Maze Engine Preview Patch Notes NW.60.20160404a.2

terramak · April 2016

Note: These patch notes are written as changes from the NW.60.20160307a.14 patch, live on Neverwinter as of 2016-03-31. The NW.60.20160307z.2 patch notes are repeated here.

Highlights

Power Balance Changes: April 2016
We've made some balance changes for a few classes and items. The notes below describe only the changes, not the intents. If you'd like to read more about the design decisions and process behind these changes, as well as give your feedback, these threads are your go-to places:
Informational Thread: Upcoming Powers/Balance Changes
Feedback Thread: Lostmauth's Vengeance Changes
Feedback Thread: Oathbound Paladin & Devoted Cleric Changes
Feedback Thread: Guardian Fighter Changes

Elemental Evil Campaign Changes
We've made the Elemental Evil storyline more directed and removed the walls blocking players' progress. Now players can run straight through the Elemental Evil storyline without waiting for Vigilance Quests, and they can progress through an all-new campaign in the process!

If you'd like to read more about these changes and give feedback, these threads are your go-to places:
Informational Thread: Improving the Level 60-70 Experience
Feedback Thread: Drowned Shore Feedback
Feedback Thread: Reclamation Rock Feedback
Feedback Thread: Fiery Pit Feedback
Feedback Thread: Spinward Rise Feedback
Feedback Thread: Elemental Evil Campaign/Existing Player Feedback

Release Notes

Content and Environment
Castle Never

If a player character is dead when Orcus dies, they now properly respawn at the nearest campfire, rather than the beginning of the instance.

Elemental Evil

The Elemental Evil zones have been updated, providing for a much smoother Level 60-70 experience.
The experience gained by killing enemies level 60 and above has been significantly increased.

General

Demonic Heroic Encounters: Demonic Closure: Demons now properly leash when dragged too far from the encounter.
Dread Ring: Sergeant Knox now accurately states the rewards given by the player's choice of instance.
The Mantol-Derith overhead map has been updated.

Combat and Powers
Classes and Balance

Devoted Cleric
- Feats: Gift of Haste: Now grants AP over 5 seconds, instead of instantly. If you are already affected by Gift of Haste, having it applied to you again will refresh the duration.
- Feats: Gift of Haste: Now places a buff icon on the recipient, instead of popping up combat floating text with every application.
- Feats: Gift of Haste: When casting Healing Word, Gift of Haste no longers fail to apply to the caster in certain circumstances.
- Hastening Light: All 4 ranks of this power now work once again.
- Healing Word: The targeting of this power is now more reliable on angled terrain.
- Healing Word: Buff tooltip now accurately reflects what the power does when applied in Divinity mode.
- Divine Glow: Modified tooltip wording slightly to be more succinct. Also added tooltip text to the buffs and debuffs.
- Divine Glow: No longer incorrectly states that the effect stacks 3 times when cast in Divinity mode.
Guardian Fighter
- Guardian Fighters will no longer receive a 20% damage buff for 1 second every 20 seconds.
- Mark: No longer roots the user in place when activated. Can now be activated while blocking. Animation changed to work with this new functionality.
- Aggravating Strike & Shield Slam: The scaling on these powers was not updated when we added the 4rd rank of powers. This has been updated, resulting in a slight damage increase for these 2 abilities.
- Aggravating Strike: Activation time reduced from 1.2s to 1s. This has increased the DPS of this power by ~20%. Note that this also means each individual hit generates slightly less AP, but the average AP generated over time is still roughly the same.
- Shield Slam: Activation time reduced from 1s to 0.9s. Damage increased ~14%. The combination of these 2 changes has increased the DPS of this power by ~27%. Note that this also means each individual hit generates slightly fewer Action Points, but the average AP generated over time is still roughly the same.
- Crushing Surge: Decreased the activation time of each of the 3 attacks in the combo. This has increased the DPS of the combo by ~16%. Note that this also means each individual hit generates slightly fewer Action Points, but the average AP generated over time is still roughly the same.
- Crushing Surge: Now heals on every swing of the attack. The first swing heals for 1/4 the amount of the final swing, and the second swing heals for 1/2 the amount of the final swing. Ranking this power up now also increases the healing value.
- Cleave: Decreased overall activation time of the combo from 2.41s to 2.25s. Increased the damage of the third hit by ~33%. The combination of these 2 changes has increased the DPS of this combo by ~20%. Note that this also means each individual hit generates slightly fewer Action Points, but the average AP generated over time is still roughly the same.
- Cleave: This power now has a cone area of effect, instead of a short cylinder. In addition, it no longer forces you to face a valid target, allowing you greater control over what you can hit with the power.
- Tide of Iron: Activation time reduced from 1.125s to 1s. This has increased the DPS of this power by ~12%. Note that this also means each individual hit generates slightly fewer Action Points, but the average AP generated over time is still roughly the same.
- Indomitable Strength: Now lowers the damage the target deals by 10% for 5s. Each rank increases this duration by 1s.
Hunter Ranger
- Split Shot: The "aiming" portion of this power no longer displays its visual effect to other players.
Oathbound Paladin
- Oathbound Paladins will no longer receive a 20% damage buff for 1 second every 20 seconds.
- Divine Protector: Duration reduced to 3 seconds plus 1 second per additional rank (6 second max, down from 20 second max).
- Divine Protector: Now reduces all damage you take while active by 50%, down from 80%.
- Heroism: Duration reduced to 4 seconds plus 2 seconds per additional rank (10 second max, down from 20 second max).
- Shield of Faith: Duration reduced to 6 seconds plus 2 seconds per additional rank (12 second max, down from 24 second max).
- Shield of Faith: Now decreases incoming damage by 30% (down from 50%) and increases healing taken by 30% (up from 20%).
- Aura of Vengeance: The damage proc from this Class Feature no longer counts as At-Will damage.
- Binding Oath: Modified tooltip wording slightly to be more succinct and understandable.
- Binding Oath: The damage dealt to other targets at the end of the duration can no longer exceed the Max HP of the Paladin.
- Feats: Echoes of Light: This effect can now only occur once every 15 seconds. The proc chance no longer secretly increases if you are hitting multiple targets. The proc chance has been increased from 1/2/3/4/5% to 2/4/6/8/10%.
Scourge Warlock
- Harrowstorm: This power is no longer capable of proccing Lostmauth's Vengeance on every tick. It still can proc Lostmauth's Vengeance on the initial hit.
- Harrowstorm: Now hits all targets on the first tick, instead of just the main target.

Companions

Shadow Demon: This companion's Active Companion Bonus no longer periodically causes its owner to enter combat.

Enemies

Castle Never: Orcus now waits a few seconds after the fight starts before being able to cast Finger of Death.

Item Powers

Lostmauth's Hoard: The damage dealt by the set bonus, Lostmauth's Vengeance, no longer scales with damage bonuses. It now properly deals Weapon Damage, as stated in the tooltip.
Control Wizard Templar set bonus: Changed the tooltip to read more clearly.

terramak · April 2016

Items and Economy
General

Beacon of Simril: Building six stacks of the Lantern Catcher buff now properly grants the full amount of Power stated in the artifact's tooltip.
Black Ice Shaping: During Double Professions, there is now a half-price "Upgrade Black Ice Forge" task to increase from Rank 4 to Rank 5.
Blood Crystal Raven Skull: The tooltip of this item has been updated to reflect that it now creates a Shield instead of Temp HP.
Certain dungeon chests now properly give a choice of one of two rings, necklaces, or belts, rather than just giving both options at the same time.
Loot dropped by bosses in non-Epic dungeons is once again properly given out on a per-player basis, rather than requiring a roll. This was already properly the case in Epic dungeons.
Potion of Fey Healing and Potion of Heroism can once again be purchased from the Sharandar rewards vendor.
The Bounty Master in the Dread Ring now properly exchanges Vanguard Scrips for Onyx Fragments.

Enchantments

Dread
- Now properly reduces the damage resistance of critters as well. The debuff also uses the correct icon now.
- The debuff and DoT applied by this power now both last 4 seconds as stated, instead of 3 seconds.
- The DoT caused by this power no longer stacks. Instead, the damage per tick has been doubled. Reapplying this DoT will keep the same tick timer but extend the duration.
- The additional 4% damage resistance reduction that is supposed to be applied by Ranks 11 and 12 now works.
- Tooltip heavily reworked to better reflect how this Enchantment works.
Shadowclad
- Now properly resets stacks when you successfully Deflect an attack.
- Each time you gain a stack it now refreshes the duration of the entire stack.
- The Stealth provided by rank 12 now properly respects its 30 second cooldown.

Mounts, Insignias, and Insignia Bonuses

Flail Snail: The active power of this mount now properly states how much damage it deals.
Protector's Camaraderie/Friendship: The tooltip now properly displays the amount of Power & Defense you gain when your companion attacks. In addition, additional stacks no longer provides bonus Power based on the bonus Power this ability has already granted.
Shepherd's Devotion: Now properly states "When you use a Daily Power" instead of "When you use an Artifact" in the shortened version of the tooltip in the Stable.

Zen Market

The Hunter Ranger Booster Pack is once again in the Zen Market.
The coupon, "Limited Time: 20% Off Watler" now properly gives a 20% discount, instead of 15%.

User Interface
Contacts

Non-repeatable quests with campaign requirements, such as the fourth chapter of the Maze Engine campaign, now properly have gray titles rather than yellow.
Players over level 20 now see exclamation marks for quests that are up to 10 levels below them, increased from 5 levels.

Queues

Queue Accept pop-ups now properly display even if the player's system clock is not synced to their local time.
The "Transfer" popup no longer briefly appears before the player is automatically transferred to a queued map.
When a player is waiting in a queue that then becomes invalid before it pops (e.g. Demogorgon or Tiamat), the queue's checkbox now unchecks more quickly.

Refinement

The Ward slot now shows how many of the slotted Ward a player has in their inventory.
When refining an item without a ward slotted, the prompt now includes red text to differentiate it from the "with ward slotted" upgrade prompt.

Graphics, Effects, and Animation

Certain low-poly geometry now properly renders with lighting.

Localization
Zen Market

The Void Locket now properly states that it gives Dread Enchantments rather than Shadowclad Enchantments when playing in Italian.

dodgo · April 2016

terramak said:
Items and Economy

Shepherd's Devotion: Now properly states "When you use a Daily Power" instead of "When you use an Artifact" in the shortened version of the tooltip in the Stable.

does it provide the right bonus? it was doing the recovery/ ap gain power not deflect wotever

kolatmaster · April 2016

Yay Dread Enchantment fix, yay!!!!!

yeskar · April 2016

Come on, please - I want to finally be able to donate all the Caer-Konig frozen treasures vouchers I created to advance my guild! It's been three weeks now, they are gathering dust in my inventory. This should be an easy fix, shouldn't it?

icyphish · April 2016

wow, this gotta be the best patch notes i have seen in the past year, great work, and very impressed with the response on fixing Shadowclad, thanks!!!

paukan007 · April 2016

Thanks for bugfixes, but posting balance changes to live shard without analyzing feedback and testing in both PvE and PvP modes is a big mistake, IMHO

obsidiancran3 · April 2016

Really all those class changes are going live?

Didn't you say you wanted extensive discussion on this matter and to take your time and get it right?

You think 1 week was enough to do that?

rapo973 · April 2016

obsidiancran3 said:
Really all those class changes are going live?

Didn't you say you wanted extensive discussion on this matter and to take your time and get it right?

You think 1 week was enough to do that?

Infact they have been discussed and they decide to keep them as they are. Did you really expect anything different? Welcome in NW.

Btw...Protector's Camaraderie/Friendship: another nerf.

blazious11 · April 2016

dodgo said:

terramak said:
Items and Economy

Shepherd's Devotion: Now properly states "When you use a Daily Power" instead of "When you use an Artifact" in the shortened version of the tooltip in the Stable.
does it provide the right bonus? it was doing the recovery/ ap gain power not deflect wotever

I get ap gain, stamina gain and movement when using a daily.

benistvan · April 2016

"Protector's Camaraderie/Friendship: The tooltip now properly displays the amount of Power & Defense you gain when your companion attacks. In addition, additional stacks no longer provides bonus Power based on the bonus Power this ability has already granted."

So you mean only the base bonus is stacking by power?
Or only 1 stack from Power that is.

absp · April 2016

@terramak,
Divine Glow also does not proc weapon enchantments. it was mentioned before, also in previous patch thread and OP & DC changes thread -

Could you please clarify these: its a bug or its supposed to be so?!

http://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter#/discussion/1214546/divine-glow-still-doesnt-proc-enchantments-needs-to-be-fixed

torontodave · April 2016

terramak said:
Lostmauth's Hoard: The damage dealt by the set bonus, Lostmauth's Vengeance, no longer scales with damage bonuses. It now properly deals Weapon Damage, as stated in the tooltip.

Someone raised this in another thread, but I wanted to address it again .. If Lostmauth 3pc is being fixed, is anyone looking at how 'Bonding Companions' are also breaking PVE with high dmg? If 'breaking PVE' was the reason for the Lostmauth fix 1 year later, then you might want to look at the companions. =X @amenar @terramak

wollebieee · April 2016

no love for the HR

blinxon · April 2016

torontodave said:

Someone raised this in another thread, but I wanted to address it again .. If Lostmauth 3pc is being fixed, is anyone looking at how 'Bonding Companions' are also breaking PVE with high dmg? If 'breaking PVE' was the reason for the Lostmauth fix 1 year later, then you might want to look at the companions. =X @amenar @terramak

Whats wrong with the companion? Thought something isnt perfect with bounding stones....

rayrdan · April 2016

really nice patch @terramak !
is the 40% defense debuff from dread enchantment now working right then? i only read about the 4% debuff.

edit: just tested on dummies everything seems to work fine.

can we hope in a fix for ambush ring and drains too? i would be another game after those fixes and this patch

ps sheperds devotion is not giving the right stats tho

kalina311 · April 2016

+1 Million
The Stealth provided by rank 12 now properly respects its 30 second cooldown : D
Thank you

P.S Kalina is comming for you shadowclad users : D

fizbad · April 2016

terramak said:
Divine Glow: No longer incorrectly states that the effect stacks 3 times when cast in Divinity mode.

So dDG has always not stacked correctly in divinity? That's what you're going to go with? No biggie, it's going to just be the only DC power that behaves this way (for no good reason, if I might add). Wow.

urabask · April 2016

Still no change to insignia drops? We really shouldn't have to roll for them in dungeons.

mamalion1234 · April 2016

kalina311 said:
+1 Million
The Stealth provided by rank 12 now properly respects its 30 second cooldown : D
Thank you

P.S Kalina is comming for you shadowclad users : D

i made a test to preview it fixed and yes the time came!

flyingleon · April 2016

Isn't dread too strong now after the fix? It completely kicks plaguefire and terror into the shadow. From now on, dread for all other classes except gwf and vorpal for gwf in pve, and in pvp everyone favors feytouched anyway. The balance of weapon enchant could not be worse.

mamalion1234 · April 2016

flyingleon said:
Isn't dread too strong now after the fix? It completely kicks plaguefire and terror into the shadow. From now on, dread for all other classes except gwf and vorpal for gwf in pve, and in pvp everyone favors feytouched anyway. The balance of weapon enchant could not be worse.

dread is better enchantment or equal to feytouched especially with those changes for high severity builds or and healer class can get benefit to their encounters healing with 75% severity.

you can see it also as another one enchant to stack debuffs. think about a pt with different enchants +dread.

warpet · April 2016

The experience gained by killing enemies level 60 and above has been significantly increased

if some of devs read this pls do not make this change just buff quests instead

rayrdan · April 2016

warpet said:
The experience gained by killing enemies level 60 and above has been significantly increased

if some of devs read this pls do not make this change just buff quests instead

nothing seems changed to me compared to those areas in live build.
what do you mean?

beckylunatic · April 2016

Unlike pretty much everyone else, I am not interpreting this build as due to go live this week, since I don't really see the point of having set up all those preview feedback threads for something hitting the live server immediately. I could maybe see trying to roll out the balance changes as productive feedback on those from the test environment is scant, but the build now contains massive quest changes to EE as well, and those warrant the time to mess around in them.

If we get a patch this week, it's going to hit Owlbear today, and honest to Ao, I hope it includes critical event fixes, like Portobello's race bugging out more often than not.

As such, I am kind of bummed that a bunch of important fixes (to bugged powers and enchants) are bundled into a build that won't be hitting the live server for at least a few weeks.

bonnine · April 2016

hastening light works now but offhand feature still doesnt give ap

olegius88 · April 2016

bonnine said:
hastening light works now but offhand feature still doesnt give ap

I am also waiting for this fix since an year... And the heroic Templar's Domain also don't work on DC + Searing Light encounter do lesser damage in full empowered mode, but it should increase the Armor Penetration per stack and increase the damage of it...

Maze Engine Preview Patch Notes NW.60.20160404a.2

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