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Mod 17: The good and, well.. the rest
adinosii
Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,294 Arc User
I must note that Mod 17 on Preview is not final - however, I do not expect any major changes, just minor tweaks and bugfixes between now and release.
Now, I was somewhat critical of Mod 16 (see the thread https://arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter/#/discussion/1246490/mod-16-the-good-the-bad-and-the-rest, but after spending some time playing with Mod 17 on Preview, here are my thoughts:
Now, I was somewhat critical of Mod 16 (see the thread https://arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter/#/discussion/1246490/mod-16-the-good-the-bad-and-the-rest, but after spending some time playing with Mod 17 on Preview, here are my thoughts:
- It is a bit hard to really consider this Mod 17 - it looks and feels much more like "Mod 16, part II" or "The module containing stuff that should have gone into Mod 16, but we couldn't finish in time for the release". It is not a major mod in any sense. There is no campaign as such, no new boons and a part of the new content basically re-uses the Mod 16 areas. By any sensible definition, this is Mod 16B, but they say they have moved away from "B" modules, so 17 it is.
- The module is in a much better shape than Mod 16 was at the time of release. I have said it before, and I will repeat it - Mod 16 was not ready for Preview when it was made available there, and it was not ready for release when it arrived. Mod 17 does not have anything like the issues that Mod 16 had - sure, there are some bugs, but they are generally minor, and should get fixed in time for release
- While there is no specific campaign, there are a few time-gated quests. Business as usual.
- The new appearance system is a big QoL improvement. It frees up over 40 slots in my bank and inventory, and allows you to just unlock dyes once and then use them over and over in any combination you like. There are some unanswered questions, like where you get 9 specific dye packs that seem to be missing, and there are some minor errors, but in general it works OK. There is one design flaw, though - switching between complete sets of different fashion outfits is much more cumbersome than it used to be, as you need to reapply all the colours. I am hoping that at some point in the future they will include something like a "wardrobe" where you can save a specific "outfit" - a combination of dyes and appearances - instead of having to use a whole loadout just for that, or spend a lot of time switching items and re-applying the right dyes.
- The new trial (ToMM) is tough - very tough - tougher than LoMM felt at first. It is great for the top 5%, who have complained about a lack of challenge, but this makes Mod 17 less relevant to the majority of the playerbase. I guess you cannot please everyone with a single addition like that, though.
- The new playable race was a bit of a surprise (personally I had expected Tabaxi), but in hindsight it is very logical - in particular when you consider Baldur's Gate III coming out with spelljamming Illithid soon. Not that it makes much of a difference - the racial differences are mostly just cosmetic, and with the Foundry gone, the opportunity to make stories about them is limited.
- The starting quests have been rewritten and streamlined. In some ways that's an improvement, but there are two flaws - one has to do with Wilfred - later references to him now make no sense whatsoever, and the redesign really does not solve the single biggest issue facing new players - their inability to communicate via chat or ask questions at the time when they need that the most.
- Stardock is a nice addition - although it is just a tiny area. I hope to see an expansion to it at some point, but I doubt that will happen.
- Crafting is a major disappointment. I thought Mod 17 would make crafting relevant again, but we are just getting some minor new recipes, new tools that basically make the legendary tools obsolete and worthless and no new masterwork recipes. This basically means that all the work spent on revising the crafting system feels wasted, as crafting just isn't worth spending time on.
- New gear - well, we get a new weapon set with a slightly increased base damage, a new artifact set with a somewhat weird bonus and a lot of other gear, including some companion gear. Overall, nothing game-changing, but basically just what was to be expected.
- PvP. Ah, yes... there are some PvP changes - but I'm not really qualified to comment on those, so I'll leave that to someone else.
Hoping for improvements...
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Comments
The New expeditions do offer new shirt/pants and companion gear...which is certainly something that most players can get excited for.
We can still make some useful potions.
We can make some items with unusual looks that are usable in the new appearance/transmute system.
We used to be able to make BiS pants (and decent shirts), but that's no longer the case.
We used to be able to make Masterwork Weapons and some Armor pieces that were BiS at least for some builds, but that's no longer the case.
That's it...I think.
10B was larger than 13 and served the same purpose but wasn't a "full module"
I mean, who wouldn't pass up the opportunity to get a VIP discount on Profession Packs just because Cryptic nuked everything you spent on professions just a little while ago?
Sometimes, you just have to wonder at the disconnect they have between "what they are offering for sale" and "why would any player actually pay X for this item?".
So I'll treat it the same way I treated those: I'll do ME's and if I get the +4 item, I'll consider it good enough and call it a day.
And I fully expect that the Top 5% will bitterly complain that they have to do the Gold Ring Chase along with everyone else, like they did back in Mod 12/13 when they had to slum around with the plebs in order to get their gold rings instead of speed-run TONG to get their BIS gear.
I am very disappointed that professions didn't get much of an upgrade. There had better be an update by the end of the year.
I mean, the last official word on the matter was "We're looking into it." a good while ago, and i'd like to know what they have seen this far and when/how they plan to fix this mess?!
Btw. will logging into the game after the release of Uprising as ViP (or two weeks later as F2P) player be enough to unlock the Gith for good, or do we have to create a new character/race reroll an existing character for that?
> So, no changes to companions in Uprising? Great... at this point i'm left wondering if the Devs even know how broken and fudged up companions since the release of Undermountain.
>
> I mean, the last official word on the matter was "We're looking into it." a good while ago, and i'd like to know what they have seen this far and when/how they plan to fix this mess?!
>
> Btw. will logging into the game after the release of Uprising as ViP (or two weeks later as F2P) player be enough to unlock the Gith for good, or do we have to create a new character/race reroll an existing character for that?
Logging onto on of your existing characters will be enough
Given that Mod16 required a number of extra fixes, post-release, things had to fall out of the mod17 deliverables. In other words, blame mod16 for biting off more than it could chew.
So somebody somewhere is doing professions.
> I think we should try to stop seeing ToMM as only completable by 5% of players and start looking at it like a challenge for 95% of us. It is something to strive for and a long term goal during this downtimes NW keep us into lately. 2 weeks in a mod and done.
I agree with Eolee. This is what will get my focus the coming weeks, month or years.... 😉
Drum roll...........
Apparently the Mysterious Merchant has some new stuff.
(I think that fits under "the rest", unless he has some serious kit on offer.)
Here are some examples (posted by Hodor in our alliance Discord channel).
What I find interesting is the incredible apathy for Preview. I asked in zone chat and it seems less than 1% even care to download and play test on preview as if it was work or something. This is why so many glitches and issues get over looked and then we end up eating shaving-creme sandwich. I would like to see 10% or more on Preview but can't make the horse drink the water.
About you can lead a horse to water, but you can't force it to drink - players can report bugs and issues until their fingers start bleeding, but unless the problem is placed on the Devs to-do-list from someone higher up the company food chain, it won't matter in the end.
Fresh example listed above. A month after Undermountain there should have been at the very least some working concept on how to bring the regular companions back from the "dead" on the preview server, and after two months an companion update should have been released onto the live server - but here we're at the 3 months mark with pretty much nothing concrete on the matter instead.
Or what about that piece of epic companion equipment some players didn't receive because in the beginning it wasn't clear that you better collect all 9 relics or where they were plainy scammed out of it by other players? The higher ups wen't pretty much nuclear on players involved in the "huntgate", but in this case i highly doubt that even "warnings" were issued, and players contacting the support for help were just left standing in the rain - but hey, now they can grind their behinds off to buy that missing gear piece, that's something, right?
Or they can just wait a little bit longer for Uprising and hope that they can make it through the "new" expeditions for some of the new companion gear drops... but looking at recent player feedback regarding these "fresh" expeditions, most of us won't be able to get even to the first boss. So, in the end "we" are still up youknowwhatcreek without a paddle.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I rather see unique styles awards that are BtC/BtA and other cool things we can show off, especially with the appearance system up in this mod. As for ring award, IMO it should be through the updated ME and the rings should be BtA instead of BoE.
This is Silvane Stardust wearing gear already transmuted into Vistani and dyed. In preview only her Vistani boots appear and not the pants but they are a combination. Apparently they broke up the set? She has Drowcraft pants I keep invisible because they cover these. I took the Drowcraft pants off but again only her boots appear in the game not seeing these pants with the stitching and wrinkles. A work around would be replacing her old Drowcraft pants for something else and dying it purple and turning on the visuals. But there should be no work around needed. I desire to keep this looking just as it is and I really don't care about the minor percentile changes an upgrade will give me. I cannot get my Vistani gear back, everyone knows the gear is unique and once used it is bound on pickup. This is transmuting the Bandit Lord's gear sold in the back alley of Barovia. Also I have invested 5000 AD a few times getting it transmuted.
Nothing Earth shattering but just as you said, I hope they get these minor bugs fixed so I can put some pants on!
Players boil down into many categories;
Armchair Revolutionaries - They tell you to vote with your wallet or they say we need to all walk out and show them who is boss here. This never happens, on any online game, because people just get replaced with new faces with new credit cards.
Activist - I think I am in here. People who not only voice their issues to the users but take complaints to the developers themselves. I PM developers on here but so far the only one to reply is Thomas Foss. Years ago I even wrote Cryptic a few letters paper and pen in the mail. I never saw as much as a form letter in return. At least Mr. Foss is polite enough to respond, although when I voice my opinion often I am not as polite.
Passer-by - These people just kick the tires, take the game for a spin, and never bother to come back.
Addicts and/or Groupie - These players drank the kool-aide and there is no leaving the game for anything better. They are wearing their blue jumpsuits waiting for the comet to come pick them up. I might be in this group too? Save me!
Antagonist - We all know these people seldom play the game, they just create trouble. They are the botters, hackers, spammers, scammers, and just join any social group to cause chaos.
As for huntgate and caturday, yes I am glad I wasn't a naive user in either of those events. They were completely mismanaged, the faces change so much at Cryptic, I am not 100% sure who the CEO is any more. Feels like a McDonalds franchise after awhile. The developers dropped the ball and then totally said, "Players did it!". I am sure there was pressure from above, but this is no excuse, mature adults own up to their mistakes. As for the players, some do share in the guilt knowing there is an exploit and then taking full advantage of it. Follow that up with developers not fixing the exploit or just shutting hunts down until repaired would have save a lot of trouble.
OH Great, now I have made another wall of text and derailed the topic yet again... I just came here to say, I cannot find the Stardock quest and I am not wearing pants. Believe it or not, I took my medication!
Sure, I intend to play BG III, but I don't really see that affecting my NWO play long-term. Anyhow....let's drop that discussion - talk about other games really does not belong here.