Preview – Neverwinter:Unblogged

Neverwinter Uncensored stands for equity. That’s why we thought it’s kind of unfair that console players get a massive amount of information in a primer before every new content release while the PC crowd has to figure it out for themselves. Well, not any longer guys, because we deliver everything you need to know about Neverwinter’s latest mid-module update “Swords of Chult” in one handy post!

Random Queues

Did you know that Uncensored runs the biggest Discord of Neverwinter? Come join our team, streamers and hundreds of players to talk the site and all facets of the game!Daily Astral Diamonds generation is relocated to a new system called “random queues”. It features five categories that contain several of the existing PVE dungeons, trials and skirmishes. By selecting one of the random queues, a group or player will be matched into a random run of that category. A major daily reward is attached to the first completion of each category, and minor ones for any repetition. Please look up the bonuses in the official feedback thread. Additionally the system grants bonuses to roles that are currently underrepresented in the queue. Typically this should be tanks or healers. Groups also receive bonus AD when carrying a new player through a dungeon.

Refining Changes

The refining system receives a pretty massive overhaul. Refining Points are now a character currency and you can convert all refining stones into it. That currency is then used to feed all refining items. With that change the old flaws of clogging up your inventory and having to wait for a x2 RP event to best most effective are being dealt with. Generally players now have much more freedom when to spend their refining points and on which items.

The system is getting majorly streamlined. But in case you still feel overwhelmed, we have gone through every area of refining and detailed the changes.

Bonding Nerfs and New Enchantment Ranks

Refining might get easier, but the way to the top longer. The devs decided to not only bring Bonding Runestones down to earth but also add additional ranks to all gems. Getting to the new Rank 14 and Unparalleled Enchantments is quite a pain and substantially harder to achieve than the former Rank 12s.

Patronage System

While you are working to get your mains to the new heights, it becomes substantially easier to catch up with alts. The reason is a new Patronage system that lets players craft so called “signet tokens” with campaign currency which bind to the account. When consumed by a character they cut most tasks of a specific campaign in half. It’s not equally helpful in all campaigns, but overall the speed of alt advancement should noticeably go up.

Swords of Chult Preview and Guide: The Patronage System

PVP Updates

The PVP crowd in the meantime can rejoice! The devs finally do something for the game mode! Swords of Chult is going to feature permanent solo queues and gets rid of Tenacity on armor sets. Overall transitioning between PVP and PVE should be much easier going forward. A little bit more controversial is the change to control powers. Diminishing returns are added to them, which could render them nearly useless and cutting into build diversity. At this point however any news is good news for PVP and we’ll see whether this can revitalize the game mode!

Swords of Chult Preview: PVP Changes

Merchant Prince’s Folly Skirmish

The only only relevant PVE gameplay addition is a new skirmish called “Merchant Prince’s Folly”. It is pretty easy to complete and even undergeared groups shouldn’t run into too much trouble. It’s main purpose is to provide another avenue to campaign currency, but also brings some unique rewards with it.

Module 12b Preview: Merchant Prince’s Folly Skirmish Guide

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Lockbox of the Lost and Other Premium Items

The new Lockbox of the Lost is a real beauty! Not only have most packs inside it been upgraded and drop stuff for the new refining progression, but the legendary prize also comes with a new passenger feature! So all of you Aladdins that want to take your Princess Jasmines for a ride, you are now free to do so! The update as always features new colored giveaway mounts, Striders this time, and ZEN store additions. The Mysterious Merchant inside Strongholds might also have extended its wares.

Inventory Management Upgrades

Last but not least the devs continued their work on the UI convenience front. Lots of filters and search functions were added to the inventory, which makes management that much more comfortable. Finding certain items has never been easier because you can either narrow down types or rarities. At vendors, show only sellable stuff, same for the Auction House or trades. We’re sure much of it won’t frequently be utilized, but those that find a use will appreciate it. And that’s exactly what quality of life changes are all about.

Swords of Chult Preview: Inventory Management Upgrades

Well that’s quite a list to go through, but at least Uncensored made sure you are prepared! What do you thing about Swords of Chult and its changes? Share your thoughts in the comments below and visit the corresponding thread on our message board!

Neverwinter UN:Blogged is always looking for writers to contribute to the blog. If you are an active player and search for a way to spread your opinions, analysis, diaries or reviews to more than 40,000 regular visitors, then don’t hesitate and get in touch with us on our contact page or message board! We are currently especially looking for console and PVP content, but that’s not exclusive. There is no frequency requirement, you post how often you want.

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In recent weeks the news around the preview server have cooled off since there were no major patches to report. The latest Lost City of Omu update “NW.95.20180207A.1” however brings a lot of interesting changes to different areas of the game. First and foremost, the Hunt Trophy and Lure item functionality has been changed. The items are no longer unique and players will be able to hold more than one in their inventory. They still don’t stack and can no longer be mailed, but this nonetheless should make farming much more comfortable.

Hunts

Hunt trophies and lures have been adjusted in the following ways:
- These items are no longer unique, as such more than one can be held in your inventory at a time.
- These items may no longer be mailed.
Please note:
- Hunt trophies and lures do not stack, as such in order to hold on to two of the same lure, you must have two free inventory spaces.
- Any trophies or lures currently in mailboxes will remain there, however, once they are removed from the mailbox they may not be sent again.

Storm Spell Nerfed

Control Wizards in the meantime have to live with a hefty nerf to one of their main DPS powers. In an attempt to probably move the SS and MoF Paragons closer together, Storm Spell’s damage was reduced by 30% while Rimefire’s and Smolder’s is increased by 50%. That said, Storm Spell had already received a sizeable buff as it will be able to crit in Module 13. So CWs will presumably still deal slightly more damage overall.

The last change we want to single out here is that new Masterwork Rings now hold an item level of 510, and that Stronghold Weapons III match the set bonus of their precursors. This means that Masterworks will remain the best weapon set to own for support type characters. Players had been critical that the set bonus was originally reworked to benefit DPS builds and apparently got heard.

There are a lot more changes in the latest build. So make sure to read through the full patch notes!

What do you think about the changes to Hunt items, the CW nerf and Masterwork tweaks? Share your thoughts on our social channels, in the comments below or the corresponding thread on our message board!

Neverwinter UN:Blogged is always looking for writers to contribute to the blog. If you are an active player and search for a way to spread your opinions, analysis, diaries or reviews to more than 40,000 regular visitors, then don’t hesitate and get in touch with us on our contact page or message board! We are currently especially looking for console and PVP content, but that’s not exclusive. There is no frequency requirement, you post how often you want.

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As part of our massive preview of Neverwinter’s Lost City of Omu, we are looking at some quality of life changes today. As mentioned during the “State of the Game” live stream, the devs moved away from pure “B” QoL modules and instead incorporate such changes into the main ones. That’s why Module 13 already features a good amount of minor improvements to boost adventurers’ everyday experience.

More on Lost City of Omu!

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Loadout Improvements

A major request around loadouts since their introduction has been to include Mounts and Companions to the system. So far only gear was affected, which already helped a ton, but still required players to manually switch a lot of stuff depending on their builds. This finally is history as all Companions, their gear, and all features of the Mount stable will be saved with loadouts. That’s a huge improvement, because sometimes Insignia Bonuses change significantly for example. One prime example is Wanderer’s Fortune, which you always want while doing dailies, but is most likely not needed in group content. You can now fully handle those situations and setups with loadouts.

Fashion Bag

Next to the loadout improvements, the devs filled another major request by the community. Fashion has long been an afterthought in the game and one reason was a missing inventory for it. Bag space matters and storing “looks” directly had to compete with other items like refining. Many players said that they would love to use more fashion, but the limitations of the system was a big obstacle. Well, not any longer, because a new specialized inventory will take care of your fashion needs!

It works like the other specialized inventories for professions or companions, but features one important exception. Fashion items can still go into regular bags, so players can choose where to store them. The fashion inventory will start with 24 slots, extensions are available on the ZEN market (12 slots for 250 ZEN).

October Bugfix Month

Last but not least, all fixes of Rocktober will make it into the Module 13 build. It’s too many to go in detail in this article, but we’ve compiled an extensive list with all relevant infos here. We would highly recommend going over the changes as pretty much every class and aspect of the game is affected. However, all Rocktober fixes will also be included in the official patch notes.

That’s our first roundup of the upcoming quality of life changes. Do you like what you see? Share your thoughts on our social channels, in the comments below, or the corresponding thread on our message board!

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More on Lost City of Omu!

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Updated Experience Curves

The devs completely reworked the level 60-70 experience curves in Module 13. It was necessary because ever since Module 6, the progression was kind of fragmented. The progression curves (experience gain, experience required for a level) never changed from the original game and its storyline through levels 1-60. But Elemental Evil featured a different leveling experience that significantly differed from the earlier one. This mostly led to players smoothly leveling up to 60 and then “hitting the XP wall”. Already back then players mentioned that it’s kind of weird that the flow of leveling changes so drastically, but it took the devs until now to finally change course.

The progression of level 1 through 70 now follows the same curve, and should feel much more fluid.

We have brought the 60-70 curve in line with the 1-60 curve. To go along with this we also adjusted XP gains in the Elemental Evil zones, and campaign missions for the Maze Engine and Sharandar, among other XP adjustments. Elemental Evil also had some tweaks made to the quest chains to make the progress feel better and keep the story and gameplay advancing at a good pace.noworries

A nice little side effect of the change is that Overflow Rewards seem to be much more obtainable. On preview I was getting roughly one per day by just doing dailies in the new zone. That’s a plus because the rewards were pretty outdated. Players long demanded an upgrade, but obviously handing out more does the trick as well.

Icon Tweaks

Something that many might not even realize is that a lot of UI graphics were updated in the Lost City of Omu. One particular was highlighted as official feedback thread, but a lot more minor graphics and icon got changed. I think it’s fair to mention these efforts of the team that can contribute to the feel and atmosphere of the game quite a lot.

New Campaign Packs for Genie’s Gifts

We’ve mentioned this before, but this change belongs into the “quality-of-life” section as well. Maze Engine will get a campaign pack for Genie’s Gifts that will contain one Tales of Adventure each. It’s nice to see the devs extending the system to make older campaigns easier and faster to complete. It’s necessary to not make the road too long for newer players as new tasks and campaigns get added. Additionally this helps to bring up and maintain alternate characters, which is always a plus. There seems to be a pack in the making for Module 10 as well, but that one is not yet unlocked.

What’s your take on the new experience curves and other quality of life upgrades? Is this worth putting time into or not as important as other stuff? Share your thoughts on our social channels, in the comments below, or visit the corresponding thread on our message board!

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As part of our massive preview of Neverwinter’s “Lost City of Omu”, we go over the new tier of weapons today. Module 13 raises the item level bar of sets in two steps to 500 and 520. Additionally it introduces multiple options so you can pick the best set based on your activity and play style. So let’s go through the additions!

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New Options

First of all, let’s talk about the new options players get in Module 13. The devs changed their approach with weapon sets and do not spread them across different modules this time. Instead, Lost City of Omu features not less than four (+one from Masterworks that we’ll preview at a later point) brand-new sets at once. As usual, stats and damage is the same for all of them, the only difference is the set bonuses.

Pioneer

Pioneer ist the “starter kit” of the new weapon tier. It can be obtained in the campaign store for a reasonable amount of the new campaign currency. It has the weakest of all set bonuses and only enhances certain stats based on your party size. Since weapon damage is the single most important component of the DPS formula however, this one should already outperform whatever older set you have.

Pilgrim

Pilgrim ist the premium set in Module 13 and can exclusively be bought on the ZEN market. Right now it’s already available as part of the Expedition Leader Pack and will also be bundled with the new Chultan Tiger Companion and Enchanted Keys. The set bonus enhances damage and healing by up to 10% based on how many enemies you faced at the start of combat. Against one enemy, you’ll get a flat 5% for one minute. Since the bonus only refreshes on killing an enemy, it’ll fall off in longer fights.

Primal

The Primal Set will be available for Seals of the Brave (1,500 total) and hence can be pre-farmed. It offers a 10% damage and healing increase whenever you are hit or healed for more than 10% of your Maximum Hit Points. Before you spend your seals you should probably test on preview how maintainable the bonus is for your class. Theoretically it should be pretty easy to keep up, but that obviously depends on the type of the fight and your play style. Many players will probably be going for this set since it’s relatively easy to get and might even have the best set bonus.

Tyrant

The Tyrant set is the capstone one of the module, theoretically offers the best set bonus in long fights, and is the most difficult one to get as it only drops from the new 3-Star Hunt “The Tyrant”. For every 15 seconds you are in combat, your damage, healing and damage resistance is increased by 1%. So for the full set bonus to take effect, the fight has to last at least 135 seconds. I can easily see this one being worse than Primal, but it mentions that the bonus is doubled when a player is affected by a “Trophy Hunter” buff. We’re not yet sure what that could be.

Infusion and Exalted

Upgrading the new weapon sets is standard and follows the refinement process we know. The normal versions go up to item level 500 on their legendary version, but a special “infusion” process can even take them to 520. It’s basically “vivifying” for weapon sets as you need a weekly drop called “Soulmonger Ampoule” that you can find in the new “Cradle of the Death God” trial. You need five for the Main-Hand and three for the Off-Hand. The conversion to “Exalted” is permanent.

I think there’s a lot to like in terms of the new tier of weapons. Based on your activity and play style you can pick the set you want, and the upgrade process is pretty straight forward. So save your refining points and reagents, because you are going to need them!

What’s your take on the new line of Exalted Weapon Sets? Share your thoughts on our social channels, in the comments below, or visit the corresponding thread on our message board!

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As part of our massive preview of Neverwinter’s “Lost City of Omu” update, we are looking into the new Vivified Primal Armor Sets today. In Module 13 players will be able to boost their existing pieces of Primal Armor to item level 510 using a so-called “vivification” process. So let’s look how that’s going to work!

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Say Hello to Storm Kings Thunder

If vivification sounds strangely familiar to you, then probably because you know it from Module 10B already. In Storm Kings Thunder players could also vivify their Relic Armor, and substantially enhance its item level that way. The process in Module 13 pretty much works exactly the same. By running the new “Cradle of the Death God” trial, players can earn a weekly drop called “Omuan Tale Carvings”. Those Carvings can then be exchanged for “Testimony” items that are required as reagents to restore your Primal Gear. The corresponding contact is a Historian located on the East Harbor in Port Nyanzaru (next to the Fishmonger).

As you can see, the whole process is pretty straight forward. You run Cradle, get those Carvings and exchange them for the Testimonies you need. The one for the head piece costs one Carving, feet and arms are two, and the one for the the armor piece three. At most this makes vivification an eight week grind depending on how many pieces you plan to upgrade.

Exalted and Vivified Is the Same Grind

The boost of ten item levels per piece is not as major as in Storm Kings Thunder (from 450 to 480), but the nice thing about vivification in Module 13 is that it’s the same grind as Exalted Weapons. Players will probably run the Cradle trial anyway and so you can very well use the Carvings you get to also upgrade your Primal pieces. It’s an easy way to give players a little bit of progression on their armor sets without introducing a full-blown new grind. There are some pretty interesting new pieces from Hunts already, so it’s not like Module 13 comes without new options in that area of progression anyway.

What’s your impression of the vivification process of Module 13? Do you like its revival or would have rather seen a fresh idea for armor sets? Share your thoughts in the comments below and visit the corresponding thread on our message board!

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As part of our massive preview of Neverwinter’s Lost City of Omu, we are going over the Masterwork Profession extension today. Module 13 comes with a full new set of recipes and attached gear that builds on the existing Masterwork structure. What can you expect from the extension and how difficult is it to level this time? Let’s find out!

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Leveling to Masterwork V

As mentioned the new recipes fully build on the existing Masterwork structure. To get access to the new quests you need to have a Masterwork Profession unlocked up to the level III recipes that got introduced in Module 11. The Artisan will direct you to Port Nyanzaru’s Master of Market. She’s your main content for all Masterwork related stuff in Mod 13. The “story” by the way is fairly simple. Your guild wants to extend their commerce to Chult, and you need to proof your worth to the Master of market.

For each profession players once again have to go through a set of difficult, and expensive, tasks to get to the next tier of Masterwork Gear. There are basically three steps to complete. First you have to acquire or craft three of the more expensive products of the Masterwork III Recipes. This unlocks new recipes for so-called “commissioned” items, that are needed for the second progression quest. You can craft and turn in the commissioned items for “Trade Credit”. The tasks hand out 500-1,500 each and players need 50,000 to complete the second quest.

Last but certainly not least, a new legendary item has to be forged to unlock the Masterwork V Recipes that contain all the new shiny stuff. Some players say the third quests are comparably easy to complete on some professions though. So it doesn’t seem as much of a pain as the legendary resources were for the original set of Masterwork II Recipes (like Set of Newly “Minted” Coins). Nonetheless it’s once again a massive undertaking to get Masterwork Professions to the next level.

Rewards

At least you are going to have the rewards to show for it. Masterwork remains the only way to obtain unbound gear that can be sold on the Auction House. If you’re fully committed to Masterworks, you should be able to not only get your leveling investment back, but also make a decent profit from selling the gear. That said, you still need millions to start off your venture, and it’s only recommended for those that already own Masterwork III Recipes. This structure makes the whole system more and more exclusive as probably fewer players will be able to keep pace. On the other hand, if you’re one of them, the possible gains can be massive.

The rewards themselves didn’t really change, they just got a new tier added to them. You have Gear, Jewelry, Artifact Sets and Weapons that match the latest items levels. The Stronghold Weapons can be exalted like the other sets in Module 13 by the way. Also the Masterwork V Armor Sets come with their own equip bonuses, so it adds to the choices players have when building their toons. I’ve attached the Control Wizard pieces below so you can see the equip bonuses. The pieces otherwise match the stats of Masterwork III Recipes.

New Explorer’s Charts

Every Masterwork extension comes with new Explorer’s Charts and the Lost City of Omu is no different. This time you’ll be roaming Soshenstar River and the new adventure zone for new resources required to craft items. Soshenstar River is a pain to run honestly because of its map size. I’ve attached maps of the locations below.

Chultan Tools

One interesting aspect of the new Masterwork leveling is that it unlocks a new shop at the Master of Market. We already talked about the “Trade Credit” you need to complete the second progression quest. You can actually turn the credit into purple Masterwork Tools for all professions for 25k each. Since you need 50k to level a profession anyway, that’s two purple tools that you can potentially use to level other Masterwork Professions more easily.

We’re not fully sure what this means for the earlier progression, but part of the pain to start out Masterworks is that you can only complete the first recipes with a success rate of 20%, because you don’t own any purple tools yet. So it could very well be your best option to bring a single Masterwork to level V and buy the tools for other professions off the new shop.

Even if leveling gets easier, Masterwork will still remain an exclusive for the rich. As said, it’s not recommended for the casual player. To be competitive on the market you need to have level III recipes unlocked already, or have a guild that’s well set up in the the field of Masterwork Professions.

What’s your opinion on the new gear from Masterwork Professions? Is it worth the trouble? Share your thoughts on our social channels, in the comments below, or visit the corresponding thread on our message board!

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As part of our massive preview of Neverwinter’s Lost City of Omu, we are looking into the new group content addition today. The “Cradle of the Death God” concludes the story in Chult with a massive fight against the ~~Marshmallow Man~~ Atropal. Completing the hard challenge is required to upgrade your weapons to exalted and to vivify your Primal Gear. So it’s safe to say that the trial plays an integral part of gear progression in Module 13.

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Unlocking the Cradle

Just like in Module 12, the new group content is unlocked with the last task of the campaign’s middle “advancement” path. It should take approximately three weeks to unlock the trial (two weeks with the Leader Pack). As always, the Cradle is an account unlock so you only have to burst through the middle path with one character. After that, all your alts, given they fill the queue requirements, can run it. Speaking about queue requirements: The Cradle comes with the same as “Tomb of the Nine Gods“. Players need at least 12,000 total item level to enter it. The trial also extends the “Hero’s Accord” random queue. It is not part of the “Epic Trial” one.

Running the Cradle

While unlocking the Cradle is relatively easy, running it is certainly not. Depending on how you see it, the fight consists of two to four phases. Groups start out in an elevator. They have to repel a “Projection of Acererak” in there and then stop the thing from crashing. These phases are pretty easy (and fun) once you’ve understood the underlying mechanics. DPS is a minor factor here and it’s more about coordination and positioning. It helps to use voice communication, but it’s certainly not mandatory.

The second part of the fight takes place in the cradle itself where groups have to cut cords before facing the Atropal. The main fight features a pretty challenging skill check where players have to move and react correctly to not get pushed off the platform. Other than that, the boss features some heavy hitting attacks and judging from own runs and videos I saw, I don’t think all mechanics have been figured out yet. Groups that beat the trial on preview simply pulled through using tons of Life Scrolls.

Rewards

Next to the weekly rewards that you need to upgrade your weapons and primal gear, the trial comes with a brand new Artifact set. Many folks will probably aim for the Artifact as it offers a massive 10% damage buff and up to 2,000 additional damage to your powers. If the proc is affected by buffs and such, watch out. But even if not this seems to be a very viable option as Artifact for your main DPS. I personally am not too sure about the full set. It’s the second one of the mod that grants Temp HP so it feels kinda redundant. I guess they wanted to give something to support toons with high Life Steal (specifically Temptation Scourge Warlocks come to mind). It theoretically could also have nice synergy with Chef Melvin’s Ring of Defiance in case you’re interested in a reflect build.

Other than that, the trial seems to have the same loot table as the Tomb.

Conclusion

Overall the Cradle is a nice piece of content that will surely challenge folks for some time. Long-term its viability however diminishes once most endgamers will have finished their grind to Exalted Weapons and Vivified Primal Gear (which takes roughly 11 weeks). Then the question becomes whether you can farm Ultimate Enchanting Stone more efficiently in the Cradle or the Tomb.

With the main rewards only dropping weekly, most folks will probably also only complete it once per week and then move on. Svardborg was similar in Module 10 but at least had the Mark grind going for itself. So it’s pretty interesting to me how the trial will develop over time.

That’s our preview of the new Cradle of the Death God trial. Have you been to preview and tested it? How did you like the setup and challenge? Share your thoughts on our social channels, in the comments below, or visit the corresponding thread on our message board!

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Although Neverwinter’s “Lost City of Omu” is not a balancing heavy update, it features some changes to classes that are worth talking about. As the devs said multiple times by now, they don’t prefer sweeping changes to balancing at this point anyway. Instead, they try to introduce small tweaks gradually, see how they perform, and go from there. So let’s go through the classes one by one and see what Module 13 has in store for them.

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Control Wizard

Control Wizards will receive a fair share of buffs, nerf and changes across the board. Nothing really changed for Renegade / Master of Flame buffers, but unfortunately overall damage could go down for your DPS loadouts. While Storm Spell can critically strike now, its damage has been reduced by 30% to counter some of the effect. Additionally, Wizards are hit by the nerf to Weapon Enchantments the most.

Various powers, across many classes, have been adjusted to trigger one weapon enchantment proc per target, per activation.

DPS CWs were using the Lightning Enchantment to utilize those multi-procs. Since that’s no longer the case, a good chunk of DPS is gone, and replacement enchantments (Dread or Fey) are not as strong. For AoE damage, the Storm Spell / Thaumaturge builds you were running should remain the best option. For single target it might make sense to look into Oppressor though, because its capstone has been changed. More information on that can be found here and Sharpedge has already updated his mechanics guide for Mod 13 as well.

Devoted Cleric

The devs took a first swing at the two DC meta and players talk the impact controversially. Next to bugfixes, the important buff powers from Clerics no longer stack, and some stuff like the Hallowed Ground daily was nerfed as well. The overall sentiment we get however is that two DCs will remain the best option. At worst Divine Oracles have to fear that other buffing types might become a little more viable in their place.

Guardian Fighter

It’s going to be a quiet module for Guardian Fighters on the balancing front, and that’s a good thing. Both buff builds and DPS are highly requested in endgame content and a strong part of the meta. This shouldn’t change.

Great Weapon Fighter

The best news for GWFs this module is that they are largely unaffected by the Weapon Enchantment nerf. It’s probably the only class that can still rock the Lightning Enchantment, so it’s a buff by nerfing others. You should also look at Slam for your daily rotation since it can now critically strike. In case you’re interested, WickedDuck has written a full guide for Mod 13 PVE GWFs. You are probably covered just reading through that.

Hunter Ranger & Oathbound Paladin

Both these classes get little to no changes with true impact. Especially the OP will remain the same and retain its spot in the endgame meta as pure tank or Devo (Banedin) buffer. Hunter Rangers are viable DPS as well, but people that hoped for an update to the Archery tree will have to wait a little longer.

Scourge Warlock

The Scourge Warlock is the only class that’s getting a true full balancing pass in Module 13. Both DPS and support roles were buffed, but players doubt that it will truly lift the class to new heights in PVE. And in PVP Scourges seem to stay in the doghouse as well. For the amount of changes it’s actually very little improvement, but as stated the devs currently take a careful approach and might follow up with more tweaks later.

One bright spot could be the Temptation support tree as players have reported good performances from preview. But based on the feedback the devs seem to struggle to really help the Warlock on the DPS front. So it might be another tough module for all you Scourge lovers out there.

Trickster Rogue

Talking about having it tough, in comes the Trickster Rogue! Just like Scourges, there’s not a ton of help coming to improve their situation in PVE. A nice lineup of minor changes and bugfixes might enhance AoE damage by a bit and help TRs utilize stealth more. The latter could also be interesting for PVP as some players already say that perma-stealth builds could become more of a thing again.

Additionally we already know that the little stabbers are next in line in terms of balancing. So even if you hoped for more changes this module, there’s at least something to look forward to. Plus an excellent TR bible was released recently that already contains all relevant information about Module 13.

Have you looked into the class balance changes of Module 13? Do you like them or have the devs done too little to tackle the current issues? Share your thoughts on our social channels, in the comments below, or visit the corresponding thread on our message board!

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The day we’ve all been waiting for since the module announcement on January 11th is finally here! Neverwinter’s “Lost City of Omu” will go live for PC users within the next few hours. So it’s about time for you guys to get primed for the update. We did test the module extensively in recent weeks and put out not less than 16 articles previewing all changes and additions. That’s why we can give you all the information in one handy place now! Down below is a list of all aspects of Module 13 with links to related articles for further reading. Have fun with it!

Campaign & Zone

The Lost City of Omu continues the story in Chult that started with the Tomb of Annihilation update. Adventurers advance to a new “Lost City of Omu” zone in their task to take down Acererak and his Soulmonger. Since Module 13 is basically an extension of earlier content, players need to have progressed through Tomb of Annihilation to continue. That’s why the adventure zone itself and the new campaign are also similar to their precursors. Most stuff will look very familiar. The campaign’s structure is actually a true copy of “Jungles of Chult”, just with another progression currency. Other features like Treasure Hunting are also well known.

However, there are some new features as well. You can farm the zone for unique rewards, explore a new solo lair “Fane of the Night Serpent” and work together with your instance to spawn a Heroic Event called “Wrath of Acererak”.

Endgame Itemization & Group Content

Also incorporated into the “Lost City of Omu” zone are new Hunts. The system matches the one in Module 12 in that you have to farm for Lures and Trophies and grind your way up to the capstone mob “Tyrant”. Once again Hunts hand out item level 480 rewards that come with some pretty unique and intriguing equip bonuses.

Players can additionally advance to item levels of 510 and 520. The Primal pieces of Module 12 can be upgraded to 510, and new Masterwork recipes offer gear that matches that. Additionally a full new line of Artifact Weapons can go as high as 520. For most of this stuff you will need to run the endgame content of Module 13, a trial called “Cradle of the Death God”. It supplies the required resources to upgrade the gear as weekly rewards.

Lockbox & Premium Items

Every module comes with a new lockbox, and Lost City of Omu is no different. The next one is called “Soulmonger’s” and adds to the line of dino mounts with a Triceratops. Additionally one set of the new Artifact Weapons is sold on the ZEN market and the premium Chultan Tiger is currently anticipated as new “best in slot” active companion.

Quality-of-Life & Balancing

Thanks to “Rocktober”, Module 13 is heavy on bugfixes as all changes that were made in October now finally hit the live server. The devs also made some nice changes to loadouts (they include Mounts and Companions now) and filled a long-term request with a separate Fashion Bag.

The Scourge Warlock got a full balancing path, but not too much to the delight of its players. A sweeping change to balancing and the meta isn’t expected. Control Wizards are probably getting the most substantial DPS nerf while PVE TRs continue to hope for better days themselves. The support force of OPs, DCs and GFs will still rock the dungeons.

That’s our small primer for the Lost City of Omu! Have fun exploring the update today! In case you have any questions, share them on our social channels, in the comments below, or visit the corresponding thread on our message board!

What’s your take on this topic? Share your thoughts and experience on our social channels, in the comments below, or visit the corresponding thread on our message board! Neverwinter UN:Blogged is always looking for writers to contribute to the blog. If you are an active player and search for a way to spread your opinions, analysis, diaries or reviews to more than 40,000 regular visitors, then don’t hesitate and get in touch with us on our contact page or message board! We are currently especially looking for console and PVP content, but that’s not exclusive. There is no frequency requirement, you post how often you want.

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As part of our massive preview of Neverwinter’s Lost Citys of Omu, we are giving all you fashionistas a closer look into the gear visuals that come with Module 13. As always, a lot of skins have been reused, but there’s also a fair share of new stuff to play around with.

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Preface

This article contains galleries for all new weapons and gear visuals. Where it makes sense, I’ve included male and female models. Although not tested, head pieces as usual probably don’t work on the Dragonborn race. Gear that is missing simply doesn’t feature visuals or reuses old ones:

Most Artifact Cloaks don’t come with a visual
The Masterwork Armor/Weapon Sets look like Primal Gear
Exalted Weapons and Vivified Gear doesn’t change its look
Pilgrim Weapons (albeit included) are just a recolored version of Primal

Cloaks

Control Wizard Weapon

Devoted Cleric Weapon

Guardian Fighter Weapons

Great Weapon Fighter Weapon

Hunter Ranger Weapons

Oathbound Paladin Weapons

Scourge Warlock Weapon

Trickster Rogue Weapons

Hunts Gear

Makos and Eku Gear

What looks do you like the most? Are there some you can’t stand? Share your thoughts on our social channels, in the comments below, or visit the corresponding thread on our message board!

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*** UPDATE *** Looks like we jinxed it. Sorry fellas!

Today’s PC patch might not be the biggest in the history of the game, but players nonetheless will be pleased with the changes they are going to see. Two of the more annoying launch bugs of the Lost City of Omu will get resolved. First of all, all members of the new Cradle of the Death God trial will now properly receive an Ampoule. The item that is used in the restoration process of Exalted Weapons and the Chain of Scales did only drop for half of the raid so far. Some suggested it’s the top five of the paingiver, other mentioned it’s completely random. Anyway, hopefully nobody has to figure that out now as the bug will be gone after the maintenance today.

More on Lost City of Omu!

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Second, the Pilgrim Weapons no longer repeatedly keep or bring players into combat. This was majorly annoying as it prevented toons that were sporting the set to interact with quest objectives or NPCs. After combat there was a decent chance that characters remained in combat and you had to fight an additional mob to properly recover.

It’s good these bugs are gone, but there’s more work to do. It’ll be interesting whether the devs also fixed the relog exploit in the Cradle or whether that’s still possible. Also the unintended binding of enchantments is something we’d like to see resolved rather sooner than later.

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Module 13 is still in full progress, but Miasmat made sure you can already get all hyped up about the next one. Answering a user questions about an option to rearrange toons on the character select screen, he hinted at changes in Mod 14 “that should make you happier”. Here’s the full quote:

We have some changes to the character select screen coming with M14 that should make you happier. The challenge wasn’t changing the order, but the interface for changing it. Think about your Netflix queue or Steam wishlist. Those UIs are always clunky. I won’t say more about the character select changes because I don’t want to spoil anything that @nitocris83 will announce later.Miasmat

First of all, that’s great news. Rearranging characters has been a long-standing request by the community. Veterans have tons of leadership, praying or storage alts that push mains that were created later down the list. While that’s only a small annoyance, most still would like to group their toons more logically. There is of course much more usefulness to such a feature than just alt/main management. You could also sort your characters by class or purpose (PVE / PVP). So we’re glad that this quality-of-life upgrade seems to be all but confirmed.

This also raises the question how far away we are from the first major announcement regarding the next content update. The rough timeline currently is three modules per year, or one every four months. Since Lost City of Omu just launched, we’re probably still a good six to eight weeks away from Module 14 hitting preview. So it seems a bit early, but the wording of Miasmat certainly make it feel like Community Manager nitocris could spoil more pretty soon.

What’s your take on a character select screen rearrange option? Is it something you like and can utilize? Share your thoughts on our social channels, in the comments below, or the corresponding thread on our message board!

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Currently it sure seems there’s not a single week without another small hint at Module 14. The latest comes from developer Noworries, who confirmed that you can finally switch off enchantment visuals in the next major update.

I can’t comment on any of the requests in the original post, but I can say that with M14 players should be able to turn off their own weapon/armor enchant effects. Software added that nice feature in for us.

As with all coming soons, nothing is ever 100% guaranteed.noworries

Although he put in the usual “not guaranteed” safeguard, it’s very encouraging that the devs are probably able to fill a long-standing community request. While some enchantment visuals look cool (Feytouched), others are flat out annoying (Barkshield) or might at least completely interfere with your dyes or transmutes (Soulforged). Some players even went as far as picking the right enchantment for their character theme because of the fact that you can’t toggle enchantment visuals.

This is not only something that the community wanted, but the devs as well. As mentioned by Noworries however it required some substantial work on the code and was nothing the systems team could do by themselves. So it took some time to pull off. The joy in the thread was accordingly big. Multiple players expressed their relief or flat out cheered. This is indeed a major quality of life improvement to look forward to.

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A couple days ago we’ve mentioned that currently it doesn’t seem like there’s a single week without another hint at Module 14. This week doesn’t disappoint in that regard, and we possibly even have a big one today! A member of the Russian community tipped us off over the weekend about some intriguing additions to the game files. Specifically some ZEN art and icons for a “Module 14 Founder Pack” drew our attention.

First of all this obviously means that Cryptic for now will continue their approach of releasing founders packs for new modules. The one for the next update seems to include Coalescent Wards, Blood Rubys, a VIP subscription (probably the usual 30-day), a recolored Stag Mount and a Fashion set.

Ravenloft Setting?

What might be even more important however is the setting you see in the picture. It’s a foggy, gothic atmosphere that shows a castle in the background. We’ve shown it to some players that are way more into D&D lore than we are and all of them immediately came up with “Ravenloft”, which is a campaign setting originally released in the 90s.

Ravenloft is primarily a Gothic horror setting. Dungeon Masters are encouraged to use scenes that build apprehension and fear, culminating in the eventual face-to-face meeting with the nameless evil. Characters have a much greater significance attached to their acts, especially if they are morally impure, as they risk coming under the influence of the Dark Powers (through the game process called “dark powers checks”) and gradually transforming themselves into figures of evil.Wiki

As independent campaign setting it’s not directly attached to the Forgotten Realms, which Neverwinter uses. But Wizards of the Coast has actively been trying to connect some old modules to the current story of the 5th edition. Tomb of Annihilation and Acecerak for example originate from the Greyhawk campaign setting, but were ported to Chult and the Forgotten Realms.

Official Storyline Curse of Strahd Not yet in the Game

The Ravenloft setting was likewise picked up by an official storyline released in 2016. “Curse of Strahd” revolves around the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich, who resides at Castle Ravenloft in a Demiplane of Dread called “Barovia”.

Heroes from the Forgotten Realms and other D&D worlds can easily be drawn into Strahd’s cursed land. Once there, they must contend with the horrors of Barovia. Its people are melancholy, misshapen and grotesque, living in fear of the wolves and other creatures that serve Strahd’s evil will. The only hope for the trapped adventurers is to heed the warnings of a mysterious fortune-teller named Madam Eva. Drawing random cards from her tarroka deck, she directs adventurers to search Strahd’s domain for artifacts and allies to help the master of Castle Ravenloft.WotC

Although already released two years ago, “Curse of Strahd” is the only official storyline that’s not yet in the game. All the others (Tyranny of Dragons, Elemental Evil, Rage of Demons / Underdark, Storm Kings Thunder, Tomb of Annihilation) are. So Module 14 could actually fill this void, especially since some possible links to Barovia are already in the game. Minsc has been to the demiplane as well as Volo.

A Couple More Hints

The datamined pictures are able to deliver a couple more hints. The Stag Mount is called “Zombie Stag” and the Fashion set “Highwayman”, both terms that fit the setting. Coming back to the castle in the background, it also looks like it could show “Castle Ravenloft”. It’s different angles, but the towers match those of other pictures. The tallest one has that conical roof and the lowest one the biggest diameter. It’s only bits and dots right now, but adventurers could certainly visit the village of Barovia in Module 14 and fight Strahd in his castle.

When it comes to Cryptic you also always have to factor in resources. There’s already plenty assets for a gothic / horror / undead theme. Just think about the Neverdeath Graveyard adventure zone, or the Evernight village from Shroud of Souls. For Castle Ravenloft it’s probably even possible to use the parts of the old Castle Never design that didn’t make it into the Module 9 revamped version, like the Shadowfell area. The only mandatory new mobs are probably vampires.

Overall, this could really be a first hint at Ravenloft as Neverwinter’s next module setting. What’s your take on the presented information? Does it make sense or don’t you share our conclusions? Would you be excited to adventure the “Curse of Strahd” in the game? Let us know on our social channels, in the comments below, or the corresponding thread on our message board!

The post New Founder’s Pack and Possible Module 14 Ravenloft Setting? appeared first on Neverwinter:Unblogged.

Ahead of the console launch of Neverwinter’s Lost City of Omu next Tuesday, there’s an interesting situation involving the “Envenomed Cache” that drops from the Ras Nsi end boss in the Tomb of the Nine Gods dungeon. The cache was introduced to fix a bug that caused loot from the boss to not appear sometimes. Obviously Ras Nsi can’t just drop loot directly, because he gets pushed off the platform. Trying to place the items on the platform instead proofed faulty, so the devs simple introduced a third chest, the “Envenomed Cache”, that hands out Ras Nsi’s goods.

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It’s Unbound on Consoles

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Now this is a pretty lame piece of news so far, but it gets interesting considering that the cache is bound on PC, but unbound on consoles. Among other things the cache drops Seal of the Brave, which means you can basically buy the current best-in-slot armor on the Auction House. More than that, as already mentioned, it creates an interesting situation ahead of the M13 launch. Seals of the Brave are required to buy one of the new weapon sets. You can not only pre-farm Seals, but also buy and/or stockpile Envenomed Caches. Main and Off-Hand are 1,500 Seals, so one character cap (1,200) is not enough to buy the weapons on launch day.

Even if you won’t be using the Envenomed Cache for yourself, their prices might skyrocket after launch. Since they are probably unintentionally unbound, chances are that the devs will correct this bug with the update. People in need of Seals of the Brave will look up the caches, the supply will quickly dry out, and prices rise.

Please note that all of this is just an educated guess, because it makes sense that the caches are not supposed to be unbound. Right now though it can’t hurt to farm TONG a little more than usually and buy the caches on the Auction House.

What are your plans? Have you already saved or even bought caches in anticipation of Module 13? Share your thoughts and experience on our social channels, in the comments below, or the corresponding thread on our message board!

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Since the console launch of Neverwinter’s Module 13 is only a few days away, I’d like to get a little prep talk going today. We already briefed you on the “Envenomed Cache” situation yesterday, but there are a few more things you can do to prepare you for the Lost City of Omu update. So let’s go through a few bullets and let’s find out how you can make most out of your time until Tuesday.

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Prepare the Mod 12 Campaign

Module 13 is a full extension of the Chult story and attached systems, which is why players have jokingly referred to the update as “Module 12c”. This is especially true for its campaign, which entirely builds on the “Jungles of Chult” from Mod 12. There are the same “Hunt”, “Advancement”, and “Boon” paths, and you need to have unlocked the last corresponding task in the Module 12 portion to be able to advance in Module 13. Meaning if you want to do the new Hunts, you need to have “The King” task completed, etc. It’s not enough time left to completely play through the Jungles of Chult, but you at least can start working the paths that you might still be missing.

Seals of the Brave

The Seal of the Brave remains an important piece of the gear progression. In Module 13 you can buy the “Primal” weapon set with it, one of the stronger new sets for most (DPS) builds. Both the Main and Off-Hand cost 1,500 Seals, meaning that one character (1,200 cap) can’t do it alone. If you have two toons that have TONG unlocked however, you can farm on both and then buy the weapons for one of them. The set just like all other Primal Gear from the shop binds to account.

Bring Toons to 12,000 Item Level

This might be obvious, since Module 12’s group content also had an item level requirement of 12,000, but it can’t hurt to point out that the new Cradle of the Death God trial also requires as much. So if you want to participate in that, you obviously have to gear toons appropriately.

Save and Farm Guild Marks and Refining Ingredients

Talking about obvious: Masterwork Professions are getting updated and saving Guild Marks is essential if you’re planning on getting to the new recipes. There are also two new Explorer’s Charts available. So even if you’re no Mastercrafter yourself, you can safe Guild Marks, supply others, and profit.

The other thing you might want to have in stock are refining ingredients like RPs, Marks, and Wards. Module 13 comes with a new tier of Artifact Gear and Weapons that need to be refined.

PSA: New Hunt Item Functionality Incoming

This is not a “must do”, but more of a public service announcement. Hunt Items like Trophies and Lures will no longer be unique in the “Lost City of Omu” and you can store more than one in your inventory. That might add a whole lot of convenience to the Hunting feature, especially if you’re no VIP. Not sure you were planning to go all in on Hunts this week anyway, but just letting you know.

PSA: New Campaign Packs for Genie’s Gifts

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Another interesting hint is that Maze Engine (Module 9) and Storm Kings Thunder (Module 10) will feature new campaign packs for Genie’s Gifts. Especially the Bag of Ten Towns Treasures will be a welcomed addition as SKT is one of the longest campaigns to complete. The Bag of Maze Engine Treasures in the meantime comes with the advantage of being able to entirely skip the campaign using Genie’s Gifts. Carefully check though whether this makes more sense compared to the Patronage Tokens and ZEN unlock.

PSA: New Bis Companion from the ZEN Market

Module 13 will introduce a new “BIS” companion in a package that can be bought from the ZEN Market. The Chultan Tiger outperforms Sellswords and Con Artists with a 10% debuff, 5% damage bonus on start of combat, and three offensive rune slots. If you want to re-spec into the Tiger, you need the 2,500 ZEN and should immediately stop gearing and upgrading your current active companion.

That’s my set of basic tips ahead of the console’s Module 13 release! In case you’re looking for a more comprehensive list of all changes, make sure to check out this article. It was written for the PC release, but is still up-to-date.

Do PC players have any useful additions? Or the console crowd further questions? Post them on our social channels, in the comments below, or the corresponding thread on our message board!

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Neverwinter’s Guild Boons have long been a target of player complaints. It’s a difficult topic, but your tl;dr is that they are just too powerful and widen the gap between the haves (GH20 members) and have-nots. Yesterday developer Scarabman showed up on the forums and answered the latest thread about the boons. The post shared some interesting insight on the internal thought process and possible upcoming tweaks.

Guild Boons Are Overtuned

The difference between being in a guild with max-level boons and not being in a guild at all contributes to problems with our attempts to balance the level 70 experience. […] Since we can’t guarantee a player is in a guild and we don’t want to force anyone to join a guild, if we hand out sufficient gear upgrades to get players strong enough to fight without any guild boons, does the addition of the guild boons trivialize the content? In some cases it does.

The first interesting aspect talked about were balancing struggles. It indeed seems that the difference between having guild boons vs. not is so significant that it’s hard to adjust content in a way it fits both scenarios. Scarabman points out that Guild Boons are intentionally strong as they were incredibly costly and time consuming to attain. Nowadays however, as more and more Strongholds reach GH20 and players can just join a capped guild, the cost vs. benefit is becoming less relevant. That’s why, for the current state of the game, Guild Boons are overtuned.

No Immediate Changes

You don’t have to fear that progress is going to get taken away from your guild by a nerf though. The developer stressed that they don’t feel like it’s enough of a gamebreaking issue. Hence they are unlikely to adjust the system “this year”. Long-term though there might be some changes coming to ensure that the devs can balance content around the assumption that most players have access to guild boons.

One idea the team has been bouncing around is to add a store in Protector’s Enclave where guildless players can buy access to lesser guild boons for a period of time. This would allow us the freedom to assume players have access to some level of guild boons. Something we might consider doing sooner is to reduce the build time of some of the really big structure upgrades. My personal opinion is that reducing those times would be a mostly positive change for everyone. Again, none of this is set in stone.

What’s your take on the Guild Boons? Would you welcome a change or feel like your guild deserves to have an advantage over guildless plebs? Share your thoughts on our social channels, in the comments below, or the corresponding thread on our message board!

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Today I’m proud to present you the latest installment of Neverwinter Podcasts. After doing the last two under the patronage of Nova, this time we gathered on our own to talk Curse of Strahd as potential Module 14 setting. JayAgeDee did handle things on the technical side and he and myself were joined by Kolat, who is surprisingly capable of articulating himself without the use of memes. So I was like…

Anyway, let me just say that both know stuff about DnD, Ravenloft 3rd to 5th edition and Curse of Strahd. It was a pleasure listening to them and we hope to make these kind of podcasts a more constant feature on this site, although we might aim for shorter episode around 30 minutes each. Anyway, it was long time no see for podcasts, so this one is a little longer. But it’s also stuffed with excellent info, especially if you’re interested in lore and the pen and paper perspective.

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The devs certainly didn’t waste a lot of time after announcing Ravenloft as next module yesterday and patched the preview server right away. That’s why we can already present a preliminary feature list of the upcoming update. Please note that this might not be complete and subject to change. It’s largely based on a few hours on preview and on the official feedback threads the devs have opened on the forum. We’ll present much more information on all aspects in the coming weeks!

New Adventure Zone: Barovia

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Players will be able to able to adventure a new zone called Barovia. The gothic and dark domain is ruled and terrorized by evil vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich, who watches over the inhabitants from his Castle Ravenloft. Besides well known stuff like Heroic Encounters the map features a unique day and night cycle that impacts some systems, quests, and mobs.

Ravenloft Campaign

With the new module comes a new campaign. It uses the “Weekly Haul” structure known from the Chult modules, but comes with a more linear progression path. Players can unlock a new line of boons and will eventually be able to face Strahd von Zarovich in the Castle Ravenloft endgame dungeon.

Official Feedback Thread: Ravenloft Campaign

Castle of Ravenloft Endgame Dungeon

Speaking of which, the new group content requires item level 13,000 and can already be accessed on the preview server. Selected teams did beat the dungeons yesterday so it’s probably safe to assume that the initial difficulty will be comparable to the Tomb of the Nine Gods in Mod 12. Players unlock the dungeon through the campaign and need to craft an unique key with campaign currency to be able to open an extra chest.

OFFICIAL FEEDBACK THREAD: Castle Ravenloft

Ravenloft Monster Hunts

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Not everyone will like this, but Hunts are back. The devs chose a new approach this time however and largely relocated the feature to private instances. The first set of Module 14 lures, so-called “Wanting Posters”, still need to be farmed in the open world, but the Hunts themselves take place in a separate instance. Players or groups can also choose to add challenge to hunting for extra loot. Rewards include unique custom gear, refining points, rough Astral Diamonds and campaign currency.

Official Feedback Thread: Ravenloft Monster Hunts

New Rewards

Ravenloft doesn’t only come with new rewards from Hunts though. There are two new Artifact Weapons sets, five new Artifact Gear sets, a new item level 530 gear set and tons of random equipment ranging from item level 470 to 490. Of course there’s also a new lockbox called “Undying” with a cool looking legendary “Bat Swarm” Mount. The included companion “Razorwood” could also be of interest to DPS toons. It’s a striker pet with three offensive slots, ring/ring/neck and an active bonus that gives Combat Advantage Damage and Critical Severity.

Astral Diamond Economy Changes

A major change will come to the Astral Diamond economy. Astral Diamonds are now an account-shared currency and the refining limit has been changed from character to account based as well. The new limit is 100,000 AD per account per day. Depending on how extensively you currently farm random queues, this could turn out to be a substantial nerf.

With the change to the refining limit, random queue rewards have also been adjusted and a new level scaling adjustment makes sure that all those low-level dungeons are no longer a pushover. All of this once more completely changes how and how much Astral Diamonds can be farmed.

Quality of Life Upgrade

We already knew that an Armor Enchantment visual switch and Character Screen sort options would make it into the game with Module 14. But the list of quality-of-life improvements also include substantial changes to the Bonus RP event and need/greed functionality. Most loot rolls in Module 14 will happen automatically in an attempt to limit the number of popups. Players have plenty of options to tweak their setting and define what loot they want to roll for. You can for example decide not to get bothered by trash green items any longer.

That’s Ravenloft’s feature list based on what we know so far. We’re sure not everything has been uncovered or included yet, there’s probably more to come. In the next weeks, we’ll preview all the mentioned aspects in depth. So make sure to check back regularly! In the meantime, make sure to share your opinion on our social channels, in the comments below, or the corresponding thread on our message board!

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