Neverwinter new pics - OH GAWD ITZ HEAVAN

[Bliblablubb]

Running through those areas gets much easier after the first time since you know what to do. I must have leveled my GF recently mostly on autopilot, because I don't really remember most of it. Especially the furry area, which I consider a pointless filler, went by in... what felt like an 1 hour nap.

Actually I actually moved a lot as CW because my idea of fun was to kite enemies to cliffs and Repel them off, heh.

Frontline Surge! The only thing a GF (still) CAN do is lock people in a neverending cycle of flying around and lying around. Don't ask for DPS though, it's not his department. Or make a GWF and you can also belch people over ledges.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

GF is getting a huge buff next module tho.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Some new things on Preview...

Professions: There are new "Emperor's" Uncommon Shirt and Pant items for all classes. They are invisible to the naked eye and come with a Free Appearance Change to transmute onto any existing Shirts and Pants. They require Level 18 of the respective profession, 25,000 Astral Diamonds, a Dragon Egg and Ornate Pants or Shirt as appropriate.

(Okay the cost is ridiculous; they should at least get rid of the Dragon Egg, I can deal with 25k AD cost just fine)

There is a new Race Change Token available in the Zen Market and at the Character Selection Screen. Polymorph yourself to change Race, Ability Score choices, Appearance and Character Name. This is currently free on the Preview server for testing purposes.

Oooohkay...

 

[Gerrard]

Dragon eggs already were at 75K before this, this is terrible.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Indeed. Let's hope someone points out that unless they make Dragon Testicles a <25k AD item at the Bazaar, this is a terrible idea.

EDIT: Also apparently Cryptic didn't remember to write out everything the Race Traitor token does. It also lets you change your gender and reroll ability scores, so you can tranny up while you betray your race.

 

[Bliblablubb]

So basically it's just a "disable visuals" for pants/shirt you have to pay for? How long until the invisible helmet i wonder...
They should at least make dragon eggs droppable from... dragons, that would be a great move, considering that there will be (a lot?) more dragons in the upcoming mod. It would also improve the LFG channel with lines like "I have been craving for some CoK all day!" or "Who wants to go CoK hunting with me?".
But to be honest, I don't think they will. It's just another sink to get potatos out of circulation.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

New Preview patch notes from Crush:

Guardian Fighter: Supremacy of Steel: Now triggers on Knight's Valor Damage.
Guardian Fighter: Guarded Assault: The damage dealt by Guarded Assault no longer benefits from damage bonuses.
Guardian Fighter: Guarded Assault: The damage dealt by Guarded Assault can no longer exceed 15% of your Max HP.
Guardian Fighter: Into the Fray: Now grants 25% of your your Damage Resist as bonus damage at base (down from 50%). It still grants +25% per rank.

Hunter Ranger: Predator: This effect now grants 40% increased damage but this effect is halved on players.
Hunter Ranger: Trapper: Thorned Roots down deal 100/200/300/400/500% of your weapon damage over their duration (up from 50/100/150/200/250%).
Hunter Ranger: Biting Snares: Biting snares now also increases your Control Durations by 30% while active.
Hunter Ranger: Shift: Your shift power now shows the correct icon in the power window.

Control Wizard: Assailing Force: This feat is now half as effective on players.
Control Wizard: Freeze: This hold no longer breaks from damage. It is now only resisted with Control Resist.
Control Wizard: Nightmare Wizardry: This feat has switched places with Energy Recovery and now requires 10 points in Renegade to access it.
Control Wizard: Energy Recovery: This feat has switched places with Nightmare Wizardry and now requires 5 points in Renegade to access it.
Control Wizard: Chaos Magic: Now applies to yourself and allies within 50' when triggering.

Seems to be mostly smaller tweaks this time.

 

[Gerrard]

Got this mail

Dear Players,

Recently, our company discovered a “heartbleed” vulnerability on certain sites in our European domain. While we have found no evidence that financial or other confidential information was accessed, we do know that your login credentials are at risk.

To help ensure players' trust and security we have fixed the vulnerability and reset the passwords on these at-risk accounts. We ask that affected players change their passwords immediately.

Rest assured that we take the security of your personal information seriously, and we’re working hard to continue to improve and refine our security measures as we move forward.

We apologize for this inconvenience and would like to thank you for your understanding in this matter.

Sincerely,

Kay Gruenwoldt

For some reason I can still log into the game though, but not on the website. What kind of a password reset is that?

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I didn't get this mail. I guess their "European domain" isn't a very broad thing. Changed password anyway.

 

[Bliblablubb]

I would write an email and complain about this discrimination against your snowy hell-home! Demand a coal or Zen as a sign of goodwill that it may never happen again. Can't check from here if they discriminate me as well, I uuuh may have forgotten my email password.

 

[Bliblablubb]

Nope, no mail for me as well. The "European domain" is really small indeed. But I still get the usual "Claim your first time buyers reward" mails at least twice per week. PWE.....

 

[Gerrard]

http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/6005753-become-a-dragonborn-legend-today!

>new pack
>95 eurobucks
Nope

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/6005753-become-a-dragonborn-legend-today!

>new pack
>95 eurobucks
Nope

I told ya guys they were totally going to add the Durgenborn race this module. (71 eurobucks at the moment actually; Jew Mind Tricks at work as usual)

Though given how they can apply +2/+2 to any two stats makes me suspect these guys are the Liberated Borg of Neverwinter.

Let's a look-see at the total "value" of the package anyway...

:australia:


1 Char Slot = two fiddy
Greater Bag of Holding, deluxe edition = 10 dorraa (not gonna bother counting extra value from a few extra slots); going by previous packs it's a single bag per account
Fashion = I'll give it 8 dorraa per set, given how it seems kinda low quality (WIP on second set pic?), but at least they should be reclaimable
Artifact = According to Zen Market, 60 dorraa (in truth zero dorraa, since you can get the same benefits for free if you have more than two alts at endgame)
Free Gear = Sub-standard
Enchantment, Rank 8 = 10 dorraa at most?
Ring of Dragonslaying = This might actually be pretty awesome if it has no ICD
Race Traitor Token = 10 dorraa? 15 dorraa?
Dragon Overload Enchants = löl (though these do give a nice view at the competition Black Ice overloads will have, only Red Dragon and Blue Dragon variants seem to be good at a glance)
Gemfinder Enchant = Don't you get enough of this shit from Sharandar if you want these?

So in conclusion, it's worth about 53,5 dorraa when put together, by my reckoning (haven't checked yet how much the Race Traitor Token is worth; if the bag is per alt it's the big goodie). Overall I'd say this is the worst out of the packs they've made (ie, doesn't come with a max speed mount and no max rank companion), and boils largely down to one question: Just how badly do you want to play as a big lizard?

/:australia:

 

[Drakron]

Got this mail...

Something stinks on that email, reminds me of all those mails about being banned in GW2 and Diablo III that was amazing since I never even owned them.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

We have been looking at Tanking QoL for GWFs and wanted to improve that (and by proxy improve the damage Sentinels deal both solo and in a party). Given that we are making the following changes.

Mark: No longer removed from a Great Weapon Fighter when he is struck by his foe. It will always last its full duration.
Mark: Now properly provides 20% increased damage on the target for the Great Weapon Fighter. Still provides 8% for allies.
Mark: Now properly provides Combat Advantage against marked targets. This affects the Great Weapon Fighter and his allies.

Coupled with the improved taunting that Mark now provides (by putting you at the top of the threat list and the other changes Guardians got) Sentinel Tanking should feel much more consistent and reliable, both from the bonus threat and bonus damage you can now dish out.

And Dragonborn stats and stuff:

Looks like people are asking about the stats and racial powers - Dragonborn get +2 to any 2 stats, you get to pick which 2 during character creation. You cannot pick the same stat twice. The racial powers as currently planned for launch (note we're still on preview, and while we don't have any changes planned for these right now, it's possible something could change) are:

Draconic Heritage
You receive 5% more healing from all sources.

Draconic Fury
You have a 5% chance when attacking a foe to apply Dragonborn Fury to yourself for 6 seconds, increasing your Power and Critical Strike by 3%.

While the Dragonborn have the most flexible stat spread possible, they do make up for that by having rather meh racial abilities (say, compared to Tiefling, Drow and Half-Orc).

 

[Gerrard]

Also notice this pack doesn't come with a mount, companion, or free AD.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Yep, noted that in my list there. I'm actually surprised about that, I totally expected the two wingless dragons from the trailer to be included in a pack, but this one is really sold solely on:

- Do you really really really want to play as a Dragonborn?
- The transmute items are kinda nice visually, at least for Rogue and GWF, so they could save a bit of AD.
- Are you feeling lucky about the 30 slot bag being account-wide?

Really, at the full price this thing is absolutely no-no-no-no deal. At the full game price range I'd put it under "well if given the choice between this and 11 Big Macs, you should probably choose this since Big Macs are bad for you".

EDIT: Have they yet priced the Race Traitor Token, come to think of it?

 

[Bliblablubb]

Got this mail...

Something stinks on that email, reminds me of all those mails about being banned in GW2 and Diablo III that was amazing since I never even owned them.

I am with Drakron on that one... OMG did I really just say that? If it were legit they would have announced it on their HP and board. No idea what the purpose of that mail would be though, did the "click here to change your pw" redirect you to somewhere suspicious?

Also notice this pack doesn't come with a mount, companion, or free AD.

The lack of mount is the biggest bummer, but new players would at least qualify for the first time buyers pack and the archergrrrrl if they aquire ZEN from PWE. I guess it's save to assume that the dovahkiin will eventually appear as a single purchase for ~15 euroshekelz after the initial hype has cooled down (like the drow). The bag will most likely be for only one char, like the bag from the FBP. Everything in that pack was only for one char. The FTB bag didn't even come in an extra BoA container like the Face Traitor/Skill Traitor Tokens. Open the pack with some lowlevel farm and you're screwed.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Well, if they add a non-pack version of Durgenborn, I'd wager the main difference will be that there's two preset stat combos like for everyone else and one of the racial traits is better (that's the case with the Drow, the Menzobarran Renegade trait is worse than the freebie Drow trait).

 

[Bliblablubb]

Imagine someone really shells out that much Shekelz only to play a dinosaur. Instead of people saying: "look at that dude and his awsome char"... everyone will just think "lol, what a retard". And don't tell me they will pay it with their vast amounts of former potatos, I like my version better!

 

[Gerrard]

I am with Drakron on that one... OMG did I really just say that? If it were legit they would have announced it on their HP and board. No idea what the purpose of that mail would be though, did the "click here to change your pw" redirect you to somewhere suspicious?

I assume it only applies to people who used the EU sites. My forum password was reset, the reason I found the email was because I couldn't log in on the site, thought I got banned or something.
None of the links in the mail were clickable, actually.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

The biggest irony is that IF they added the mount and companion to that pack, it'd be among the better packs, since while it wouldn't come with AD it would still have (at least seems so) reclaimable transmute items for armor (that based on the pics might look p. awesome actually). Alternatively, if the 30 slot bag IS per character, that improves the deal noticiably.

But still, I would not recommend it unless one wants to gamble on the bag quantity and Race Traitor Token price, and I would absolutely not recommend it once the discount is over.

 

[Bliblablubb]

None of the links in the mail were clickable, actually.

I don't know your provider, but Yahoo for example makes links unclickable if the mail is in the spam folder. Where PWE mails appear often for some reason only Yahoo knows.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Anyway, earlier this week I went for a quick check-up on Preview to see what happens to the Wizard next module. This was before latest changes on Thursday. Anyway:

- Specced to Thaumaturge Spellstorm
- Chilling Cloud and Storm Pillar as at-wills
- Mastery Sudden Storm, Icy Terrain, Steal Time, and Shard of the Endless Avalanche (feated) as encounters
- Didn't try out dailies much, but Oppressive Force still easily wipes many enemies
- Storm Spell and Evocation as class features

Results:

- Shard can still wipe packs of trolls in Dwarven Valley, but damage is noticiably non-FUBAR now: Total damage on a crit cast seems to be around 24k, currently on Live I've gone over 50k with Shard (80k in party).
- Sudden Storm cooldown is a tiny bit longer (Recovery mitigates the cooldown nerf quite a bit), and still deals over 20k damage on crits reliably.
- Steal Time crit for ~12k during my tests. I'm not 100% what the deal is, but it seems Steal Time and damage bonuses were really fucked up pre-Mod4, so that's why it got +75% base damage when damage bonuses were unfucked for Steal Time.
- Chilling Cloud damage bonus mechanic feels weird in the way it applies stacks.
- Storm Pillar damage bonus mechanic is simple.
- Still killed too fast to notice effects of Assailing Force.
- Overall I'd estimate that Wizard DPS in party situations will drop a couple of million for me due to Shard no longer critting for fuckhueg damage.

I think I should try out what happens with Oppressor Master of Flame turns out. I'm not 100% sure, but could be that Spellstorm can get more out of Thaumaturge due to Sudden Storm. Need to test further (it's entirely possible that MoF will deal wayyyyy higher damage due to the potential increase from Critical Conflagration + Swath of Destruction crit severity bonus and DR debuff).


PS: The Warlock shift is kinda like Champions teleport visually, sans flying.


EDIT: Holy moley, the fixed Maelstrom of Chaos on the new Preview patch is wayyyyyyy better than the old kinda meh power. Base damage for your truly is over 11k, goet up to 24k on Crit.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Artifact Equipment

As many of you may have read we are going to be putting out a new category of artifacts in the Tyranny of Dragons module. This new equipment will initially include 6 different belts and 21 new weapons, 3 for each class. These new artifacts will start with stats roughly equivalent to Fury of the Feywild top end items and grow in power from there.

Refinement
These artifacts will use the familiar Item Refinement interface. The primary difference being that other equipment is used to refine these artifacts rather than enchantments. Basically anything that can be equipped in the 12 slots on your character sheet can be used to empower these artifact. There are a few important restrictions. The item must have a minimum required level of 60 and also it must be identified. Items equippable in the main hand slot will give double RP for artifact weapons. Items equippable in the waist slot will give double RP for artifact belts.

These artifacts will accept the various refining stones that are used for enchantments and artifacts, but they won't accept original artifacts. Artifact equipment is its own category for purposes of bonuses. There will be a new type of refining stone that will give x5 RP for artifact equipment.

Quality Base RP
Uncommon 100
Rare 300
Epic 450
Epic Tier 1 575
Epic Tier 2 650
Artifact Belts
Each artifact belt will give a bonus to a base attribute, Strength, Wisdom, Dexterity etc. There is an artifact belt for each of the base attributes. The bonus given starts at +1 and will go up +1 for every quality level, maxing out at +4 at Legendary quality. Artifact belts will not be able to be equipped on companions.

Artifact Weapons
In addition to its damage rating and stats that they give each of the artifact weapons will give a minor increase of some kind to one of the at-wills of that class. The three weapons for each class will correspond to the three at-will powers that are not part of a paragon path.

It seems they noticed that something had to be done about all that unused vendortrash as well...