+1
all of this.
if there was a spectacle of poor performance and layoffs in process this mod should have been delayed until YOUR house was in order. Now it is up to US as players to suffer on behalf of the gong show you had going on behind the scenes. You bit off way more than you could chew, and now we're all digesting this regurgitated crud you call a mod.
I don't understand, really I don't. I usually have a GREAT tolerance for 'learning curves' ... this is not a mistake, it's not a coaching moment. It is a business destroying critical error. If you survive this, I will still be here to play. I know that other die hard friends of mine will be here too, but as each minute passes you are losing dollars and players. I want you to fix this and I want to support you...BUT I need further honesty and forthright communication from YOU and the dev's. When your dog takes a HAMSTER, you pick the HAMSTER up, you don't leave it to fester and get dragged around on the shoe of a poor passer by.I have HAMSTER on my shoe, called Mod6.
Well put! I have been playing since Beta as well and have tried to be patient with the game's content. However, I do not spend extreme amounts of money to be maxed out. Some of us would rather achieve greatness rather than purchase it all. I understand that money is to be made or what is the point, but this new MOD is very discouraging. I didn't have a maxed out character to begin with and now it seems ever so overwhelming. I went from actually being able to handle all areas of the game fairly well and working towards what others have purchased and then... SWOOSH... you have taken it from me and placed a much greater challenge to get back to what I was striving for, without spending out the butt to max my characters out, in which case why would I need to bother? Not to mention, even the maxed characters are finding the content too challenging! So where does that leave me? ... One foot out the door.... that's where.
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jadence80Member, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 5Arc User
Well, you're welcome to wait for the double XP weekend to end before leveling your character. Also, many of us have been playing mmo's for a while and get a sense of what works and what doesn't fairly quickly. Frankly I'd rather do my retconning and such when I have access to all of my skills (at level cap), and once you've done the grind for more than say... 6 or 7 characters, shooting passed all the fetch missions and such can be a nice reprieve.[/Q
Well thanks for the permission. I know there are those of your gamer type out there or else the company would go broke. The "I need it all and I need it NOW" player. I would say gamer but your type generally leaves the game out of the equation. A cheat code or loophole is your best friend. And when these aren't available a good credit card is suitable company.
You have read the comments regarding XP ..I can only add that my characters which have not moved .. just prayed are already 64 .. another week and a half they will be 70... I do not really think we need another XP weekend ..
Refinement is needed. If you were to go on your AH and try to sort out level 70 equipment ..it does not work..and you will find nothing at any level.... and did you know you have limited your new artifact weapons and gear to level 70.... I have trouble with that ..as it does not offer any hope
The only way to refine is to buy what few refinement items you can afford from AH (or ZEN store)oh wait ... you have cut down our income from leadership (I have seen personal decrease of approx10K/character a day ) so I can't afford to buy more than 2 lesser res stones
You are perpetuating the rich getting richer and stronger and the poor getting weaker ..Is that really the model you wish ...
I believe we do need some equalization ... and if anything a RP weekend or maybe one a month to allow players to catch up and equalize the game more over time .. Increasing RP drop rates would help too...
Next we should discuss dungeon difficulty .......in light of the fact that few can afford to reline artifacts they are weaker (except for those who are rich and have refined to max can run these and get drops to sell while those unrefined get less ....did I mention...you are perpetuating the rich getting richer and stronger and the poor getting weaker ..
Is that really the game model you wish
...
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aesculaepiusMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 70Arc User
edited April 2015
You are making a bunch of changes in the game today that seem trivial compared to the massive mechanics overhaul that needs to take place.
+1 to that sentiment.
Could we please get the "Release Notes" link in the launcher to work like the STO launcher?
How about some credit for those of us that spent a month grinding Sharandar for the Fabled Set? Some way to upgrade to a new Lvl 70 set?
creating character
control wizard :1 month ago
lvling him to lvl 60: 2 weeks
getting blue gear for lvl 60: 3 days
learn to survive in sharandar first map: 1 hour
doing the lvl 60-70 grind lvl: 3 days
gearing in full lvl 70 blue gear excepting cloak given when hitting lvl 70, including green MH and OH: 2 days
getting one shot killed by a witherer in Sharandar: &$#&!%# priceless
Exactly... absolutely-exactly....
I have a level 60 DC, faithful Path(?).. that is just sitting in protector enclave.
She has several boons from Sharandar and dread ring.. and has a T2 level 60 set.
Due to playing other characters, I have not started her on the Tyranny of Dragon campaign, nor have I taken her into Well Of Dragons.
After Mod 6 dropped, I *tried* to run her thru the dailies in the first sharandar zone, in the tree. I persevered for 10 mins, then dropped all quests and parked her back in Protector Garden.
The only character I have any chance of running dread ring or sharandar or iwd or wod is the full level 70 gwf, with 2 of the allied assault pieces (blues), and 2 of the eternal pieces. I still die about 30% of the time, from frigging powries, yetis, black dragon rogues, witherers, etc.
Die from frigging trash.. that should be spalttered on the sole of my scale-mail foot.
To end this diatribe.. I give you a paraphrased quote from "The OutLaw Josey Wales" movie..
"we went to see the President.. he said we Indians looked so civilized in our fine white-mans clothes.
He then asked us to endeavor to persevere.
We left and went home, thinking on endeavor to persevere.
After we thought about it a little while.. we went on the warpath"
Soo.. are we, the players, being asked to "Endeavor To Perservere.."?
damnaciousMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 354Arc User
edited April 2015
Dear Goatshark and the development team,
Thank you all for actively taking the initiative to firstly communicate with us and work to improve the current state of the game. I really appreciate it and i'm certain that many others do too.
I haven't read what other players have posted in this thread yet i would like to offer my perspective on the current state of the game from a GF's and player perspective.
GFs, even specifically built and geared Protector tanks really seem to struggle surviving the mass damage dealt by NPCs in T2 and, to a lesser extent, T1. I completely understand that the desire was to make the game more challenging for the community and in essence it isn't really too unbalanced as it can be managed with difficulty IF there were some adjustments made to the GF (and likely the Paladin too. I can't truly speak for the Paladin however).
If you improved the survivability of the GF by increasing the Defense and Hit Points gained from PVE items (PVP needs an adjustment but not nearly so much) by approximately 20% then it will enable a well-geared GF to successfully pull threat and maintain it in a PVE party scenario without dying so readily. This will still leave the party with enormous challenges in navigating T2s but ones that are not based upon whether the GF will be unlucky enough to lower their shield to activate a Power or drink a potion and get one-shotted. This is taking into account the temporary bonuses granted to DR that the GF obtains through Power usage.The changes wrought to the Guard mechanic in Mod4 were specifically touted as being designed to reduce damage spikes in order to ensure the GF could be healed by a healer in a more manageable and reasonable fashion. Unfortunately, unless changes are made to increase the survivability of the GF then the GF will more than likely remain a party-wipe machine.
Most importantly, the bugs related to the GFs shield / Guard where it will drop inexplicably and the inability to raise Guard when required consistently and particularly after being stunned/dazed will SIGNIFICANTLY improve the capacity for GFs to 'tank' successfully. From my severely limited experience with the Paladin, i also believe they experience the same issues.
The amount of Threat that the Paladin is capable of without trying versus the Threat a GF has to work hard and spec for is dangerously unbalanced. As the GF is required to maintain HATE on targets in order for the party to work properly, Powers such as Enforced Threat and the Tab Mark facility need an increase or the GF will require an increase in their passive threat generation. I don't believe too much is necessary but some increase is.
The changes made to the GFs damage have been an absolutely long overdue and very welcome improvement that has finally allowed the GF to not be a complete dead weight in the damage department and has enormously assisted GF players to grind through PVE quest content a lot faster than they would have been able to otherwise. Thank you very, very, very much from ALL (i feel confident i can speak for all in this case) GF players. At present, GFs do not seem to experience difficulty soloing through PVE quest zones.
Please take a closer look at the Guard Meter regeneration and loss mechanics granted by Feats and items as it is currently easily possible to maintain a consistent Guard for 20+ minutes. I do not believe this is quite working as intended and, in my opinion, is rather unnecessary. This only affects GFs at end-game.
Fighter's Recovery requires an increase in animation and cast time. This will also serve to increase GF survivability.
Increasing the amount of Temporary Hit Points gained from all GF class sources would greatly assist some GFs with their survivability.
Changes to Lifesteal still enable that stat and mechanic to be a viable choice for a character of any sort to some extent. However, the changes made to Regeneration simply mean that Regen is a completely and utterly wasted stat and, particularly as it often seems to crop up on 'tank' gear, this purely serves to reduce tank survivability rather than provide any reasonable benefit. Please consider returning the Regeneration mechanic back to how it was prior to mod6.
Please don't regurgitate content and DEFINITELY don't 'force' players to rehash old content as if it was new without great rewards. A "Legendary" type option for epic content is a good idea but not simply forcing players to re-grind it. New content is necessary, particularly new PVP maps.
Get rid of the unreasonable and ridiculous grind fest requirements to achieve anything, particularly, refinements, content progression and professions. The current system is one of the large reasons why players leave.
SIGNIFICANTLY reduce the prices of products and services on the Zen Store. Not across the board as things such as the Dragonborn Legends Pack, Sharandar Unlocks etc. are reasonably priced. Reduce the real money cost of products and services to minimal amounts (such as for respecs, fashion, some mounts / companions, refinement items etc.) and you will more than likely make more money. For example, is it better to make $1000 off 1 player or $1 off of 1000 happy buyers? Obviously, if a player spends $1 then the chance is they will spend another. However, the player that spends $1000 is extremely unlikely to continue spending more money.
There are still many, many, many more improvements that can be made to the GF that would ensure they are able to successfully tank and survive, however I believe the issues outlined above will provide a good place to start.
If you can implement these few 'fixes' to the GF then you WILL find that the current T1 and T2 content will not require many changes if any.
If you do truly desire to improve the current state of the game then I will be more than happy to assist you however i can.
Hey all, wanted to drop in and let you all know we are monitoring the PVP performance.
To clarify some things, we are generally fairly happy with where GWFs are in PVE. They are competitive, and do very solid damage for the risks they take being in melee range (where there are more consistent threats to worry about).
However in PVP we want to make a few targeted buffs that should not strongly impact PVE performance. These buffs will not make it for launch, but should go live roughly 2 weeks after launch.
Determination: Determination gain now scales with damage before damage resistance (instead of damage after damage resistance).
Unstoppable: Now increases movement speed by 20% while active.
Takedown: Base stun duration now increased to 4 seconds (up from 3 seconds). This stun can no longer be improperly deflected.
Front Line Surge: Base stun duration now increased to 4 seconds (up from 3 seconds). This stun can no longer be improperly deflected.
We believe these buffs should help improve PVP performance significantly without upsetting the PVE balance greatly.
Thank you all for your continued feedback.
Chris "Gentleman Crush" Meyer"
As you can see its been roughly 2 weeks since launch. So the 4/23 patch was known about for a LONG time however why did these patch notes NOT contain these buffs?
Feedback: I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else, but my blue ToD weapons - which are supposed to level up alongside the character - have not been leveling up with my (now level 65 HR) post-Mod 6. They're still stuck at the previous level cap of 60, with an equipment level of 72.
Anyone know if this is intentional or bugged?
(Also, at the risk of sounding whiny, even with good gear my CW and SW are both squishy, squishy PCs who rely on being able to kill mob enemies quickly before they can get close enough to catch the CW/SW in a melee. You simply can't make up for their weak base build by maxing hitpoints and defence/deflect; if you try, you revert to not being able to kill things quickly enough to survive your enemies overwhelming you with numbers at close range. We relied on regen and/or lifesteal (allied with damage-maxing stats) to maintain survivability during fights - and after all, they are magic-using classes, they should be able to use magic to enhance/steal health! - but the new post-fight/unreliable trigger format for those two stats is really...not good...for both those classes. Please think about reverting the way those stats work?)
Well, you're welcome to wait for the double XP weekend to end before leveling your character. Also, many of us have been playing mmo's for a while and get a sense of what works and what doesn't fairly quickly. Frankly I'd rather do my retconning and such when I have access to all of my skills (at level cap), and once you've done the grind for more than say... 6 or 7 characters, shooting passed all the fetch missions and such can be a nice reprieve.[/Q
Well thanks for the permission. I know there are those of your gamer type out there or else the company would go broke. The "I need it all and I need it NOW" player. I would say gamer but your type generally leaves the game out of the equation. A cheat code or loophole is your best friend. And when these aren't available a good credit card is suitable company.
Your wild assumptions about my MMO budget are both overheated and ill-informed. Also, last I checked I didn't need a credit card to play during double XP.
FearOfADiscoPlanet
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louchristanMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 50Arc User
edited April 2015
So far I have spent over two thousand dollars on this game but I didn't mind because I had enjoy playing it. However since mod. 6 I am starting to loose interest because area like Well of the Dragon had became too difficult for me as a solo player. Challenge on the game is good but dying again and again is no fun at all and the drops and the rewards seems to be worse than before. I hope there is some changes coming up to brighten things up so that I don't have to find other online games to play.
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torontodaveMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 992Arc User
edited April 2015
Hey Scott, Congrats if you read this far.
Here's my list of things I'd like to see addressed. Your announcement gave me the impetus to write it. The least you could do is read it, so I know it wasn't a total waste of time. ;D
NW-DSQ39N5SJ - 'To Infinity, and BEYOND!' - Spelljammer Quest. Skyships, Indiana Jones moments NW-DC9R4J5EH - 'The Black Pearl' - Spelljammer! Phlo Riders and Space Orcs
Thanks for all the fish.
You might not be the hero this community deserve but you are the one it desperately needs right now. You are in a fight against time unfortunately and everyone knows time is OP. Although your intentions are good with what you want to tackle, I'm afraid it will come to late. The few of us that will see them come to fruition may not be enough to make you reap the rewards of those efforts.
If you can turn this boat around, you could remove everything else from your resume and would always be at the top of the pile on anyone's hiring list but the boat is heading for the Titanic Iceberg's mom. Good luck though, the rotter and wheels are broken so get everyone paddling quickly. I won't tell you what I want from the game like others have done, other then this: I want to have fun playing the game again.
Reading the article, I feel more appreciative of the design team already. Mistakes were made and they're being owned up to. Hopefully we'll see a more reasonable difficulty scale and some of the broken classes fixed.
My largest disliking of the new update is the removal of nearly all zone dungeons. They were all so amazing and were already built and operational and everything. I hate nothing more in a game than when completed, enjoyable content is removed without need. I get that there's some reworking of the whole dungeon system but i dont understand what was wrong to begin with. I joined neverwinter this winter and find it sad that it's already seeming to be going in the direction of other MMO's ive left in the past because they were too busy changing things to realize what wasn't needing to be changed to begin with.
We have posted an update regarding Neverwinter: Elemental Evil, and how our team is gathering, assessing and taking action on community feedback. The full blog can be read here.
Please feel free to continue feedback for Neverwinter: Elemental Evil here. We will update the community as we make changes to the game.
I am impressed by your body of work on LinkedIn!
God speed and good luck. If anyone can turn around this horrendous release, it's you. I look forward to returning.
You have read the comments regarding XP ..I can only add that my characters which have not moved .. just prayed are already 64 .. another week and a half they will be 70... I do not really think we need another XP weekend ..
Refinement is needed. If you were to go on your AH and try to sort out level 70 equipment ..it does not work..and you will find nothing at any level.... and did you know you have limited your new artifact weapons and gear to level 70.... I have trouble with that ..as it does not offer any hope
The only way to refine is to buy what few refinement items you can afford from AH (or ZEN store)oh wait ... you have cut down our income from leadership (I have seen personal decrease of approx10K/character a day ) so I can't afford to buy more than 2 lesser res stones
You are perpetuating the rich getting richer and stronger and the poor getting weaker ..Is that really the model you wish ...
I believe we do need some equalization ... and if anything a RP weekend or maybe one a month to allow players to catch up and equalize the game more over time .. Increasing RP drop rates would help too...
Next we should discuss dungeon difficulty .......in light of the fact that few can afford to reline artifacts they are weaker (except for those who are rich and have refined to max can run these and get drops to sell while those unrefined get less ....did I mention...you are perpetuating the rich getting richer and stronger and the poor getting weaker ..
Is that really the game model you wish
...
The monetization of this game turned me off from the very beginning. I no longer play, but keep checking back to see if the overall philosophy of this game and it's market strategy has changed any. Because Cryptic can make really fun games. They're a good company. And I love Dungeons and Dragons.
However, from the very beginning, they built in obsolescence, only to charge you for the fix to the problem they designed into the game.
From drastically reduced inventory space to companions that do not match your leveling, which, by the way, I have never encountered in any other game that offers NPC companion play.
Some players might buy into that for awhile, but as someone who has been playing since the birth of the industry, it just comes across as cheap and exploitive to me.
On top of that, they than have ridiculous low RNG percentages on drops and gradually manipulate the market in such a way as to ensure that the path way to success is to ether A: Play the game like it's a job ("No thank you, that's what -real- jobs are for"), or B: spend significant money in the Zen market. And they act as if that's not obvious.
Exploitive pricing, items that are untenable in the player market, and the culling of player AD revenue (ie. Leadership profession) are just the tip of the iceberg.
Yes, the game needs a business model that works, but it should be a model that values long term patronage, not just the quick buck. They're are plenty of other titles that have cash shops that come across as far less sleazy.
Its doesn't help that there is a near constant 'gambling' pitch in all of the loot boxes and the constant admin announcements about 'who' got 'what' mount. That's just crass. And I mean 'carnival pitch man' crass..
Of course, the counter-argument from the market people is going to be "Say what you want, but we see our revenue stream", all the while oblivious to the fact that this game could be netting long term profits through brand loyalty and by adding value... Not constantly subtracting it.
That tells me everything I need to know about how the company actually views the game itself.
They see it as disposable. The only market concern is short money. They're literally betting on a short life cycle and play duration for the average player.. Wow.
With reduced assets and personnel, this 'quantitative' vs. 'qualitative' approach has now slowly seeped into the design philosophy of the game play.
Longer repetitious shallow content, designed to entice purchasing. Because it requires less design, and therefore less expenditure. All while trying to squeeze as much coin out of the consumer as possible, until the inevitable loss of interest by the player.
You obviously see yourselves as cheap and shallow, so why would you expect us to view you any differently
Like I said, I like Cryptic games. I'm here offering this rant with the sincere desire that someone 'rights this ship'.
More importantly, I am a life long fan of the franchise. These practices have not only sullied the reputation of Cryptic, they have sullied the reputation of Dungeons and Dragons itself.
So, I don't like to complain without offering solutions. Start by adding value, by selling quality.
First, pretty much halve the price of nearly every offering. And I mean both in AD and in Zen
Second, continue to offer more account bound/all character products such as the module promotions. But add to that, the single companions.
Here's what the 'market guys' don't get. If you make companions account wide, those of us who are the 'whales' of the consumer base would probably buy nearly every single one, each time you release them, just to ensure we always have them as an option.
If you made dyes cheaper, and more available to all my characters, I would buy more of them. Plenty of games do that already.
Those of us who don't have that kind of disposable income would be more inclined to suck it up and spend the money on that one special Zen store companion, if we knew we would have it for all of our characters.
That would be value added. That would be selling us quality for the price we're paying. You don't even have to remove single use only companions. Just add the option to purchase the account wide unlock.
Third, make the upgrade options for companions, the cosmetic cost of transmutations, and the refinement process far less expensive and far more accessible.
Finally, be responsive. Don't 'phone in' development by seeking the shortest, least intensive ways to add content. Its goes without saying that there will always be bugs, balance issues, etc. But there is an acceptable margin of error, and than there is just cheap.
Show the consumer that you, yourselves have faith in your game's ability to hold their attention, and that you don't have to resort to disingenuous practices to earn their money.
I mean to me, it really does come across like trying to sell me a fake Rolex on a street corner somewhere.
Mechanically, this is a fun game, problems aside. Its a great IP with a long legacy. The game concept, with it's built in user content, has vast potential.
But you have to believe in quality to make it work. Not just a quick buck...
0
rumtumtumMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 1Arc User
edited April 2015
I'm only 65 but I havent enjoyed leveling up so far. I didnt like the idea of repeatable quests compared to other zones like the underdark which had better story led quests.
Here are some of the areas we’ll be looking at:
Overall difficulty
XP rewards in the new zones and campaign zones
Invocation
Hourly quests
Zone re-use
Removed dungeons
Campaign zone levels
Items missing slots/stats
And more...
It's too late for this, it's not urgently.
mostly players already hit lvl 70 and the coming days there will be more all the rest of players is reaching max- - Focus to to FIX the Classes & to Balance it, at First! PLS -
<::::::[]==0 GwF 0==[]::::::> ● Still waiting for the promised Improvement ●
I have said this before but reset the campaigns back to pre mod 6, keep the quest line separate. Pretty sure this would get a lot of people back and reduce negative feed back. But whatever you are going to do, it needs to bring the fun back and needs to be done quickly before people get past being angry whilst still wanting to play the game to just not caring and moving on to something else.
After patch 23.april i'm no longer capable of up-ranking my powers/feats on my GWF. When trying to upgrade hidden daggers to rank 1 and the feat "deep gash" to rank 2 it resets - no matter what i do. Look into this issue pls.
The monetization of this game turned me off from the very beginning. I no longer play, but keep checking back to see if the overall philosophy of this game and it's market strategy has changed any. Because Cryptic can make really fun games. They're a good company. And I love Dungeons and Dragons.
However, from the very beginning, they built in obsolescence, only to charge you for the fix to the problem they designed into the game.
From drastically reduced inventory space to companions that do not match your leveling, which, by the way, I have never encountered in any other game that offers NPC companion play.
Some players might buy into that for awhile, but as someone who has been playing since the birth of the industry, it just comes across as cheap and exploitive to me.
On top of that, they than have ridiculous low RNG percentages on drops and gradually manipulate the market in such a way as to ensure that the path way to success is to ether A: Play the game like it's a job ("No thank you, that's what -real- jobs are for"), or B: spend significant money in the Zen market. And they act as if that's not obvious.
Exploitive pricing, items that are untenable in the player market, and the culling of player AD revenue (ie. Leadership profession) are just the tip of the iceberg.
Yes, the game needs a business model that works, but it should be a model that values long term patronage, not just the quick buck. They're are plenty of other titles that have cash shops that come across as far less sleazy.
Its doesn't help that there is a near constant 'gambling' pitch in all of the loot boxes and the constant admin announcements about 'who' got 'what' mount. That's just crass. And I mean 'carnival pitch man' crass..
Of course, the counter-argument from the market people is going to be "Say what you want, but we see our revenue stream", all the while oblivious to the fact that this game could be netting long term profits through brand loyalty and by adding value... Not constantly subtracting it.
That tells me everything I need to know about how the company actually views the game itself.
They see it as disposable. The only market concern is short money. They're literally betting on a short life cycle and play duration for the average player.. Wow.
With reduced assets and personnel, this 'quantitative' vs. 'qualitative' approach has now slowly seeped into the design philosophy of the game play.
Longer repetitious shallow content, designed to entice purchasing. Because it requires less design, and therefore less expenditure. All while trying to squeeze as much coin out of the consumer as possible, until the inevitable loss of interest by the player.
You obviously see yourselves as cheap and shallow, so why would you expect us to view you any differently
Like I said, I like Cryptic games. I'm here offering this rant with the sincere desire that someone 'rights this ship'.
More importantly, I am a life long fan of the franchise. These practices have not only sullied the reputation of Cryptic, they have sullied the reputation of Dungeons and Dragons itself.
So, I don't like to complain without offering solutions. Start by adding value, by selling quality.
First, pretty much halve the price of nearly every offering. And I mean both in AD and in Zen
Second, continue to offer more account bound/all character products such as the module promotions. But add to that, the single companions.
Here's what the 'market guys' don't get. If you make companions account wide, those of us who are the 'whales' of the consumer base would probably buy nearly every single one, each time you release them, just to ensure we always have them as an option.
If you made dyes cheaper, and more available to all my characters, I would buy more of them. Plenty of games do that already.
Those of us who don't have that kind of disposable income would be more inclined to suck it up and spend the money on that one special Zen store companion, if we knew we would have it for all of our characters.
That would be value added. That would be selling us quality for the price we're paying. You don't even have to remove single use only companions. Just add the option to purchase the account wide unlock.
Third, make the upgrade options for companions, the cosmetic cost of transmutations, and the refinement process far less expensive and far more accessible.
Finally, be responsive. Don't 'phone in' development by seeking the shortest, least intensive ways to add content. Its goes without saying that there will always be bugs, balance issues, etc. But there is an acceptable margin of error, and than there is just cheap.
Show the consumer that you, yourselves have faith in your game's ability to hold their attention, and that you don't have to resort to disingenuous practices to earn their money.
I mean to me, it really does come across like trying to sell me a fake Rolex on a street corner somewhere.
Mechanically, this is a fun game, problems aside. Its a great IP with a long legacy. The game concept, with it's built in user content, has vast potential.
But you have to believe in quality to make it work. Not just a quick buck...
Couldn't have said it better myself, I only frequent the forums now and have a love of popcorn...
I'm a member of a casual guild but due to timezone differences, I seldom get to party up for dailies. For all intents and purposes, I am a casual solo player.
Let's start with some positives.
In regards to re-using maps, I actually love it. I've always felt it was such a shame that Neverwinter started with all these beautiful zones that basically never get revisited because it's simply not worth it. So I'm fine with reusing/expanding existing maps.
In regards to leveling and the new difficulty, this is where I feel most negatively towards. But let's focus on the positives first. Initially, I wasn't a fan that it seemed that with the new invocation system, the campaign quests weren't giving enough xp for me to keep up with the campaign itself. But I found that this could be remedied by doing the ToD dailies on a daily basis. Getting to level 26 was tough, but once I got there, I eventually caught up with the campaign.
On the other hand, I find that the sudden jump in difficulty at level 60 and 64 to be quite jarring. At level 60 onwards, the game starts becoming a grind as the xp requirements suddenly leaps ahead. Not to mention, the xp gains from Drowned Shore vs the jump in difficulty makes breaking 60 and beyond to be quite difficult. And I understand that the xp for ToD is going to be nerfed?
Erm, you know what? I can probably write a lot more, but it boils down to this: I realize that the Devs are catering to veteran power gamers by increasing the difficulty, but those are arguably the vocal minority. The casual or even new players are gonna hit a wall at level 60 and beyond.
I was decked out in rather good gear prior to Mod 6, but even after getting to level 70 (but not decked out in top Mod 6 gear), I find my old characters can't even do any of the daily missions solo. Be it Dread Ring, Sharandar, or even Common Cause. Since I've already got most/all the boons for my main toons, it doesn't affect me that much. I simply stop playing. But I would imagine it's way more difficult for players only just getting into Neverwinter in the past 3 months or so.
I have said this before but reset the campaigns back to pre mod 6, keep the quest line separate. Pretty sure this would get a lot of people back and reduce negative feed back. But whatever you are going to do, it needs to bring the fun back and needs to be done quickly before people get past being angry whilst still wanting to play the game to just not caring and moving on to something else.
This.
If you can set the zones to temporarily raise peoples' stats to 70, then you can also figure out a way to temporarily lower people to 60 and send all EXP to accumulate as bonus EXP whilst in those zones in order to avoid people using them to level up instead of the main quest line. Leave the current campaigns at level 60 (or maybe, everything but ToD, which already includes staggered content across multiple levels) to let people branch out their gameplay and take their time enjoying the storylines, rather than forcing the entire game shape into the top-heavy mushroom that it's becoming (one line of leveling quests and once you've maxed level, suddenly all of the campaigns).
Comments
Well put! I have been playing since Beta as well and have tried to be patient with the game's content. However, I do not spend extreme amounts of money to be maxed out. Some of us would rather achieve greatness rather than purchase it all. I understand that money is to be made or what is the point, but this new MOD is very discouraging. I didn't have a maxed out character to begin with and now it seems ever so overwhelming. I went from actually being able to handle all areas of the game fairly well and working towards what others have purchased and then... SWOOSH... you have taken it from me and placed a much greater challenge to get back to what I was striving for, without spending out the butt to max my characters out, in which case why would I need to bother? Not to mention, even the maxed characters are finding the content too challenging! So where does that leave me? ... One foot out the door.... that's where.
You have read the comments regarding XP ..I can only add that my characters which have not moved .. just prayed are already 64 .. another week and a half they will be 70... I do not really think we need another XP weekend ..
Refinement is needed. If you were to go on your AH and try to sort out level 70 equipment ..it does not work..and you will find nothing at any level.... and did you know you have limited your new artifact weapons and gear to level 70.... I have trouble with that ..as it does not offer any hope
The only way to refine is to buy what few refinement items you can afford from AH (or ZEN store)oh wait ... you have cut down our income from leadership (I have seen personal decrease of approx10K/character a day ) so I can't afford to buy more than 2 lesser res stones
You are perpetuating the rich getting richer and stronger and the poor getting weaker ..Is that really the model you wish ...
I believe we do need some equalization ... and if anything a RP weekend or maybe one a month to allow players to catch up and equalize the game more over time .. Increasing RP drop rates would help too...
Next we should discuss dungeon difficulty .......in light of the fact that few can afford to reline artifacts they are weaker (except for those who are rich and have refined to max can run these and get drops to sell while those unrefined get less ....did I mention...you are perpetuating the rich getting richer and stronger and the poor getting weaker ..
Is that really the game model you wish
...
+1 to that sentiment.
Could we please get the "Release Notes" link in the launcher to work like the STO launcher?
How about some credit for those of us that spent a month grinding Sharandar for the Fabled Set? Some way to upgrade to a new Lvl 70 set?
Exactly... absolutely-exactly....
I have a level 60 DC, faithful Path(?).. that is just sitting in protector enclave.
She has several boons from Sharandar and dread ring.. and has a T2 level 60 set.
Due to playing other characters, I have not started her on the Tyranny of Dragon campaign, nor have I taken her into Well Of Dragons.
After Mod 6 dropped, I *tried* to run her thru the dailies in the first sharandar zone, in the tree. I persevered for 10 mins, then dropped all quests and parked her back in Protector Garden.
The only character I have any chance of running dread ring or sharandar or iwd or wod is the full level 70 gwf, with 2 of the allied assault pieces (blues), and 2 of the eternal pieces. I still die about 30% of the time, from frigging powries, yetis, black dragon rogues, witherers, etc.
Die from frigging trash.. that should be spalttered on the sole of my scale-mail foot.
To end this diatribe.. I give you a paraphrased quote from "The OutLaw Josey Wales" movie..
"we went to see the President.. he said we Indians looked so civilized in our fine white-mans clothes.
He then asked us to endeavor to persevere.
We left and went home, thinking on endeavor to persevere.
After we thought about it a little while.. we went on the warpath"
Soo.. are we, the players, being asked to "Endeavor To Perservere.."?
*grin*
Thank you all for actively taking the initiative to firstly communicate with us and work to improve the current state of the game. I really appreciate it and i'm certain that many others do too.
I haven't read what other players have posted in this thread yet i would like to offer my perspective on the current state of the game from a GF's and player perspective.
There are still many, many, many more improvements that can be made to the GF that would ensure they are able to successfully tank and survive, however I believe the issues outlined above will provide a good place to start.
If you can implement these few 'fixes' to the GF then you WILL find that the current T1 and T2 content will not require many changes if any.
If you do truly desire to improve the current state of the game then I will be more than happy to assist you however i can.
Thank you for your time and consideration!
Here is the initial Post: http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?831781-Official-Feedback-Thread-Great-Weapon-Fighter-Cap-Raise&p=10304531&viewfull=1#post10304531
"
Anyone know if this is intentional or bugged?
(Also, at the risk of sounding whiny, even with good gear my CW and SW are both squishy, squishy PCs who rely on being able to kill mob enemies quickly before they can get close enough to catch the CW/SW in a melee. You simply can't make up for their weak base build by maxing hitpoints and defence/deflect; if you try, you revert to not being able to kill things quickly enough to survive your enemies overwhelming you with numbers at close range. We relied on regen and/or lifesteal (allied with damage-maxing stats) to maintain survivability during fights - and after all, they are magic-using classes, they should be able to use magic to enhance/steal health! - but the new post-fight/unreliable trigger format for those two stats is really...not good...for both those classes. Please think about reverting the way those stats work?)
Here's my list of things I'd like to see addressed. Your announcement gave me the impetus to write it. The least you could do is read it, so I know it wasn't a total waste of time. ;D
NW-DC9R4J5EH - 'The Black Pearl' - Spelljammer! Phlo Riders and Space Orcs
Thanks for all the fish.
You might not be the hero this community deserve but you are the one it desperately needs right now. You are in a fight against time unfortunately and everyone knows time is OP. Although your intentions are good with what you want to tackle, I'm afraid it will come to late. The few of us that will see them come to fruition may not be enough to make you reap the rewards of those efforts.
If you can turn this boat around, you could remove everything else from your resume and would always be at the top of the pile on anyone's hiring list but the boat is heading for the Titanic Iceberg's mom. Good luck though, the rotter and wheels are broken so get everyone paddling quickly. I won't tell you what I want from the game like others have done, other then this: I want to have fun playing the game again.
Cheers
Djark
I am impressed by your body of work on LinkedIn!
God speed and good luck. If anyone can turn around this horrendous release, it's you. I look forward to returning.
The monetization of this game turned me off from the very beginning. I no longer play, but keep checking back to see if the overall philosophy of this game and it's market strategy has changed any. Because Cryptic can make really fun games. They're a good company. And I love Dungeons and Dragons.
However, from the very beginning, they built in obsolescence, only to charge you for the fix to the problem they designed into the game.
From drastically reduced inventory space to companions that do not match your leveling, which, by the way, I have never encountered in any other game that offers NPC companion play.
Some players might buy into that for awhile, but as someone who has been playing since the birth of the industry, it just comes across as cheap and exploitive to me.
On top of that, they than have ridiculous low RNG percentages on drops and gradually manipulate the market in such a way as to ensure that the path way to success is to ether A: Play the game like it's a job ("No thank you, that's what -real- jobs are for"), or B: spend significant money in the Zen market. And they act as if that's not obvious.
Exploitive pricing, items that are untenable in the player market, and the culling of player AD revenue (ie. Leadership profession) are just the tip of the iceberg.
Yes, the game needs a business model that works, but it should be a model that values long term patronage, not just the quick buck. They're are plenty of other titles that have cash shops that come across as far less sleazy.
Its doesn't help that there is a near constant 'gambling' pitch in all of the loot boxes and the constant admin announcements about 'who' got 'what' mount. That's just crass. And I mean 'carnival pitch man' crass..
Of course, the counter-argument from the market people is going to be "Say what you want, but we see our revenue stream", all the while oblivious to the fact that this game could be netting long term profits through brand loyalty and by adding value... Not constantly subtracting it.
That tells me everything I need to know about how the company actually views the game itself.
They see it as disposable. The only market concern is short money. They're literally betting on a short life cycle and play duration for the average player.. Wow.
With reduced assets and personnel, this 'quantitative' vs. 'qualitative' approach has now slowly seeped into the design philosophy of the game play.
Longer repetitious shallow content, designed to entice purchasing. Because it requires less design, and therefore less expenditure. All while trying to squeeze as much coin out of the consumer as possible, until the inevitable loss of interest by the player.
You obviously see yourselves as cheap and shallow, so why would you expect us to view you any differently
Like I said, I like Cryptic games. I'm here offering this rant with the sincere desire that someone 'rights this ship'.
More importantly, I am a life long fan of the franchise. These practices have not only sullied the reputation of Cryptic, they have sullied the reputation of Dungeons and Dragons itself.
So, I don't like to complain without offering solutions. Start by adding value, by selling quality.
First, pretty much halve the price of nearly every offering. And I mean both in AD and in Zen
Second, continue to offer more account bound/all character products such as the module promotions. But add to that, the single companions.
Here's what the 'market guys' don't get. If you make companions account wide, those of us who are the 'whales' of the consumer base would probably buy nearly every single one, each time you release them, just to ensure we always have them as an option.
If you made dyes cheaper, and more available to all my characters, I would buy more of them. Plenty of games do that already.
Those of us who don't have that kind of disposable income would be more inclined to suck it up and spend the money on that one special Zen store companion, if we knew we would have it for all of our characters.
That would be value added. That would be selling us quality for the price we're paying. You don't even have to remove single use only companions. Just add the option to purchase the account wide unlock.
Third, make the upgrade options for companions, the cosmetic cost of transmutations, and the refinement process far less expensive and far more accessible.
Finally, be responsive. Don't 'phone in' development by seeking the shortest, least intensive ways to add content. Its goes without saying that there will always be bugs, balance issues, etc. But there is an acceptable margin of error, and than there is just cheap.
Show the consumer that you, yourselves have faith in your game's ability to hold their attention, and that you don't have to resort to disingenuous practices to earn their money.
I mean to me, it really does come across like trying to sell me a fake Rolex on a street corner somewhere.
Mechanically, this is a fun game, problems aside. Its a great IP with a long legacy. The game concept, with it's built in user content, has vast potential.
But you have to believe in quality to make it work. Not just a quick buck...
It's too late for this, it's not urgently.
mostly players already hit lvl 70 and the coming days there will be more all the rest of players is reaching max-
- Focus to to FIX the Classes & to Balance it, at First! PLS -
Couldn't have said it better myself, I only frequent the forums now and have a love of popcorn...
I'm a member of a casual guild but due to timezone differences, I seldom get to party up for dailies. For all intents and purposes, I am a casual solo player.
Let's start with some positives.
In regards to re-using maps, I actually love it. I've always felt it was such a shame that Neverwinter started with all these beautiful zones that basically never get revisited because it's simply not worth it. So I'm fine with reusing/expanding existing maps.
In regards to leveling and the new difficulty, this is where I feel most negatively towards. But let's focus on the positives first. Initially, I wasn't a fan that it seemed that with the new invocation system, the campaign quests weren't giving enough xp for me to keep up with the campaign itself. But I found that this could be remedied by doing the ToD dailies on a daily basis. Getting to level 26 was tough, but once I got there, I eventually caught up with the campaign.
On the other hand, I find that the sudden jump in difficulty at level 60 and 64 to be quite jarring. At level 60 onwards, the game starts becoming a grind as the xp requirements suddenly leaps ahead. Not to mention, the xp gains from Drowned Shore vs the jump in difficulty makes breaking 60 and beyond to be quite difficult. And I understand that the xp for ToD is going to be nerfed?
Erm, you know what? I can probably write a lot more, but it boils down to this: I realize that the Devs are catering to veteran power gamers by increasing the difficulty, but those are arguably the vocal minority. The casual or even new players are gonna hit a wall at level 60 and beyond.
I was decked out in rather good gear prior to Mod 6, but even after getting to level 70 (but not decked out in top Mod 6 gear), I find my old characters can't even do any of the daily missions solo. Be it Dread Ring, Sharandar, or even Common Cause. Since I've already got most/all the boons for my main toons, it doesn't affect me that much. I simply stop playing. But I would imagine it's way more difficult for players only just getting into Neverwinter in the past 3 months or so.
Well, that's my feedback for now.
This.
If you can set the zones to temporarily raise peoples' stats to 70, then you can also figure out a way to temporarily lower people to 60 and send all EXP to accumulate as bonus EXP whilst in those zones in order to avoid people using them to level up instead of the main quest line. Leave the current campaigns at level 60 (or maybe, everything but ToD, which already includes staggered content across multiple levels) to let people branch out their gameplay and take their time enjoying the storylines, rather than forcing the entire game shape into the top-heavy mushroom that it's becoming (one line of leveling quests and once you've maxed level, suddenly all of the campaigns).