Developer Blog: Return to Castle Never

strumslinger · February 2016

Orcus, Prince of Undeath, has come to Castle Never—and he’s looking for a new pet.

http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/9796503-developer-blog:-return-to-castle-never

bertrandx · February 2016

Those two new boss mechanics look cool on paper to me! Waiting until mod9 live release to try it out!

kreatyve · February 2016

Looking forward to this a lot!

krymkac · February 2016

Screw this. GIVE US GOOD OLD CN BACK! Seriously enough of recycling of old maps into "new" content. Not to mention what we have on preview under castle never disgise looks like demon heroics stitched together =S With 2k itl enter reqs. And its at least 3 times shorter than the old one. With 5 times fewer enemies. We could travel to Abyss for a change to fight demons. To enter a completely new dungeon. Cause... really... last dungeon we got was elol if y can call this 10 min corridor a dungeon. And that was mod 4. Four mods later and MC is the only real dungeon we have. With bonus areas and hordes of mobs. Rest was turned into boss to boss corridors with all the bonus stuff cut off.

I recommend new players who never got to do CN and other dungeons they removed with mod 6 to look for old youtube videos. To see what this game used to be like and what they are trying to feed us with calling it an amazing new content.

mrvincent1959 · February 2016

Is Neverwinter turning into a platformer?

kaenkira · February 2016

2 hours+ long dungeon vivisected and returned as a 30 min long shadow of it's former self... Since when is regression a good thing???

nealbeat · February 2016

For new people who doesnt know about old CN have a look at this and then share your opinion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EPHgecQCuA
CN was unique before all the Heroic encounters we have now.

Back on topic ,the new bosses are good so far but i'll prefer they get their own dungeon instead, just dont mess around with CN i know many people dont want this revamped one, instead of changing content just bring it back as it was. What you are doing so far is transforming dungeons in skirmishes/Heroic encounters.

two30 · February 2016

Defeating Cthylar requires keeping one eye on the terrain above you to avoid a messy death.

I wonder how annoying this will be for classes that cast a lot of ground circles. I put my cleric on hiatus because I was tired of staring at the floor. Swinging the camera from floor to ceiling and back again over and over sounds like a headache.

weaver936 · February 2016

You guys have DEFILED and gutted a CLASSIC and Precious part of Neverwinter. CN was once the high point of NW end-game content and now it's just trash. It's a shame that the devs do not learn from their mistakes and keep ruining even the good things about the game content. Ad changes, Mount Changes, adding the SH and changing the que system is all GREAT changes.. but actual fighting content... it's all abyssmal and what hope that the old glory would return to NW fighting content is gone. This "new CN" is nothing like what once was in Mod 5 and the Devs seem to think that's a good thing. Please don't trash the other Mod 5 old dungeons the same way..

dugakrum · February 2016

The 1 eye with flinging arms kinda reminds me of some DOOM Characters from ID ??

ionvnegativo · February 2016

the former version was superior, seriosly cryptic, ftw are you doing???

averisharyn · February 2016

with a bubble paladin it will take 10 mins and is a boring dps burn like all the other "epic dungeons." *yawn*

beckylunatic · February 2016

I really do not understand the mental process that led anyone to conclude this is what the players wanted when they asked for epic dungeons to return.

santralafax · February 2016

beckylunatic said:
I really do not understand the mental process that led anyone to conclude this is what the players wanted when they asked for epic dungeons to return.

I don't know what it is about, but it isn't about what players wanted, what had been promised (dungeons would be tuned for 70s content), or what anyone had asked for.

Same for making previous epic dungeons now levelling dungeons. It was nice to update the artwork, but not required for the job at hand. Levelling dungeons, really??

aleblain · February 2016

<blockquote class="Quote" rel="beckylunatic">I really do not understand the mental process that led anyone to conclude this is what the players wanted when they asked for epic dungeons to return.</blockquote>

EXACTLY!! I read them, then look to the distance and think: "Are they kidding?".

"Castle Never has been completely revamped! The length and flow of the map have been streamlined for a mor compact thirty minute dungeon experience". Ppfffff... I will no explain what we both players and devs know. We want adventures, no the crâp you have been doing! Day after day, you remind us of politics more than a videogame company... so sad!

theoddis1 · February 2016

how dare you call that castle never...

vteasy · February 2016

looks like you guys totally nailed it

kuppelknecht · February 2016

unbelievable.....

sangrine · February 2016

This dungeon looks very very impressive.
Demon hordes + Tal’gath the beholder + Cthylarr the Illithilich + Orcus, Prince of the Undead !!!!

This may be one of the best new dungeons since 2013!

There is only one problem, but fortunately, it's a small problem.
To avoid confusion, you should not use the same name as another dungeon (including removed dungeons).
Instead of using the name "Castle Never", let's use a different name such as,
"MalaOrcus" or "OrcusBog" or "Orcus's Tower" or "Orcus Lair" or "NeverOrcus" or "Castle Orcus"

One more thing, please remember to bring back the old epic dungeons, including epic Castle Never.
We haven't forgotten about those old dungeons, especially epic Castle Never.
It's been a long time since we got any news about the old, removed epic dungeons.

krymkac · February 2016

One problem with your theory. This "one of the best new dungeons since 2013" uses a part of the old cn map (ends where old cn 2nd boss used to dwell) minus all the bonus/hidden areas... area y still can see through cracks in the walls/windows/whatever. Just no way to get there. Yeah so "new" so "awesome"... mixture of demon heroics with primitive boss mechanics. 30 min? For solo run maybe. For a decent group - 10 min at best. And the fact it uses castle never map make the chance of getting old cn with undead hordes and dracolich plus all the secrets nonexistent. Behold elol take 2.

santralafax · February 2016

krymkac said:
One problem with your theory. This "one of the best new dungeons since 2013" uses a part of the old cn map (ends where old cn 2nd boss used to dwell) minus all the bonus/hidden areas... area y still can see through cracks in the walls/windows/whatever. Just no way to get there. Yeah so "new" so "awesome"... mixture of demon heroics with primitive boss mechanics. 30 min? For solo run maybe. For a decent group - 10 min at best. And the fact it uses castle never map make the chance of getting old cn with undead hordes and dracolich plus all the secrets nonexistent. Behold elol take 2.

Wasn't elol, albeit short, an original map?

krymkac · February 2016

It was original all right. Just hardly a dungeon. A skirmish at best. Same as this new "castle never". And it looks like all the old dungeons gonna be cut to fit boss to boss corridor format. When if they finally are back in epic version. That what happened to eCC/eTos/eGwd. Grindy grind.

sangrine · February 2016

krymkac said:
One problem with your theory.

It's not a theory. It's satire.

krymkac · February 2016

Rolf sorry missed sarcasm tag xD NeverOrcus sounds about right

ktrelis · February 2016

Castle Never has been completely revamped! The length and flow of the map have been streamlined for a more compact thirty minute dungeon experience.

Why? no one wants it to be cut short? One of the biggest complaints about current dungeons is they are all to short? So who's bad idea was this and when are you going to make a dungeon people actually want to play again?

ghoulz66 · February 2016

Know what's really sad? Those new skirmishes are gated behind a time limit. You can do dungeons faster than a skirmish...

WHAT WERE THERE THINKING!?

orangebang · February 2016

And the bad developers wonder why people are so negative. Just bring back the old dungeons as is and you'd already have a few happy campers.

cambo1682 · February 2016

I would love to run old CN again, that was the epitome of an epic dungeon delve. It was an exciting adventure and in earlier times the pinnacle of difficulty. That was the type of content that created bonds with friends and guildies in game. I shudder to think what this current team has cut out in the name of "streamlining" it. It did not need streamlining, it was awesome as is. Watching this game get butchered over and again into pug bait is like being forced to witness a beautiful classic car driven into a wall over and over again. Ugh.

malakut · February 2016

Here's to a better and improved CN experience!!

ghoulz66 · February 2016

RIP undead hordes...

Say hello to more stupid demon muppets. I just love fighting orange yeti, archons with legs, and legless imps....

marsambassador · February 2016

Yeah. Great. Huh.

Nobody cares. You guys always seem to overshadow your good news with a completely bonehead move that angers the player base and provokes a 20 page thread of rage. Why? Why do you do this to yourselves?

Developer Blog: Return to Castle Never

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