Here I will give you a few thoughts why I think I do not see the future of the current editing in NV from the position of a player:
The excuse to improve gameplay was used to deceive players ... all their enchantments were reduced in efficiency by up to 85%. From mod 16 starts a race in money burning, scrolls, RP and companions tokens.
The biggest paradox .. all they stole from playes will want to resell them but this time they have created mechanisms to block the progress of the player's gear.
1) In order to have enchantments at approximately the same values as in MOD 15 on RANK 14, you must upgrade it to RANK 15. (but its efficiency is reduced by 85% vs MOD 15)
2) APgain and recharge speed have been drastically reduced and now encounter spells DMG has been reduced and I have already seen a comment from Devs somewhere in the forums that we do not have to worry, because in the future it will be possible to get somewhere - now they have done nerf on encounters spells so I do not know if we want it at all.
3) Approximately half of the ratings we get from equipment that using a combined rating in every other MOD, will disfigure our settings and individual stats on equipment will do us even more.
4) By using opposition ratings that have enemies, the efficiency of all of our ratings is continually reduced (this is seen in the values of the M16 dungeon, where values are outside the defined 1-80 lvl), this will also be specific to each new MOD
5) BIS endplayer: Using insignias (which must first be upgraded - see packages in ZEN market) we will only affect 5% of the total statistics (24000 ratings max = 24% stats). With enchantment (which must first be upgraded), we will only affect 4% of total statistics (17000 ratings = 17% stats max). Overall, we will have around 440 000 to ratings = 440% max. But look - using the legendary companions (player bonus) we can control up to 10% of total ratings (up to 40,000 ratings = 40% stats = companions tokens from Zen market), new companion = new more advantageous bonuses, change is fine tuned to companion bonus but you must pay for new source).
6) This reduction is done intentionally. (eg guild boons although they should go up so they were reduced - that is to say to spit the players' work in the face)
When you look at how few ratings add a new RANK to enchantments, what happens when the next mod 17 comes out and rests on the basic gear (armor, artifact set, rings etc.) 12x200 combined ratings from IL and +individual stats for the 3 stats x200 ratings x12? 12x200x8 + 3 * 200x12 = Add 26400 ratings to stats (only from equipment). Equipment after a couple of MODs eliminates the value of enchantsments or will have to run a marathon raising RANK for enchantment (the same goes for companions). I think they're going to start a marathon and they'll correct it through opposition statistics (or buffs), and shatter back through the statistics scale or IL on character. In the next mod, for the above reasons, the investment quickly burns up and starts again with the same result but with different values to balance the character (according to the new equipment).
In doing so, it was enough to put smaller values on the ratings of the equipment and not give such high values on companion stats - but this would not fulfill the pursued secondary purpose - and I think the current resources (from M15) are reduced to a minimum + creating a rapid inflation of resources and the need for frequent rebalance resources + creating new resources at multiple locations that will require investment. The result is the elimination of differences between average and BIS players, elimination of equipment life and enchantment.
Communication on forums between Devs and players is just one thing: they collect the information they need and gradually apply their plan, which, if known from the beginning, no one will run on the preview server.
Thank you for playing 3 years when I enjoyed it but I had too much confidence in you.
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adinosiiMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 4,294Arc User
Speaking of the claim tab. It would be nice if the boxes didn't all look the same. A lot of people don't read the description before selecting and will be upset when they end up with a runestone, they can't exchange, instead of an enchantment they wanted.
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adinosiiMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 4,294Arc User
edited April 2019
I just finished running some tests with a stopwatch. Basically I wanted to compare the time it takes to do solo content in Mod 16, compared to mod 15.
I used the same character - a "close to BiS" Cleric. IL 18.6K lvl 70 in Mod 15 and IL 23K lvl 80 in Mod 16. I did content where I could be certain I had to fight the exact same mobs.
The bottom line is that the content takes about 50% longer in Mod 16, for example, Dread Spire took 3:29 in Mod 15, but 5:27 in Mod 16. This seems to be for three reasons.
I don't one-shot mobs like I used to - actual fights take longer.
I run slower (reduced Movement).
As a Cleric, I occasionally have to stand still and hole [Tab] down to recharge.
The extra 50% is pretty consistent across different levels of difficulty, but it applies only to me as a Cleric - I make no claims regarding other classes.
I just finished running some tests with a stopwatch. Basically I wanted to compare the time it takes to do solo content in Mod 16, compared to mod 15.
I used the same character - a "close to BiS" Cleric. IL 18.6K lvl 17 in Mod 15 and IL 23K lvl 80 in Mod 16. I did content where I could be certain I had to fight the exact same mobs.
The bottom line is that the content takes about 50% longer in Mod 16, for example, Dread Spire took 3:29 in Mod 15, but 5:27 in Mod 16. This seems to be for three reasons.
I don't one-shot mobs like I used to - actual fights take longer.
I run slower (reduced Movement).
As a Cleric, I occasionally have to stand still and hole [Tab] down to recharge.
The extra 50% is pretty consistent across different levels of difficulty, but it applies only to me as a Cleric - I make no claims regarding other classes.
That sounds accurate. Matches my experience on my Arbiter. If this were the only change it would not be a deal-breaker. Leveling alts, dailies will all take twice as long. Frustrating change by comparison, but that wouldn't kill the experience so long as "Neverwinter 2" was fun. I only play support (and now Arbiter as Devout Cleric is merely a heal-bot) and cannot comment on DPS classes. But having religiously followed all preview threads, it seems Clerics are in a far better position overall then many other classes.
Clerics can solo comparatively well as Arbiter (played Arbiter for about 20 hours total on preview) and will always be in demand as (boring heal-bot) Devout for team play.
But zoom out to the overall team mechanics and party compositions and we have some serious role problems.
I am Took.
"Full plate and packing steel" in NW since 2013.
Day by day I lose faith in the company more than I do the game. Buffs gone, that's cool. Re-work to classes, yes needed. A return to the "Holy Trinity" great (although it would have been better to put your own NW twist on it). Inaction on the ZAX, weak. Still so many missed opportunites to remove AD from the game. Removal of build diversity in a D&D game, ludicrous. Goes against the core tenants of D&D. Enforced BtA emchants in trade for unbound enchants. Forces players into a lack of future choice, based on what? The belief that some people may make profit off of others lack of knowledge. Well ain't that just business? A change of combat system that removes everything that was special, worst idea yet implemented (especially bearing in mind PoE has just been released on PS4). A failure to apply anything of actual worth to the zen or WB markets, or implementing things that can corrupt the economy into them and just leaving them be. Boons amd feats are now utterly useless. Poor (which is an over-statement) communication from certain devs, leading to rotting or stagnant threads of feedbacl. New area that looks awesome, people have longed for lush environments like these. New interesting use of quest ideas, great for future creation of content.
You just seem to have lost your way. I respect the return to the HT model, but in today's world it just isn't enough. It needs that core value but with an actual 2019 spin, something that you could have delivered on, yet failed to due to perhaps funding (although many revolutional items have been created with nowt lore than a shoestring). Foss has said before that mod 16 was his brainchild, his vision. Should this truly be his vision, he is divorced from the reality of this game. I think he had a beaitiful idea for this game, but PWE red tape has tied this vision down.
I hate to be so scathing. I love this game. I hate how this ended this way
Day by day I lose faith in the company more than I do the game. Buffs gone, that's cool. Re-work to classes, yes needed. A return to the "Holy Trinity" great (although it would have been better to put your own NW twist on it). Inaction on the ZAX, weak. Still so many missed opportunites to remove AD from the game. Removal of build diversity in a D&D game, ludicrous. Goes against the core tenants of D&D. Enforced BtA enchants in trade for unbound enchants. Forces players into a lack of future choice, based on what? The belief that some people may make profit off of others lack of knowledge. Well ain't that just business? A change of combat system that removes everything that was special, worst idea yet implemented (especially bearing in mind PoE has just been released on PS4). A failure to apply anything of actual worth to the zen or WB markets, or implementing things that can corrupt the economy into them and just leaving them be. Boons and feats are now utterly useless. Poor (which is an over-statement) communication from certain devs, leading to rotting or stagnant threads of feedback. New area that looks awesome, people have longed for lush environments like these. New interesting use of quest ideas, great for future creation of content.
You just seem to have lost your way. I respect the return to the HT model, but in today's world it just isn't enough. It needs that core value but with an actual 2019 spin, something that you could have delivered on, yet failed to due to perhaps funding (although many revolutional items have been created with nowt more than a shoestring). Foss has said before that mod 16 was his brainchild, his vision. Should this truly be his vision, he is divorced from the reality of this game. I think he had a beautiful idea for this game, but PWE red tape has tied this vision down.
I hate to be so scathing. I love this game. I hate how this ended this way
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theycallmetomuMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,861Arc User
You cannot RLQ into content you haven’t unlocked right now on Live. You could actually add the missing skirmishes from the levelling zones to RLQ as well to significantly increase the content in that part of the game.
Also Tiamat would be Level 80 content under the suggestion, just Epic.
Oh, well there you go. Sounds good, have a complete proposal on my desk by Monday.
I’m amused to find you have a similar effective idea in the Rewards thread, wrt making the old campaigns leveling zones that are non-repeatable. Also all that has to happen for SHs is move the currency to the level 80 repeatable zones (among other solutions).
To be clear, I was being silly, but not dismissive-the idea sounds fine, hence why my proposal was similar!
So it came up in the community stream with Julia and Chantelle that we should post in the forums as to why people feel that solos feel like they are being pushed out. Well i have been doing that constantly but let me reiterate so you don't have to read like 30 posts of me complaining and just the one here.
1. The class changes that remove build versatility and force people in a restrictive role that is focused on serving a party. Like how is that anything but? You makes us good at only one thing with no wiggle room to make a class work for us alone and you wonder why solos are annoyed? The spellbooks/powers were even divided in half forcing you into one of 2 roles that are not flexible enough to stand alone without help most of the time. These changes were not quality of life improvements for me in anyway they are the source of much my consternation.
2. Power output Nerfs. Since the encounter powers were put on such long cooldowns we are less able to output damage and must stand there taking a pounding to defeat a mob, mean that DPS classes that have been forced to rely on tanks more heavily in order to survive long enough to let off their impotent powers again in hope the 8 guys with sharp sticks already in your body fall down and stop poking you. Being an Arcane machine-gun was one of the few ways a single squishy wizard could deal being outnumbered.
3. It was decent then it got worse. The patch previous to march 29 2019 was more challenging but still fun and i was able to stand on my own well enough. Then the current patch comes along and i am going down to enemies that i had previously been able to deal with. Again it feels like you are making players progressively weaker until they have no choice but to group. Like i was fighting a giant glowing T-rex and holding my own maybe evenly matched or a little under on monday of last week, then Friday comes along and a few fish people are suddenly spraying me across the walls when they hadn't the day before.
4. Gear recommendations. Some of the gear being marked as recommended will give a little as 20-50 of something but you will lose like 35,000 of something else, usually hit points and armor. it is as if the tool tips are trying to make you further more delicate. I used to think this was just a bug but the pattern has been so persistent in Mod16 that i no longer am sure.
5.Stat removal. You have removed stats that helped people stay up on their own such as lifesteal and nixed recovery which helped us get powers back faster so we could deal with challenges further. A good offense being the best defense.
6. Strange companion AI that makes like harder. My Apprentice healer will run all over the place and will sometimes run off and aggro mobs of enemies and then bring them right back too me even when i am battle. I wish i knew how to record video because Saturday afternoon this happened in every encounter to the point it would have been funny had it not been irritating.
I mean i come on these forums that i had ignored for 5 years and give feedback because i don't want the game to become bad or unengaging for me and it feels like i am talking to the abyss most of the time. We get little to no feedback and the stuff we do get doesn't add up when you think about it for too long. I tried to be patient and optimistic but i am not anymore. I now dread the 23rd.
Honestly, i think it would be wisest for me to Furlough the game until mod17.
Ego etiam cupo recrari et amari diu post mortem meam I too wish to be recreated, and to be loved long after my death.
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theycallmetomuMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,861Arc User
If I'm being honest, I'd prefer no at-wills at all. 3 seconds between encounter powers at which point I dance around is better than having to sit still and throw magic missiles.
I still have 35 unspent power points on my cleric that i cannot exchange. I really hope we can trade them on next patch...Otherwise, i would have spent money and gain nothing............not cool.
Our beliefs don't make us better people. Our actions do.
Something else I hadn't thought of until now. Powers recharge and magnitude have recently been stated to be a trade off. For example, for an encounter's magnitude to be increased, would also mean an increase in recharge speed.
As of last weeks patch (where magnitudes were dropped), there has not been a single reduction in recharge speed to reflect this, at least as far as I have been able to see.
When a producer mixes a track, he moves all the sliders accordingly to create balance. How do you justify a reduction in encounter magnitude to increase "effectiveness" of at wills without also adjusting recharge speeds for encounters too?
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rickcase276Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,404Arc User
Another reason why solos feel like they are being ran out of the game is the devs comments. Every comment that both Asterdahl and NoWorries give, even if the users' comment is about solo play, they always talk about the power or whatever is how it relates to group play. It is as if they are only building the new parts of the game for group play, or maybe the devs only care about group play, and do not want anyone to play solo anymore. I do not know.
Yes, we all know it is a MMO, but 90% of the game is still solo content, so they should make all the classes and paragons be able to solo the content that is supposed to be soloed, in a reasonable amount of time.
from 50% bonus dmg for 10 secs to 25% bonus dmg for 10 secs
so why is my dc sigil nerfed by 75%??
from 100% action points over 15 secs to 25% action points over 15 secs
this is totally unbalanced
@noworries#8859 For the life of me I don't understand what you guys are thinking. Do you really think that all these nerfs upon nerfs, removal of flexibility (spare me the "false choices" Bravo Sierra, please), hits to soloability in the name of group "balance", severe slowdown of gameplay, making boons, enchantments, and runestones irrelevant, making companion active bonuses meaningless, etc. etc. are going to go over well?
Do you really actually believe this? If so, you need to take a step back because to believe so is grossly out of touch.
This is what's going to happen.
When this goes live, there will be hell to pay. All those people who don't read the forums or who aren't closely dialed into what's going on in Preview are going to be in for a very unpleasant shock. Contrary to what the alpha-testers have been telling you, most players spend most of their time grinding campaigns, and they're doing that solo. When the buzz-saw of all these changes hits them, they're not going to applaud them.
They're going to be pissed. No joke, guys. This is what will happen. What you're doing is cutting the fun out of the game, and that's why we are all here. You're going to make a lot of people very angry and disillusioned in a very short amount of time. Maybe some of you weren't around for Mod 6: well, it's going to happen again. I can see it coming from here.
A conspiracy theorist might think that you're removing buffing in anticipation of introducing a spiffy new buffing class called a Bard. It's happened before, you know, when literally everyone's survivability got a nice swift kick to the teeth just in time for a spiffy new paladin to swoop in and save the day.
A conspiracy theorist might think that. I don't know if I'm there yet, but forgive me if I have just that little bit of uncertainty about your intentions. Even putting that unsettling thought aside, I can still see what's coming. On April 23 many more people than are on Preview now will get this mod in their hands. They'll slog it out for up to a week while their friends implore them to "just give it a chance". Within two days you'll start seeing truly large amounts of acrimony coming from many more quarters than you are getting now. By May 1st, you'll start seeing the numbers of players begin to drop as people start deciding that they'd rather wait for some modicum of fun to return while playing something else rather than suffer through the next four months in a vain hope that you might come to your senses. You did before, of course, though it took until mod 8 before we received any relief from the sadism that Mod 6 inflicted upon us. How many stuck around that long? My guild is still missing former stalwarts who decided not to wait.
I've seen it before. I suggest you look at that train coming down the tracks, because right as rain it's coming.
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
9
adinosiiMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 4,294Arc User
edited April 2019
I was looking at the calendar, and here is what I think we are going to get:
April 6th: Feature-complete build on Preview. There will not be any significant gameplay changes between this version and release, just bugfixes.
April 13th: Release candidate. This should not include any game breaking bugs. From this point, only selected major issues will get a fix . In a perfect world, this would be a "Gold Master" release with no known issues, 10 days before release.
April 20th: What we will get in this release will be what goes live, unless a massive showstopper issue is discovered over the weekend. This will essentially be the actual "Gold master".
April 23rd: Release
April 27th; Bugfix update, with fixes to issues that were found and fixed earlier, but did not make it into the release version.
That's about the pattern of all prior mods, so that matches my expectations. The only thing that surprised me was the April release date, I was expecting mid May. *shrug*
Obsidian Moonlight - Paladin Obsidian Oath - Warlock A whole lot of other Obsidian toons as well.
I think it will turn out like the import of foreign democracy to Iraq ... who does not understand that it can only be implemented after thorough preparation and gradually ..... then wants too much and in the finals has nothing.
Ok so going to put down my opinion, and see if I'm in the right ballpark on the new mod with positive/negative changes. Negative: 1. Lack of selection in skill points, etc. 2. Scaling is completely messed up 3. BTA enchants exchange 4. Things take 2x as long to run now-again more to scaling issues. Positives 1. Mod looks really good from a aesthetic point 2. Attempt at balancing all classes so everyone can run in end game and no set meta 3. Companion changes allows for use of different pets, no everyone runs same thing (tiger)
Sorry to say but in my opinion, the few positives don't outweigh the big negatives. Now I will stick around and give the mod a chance, but as the projections go, not sure how long I would stick around as it feels the game will have completely changed from what I have come to really enjoy.
There are two ways to look at things in business: 1) every owner would prefer a variant where investment in the product flows, but we know that it is a short-term issue and the market is running out quickly 2) The long-term and constant thing is when investment drips but constantly 3) You can't take something from players and then want to resell them.
My advice is: 1) Double your rating values to enchantments, insignias, and armor rein. kit (and increase the jumps upgrade for one RANK), let the runestone run where it is and the standard runestone also. Rating values for Guild boons and boons increase by 25% and increase the companion player bonus accordingly. 2) Apply monsters an unsurpassed Defense buff 0-50% by level incl uptime 0-X%. 3) Give players the chance to exchange enchantments and insignias as intended but limited to resale in length until the next MOD17 is released. Also allow the exchange of more statistics enchantments for less statistic enchantments 4) Move the issue of the release of the new MOD 16 by a month and fine-tune all the companions because it will be an investment that, if it fails, discourages everyone. 5) Introduce a new VIP rank that will give 1 companion token / day 6) Put some thing in the ZEN market that will raise the weapon bonus or defense but can only be applied through the highest level of master crafting and the weapon or armor is BtA. 7) Make Apgain so that the value that is added to it on the pointer for each use of any spell on the standard AP points of that spell. 9) Balance the rest and remember that it is better when dripping long and always.
I just finished running some tests with a stopwatch. Basically I wanted to compare the time it takes to do solo content in Mod 16, compared to mod 15.
I used the same character - a "close to BiS" Cleric. IL 18.6K lvl 70 in Mod 15 and IL 23K lvl 80 in Mod 16. I did content where I could be certain I had to fight the exact same mobs.
The bottom line is that the content takes about 50% longer in Mod 16, for example, Dread Spire took 3:29 in Mod 15, but 5:27 in Mod 16. This seems to be for three reasons.
I don't one-shot mobs like I used to - actual fights take longer.
I run slower (reduced Movement).
As a Cleric, I occasionally have to stand still and hole [Tab] down to recharge.
The extra 50% is pretty consistent across different levels of difficulty, but it applies only to me as a Cleric - I make no claims regarding other classes.
As a GWF I can say the same, everything is extremely slow now, the all the mobs/bosses in the game need a -50% stats, its not difficult, they cannot kill me, so its just a stick fight, there is no other word than "boring".
I was planning on posting what i dislike about this module and also what i like just to add one more to the list of the 45+pages of general feedback but i think my time would be of better use reading a book or watching a show. There is going to be far more things i like in the latest activity anyway.
So who are the "elitists" who actually enjoy this module 16 thing? so far the only one I've seen was Sharpedge saying how much he loved it on NWO uncensored.....anyone else just tickled to death by how great the preview version of the new Neverwinter is? what do you like about it?
Seems like he's been rather quiet lately. I've noticed several well known content creators have thrown in the towel.
Another reason why solos feel like they are being ran out of the game is the devs comments. Every comment that both Asterdahl and NoWorries give, even if the users' comment is about solo play, they always talk about the power or whatever is how it relates to group play. It is as if they are only building the new parts of the game for group play, or maybe the devs only care about group play, and do not want anyone to play solo anymore. I do not know.
Yes, we all know it is a MMO, but 90% of the game is still solo content, so they should make all the classes and paragons be able to solo the content that is supposed to be soloed, in a reasonable amount of time.
If anything sinks NW this issue will be it. Most casual to serious players play NW solo. If suddenly soloing becomes too hard (or even too boring) its done.
Not to mention the fact that I have 12 characters I got to level 70 from scratch. During all that time I was asked maybe 6-10 times to join in a group in a pre-level 70 campaign. People do not want to join random strangers in low level campaigns just to get stuff like dailies done and trying to force them too with have the opposite effect, it will drive them away from NW. And the whole ask a friend or guildie to help in bunk. The odds of finding anyone at a random time who needs to do that exact same campaign mission is low to nil. We have a finite amount of time to play we have to be as efficient as possible.
If a person can't get from level one to level 70(80) in a not only reasonably manner difficulty wise but also fun manner they will just stop playing. If this person is a new player to NW they certainly are not going to buy any type of Zen service to bump XP or bypass the campaigns because at that point it's been dull and tedious. From their POV all post level 70(80) will be the same. So why bother?
Yeah, M6 was a disaster for the game, and in reality was what started the road to out of control hamster that they're now trying to fix. They forced out a huge gamebreaking update full of bad ideas for making gameplay better that wasn't ready. (Sound familiar?) Which they then had to try to sew together into a patchwork quilt of fixes, patches, and buffs and nerfs. Which, over time, got so out of hand that they couldn't continue. And now they're doing the same thing again. Once was a disaster enough. Twice? The game won't die immediately, but it's survival will definitely be in question. I don't know if there is enough population to sustain the game long term if there is another mass loss like M6 honestly.
Normally I'm quiet and quickly workable for new changes, but for some reason I think that actually now you only want to cause larger reactions. So yes.. you have made HUGE reactions. But still we are trying to be optimistic. However, the more we are trying to learn how to play our class effectively, the more we are being disappointed. I think that wasn't your purpose with all these new changes..
We have played in preview over 4 weeks now and day by day I'm more and more worried. I actually understand your whole fundamental "game reset"-idea, but still I don't get it where the fun-playing point is now? Why you have made so overkill changes to all classes? That wasn't nesessary. For example, most of the most significant buffs and stacks has gone.. so: where's all the fun without party's synergy hits? Now everyone are playing their classes almost like soloing. No one cares each others minimalist buffs/debuffs or none-at-all-buffs/debuffs. Those are so tiny boosts that their importance is hard to even see. In my opinion over the years, NWO became the best party-play game in our time. Now unfortunately, the community aspect has gone and it will stay in history I really hope not..
I agree with you that class balance is had to be done and we had too many buffs- and stacks-mechanics, but why you took ALL those good stuffs away from us? Now it's like impossible to help smaller players in dungeons 'cause everyone want to get through and it's impossible with smaller players. On live we run dungeons through with 3-4 big support class-players and 1-2 smaller-players and what a joy and happiness it brings for those smaller ones when they finally get throug that hard dungeon and also we were so pleased to made them through. Now even we struggling with EASY dungeons with full big party players. Our damage done are so pitiable. I can't even think to take 1 smaller player along with us anymore.
You also took away all the meaning from campaigns - boons max is now 70, so why we want to run those anymore? Also those new boons.. meh.. how to say it nicely.. hmm.. I can't.. most of the boons aren't even attractive at all. What more you can offer on next campaigns or mods? More grindable gears and stuffs? What is the game's future? Players always love to see how their characters improves, but if it only works in changing gears, that isn't rewarding enough. Boons with special bonuses was lovely more rewarding!
I actually really like that new powersheet image and shorter tooltips, but I don't like the idea how to pick powers, feats and boons. It's now like "book for stupidys". Everyone have to pick same feats, powers and boons (don't have to study their class anymore), so there are none different playstyles inside classes. It almost feels like your thoughts about us are: "Oh my, oh my, they are soooo lost, so we have to help them. Let's do one simple build so everyone can pick that one". Really I don't want to feel in that way. I think that your purpose was opposite, but now we sadly feel to came numb dummies. So please give us more choises to choose our own path which matches our own playstyles. Don't force us to pick one and the ONLY ONE choice what is the right way in your opinion.
I sadly think that my play motivation doesn't last long with these current changes and you will loose one player who has regurarly sponsored in your game. Now this feels like a whole new game, and I don't want to buy it. Also I think that I'm not the only one. You can't trust your loyal players anymore. They are so frustrated right now.. just like you are with all kind of criticism and lots of improvement suggestions.
However in principle I think that you have done much a good job in the recent past, so I still try to trust that you can make right changes what pleases the biggest part of players. But lot of work is still ahead. You have already proven your possibility to make game evenmore hooking. For example Barovian hunts: players can choose runs hardness themselves. And Lair of the Mad Dragon was huge improvement event! Just loved it Please don't ruin that hooking idea with wrong choices. I wishes strenght and durability for all of you, 'cause all we want to see that new beautiful dawn will rise eventually
So what to do? I hope, you are seriously considering these changes before Mod 16 launch: - take back party's synergy hits (some significant synergy buffs + stacks) - take back some boons with special bonuses + in future more boons - make feats more versatile and free to choose.. and even more feats options
The default assumption of DPS players is that what exists right now is the final state of the mod.
It’s tragic that things need 2 encounters or an encounter and an at-will to kill now. It’s so bad that it’s unplayable (and other over extended hyperbole).
Yes players leaving is bad, but players will always leave, any time some cool new game comes along or some change happens that someone finds untenable. (There have been a few of those over the years, not just Mod6.)
Support classes have as much right to be viable and desirable to play as DPS, and the fact that the changes have made it so that DPS might actually need to bring a tank and a healer along on a dungeon isn’t the tragedy that many DPS players like to paint it as. Nor is it a trashed that the harder 5 player content isn’t soloable out of the gate for Mod16 (though no doubt it will be in time).
And just because, I have played every class on preview with my attention divided between tank and dps (heals really needs a party to test and my play window isn’t great for that), with 1 of each in end game on live and the others all “middle of the road”.
Perhaps I’m more “elite” as a player than I think, because mostly I find the experience of 16 to be fine. The areas where I struggle are all scaled areas and I expect that to be a major area of attention by the devs over the next few weeks.
Obsidian Moonlight - Paladin Obsidian Oath - Warlock A whole lot of other Obsidian toons as well.
Comments
The excuse to improve gameplay was used to deceive players ... all their enchantments were reduced in efficiency by up to 85%. From mod 16 starts a race in money burning, scrolls, RP and companions tokens.
The biggest paradox .. all they stole from playes will want to resell them but this time they have created mechanisms to block the progress of the player's gear.
1) In order to have enchantments at approximately the same values as in MOD 15 on RANK 14, you must upgrade it to RANK 15. (but its efficiency is reduced by 85% vs MOD 15)
2) APgain and recharge speed have been drastically reduced and now encounter spells DMG has been reduced and I have already seen a comment from Devs somewhere in the forums that we do not have to worry, because in the future it will be possible to get somewhere - now they have done nerf on encounters spells so I do not know if we want it at all.
3) Approximately half of the ratings we get from equipment that using a combined rating in every other MOD, will disfigure our settings and individual stats on equipment will do us even more.
4) By using opposition ratings that have enemies, the efficiency of all of our ratings is continually reduced (this is seen in the values of the M16 dungeon, where values are outside the defined 1-80 lvl), this will also be specific to each new MOD
5) BIS endplayer: Using insignias (which must first be upgraded - see packages in ZEN market) we will only affect 5% of the total statistics (24000 ratings max = 24% stats). With enchantment (which must first be upgraded), we will only affect 4% of total statistics (17000 ratings = 17% stats max). Overall, we will have around 440 000 to ratings = 440% max. But look - using the legendary companions (player bonus) we can control up to 10% of total ratings (up to 40,000 ratings = 40% stats = companions tokens from Zen market), new companion = new more advantageous bonuses, change is fine tuned to companion bonus but you must pay for new source).
6) This reduction is done intentionally. (eg guild boons although they should go up so they were reduced - that is to say to spit the players' work in the face)
When you look at how few ratings add a new RANK to enchantments, what happens when the next mod 17 comes out and rests on the basic gear (armor, artifact set, rings etc.) 12x200 combined ratings from IL and +individual stats for the 3 stats x200 ratings x12? 12x200x8 + 3 * 200x12 = Add 26400 ratings to stats (only from equipment). Equipment after a couple of MODs eliminates the value of enchantsments or will have to run a marathon raising RANK for enchantment (the same goes for companions). I think they're going to start a marathon and they'll correct it through opposition statistics (or buffs), and shatter back through the statistics scale or IL on character. In the next mod, for the above reasons, the investment quickly burns up and starts again with the same result but with different values to balance the character (according to the new equipment).
In doing so, it was enough to put smaller values on the ratings of the equipment and not give such high values on companion stats - but this would not fulfill the pursued secondary purpose - and I think the current resources (from M15) are reduced to a minimum + creating a rapid inflation of resources and the need for frequent rebalance resources + creating new resources at multiple locations that will require investment. The result is the elimination of differences between average and BIS players, elimination of equipment life and enchantment.
Communication on forums between Devs and players is just one thing: they collect the information they need and gradually apply their plan, which, if known from the beginning, no one will run on the preview server.
Thank you for playing 3 years when I enjoyed it but I had too much confidence in you.
I used the same character - a "close to BiS" Cleric. IL 18.6K lvl 70 in Mod 15 and IL 23K lvl 80 in Mod 16. I did content where I could be certain I had to fight the exact same mobs.
The bottom line is that the content takes about 50% longer in Mod 16, for example, Dread Spire took 3:29 in Mod 15, but 5:27 in Mod 16. This seems to be for three reasons.
- I don't one-shot mobs like I used to - actual fights take longer.
- I run slower (reduced Movement).
- As a Cleric, I occasionally have to stand still and hole [Tab] down to recharge.
The extra 50% is pretty consistent across different levels of difficulty, but it applies only to me as a Cleric - I make no claims regarding other classes.If this were the only change it would not be a deal-breaker.
Leveling alts, dailies will all take twice as long. Frustrating change by comparison, but that wouldn't kill the experience so long as "Neverwinter 2" was fun.
I only play support (and now Arbiter as Devout Cleric is merely a heal-bot) and cannot comment on DPS classes.
But having religiously followed all preview threads, it seems Clerics are in a far better position overall then many other classes.
Clerics can solo comparatively well as Arbiter (played Arbiter for about 20 hours total on preview) and will always be in demand as (boring heal-bot) Devout for team play.
But zoom out to the overall team mechanics and party compositions and we have some serious role problems.
I am Took.
"Full plate and packing steel" in NW since 2013.
You just seem to have lost your way. I respect the return to the HT model, but in today's world it just isn't enough. It needs that core value but with an actual 2019 spin, something that you could have delivered on, yet failed to due to perhaps funding (although many revolutional items have been created with nowt lore than a shoestring). Foss has said before that mod 16 was his brainchild, his vision. Should this truly be his vision, he is divorced from the reality of this game. I think he had a beaitiful idea for this game, but PWE red tape has tied this vision down.
I hate to be so scathing. I love this game. I hate how this ended this way
You just seem to have lost your way. I respect the return to the HT model, but in today's world it just isn't enough. It needs that core value but with an actual 2019 spin, something that you could have delivered on, yet failed to due to perhaps funding (although many revolutional items have been created with nowt more than a shoestring). Foss has said before that mod 16 was his brainchild, his vision. Should this truly be his vision, he is divorced from the reality of this game. I think he had a beautiful idea for this game, but PWE red tape has tied this vision down.
I hate to be so scathing. I love this game. I hate how this ended this way
1. The class changes that remove build versatility and force people in a restrictive role that is focused on serving a party. Like how is that anything but? You makes us good at only one thing with no wiggle room to make a class work for us alone and you wonder why solos are annoyed? The spellbooks/powers were even divided in half forcing you into one of 2 roles that are not flexible enough to stand alone without help most of the time. These changes were not quality of life improvements for me in anyway they are the source of much my consternation.
2. Power output Nerfs. Since the encounter powers were put on such long cooldowns we are less able to output damage and must stand there taking a pounding to defeat a mob, mean that DPS classes that have been forced to rely on tanks more heavily in order to survive long enough to let off their impotent powers again in hope the 8 guys with sharp sticks already in your body fall down and stop poking you. Being an Arcane machine-gun was one of the few ways a single squishy wizard could deal being outnumbered.
3. It was decent then it got worse. The patch previous to march 29 2019 was more challenging but still fun and i was able to stand on my own well enough. Then the current patch comes along and i am going down to enemies that i had previously been able to deal with. Again it feels like you are making players progressively weaker until they have no choice but to group. Like i was fighting a giant glowing T-rex and holding my own maybe evenly matched or a little under on monday of last week, then Friday comes along and a few fish people are suddenly spraying me across the walls when they hadn't the day before.
4. Gear recommendations. Some of the gear being marked as recommended will give a little as 20-50 of something but you will lose like 35,000 of something else, usually hit points and armor. it is as if the tool tips are trying to make you further more delicate. I used to think this was just a bug but the pattern has been so persistent in Mod16 that i no longer am sure.
5.Stat removal. You have removed stats that helped people stay up on their own such as lifesteal and nixed recovery which helped us get powers back faster so we could deal with challenges further. A good offense being the best defense.
6. Strange companion AI that makes like harder. My Apprentice healer will run all over the place and will sometimes run off and aggro mobs of enemies and then bring them right back too me even when i am battle. I wish i knew how to record video because Saturday afternoon this happened in every encounter to the point it would have been funny had it not been irritating.
I mean i come on these forums that i had ignored for 5 years and give feedback because i don't want the game to become bad or unengaging for me and it feels like i am talking to the abyss most of the time. We get little to no feedback and the stuff we do get doesn't add up when you think about it for too long. I tried to be patient and optimistic but i am not anymore. I now dread the 23rd.
Honestly, i think it would be wisest for me to Furlough the game until mod17.
I too wish to be recreated, and to be loved long after my death.
As of last weeks patch (where magnitudes were dropped), there has not been a single reduction in recharge speed to reflect this, at least as far as I have been able to see.
When a producer mixes a track, he moves all the sliders accordingly to create balance. How do you justify a reduction in encounter magnitude to increase "effectiveness" of at wills without also adjusting recharge speeds for encounters too?
Yes, we all know it is a MMO, but 90% of the game is still solo content, so they should make all the classes and paragons be able to solo the content that is supposed to be soloed, in a reasonable amount of time.
Do you really actually believe this? If so, you need to take a step back because to believe so is grossly out of touch.
This is what's going to happen.
When this goes live, there will be hell to pay. All those people who don't read the forums or who aren't closely dialed into what's going on in Preview are going to be in for a very unpleasant shock. Contrary to what the alpha-testers have been telling you, most players spend most of their time grinding campaigns, and they're doing that solo. When the buzz-saw of all these changes hits them, they're not going to applaud them.
They're going to be pissed. No joke, guys. This is what will happen. What you're doing is cutting the fun out of the game, and that's why we are all here. You're going to make a lot of people very angry and disillusioned in a very short amount of time. Maybe some of you weren't around for Mod 6: well, it's going to happen again. I can see it coming from here.
A conspiracy theorist might think that you're removing buffing in anticipation of introducing a spiffy new buffing class called a Bard. It's happened before, you know, when literally everyone's survivability got a nice swift kick to the teeth just in time for a spiffy new paladin to swoop in and save the day.
A conspiracy theorist might think that. I don't know if I'm there yet, but forgive me if I have just that little bit of uncertainty about your intentions. Even putting that unsettling thought aside, I can still see what's coming. On April 23 many more people than are on Preview now will get this mod in their hands. They'll slog it out for up to a week while their friends implore them to "just give it a chance". Within two days you'll start seeing truly large amounts of acrimony coming from many more quarters than you are getting now. By May 1st, you'll start seeing the numbers of players begin to drop as people start deciding that they'd rather wait for some modicum of fun to return while playing something else rather than suffer through the next four months in a vain hope that you might come to your senses. You did before, of course, though it took until mod 8 before we received any relief from the sadism that Mod 6 inflicted upon us. How many stuck around that long? My guild is still missing former stalwarts who decided not to wait.
I've seen it before. I suggest you look at that train coming down the tracks, because right as rain it's coming.
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
April 6th: Feature-complete build on Preview. There will not be any significant gameplay changes between this version and release, just bugfixes.
April 13th: Release candidate. This should not include any game breaking bugs. From this point, only selected major issues will get a fix . In a perfect world, this would be a "Gold Master" release with no known issues, 10 days before release.
April 20th: What we will get in this release will be what goes live, unless a massive showstopper issue is discovered over the weekend. This will essentially be the actual "Gold master".
April 23rd: Release
April 27th; Bugfix update, with fixes to issues that were found and fixed earlier, but did not make it into the release version.
Obsidian Oath - Warlock
A whole lot of other Obsidian toons as well.
Negative:
1. Lack of selection in skill points, etc.
2. Scaling is completely messed up
3. BTA enchants exchange
4. Things take 2x as long to run now-again more to scaling issues.
Positives
1. Mod looks really good from a aesthetic point
2. Attempt at balancing all classes so everyone can run in end game and no set meta
3. Companion changes allows for use of different pets, no everyone runs same thing (tiger)
Sorry to say but in my opinion, the few positives don't outweigh the big negatives.
Now I will stick around and give the mod a chance, but as the projections go, not sure how long I would stick around as it feels the game will have completely changed from what I have come to really enjoy.
1) every owner would prefer a variant where investment in the product flows, but we know that it is a short-term issue and the market is running out quickly
2) The long-term and constant thing is when investment drips but constantly
3) You can't take something from players and then want to resell them.
My advice is:
1) Double your rating values to enchantments, insignias, and armor rein. kit (and increase the jumps upgrade for one RANK), let the runestone run where it is and the standard runestone also. Rating values for Guild boons and boons increase by 25% and increase the companion player bonus accordingly.
2) Apply monsters an unsurpassed Defense buff 0-50% by level incl uptime 0-X%.
3) Give players the chance to exchange enchantments and insignias as intended but limited to resale in length until the next MOD17 is released. Also allow the exchange of more statistics enchantments for less statistic enchantments
4) Move the issue of the release of the new MOD 16 by a month and fine-tune all the companions because it will be an investment that, if it fails, discourages everyone.
5) Introduce a new VIP rank that will give 1 companion token / day
6) Put some thing in the ZEN market that will raise the weapon bonus or defense but can only be applied through the highest level of master crafting and the weapon or armor is BtA.
7) Make Apgain so that the value that is added to it on the pointer for each use of any spell on the standard AP points of that spell.
9) Balance the rest and remember that it is better when dripping long and always.
ps: @iamsmokingone#2455 I think you should do the same
Not to mention the fact that I have 12 characters I got to level 70 from scratch. During all that time I was asked maybe 6-10 times to join in a group in a pre-level 70 campaign. People do not want to join random strangers in low level campaigns just to get stuff like dailies done and trying to force them too with have the opposite effect, it will drive them away from NW. And the whole ask a friend or guildie to help in bunk. The odds of finding anyone at a random time who needs to do that exact same campaign mission is low to nil. We have a finite amount of time to play we have to be as efficient as possible.
If a person can't get from level one to level 70(80) in a not only reasonably manner difficulty wise but also fun manner they will just stop playing. If this person is a new player to NW they certainly are not going to buy any type of Zen service to bump XP or bypass the campaigns because at that point it's been dull and tedious. From their POV all post level 70(80) will be the same. So why bother?
Normally I'm quiet and quickly workable for new changes, but for some reason I think that actually now you only want to cause larger reactions. So yes.. you have made HUGE reactions. But still we are trying to be optimistic. However, the more we are trying to learn how to play our class effectively, the more we are being disappointed. I think that wasn't your purpose with all these new changes..
We have played in preview over 4 weeks now and day by day I'm more and more worried. I actually understand your whole fundamental "game reset"-idea, but still I don't get it where the fun-playing point is now? Why you have made so overkill changes to all classes? That wasn't nesessary. For example, most of the most significant buffs and stacks has gone.. so: where's all the fun without party's synergy hits? Now everyone are playing their classes almost like soloing. No one cares each others minimalist buffs/debuffs or none-at-all-buffs/debuffs. Those are so tiny boosts that their importance is hard to even see. In my opinion over the years, NWO became the best party-play game in our time. Now unfortunately, the community aspect has gone and it will stay in history
I agree with you that class balance is had to be done and we had too many buffs- and stacks-mechanics, but why you took ALL those good stuffs away from us? Now it's like impossible to help smaller players in dungeons 'cause everyone want to get through and it's impossible with smaller players. On live we run dungeons through with 3-4 big support class-players and 1-2 smaller-players and what a joy and happiness it brings for those smaller ones when they finally get throug that hard dungeon and also we were so pleased to made them through. Now even we struggling with EASY dungeons with full big party players. Our damage done are so pitiable. I can't even think to take 1 smaller player along with us anymore.
You also took away all the meaning from campaigns - boons max is now 70, so why we want to run those anymore? Also those new boons.. meh.. how to say it nicely.. hmm.. I can't.. most of the boons aren't even attractive at all. What more you can offer on next campaigns or mods? More grindable gears and stuffs? What is the game's future? Players always love to see how their characters improves, but if it only works in changing gears, that isn't rewarding enough. Boons with special bonuses was lovely more rewarding!
I actually really like that new powersheet image and shorter tooltips, but I don't like the idea how to pick powers, feats and boons. It's now like "book for stupidys". Everyone have to pick same feats, powers and boons (don't have to study their class anymore), so there are none different playstyles inside classes. It almost feels like your thoughts about us are: "Oh my, oh my, they are soooo lost, so we have to help them. Let's do one simple build so everyone can pick that one". Really I don't want to feel in that way. I think that your purpose was opposite, but now we sadly feel to came numb dummies. So please give us more choises to choose our own path which matches our own playstyles. Don't force us to pick one and the ONLY ONE choice what is the right way in your opinion.
I sadly think that my play motivation doesn't last long with these current changes and you will loose one player who has regurarly sponsored in your game. Now this feels like a whole new game, and I don't want to buy it. Also I think that I'm not the only one. You can't trust your loyal players anymore. They are so frustrated right now.. just like you are with all kind of criticism and lots of improvement suggestions.
However in principle I think that you have done much a good job in the recent past, so I still try to trust that you can make right changes what pleases the biggest part of players. But lot of work is still ahead. You have already proven your possibility to make game evenmore hooking. For example Barovian hunts: players can choose runs hardness themselves. And Lair of the Mad Dragon was huge improvement event! Just loved it
So what to do? I hope, you are seriously considering these changes before Mod 16 launch:
- take back party's synergy hits (some significant synergy buffs + stacks)
- take back some boons with special bonuses + in future more boons
- make feats more versatile and free to choose.. and even more feats options
Thank you
Best regards,
NWO player since 2013
It’s tragic that things need 2 encounters or an encounter and an at-will to kill now. It’s so bad that it’s unplayable (and other over extended hyperbole).
Yes players leaving is bad, but players will always leave, any time some cool new game comes along or some change happens that someone finds untenable. (There have been a few of those over the years, not just Mod6.)
Support classes have as much right to be viable and desirable to play as DPS, and the fact that the changes have made it so that DPS might actually need to bring a tank and a healer along on a dungeon isn’t the tragedy that many DPS players like to paint it as. Nor is it a trashed that the harder 5 player content isn’t soloable out of the gate for Mod16 (though no doubt it will be in time).
And just because, I have played every class on preview with my attention divided between tank and dps (heals really needs a party to test and my play window isn’t great for that), with 1 of each in end game on live and the others all “middle of the road”.
Perhaps I’m more “elite” as a player than I think, because mostly I find the experience of 16 to be fine. The areas where I struggle are all scaled areas and I expect that to be a major area of attention by the devs over the next few weeks.
Obsidian Oath - Warlock
A whole lot of other Obsidian toons as well.