Hi folks!

It's been a few weeks since the last time I wrote to you all, and I wanted to provide an update. As I mentioned in Neverwinter: Looking into Elemental Evil, one of my first tasks on the project would be to evaluate the state of the game, and help the team figure out areas and aspects of Neverwinter that need attention. We've been listening to the community, and I'm happy to say we've started making positive changes. As I mentioned in the previous post, some elements will be addressed before others; some tasks will require additional time to get right.

New Changes Coming this Week

There were a few things we were able to address quickly. Here is a partial list of fixes that are new for this week:

Player Powers

We’re doing a lot to fix bugs related to player powers. Here are a few of the changes:

Oathbound Paladin Vengeful Judge: Now works as expected for all Paladin Paragon Paths Vow of Emnity: No longer has negative interactions with Weapon Enchantments Sanctuary: The root from Icy Rays (and other similar powers) no longer incorrectly pierces Sanctuary's CC Immunity

Scourge Warlock All Consuming Curse: This class feature will no longer incorrectly activate while the power is not slotted

Devoted Cleric Geas: Players in PVP can only be affected by Geas once every 30 seconds Urgent Prayers: The heal from this feat can no longer be deflected Break the Spirit: Empowered bonus on this power now works as expected Anointed Army: This power now works as expected at Rank 4

Control Wizard Entangling Force: Rank 4 now correctly reduces the Cooldown of Entangling Force and works correctly in the Spell Mastery slot

Hunter Ranger Aspect of the Lone Wolf: Rank 4 now increases Deflect as expected Stormstep Action: This class feature no longer grants more recharge than expected with Seismic Shot



Performance and Stability

We have identified and resolved an issue that caused some powers (Arcane Singularity, for example) to stick around indefinitely under certain conditions. Over the course of a server’s lifetime, this could create noticeable performance issues. We have also made some server adjustments to Adventure Zone maps to help combat lag and rubber-banding.

Again, this is a partial list. For more information, please check the Patch Notes.

Upcoming Improvements

And we're not done yet! In the weeks to follow, we will make improvements in the following areas:

Temple of Tiamat

After reviewing the difficulty of the Tiamat fight, we found that it was, in fact, unreasonably rough. We have lowered the difficulty of that fight. Additionally, in an attempt to give players a better chance of success, in order to attempt the fight you must now be at least level 70 and have a Total Item Level of 1800+ to enter. Yes, that will keep some people out that might be able to go in now, but in reality, if you don’t meet those requirements, you probably weren’t going to be successful.

Campaign Rewards

Sharandar and Dread Ring We’ve added a new, rare quality armor set at Item Level 120. They are available for campaign currencies in the campaign store. Old dungeon seals (Seals of the Dark Fey and Seals of the Shadowmantle) have been removed from the dungeons. We added a bag of refining items to the stores so you will be able to spend the seals that you’ve already acquired.

Sharandar Added additional refining items to the daily quests.

Dread Ring Added a Dread Ring Artifact Trove to the weekly quest, and some refining items to the daily quests.

Tyranny of Dragons The Adventuring Gear campaign task now rewards a piece of rare equipment for your class and level



General Rewards

We are also adding new items that will be improved over what’s there currently. Again, these changes will be for new items only, not things players currently have.

Armor Enhancement slots have been added to rare armors that are dropped in any level 60+ zone

Weapon Enhancement slots have been added to rare main-hand weapons that are dropped in any level 60+ zone

Armor Enhancement slots have been added to the Rank 21+ rare armor crafting tasks that had been missing them

Elemental Evil Quests and Heroic Encounters

We are working on a lot of general improvement to both Elemental Evil quests, and the heroic encounters found in those zones. We are working to eliminate frustration points, such as heroic encounters that don't clean up properly when they end, or quest objectives that don't grant credit to the whole party when they clearly should. Simply put, we want players to have fun in these new zones, and there are steps we can take to make that possible.

Rebalancing XP

When we looked at how XP was awarded in the new zones, we didn’t like that it felt worse than going and replaying older content or just replaying campaign zones. Obviously, we want players to play and enjoy the new content. To fix this problem, we are looking at reworking the leveling flow (XP required from 61-70 and XP rewarded in level 61-70 zones) so the new content is substantially more rewarding. While this will likely include changes to the actual XP numbers, it will not greatly affect the time to level to 70. This is a large task and something we’re taking our time with.

Icewind Dale

We will be looking at the rewards of Icewind Dale heroic encounters to make sure that they feel appropriate for the risk required.

Something you were hoping to see, but aren't finding on either of those two lists? Remember, this is not the end of the story. Neverwinter is a living game that will continue to grow and evolve. The whole team will continue to listen to the community, and strive to make improvements to the game we all love. Please keep providing feedback and let us know what you think is important. Thank you once again for your feedback and support!

Scott Shicoff

Lead Designer

Feel free to discuss these changes on our forums here.