The main Prob why many players left is: Your progress is gone and there is no more progress for you.
I agree with most of what you wrote so not going to requote it all.
I want to add that, while I do agree with what you wrote, I feel as if a lot of the players I ran with learned to adjust to the class changes and weren't as bothered by having to redo certain things ie companions, enchants, etc.
I'm over on XB and the main reason I've seen people leaving/taking breaks is quite simply boredom. We got M16 and what was there to do?
The campaign with 5 new zones? Those zones suck and once you're done with the campaign what is there to do in the zones? Run runic encounters. Exciting...
Then there's the dreaded ME. Those 2 letters alone have chased off many of the endgame people I played with. The RNG grind was ridiculous.
LoMM. Fun dungeon. Initially challenging while learning the mechanics. But from day 1 the rewards sucked and now with no challenge and no reward, why bother?
We're gearing up for M17, and honestly, I see more skepticism than excitement on XB.
It's past time for the dev team to start delivering and stop breaking.
The main Prob why many players left is: Your progress is gone and there is no more progress for you.
I agree with most of what you wrote so not going to requote it all.
I want to add that, while I do agree with what you wrote, I feel as if a lot of the players I ran with learned to adjust to the class changes and weren't as bothered by having to redo certain things ie companions, enchants, etc.
I'm over on XB and the main reason I've seen people leaving/taking breaks is quite simply boredom. We got M16 and what was there to do?
The campaign with 5 new zones? Those zones suck and once you're done with the campaign what is there to do in the zones? Run runic encounters. Exciting...
Then there's the dreaded ME. Those 2 letters alone have chased off many of the endgame people I played with. The RNG grind was ridiculous.
LoMM. Fun dungeon. Initially challenging while learning the mechanics. But from day 1 the rewards sucked and now with no challenge and no reward, why bother?
We're gearing up for M17, and honestly, I see more skepticism than excitement on XB.
It's past time for the dev team to start delivering and stop breaking.
I´m a guild leader of a gh20. The problem is not only boredom but the problem is: as a healer or a tank you can end up with groups who can not finish Malabog. your toon cleric or tank adds NOTHING to the group. Our BIS Pallys 27k left the game because they don´t want to run malabog only to see they can´t finish. In the past these guys power shared and the group gets so strong with them inisde so the group could finish. But now? You have a 27k pally tabk and can´t finish Malabog a dungeon that you run 4 million times before? Same for healers you bring nothing on the table - its not important if you have a 10k dc or a 26k dc. With my 26k DC I can end up in groups who can´t finisch Malabog too - and all my upgrades I did over the years are useless - they don´t help. So If you now start the game play an hour play a cleric get him to 10k or whats neede to run malabog. You are as strong as me because all the years of playing all the upgrades done - all gone - helaers and tanks gets not nerfed they got in a state not needed anymore and thats what people slowly realise. So if your main is a pally or a dc - you leave!
On xbox there is more mature audience than on playstation. My guild for example has members between the age of 30 and 65. This audience has more money than all the kids who use their pocket money to get something. This Audience ist willing to pay for good things - but this audience sees exaclty where this game is going. Sure the game changes it´s an MMO and whats now BIS can be HAMSTER in the next MOD - so you always have to deal with changes - thats not the problem people know it people do it. But what happend with mod 16 is: No Progress for tanks no Progress for DC´s. If you upgrade or not who cares - noone. And because many of the guild groups run together and run with good DC´s good tanks - they now can´t because the tanks an DC´s are gone - leaving others behind.
It was a big mistake to make 2 MAIN SUPPORT classes completly useless to tell them you upgrade? We don´t care!
When my VIP is over in 25 days or something I give my guild away and see what the future brings. I have been a long time player (since start of NW on xbox and run over 3800 dungeons) and my Main was always a DO/DC. I always played it even if people wanted to have AC/DC but I liked the way it worked an I was sure if I join a Malabog or castle Never or whatever we finish because of me. I know I repeat myself - but there is no way I upgrade my healer because even if I get him from 26 to 27k I still end up in groups not able to finish content. You want to run a dungeon? You need a healer? Get one who started yesterday he gets the job done - wait he don´t know the mechanics? No prob he doesn´t make the difference if you win or fail - hes a cheap healing potion not more!
The only reason I stopped playing after Mod 16 dropped is simply because of the class reworks ( Especially HR). I can understand why combat mechanics need to be revamped from time to time but that change was so damn massive with little to no reply from the Devs. I don't mind getting major nerfs simply because we have dealt with it before and have adjusted over the years but completely changing the entire feat tree and paragon paths was an utterly stupid move. The only reason many players continued with the mindless repetitive grind for enchants, AD, boons, new toons over and over was because the combat was so much FUN. The current combat compared to pre mod 16 feels so damn boring and lackluster. The HR rework....its just sad. The class was soo much fun , versatile, flexible and took a little bit of skill to master it. You had so much build variety and paths pre mod 16. Why would you completely destroy what was already so much near perfect with stupid new feats that have little to no synergy whatsoever and was an absolute buggy mess on release. You could have taken off the dmg buffs from the skills and tuned the numbers down but noooo you just had to HAMSTER everything up even after we begged you for changes during the preview phase. All we wanted was faster animation times and just fixing the existing bugs with the class and in the end all we got was less than 10 replies with no comment on our suggestions and proceeded to ignore it all. Thanks for all the lovely changes NoWorries! ABsolutely wonderful rework.
That was just my reason to quit but that wasn't the only problem with Neverwinter: - Absolute lack of communication from the Devs on any changes whatsoever.
- 1 Single dungeon or a raid every module with a mediocre campaign ( the last good one was Omu/Chult). Basically no content for those who already got the gear and/or completed the campaign. The only remaining content was just to run the same dungeons we have run thousands of times for the past 5 years.
- The events are actual garbage. There were a few ones that was fun pre mod 16 ( like tales and winterfest/summerfest) but even those are pretty much chores after doing it for 2 or 3 years. There has got to be some reworks done to older events and give people a reason to run them other than just getting that one transmute they were looking for.
- Bugs. Just wow ....there are waay too many bugs just left as it is. There are bugs from way back when HR was released and the bug still exists to this day ( I'm looking at you rapid strike).
- The constant change in gear upgrades. Just why? Why is it that every module we have to change our setups and gear simply because the new mod has better ones than the previous ones (Thats the whole point of progression but why the hell is it made so often?!) or just because the Devs decided to bring down the nerfhammer. Take for example masterworks, one mod it was THE best gear to spend AD on or craft and the next mod poof! All useless. Maybe just give a module break with more than 1 new dungeon and some actual good campaign that isn't just daily/weekly farms.
That is just to name a few and in my point of view. This game was my goto for years and will always hold a spot in my heart for all the great moments I experienced. I do wish we could go back to the glory days of initial modules but the past is past and with the current patterns on how things are implemented , that is never going to happen. Was fun while it lasted.
i play less now, due to devs bad call and arrogant for reworking skill trees, boons, armor stats set, nerfing far too much since mod 6, and they are still not done with class balance, they made this game into stat chasing calculator racing instead of basic role playing, i dont like playing numbers. seem it moved away from D20 rolls into layers of percentage dice rolls that known as RNG slot machines.
players still dont like getting one shotted.
too many bugs, they fix one, broke 5 more. what kind of professional are they? killing the fun, killing the game? i want my game back to basic!
when i play ESO tank class, i love the way my fighter do the long range taunts to keep my team safe and alive, i cant play my tank in NWO and stay alive. so many dps are waiting in que for tank to join in. it was exciting game before Mod 6, now i dread for each patch updates worried how to play my class right. i cant do with number chasings.
reason why, i cant keep up catching up with limited time i have. no chance ever to see druids, monks or bards get add as new player class. or even to own decent house in the game. calculator game has to go.
i play less now, due to devs bad call and arrogant for reworking skill trees, boons, armor stats set, nerfing far too much since mod 6, and they are still not done with class balance, they made this game into stat chasing calculator racing instead of basic role playing, i dont like playing numbers. seem it moved away from D20 rolls into layers of percentage dice rolls that known as RNG slot machines.
players still dont like getting one shotted.
too many bugs, they fix one, broke 5 more. what kind of professional are they? killing the fun, killing the game? i want my game back to basic!
when i play ESO tank class, i love the way my fighter do the long range taunts to keep my team safe and alive, i cant play my tank in NWO and stay alive. so many dps are waiting in que for tank to join in. it was exciting game before Mod 6, now i dread for each patch updates worried how to play my class right. i cant do with number chasings.
reason why, i cant keep up catching up with limited time i have. no chance ever to see druids, monks or bards get add as new player class. or even to own decent house in the game. calculator game has to go.
Seems to me once a player "catches up" and gets to where they can navigate the game efficiently the Devs change everything around and again players have to try to catch up and relearn how to play the game...
I completely understand some players get tired of playing the same old content over and over again and want a bit more of a challenge for their characters, but instead of providing new content to provide a new experience and more challenge someone came up with the concept of reworking existing content to make it more challenging.
Too many players, myself included, are done chasing the illusive stat and skill requirements to be able to play an area because as soon as they're closing in on those goals - someone decides to move the goalposts. It's like that nightmare where a person is running down the hallway and instead of the end getting closer it gets farther away.
I still play, but largely ignore new content because I can't even complete much of the previous content unless I grind for AD's or spend cash to purchase better gear, enchantments, runestones, companions and mounts to be able to play those areas - and even if I did that, chances are someone would once again try to "balance" something or make existing content more challenging which would negate the time, effort and expense I've already invested...
I'm not a big fan of endlessly chasing my own tail only to realize when I've caught it I've accomplished very little. or nothing at all.
< It's past time for the dev team to start delivering and stop breaking.
What really worries me is whether the dev team is able to deliver any more. Have they been reduced so far down that they no longer have the ability to create volumes of solid content?
We have had two content-poor releases now, mod 16 and 16b. While mod 16 did introduce 4-5 new zones, they basically were one-time use zones.. no need to go back after you levelled to 80. ToMM in mod 16b was for less than 1% of the players due to excessive demands on gear, social team and voice chat.
So for both the last mods it all ended up with running expeditions in various incarnations. I guess most of us can run those blindfolded running backwards by now.
Game really needs a big level 80 unscaled content patch now with lots of new content to run. If mod 18 does not deliver I fear we'll get another exodus of experienced players.
You know, I’ve been playing this game for years now and played everyday nearly for the past three years, without fail.
Normally, on double XP weekends I’d be so excited. Make a few new toons or run some alts. It was so fun. Fun. You know, that word FUN.
This time.... ugg. I created two new toons a few weeks ago so I could run them now and it’s like banging my head on a wall to play. Neither of them can run any of the levelling dungeons or complete the lower campaigns because the wait time for runs like The Cloak Tower and Cragmire Crypts are– well I don’t know how long as today I waited for over an hour for Cloak Tower before I gave up, AN HOUR!!
And as so many people have pointed out, the actual way we play now is just worse than vanilla. It’s just down right boring. There’s no joy in it. No thrill. There’s nothing that make me go Oooh! Awww!!! It’s dull as dishwater. And it is so not D&D.
Let me state, I love the pre-70 campaigns, they may be my favourite part or NW, well until MOD16. I wish I could explain in more detail but there’s just no “pop” to it any more. Then throw in bugs and things that don’t work and longer cool downs and slow casting/attack animations and all that jazz it had sucked all the fun air out of the game.
I went back and looked at a few vids I made of game play before MOD16 and oh man I miss that. So much.
This week I have signed in just to tend the SH and pick up my keys. I have played less this whole week than I did in a day before MOD16. You know why? Because it was fun then.
i play less now, due to devs bad call and arrogant for reworking skill trees, boons, armor stats set, nerfing far too much since mod 6, and they are still not done with class balance, they made this game into stat chasing calculator racing instead of basic role playing, i dont like playing numbers. seem it moved away from D20 rolls into layers of percentage dice rolls that known as RNG slot machines.
players still dont like getting one shotted.
too many bugs, they fix one, broke 5 more. what kind of professional are they? killing the fun, killing the game? i want my game back to basic!
when i play ESO tank class, i love the way my fighter do the long range taunts to keep my team safe and alive, i cant play my tank in NWO and stay alive. so many dps are waiting in que for tank to join in. it was exciting game before Mod 6, now i dread for each patch updates worried how to play my class right. i cant do with number chasings.
reason why, i cant keep up catching up with limited time i have. no chance ever to see druids, monks or bards get add as new player class. or even to own decent house in the game. calculator game has to go.
Seems to me once a player "catches up" and gets to where they can navigate the game efficiently the Devs change everything around and again players have to try to catch up and relearn how to play the game...
I completely understand some players get tired of playing the same old content over and over again and want a bit more of a challenge for their characters, but instead of providing new content to provide a new experience and more challenge someone came up with the concept of reworking existing content to make it more challenging.
Too many players, myself included, are done chasing the illusive stat and skill requirements to be able to play an area because as soon as they're closing in on those goals - someone decides to move the goalposts. It's like that nightmare where a person is running down the hallway and instead of the end getting closer it gets farther away.
I still play, but largely ignore new content because I can't even complete much of the previous content unless I grind for AD's or spend cash to purchase better gear, enchantments, runestones, companions and mounts to be able to play those areas - and even if I did that, chances are someone would once again try to "balance" something or make existing content more challenging which would negate the time, effort and expense I've already invested...
I'm not a big fan of endlessly chasing my own tail only to realize when I've caught it I've accomplished very little. or nothing at all.
Well said Sir. You've captured some of my thoughts about NW perfectly. This, along with @autumnwitch comment on the much slower pace of play pushed me into semi-retirement. It just isn't as fun as it used to be. I was lukewarm about the whole change when mod 16 hit but it just wore on me the longer I played. When the nerfs came with mod 17 (needed or not) that was it. I'll probably hop back on during the MoL and the winter festival, but I doubt I'll play much (especially if the track is still buggy). As for the dungeons - not worth the effort if the loot isn't there and most are a race to the finish line.
Imagine if there was a Foundry with stuff to do...
HERESY! There aint no Foundry and there never was... I really miss the Foundry. So many fun adventures and locations that I often enjoyed revisiting just for stories or changes in scenery. It is sorely missed.
Imagine if there was a Foundry with stuff to do...
If Foundry was still part of the game chances are more players would be doing Foundry than actually playing the game.
Even before the latest MOD's many Foundry developers were able to come up with a more engaging story lines than some of the people who actually got paid to come up with story lines. Now Foundry is gone and all we have is the content the "professionals" come up with, sometimes so altered and bug ridden (thank gawd for the volunteer play testers in preview or I figure it would be worse) it's basically unplayable by the general masses for a couple of weeks after release.
This isn't a slight against the majority of developers, I figure they're just like most of the rest of us, doing the best they can with the resources they have and under the time limitations others place on them, but as I already mentioned just the fact that the company has to rely on so many unpaid play testers in preview instead of teams of actual programmers who can actually make changes (or at least recommendations anyone's going to take seriously) to get content released in a timely manner, to me seems to speak volumes about the current state of the game.
Comments
I want to add that, while I do agree with what you wrote, I feel as if a lot of the players I ran with learned to adjust to the class changes and weren't as bothered by having to redo certain things ie companions, enchants, etc.
I'm over on XB and the main reason I've seen people leaving/taking breaks is quite simply boredom. We got M16 and what was there to do?
The campaign with 5 new zones? Those zones suck and once you're done with the campaign what is there to do in the zones? Run runic encounters. Exciting...
Then there's the dreaded ME. Those 2 letters alone have chased off many of the endgame people I played with. The RNG grind was ridiculous.
LoMM. Fun dungeon. Initially challenging while learning the mechanics. But from day 1 the rewards sucked and now with no challenge and no reward, why bother?
We're gearing up for M17, and honestly, I see more skepticism than excitement on XB.
It's past time for the dev team to start delivering and stop breaking.
On xbox there is more mature audience than on playstation. My guild for example has members between the age of 30 and 65. This audience has more money than all the kids who use their pocket money to get something. This Audience ist willing to pay for good things - but this audience sees exaclty where this game is going.
Sure the game changes it´s an MMO and whats now BIS can be HAMSTER in the next MOD - so you always have to deal with changes - thats not the problem people know it people do it. But what happend with mod 16 is:
No Progress for tanks no Progress for DC´s. If you upgrade or not who cares - noone.
And because many of the guild groups run together and run with good DC´s good tanks - they now can´t because the tanks an DC´s are gone - leaving others behind.
It was a big mistake to make 2 MAIN SUPPORT classes completly useless to tell them you upgrade? We don´t care!
When my VIP is over in 25 days or something I give my guild away and see what the future brings.
I have been a long time player (since start of NW on xbox and run over 3800 dungeons) and my Main was always a DO/DC. I always played it even if people wanted to have AC/DC but I liked the way it worked an I was sure if I join a Malabog or castle Never or whatever we finish because of me. I know I repeat myself - but there is no way I upgrade my healer because even if I get him from 26 to 27k I still end up in groups not able to finish content.
You want to run a dungeon? You need a healer? Get one who started yesterday he gets the job done - wait he don´t know the mechanics? No prob he doesn´t make the difference if you win or fail - hes a cheap healing potion not more!
The HR rework....its just sad. The class was soo much fun , versatile, flexible and took a little bit of skill to master it. You had so much build variety and paths pre mod 16. Why would you completely destroy what was already so much near perfect with stupid new feats that have little to no synergy whatsoever and was an absolute buggy mess on release. You could have taken off the dmg buffs from the skills and tuned the numbers down but noooo you just had to HAMSTER everything up even after we begged you for changes during the preview phase. All we wanted was faster animation times and just fixing the existing bugs with the class and in the end all we got was less than 10 replies with no comment on our suggestions and proceeded to ignore it all. Thanks for all the lovely changes NoWorries! ABsolutely wonderful rework.
That was just my reason to quit but that wasn't the only problem with Neverwinter:
- Absolute lack of communication from the Devs on any changes whatsoever.
- 1 Single dungeon or a raid every module with a mediocre campaign ( the last good one was Omu/Chult). Basically no content
for those who already got the gear and/or completed the campaign. The only remaining content was just to run the same
dungeons we have run thousands of times for the past 5 years.
- The events are actual garbage. There were a few ones that was fun pre mod 16 ( like tales and winterfest/summerfest) but
even those are pretty much chores after doing it for 2 or 3 years. There has got to be some reworks done to older events and give people a reason to run them other than just getting that one transmute they were looking for.
- Bugs. Just wow ....there are waay too many bugs just left as it is. There are bugs from way back when HR was released and the
bug still exists to this day ( I'm looking at you rapid strike).
- The constant change in gear upgrades. Just why? Why is it that every module we have to change our setups and gear simply
because the new mod has better ones than the previous ones (Thats the whole point of progression but why the hell is it made
so often?!) or just because the Devs decided to bring down the nerfhammer. Take for example masterworks, one mod it was
THE best gear to spend AD on or craft and the next mod poof! All useless. Maybe just give a module break with more than 1
new dungeon and some actual good campaign that isn't just daily/weekly farms.
That is just to name a few and in my point of view. This game was my goto for years and will always hold a spot in my heart for all the great moments I experienced. I do wish we could go back to the glory days of initial modules but the past is past and with the current patterns on how things are implemented , that is never going to happen. Was fun while it lasted.
seem it moved away from D20 rolls into layers of percentage dice rolls that known as RNG slot machines.
players still dont like getting one shotted.
too many bugs, they fix one, broke 5 more. what kind of professional are they? killing the fun, killing the game?
i want my game back to basic!
when i play ESO tank class, i love the way my fighter do the long range taunts to keep my team safe and alive, i cant play my tank in NWO and stay alive. so many dps are waiting in que for tank to join in.
it was exciting game before Mod 6, now i dread for each patch updates worried how to play my class right. i cant do with number chasings.
reason why, i cant keep up catching up with limited time i have.
no chance ever to see druids, monks or bards get add as new player class. or even to own decent house in the game.
calculator game has to go.
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
I completely understand some players get tired of playing the same old content over and over again and want a bit more of a challenge for their characters, but instead of providing new content to provide a new experience and more challenge someone came up with the concept of reworking existing content to make it more challenging.
Too many players, myself included, are done chasing the illusive stat and skill requirements to be able to play an area because as soon as they're closing in on those goals - someone decides to move the goalposts. It's like that nightmare where a person is running down the hallway and instead of the end getting closer it gets farther away.
I still play, but largely ignore new content because I can't even complete much of the previous content unless I grind for AD's or spend cash to purchase better gear, enchantments, runestones, companions and mounts to be able to play those areas - and even if I did that, chances are someone would once again try to "balance" something or make existing content more challenging which would negate the time, effort and expense I've already invested...
I'm not a big fan of endlessly chasing my own tail only to realize when I've caught it I've accomplished very little. or nothing at all.
We have had two content-poor releases now, mod 16 and 16b. While mod 16 did introduce 4-5 new zones, they basically were one-time use zones.. no need to go back after you levelled to 80. ToMM in mod 16b was for less than 1% of the players due to excessive demands on gear, social team and voice chat.
So for both the last mods it all ended up with running expeditions in various incarnations. I guess most of us can run those blindfolded running backwards by now.
Game really needs a big level 80 unscaled content patch now with lots of new content to run. If mod 18 does not deliver I fear we'll get another exodus of experienced players.
Normally, on double XP weekends I’d be so excited. Make a few new toons or run some alts. It was so fun. Fun. You know, that word FUN.
This time.... ugg. I created two new toons a few weeks ago so I could run them now and it’s like banging my head on a wall to play. Neither of them can run any of the levelling dungeons or complete the lower campaigns because the wait time for runs like The Cloak Tower and Cragmire Crypts are– well I don’t know how long as today I waited for over an hour for Cloak Tower before I gave up, AN HOUR!!
And as so many people have pointed out, the actual way we play now is just worse than vanilla. It’s just down right boring. There’s no joy in it. No thrill. There’s nothing that make me go Oooh! Awww!!! It’s dull as dishwater. And it is so not D&D.
Let me state, I love the pre-70 campaigns, they may be my favourite part or NW, well until MOD16. I wish I could explain in more detail but there’s just no “pop” to it any more. Then throw in bugs and things that don’t work and longer cool downs and slow casting/attack animations and all that jazz it had sucked all the fun air out of the game.
I went back and looked at a few vids I made of game play before MOD16 and oh man I miss that. So much.
This week I have signed in just to tend the SH and pick up my keys. I have played less this whole week than I did in a day before MOD16. You know why? Because it was fun then.
House Miliskeera in exile (NW)
Sereska Miliskeera, Lvl 70 OP - Devotion (Just.)/Protection (Just.)
Shizlee Miliskeera, Lvl 70 DC - Divine Oracle (Right.)/Anoited Champion (Faith.)
Finithey Miliskeera, Lvl 70 HR - Stormwarden (Combat)/Pathfinder (Trapper)
Maya Sik-Miliskeera, Lvl 70 CW - Spellstorm
Irae Sik-Miliskeera, Lvl 70 TR - Master Inflitrator
Member - Houseclan t'Charvon (STO)
Shiarrael e'Tal'Aura t'Charvon, LvL 60, Rom Sci
S'aana ir'Virinat t'Charvon, Lvl 60, Rom Eng
T'Lyra, LvL 60, Fed, Vul Sci
Ta'el, Lvl 60, Rom Tac
Even before the latest MOD's many Foundry developers were able to come up with a more engaging story lines than some of the people who actually got paid to come up with story lines. Now Foundry is gone and all we have is the content the "professionals" come up with, sometimes so altered and bug ridden (thank gawd for the volunteer play testers in preview or I figure it would be worse) it's basically unplayable by the general masses for a couple of weeks after release.
This isn't a slight against the majority of developers, I figure they're just like most of the rest of us, doing the best they can with the resources they have and under the time limitations others place on them, but as I already mentioned just the fact that the company has to rely on so many unpaid play testers in preview instead of teams of actual programmers who can actually make changes (or at least recommendations anyone's going to take seriously) to get content released in a timely manner, to me seems to speak volumes about the current state of the game.
Call that slot machine fun?