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Forums > Home› News & Announcements

Preview, the new Neverwinter public test shard, is now available!

cmpinpointerrorcmpinpointerror Member, Moonstars, Neverwinter Beta Users, Cryptic Developers, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Founder's Pack Users Posts: 646
edited July 2014 in News & Announcements
From our new blog,

"To ensure a smooth live launch and to continue improving Neverwinter past launch, we are starting a new program for select players to preview upcoming content, game and class balance changes, and other improvements to the game. The new public test shard will be called Preview. By playing on Preview, these select players will be able to provide invaluable feedback on what can improved and changed before the update is on the Neverwinter shard."

Head here for all the details: http://nw.perfectworld.com/preview

Will you be checking out Preview?

Click here to learn how to get started on NeverwinterPreview.
Please report any bugs and game issues in this subsection.
Leave any feedback and suggestions right here.

Known Issues
  • Foundry: There's currently a crash when trying to exit while saving (or auto-saving) a project.
  • Invocation: The "Vault of Piety" (Invocation store) button is currently disabled whenever Invocation is on cooldown or disabled due to being outside a rest zone.
  • PvP: Assists are sometimes awarded even when the player doesn't qualify for an Assist.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments

  • jaymadiv#8056 jaymadiv
    jaymadiv#8056
         Member Posts: 423 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    OK, i've requested my characters copied over.

    but how do I access the Preview Shard?
    image
  • bluedarkybluedarky Member Posts: 1,232 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Open the launcher and login but don't select to play, just above the progress bar should be an option to switch between the main server and the preview server.
  • jaymadiv#8056 jaymadiv
    jaymadiv#8056
         Member Posts: 423 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    I see, thanks!
    image
  • fedevr73fedevr73 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    after the preview client patching we will still be able to log in on regular Dragon server ?
    Or should i make a backup of NW dir. ?
  • cmpinpointerrorcmpinpointerror Member, Moonstars, Neverwinter Beta Users, Cryptic Developers, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Founder's Pack Users Posts: 646
    edited June 2013
    fedevr73 wrote: »
    after the preview client patching we will still be able to log in on regular Dragon server ?
    Or should i make a backup of NW dir. ?

    Yes, you will still be able to play on the regular Neverwinter shard. You just need to switch the shard on the launcher from NeverwinterPreview to Neverwinter. You will not need to back anything up. :)
  • fedevr73fedevr73 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    thanks m8 !
  • elessymelessym Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Kudos to the team - when you said Preview would be available "very soon," I wouldn't have guessed that meant the very same day. Nice job getting this running.
    "Participation in PVP-related activities is so low on an hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly basis that we could in fact just completely take it out of STO and it would not impact the overall number of people [who] log in to the game and play in any significant way." -Gozer, Cryptic PvP Dev
  • lokiinumbralokiinumbra Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 3 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Wow.. .Just plain.. wow
  • solwrathsolwrath Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 79
    edited June 2013
    Are there patch notes for this test realm?
    BLOOD - Dragon server http://neverwinterblood.enjin.com/home
    BLOOD neverwinter wiki - http://neverwinteronline.wikia.com/wiki/NeverwinterOnline_Wiki
  • vikingbradvikingbrad Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Can I get a confirmation on this

    Any progress on character copied to Preview will not be saved when Open Beta shards go live?

    ie only progress made on Open Beta shards is kept
    Ricky Gervatheist Lvl 60 DC on Dragon Server
    Looking for a guild for PvE Dungeons to suit AEST evenings
  • knoteskadknoteskad Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    I would seriously flip my **** if they give us either premade chars, or free respecs and access to all the gear for the purpose of testing.

    Please Cryptic, hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggh.
  • bluedarkybluedarky Member Posts: 1,232 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    fedevr73 wrote: »
    after the preview client patching we will still be able to log in on regular Dragon server ?
    Or should i make a backup of NW dir. ?

    The preview client is in a seperate folder in your Neverwinter installation, if you go to <Install Dir usually C:\Program Files(x86)\Cryptic Studios\Neverwinter>\Neverwinter you'll see two folders, Live and Playtest. I believe you can work out which is which.

    Fun Fact: If you keep the Playtest folder up to date then it minimizes downloads when the content on Playtest is patched onto live as the client will copy any up to date files from Playtest first.
    solwrath wrote: »
    Are there patch notes for this test realm?

    http://nw.perfectworld.com/news/?p=907501
  • herakleiaherakleia Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 95
    edited June 2013
    Is Foundry active or accessible on Preview, and does it save things separate from the live Foundry files?
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • chesus98chesus98 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    I ponder the same question.
    vikingbrad wrote: »
    Can I get a confirmation on this

    Any progress on character copied to Preview will not be saved when Open Beta shards go live?

    ie only progress made on Open Beta shards is kept

    Will there be an option to transfer the character/game progress from the preview over?
    Can't wait to see how you've balanced the Great Weapon Fighter... Level 40 seems to be when the class starts to fall apart (with damage).
  • soanvalckesoanvalcke Member Posts: 30 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Need to unlock the ability for free respecs on the test server ASAP.
  • ausdoerrtausdoerrt Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Does the option to instantly level your character to a specific point in the progression make a comeback? Would be much more time consuming to test otherwise...
  • ixotlixotl Member Posts: 310 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    wow. 1+GB download. Wasn't expecting that.
  • dementia2009dementia2009 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Ofc you cant keep anything from the PTS lol....
  • stev2510stev2510 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    no test zen ?
  • nibbnibbnibbnibb Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Folks need to understand that the Public Test shard is not some magical wonderland where you can get instant level 60s, craft astral diamond studded gold statues of incredible value, or play in a wondrous waterfall of endless Zen. At the very least, by logging in you're testing stability just by existing. Best case people will actually test the new stuff and provide feedback. Any level bumps, crafting materials, or Zen provided will be fleeting at best.

    I get that Neverwinter is some people's first MMO, so I'm not trying to be harsh. Nothing you do on the Public Test shard will ever have lasting effects on your main characters. In the blink of an eye, the Public Test shard could have all auctions cancelled, all rough diamonds destroyed, and all characters wiped. It is the equivalent of living in your character's dream world.
  • pitgreasepitgrease Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 12 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Great job on the updates guys!
  • ausdoerrtausdoerrt Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    nibbnibb wrote: »
    Folks need to understand that the Public Test shard is not some magical wonderland where you can get instant level 60s, craft astral diamond studded gold statues of incredible value, or play in a wondrous waterfall of endless Zen. At the very least, by logging in you're testing stability just by existing. Best case people will actually test the new stuff and provide feedback. Any level bumps, crafting materials, or Zen provided will be fleeting at best.

    Well, instant/faster levels would actually be kind of helpful for testing, unlike the silly stuff you mention in the same sentence. Besides, the only reason I've brought it up is because they've done it before.
  • noniussnoniuss Member Posts: 43
    edited June 2013
    nibbnibb wrote: »
    Folks need to understand that the Public Test shard is not some magical wonderland where you can get instant level 60s, craft astral diamond studded gold statues of incredible value, or play in a wondrous waterfall of endless Zen. At the very least, by logging in you're testing stability just by existing. Best case people will actually test the new stuff and provide feedback. Any level bumps, crafting materials, or Zen provided will be fleeting at best.

    I get that Neverwinter is some people's first MMO, so I'm not trying to be harsh. Nothing you do on the Public Test shard will ever have lasting effects on your main characters. In the blink of an eye, the Public Test shard could have all auctions cancelled, all rough diamonds destroyed, and all characters wiped. It is the equivalent of living in your character's dream world.

    DUDE, wouldnt it be beter for testing purposes if players on a test shard were given access to most, if not all content, so there could be actual ways to test something out?
  • leftsideoftheyarleftsideoftheyar Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 25 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    No, it wouldnt... given that this is a f2p game people could just play the PTR rather than the pay portion of thegame if that were the case. There would be even less incentive to pay.
    u13fd8a.png
  • yanniellyanniell Member Posts: 12 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    leftsideoftheyar wrote: »
    No, it wouldnt... given that this is a f2p game people could just play the PTR rather than the pay portion of thegame if that were the case. There would be even less incentive to pay.

    the ptr will be there for just a few days...

    I agree that access to everything would help A LOT the tests.
  • daowacedaowace Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Well, the UI causing a 25% performance hit wasn't fixed. Regardless of whatever improvements they made to performance in town, the game is still dropping to 45 FPS when looking at the main center of town, despite it being nearly empty. This is a critical performance issue that needs to be addressed. I'm sure it affects Cryptic's other games as well. The engine is not optimized well at all. (Note: DX11 removes most of the performance hit, but it takes a severe hit in other areas; which is remedied by turning off shadows which makes the game look far uglier than normal)

    The issues with the foundry not awarding exp/items if you kill too fast isn't fixed either. All my high-damage characters (rogues especially) continue to barely gain any exp/items from foundry missions.

    Still no item previews.. Seriously? Basic feature of practically all MMORPGs is still not in this game?

    Auction house sorting actually works, not checked to see if searching is fixed.

    Overall, this doesn't seem like it's been worth waiting for. It should've been pushed in a regular weekly maintenance patch, leaving the content update until the end, when it's actually ready. The fact that fixes to the core game are being held back by a content update are just completely asinine.


    For PTR specific things: Where's the free respecs? Again, asinine to have a test server without free respecs.

    Also: Why the **** is the zen store icon glowing all the time? That better be a bug, like the current mail icon. It is SEVERELY irritating.
    http://www.twitch.tv/daowace

    PC specs: http://forum.daow.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4#p99
  • leftsideoftheyarleftsideoftheyar Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 25 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    @yann
    explain why they would have any incentive to play the game? sure it would help testing but in a f2p game you just cant do that.
    u13fd8a.png
  • ganjaman1ganjaman1 Member Posts: 792 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Will we get infinite respecs on the test realm ? If not just go ahead and test it yourselves , just saying .
    http://youtu.be/kiEPiETiVnU?t=4m5s
  • skugganskuggan Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 5 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Sounds cool, I'll start patching right away. :)
  • geerthgeerth Member Posts: 3
    edited June 2013
    The patching goes with astonishing speed of +-4kb/s for me. Considering how big is the file and the fact I can't start the game while patching (can't have two clients/launchers open at the same time or something like that) il pass on testing anything for now.
This discussion has been closed.