2020 New Player Help

ceonnyn · February 2020

Hello everyone,

I have been away from this game for about 4-5 years. I just recently happened to install Linux and as it turns out, NWO works great

Unfortunately, I have been going through the guides section of the website, as well as looking for a Discord server, but it seems the only place active & updated is the forum here.

I have a few questions that have come up and would very much appreciate it if someone could answer them for me -

1) Companions
In the past we used to have Augmented Companions that were non-combat, as well as regular Companions that could be slain in battle. I believe I noticed now that the client is telling me "You will still receive the companion's bonuses if it is not summoned." Does this mean that I can load up a combat companion with bonding stones, and not summon it, but still receive the stat boost? Or should I be using Ioun / Cat stones?

2) Mounts
Mounts are completely different from what I remember. Now we are able to get stat boosts and special effects by combinations of insignias. Being that most mounts are character-bound, should I be *cough* buying lockbox keys with Zen and trying to open lockboxes in hopes of getting a mount, that is valid for all characters. What is the best option to go about getting mounts nowadays?

3) Refinement
I have a Drow spider mount from launch that I put a Wanderer's effect on, that drops refinement stones. I figured that might be useful. Is it needed to get multiple mounts with this buff and focus on refinement? Also, I have a lot of gear on my old lvl 60 and 65 characters. Should I be refining this? Do refinement points transfer between characters? Or should I transfer all gear to my newbie I am leveling up and do it there?

4) PVP
What happened to the PVP? I remember in the past that I could level up to about lvl 60 by basically just doing PVP over and over again, and Skirmish maps. My paladin is lvl 20-25 or so now and I have yet to see any PVP queue pop up when I press K. I also went into the old pvp building in the main town and there are no queues there anymore either. There are NPCs in the intro zones (like lvl 15 for example, with the orcs) that have the PVP queue icon, but clicking on them just gives me chat options and that is it.

5) Old enchants, etc
What should I be doing with these? Some characters I have, have like 40-50 rank 2-7 enchants on them. Should I be upgrading these still or try to sell them on the AH?

Thank you and have a good day everyone

regenerde · February 2020

1. augments are the way to go these days, most regular companions are bloody useless. while leveling up a normal companion might be of some help, but the closer you get to level 80, the better it will be to go with an augment, and to get more companions of the same category to increase the bolster.

2. don't gamble your ZEN away through lockboxes, it's not worth it. i'd rather get a set of epic mounts (be sure that they're marked as account wide) from the store - just be smart about the shopping spree, and only buy them when you have a discount coupon for the mount section from invoking or loot drop. also google mount bonuses, and make sure that you get mounts with insignia bonuses that give you some healing.

https://two30.github.io/neverwinter-insignia/

3. RP isn't really an issue anymore, especially when you use enchantments or mount bonuses that give you additional RP drops. most RP gem drops are bound to account, so moving those gems from one character to another (mail/acccount bank) shouldn't be problem. just keep in mind that RP itself can't be moved, so make sure that you convert those gems on the characters it needs it.

4. i don't PvP, but it looks like it's dead as a doornail since they made it for level 80 only...

5. i'd keep them in the bank, and turn them into RP when needed. prices for most enchantments below rank 9 have decreased drastically, considering the RP and materials you need to upgrade enchantments, i'd say most of the time it's cheaper and faster to buy the ones you want for your character directly.

welcome back.

callumf · February 2020

1 - I use an Augment mostly as most of the other companions are pants. But Xuna at purple can really help you out on some solo stuff.

curufin · February 2020

I am another player returning after an absence. I still have seals of the Brave. Is there anyway to trade these for newer seals?

greywynd · February 2020

Check with the Seal Trader.

krumple01 · February 2020

ceonnyn said:
Hello everyone,

I have been away from this game for about 4-5 years. I just recently happened to install Linux and as it turns out, NWO works great

Unfortunately, I have been going through the guides section of the website, as well as looking for a Discord server, but it seems the only place active & updated is the forum here.

I have a few questions that have come up and would very much appreciate it if someone could answer them for me -

Well first of all, wel>come back.

ceonnyn said:

1) Companions
In the past we used to have Augmented Companions that were non-combat, as well as regular Companions that could be slain in battle. I believe I noticed now that the client is telling me "You will still receive the companion's bonuses if it is not summoned." Does this mean that I can load up a combat companion with bonding stones, and not summon it, but still receive the stat boost? Or should I be using Ioun / Cat stones?

Surprisingly, the augment companion is back and augments are superior to combat companions. You won't get any stat bonuses from combat companions if they are not summoned. The Ioun stones aren't that great because their base stats aren't very good. It's best to get an augment that has the base stats you want or need so you can get the full effect of bondings.

ceonnyn said:

2) Mounts
Mounts are completely different from what I remember. Now we are able to get stat boosts and special effects by combinations of insignias. Being that most mounts are character-bound, should I be *cough* buying lockbox keys with Zen and trying to open lockboxes in hopes of getting a mount, that is valid for all characters. What is the best option to go about getting mounts nowadays?

Yeah lockboxes are a "method" but a terrible method because the chances of pulling a legendary mount from a lockbox is so low. If you really want to dump cash or burn up all your AD for zen to open boxes then it is possible if your luck is really good. Other than that, if you would rather middle of the road method, just pick up epic mounts off the AH and wait on the legendary mount for later. It's really the insignia that give you the biggest bang. Try to make all your insignia legendary and not just any legendary, select the insignia with the right stats on them.

ceonnyn said:

3) Refinement
I have a Drow spider mount from launch that I put a Wanderer's effect on, that drops refinement stones. I figured that might be useful. Is it needed to get multiple mounts with this buff and focus on refinement? Also, I have a lot of gear on my old lvl 60 and 65 characters. Should I be refining this? Do refinement points transfer between characters? Or should I transfer all gear to my newbie I am leveling up and do it there?

Having one wanderer's fortune is good enough per character. You get a HAMSTER load of refinement points. Something I think cryptic actually needs to change. 90% of our current end game rewards is nothing BUT refinement points. So essentially what I am saying you wont have any issue getting enough refinement points for what you need. Just run your daily random dungeon/trial queues and you will have so much RP you won't know what to use it all on. With that said, NO you can't transfer it between characters. Something that should also be addressed by cryptic. However; you can trade the gems between characters using shared bank or mail and then squash them on your alt if your alts need refinement points.

ceonnyn said:

4) PVP
What happened to the PVP? I remember in the past that I could level up to about lvl 60 by basically just doing PVP over and over again, and Skirmish maps. My paladin is lvl 20-25 or so now and I have yet to see any PVP queue pop up when I press K. I also went into the old pvp building in the main town and there are no queues there anymore either. There are NPCs in the intro zones (like lvl 15 for example, with the orcs) that have the PVP queue icon, but clicking on them just gives me chat options and that is it.

Several things happened to PvP. One is the scoring system does not encourage continuous queuing. It rewards players who get the best win to losses ratio and then they stop playing. It's a terrible scoring system. Pretty much they changed pvp to be end game only. If you really like pvp there is a player made tournament coming up soon, check the forums on it. You might be able to participate in it and meet some of the other pvpers, since the community for pvp is around about 200 total players give or take 50.

ceonnyn said:

5) Old enchants, etc
What should I be doing with these? Some characters I have, have like 40-50 rank 2-7 enchants on them. Should I be upgrading these still or try to sell them on the AH?
Thank you and have a good day everyone

Any enchantements you have below rank 5 are completely useless. You can squash them for refinement points but they are NOT worth ranking up, its a total waste. You can get rank 5 enchants for free. Not only that but campaign zones like Barovia and Undermountain give you free gear that is packed full of rank 7 and 8s. So its easy to have so many rank 7 and 8s for free. Also if you run through the Aquisitions Incorporated campaign, you can get a rank 14 enchantment for free of your choice.

Unknown · February 2020

This content has been removed.

regenerde · February 2020

Well, somehow a bit ironic that while AI is probably a campaign that many players dislike the most, it has one of the best rewards in form of the Heart of Fire enchantment at the end...

krumple01 · February 2020

malheur2080 said:

krumple01 said:
Also if you run through the Aquisitions Incorporated campaign, you can get a rank 14 enchantment for free of your choice.
Sorry, but i have to correct you at this point. If i am not wrong, you don't get an enchantment of your choice. It's just the Heart of Fire enchantment, which have 1400 Power, 700 Critical Strike, 700 Armor Penetration, is bound on character and isn't possible to be upgraded to higher ranks.

At the time of release, it was a choice. Was it changed to a static enchant? I do know it was never able to be upgraded. Which is absolutely silly and renders the reward much closer to useless than it was when mod 15 was released.

micky1p00 · February 2020

krumple01 said:

malheur2080 said:

krumple01 said:
Also if you run through the Aquisitions Incorporated campaign, you can get a rank 14 enchantment for free of your choice.
Sorry, but i have to correct you at this point. If i am not wrong, you don't get an enchantment of your choice. It's just the Heart of Fire enchantment, which have 1400 Power, 700 Critical Strike, 700 Armor Penetration, is bound on character and isn't possible to be upgraded to higher ranks.

At the time of release, it was a choice. Was it changed to a static enchant? I do know it was never able to be upgraded. Which is absolutely silly and renders the reward much closer to useless than it was when mod 15 was released.

It was never a choice.

The only choice was the free Anniversary pack, that offered 1 of the 4 basic types, radiant, dark, silvery, azure.

kreatyve · February 2020

You are welcome to join the Protector's Enclave Discord server. It's probably the most active Neverwinter server currently. As of the time I'm writing this, there are 5414 members.

jules · February 2020

Also, if you are up for that: guilds are most likely recruiting and always a great help. There are so many new players now and many vets willing to help you out, too.

nevernix · February 2020

WB, @ceonnyn.

many things changed in the past years, especially with M16+ in the last year.

The boons and stats from companions and mounts are much more important (and variable) than in the 'old times'. [In deed, for me as a tank, I think, companions and mounts with bonusses, gear and boon make 66% of the 'power/value' of my char.]

Before buying, updateing or changing companions, mounts, stones or gear, the most important is in my opinion, to understand, how the game(mechanics) now work, and what companions and mounts can help you.

Check some Youtube videos to the topic stats and counterstats MOD 16; details than can be found here
https://jannenw.info/pages/mechanics16/stats

Second ist to get an overview about resent companions and mounts (incl. insignia) and their bonusses
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fP_cUugHdsObvQDzLFijGA-mVm_qLmSy0MI62aTLkDM/htmlview?sle=true

Third is to change your for sure outdeted gear fast (and cheaply) for same basic high(er) level GS gear. Wich is easly done just by starting with lvl 70 the Undermountin Campagin.

Fourth: Serach a active Guild with TeamSpeak and just ... talk to the people. They will guide you to learn the new instance mechanics and help you level up, gear and build your char.

5th: two words about companion gear: 1st, ist now companion only gear, you can buy blue gear wtith one slot and GS 965 with 10k to 15k AD ... take them ASAP, do not waste time and resources to slot that gear with stones ... use, what you find or can get chealply. 2) Bounding stones are the only thing, you should buy oder upgrade in the beginning. They give a signifcantly boost to your companion. Bounding stones is the only investment, that is not getting obsolete with new MOD, new gear, ne companion ... so best investment, you can make.

Hope, that helps ...

CU
Nix*

2020 New Player Help

Comments