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Q&A Follow-Up Part 2

nitocris83nitocris83 Member, Cryptic Developer, Administrator Posts: 4,495 Cryptic Developer
edited May 2019 in News & Announcements
Greetings Adventurers!

The second part of the written follow-up is now available (you can find the first part here)! Many of theses questions were also asked during the May 21st stream so they continue to be relevant to community interest and concerns. We will continue to review subsequent stream chat logs to assist with topic relevancy and priority.

Thank you @noworries#8859 for taking the time to answer questions on Scaling and Stats/Powers/Classes/Feats.


Q. The rewards for the dungeons are still not as good as needed. It is a mod 16 difficulty dungeon run with mod 8 rewards. It makes people not want to run any of the dungeons.
Seals are part of the rewards which allow players to earn new gear when running old dungeons and these typically get updated as the end game gear progresses. Rough Astral Diamonds are rewards for all levels of play which the random queues provide as rewards for dungeon runs.


Q. Why increase the difficulty but not the reward?
Assuming this is in regard to Rough Astral Diamonds, the difficulty of the dungeons kept getting easier while the rewards remained the same. The adjustments were made to put the dungeons back to a more proper level of difficulty for their rewards.


Q. Could you make scaling optional and make the rewards better for those that choose to use it?
This would not be a small task and would require separate queues causing players to be split between even more queues as well as making the queue system more confusing to use.


Q. Why do you keep making enemy's weaker instead of making players stronger?
It depends on what adjustment we are working on. If we feel that overall throughout the game the critters are too hard, it makes more sense for us to lower those down then to boost up every class. If a given class is falling behind other classes then we would boost that class to bring it into better balance with the others.


Q. Why not use percentage-based scaling? If you are at 80% of cap in L80, you should be at 80% in L40 content...not 20%
There isn’t one cap for level 80 ratings. As new dungeons/zones are added the critters will continue to get higher ratings. There is no comparison point to compare against to do that type of scale down as the game continues to grow.


Q. Why didn’t the player scaling down get done by scaling down power/hp/weapon damage and player keep other ratings?
The critters being fought in different scaled down areas have different rating levels. Scaling is intended to scale the character down to an appropriate point for the given content.


Q. What about the scaling from 70 to 80? Why is level 78 so much harder to accomplish for example?
The Undermountain zones, aside from the Runic Encounters and the Leveling Expeditions, are unscaled.


Q. Could we make Tong and Cradle not scaled as well?
For dungeon queues, only the Expert queue will be unscaled. ToNG and Cradle are no longer a high enough difficulty to be in the Expert queue.


Q. Do you feel characters (power, boons, attributes) are in a good place? Meaning, do you see them as needing successive fixes to get it right?
We are happy with how classes, boons, ability scores, and feats are working in M16. That said we have committed to watching how the classes perform through M16, M17 and beyond to make any additional adjustments needed for balance.


Q. Sometimes at the start of combat during boss fights, as a Warlock we don't build soul sparks whatsoever throughout the entire fight, will this be fixed soon?
We would appreciate any additional information on this so that we can investigate.


Q. Is there a cap for combat advantage and companion influence?
There is a cap for combat advantage as there is for the other ratings (with the exception of Power).
There is no cap on companion influence at this time.


Q. Is there a cap for outgoing healing?
There is no cap on the boost to outgoing healing at this time.


Q. Do you think that the combat is better now or previously in Mod15?
I find the combat to be more tactical and interesting in M16.


Q. Why are clerics not top healing?
No one healing class should be the most useful in all situations. The goal of having multiple classes able to fill a role is that they each bring their own style and approach to that role but are all equally viable to use.


Q. Are there any plans to address the issues with paladin AP gain being weirdly high compared to other classes?
We are investigating the causes of the issue, any additional information would be helpful and appreciated.


Q. CCs gamewide are super strong right now, there are a lot of reports of players being permastunned in dungeons or CC duration lasting way too long. Will this be fixed soon?
We will continue to monitor and tweak all of the balances and work on fixing any issues. For overall reduction in CC effects there are different equipment/boons/powers that can both raise resistance to CC and even temporarily negate it fully.


Q. Will the feats get reworked again within upcoming mods? A select few feats are good and have good mechanics but the majority of them are lackluster, bugged, or don't flow well with the new class playstyle
We will continue to look at feats, features, and powers as the game goes forward to make improvements or adjustments both for balance and to make sure that the different choices are useful.


Q. Will the devs look into issues with daily power triggers no longer being good? Now that daily powers take so long to get back, most mechanics that say they trigger when you use a daily aren't useful anymore.
There is always the possibility of adjusting some of those powers as we go forward, but right now we are focused on other balance adjustments in the short term.


Q. Can we get Auras and new ways to customize characters?
We are not currently planning on any new/additional ways to customize characters in the near term. All of the adjustments with M16 were to bring the game to both a better balance and a better overall setup to allow the game to continue to grow and improve for years to come.


Q. Can Wizards get STAVES as an option instead of Orbs?
We are always looking at new additions we can add to the game. At the current time there are no plans to add staves in as an option due to how the wizard is setup to hold/display its weapons, but in the future it could become more of a possibility.


Q. Do you plan on adding additional boons in the future? It seems as though there just aren't all that many and they aren't all that interesting.
There is always the potential to add new boons or additional ranks to existing boons in the future.
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Comments

  • agilestoagilesto Member Posts: 516 Arc User


    Q. CCs gamewide are super strong right now, there are a lot of reports of players being permastunned in dungeons or CC duration lasting way too long. Will this be fixed soon?
    We will continue to monitor and tweak all of the balances and work on fixing any issues. For overall reduction in CC effects there are different equipment/boons/powers that can both raise resistance to CC and even temporarily negate it fully.

    Yeah this would be great, if ever they worked. I have a R13 Elven Battle and it doesn't change a single thing when it comes to stun duration. It really feels great to be stun over knocked over stun over knocked. Really makes the combat more "interesting". I feel the need to add a "/sarcasm" because some things are not really understood by the team...
  • giz#2086 giz Member Posts: 190 Arc User


    Thank you @noworries#8859 for taking the time to answer questions on Scaling and Stats/Powers/Classes/Feats.


    Q. Why increase the difficulty but not the reward?
    Assuming this is in regard to Rough Astral Diamonds, the difficulty of the dungeons kept getting easier while the rewards remained the same. The adjustments were made to put the dungeons back to a more proper level of difficulty for their rewards.

    It is not regarding AD, it is regarding ítem rewards from chests that are more tan useless now


    Q. Could you make scaling optional and make the rewards better for those that choose to use it?
    This would not be a small task and would require separate queues causing players to be split between even more queues as well as making the queue system more confusing to use.

    K- Team dude, K-team


    Q. Could we make Tong and Cradle not scaled as well?
    For dungeon queues, only the Expert queue will be unscaled. ToNG and Cradle are no longer a high enough difficulty to be in the Expert queue.

    That is your opinión, as tong and cr can't be completed because of scaling bugs


    Q. Do you feel characters (power, boons, attributes) are in a good place? Meaning, do you see them as needing successive fixes to get it right?
    We are happy with how classes, boons, ability scores, and feats are working in M16. That said we have committed to watching how the classes perform through M16, M17 and beyond to make any additional adjustments needed for balance.

    Really? especially from you? At the warlock community we have no more tan hate for you. You completely ignored the class feedback and it resulted in a char that won't be taken neither as dps for dungeons, nor as healer


    Q. Why are clerics not top healing?
    No one healing class should be the most useful in all situations. The goal of having multiple classes able to fill a role is that they each bring their own style and approach to that role but are all equally viable to use.

    Except for soulweaver warlock, that is the most useful in doing absolutely nothing


    Q. Will the feats get reworked again within upcoming mods? A select few feats are good and have good mechanics but the majority of them are lackluster, bugged, or don't flow well with the new class playstyle
    We will continue to look at feats, features, and powers as the game goes forward to make improvements or adjustments both for balance and to make sure that the different choices are useful.

    Again, we did give you feedback from day 1 on preview. Yet you give us this after 3 months
    Devs hates Warlocks, they don't care about the class, they haven't any clue what it feels to have a Warlock as main and being absolutely ignored for most content, and i'm 100% sure that they hates/ignores DPS Warlock at all.
  • eoleeeolee Member Posts: 264 Arc User



    Q. Why are clerics not top healing?
    No one healing class should be the most useful in all situations. The goal of having multiple classes able to fill a role is that they each bring their own style and approach to that role but are all equally viable to use.


    Can someone in the devs team (or any player really) then explain to me how one soulweaver is supposed to heal the Worm boss fight in LoMM when the boss isnt targetable and is discharging electricity on party? We only have so many soulsparks.
    My cleric and my pally can build up divinity with tab and are successfully healing the group, my warlock cant build sparks without something to hit.
    Same for CR, during long AoE phases, how does one soulweaver heal without the capacity of rebuilding soul sparks if needed? Nothing to target either, and if lots of heals are needed because of the group, then the soulweaver is useless, again.

    I can heal cocoon and last boss just fine. Second boss i need a pinata...And thats not even convincing.

  • thefiresidecatthefiresidecat Member Posts: 4,486 Arc User
    edited May 2019
    Say it again , I will. Tone deaf. I'm gonna stick around for a week or so after mod drop to sell off all my stuff but I think after this I'll be taking an extended leave or quitting depending on the future of development too
  • vorphiedvorphied Member Posts: 1,870 Arc User


    Q. The rewards for the dungeons are still not as good as needed. It is a mod 16 difficulty dungeon run with mod 8 rewards. It makes people not want to run any of the dungeons.
    Seals are part of the rewards which allow players to earn new gear when running old dungeons and these typically get updated as the end game gear progresses. Rough Astral Diamonds are rewards for all levels of play which the random queues provide as rewards for dungeon runs.

    I don't know for sure what the player who asked the question intended, but I think it needs to be said again that the equipment rewards from Lair of the Mad Mage do not have useful bonuses. At all.

    They don't need to be stacked with +% damage bonuses to be of some possible use, but these bonuses are frankly terrible and a source of disappointment.

    Why would players want to restore a piece of armor that...

    ...summons a completely useless critter that may deign to attack an enemy for virtually no damage?

    ...provides a superfluous, temporary, and conditional bonus to some stat that we almost certainly have capped in effectiveness?

    ...gives a conditional bonus that is unnecessary (see above) and depends on an unsustainable condition?

    Successor armor being this bad is an issue. It would be wonderful if you would address the equip bonuses and stop introducing top tier armor that no one is motivated to acquire and use (Gallant set, anyone?).

    What could we do instead?

    - Creative and situationally useful bonuses like the pull effect on the Crown of the Undead.
    - Additional Power bonuses (visually satisfying for players, but not likely to be game-breaking in effect)
    - Bonuses to AP generation (assuming that the current, sluggish rate of AP gain is going to be the norm going forward and that current and planned nerfs to AP-generating artifacts and mount powers stand)
    - Almost anything that isn't what's on the Successor gear now.

    Sacrilege - Warlock
    Contagion - Cleric
    Testament - Wizard
    Pestilence - Ranger
    Dominion - Paladin

    NIGHTSWATCH

  • vorphiedvorphied Member Posts: 1,870 Arc User
    giz#2086 said:


    Thank you @noworries#8859 for taking the time to answer questions on Scaling and Stats/Powers/Classes/Feats.


    Q. Why increase the difficulty but not the reward?
    Assuming this is in regard to Rough Astral Diamonds, the difficulty of the dungeons kept getting easier while the rewards remained the same. The adjustments were made to put the dungeons back to a more proper level of difficulty for their rewards.

    It is not regarding AD, it is regarding ítem rewards from chests that are more tan useless now


    Q. Could you make scaling optional and make the rewards better for those that choose to use it?
    This would not be a small task and would require separate queues causing players to be split between even more queues as well as making the queue system more confusing to use.

    K- Team dude, K-team


    Q. Could we make Tong and Cradle not scaled as well?
    For dungeon queues, only the Expert queue will be unscaled. ToNG and Cradle are no longer a high enough difficulty to be in the Expert queue.

    That is your opinión, as tong and cr can't be completed because of scaling bugs


    Q. Do you feel characters (power, boons, attributes) are in a good place? Meaning, do you see them as needing successive fixes to get it right?
    We are happy with how classes, boons, ability scores, and feats are working in M16. That said we have committed to watching how the classes perform through M16, M17 and beyond to make any additional adjustments needed for balance.

    Really? especially from you? At the warlock community we have no more tan hate for you. You completely ignored the class feedback and it resulted in a char that won't be taken neither as dps for dungeons, nor as healer


    Q. Why are clerics not top healing?
    No one healing class should be the most useful in all situations. The goal of having multiple classes able to fill a role is that they each bring their own style and approach to that role but are all equally viable to use.

    Except for soulweaver warlock, that is the most useful in doing absolutely nothing


    Q. Will the feats get reworked again within upcoming mods? A select few feats are good and have good mechanics but the majority of them are lackluster, bugged, or don't flow well with the new class playstyle
    We will continue to look at feats, features, and powers as the game goes forward to make improvements or adjustments both for balance and to make sure that the different choices are useful.

    Again, we did give you feedback from day 1 on preview. Yet you give us this after 3 months
    Devs hates Warlocks, they don't care about the class, they haven't any clue what it feels to have a Warlock as main and being absolutely ignored for most content, and i'm 100% sure that they hates/ignores DPS Warlock at all.
    It's great that you're passionate about the class, and you're of course welcome to your own opinion, but Hellbringer is objectively good at DPS. I'm a broken record on this, so I won't go into the reasons yet again; I just wouldn't want people skimming the thread to think that DPS Warlock is bad, because it isn't. What it needs is to be played in very specific ways, because only a few of its powers and class features are viable.

    Soulweaver obviously has issues since its high damage doesn't mean much when there are encounters it can't reasonably handle healing-wise.
    Sacrilege - Warlock
    Contagion - Cleric
    Testament - Wizard
    Pestilence - Ranger
    Dominion - Paladin

    NIGHTSWATCH

  • mordekai#1901 mordekai Member Posts: 1,598 Arc User

    ... if you don't use reroll tokens it's always the same lowest RAD reward...

    Sorry, that's just ridiculous.
    I regularly regret using re-rolls after I end up with less than the first offer, which is often the highest of the 5 or 6 offers.

    By all means exaggerate, that's part of what an internet forum is for... but flat out bull HAMSTER doesn't help anyone.
  • mordekai#1901 mordekai Member Posts: 1,598 Arc User
    edited May 2019

    ... if you don't use reroll tokens it's always the same lowest RAD reward...

    Sorry, that's just ridiculous.
    I regularly regret using re-rolls after I end up with less than the first offer, which is often the highest of the 5 or 6 offers.

    By all means exaggerate, that's part of what an internet forum is for... but flat out bull HAMSTER doesn't help anyone.
    You can do your own statistics all over the dungeons, how often you hit the lowest reward. We both will never come to the same average. So, i did my tests, otherwise i wouldn't write this. they for sure tailoring everything for any account in the background, like they do with the lootboxes.
    Would you like me to walk you, word by word, through your statement and focus on the word "always" and explain what it means? Because if English is a second language for you, or you;re not that familiar I apologise and understand.

    But I just did a quick tally.
    I've done three group dungeons and four solo skirmishes since I made my reply to you.
    I used rerolls on all of them and only two chests out of seven had the lowest offer on the first opening.


    Edited to Add: There are things that actually NEED addressing by Cryptic. Fine tuning classes, tweaking companions, plenty of stuff in Professions, dungeon complexity at L70, and other stuff that is genuinely in need of fixing.
    Making HAMSTER up to complain about is unnecessary, because if you do feel the need to complain, there are things that are worth complaining about.
    Post edited by mordekai#1901 on
  • mordekai#1901 mordekai Member Posts: 1,598 Arc User
    edited May 2019
    Double post
    Post edited by mordekai#1901 on
  • darkcinnamondarkcinnamon Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 10 Arc User
    Any plans on actually fixing your new artifact sets?Like Music Box set?
    Just an example https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter/#/discussion/1248969/arcturias-music-box-artifact-3-set-bonus-does-not-work-properly
    Also pretty sure Trobriand's Ring set is bugged as well if its 5% dmg increase is actually works as separate damage number.
    Also you say just get items that reduces cc effects or gives cc immunity,staff of flowers set bonus grants cc immunity to party but knockbacks does not get effected by any cc immunity or cc resistance because for some reason knockback is not considered as cc in your game..
  • b4t1b4tb4t1b4t Member Posts: 275 Arc User
    Reading the first two replies to the question I must say my two cents.
    You say that the rewards are seals and in the past mods that made perfect sense and worked well but in this new mod it really doesn't work at all.
    All random ques out side of expert provides seals of the mountain and you say this gear is worth having right? Wrong knowing that the gear that drops from the ME are way better it just doesn't hold true any more.
    Random que reward not even talking about thet AD rewards is just plain wrong in this new mod.
    The seals feels a bit out of place because who will actually buy the gear knowing they are handed free gear in ME anyway?
    Also makes no sense knowing we are all maxed on those seals with nothing to buy with them at all.
    So ya the statement made really is disappointing.
    Look at it as a after thought when it really should not be.
  • robai#6206 robai Member Posts: 344 Arc User
    edited May 2019


    Q. CCs gamewide are super strong right now, there are a lot of reports of players being permastunned in dungeons or CC duration lasting way too long. Will this be fixed soon?

    This is definitely a wrong question (unless there is a bug I'm not aware of).
    It should be this question instead:
    Q. CC in this game is way too short to be meaningful. Will this be ever fixed so that we finally have a CC class in this game?

    My other questions to the dev team:
    Q. When companions (especially healing companions) be fixed? (they are about 100 times less efficient in combat than they were in U15, i.e. they do almost nothing now)

    Q. What was the point of scaling in non dungeons? Why slow down campaign progression for new players or new toons?
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