NW.10.20131018a.12 Shadowmantle Preview Patch Notes

terramak · November 2013

Highlights
New Feature: Sword Coast Adventures!
Have you ever wondered what your idle companions are up to while you’re saving the good people of Neverwinter? With the upcoming Gateway game, Sword Coast Adventures, you’ll be able to find out!

Sword Coast Adventures is a press-your-luck, dice-matching game in which players send a party of 4 companions into a series of random, mysterious locations to earn rewards and gain companion experience.
To access Sword Coast Adventures, navigate to gatewaytest.playneverwinter.com.
From there you will need to log in to Gateway using the Perfect World account you would normally use to log into the game.
Once you select a character you can click the new button for Sword Coast Adventures.
To play the game you will need at least 4 companions on the character you are logged in with and a thirst for adventure.
You can start your Sword Coast Adventure by selecting an adventure from the Overworld map.
Click an icon on the Sword Coast hex grid to get more information about that adventure. Higher Tiers of adventures require higher tiers of companions, so find an adventure that fits your companions.

In Sword Coast Adventures you can earn experience for your companions, items and more.
Have a great adventure!

EDIT: You can post Sword Coast Adventures feedback in the official thread here!

Release Notes

Collections

Characters are now properly granted progress for all collection items they have equipped or companions they have active when logging in for the first time.

Item Refinement

The Wondrous Bazaar (and certain vendors located around the world) no longer sell Enchantments and Runestones of any rank. Instead, these vendors now carry Upgrade Catalysts and Refining Stones.
Catalyst items now list where they can be found in their tooltip.
The Bonus multiplier for consuming "matching" Artifacts has been changed to 5x, down from 10x.
The Refinement Point values for ranking up an artifact after Rank 30 have been adjusted.

User Interface (UI)

Character Sheet: Deflect Severity once again properly displays as 75% for Trickster Rogues, instead of 25%. This was just a display issue.

diotelp · November 2013

Fix? for the problem affecting some users who use windows xp, and some other OS?
Unable to check out the preview server
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?516981-Problem-launching-the-game

terramak · November 2013

Thanks Diotelp. I'll make sure to get some investigation on that thread.

orangefiree · November 2013

Still nothing for the foundry? I am starting to get worried.

imsmithy · November 2013

Oh lol I want to send my Cat on an adventure , maybe it can find somebody to train it so it has a worthwhile active bonus instead of -25% fall damage

spicen · November 2013

Seriously? You guys use your time on gateway companion-games? Please can you focus more on the combat system of the game, which btw is the best part in it. More pvp content would do wonders for the ever growing pvp community of Neverwinter. Also there are still many things that wait for a fix, since beta, and you keep pushing out new stuff instead of fixing the core of the game, the classes themselves. For example: guardian at-wills can't proc weapon enchants, don't crit etc. (the ones what you can use while you are blocking). Path of the blade being not able to score a critical hit. Some cw skills still don't benefit from armor penetration (can't verify this since I don't play cw myself). Here are just a few examples and I believe everyone of these are reported bugs.

dardove · November 2013

I tried going on an adventure, but during the third encounter it froze up. I tried selecting a die, but it wouldn't let me. At that point I switch from the mini-game to my character sheet and back. Now it wants me to start a new adventure, but it won't let me.

Edit: Logging out of the gateway and back in got it back on track.

bluedarky · November 2013

spicen wrote: »

Seriously? You guys use your time on gateway companion-games? Please can you focus more on the combat system of the game, which btw is the best part in it. More pvp content would do wonders for the ever growing pvp community of Neverwinter. Also there are still many things that wait for a fix, since beta, and you keep pushing out new stuff instead of fixing the core of the game, the classes themselves. For example: guardian at-wills can't proc weapon enchants, don't crit etc. (the ones what you can use while you are blocking). Path of the blade being not able to score a critical hit. Some cw skills still don't benefit from armor penetration (can't verify this since I don't play cw myself). Here are just a few examples and I believe everyone of these are reported bugs.

The people who work on the Gateway are not the people who work on powers and probably don't know anything about how the powers system works, or at least not enough to fix the bugs you mentioned. They may not even know the games programming language as they're web developers and not game developers.

One quote comes to mind from the City of Heroes boards after someone asked the lead animator why he was working on a walk animation instead of a bug on a certain power (not an animation bug).

Back Alley Brawler wrote:

I'll just animate that bug away shall I?

spicen · November 2013

bluedarky wrote: »

The people who work on the Gateway are not the people who work on powers and probably don't know anything about how the powers system works, or at least not enough to fix the bugs you mentioned. They may not even know the games programming language as they're web developers and not game developers.

One quote comes to mind from the City of Heroes boards after someone asked the lead animator why he was working on a walk animation instead of a bug on a certain power (not an animation bug).

That is not my point. Why are they wasting resources on something like this? Well yes, the gateway itself is useful. But does it need to be improved? No. Does the certain things I mentioned need to be improved? No, but it will make the game itself better which makes the money for them. Ppl don't buy zen because they enjoy only using the gateway. They buy it to enjoy the game. And as you mentioned the ppl working on gateway are web developers, and those mostly are contractors. So, I ask again why use resources on something like this when those resources could be way better spent on the game itself.

rhoric · November 2013

You still don't get it do you. 2 DIFFERENT teams. Every MMO has different teams working on stuff. People are hired for a specific skill set for MMOs. You do not understand how things are done.

dardove · November 2013

My map for the second floor appears to be just boxes.

Compare the first floor

To the Second floor.

Just looks a little incomplete on the second floor.

silentraven72 · November 2013

I just tried this out...OMG! I could get hooked on it

Took me a bit to figure out, but lots of fun!

giggliato · November 2013

Wait what? gateway minigames?? AWESOME!!

But seriously, with the addition of bonuses to active companions it was safe to assume that sales of companion active slots has been sluggish. But by developing a reward system that requires your players to have more than x number of companions, you have virtually guaranteed that I will obtain those companions and their active slots, if active slots eventually tie into the minigames...

At any rate, well played.

bioshrike · November 2013

spicen wrote: »

That is not my point. Why are they wasting resources on something like this? Well yes, the gateway itself is useful. But does it need to be improved? No. Does the certain things I mentioned need to be improved? No, but it will make the game itself better which makes the money for them. Ppl don't buy zen because they enjoy only using the gateway. They buy it to enjoy the game. And as you mentioned the ppl working on gateway are web developers, and those mostly are contractors. So, I ask again why use resources on something like this when those resources could be way better spent on the game itself.

Let's say they decided to focus wholly on bugs. They still only have X number of core game engine programmers, so they'd have to bring in new programmers, train them on the systems, and only then get them working on the actual bugs. This process would actually take more time, in the short term.

The gateway changes are likely being done by an entirely separate group of people, who only have some very basic access to read data regarding your companions and other stuff found through the gateway...

ironzerg79 · November 2013

The minigame is neat, though. And it ties back to the core game, trying to give people a reason to get excited about pets.

bioshrike · November 2013

ironzerg79 wrote: »

The minigame is neat, though. And it ties back to the core game, trying to give people a reason to get excited about pets.

I'm assuming that stones and cats can't go on these adventures, or can they?

melodywhr · November 2013

bioshrike wrote: »

I'm assuming that stones and cats can't go on these adventures, or can they?

they can.

and it's fun. dice-rolling fun!

werealchemist · November 2013

spicen wrote: »

That is not my point. Why are they wasting resources on something like this? Well yes, the gateway itself is useful. But does it need to be improved? No. Does the certain things I mentioned need to be improved? No, but it will make the game itself better which makes the money for them. Ppl don't buy zen because they enjoy only using the gateway. They buy it to enjoy the game. And as you mentioned the ppl working on gateway are web developers, and those mostly are contractors. So, I ask again why use resources on something like this when those resources could be way better spent on the game itself.

So what you're saying is that they should fire all the people working on the gateway and hire more people to fix the bugs? I think there are some people here that might have an issue with that.

arontimes · November 2013

Logging into this now... Let's see how awesome/terrible this is!

arontimes · November 2013

Alright, my team just retreated from the red dragon dungeon, and I must say that it is kind of fun. However, there needs to be more choices other than the direction you progress into the various dungeons. Maybe some dialogue options at some points? It would be just like choose the next challenge, except that it's in text form and it's more immersive. Basically, you can go the text adventure + dice route and really make this feel like an old-school RPG.

horizonshard · November 2013

I tried out the Sword Coast Adventurers game and found it really fun. It seems like a fresh new, simple way to get enchantments and crafting material. Just a few things weren't entirely clear:

1. How do my companions regain stamina so they can continue to go on missions?
2. What exactly determines which dice my companions have access to?
3. Is there a point to my max rank companions earning experience points? Will they eventually level up or get stronger out on the Sword Coast.

Besides those few concerns, definitely an enjoyable addition.

bluedarky · November 2013

spicen wrote: »

That is not my point. Why are they wasting resources on something like this? Well yes, the gateway itself is useful. But does it need to be improved? No. Does the certain things I mentioned need to be improved? No, but it will make the game itself better which makes the money for them. Ppl don't buy zen because they enjoy only using the gateway. They buy it to enjoy the game. And as you mentioned the ppl working on gateway are web developers, and those mostly are contractors. So, I ask again why use resources on something like this when those resources could be way better spent on the game itself.

Because they have a team of people dedicated to the Gateway and want to have them do something other than sit twiddling their thumbs all day.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure that the Gateway devs would hate to have nothing to do but sit their twiddling their thumbs all day, but the guys who pay the wage bills want to make sure that they are doing something to earn their wages.

spicen · November 2013

bluedarky wrote: »

Because they have a team of people dedicated to the Gateway and want to have them do something other than sit twiddling their thumbs all day.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure that the Gateway devs would hate to have nothing to do but sit their twiddling their thumbs all day, but the guys who pay the wage bills want to make sure that they are doing something to earn their wages.

You seriously think they have a team of their own for website designing etc? These things are mostly done by contractors. So highly doubt they are on the permanent payroll of cryptic studios. That's what I meant by wasting resources. This game focuses so highly around the combat system and the classes so in my opinion making those as best as they can should be priority number 1. I know they have different teams for combat design, zen store stuff etc. But right now it seems they have too few ppl working on the important matters, while theres plenty of new stuff coming from the other not so important teams.

antovaras · November 2013

spicen wrote: »

You seriously think they have a team of their own for website designing etc? These things are mostly done by contractors. So highly doubt they are on the permanent payroll of cryptic studios. That's what I meant by wasting resources. This game focuses so highly around the combat system and the classes so in my opinion making those as best as they can should be priority number 1. I know they have different teams for combat design, zen store stuff etc. But right now it seems they have too few ppl working on the important matters, while theres plenty of new stuff coming from the other not so important teams.

Cryptic have an in house team for the development of the Gateway; headed up by @badbotlimit (robobo)... and any statement wrt to team size is pure speculative supposition.

devaneio · November 2013

Sword Coast Adventures looks like an amazing idea. Since you are improving gateway, please include a way for us to see the upcoming event times.
I don't believe the implementation of "SCA" would be the case of taking time from bug fixes. And its good for improving the time we spend changing professions tasks.

knightfalz · November 2013

spicen wrote: »

You seriously think they have a team of their own for website designing etc? These things are mostly done by contractors. So highly doubt they are on the permanent payroll of cryptic studios. That's what I meant by wasting resources. This game focuses so highly around the combat system and the classes so in my opinion making those as best as they can should be priority number 1. I know they have different teams for combat design, zen store stuff etc. But right now it seems they have too few ppl working on the important matters, while theres plenty of new stuff coming from the other not so important teams.

They are shortly releasing a new update. An entirely new class is being added with the update. They are currently testing many potential changes to GFWs. They are adding new paragon paths. They are adding artifacts, and a related system. They are adding a new system to replace the way enhancements and runestones are combined.They are adding character bonuses from active pets whether in use or not.

They are adding a way for the player to track various collections on each character. They are doing a great deal of work on the game right now. Maybe some people might consider some of these important matters to work on.

Sword Coast Adventures isn't the only log they have in the fire. It is just one of the many things they have undertaken in an effort to improve the game and player enjoyment of it and the gateway.

emmmamirabeau · November 2013

Everything you list above is on the preview server it will be in testing several weeks maybe even a month before it is launch there is still much to be worked out.

bluedarky · November 2013

spicen wrote: »

You seriously think they have a team of their own for website designing etc? These things are mostly done by contractors. So highly doubt they are on the permanent payroll of cryptic studios. That's what I meant by wasting resources. This game focuses so highly around the combat system and the classes so in my opinion making those as best as they can should be priority number 1. I know they have different teams for combat design, zen store stuff etc. But right now it seems they have too few ppl working on the important matters, while theres plenty of new stuff coming from the other not so important teams.

No, I know they have a dedicated team for a part of the website that is so integrated into the game that it's practically part of the game. I also know the team lead for that as he's a former community manager for Champions Online.

Do your research before spouting nonsense and falsehoods.

bioshrike · November 2013

I don't have access to the game atm... can someone please post the HR's primary and secondary stats and what bonuses they grant? Thank you kindly.

dardove · November 2013

bioshrike wrote: »

I don't have access to the game atm... can someone please post the HR's primary and secondary stats and what bonuses they grant? Thank you kindly.

Primary - Dex - Damage Bonus, AoE Damage Resist , Deflection Chance
Secondary - Str - Stamina Regeneration, Resistance Ignored, DoT Damage Resist
Secondary - Wis - Critical Chance, Control Bonus, Control Resist

bioshrike · November 2013

dardove wrote: »

Primary - Dex - Damage Bonus, AoE Damage Resist , Deflection Chance
Secondary - Str - Stamina Regeneration, Resistance Ignored, DoT Damage Resist
Secondary - Wis - Critical Chance, Control Bonus, Control Resist

TYVM for this!

NW.10.20131018a.12 Shadowmantle Preview Patch Notes

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