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The Casual Player's guide to AD

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  • darkstarcrashdarkstarcrash Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,382 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    hfgtfsdfs wrote: »
    I'm not doing profession or praying at all. Why? Because its boring. I rather not have any AD than do that **** everyday. A game is supposed to be FUN and repeating stuff every single day as long as you play the game is not. Its a terrible game function.

    There needs to be more fun ways to make AD like running dungeons..... It should be kinda obvious but it seems like its not since there is almost no AD to make running dungeons today.

    Huh, I can kind of understand not wanting to run professions, but not praying? How is invoking your god before entering battle boring and un-fun? It seems quite roleplay-friendly, and it's not like it requires a lot of work...

    And if you want another way to make AD by playing the game, run the dailies from Rhix and Lord Neverember. Despite the dailiness, which is apparently anathema to you (so I guess you have no boons?), you can choose from different foundries, skirmishes and dungeons every day, so you aren't repeating your activities.
  • jerrockojerrocko Member Posts: 197 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    kvet wrote: »
    Before I get started, let me tell you a little about myself so you have some context.

    I'm a casual player. It's true I've played Neverwinter from it's very beginnings - even pre-beta. But I'm nearly 40, have a family and a full time job, so Neverwinter is a hobby for me, nothing more. I generally play the game for real about twice a week on average, but I DO find time to log in each morning before I start my day. I have paid money into the game - in particularly I purchased the Founders pack (it's now call the Hero of the North pack), the Feywild pack, the Guardian pack, AND the Dragonborn pack. I have twice purchased Zen with $$ in response to a promotion (once for the Radiant Ioun Stone and once for the Quickling). Otherwise, my Zen comes from in game sources only. I regret the Quicking, but the Radiant stone was solidly worth it without a doubt. I purchased the Packs not because they were particularly worth the asking price (though I do use the Giant Spider and have one Dragonboarn toon - and the Founder's pack was discounted originally as an early purchaser perk) but because I enjoy Neverwinter and am very much willing to voice my opinion with my wallet. I don't consider most of the money grabs PWE does in Neverwinter worthy of my $$, so I don't give it to them for those things.

    In-game, I have moderately good gear, but not top-of-the-line. I still use the Ancient weapon set I got from CN over a year ago, for example, and I am using the standard T2 gear (though I did manage to finally complete the Black Ice set thanks to the promo box that let me get the gloves that hundreds upon hundreds of Major and Epic IWD HEs never gave me). I have a couple R8 enchants, but mostly R7s, and I have never possessed a "Perfect" enchantment. Finally, I have never "farmed" CN or any other DD or location for profit and in particularly, I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've run the same DD more than one time in a row in the entire time I've played Neverwinter. I cannot stand the idea of spending my precious few hours a week playing the same DD over and over and over again. So, I don't. That means I typically NEVER hit my AD max per day on any character I have except rarely (Waukeen event, is a notable exception......). By the way, I currently have 12 characters (plus an open slot I haven't started working on yet)

    Final note before I get started: I'm not posting this so other people can brag about how much better their income is. I realize you can play the AH, or farm DDs, or go balls-to-the-wall profession farming or whatever and make a crapload of AD more than what I do. I don't care about any of that, this is a guide for the very casual player who CAN'T or DOESN'T WANT to do any of those things (people like me, that is).

    Ok, the lead in is done. Despite all I've just said: I typically make about 500K AD per week, which comes to just under 1000 Zen (980 to be more precise) given the current price per Zen (500). Weekly. Given I am extraordinarily lazy (I like to think of myself as prioritizing other things over Neverwinter, personally...), I consider this level of income extremely good.

    How do I do that?

    Professions. I have 12 toons, 9 of which (currently) have level 20 leadership and 8 have all 9 slots open. As I said, I'm very lazy, and as such I only "walk" my toons once a day, typically in the morning. This is my process:

    1: Log into the Gateway and roll through all my characters. The performance of the Gateway, even when on a T3-backed LAN, is terrible to the point that it's nearly unusable, so I don't try and do anything other than just switch to each toon in turn. Why? Because it "completes" all the projects instantly - if you do this in game, you have to wait until each one finishes which, for 9 slots can take a minute or sometimes even two. I usually do this while the game client itself is loading up.

    2: Once the game loads up, I start at the bottom of my list (My main is the top, but that's just habit...). I always log out every toon in a campfire area, usually the PE or Hidden Garden, but not always. When the zone loads, I hit CTRL+I to start the pray and immediately hit N to bring up professions and start claiming. Then I reset professions, all leadership tasks. I use only a single asset, generally a common rank 3 one, and no other optional assets. Why? I only do this once per day, and assets don't increase the AD reward, so there's no benefit to using optional assets for me, therefore I don't take the time to put any in.

    3: OPTIONAL: Refine AD and post it for sale on the ZAX. I don't necessarily do this each day, it's not really necessary to unless you're specifically saving up for something. If you notice the price per zen is under 500, DO convert your AD to Zen. You can sell it later when the market pukes its way back to 500 and make a small profit.

    4: Wash/Rinse/Repeat with all your toons.

    That's it. The whole process takes me ~ 10 minutes, longer if I also do any inventory management or need to move any assets around (for example, to toons that haven't finished unlocking all slots and so aren't ready to be full on profession farmers yet).


    What tasks do I choose?

    Always, without fail or exception, I choose Destroy Enemy Camp x3. I usually also always "acquire siege engine" 3 times to ensure I have enough for when the Rare tasks that use those pop. I also try to maintain enough Mining Rights for the same reason. If there's any Rare task that gives 1600AD, I take it. However, it there is not, I typically always take this: Destroy Enemy Camp x3, Acquire Siege Engine x3, Collect Taxes x3 (or, the Deliver Goods to Bizarre, or Fight off Spellplagued, in that order depending on what's available).

    I only collect and reset my professions once a day, in fact, that's true even on days I actually manage to play. Therefore, other than on my main, I have not invested in any Green/Blue/Purple assets. That's not to say I don't have any - you can get green assets sometimes by training a 4 common rank 2s up to rank 3 (yes, you read that right, sometimes instead of a common rank 3, you end up with a Green version) and I've acquired profession packs of various types as well. I might not be a big spender, but I don't have any problem buying stuff.

    The result is that on a very good day, I have a couple toons who manage 9 1600AD tasks (14400AD) while the rest bring in 7200AD. Since we're only talking about 8 toons of my 12 here (I only "farm" at level 20 leadership with 9 slots open - until then, it's all about 'getting there'), that means, on a good day, I earn: 72000AD or 144 Zen. On a "bad" day, one where all my toons earn the minimum, that's 57600AD or 115 Zen. The reality is usually somewhere in between those two numbers. I find the most typically day is around 135 Zen worth (67500AD) - though remember this includes also 1000AD per toon for prayers as as well.

    To put this in perspective, at this rate, by simply logging into the game, praying and putting the absolute minimum time and effort into the game (perhaps, 2 minutes per toon), you can earn enough Zen to buy a Sharandar Skip token (TOTALLY WORTH IT....) for 5000 zen in about 37 days on average using a 8 toons. Clearly, more toons will make this go faster, and if you have time to repeat this in the late afternoon, early eventing, you can generally double the output if you do (some tasks have 18h timers though).

    Oh, one other note: on my main, I sometimes use a few slots to refine black ice - with the BI set, comes a nasty black ice addiction.... But, on Sekhmet, I have hundreds of siege engines and mining rights, so I have a plenty big buffer. Actually opening all the boxes you get rather than stacking up a 1000 of them in your backpack helps -- those rare resources sometimes drop. Plus, waiting until you have more than 1000 of them makes for a royal pain in the a...finger when you want to open them, to say nothing of the inventory management nightmare.

    But I only have 2 slots!

    A single lazy toon at level 20 leadership can generate 7200AD per day. With the current broken economy, that's 14 Zen worth. Two toons can double that, so 28 zen per day. 2 characters slots run 500 zen (when not on sale), which will take you 18 days to earn using this lazy method. Then, the next two will only take you 9 - since you have effectively doubled your output. Etc.

    Wait! It takes forever to train Leadership up to 20

    Yes it does. Especially if you do it the lazy way... (that is, only walk toons once a day). Other than paying a crapton of AD, training Leadership to 20 will take you a VERY LONG TIME no matter how you do it. But, casual players are casual because we're not looking for instant success. I don't mind clickity click in the morning, takes me 10-15mins tops. Then, after a few weeks... months... whatever, I realize... hey, looky there! Got another Leadership Slave to throw into my AD factory. Hope OSHA doesn't notice the chains on the floor...

    I realize this was a very long post, thanks for reading all the way to the bottom. Hope this helps you! :)


    EDIT: Yes. my fingers don't know how to spell "casual" and my build-in spellchecker doesn't know the different. I can't change the topic name, but I have changed it in the body... meh. spell-checker fail, such a first-world problem :)

    I'm older, early-retired, and I've never even thought of getting actual income from this or any game. Heck, I just finally broke down and initialized monetization on youtube...
    Jerrocko,
    Leader of the Packs
  • jerrockojerrocko Member Posts: 197 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    Huh, I can kind of understand not wanting to run professions, but not praying? How is invoking your god before entering battle boring and un-fun? It seems quite roleplay-friendly, and it's not like it requires a lot of work...

    And if you want another way to make AD by playing the game, run the dailies from Rhix and Lord Neverember. Despite the dailiness, which is apparently anathema to you (so I guess you have no boons?), you can choose from different foundries, skirmishes and dungeons every day, so you aren't repeating your activities.

    I've gotten at least 10%-15% (rough guess) of my XP from invoking my deity...it's so easy.
    Jerrocko,
    Leader of the Packs
  • luxarkluxark Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    onegaki101 wrote: »
    It should cost no more than 50k to unlock the 100% speed bonus. You just need 4 blue guys from other profession to do it.


    Did it with two purple Platesmiths. Took ~40k AD to unlock it on all chars.
  • ghoulz66ghoulz66 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 3,748 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    hfgtfsdfs wrote: »
    I'm not doing profession or praying at all. Why? Because its boring. I rather not have any AD than do that **** everyday. A game is supposed to be FUN and repeating stuff every single day as long as you play the game is not. Its a terrible game function.

    There needs to be more fun ways to make AD like running dungeons..... It should be kinda obvious but it seems like its not since there is almost no AD to make running dungeons today.

    Wish you the best. Tedious or not I'm not refusing 300k per day which what I'll be making soon.
  • rashylewizzrashylewizz Member Posts: 4,265 Bounty Hunter
    edited November 2014
    hfgtfsdfs wrote: »
    I'm not doing profession or praying at all. Why? Because its boring. I rather not have any AD than do that **** everyday. A game is supposed to be FUN and repeating stuff every single day as long as you play the game is not. Its a terrible game function.

    There needs to be more fun ways to make AD like running dungeons..... It should be kinda obvious but it seems like its not since there is almost no AD to make running dungeons today.

    Agreed. When people point to praying and doing data-entry work in order to make AD, something is wrong with the dungeon loot system.
  • luxarkluxark Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    Agreed. When people point to praying and doing data-entry work in order to make AD, something is wrong with the dungeon loot system.

    Nah, something is wrong with the whole game-concept. You cannot design a game around praying, crafting, playing the AH and stuff like that if the focus is on action.
    Of course people start to feel fooled if they cannot advance by playing the game.
  • karakla1karakla1 Member Posts: 1,355 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    another small tipp. if you do sometimes do dungeons and your main has enough RAD send the unbound purpel stuff to an Alt.
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  • vortix44vortix44 Member Posts: 680 Bounty Hunter
    edited November 2014
    luxark wrote: »
    You cannot design a game around praying, crafting, playing the AH and stuff like that

    When there is a WoW release, you can see people competing for World First. World First to level 100, World First to defeat the new boss. Would be nice to see Youtube vids like "NWO: Guild Paragon Method gets World First on defeating Tiamat"
    English is not my first language.
  • flambridgeflambridge Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 191 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    Profession isn't something lucrative to casual, I recommend forget it.
    The most simplest way to collect 24k day is using mine Gauntlgrym.

    You will need:

    A) Unicorn pack or PVP basic pack
    B) one guild (to give Gauntlgrym access)
    C) 15 min

    In the third part of Gauntlgrym not enter the PVP. Go to center and mining glory. Many strogest you are, more glory you get (on average 3000 per section).
    Buy PVP equipment with this glory and voila, you have 24k or more per day.
    Make daily, and some runs of Gauntlgrym dungeons for additional AD. It takes less than 1 hour to get 24k by this method.

    Use the 24k to lv20 Leadership calmly, so get 24k with less effort yet (only 3 slots is need, use 3 purple assents). I did this for months before getting my High Vizier.
    Forget the other professions, it is only for those who have time and patience.
  • vorticanvortican Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 367 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    flambridge wrote: »
    Forget the other professions, it is only for those who have time and patience.

    For those who can't stand PvP, professions are easy, take minimal investment, and can yield a lot of AD over time. It's pretty easy to make 150k per day solely from professions and it only takes logging in like 3 times for 5 minutes or so. I could probably make a lot more if I invested more AD into it, but I spend the rest of my limited time actually playing the game. If you treat professions strictly as AD generation, it supports the actual game playing and you don't have to worry about how much AD you farm.
  • lazaroth666lazaroth666 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,332 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    Thanks for the advices, I think I'll be able to buy my lesser terror in 3 months.
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  • flambridgeflambridge Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 191 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    vortican wrote: »
    For those who can't stand PvP, professions are easy, take minimal investment, and can yield a lot of AD over time. It's pretty easy to make 150k per day solely from professions and it only takes logging in like 3 times for 5 minutes or so. I could probably make a lot more if I invested more AD into it, but I spend the rest of my limited time actually playing the game. If you treat professions strictly as AD generation, it supports the actual game playing and you don't have to worry about how much AD you farm.


    Not everyone has patience to do this.
    Professions are no different than real commerce, and are not all humans who like to manage a store.
    For those who have no patience or time, it is not viable.

    There are three players type in Neverwinter,

    > adventurers (using dungeons and loot gear)
    > Merchants (use profession and make a store)
    > pvp/pk (use pvp gear, glory and coins)

    Everyone can get 24k AD from easy way.
    Have fun with your style of play, don't something just for "duty take 24k per day." The way I talked to caual is optimal, because does not need time and it's fun. There are many ways (each suited to a type of player and he time).
  • kvetkvet Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 2,700 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    flambridge wrote: »
    Profession isn't something lucrative to casual, I recommend forget it.

    ...

    Use the 24k to lv20 Leadership calmly, so get 24k with less effort yet (only 3 slots is need, use 3 purple assents). I did this for months before getting my High Vizier.
    Forget the other professions, it is only for those who have time and patience.

    Just want to point out that you contradicted yourself here... You recommend forgetting it, then recommend getting leadership to 20

    The main reason I've explain my method here is to explain a way for players who can't or won't "The most simplest way to collect 24k day is <insert any IN GAME gind you would like -- you chose GG for your example>"

    A player CAN make significantly more AD by grinding in-game content. You name it -- dailies, GG, DDs, the AH -- you can make a lot of AD from there. What's more, if you are willing and able to log in (game or gateway) to reset professions more than once a day, you can also make a lot more AD than I've described here, likewise, if you invest in purple assets (people, in particular) you can speed up your return and increase your overall ROI. I'm not suggesting or recommending anyone NOT do that nor am I suggesting my method is the best or fastest way to earn AD. It's not. What it IS though, is a method for people who can't get in-game to grind every day and who can't or don't want to monitor their professions to the minute in order to maximize them, to still make significant AD.

    "For those who have no patience or time, it is not viable."

    Yes, I agree completely.

    Keep in mind, though, this method is 100% compatible with ALL OTHER METHODS of earning AD. Someone in my guild called this method "sure as taxes" -- wise words. You can work toward this method while pursing any and all other methods and you can consider it a supplement to any other AD earning methods you want.
  • bunnyboogsbunnyboogs Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 6 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    This thread needs to be stickied. Great information kvet!
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  • beckylunaticbeckylunatic Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 14,231 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    kvet wrote: »
    I happen to use Alchemy for everything of that nature - I have two purple Alchemy guys, 3 purple bowls and a purple stone. I've used it to unlock the speed and result slots on all of my toons. I don't know the current price, but when I picked those up, they were not overly expensive.

    I also use Alchemy assets for speed and quality unlocks, but they are no longer significantly cheaper than other assets. Crucibles have gone up a ton since Jewelcrafting will use them.

    Purple files are currently pretty cheap though.

    If you have multiple characters and/or intend on more, it may make more sense to keep assets bought for slot unlocking purposes rather than resell them. I also use my "Alchemy kit" as loaners for trusted guildies.
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  • ghoulz66ghoulz66 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 3,748 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    Thanks for the advices, I think I'll be able to buy my lesser terror in 3 months.

    Or an epic mount in 2 years O_o
  • kvetkvet Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 2,700 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    Speaking of Epic Mount (this is off topic a bit, but heck, it's MY topic so :p) - if you are trying to decide what to buy with all your AD -- my biggest piece of advice to new players: Buy a Zen Store Epic Mount. It should always be your first big purchase unless you will NEVER have more than one toon ever. This isn't to help Cryptic's bottom line at all ;). The reason is, a 110% mount will make your life WAY better (running slow suXoRz), and Zen mounts are ACCOUNT unlocks. That means on purchase will ensure you have a 110% mount at level 20 for every character you ever make on your account (and... don't use multiple accounts for extra toons, that's a huge waste - just save up for slots, there are so many advantages to using a single account, it's just not worth using multiple accounts).

    Anyway... back to your regularly schedule thread.... ;)
  • flambridgeflambridge Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 191 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    kvet wrote: »
    Just want to point out that you contradicted yourself here... You recommend forgetting it, then recommend getting leadership to 20


    "For those who have no patience or time, it is not viable."

    Yes, I agree completely.

    Keep in mind, though, this method is 100% compatible with ALL OTHER METHODS of earning AD. Someone in my guild called this method "sure as taxes" -- wise words. You can work toward this method while pursing any and all other methods and you can consider it a supplement to any other AD earning methods you want.



    Forget others professions.
    Leadership don't need hurry. Can be done over a few months (to facilitate).
    Also, not need more 3 slots (if more, great, but only thing matters is the 1600 task).
    I'm just talking "don't is hard get 24k day", and no need to be boring. :/

    But I say this only for casual players, not general. Casual don't give time, the game can not be are a "second job". How much characters, more time spent, more boring.
  • kvetkvet Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 2,700 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    I see your point. I'm personally OK with hopping in quickly once a day to hit some keys then going about my business. Perhaps I'm conditioned by the "collect your money every day" style mobile games that I used to play while commuting to work on the train to kill time. I don't actually have a mobile now (that the gods) but I still have no problem building up slowly.

    I DO play the game normally, just not every day - when I actual grind in-game dailies, the effect is usually a surplus of rough diamond - but those flow through the system within a few days since I don't get surpluses commonly.

    To me, boring is spending hours every day playing the same content over and over (especially GG PvP - OMG, I would rather shoot myself - and I happen to like PvP). I don't consider spending 15-20 minutes a day resetting professions particularly boring. To each their own, of course -- not everyone has the patience or desire to use this method, and that's fine.
  • frishterfrishter Member Posts: 3,522 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    kvet wrote: »
    To each their own, of course -- not everyone has the patience or desire to use this method, and that's fine.

    True. Even though I'm quite patient I didn't expect to do it, however there was an event for tokens so my mules that were created to carry stuff logged iin every day to get those so then I continued to do so for invocations and then started using them for crafting then created more leadership toons and then double xp came so made 10 more that are almost level 19 and used those 5k xp tomes to get to level 11 after sleeping dragon bridge and complete leadership training tasks. Basically if you think it's not for you, that may not necessarily be true. Having said that, it's boring. Very profitable in the long run, but boring.
  • moniqueymoniquey Member Posts: 3 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    kvet wrote: »
    Yes, what oldbaldyone said. At first, with only 2 slots - your income will be gind-based anyway. But getting rank 3 guys (9 of them) plus 9 armors and 9 swords, per toon, is the most important goal.

    No, it's not.

    Until you get to level 20, half your income is from 'collect taxes' and/or 'battle undead' x 3, which only take rank 2 guys. You can get away with having only rank 2 guys at all until level 17, when you need three to start doing 'fight off spellplagued'.

    Up to level 17, you can get away with only three rank 2 guys if you alternate between collect taxes' and 'battle undead' x 3 only when you have District Maps.

    Note that the rare 'gather astral diamonds' which is the third best casual task for AD, also only requires a rank 1 guy.
  • kvetkvet Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 2,700 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    I usually ignore the astral diamonds one, but... it's not bad in one regard because it gives pretty good character XP as well. If you're profession-leveling, the gather diamonds tasks is a pretty good one to keep your eye out for at lower levels. Nevertheless, you want to work to get your alt(s) to level 60 as fast as you can since doing that alone, along with getting one of your professions to 20 (pick an easy crafting one, rather than leadership or alchemy) - that will get you 6 open slots, which is workable until you find yourself able to unlock the other three.

    I meant to add: getting rank 3 guys and 9 armors and swords should be your goal - doesn't mean you have to break the bank doing it - but having that squared away early means you don't have to break your stride when you get up to tasks that need those things, but you don't have them. Gathering them along the way as you can afford them is easier than being face with needing them all at once. Simply levelling my toons, even the once that level to 10 then do nothing but leadership until 60 past that, can easily afford armor and swords (common ones) by the time they need them, same with people (though for everything by leadership, I have plenty of level 3 guys to use already).

    I'm the sort that likes to have things ready before I need them -- if your more... wait until you need the thing before getting it... that's cool too. For me, in the mornings, I don't always have time to deal with that, so it costs me a day's worth of "next level" stuff when it happens since i'm stuck using the lower level tasks until I can get the requirements for the higher level tasks in place.
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