# So who's playing Neverwinter



## Morrus (Apr 30, 2013)

Open beta started today. Who's playing? What do you think? Worth a try?


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## Jester David (Apr 30, 2013)

I've been downloading the game for four-and-a-half hours, wasting my entire day off (I called in sick due to migraine, and then remembered NW and was happy).
They didn't let people pre-download the client so their servers are slammed and bandwidth is limited, despite a couple mirrors and a torrent option. This is a short term delay.

The servers are also pretty overloaded by the sudden (yet completely expected) demand for the game, so there's long queues to play, even for people who paid the $60-200. Those that get in can expect plenty of rubberbanding and lag. Which is typical of a launch day MMO.

Yes, it's a "beta", but it's a "beta" for a Free2Play game with no more server/character wipes and they're taking money for freemium items. So the difference between this and a launch is really just semantics.


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## Krug (May 1, 2013)

I found the Neverwinter trailer to be kind of generic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xHyljJ8hUJ4

Didn't quite make me interested in the game.


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## GSHamster (May 1, 2013)

I created a Half-Elf Devoted Cleric of Torm last night. It's kind of fun. It's not a strict translation of 4E, more of an "inspired by 4E". The mechanics remind me of Diablo, more than anything else, with your main abilities bound to the mouse buttons.

I haven't gotten very far though, only level 5.

What really intrigues me is the Foundry, where players can create their own scenarios/dungeons that other people can play.

As for whether to try it or not, it is free. The download is long (I recommend the torrent) and there is pretty crazy queues at the moment. But I think it's worth trying.


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## Jester David (May 5, 2013)

And I finished my giant ass review of Neverwinter.

*TL;DR 
Neverwinter is an action RPG that doesn’t provide solid enough action to really satisfy action aficionados. The story is too light to really hold story fans for long, starting well but quickly moving into filler. 
As a free2play game it needs invested fans willing to pay, but there’s not enough content to keep people reliably playing repeatedly or enough bonuses that seems worthy of paying for. And it’s easy for people who are invested to skip paying and grind to get that same content. *


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## Morrus (May 5, 2013)

I played it for 45 mins or so today. I wanted a spear! Anyway; immediately launch I to "Collect 10 xs and report back" missions which were why my WoW career lasted only 45 mins. But the foundry thing does intrigue me. I have to get to level 15 to use that though. How long does that tend to take?


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## Jester David (May 5, 2013)

Fifteen will take a few hours of dedicated play. 
But if you put in 45 minutes every couple days, by the time you hit Foundry levels the Foundry should be a little more solid and stable.


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## Ed_Laprade (May 5, 2013)

Been playing a little here and there. Unfortunately it runs kinda dodgy on my machine. (And the darn thing's only a couple of years old!) While this is just a bit annoying most of the time it gets really bad in close combat situations, as the aim point tends to go out of control randomly. Not sure if its the game or that the controls are real sensitive to slight twitches. Anyway, mostly having fun with it. My biggest complaint is that the Foundry (making your own dungeons/adventures for those who don't know) isn't available til level 15, as others have already said. My highest level character is only 11. I want to play with that feature NOW!!!


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## Quickleaf (May 6, 2013)

Jester Canuck said:


> And I finished my giant ass review of Neverwinter.




Wow, that is a thorough review! And not very flattering for Neverwinter either, much the opposite actually.


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## GSHamster (May 6, 2013)

Here's my first impressions: Neverwinter First Impressions

My conclusion:



> On the whole, I would say that Neverwinter is a B-grade MMO. The game looks decent enough. The character models aren't the best. Classes are hit and miss. The mechanics are decent enough, but nothing amazing. The UI is a bit cluttered. It just doesn't have that layer of polish that you expect from the top tier of MMOs. As well, the monetization scheme has the potential to be very annoying.
> 
> However, the Foundry is the wild card here. The Foundry has vast potential. But it remains to be seen if that potential will be realized.


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## MrMyth (May 6, 2013)

Thus far, I've been enjoying it. The Foundry is probably the only innovation that has truly blown me away, but the rest of it does feature quite a number of nicely executed minor features. The combat is very nice, for an MMO - you have a pretty efficient handful of powers, rather than the screenful that crops up in other MMOs, and you combine that with very dynamic real time action, as you can manually dodge and evade enemy attacks if you watch them carefully. 

Now, that isn't anything new on its own - Guild Wars 2 was quite similar. But it felt much clunkier in Guild Wars 2 - in this game, at least for my Fighter, the rhythm of dodging and repositioning seemed to happen by instinct. It is fantastic to watch my dwarf go toe to toe with an ogre, constantly hacking away at his feet, dashing behind him, leaping away from his smash, and emerging from the fight with a feeling of truly having outfought the foe. 

Also, after Guild Wars 2, having dungeons that were gorgeous and functional (at least, based on the one I've seen thus far) was a very nice welcome, and the ease of joining up for skirmishes and dungeons was handy. Similarly, being able to run around questing without having to fight over mobs along the way. 

That said, the questing - at least at early levels - has been a bit mindless. The Foundry does help with that, though - I've only played a few player-made quests thus far, but they have been quite solid in the story and interaction department. And to an extent, I like having both as options - I can go blitz an area and run all the related quests when I just want to get levels and loot (possibly hopping in some queues for skirmishes/dungeons/PvP along the way), and when I have the time for a more elaborate activity, I can go on a foundry quest. 

And, while somewhat mindless, the quests and monsters aren't entirely lacking in flavor. I ran into some kobolds in the sewers early on, and went chasing after a few that fled when they saw me - and, of course, ended up stumbling into the brutal regiment of traps they had cleverly led me into. I moved a bit more carefully from there on - and I liked that while my character might notice some traps based on their own perception (and highlight them in red to avoid), I could also keep my own eyes open and often see the pressure plates or other indications of where a trap would be, and avoid them entirely based on my own awareness. I like how they've handled traps - as well as secret doors and other surprises that can yield rewarding treasures when you find them. 

Meanwhile, for a Free to Play MMO, I've been very impressed by it in comparison to others I've played. I tried out D&D Online, previously, and while I liked the game, I definitely got to the point - not too many levels in - when I felt the need to either spend money, or group up - in order to get any farther. With Neverwinter, it actually feels like a complete game without ever needing to spend a penny. That is far more a concern to me than whether someone _can 'Pay to Win' _and power up by spending lots of cash - if that is what they want, good for them! But it doesn't affect me either way. 

Also a highlight thus far: Professions. I've grown to hate the standard MMO profession approach, of sitting in front of the screen watching a bar fill up as you process a ton of meaningless actions. (Tear up shirt into scraps, turn scraps into cloth, turn cloth into new shirt, tear up shirt and continue, etc, etc, etc.) Instead, in Neverwinter, you train and hire workers to do that for you. You simply assign them tasks - which you can do at any time (even from your web browser when not logged into the game!) They spend some amount of time on those tasks, and you gain rewards for them doing so, and level up your profession skill while you are at it. Simply easier, smoother and less intrusive than most other MMO crafting systems. 

In many ways, that sums up what I like most about the game - it does feel like it has taken elements from other MMOs and refined them. It is easy to play - not necessarily in that you will overcome all challenges without difficulty, but in that you can avoid many of the usual frustrations of MMOs - the mindless grinding, the needless busywork, and all the other minor bits of tedium that mainly seem there to keep you tied to the game.

The areas where I have been a bit less impressed: 
-Travel. Zones are pretty easy to navigate and get to a gate that will let you fast travel elsewhere, but I do miss having a hearthstone or other instant-teleport available for when needed. Teleport scrolls do exist, but are consumable, and while not expensive, they aren't exactly cheap either. 
-Class Options. Not a huge selection right now - but then, it is still in beta, and they can easily add more as they go, so I'm not really holding this against them.
-Character Customization. Upgrading powers and spending feats is, in this, pretty much standard 'incremental bonus' MMO fare. I'd have liked something a bit more robust. 
-Currency. Once I got used to it, it hasn't been too problematic, but having a half-dozen different forms of currency (gp from monsters, astral diamonds for the auction house, zen for real world cash, tokens and insignias for bounty hunters, glory for pvp, etc.) 
-Visuals. This isn't to say there is anything wrong with the game appearance - the graphics seem solid. But the visual design of the open world is not particularly inspired - in large part because we are just seeing another usual fantasy environment with usual fantasy monsters roaming about. After Guild Wars 2, which had some stunningly scenic vistas and landscapes, the difference was noticeable. What I did find especially odd, though, was that the one dungeon I've been through was a surprisingly majestic place, as we passed from the normal corridors of the tower into elaborate labs filled with colorful equipment - and then into underground caves in which gorgeous plants and crystals were grown by the tower mages. The scenery in the dungeon was excellent. Similarly, the main city is a vibrant, colorful place, which did make them rest of the questing areas around it - at least the early ones - feel a bit humdrum in comparison.


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## Jester David (May 6, 2013)

Quickleaf said:


> Wow, that is a thorough review! And not very flattering for Neverwinter either, much the opposite actually.



*I should probably have a TL;DR at the beginning. (I think I’ll edit one into my post above.)

Yeah, it’s not very flattering. During my editing pass I seriously considered revising it to be a little less harsh. Especially since I am enjoying playing it, or at least I’m enjoying myself with a friend. We managed to get a few hours in and hit level 7 together and I’m looking forward to tonight where we get to invest a few more hours into the game and should be able to rush into the mid-teens (at least). But this is someone I’ve happily spend hours with playing Warcraft, Torchlight 2, or Diablo (or City of Heroes). 
However, we game weekly and tend to play to completion (or boredom) and then move on. I imagine once we hit level 60 we’re very likely to feel done with the game, uninstall, and never look back. Unless the Foundry really sinks its hooks into me and we decide to do an entire fan-content playthrough. 

That said, I’m about done with single-player play. With a friend things go faster and boss fights are easier so I spend less time noticing the little problems, like the inability to attack while moving, outdoor zones where you can’t take 5-steps without aggroing, the slightly imperfect hitboxes.It’s not that my problems aren’t there in multiplayer, it’s just that there’s less time for them to occur so I see them less frequently and are thus more easily ignored. 

But no matter how much fun I’m having with a friend (for now), I have to review the game for what it is. I have to look for innovation and the execution. And I have to compare it to other MMOs and hack-and-slash video games.
I can see some of my problems being fixed quickly (some of the balance, most of the Foundry glitches, level restrictions on quest gear, losing treasure by accidentally escaping), and even some of my complaints that require larger changes (swapping feat talents for real feats, more class powers for real build diversity, tweaked hitboxes, removing identify scrolls) should still be possible if enough people complain. But at this point it’s too late for them to add different storylines for repeat playthroughs: if they do add content it will likely be for the endgame. 
Even when compared to other games of the same type, Neverwinter seems a little content-lite.Recent ones tend to retain the single play-through story but frequently have random events and sub-quests to add some diversity and there are randomized world bosses and unique creatures. While I was happy to mindlessly blow through Dark Alliance three times with a friend at varying levels of difficulty, that was back in college and there were numerous bowls smoked to help ignore the story repetition (plus randomized dungeons IIRC), and that was well before being spoiled by the endless content of more recent games.


*


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## Quickleaf (May 7, 2013)

[MENTION=61155]MrMyth[/MENTION] So how does the Foundry work? Do you click and drag a bunch of terrain elements and just add monsters? Or can you write dialogue trees and script events to trigger on certain conditions? And can you make cut scenes? Just how powerful is it?


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## Jester David (May 7, 2013)

Quickleaf said:


> <!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention -->@_*MrMyth*_<!-- END TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention --> So how does the Foundry work? Do you click and drag a bunch of terrain elements and just add monsters? Or can you write dialogue trees and script events to trigger on certain conditions? And can you make cut scenes? Just how powerful is it?




You pick established maps or you can kinda build your own by dragging and dropping things like terrain (rocks and trees) for the outside or rooms for dungeons.
Building dungeons did not work for me the first couple times I tried (at all) but seems to be working now and is pretty slick. You line-up rooms and hallways by potential doors and it fills in any space that's not a door.
And you can decorate adding items and decorations. Or traps.

You can't do cut scenes or any scripting, just some pre-programmed stuff (spawning monsters, dropping quest items, etc). 

You can add encounters but not individual monsters. Basically the monster encounters are pre-built and have a set difficulty (easy, standard, or hard). And you can't add bosses (solo monsters) yet. 

But you can do dialoge trees quite easily. 

There's a bunch if tutorial videos out there on YouTube already. Check some out.


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## Ed_Laprade (May 7, 2013)

Got to level 15, so I can try out the Foundry. Hurray! (Right after I post this, in fact.)

But I do have a couple of questions. My character has died several times, and a message usually pops up after I've respawned at a campsite saying that I've been injured. But the character is at full HP and doesn't seem to have any adverse effects. So what's the deal? Is he gonna keel over stone dead at some point, or is it just flavor? I'd think it was just flavor, except that there are wound healing kits, which also don't seem to do anything!

And what's with the curved vertical line with the three crosses to its left on the screen? It also doesn't seem to serve any function that I can tell.


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## Jester David (May 7, 2013)

Ed_Laprade said:


> My character has died several times, and a message usually pops up after I've respawned at a campsite saying that I've been injured. But the character is at full HP and doesn't seem to have any adverse effects. So what's the deal? Is he gonna keel over stone dead at some point, or is it just flavor? I'd think it was just flavor, except that there are wound healing kits, which also don't seem to do anything!



Injuries are the lasting death penalty so you don't do something like die just to travel across a zone or zerg a boss near a campfire. 
Each injury reduces action point gain and stamina regen, as described if you mouse over an icon in the corner of the screen (top left by default). But if you use an injury kit they go away (or if you hang around a campfire or the Protector's Enclave zone for more than 5 minutes). 



Ed_Laprade said:


> And what's with the curved vertical line with the three crosses to its left on the screen? It also doesn't seem to serve any function that I can tell.



Each class gets a bonus at level 10 featuring a curved line, activated via Tab. Guardian fighters block, rogues stealth, and cleric's channel divinity. 
Each cross represents a full bar, which is regained by combat. Using Tab switches modes changing your At-Wills. Left click becomes a beam of light and right click heals an ally. Using an Encounter power while channelling divinity uses a full bar (one cross) but is more powerful.


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## Ed_Laprade (May 8, 2013)

Jester Canuck said:


> Injuries are the lasting death penalty so you don't do something like die just to travel across a zone or zerg a boss near a campfire.
> Each injury reduces action point gain and stamina regen, as described if you mouse over an icon in the corner of the screen (top left by default). But if you use an injury kit they go away (or if you hang around a campfire or the Protector's Enclave zone for more than 5 minutes).
> 
> 
> ...



Ok, thanks much for the info!


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## Ed_Laprade (May 10, 2013)

Ok, now I'm really, thouroughly pissed off at these guys! I finally got an adventure together in the Foundry, and got it 'published'. But now I can't find it. I used the adventure name, then the number they gave me for it, then both in the Search box, and each time got back a 'No Response' notice. It wasn't much of an adventure, but I'd like to see how it runs in the game. (Appearently, there might be some differences to that from what one sees in the Foundry run-through.) And, of course, this probably means noone else can see it either.

As if that wasn't annoying enough I also finally finished the Quests that would get me a Companion. So I go to the guy who will give me one, 'talk' to him and then click on the 'I choose this companion' dialog box. End of dialog and... NO Freakin' Companion! I realize that the game is free, but I feel like I'm getting ripped off anyway. At the very least, it is extreamly frustrating! And, to make matters worse (and why I'm venting here), there doesn't seem to be any way to contact these Bozos! GRRR!!!


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## Ed_Laprade (May 11, 2013)

An update, if anyone cares. I found my character's Companion. Who knew I was looking for a document icon?


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## TarionzCousin (May 13, 2013)

Ed_Laprade said:


> An update, if anyone cares. I found my character's Companion. Who knew I was looking for a document icon?



That's good, but did you find your adventure in the Foundry yet?

I have a few friends who are really enjoying this game, so I'm downloading it right now.


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## Ed_Laprade (May 13, 2013)

TarionzCousin said:


> That's good, but did you find your adventure in the Foundry yet?
> 
> I have a few friends who are really enjoying this game, so I'm downloading it right now.



Yep, that part was definitely good, but still no can see the adventure. Oh well, you win some and you lose some. The game can definitely be fun, but there are problems. My biggest gripe at the moment is that monsters are always level appropriate. So where's the sense of advancement when monsters you fought at 1st level are just as tough to fight at 20th? Not that that's going to change. *sigh*


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## Ed_Laprade (May 14, 2013)

Just when I'm willing to give them a thumbs up, I find something else that I can't do. A little help again, please? I finally got some gear with slots, and some things to put I them. Great, except that nothing I've tried will slot the 'stuff' into the gear. So I'm obviously missing something simple, but darned if I can figure out what! Thanks in advance.


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## TarionzCousin (May 15, 2013)

Ed_Laprade said:


> Just when I'm willing to give them a thumbs up, I find something else that I can't do. A little help again, please? I finally got some gear with slots, and some things to put I them. Great, except that nothing I've tried will slot the 'stuff' into the gear. So I'm obviously missing something simple, but darned if I can figure out what! Thanks in advance.



Sorry, that's unknown to me. I figure some things don't work in Beta.

For example, every single "kit" I've used has failed and broken. I'm 0 for about 15. They all have had a 65% or 75% success rate... supposedly.


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## Jester David (May 15, 2013)

TarionzCousin said:


> Sorry, that's unknown to me. I figure some things don't work in Beta.
> 
> For example, every single "kit" I've used has failed and broken. I'm 0 for about 15. They all have had a 65% or 75% success rate... supposedly.



Yeah, there's no way they have a 75% success rate.


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## Jester David (May 15, 2013)

Ed_Laprade said:


> Just when I'm willing to give them a thumbs up, I find something else that I can't do. A little help again, please? I finally got some gear with slots, and some things to put I them. Great, except that nothing I've tried will slot the 'stuff' into the gear. So I'm obviously missing something simple, but darned if I can figure out what! Thanks in advance.



It took me a while to figure this out.
Right click on the item and click "enchant". There will be a pop-up. Slide the gem there to socket it.

It's really unintuitive.


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## Ed_Laprade (May 15, 2013)

Jester Canuck said:


> It took me a while to figure this out.
> Right click on the item and click "enchant". There will be a pop-up. Slide the gem there to socket it.
> 
> It's really unintuitive.



Thanks, I'll give it a try. But for once I'm ahead of the curve on something, it would appear! I've only had a few kits break on me. I suppose that with a bazillion players, someone(s) has to be the unlucky one(s).


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## Serpine (May 18, 2013)

Jester Canuck said:


> There will be a pop-up. Slide the gem there to socket it.



Note also that if you hit the "{whatever} Slot" button next to the socket on that screen it will give you a pull down list of every valid gem you own for the socket, _including ones that are back in your bank_. I found this pretty handy once I figured it out.

I find this game cycles me fairly constantly between fun and frustration, most of the latter with the insane decisions they made in the interface. For instance, if you have the bank open you can still activate right click menus on  items but selecting an option puts it in the bank anyway. Also double clicking on an item in the bank sends it back into the bank instantly, rather then to your inventory, which is I think unique to MMO bank design.


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## Ed_Laprade (May 18, 2013)

Serpine said:


> Note also that if you hit the "{whatever} Slot" button next to the socket on that screen it will give you a pull down list of every valid gem you own for the socket, _including ones that are back in your bank_. I found this pretty handy once I figured it out.
> 
> I find this game cycles me fairly constantly between fun and frustration, most of the latter with the insane decisions they made in the interface. For instance, if you have the bank open you can still activate right click menus on  items but selecting an option puts it in the bank anyway. Also double clicking on an item in the bank sends it back into the bank instantly, rather then to your inventory, which is I think unique to MMO bank design.



Bank? There's a bank? Gad, I hope there are instructions when this goes non-beta! Although even that would be too little too late for most. I've pretty much given up on the official storyline. Had to abandon some official quests because I couldn't get past various groups of monsters. And since they auto-level to keep up with whoever fights them I can't use the time honored trick of fighting a bunch of low level monsters to level up and take them out later. If I can't take them out now, I'll never be able to, short of massive good luck. But I've already wasted enough time with them to waste any more. However, I've seen a few critics say that the end of the storyline is pretty underwhelming, so I'm not terribly upset about it. But one does have to wonder what they were thinking. (Oh, sure, with the Foundry they didn't want a repeat of the NWN 'problem' of people uploading 'adventures' that more or less gave away high levels and powerful gear. But for some people, that's what's fun! Oh wait, then they wouldn't be able to charge for the Pay2win crowd! Oh, boo hoo!)


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## Serpine (May 18, 2013)

Ed_Laprade said:


> Bank? There's a bank?



It is just a  little northwest of the building with all the market npcs. You only get 16 slots per character though unless you want to fork over 600z per 16 additional slots.



> Gad, I hope there are instructions when this goes non-beta!



I honestly doubt it. Considering they are cheerfully taking money and will never wipe characters again them calling this a beta is a stretch anyway.



> And since they auto-level to keep up with whoever fights them I can't use the time honored trick of fighting a bunch of low level monsters to level up and take them out later.



Wilderness NPCs, as opposed to dungeon ones, usually seem to be easier grind targets. If you really want to try and level up some to deal with certain encounters train in the Leadership profession: A lot of its missions give experience points. Also use that once per hour pray at a campfire/altar thing to get random experience and astral diamonds. If you level your appropriate crafting profession a bit while doing this you can keep your gear somewhat in-line with your level as well. Also getting a cleric as your first companion is a huge boost to the ability to survive solo. And with any companion, its often helpful to lure the harder foes close to your companion and then stand on the opposite side: You should see a color indicator on the target circle of the foe at that point and if you align with it do a lot more damage.


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## Ed_Laprade (May 18, 2013)

Thanks again for the advice! Did a little with Leadership, but will try to do more. And I found some easy grinds. The foundry quests 'Easy Quest' 1, 2 and especially 3 are good for that. And you get the extra astral diamonds if you go into them as Daily Foundry Quests. And I've been doing the prayer thing too. I am learning!                                                                                                                                                                                                         Yeah, when I got my Companion I considered taking a defender fighter as I'm playing a cleric already, but the extra healing just seemed too good to pass up, so I'm glad I went with the cleric! Yep, I know about the danger zones. Unfortunately, as I've mentioned before, the game plays kinda jerky on my machine. Not much of a problem usually, but when the action gets up close and personal aiming and movement become definitely haphazard. Not the games fault, but something I have to deal with anyway. Oh, and does anyone know where to find couriers? I've got a couple of e-mails that I can cash in for goodies if I can find one to talk to, but haven't seen any.


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## Serpine (May 18, 2013)

You mean the mail courier so you can pull out attached items from an email? If so there is one near the auction.


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## Ed_Laprade (May 18, 2013)

Yes, that's what I ment. Thanks again!


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## Jester David (May 19, 2013)

Is anyone familiar with the webcomic done by the people who do Penny Arcade and PvP known as The Trenches:
http://trenchescomic.com/

The second season revolves around an exploit that cripples the economy of the game and results in the game being wiped. Funny thing.... Neverwinter is currently having a similar problem. There's an Auction House bug that has flooded the game's economy with illicit Astral Diamonds which have been used to skew the AD:Zen purchase ratio and purchase a large amount of Zen. Sadly, it (and a number of other bugs) were reported in the closed beta but not fixed. 

Life imitates art?

This has pretty seriously hurt the game's economy. How badly remains to be seen but the damage might be irreparable. There simply might be too many Astral Diamonds in the economy for prices to recover. A server wipe might be coming...


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## Man in the Funny Hat (May 19, 2013)

That would explain why the server is currently down...


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## Jester David (May 19, 2013)

Some exploiters made a heck of a lot of money:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Neverwinter/comments/1eebyi/an_exploiter_claims_to_have_made_almost_six/


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## Jester David (May 20, 2013)

*Update*

Neverwinter's twitter feed is saying they do not plan on wiping servers at this moment.

Apparently the exploit works by bidding in an auction with a negative value, say -1000 astral diamonds. You then get the value sent to you. In this case, 1000 AD. You can see this can quickly generate thousands of AD making that currency essentially worthless. 

Amusingly, this exploit also popped up in Star Trek online before being fixed. So Cryptic evidently copied the AH code but neglected to fix the exploit.

The bug was widely known since launch, so exploiters have had several weeks to generate diamonds and spread the currency among mule accounts. This starkly divides the economy into people with billions of AD and everyone else. It will be very hard to regain control of the economy.


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## Ed_Laprade (May 20, 2013)

Speaking of the server being down, I discovered another annoying thing about it. Been doing the pray every day for celestial coins (and other goodies) thing for a couple of weeks. Spent 5 a week ago to see what I'd get, then started collecting again. Got up to six and was going to buy the 7 cc box yesterday. But the server went down and by the time I could get back in, guess what I didn't have any more? In this case being a casual gamer is probably better than being hard core. I'd hate to think what anyone who had a couple dozen saved up was thinking!


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## Jhaelen (May 21, 2013)

Jester Canuck said:


> *Update*
> Amusingly, this exploit also popped up in Star Wars online before being fixed. So Cryptic evidently copied the AH code but neglected to fix the exploit.



Ouch.


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## Serpine (May 21, 2013)

Ed_Laprade said:


> I'd hate to think what anyone who had a couple dozen saved up was thinking!



Well, you can't accumulate more then 7 of the self-destructing coin so it can't ever get that bad...


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## Mustrum_Ridcully (May 21, 2013)

Jester Canuck said:


> *Update*
> 
> Neverwinter's twitter feed is saying they do not plan on wiping servers at this moment.
> 
> ...



You mean Star Trek online? Or were you just speaking figuratively, because Cryptic is not doing Star Wars online and so they'l likely won't be able to copy any code over from there.

But if it happened in STO, it makes sense. Cryptic uses a common software basis for all its games.


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## MrHemlocks (May 21, 2013)

Neverwinter was fun for a short while but I hurried back to RIFT and I'm enjoying it MUCH better!


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## Jester David (May 21, 2013)

Mustrum_Ridcully said:


> You mean Star Trek online? Or were you just speaking figuratively, because Cryptic is not doing Star Wars online and so they'l likely won't be able to copy any code over from there.
> 
> But if it happened in STO, it makes sense. Cryptic uses a common software basis for all its games.



Oops. Any way I can blame that on autocorrect?
Fixed now.

Cryptic has opted for a one-day rollback to remove the diamonds generated after the exploit reached critical mass. But this likely doesn't remove the diamonds generated in the weeks prior. 
Impossible situation: people were going to leave if they wiped the servers and are still going to leave since they didn't wipe. Hopefully when the game goes live they can merge the beta servers into one affected server and have new unaffected servers for the live game. It'll be interesting to compare prices in the two.


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## Ed_Laprade (May 21, 2013)

Serpine said:


> Well, you can't accumulate more then 7 of the self-destructing coin so it can't ever get that bad...



Well, that's good to know.


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## Ed_Laprade (May 22, 2013)

Got a couple more questions. I've accumulated nearly a dozen Nightmare Boxes, which require Enchanted Keys to open, but I've never seen one. Not that I pay much attention to the vendors, except to sell unwanted loot, so is there someone I can buy them from? Another thing. I just got my character up to level 30 and noticed that my wound kits have locked. What's up with that? (Also noticed that minor ID scrolls won't work on any gear higher than level 29, so thought I'd pass that tidbit along to those who are just as unobservant as I am!  )


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## Serpine (May 22, 2013)

Enchanted keys are a Zen purchase from the zen store (the big Z on the top bar) at 125 zen for 1 or 1125 zen for 10. People can trade them or auction them (at least when the auction house isn't down for post exploit repair) so you can get them that way as well if you don't have the zen. And of course if you have a lot of astral to burn you can use the zen exchange to buy zen from people with astral, then use that zen to get keys. Keep in mind that the stuff in the boxes is random, so a lot of times you get a bad pull (though you always get "Trade Bars" for use at the trade bar merchant). When the auction is up my wife turns a small profit listing stuff from the boxes she doesn't want and using the proceeds to get astral to exchange for zen to get more keys to open more boxes: I find the entire thing a hassle so I just hand my Nightmare Boxes to her for processing. 

The "Minor Injury Kit" that you start with can't be used by level 30+ characters: You now need to use an "Injury Kit", some of which come in the "Adventurer's Reward" box that you can open every few levels and more of which you can buy from the Potions and Kits vendor near the middle of the open air market building and the consumables vendors in many other locations. That kit will stop working apparently at level 60, but I'm not sure where to get the replacement.

As you noticed items of level 30 start requiring the "Scroll of Identification" rather then "Lesser Scroll of Identification": You can get more scrolls from the astral diamond vendor near the daily quest kobold. Level 60 items will actually require a "Greater Scroll of Identification" which are available from the same vendor.

Side warning now that you are in the 30s: The final boss in the Mad Dragon Dungeon is stupidly difficult (mainly because of its area effect blasts, multi arc attacks, and swarm of ranged controller adds). He will probably end up getting nerfed, but for now if you go for that map without an absolutely awesome team and plan don't hold out much hope of actually finishing off that guy even if you trounce the rest of the dungeon. Your time might be better served skipping it.


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## Ed_Laprade (May 23, 2013)

Thanks once again for your response and advice! Sounds like the Nightmare boxes are going to be too much of a hassle for me to bother with. We'll see. Yep, I figured out the Minor Injury Kit thing not too long after posting. (Mostly by noticing the new, to me, Injury Kits that were now available.  ) I've already run into 'unkillable' monsters in various quests, both Daily Forum and basic storyline. I just quit the adventure and find another to go on. For technical reasons I won't be doing any party stuff, so I get to miss out on them. Which is not Cryptic's fault, of course. Oh yes, a question that has nothing to do with Neverwinter: I can't put spaces between lines when posting here anymore. Did they change something? I notice that no one else seems to have that problem.


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