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State of the game.

demonmongerdemonmonger Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 3,350 Arc User
End game pve is super easy mode.
End game pvp is no one dies stalemate.

The grind between has become boring.

The way the company changes the function of our old items and skill sets has become extremely frustrating, almost to the point where we dont want to build enchantment for our items or lvl up our gear.

The game has taken the path of a bag of doritos that has been open on the counter for a week... stale.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I hate paying taxes! Why must I pay thousands of dollars in taxes when everything I buy is taxed anyways!

Comments

  • mentinmindmakermentinmindmaker Member Posts: 1,489 Arc User
    Mod 17 will be decisive. If that flops too, we'll likely see another major exodus.

    Mod 17 must:
    * Give us pure level 80 content, and a LOT of it - so we can put the scaling messup behind us
    * Increase difficulty significantly

    Given the dramatic nature of mod 16 I can understand it was tuned a bit on the low side - and the scaling uproar and the fixes to that likely made game easier than the devs intended.

    There are a lot of very clear signs there has been a fairly big player loss from NW after mod 16:
    * Steam active player graphs are turned sharply down
    * In the PUGs you see a lot more green newbies now than before mod 16, meaning the veterans left
    (The veterans carry the knowledge of how to do things forward, so this actually hurt a bit)
    * Low activity/low online numbers in guilds
    * Panic flash sales just before quarterly economic reporting means NW is not meeting its financial goal
    (It really does not make sense to have 25% flash sales one week after you had a 40% general sale)
  • lukejones77lukejones77 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 282 Arc User



    Mod 17 must:
    * Give us pure level 80 content, and a LOT of it - so we can put the scaling messup behind us
    * Increase difficulty significantly

    pretty sure mod17 is going to essentially be a 'b' mod to mod 16, like with how mod 13 was a 'b' mod for mod12, tbh.

    Did you predict mod 16 accurately, before they explained it to us?
  • silverkeltsilverkelt Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,235 Arc User
    I dont know what any of you expects.. mod 16 destroyed the game, there isnt much they will ever do to make it fun again.

    All of those tweaks either way does nothing.

    The worst thing they did was "listen" to whomever thought this is what we asked for.




  • lukejones77lukejones77 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 282 Arc User

    i wasn't trying to predict mod16, beyond " cryptic will HAMSTER it up ", anyway.

    that said, they've said they're not finished with balancing passes. they've said pvp, strongholds, and professions will be done within the next couple of mods. there are two unused zones on the yawning portal map. do the math.

    I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Is the next mod significant work in areas such as pvp, strongholds, balancing and professions, or a "b" version of mod 16?

    What you are clear about, is that you think Cryptic will do a bad job of it - whatever they do?
    Well, if you consider the very major and necessary surgery done to the game in a single mod, do you think it's fair to come out with an assessment like that?
    Admittedly there was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth over scaling, people feeling less powerful, and "the easter egg" hunt, but really, I think it's fair to say that it settled pretty well within a few weeks.
    Big changes were needed, and, to their credit, Cryptic probably did more game mechanics fix-ups in a single mod than was done in the previous 5, over multiple years. We're back to the holy trinity (heal/tank/DPS), with the evils of the unbalanced meta pretty much behind us, and much to look forward to as they create new content for corrected class mechanics.

    Really, I think they deserve far more credit then you're giving them, given how things have settled over the last few weeks.

    Of course, it's easy to criticize, and I get that many "long term sufferers", given history, may have taken a "sit back and watch" attitude to mod 16.
    From where I'm seeing it, the thing hurting the game from now on isn't the devs - it's complaining players.

    Before mod 16, with the meta and unfair class balance, I really couldn't see a platform that could evolve fairly and offer challenging content. I couldn't see how new players had a chance to catch up, before this mod made it all about getting the mod 16 gear.
    I can see it now :)
    Of course, there may be so much whining about the changes that it fatally wounds the player base. We'll just have to wait and see.

  • nl54#3191 nl54 Member Posts: 145 Arc User
    "* Panic flash sales just before quarterly economic reporting means NW is not meeting its financial goal
    (It really does not make sense to have 25% flash sales one week after you had a 40% general sale)"

    Well, it's unrealistic for them to think that they can drop a mod that's off-putting to the majority of the player base and then still expect them to spend money on the game. If they are hurting for income it's their own dang fault.
    Ninurta - 16.1k Half-Orc GWF

    Ereshkigal - 12k Tiefling SW

    Aurora Ravensong - 11.6k Drow CW
  • hawkeyelhawkeyel Member Posts: 389 Arc User

    Cryptic has already came out some time back and clearly stated. That they are no longer doing "B" mods.
    Someone might take the time to find that post but that want be me.
  • sandukutupusandukutupu Member Posts: 2,285 Arc User
    Some of you seem to think they are just going to drop scaling altogether. Thomas Foss stated the scaling would return to Ravenloft once module 17 is released. I don't think they are just going to drop something they spent money on to create. Also the population (doesn't matter) always drops off after the Jubilee. It is Summer, people here in Michigan are taking vacations. I will be going on vacation in July myself. People don't stay inside glued to a keyboard when the weather has finally become decent. Population does not matter. If you take a look at the comparison to other games not even owned by Cryptic.

    Cryptic has sales during the summer months to tempt us to drag the portable along with us. They have a Summer festival event to get people to play a very poor game of soccer/football and pick flowers to get the pig companion. I have a pig! I am not afraid to use it people! The only people qualified to give us the financial statements (true state of the game) from Cryptic would be PWE or Cryptic's accountants. Maybe some third party would know some tidbits of information about Cryptic Studios and PWE, but those people do research and not random speculation.

    Facts I can agree with you about;
    • Neverwinter is slowly bleeding out players but so is Star Trek and a lot of other games.
    • Modules 15 and 16 are poor content quality and should have been better. Hindsight is 20/20, which means looking back at your mistakes you see them more clearly.
    • Removing the Foundry gives me absolutely nothing to do in this game between the modules. Obviously this may not apply to everyone.
    The players have to be held accountable for this mess as well. Two divisions exist in these games. Players who want to play in god mode and players who want a challenge but don't know how to express said challenge. In all games when you are fighting NPCs the AI (artificial intelligence) matters the most. If they choreograph the movements, you start to know what the NPC will do next. Fighting an NPC is not as difficult as fighting another player. Almost all the NPCs in Neverwinter (many other games) just run straight at you. They never will question your party size compared to their own. The never make a morale check to run away in fear. All the AI fight to the death, no matter their wisdom or lack thereof.

    Developers don't want to remake the core engine and provide better AI. Instead they add knock backs, knock downs, and stuns. The scarecrows in Barovia recently attack like the hulks with a knock down, which is much more pathetic than the ones in Lonelywood that still attack with a gazer beam attack. Putting a costume on a hulk and calling it a scarecrow, doesn't make it new, it makes it predictable. Spiders never drop down from high trees to ambush you. Ambush and surprise are not even within the realms of possibility for this game, as all the mobs are set to fixed spawn points.

    Game population don't matter, go have fun this Summer. The game will be here when you get back. <3
    wb-cenders.gif
  • exgardianexgardian Member Posts: 255 Arc User
    I want an Icosahedrun Ioun Stone.
    2fv72Fw.png
  • dionchidionchi Member Posts: 913 Arc User
    edited July 2019

    Mod 17 will be decisive. If that flops too, we'll likely see another major exodus.

    Mod 17 must:
    * Give us pure level 80 content, and a LOT of it - so we can put the scaling messup behind us
    * Increase difficulty significantly

    Given the dramatic nature of mod 16 I can understand it was tuned a bit on the low side - and the scaling uproar and the fixes to that likely made game easier than the devs intended.

    There are a lot of very clear signs there has been a fairly big player loss from NW after mod 16:
    * Steam active player graphs are turned sharply down
    * In the PUGs you see a lot more green newbies now than before mod 16, meaning the veterans left
    (The veterans carry the knowledge of how to do things forward, so this actually hurt a bit)
    * Low activity/low online numbers in guilds
    * Panic flash sales just before quarterly economic reporting means NW is not meeting its financial goal
    (It really does not make sense to have 25% flash sales one week after you had a 40% general sale)

    First of all let me say I am wholly uncomfortable with the appearance of walking into someone's house and telling them what they "must" do to keep me from walking out... especially since there seems to be a few thousand other people there and I'm just one person and one voice among them.

    I believe the primary failing of Mod 16 is Cryptic attempted to do too much, too soon - or rather all at once something they seem to have discovered for themselves and are presently taking steps to recover from.

    The release of new Undermountain content, character stat scaling, the complete reworking of player at-will and encounter powers, boons, companion, mount, gear and artifact effects as well as changes for insignia, runestones and enchantments... It was just too many changes all at once for most players. Whether that is indicative of a problem with the players or the game is probably at best, matter depending on one's personal perspective... ¢¢

    Even @mentinmindmaker who says on one hand some veteran players seem to have left the game admits we are seeing "a lot more" new players in the game and I agree. I disagree with @mentinmindmaker however in their assessment that only - or even primarily "veterans carry the knowledge of how to do things forward" in the game, the current roster of veteran players (myself included) learned their in-game skills somewhere and I know for a fact not every one of them us, learned their skills and techniques only from emulating game "veterans".

    As a matter of fact I can honestly say some of the most fun I've had in the game was learning how to do things in various areas, campaigns, dungeons and skirmishes on my own. Granted often my skills and technique were honed thanks to the assistance of veteran players, but I believe I was doing OK even prior to what I received later by way of assistance from veteran players.

    MMORPG game (especially "free" game) players come and go for every online game...

    For that matter online games come and go as well, but the way I see it Cryptic is at least trying to take steps to improve player experience as a whole (instead of just persistently kowtowing to veteran players) in an attempt to keep Neverwinter relevant for new players, dedicated players, casual players and veteran players...

    Not an easy or enviable task as far as I'm concerned but I will give the devil their due... at least they appear to be trying.
    DD~
  • mynaammynaam Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 937 Arc User
    edited July 2019
    What most seem to forget due to level cap increase we only have 1 dungeon .
    the Devs did not want to cause another all dungeons removed and most never return of the previous level cap increase and so left old dungeons level 70. AS new mods come out we will have more and more level 80 dungeons/trials/skirms.

    I am so tired of running me's but due to all the other changes they had to give us something to keep us busy so i am not complaining.

    P.S. Tanking need to be looked in though very few tanks around since tanking is not fun at all and this cause less dungeons being run and thus less time spend in game.
    There are more than BIS players in this game
    RIP Real Tiamat, RIP Real Demogorgon RIP real Temple of the spider. Why remove non bis content to give to bis players ????
    FORCING the majority of your player base to play 4 mod old dungeons and trial will have a bad result on player base
    Changes are getting so bad i would rather prefer no new changes (RIP ICE FISHING in winter fest)



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