Sahha during Summerfest has been mostly a bad experience for me as so many players join the matches instead of collecting flax and crafting a ball but just stand around doing nothing for 10 minutes. Most don't make the effort to acquire the various skills available and then there are complaints when they get checked because it's not "fair". Overall the rewards for winning a match are absent and there is no incentive for players to try either. There could even be a year round Sahha League for PvP and that would draw only those interested in playing hopefully. Or, a PvE "Skirmish" where 5 players match against your different strength NPCs or even critters.
However if some of the issues that plague the Sahha Picket aren't addressed then it wouldn't be worth having a year round Sahha option anyway. Personally, I would like either balls knocked out of bounds penalize the team of the player that knocked it out similar to most known "sports" or balls could be prevented from being knocked out by implementing an invisible magical barrier/dome that already inundate most if not every zone in Neverwinter already (finally an opportunity for players to appreciate an invisible barrier!).
But, what is your intention for Sahha--is it simply a play on words meaning "who knows?". A nod to Monty Python?
With the launch of Chult there was a side quest to find Sahha balls in Soshenstar River but nothing great happened after finding them. Finding stuff can be fun in itself but I really thought there would be more to finding them as there was even an NPC standing in Camp Vengeance in what looked like some kind of drawn recreational game court with a Sahha Ball on the ground in it.
What is a Companion in Neverwinter/D&D? Is it a myrmidon? Is it a spirit or ethereal made manifest in physicality? How does a purely physical type class "summon" a companion?
The "fix" implemented to teleport fallen companions back to a platform automatically is not satisfying in the least. Clearly a player has done nothing in-game to make teleporting a fallen Companion a thing other than complain enough to get some attention to an issue.
You could make Companion AI improve as it's Level increases so that by the time it's Level 40 it's no longer a bumbling nincompoop prone to falling but is battle hardened, INTelligent and WISe. This could conceivably make the inexperienced death of low level/rookie companions plausible and consequently acceptable (s**t happens). If AI behaviour was implemented to be noticeably improved as a Companion's level increased (and not just in unlocking a new boost as Level 30 or slightly increasing ratings with each higher tier), this could also be motivation for players to upgrade Companions.
I have noticed one Companion, Archmage's Apprentice, that always backs away from targets. His AI is different from the other wizard types that all have the same combat powers of Chilling Strike and Slow, but I can't tell if this was intended or not. In Dread Vault Tales of Old it would back up to the point of falling of a platform and though not dead, would be out of combat trying to return to combat while my character lost the effect of Bonding Runestones. I could appreciate the implementation of different AI behaviours for similar Companions even though there are few that are so similar in skill set, but a Legendary Archmage's Apprentice that still backs up to his own death (which can and has happened if summoned in different combat instances) is rather absurd.
There are also examples of some Beasts and Creatures that will chase targets to their own demise as if they were solely obsessed with the target exclusive to their own sense of survival or a player's wishes. Those Companions are most likely not myrmidons if the player is not esteemed as a master that doesn't want it to sacrifice itself to the extent of falling off a ledge.
Change Companion AI in some way or make a player do something expensive to teleport a fallen Companion back.
Side note: Companion tethering still not perfect either.
I can somewhat accept as plausible that if another considerate player interacts with a fallen player long enough resurrection of the player is successful but even this mechanism is questionable. I mean how bad is the condition of the fallen player and how good can another player plausibly be to resurrect anyone in any condition without the use of some rare powerful item?
A fallen player can call for help but can't move (with the exception of camera angle which I also question the plausibility of), so why ought a player plausibly be able to activate a scroll to self-resurrect every time if fallen? Soulforged Enchantment is a plausible exception as it has a cooldown mechanism and typically takes considerable effort from a player to acquire. A player plausibly ought to be able to prepare for combat by acquiring items for self-resurrection but ought they actually be allowed to successfully activate such a thing comfortably every time when fallen?! Why is the random factor for self-resurrection from D&D not implemented? I don't know if self-resurrection has been a gameplay item/mechanism in Neverwinter since launch. I also don't know what the best game-play mechanism should be pertaining to self-resurrection but I can offer alternatives (with commentary):
1. Completely remove self-resurrection other than Soulforged Enchantment mechanism from Neverwinter. (Hardcore edition.)
2. Make self-resurrection consumable items require a random roll like D&D requires rolling a die. (Expensive edition.)
3. Make self-resurrection consumable items require a random roll like D&D requires rolling a die but obtainability of such consumables made more accessible from game-play. (Grind edition.)
4. Change the description and/or function of self-resurrecting consumables so that automatic activation is implemented akin to Soulforged Enchantment but perhaps additionally with no cooldown mechanism. (Still greedy but perhaps somewhat compromising and practical edition.)
5. Completely remove self-resurrection consumables but give players a random chance to self-resurrect based on some cooldown mechanism akin to round of combat. (D&D idk which #ed. edition.)
This is a lame perk as it alters player behaviour too significantly. I've noticed when a party isn't all with this perk that parties can get separated when a player needs to rest for 30 seconds at a rest zone or when the movement injury is active even getting to a rest zone will take additional time. This issue mostly only happens at lower levels where buying injury kits isn't an item everyone can afford to stock up abundantly or when new players don't know "boy scout-esque" etiquette of being well-prepared before joining a public party queue. I actually wish their were more significant and randomly placed traps in-game in addition to no VIP immunity making more caution advisable when running dungeons, skirmishes, trials and even zones instead of allowing a reckless rushing forth hack-and-slash playstyle the norm.
Improve the Auction House search function. As it is now, it rarely recognizes any keywords I type into the search window which is especially useless if I'm searching for something I don't know the exact/full name for or which category the item is in thus requiring excessive effort to find items in the Auction. Another issue is several items aren't placed in the proper category and thus are unfindable by searching and required scrolling through almost every item in every category. And with a limit of 400 items per search parameter it's not possible to scroll through everything making search frequently even more useless.
Give Simril's Twilight Run daily, weekly and seasonal rewards for fastest completion times. This would require implementing a race timing mechanism but makes more sense than collecting bonus loot along the route to increase one's score by completing the same run multiple times to get first place in a 10 minute window. Improve rewards but chasing the fastest time down the slope to get something decent as a daily, weekly and overall seasonal fastest would make Twilight Run worth running perhaps.
Include easily accessible credits for those involved in creating Neverwinter at all or as many levels from the game launch client and from in-game: artists, voice actors, designers, programmers, executives, etc.
Return the option to type a "reason for kick" a character from a party. AFK, disconnected and harassment don't adequately cover all reasons to kick someone.
Mythic Mounts that cannot be sold. (Would've thought Legendary items would be bound to character or account, but I essentially mean some kind of items that serve as a status symbol due to a player's ability to random.)
More detailed credits for the game's production. Would like to know who did what more specifically than just a general list of credits in broad geographical or corporate categories. And, include a link to Credits on from the game client itself not just the logout screen.
Remove time gating from old campaigns(everything Ravenloft and older). Makes getting the boon points on alts really boring, when you are doing the same task 3 times a day. I know there are buyout tokens, but most of the campaigns are easy enough for a lvl 80 toon that buyout tokens are not worth the zen.
Also make keys for Sarvdborg easier to obtain, add them to the AI campaign store or something. I have gotten that trial as a random q 4 times in the last week, and it is not worth anywhere near as much to me as Edemo or Tiamat(and more than half of my recent attempts at Tiamat have been failures).
Make all companions, and all mounts BtA on equip. This is how it was when I first started playing in early 2018. I would like to be able to move mounts that I don't need from my main to my alts. The comp gear, and Mountain/Deep seals rings are BtA on equip. There's no reason for mounts and comps to be BtC.
Some kind of dashboard indicator that player is at full hp. Colour or shine or even words, I don't know what to suggest but it happened again in LoMM fighting Arcturia that player's hp bar looked full but they still were killed by cocoon. There may be a bug involved but regardless an indicator would make it handy, like when someone is fully hydrated they look different.
This may be the help Warlocks need in TOMM and the Mod 18 stuff; Have Warlock's Bargain cleanse revive sickness. We would be only class that could, and inclusion MANDATORY for any TOMM party. Also, is there any way to add a counter for the AH? I'm often looking for preservation wards, but can only afford 10, yet I have to scroll through 30 pages of posted items to get there, how about a drop-down menu for quantity? I would like to see the purple arrow thing that indicates when you have an added buff-debuff on you, changed to the portraits again with a ring around it indicating a cursed state or added strength etc. Poisoned, your portrait would look ominously dark.
Please remove scaling from the game. No more nerfs of any sort. Fix the bugs that have been around for years and reported, but still haven't been fixed. And to repeat, please remove scaling.
Ability to hide enemy health bars. When I'm healing they just get in my way. I only want to see my allies health bars. I also want loot rolls to disappear forever, everyone has hated loot rolls since day 1 it's pointless
Comments
Sahha during Summerfest has been mostly a bad experience for me as so many players join the matches instead of collecting flax and crafting a ball but just stand around doing nothing for 10 minutes. Most don't make the effort to acquire the various skills available and then there are complaints when they get checked because it's not "fair". Overall the rewards for winning a match are absent and there is no incentive for players to try either. There could even be a year round Sahha League for PvP and that would draw only those interested in playing hopefully. Or, a PvE "Skirmish" where 5 players match against your different strength NPCs or even critters.
However if some of the issues that plague the Sahha Picket aren't addressed then it wouldn't be worth having a year round Sahha option anyway. Personally, I would like either balls knocked out of bounds penalize the team of the player that knocked it out similar to most known "sports" or balls could be prevented from being knocked out by implementing an invisible magical barrier/dome that already inundate most if not every zone in Neverwinter already (finally an opportunity for players to appreciate an invisible barrier!).
But, what is your intention for Sahha--is it simply a play on words meaning "who knows?". A nod to Monty Python?
With the launch of Chult there was a side quest to find Sahha balls in Soshenstar River but nothing great happened after finding them. Finding stuff can be fun in itself but I really thought there would be more to finding them as there was even an NPC standing in Camp Vengeance in what looked like some kind of drawn recreational game court with a Sahha Ball on the ground in it.
The "fix" implemented to teleport fallen companions back to a platform automatically is not satisfying in the least. Clearly a player has done nothing in-game to make teleporting a fallen Companion a thing other than complain enough to get some attention to an issue.
You could make Companion AI improve as it's Level increases so that by the time it's Level 40 it's no longer a bumbling nincompoop prone to falling but is battle hardened, INTelligent and WISe. This could conceivably make the inexperienced death of low level/rookie companions plausible and consequently acceptable (s**t happens). If AI behaviour was implemented to be noticeably improved as a Companion's level increased (and not just in unlocking a new boost as Level 30 or slightly increasing ratings with each higher tier), this could also be motivation for players to upgrade Companions.
I have noticed one Companion, Archmage's Apprentice, that always backs away from targets. His AI is different from the other wizard types that all have the same combat powers of Chilling Strike and Slow, but I can't tell if this was intended or not. In Dread Vault Tales of Old it would back up to the point of falling of a platform and though not dead, would be out of combat trying to return to combat while my character lost the effect of Bonding Runestones. I could appreciate the implementation of different AI behaviours for similar Companions even though there are few that are so similar in skill set, but a Legendary Archmage's Apprentice that still backs up to his own death (which can and has happened if summoned in different combat instances) is rather absurd.
There are also examples of some Beasts and Creatures that will chase targets to their own demise as if they were solely obsessed with the target exclusive to their own sense of survival or a player's wishes. Those Companions are most likely not myrmidons if the player is not esteemed as a master that doesn't want it to sacrifice itself to the extent of falling off a ledge.
Change Companion AI in some way or make a player do something expensive to teleport a fallen Companion back.
Side note: Companion tethering still not perfect either.
I can somewhat accept as plausible that if another considerate player interacts with a fallen player long enough resurrection of the player is successful but even this mechanism is questionable. I mean how bad is the condition of the fallen player and how good can another player plausibly be to resurrect anyone in any condition without the use of some rare powerful item?
A fallen player can call for help but can't move (with the exception of camera angle which I also question the plausibility of), so why ought a player plausibly be able to activate a scroll to self-resurrect every time if fallen? Soulforged Enchantment is a plausible exception as it has a cooldown mechanism and typically takes considerable effort from a player to acquire. A player plausibly ought to be able to prepare for combat by acquiring items for self-resurrection but ought they actually be allowed to successfully activate such a thing comfortably every time when fallen?! Why is the random factor for self-resurrection from D&D not implemented? I don't know if self-resurrection has been a gameplay item/mechanism in Neverwinter since launch. I also don't know what the best game-play mechanism should be pertaining to self-resurrection but I can offer alternatives (with commentary):
1. Completely remove self-resurrection other than Soulforged Enchantment mechanism from Neverwinter. (Hardcore edition.)
2. Make self-resurrection consumable items require a random roll like D&D requires rolling a die. (Expensive edition.)
3. Make self-resurrection consumable items require a random roll like D&D requires rolling a die but obtainability of such consumables made more accessible from game-play. (Grind edition.)
4. Change the description and/or function of self-resurrecting consumables so that automatic activation is implemented akin to Soulforged Enchantment but perhaps additionally with no cooldown mechanism. (Still greedy but perhaps somewhat compromising and practical edition.)
5. Completely remove self-resurrection consumables but give players a random chance to self-resurrect based on some cooldown mechanism akin to round of combat. (D&D idk which #ed. edition.)
6.+ Someone smarter than me edition.
This is a lame perk as it alters player behaviour too significantly. I've noticed when a party isn't all with this perk that parties can get separated when a player needs to rest for 30 seconds at a rest zone or when the movement injury is active even getting to a rest zone will take additional time. This issue mostly only happens at lower levels where buying injury kits isn't an item everyone can afford to stock up abundantly or when new players don't know "boy scout-esque" etiquette of being well-prepared before joining a public party queue. I actually wish their were more significant and randomly placed traps in-game in addition to no VIP immunity making more caution advisable when running dungeons, skirmishes, trials and even zones instead of allowing a reckless rushing forth hack-and-slash playstyle the norm.
Remove time gating from old campaigns(everything Ravenloft and older). Makes getting the boon points on alts really boring, when you are doing the same task 3 times a day. I know there are buyout tokens, but most of the campaigns are easy enough for a lvl 80 toon that buyout tokens are not worth the zen.
Also make keys for Sarvdborg easier to obtain, add them to the AI campaign store or something. I have gotten that trial as a random q 4 times in the last week, and it is not worth anywhere near as much to me as Edemo or Tiamat(and more than half of my recent attempts at Tiamat have been failures).
Make all companions, and all mounts BtA on equip. This is how it was when I first started playing in early 2018. I would like to be able to move mounts that I don't need from my main to my alts. The comp gear, and Mountain/Deep seals rings are BtA on equip. There's no reason for mounts and comps to be BtC.
Have Warlock's Bargain cleanse revive sickness. We would be only class that could, and inclusion MANDATORY for any TOMM party.
Also, is there any way to add a counter for the AH? I'm often looking for preservation wards, but can only afford 10, yet I have to scroll through 30 pages of posted items to get there, how about a drop-down menu for quantity?
I would like to see the purple arrow thing that indicates when you have an added buff-debuff on you, changed to the portraits again with a ring around it indicating a cursed state or added strength etc. Poisoned, your portrait would look ominously dark.
Please remove scaling from the game. No more nerfs of any sort. Fix the bugs that have been around for years and reported, but still haven't been fixed. And to repeat, please remove scaling.