End-Game Loot System Changes Ready for Testing Soon!

dezstravus · June 2013

Hey Everyone,

Soon, we'll be testing out some new ideas and concepts for Neverwinter's loot system. Anyone who is interested in trying these out and sharing their feedback is totally welcome to! These changes will be available for everyone to check out on the NeverwinterPreview shard some time in the near future.

Read on for the full details!

Many End-Game, Purple Loot Items are Changing from Bind-on-Equip to Bind-on-Pickup

Which specific items you say? Most Level 60 Epic Gear from boss drops, tier sets, pvp gear, seal gear, and profession gear that comes from upgrading Bind-on-Pickup boss drops. The purpose of this change is to make these items feel more unique and rewarding to obtain.

Which items will remain Bind-on-Equip?

Rank 4 (level 1-59) purple items, most profession gear, and special, rare drops from end-game bosses.

New Salvage System

To give players an additional method of earning Astral Diamonds for their Dungeon Delves, we'll be trying out a new "salvage" system that will allow players to redeem their dungeon loot at an NPC in Protector's Enclave for AD rewards.

If I have end-game gear that will be soon be dropping as Bind-on-Pickup, will it change?

Nope! All existing items will stay as they are. The change to binding mechanics will only apply to items that drop after the patch is applied.

Are these complete and final?

Similar to the recent Balance and Gameplay Update, these changes will be available on the NeverwinterPreview shard for players to try out and share feedback on. We'd love to hear your thoughts!

When will these changes be available on NeverwinterPreview?

No specific time has been determined yet, but keep an eye on the Announcements section of the NeverwinterPreview forums for more info!

When will these changes be available on the Beta shard?

To be determined!

Sounds awesome! How can I get access to NeverwinterPreview?

Sign up for NeverwinterPreview here!

FAQ Additions

With this change, what are some of the methods that players can earn end-game gear, aside from earning it via Bind-on-Pickup boss drops?

There are still high end purples that are BoE including gear from Professions (only the gear that comes from upgrading a boss drop was made BoP), as well as one set per class such as the Murderous Jester gear for Trickster Rogues. (source)

maligkn0 · June 2013

this is such a bad idea, i cant even....

sgtmoody85 · June 2013

How are you supposed to get tier armor pieces then?? It seems that they only come from dungeon chests and for most working folks I usually only get to run one of those a day and at best 2. So if I cant get it from dungeons how else am I supposed to get it?

vuulz · June 2013

Worst idea ever, as if running T2s didn't suck enough with the recent "balance" changes. All gear (more or less) becoming BoP would be the nail in the coffin, I would strongly urge you to reconsider this.

Many people have plenty of AD but if you can't buy tier gear for alts what exactly are we supposed to spend this "salvaged" AD on?

The ONLY time something should become BoP is if you roll need on it, period. Anything else and running dungeons will become utterly pointless.

pr0mote · June 2013

another shot in the knee :DDD

necrovechkin · June 2013

Bad idea imo.

maligkn0 · June 2013

i am sure that if they dont reconsider to keep the current loot system, this game will die quickly but painfully, if they wanted to destroy the economy in 1 day they should have let the negative biding in the game.

i am 100% sure ill quit this game if they implement it.

dinohedron · June 2013

Hey sgtmoody85,
Just a quick clarification that might answer your question. There are still high end purples that are BoE including gear from Professions (only the gear that comes from upgrading a boss drop was made BoP), as well as one set per class such as the Murderous Jester gear for Trickster Rogues.

The changes are going up on Neverwinter Preview for this weekend, give it a look and let us know what you think!

-Zeke

vuulz · June 2013

Honestly guys, you just got the loot system into a reasonable state with the need/greed system. This is the worst possible change you could make. If you'd like a large chunk of your player base to leave this will do the trick very quickly.

magilzeal · June 2013

That's fine, I wasn't planning to drop millions of AD on end game equipment anyway. AD's easy to obtain but not THAT easy.

vayrano · June 2013

Not looking forward to this change. Why change something so majorly if it worked just fine? Not everyone has the time or abilities to properly grind out the dungeons to get what they want.

ordensmarschall · June 2013

I like the BoP change for the boss loot. Another positive is that if the other loot from the random dungeon chests will make enough from the salvage option, to have players slow down and stop to pick that loot up as well. For now I would say these are changes in a positive direction.

pr0mote · June 2013

for sure im going to spent 3-4h doing CN with my already full geared TR that has been nerfed to the ground after last patch to pick up item that will BOP so i can sell it to the npc after.

testilasso · June 2013

Sorry, terrible idea.
I've sold most of my drops to buy the gear that I want. Extreamly rarely an item I want drops.
If I couldn't sell the drops and buy what I want, why bother going to the dungeon, since nothing I want ever drops?
If there's no point to go in a dungeon (and I don't play pvp), what is there left for me to play?

mewbrey · June 2013

ordensmarschall wrote: »

I like the BoP change for the boss loot. Another positive is that if the other loot from the random dungeon chests will make enough from the salvage option, to have players slow down and stop to pick that loot up as well. For now I would say these are changes in a positive direction.

I'm a fan of the change as well in all honesty, can add a bit of longevity to the dungeon crawl having to actually work towards loot rather than opening the wallet/purse.

ravendire · June 2013

How are you supposed to get tier armor pieces then?? It seems that they only come from dungeon chests and for most working folks I usually only get to run one of those a day and at best 2. So if I cant get it from dungeons how else am I supposed to get it?

By running the dungeons? You may only get to run a dungeon once a day but that means that you will take longer to get BiS gear while they bring out new updates. Buying dungeon gear for AD is a horrible idea, it takes out all the fun of actually doing a dungeon and means you will get bored of the game a lot faster. Once more people start hitting level cap they will want to keep players interested. Not only that, it will also get rid of most ninja looters and people who took loot just to make profit. Is there really any sense of achievement when you buy BiS gear from the AH? Not for me.

iirc · June 2013

Are you guys there at cryptic trying to kill this game?Who comes up with these ideas there at cryptic?

Isn't June 20th the official release of Neverwinter? But to me the 20th is the official death of Neverwinter. Keep up the good work guys at this rate you guys are on schedule.

ambisinisterr · June 2013

dinohedron wrote: »

Hey sgtmoody85,
Just a quick clarification that might answer your question. There are still high end purples that are BoE including gear from Professions (only the gear that comes from upgrading a boss drop was made BoP), as well as one set per class such as the Murderous Jester gear for Trickster Rogues.

The changes are going up on Neverwinter Preview for this weekend, give it a look and let us know what you think!

-Zeke

Thanks for the clarification.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Upgrading a boss drop" but as long as some tier 1 and 2 items remain Bind on Equip so players can obtain them without doing professions it sounds promising.

darkstorn42 · June 2013

Amazing Idea. Hopefully this will stabilize the market. Now if we can do something about all the glitchy dungeons for speed runs and preclearing.

srazy · June 2013

I like this new idea, i wont be able to test it on person tho. But ill be waiting on the live server till it comes live.

So many nerd rage about the millions of eff not given...

Hopefully this will allow more customization to armor pieces whether enchants or cosmetics.

And the new salvage option ill have to wait and see, recycling the greens that drop in epic dungeon would be fine since ID them is not cost productive.

ceryndrion · June 2013

I wouldn't mind so much, but I swear the loot tables are against me, when running one particular dungeon, I can 9/10 times predict what the bosses will drop, and its never anything that I find remotely useful, infact, if it wasn't for the dungeon delve chest, I'd get nothing from doing these runs much of the time.

aesandil · June 2013

This seems perfectly normal to me, but then I'm coming from WoW. Simply being able to buy all the best possible gear has always seemed like a weird concept. If you can get everything in this way, doesn't it in turn greatly diminish the value of what you own? Or takes the focus away from adventuring in favor of accumulating astral diamonds? Earning something... quite literally.

Having said that, this game allowed the current state of affairs to last for a while now - any drastic change of this sort is going to put newer players at a disadvantage. Those who have had time to run numerous dungeons and sell stuff must've accumulated quite some wealth by now. Others had much easier time gearing up. Someone arriving at a later date might find it considerably more difficult to catch up.
As such, it feels like this would be better done when newer, better tiers of gear become introduced. If you would only make the stuff from Gauntlgrym and whatever comes in future work this way, then everyone would have an even field to begin with.

If the game runners at Cryptic do wish to go ahead with this idea, however, then they should first consider improving upon how other facets of the loot system work. Some RNG is acceptable (or perhaps even desired to keep things less predictable), but rampant RNG is what usually turns people away. No one enjoys having to run the same place 30 times and still not even see what they were after drop. Really. There is a point when it all just becomes frustrating and simply not worth one's time. There is a line that just makes people not care if they are forced to cross it.
It's also a lesson that the developers of World of Warcraft has still not fully learned even after all these years, and a chance for the developers of Neverwinter to actually prove themselves smarter.

dirfinge · June 2013

It's the worst idea I have had What are you thinking? they believe that we are all hardcore?

gambitclick · June 2013

This idea would have been golden if they implemented it FROM THE GET-GO. But doing it now, most of the existing playerbase are going to get mad because they can no longer ninja-loot or sell off loot they farm (ie. gear they don't need or already have) in order to buy gear that they do need.

The AH is going to be a barren wasteland once this gets implemented... depending on what gears and how many are BoP.

vayrano · June 2013

aesandil wrote: »

If the game runners at Cryptic do wish to go ahead with this idea, however, then they should first consider improving upon how other facets of the loot system work. Some RNG is acceptable (or perhaps even desired to keep things less predictable), but rampant RNG is what usually turns people away. No one enjoys having to run the same place 30 times and still not even see what they were after drop. Really. There is a point when it all just becomes frustrating and simply not worth one's time. There is a line that just makes people not care if they are forced to cross it.

For example check out what they did with Star Trek Online. A lot of people were unhappy over the loot drop rates for the end game gear sets. There were some who managed to get the needed drops on their first runs, but there were some who had ran the same map over and over again but never got a single drop.

Anyway eventually they would implement a "Reputation" system where you could grind your way up to 5 tiers and unlock those end game gear. But these would now be attached with various costs, however this way at least you would be guaranteed on getting that specific piece.

If there isn't some kind of similar feature like that over here, this will frustrate a lot of players. Not sure if anyone is going to look forward to grinding the same dungeon for weeks or months even.

th0rfinn · June 2013

This is the worst idea ever. Not even Hardcore MMORPG where leveling 2% takes an hour this is beyond dumb.

izidius · June 2013

I bet the "Salvage NPC" will give a crappy amount of AD in exchange for the purple loot.

healhappy · June 2013

So... what is the point of AD at the end of the game?

gdante7111111 · June 2013

So I wont be able to sell armor weapon that I get from drop if I have it already ?, if that is so then how am I going to get more ad than I can. Taking away the need on armor and weapon you dont need was good, but binding on pick-up is stupid.

P.S Dont do this it will make people leave.

onyxghost1 · June 2013

Umm how does this exactly work..what if a helm I already have drops and I want to get rid of it for some AD? I sure as hell wouldn't want to sell it to a vendor for a gold or two. -_-

athanshadow · June 2013

i dislike the change.neverwinter instead of being it's own game is changing into one of thousand other dungeon grind mmo on market.i feel bad now for transferring zen to neverwinter today.it's your game though,good luck.

End-Game Loot System Changes Ready for Testing Soon!

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