+ content seriously needs to be looked at if Neverwinter wants to keep existing players and attract new ones.
You can add archer HR's to that list, or any build of SW. A paladin who can self-heal isn't a legitimate yardstick when measuring against classes that cannot self-heal and cannot wear plate armor.
Harper Chronicles: Cap Snatchers (RELEASED) - NW-DPUTABC6X Blood Magic (RELEASED) - NW-DUU2P7HCO Children of the Fey (RELEASED) - NW-DKSSAPFPF Buried Under Blacklake (WIP) - NW-DEDV2PAEP The Redcap Rebels (WIP) - NW-DO23AFHFH
My Foundry playthrough channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ruskaga/featured
those people with crazy gear had to start somewhere and probably got defeated a lot too in their journey to becoming who they are now. With great power comes great responsibility.
You genuinely believe that a very large number of people who seem to be able to get to BiS within days of every new expansion going live actually earned the gear in a legit way and didn't take advantage of various exploits that were never properly cleaned up and dealt with in the past that allowed them to squirrel away literally hundreds of millions of exploited AD?
Comments
Sure, you could reach 70 fast, when there was a double XP event running, but you also have to count in the overflow.
It's not just leveling from 1-70 and you are done, you also have to fill your overflow again and again and again to have a RANDOM CHANCE at getting ONE power point per round.
And starting to sell XP booster in the ZEN shop at the same time... is... just... plain... wrong.
2. It would be nice to see those dungeons back in the game, but for now, i would rather like to see some real bug fixing every week, before Strongholds hit the game.
3. There should be real content to keep players buzzy, content where you can use the gear you have finished upgrading. And there should also be more then one way to upgrade items fully...
4. Where would be the problem to let an event run for the full week, so that everyone has a chance to participate?
5. About the member limit for guilds, this is probably only here to prevent large guild from burning through the "content" to fast.
But some certain guilds will still burn through the content anyway, since they have a lot of maxed out players standing prepared for it.
And i wouldn't be surprised to see a ZEN shop item coming with Strongholds, that will upgrade your guild with xx more member slots per xxxx ZEN.
Last but not least, the last game changes have driven a lot of casual players away, and new casual players might stay for leveling their characters from 1-60, but when they see what they have to invest to get from 60-70, and if they even make it that far, what they have then to put up with to fill the overflow... they just move on and find themself another game.
Just look for yourself : http://steamcharts.com/app/109600
I know, those numbers are not really accurate, but they show a trend, that should give Devs and managment something to think about.
Anyway, just my 2 AD.
]
The point is, even if the missing dungeons come back, the difficulty is still obscene. I know, the response will be, "but we lowered the difficulty,"
No, you didn't, and we both know it. Changing the damage an enemy does from 135k to 90k still one-shots all but the most BiS, and increasing their HP by 50% makes it far harder. Once again, why? Answer: because enemies in encounters are never alone. While you're taking 50% longer to kill one enemy, his buddies are killing you off.
The difficulty is obscene, and the "change" to lower it was halfhearted at best and a cynical at worst. In my honest opinion, it was nothing more than a token change that purports to lower difficulty without actually doing so.
The title of this thread is "Cryptic is pushing me away from their game". Above are the major reasons why I feel the same way.
Blood Magic (RELEASED) - NW-DUU2P7HCO
Children of the Fey (RELEASED) - NW-DKSSAPFPF
Buried Under Blacklake (WIP) - NW-DEDV2PAEP
The Redcap Rebels (WIP) - NW-DO23AFHFH
My Foundry playthrough channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ruskaga/featured
This pretty much says it all... in a nutshell.
Why should I believe any word of what you're saying ?
Because there is a difference between optimism and pessimism? I'm a pessimist myself, but I do believe the reports are going up-stream and there is no evidence or reason to believe @Strumslinger is misleading in that statement.
If you are that jaded it may be time to consider quality time elsewhere to rejuvenate your outlook on things?
For me the biggest issue really is not that there aren't changes being made, it is gameplay issues. When persistent Lag spoils the experience the rest doesn't really matter. Although of course once the game runs well there are a number of things to fix. But no fix replaces functioning gameplay.
gee i dunno something fun? dungeon [oh wait nm] pvp? [ehhhh] play an alt? [fun!] play some sword coast adventures? pretty much anything but refining is fun. REFINING IS NOT FUN.
I also agree that the HP increase was a bit much, as well, and have also brought it up. It takes a bit too long for things to die and my OP is not necessarily built for damage output.
I like having conversations with you guys, but please refrain from putting words in my mouth...it isn't nice
Call me Andy (or Strum, or Spider-Man)!
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3. What would I do.. play alts? One of the most fun things you can do in mmo's. Have baby toons. But you can't in this game because unless you have a leadership army its so ungodly expensive. I used to have the best time playing alts. For the average player this is impossible?
4. Who cares if people are more free on the weekend.. we dont work 24 hours a day. Just run it for 7 days. We can do it after work or before work.. at some jobs even at lunch.
To my sadness this game is taking many directions because of poor marketing decision making. Make better choices for the player, resolve some major balance issues for pvp, fix bugs for pve, scale your content accordingly but it should always be alt friendly. People spend money on alts because they want them to match their mains. Lol and focus on the foundry a bit. While I don't create.. what a waste of a good creative resource. You have mini game developers that you could pull content from.. and don't.
Lastly... how does past content go after elemental evil.. soooooooo Valindra's attack on NW and the rebuild is after elemental evil?? Really dude? Didntknow we traveled back in time when that tree exploded in the middle of town.
The XP needed 60-70 is a good pace for the Epic Tier of the game. But, it feels like hitting a wall compared to 1-60. However, I don't think the best choice is to make it faster to get to 70.
The problem that creates the wall is actually in the middle (Paragon Tier). Heroic Tier (1-30) is OK , but Paragon Tier (31-60) should take about twice as long as it does. There is already enough sub-60 content to support that. You should have to visit almost all the map points to get to 60. The only places that all of my characters have been to are Blacklake and Neverdeath Graveyard. To get bags. Encourage us to experience all the maps so much work went into.
What we need in the Epic Tier is not a reduction in XP requirements, but rather more things to do besides the Daily grind. Stronghold might do it for guilded characters. I can only hope Underdark will do it for the rest. A reward system that encourages more Foundry play would help a lot too.
Overflow takes way too long for what it rewards you with. It should either more reliably reward a Power Point and have its other rewards substantially improved, OR it should require fewer XP.
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Launch Mod6 XP ranges were okay. The lack of interesting story and attractive/new maps is a big detractor, couple that with Vigilance quests with the take four and do again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again on four separate areas means I avoid it like the spellplague. For me, this is probably the second biggest problem with Mod6 and your current direction for this game. There are probably close to a hundred repetitive grind-style MMOs with fetch and bounty style quests. I'm not playing those, and you aren't going to attract that crowd with a game like NW. You are going to get those that want a D&D game (Lore, location, race, class, DMs, and story focused individuals) and a majority of them want a story behind their hunting/bounty and fetch quests.
I disagree what others have said about leveling 1-60 being too fast, but my opinion on this is not based on the rush to get to end game, as there really isn't anything there. I'm a completionist I guess you could say. I want to have alts of every class and I want to get them to 70 (or the max level whatever that may be). It may be some type of OCD or something, don't know and don't care to. Does that mean I want BiS... well sort of. Artifact gear and enchantments really messes with my vibe. Others, especially the devs want the max stuff to be a goal or an achievement, something earned after a long struggle. I don't want to get into what I think of this philosophy on a pile of binary with no physical/real-world representation or value just yet. Just look at what I use for my picture (I need to change it as my promotion has finally gone in) that is a real achievement. This earning concept they use is a misplaced form or work and work != fun. I play for fun, entertainment, and other things I will get into more on other points. I personally don't see max level artifacts, artifact gear, enchantments, or max armor as achievable, I see it as insurmountable based on time, average drop, RP amount required. So I'm forced to settle. Settling makes me "unhappy" or "uneasy", I guess you could say, so the other aspects of the game need to be fairly spot on or compelling... and well they aren't.
We aren't leading nations, commanding armies, or aspiring to be gods. There is no "great power" or responsibility in any players actions. There is also very little respect from this top echelon, or elitists, community is very uncommon and it is found only among a shortlist of players.
Do the same for every alt, and future alts. Explore every inch of every map. Work on all those achievements that don't seem to get much mention. Kill mobs for the heck of it. Do every thing your game has to offer, participate in every event, HE, dungeon available just to do it, not because I have to. Find and collect everything there is to have. Level and obtain every single companion... I can keep going, but I would basically do everything I can't because of how you all have made things.
Would this mean that there is an absolute limit on my time here? Yes, but continually dangling little withered carrots on sticks in front of my nose, only to blow it all away after I have them every so often will mean I reach that limit much faster. Depending how you do it may also mean I spend a lot of time after leaving making sure everyone I come into contact with stays away from your products and spreads the word.
This whole concept of earning, or achievements, are ultimately meaningless. Perhaps its a factor of some people having way too easy a life, or never having had to struggle for things, or maybe it is a deep seated and disguised masochism. Probably something else entirely, but that thing I use for my picture? That is an actual achievement, that was earned. It is also a duty and a responsibility. This game itself in its software and all it represents to Cryptic is an achievement, it is work produced and money earned.
The digital pixels we get for toiling in the virtual environment are not achievements, they are not earned, or any existential notion with the pure exception of the neuron pathways formed in the experience and the chemicals released in its obtainment. This is for entertainment, so if you expect me to hand over real, physical representations of achievements in reality, like money, you are going to need to address what entertains me and others, and provide a path to that.
Can't say I agree, but I don't have a solution of my own that would have been any better. Others, though, have expressed a lot of ideas how this could have been done. Picking out the ones that are good ideas from the ones that are just disguised greed and self-interest is hard though.
It's a mistake trying to railroad people to dance to your tune. Despite what more diplomatic people will tell you, most really hate being told what to do or being forced to do it (and yes, making things virtually impossible to do until you do other things first is forcing them).
Another mistake is taking things that people enjoy, rely on, and appreciate away from them. Dungeons gone, nerf this and that, change mechanics constantly while breaking whole classes. You need to stop thinking of your customers as swindlers, cheaters, abusers, and enemies. A doctor doesn't treat every cut by hacking off the limb, even if that was required for a few, he treats every case separately.
On an old side note... So you give mobs more HP, so in the end they do more damage because they are around longer. New armor for 61+ requires more HP on all of it... this is, and still is the wrong path. Why did anyone ever think this was the right way to go?
glassdoor.com - Cryptic Studios Review
Companions should be improved at least in the hitpoints department, and some supportive NPCs, like those in Arcane Reservoir, should receive an upgrade as well.
+1
The only way to lengthen the progress is to create more quests and the daily design is a very poor one to say the least. Players are not progressing through a true story like 0-60 but repetitive tasks. Imho the progress to the level cap should be linear and then dailies, grind kicks in. Of course resources are not there to design a whole new storyline to make leveling take more time, so this is the typical Cryptic-like workaround.
I agree leveling was a bit too fast, but it was as much a business decision as it made sense. The game stalls progress in many areas to a) ensure that players are occupied until the next content is released and b) to push them into buying convenience upgrades from the ZEN store.
No one is having fun completing sets of 16 quests only to move on to 16 more. At least with 1-60 there was a story that you were going though a campaign.
With mod 6 apart from the quests at the start I have no idea about the story what is going on between 60-70 how are we helping does repeating the same quest 3 times do anything? Also the quests give absolute <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> XP most people just go and farm a big monster over and over rather than doing the quests.( I guess that will get nerfed soon) And no one is going to buy the stupid XP booster from the zen store and everyone here knows that why they did the changes to why the bonus rate XP was changed.
Also the power point <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> i have not got a single power point this mod.
@strumslinger Yes strongholds looks good but at this point its only going to kill off the rest of the game. I have looked at it and we don't have the time to farm for strongholds while still having to farm 1800 protector seals for the gear. also the XP loss for having to salvage our weps. we are going to lose 80% of the RP we put into it. Its really hard atm convincing people to stay like we had a person see the new +4000 AP mounts and be like **** this P@W s**t. people are sick of a lot of the design decisions.
/rant
Regarding your point 1: True, leveling up from 1 to 60 in this game as compared to other games were comparatively faster. Which was the point I made in your post asking for feedback that had made this game unique, fun and casual friendly. This was such a strong and positive point which then drew a huge crowd to this game. In short this game didn't felt like a grind. Is that really a bad thing? Why do you want to be the same as other mmo in regard to the grinding factor now? The side effect to fast leveling is also players are more willing to reroll characters or play new classes as they are introduced. That means low level maps are always buzzing with activities. Players are also more than willing to optimize their builds to min/max or to try new builds. Again that means they are spending more time in the game, not less. In short, there is "replay" value. It also caters to alts. It's too simplistic to look at the leveling curve and judge it being easy without taking into consideration its benefits in other areas. Ask yourself, you want player retention? How many players have you gained/lost in mod 6? You have the stats after all.
Regarding your point 2: I'll give you the benefit of doubt that mythic gears so soon after mod 6 came out is possible. I only ask that you check the players' gear legimitacy.
Regarding your point 3: The lack of end game content is more appropriately a Dev's question. I'll drop you a hint : Foundry? More hints : more raids, crafting, trying out new classes, new builds, PvP, decorating player housing etc. You want players to spend more time right? Put out more contents. The main issue here is there are less and lesser options. Previous dungeons are gone. Tiamat still? Premade Raid? Foundries are......
'A bit' doesn't begin to describe how difficult solo content is for squishy classes. Try taking a freshly levelled CW into the Portal to Tuern quest, even in full 115 blues. It's brutal.
At least an OP can complete it, even if it takes longer.
60+ content seriously needs to be looked at if Neverwinter wants to keep existing players and attract new ones.
One thing that I used to greatly enjoy doing prior to mod 6 was leveling up companions. For some companions that were especially fun, I'd put some crazy enchantments and gear on them and see what they could do. For instance, it was a lot of fun springing my phase spider on unsuspecting witherers, and my powrie Teelu is truly the right hand of death. To this day I'm amazed that we still don't have any goblin companions. Goblins are way too much fun to not have as one.
Two things have prevented me from enjoying this since mod 6: first, the inactive companion limit, and second, the difficulty of critters.
My main has 96 companions: at any time she has 91 inactive and 5 active. That leaves 5 inactive slots open that I'm reluctant to fill in case one comes along that I really want (such as the aforementioned goblin). I have an enormous backlog of unbound companions in the bank and unclaimed ones at the rewards agent that I can't enjoy.
The difficulty issue has two parts. The first one is that with enemies being so tough, I can't afford nearly much to "screw around" with a companion that can't keep me alive. Sharandar used to be a relaxing place to level up and try out new companions: now it's a tiresome, constant life-or-death struggle. Putting a new companion through his paces doesn't fit into that well. The second part is somewhat related: with enemies hitting so hard, companions just can't stay alive for very long. Sure, they can auto-revive once they reach a certain level, but there is still no way to really enjoy them before then, and after that point they're always dropping like flies anyway. This is another way that mucking up the difficulty balance has had collateral damage.
Blood Magic (RELEASED) - NW-DUU2P7HCO
Children of the Fey (RELEASED) - NW-DKSSAPFPF
Buried Under Blacklake (WIP) - NW-DEDV2PAEP
The Redcap Rebels (WIP) - NW-DO23AFHFH
My Foundry playthrough channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ruskaga/featured
You can add archer HR's to that list, or any build of SW. A paladin who can self-heal isn't a legitimate yardstick when measuring against classes that cannot self-heal and cannot wear plate armor.
Blood Magic (RELEASED) - NW-DUU2P7HCO
Children of the Fey (RELEASED) - NW-DKSSAPFPF
Buried Under Blacklake (WIP) - NW-DEDV2PAEP
The Redcap Rebels (WIP) - NW-DO23AFHFH
My Foundry playthrough channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ruskaga/featured
You genuinely believe that a very large number of people who seem to be able to get to BiS within days of every new expansion going live actually earned the gear in a legit way and didn't take advantage of various exploits that were never properly cleaned up and dealt with in the past that allowed them to squirrel away literally hundreds of millions of exploited AD?