Greetings from the Mimic King

zerappus · September 2016

Question:

Which current Bound-to-Character items do you believe should be Bound-to-Account instead?

TIA

hastati96 · September 2016

Question: When will the old dungeons like spellplague come back (not as a lvl-dungeon-version)?

thegreatmikey · September 2016

When are you going to do everything that everyone has said in this thread, especially the things that contradict the other things? It should all already be in there and you should have just known to do it. AND you should have told us about it before you were hired! RAGE!

Heh. Ignore that above paragraph. I dunno what kind of good would post something like that.

Actually, what I want to know most is what is the actual state of your company's servers and when, if ever, are they going to be upgraded/improved/replaced. I know you don't have control of this, but I'm sure you could find out if you asked.

ravenskya · September 2016

Welcome! I'm hoping to be able to listen to the stream on Friday - but it depends on what work demands from me. As a PS4 player but long time ADnD player I have a few questions/requests.

Story:
1) I would love for my race/background selection to affect the world's perception of me. My TR is a Drow, and they send me into the Underdark to slay Drow all of the time, but no one seems to have an issue trusting me or even considers my race.
2) Smarter dragons - Dragons weren't supposed to just be large stupid beasts - they had super high int/wis and often out smarted the PC's. I want a dragon that we truly interact with/don't necessarily have to slay.
3) will we ever get to go to Baldur's Gate? I'd love to see what has become of it since I was last there with Minsc a few hundred years ago
4) Where are the good dragons?
5) I'd be interested in some Blood War story telling.
6) Interaction from the gods would also be interesting to add - I picked one in the beginning, apart from invoking I would love to have my religion play into the story some how.

Game Play:
1) Can I have a house? or a Cabin or something with a wardrobe in it to leave all of my fashion stuff? I'd happily build it on guild property. My extra companions and mounts can hang out there while I'm out defeating Lostmauth again.
2) I third the ability to mute/hide enchantment visuals
3) More (but not necessarily more powerful) endgame gear sets to chose from. It seems like there are only 3-4 end game sets of any value to really work toward. I don't really want ones that are more powerful - just more options for different play styles that are viable. I hate when in a game the end-game has everyone wearing the same gear because it's the only good option.
4) More places for companion tokens and Coal Wards to drop
5) Rework of the TR to make them more/less powerful depending on positioning. That's how a rogue is supposed to be played anyway: sneak in and backstab for massive damage then run. For an example look at the bosun's blade in Dragon Age Multiplayer:+500% damage when flanking only 10% damage when attacking from the front.
6) Give some love to the healing pally - make them more desirable for true end game material
7) Mote farming - this is not an easy task for a healer/buffer, characters shouldn't have a damage minimum to get the motes.

Besides that - Great to hear you are back on our game! Welcome back!

imperiousshini · September 2016

ironzerg79 said:
Here's a thought. A big part of a D&D character's background, story and personality hinge on a couple things: How you look and where you live.

So when are we going to get some revamps to the character cosmetics and appearance system so we can all create genuinely original looks for our characters, and what are your thoughts on player housing? It seems to be like the Foundry is a great tool for player created content, and seems to be the perfect framework for giving your average Joe a very powerful "home instance" creation tool that they can use to build their own little story in Neverwinter.

The only reason am still on the look out for other games, we build our SHs so big and tall and yet we can't even get in!
Help the role-players help the players that are not willing to grind everyday.

Other than that, my questions are:

-On which classes are we expecting reworks?
-When will the reworked classes be fixed again?

for example:
Devoted Clerics, a recently reworked class, has still so many bugs,
Prophecy of Doom doesn't recharge if the target is killed,nor it gives AP.
Divine Glow doesn't proc enchantments.
Anointed Action is not triggered by the Anointed Army daily.
Wild Hunter Rider is not triggering through the encounters in divinity.

-When will we get a day/night feature?

Protector's Enclave is amazing in night theme colors i can't stop looking at the sky during those events.
Imagine how awesome all the other areas would look like as well.

-When will we be able to personalize our characters more?

I personally would even buy a pack for more appearance options.

-When will the masterworks or professions in general give you this little something that will trigger more players to find worth in them?
SH weapons worth 6million, yet the grinding Twisted Weapons which you get free are better..

-Why are there so little transmutation options?
-When will we get more classes?

I know things are messy now,but when i am on the character selection screen I look at it, and it looks back to me, I see the classes and am not interested in any of them anymore,I play more DC i say, this class can be used in so many ways and even now after all this mods, you can still find different play styles for it.So i usually created another DC but not anymore,i have created and played more than 6 characters and even now 3 remain in my account.
When will we get smth interesting again that 'll make me say YES I don't mind grinding 8-10 campaigns with this class I'd do 20!

-Role playing, foundry and then different experiences that even players can provide is what makes this game so unique:
So why are you not giving us a chance to use them into the max of our abilities?
Why can't our characters get married? have some bonus stuff there.
Why isn't there a functional competition for foundry every 3 months with according rewards?

I can't say I want to stop the grind, but sometimes I want to take a breath, I want to go in the game and drink my tea, look all the different colors and unique characteristics each player has choose for their characters. I want to look their different armors explore the NW world more.Give me that option.

matiagronx · September 2016

beckylunatic said:

And the other thing is, for lack of a better term, an emotional attachment to how the game makes us or made us feel, particularly back "when we launched". The sense of wonder, adventure, and heroism.

You couldn't make a better point about what kept us for so long after all the tragic failures, apart from the awesome combat mechanics of course. The sense of adventure and heroism were tragically LOST when the ultimate prize for an adventurer, the LOOT, dissapeared from dungeons along with half of them..somehow someone decided to remove the loot drops and rolls that made the whole party shiver from ecstasy untill the roll decided who is the "winner" and presented us with a sterile personal loot that nobody sees, noone feels anything and 999 out of a thousand times loots are ultimate cr@p. This is going on for the last couple of years, it is NOT addressed by none of the developers and it was the most important part of this game's early success and also, apart from the constant buggy failures, played the most important part for Neverwinter's demise into a grinding facebook game with nothing to show for the Dungeons & Dragons franchise, apart from a dozen dragons who were treated so ignorant that Dragon became another useless add with no sentimental value..so WHAT are you capable of doing about this dear Thomas? You realize you may be the last of the developers that actually saw what this game was..

mynaam · September 2016

Hi,

Welcome back to the best mmo around. We,the players might have been beaten down with sticks over the last 5 or so mods, but we still love this game.

My questions:
1. In its current state PVP is a disaster. I used to love playing a few pvp matches a day.This is impossible in the current state of the game, unless you like being 1 shotted.Is there any plans in pvp to have players at the same pvp level,not tenacity success rate, to play against each other
2. I don't play foundry alot. I was recently asked by an alliance member to test his foundry.To say the least I enjoyed it more than mod 8 & 9 combined.This in itself will make me play more foundries. I do find it like digging for a diamond in a mound of glass. What improvements will be made on foundry
3.The recent class balancing was mostly well received and in my opinion well done.I do believe the GWF is to overpowered as it is now. I have seen 2.5k gwf's tank where 2.6k op's can't. not to speak about their complete dps dominance.The OP and CW NEED some real care both was victims of some vicious nerfs and are in real need of some care.What balances are planed and how soon can we expect it?

kreatyve · September 2016

I think a lot of the good questions about the game have already been asked, so I'll post a couple low-stress "getting to know you" type questions:

What's your favorite food?
If you were stuck on a deserted island and you could only have 3 things, what would those 3 things be and why?
What's your favorite non-D&D related book?

indylol · September 2016

Do you actually play neverwinter?

If so which platform?

Will you be active on these forums in answering questions and regarding feedback on glitchs which effect both console platforms?

Can i have a DM opened with you to relay a dozen or more game interactions that need reevaluating?

Finally, do you find it more important to look good or play good?

celticdaddy77 · September 2016

2 questions
1. When can we see a playable druid class? I am dying to play one
2. When are you going to open up more areas of faerun? like say Luskan or Waterdeep? I am dying to see Luskan

Again thank you so much for bringing this to ;life, I never imagined in my wildest dreams standing next to Drizzt or questing with him. You guys are amazing, and make nerd dreams come true!!!!

weaver936 · September 2016

kreatyve said:
I think a lot of the good questions about the game have already been asked, so I'll post a couple low-stress "getting to know you" type questions:

What's your favorite food?
If you were stuck on a deserted island and you could only have 3 things, what would those 3 things be and why?
What's your favorite non-D&D related book?

Really.... Having participated in other Q & A sessions with the Devs.. these types of questions make me rage the most. Because it's typically the ones the Devs focus on as time wasters and to distract from ACTUALLY important questions... ty for being an accomplice in their spin tactics... -.-

Unknown · September 2016

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weaver936 · September 2016

"Let's Tell Stories"

Is it just a part of the "story" that Lead Designers seem to function only as Scape Goats after major changes that the Community rage about? Was it part of the "Story" that Instability and lag were the reasons for closing down the Gateway and not Money?

I was actually impressed with the decision to do a Q and A session so soon after the removal of the Gateway.. I actually said in Alliance chat.. man.. the Devs are brave. But, then, it just turns out to be one of those "Hey, I'm the new guy... what just happened isn't my fault." Sweep it all under the rug... diversion tactics.

You want to tell stories??? It looks like your company already are experts at that.

ironzerg79 · September 2016

I also agree on the feeling of rolling for loot in a dungeon. Back in mods 1-4, I ran the epic dungeons religiously, even after I had my gear just to help other players or guildmates. There was excitement when you killed a boss, hoping the right piece dropped for your mate, or that they got lucky in the dungeon delve chest.

Now...the end of a dungeon is pretty flat. I appreciate that gear is buyable and grindable through other currencies, but there's just little sense of excitement without the best gear actually dropping in dungeons. And by dropping, I don't mean 0.005% chance because the developers want certain things to be ultra rare and prestigious, whatever that's worth (I'm looking at you, Legendary Rings).

And now that I think about it more, just loot in general is wicked awful for tho most part. These days when you kill a group of mobs, I look at 99% of what flies out in piles, and it's all junk that's not even worth the effort to pick up.

Finding magic items and getting cool stuff out of piles of treasure after a hard fought battle is another cornerstone of D&D that feels like it's been long absent from Neverwinter for a while.

kreatyve · September 2016

weaver936 said:

kreatyve said:
I think a lot of the good questions about the game have already been asked, so I'll post a couple low-stress "getting to know you" type questions:

What's your favorite food?
If you were stuck on a deserted island and you could only have 3 things, what would those 3 things be and why?
What's your favorite non-D&D related book?
Really.... Having participated in other Q & A sessions with the Devs.. these types of questions make me rage the most. Because it's typically the ones the Devs focus on as time wasters and to distract from ACTUALLY important questions... ty for being an accomplice in their spin tactics... -.-

Quite a few of the questions that people want answered, can not be answered due to NDA. So I give alternatives. I'm sorry if you don't like it.

genjundead · September 2016

zeatrex said:

theguiido said:

You're my hero I love you

genjundead said:

+1
hate certain epic weapon and armor enchant visual effects.
yeah their are a lot of people who ask for a way to enable and disable these. you're not the first.
arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter/#/discussion/1219823/epic-weapon-enchants-visuals
What they should do is drop everything they are doing right now and add this feature to the game where we can disable the effects, then and only then continue with whatever it is they are doing. On a side note, consider the following Genjundead:

Use the Edit feature of the website in the forums, do not constantly add a new post for every single point/quote/reply you want to get across people specifically. The Edit button was invented, use it. Have the same consideration for others comments as you have it for giving your thoughts on the game. It's kind of annoying having to by-pass like 4-5 long replies from you when you could just do that in one post as a whole. All you are doing is throwing comments made by others farther back and extending the pages to a thread that doesn't need to have so many.

Thank you.
clonkyo1 said:

genjundead said:
. . .
Soloing Dungeons is totally WRONG and shouldn't be possible at all.
I have to disagree with you here, this game is all about building your character. If I build my character exceptionally powerful, I want to see him/her exceptionally powerful. This is the whole sole reason we even play the game, to become stronger. Yes we play it to have fun also but as you have fun you also have a purpose and goals. And the main goal of this game or any game for that matter, is becoming stronger. If I am fully maxed out geared, I do not want to find my character playing on a level 1 map needing to hit one mob 20 hits to kill it, I should just 1 hit kill everything, it's common sense. You play the game to build the character, if you can not solo Epics for whatever reason and yet you are maxed out, then what's the point of playing the game? Not everything is just based off fun, there are reasons to play and one of those reasons is becoming stronger. Not being able to finally easy out everything in the game after all your hard work and time... Is a reason to not play at all.

Soloing Epic Dungeons is a sign of accomplishment, because one doesn't just jump in a game and 1-hit kills everything. Power creeping isn't a problem, eventually more and more powerful mobs/dungeons/skirmishes will be added to test your strength at some point. Remember, when Goku's level was over 9000, he didn't just go down under that level, he got far stronger and higher over time like we do in this game and every other. In fact, becoming better and stronger in life is what life and existance is all about to begin with.

You know what's worse than having a maxed out character and killing everything so fast?.. Having a maxed out character and dying even once in any dungeon or place at all because of a silly mistake you made while fighting.

thank you ill keep that in mind.
great references and comparisons.

not sure if they should drop everything they are doing but, i would like a way to disable and enable epic weapon and/or armor enchants.

genjundead · September 2016

goatfaceone said:
1 - We will ever get a real raid dungeon? something that would take 10/25/40 people hour+ to get through

2 - Any plans for Tiamat? any chance to make it an anytime event like edemo? lower donation amount? up the amount of Linus' favors?
change reset date so that on xbox it doesn't reset on Thursdays

no one wants to spend an hour in a dungeon or raid. if the reward is good enough though you will see some people doing it.

argrosch · September 2016

Question:

What are your plans for the Foundry?
And please don´t say there are no ressources for it, just use the ressources that are now free because of the Gateway-shutdown...

hastur905 · September 2016

What about a PvP event q, like war of the gods. It is a solo q and pits players with different god alignment against one another for special gifts from their gods for winning.

But if you were to ask me, the 2 biggest things that I want to see in the game is more dungeons. Specifically not gated like FI, like our old ones, t2 etc. The second would be making VIP worth something, I actively play 7 toons and the dungeon keys keep piling up as do the identity scrolls. The box key is nice but I have yet to get a legendary anything from one of those for over a year. Allow us to trade or sell the stuff, or maybe at least get 1 legendary by default for every 350 keys. At least when we could buy coals with trade bars I saw real value in VIP, I think when my current sub runs out it is unlikely I will purchase again.

genjundead · September 2016

ironzerg79 said:
I also agree on the feeling of rolling for loot in a dungeon. Back in mods 1-4, I ran the epic dungeons religiously, even after I had my gear just to help other players or guildmates. There was excitement when you killed a boss, hoping the right piece dropped for your mate, or that they got lucky in the dungeon delve chest.

Now...the end of a dungeon is pretty flat. I appreciate that gear is buyable and grindable through other currencies, but there's just little sense of excitement without the best gear actually dropping in dungeons. And by dropping, I don't mean 0.005% chance because the developers want certain things to be ultra rare and prestigious, whatever that's worth (I'm looking at you, Legendary Rings).

And now that I think about it more, just loot in general is wicked awful for tho most part. These days when you kill a group of mobs, I look at 99% of what flies out in piles, and it's all junk that's not even worth the effort to pick up.

Finding magic items and getting cool stuff out of piles of treasure after a hard fought battle is another cornerstone of D&D that feels like it's been long absent from Neverwinter for a while.

+1 needs to be heard. trash happens 99.99%

hadestemplar · September 2016

mimicking#6533 said:
Greetings adventurers, Thomas “Mimic King” Foss here. As the new Lead Designer on Neverwinter, I wanted to introduce myself to all you dungeon dwellers, give you a bit of background on myself and my dreams for Neverwinter, and more importantly to get to know you as well.
First off a bit of background on me and how I got here; I had the privilege of designing the demo quest for Neverwinter and pitching it over 7 years ago. Since then I’ve been on and off the team as a content designer and content lead creating zones, dungeons, skirmishes and PvP. I’ve moved on and off the team onto other projects such as Champions and Star Trek to help them ship, or get onto console, as well as prototyping other games that didn’t quite make the cut… or have yet to be seen… but my heart has always been with Neverwinter. And now I’m back!

But what you really probably want to know is, ”what’s my angle, my skin in the game?” Pretty easy, really. I can sum it up in one sentence. Let’s tell stories. I’ll be honest, I’m not a full on numbers cruncher when it comes to maxing out gear and stats (but we do have people on our team for that!) I’m a story teller, and have been working with the awesome Neverwinter team in creating stories and continuing stories from yore (fancy word for “when we launched”) in which you can adventure. I’m not talking full dialogue trees, but rather stronger story lines that give you more background into the world, how it’s changing, how you – the adventurer- have changed it, opening up new opportunities and catching the eye of larger dangers to Neverwinter and beyond.
Additionally there are many things I’m working to improve upon.
• Dungeon Revamps
• Powers and class Balance
• Strongholds
• PvP
• Professions
• and of course more Mimics
Now comes the fun part. I’ll be doing an “ask me anything“ live stream on Friday the 23rd at 2pm PT where we can get to know each other better. Andy has posted a blog announcement below. In the meantime, I’d love for you to prime the pump and ask questions here. I can’t promise to get to all of them on stream, but I’ll do my best.

Thanks again for being a big part of Neverwinter, and I look forward to our adventures together!

http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/10166833-developer-stream:-q&a-with-lead-designer,-thomas-foss

First of all, hi, and welcome back to neverwinter.

Alright, since there is tag>aks me anything<. So here are some questions from my side.

1) are you neverwinter online player. And if so, what u think neverwinter lack when u play game.
2) what other mmorpg games u have played, excluding startrek and champions.
3) is there chance to get assurance that u gona be active within neverwinter community, >forum, streams, perhaps even in game in some degree. <
4) are u plan make discussions when start working certain stuffs.. For example, crafting. U create new thread about what kind changes community think would be best for craft chanting, then through discussion find possible way to revamp, so changes would fit both sides, dev/publisher and community. After all there are lot of smart guys in community which can come up with great ideas and solutions...

I think for start enough 4 questions... its not like u gona run away

zeatrex · September 2016

Internet went out on me and the messages posted twice, deleted.
Look below, lol!

zeatrex · September 2016

whyrat said:

I'm mostly asking for mimicking's opinion on his desired *scale* of power creep. Is the current game aligned with his expectations? If not is it above / below what he thinks is ideal?

There are several design choices to allow comparative powercreep without influencing the effort / reward in the game... scale dungeon monsters to the players in party; or scale rewards to difficulty (easy / quick run has a reward handicap; similar to how XP from green/grey mobs is reduced).

But, are these solutions that Foss thinks are right for Neverwinter? Does it enable better storytelling when design allows characters to trivialize some older content (is that part of the reward they should get for spending the time and improving)? Is this sort of scaling what they want from a business perspective (as it entices people to spend money to achieve these high performance levels)?

Inherently power creep isn't good or bad, it's a question of what the game designer wants. It's telling though that the question is such a trigger though...

If I want to be weak, I would create a new character and keep it at level one. Again, I do not want things placed to my level when I surpass it, I do not want my abilities/stats/power reduced to a flat level because I worked a lot on my character to get it where it is and I want it to show, period. If what you want (not saying it is your idea entirely) placed in the game is because you do not have the time to put into the game then do not play at all, that is just being inconsiderate with those that actually do have the time.

weaver936 said:

Really.... Having participated in other Q & A sessions with the Devs.. these types of questions make me rage the most. Because it's typically the ones the Devs focus on as time wasters and to distract from ACTUALLY important questions... ty for being an accomplice in their spin tactics... -.-

You hit the nail on the head, and I doubt he will answer anything but that very question that has nothing to do with anything in the game you quoted from that other guy.

valynstarfire · September 2016

Alright, here are my questions.

Over the years, what do you believe the game has gotten right, and more importantly, what has the game gotten wrong? I mean in terms of mechanics, development, and even story. What really made you sit up and say, "Wow, now that is something I really enjoyed." What made you look at the screen and go "That is really annoying."

What changes do you intend to make? Storied content seems to now come based from Wizards of the Coast D&D releases, probably due to basic contract, which isn't a problem for me.

I echo many people who wish to see improvements to the Foundry and incentives for people to PLAY Foundries. Can we expect anything like more assets and options?

What marks on the game do you really want to make.

weaver936 · September 2016

Question: With the extreme reduction of Free Ad Generation in game, is there is consideration by the Devs of increasing drop rates and loot in Dungeons? There was once a balance referred to as something like Time vs Cash... people with More Time could use that currency to advance.. people with less time could pay to advance.

Wouldn't it be fair now that more time is needed to advance in game (relative to the day of the Gateway and considering the enormous Time Sink of FBI) that more Advancement should be given as a reward for that time in game?

zeatrex · September 2016

Speaking about the rolls and gear dropping in dungeons, I remember back in the days when I used to play how exciting it really was to kill that last boss in the dungeon and crossing your fingers hoping to get that one gear you need so badly. Heck, I bet most people became super religious in those moments, lol!

But that is not all, back in the days the kits scattered about in dungeons you could find were great, they really helped you a lot with building your character with stacks of much needed enchant and such to upgrade gear and so on. I remember myself even going around "kit hunting" in the dungeon and trying to find every single treasure chest possible also. I mean, "Dungeons & Dragons"... It's like telling you to stay in the dungeons and explore it, and I sure did it to find those kits and chest.

Now, the kits are freaking pointless to even get close too.
The chest gives you complete and utterly useless items.
There is no point at all anymore to explore any of the dungeons. I mean, it was a great thing the game had going for it and even that was totally NERFED. I mean seriously, what is going on with you guys over there?!

ironzerg79 · September 2016

zeatrex said:
Now, the kits are freaking pointless to even get close too.
The chest gives you complete and utterly useless items.
There is no point at all anymore to explore any of the dungeons. I mean, it was a great thing the game had going for it and even that was totally NERFED.

+1 to this.

zeatrex · September 2016

ironzerg79 said:
+1 to this.

They can make those kits in dungeons real great and helpful, I mean they can easily set them to give items based on what their name goes by:

Theft Bag: Give stat boosting potions.
Arcane Set: Give enhancement stones.
Nature Find: Give life potions.
Religion Set: Give runestones.
Dungeonering: Give gear items.

I mean, why not make the experience special when you have everything to do it?.. It makes no sense.

shazza53 · September 2016

Will we be getting updated recipes for Masterwork Crafting - in the hopes of keeping it relevant?

Unknown · September 2016

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Greetings from the Mimic King

Comments

RIP Foundry