Another Neverwinter module and another round of recycled content and reworked systems. This time around it’s the Refinement and Enchantment systems that are being put through the wringer, and yet again the community is speaking out against the changes and the lack of actual content.
It should be no secret that the Neverwinter development team has been worn thin since its release back in 2013, but the fact has certainly become more apparent if you compare the game’s last couple of modules to the ones that were being released just a few years ago.
Neverwinter’s 22nd module was released a few days ago on the Preview Server, for the community to test before being released in the new year, and a wave of mostly negative feedback followed. Mostly due to the fact that the Enchantment and Refinement system in the game is getting a rework.
Most players of Neverwinter have sunk either a lot of time or cash or both into these systems, and will now see a lot of that progress erased.
A large chunk of the game’s already shrinking player base has since the announcement of the changes taken to the forums or the Neverwinter subreddit to announce their departure from the game. It seems that Cryptic, in their attempt to make the game more accessible to new players is continuing to drive away their current players with these reworks.
Many players are also pointing out that these changes would be more acceptable if they were accompanied by some new content for the game, but Module 22 is sadly lacking in that aspect as well. The new zone coming with the module is just a reskinned version of the Sharandar zone from the game’s first module in 2013, Fury of the Feyfwild.
Old reskinned zones are sadly something the Neverwinter community has had to accept in the last few modules, something which would be dismissed as a bad April’s Fool joke had it been announced by any other relatively healthy MMO.
Hopefully the team at Cryptic will take the community feedback seriously this time, and stop doing things to drive away their player base.
Caldo Chaud
Sunday 23rd of January 2022
Originally posted here:
https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter#/discussion/1263970/i-need-to-ask-why-do-they-make-these-changes-that-make-players-feel-worse
I come from a generation where the most basic of high-school merchandising courses would teach you:
- Be courteous. - The Customer is always right. - Never disrespect your customer.
I would add to this: "Don't bite the hand that feeds you."
Unfortunately, there is a growing trend in the business world today where the business treats their customer like HAMSTER and honestly expects that customer to still want to pay them. We see this highly toxic (and woke) business culture in the way customers are treated by Disney, Lucasfilm, Marvel, Warner Bros., DC Comics, CBS, BBC, Blizzard, Sony, and SquareEnix. And so, now we have Neverwinter Online to add to this list.
To be fair, I have not seen the degree of bile and bad-mouthing those aforementioned companies are guilty of, but I have seen the reset button being used against the player-base four times in a row now. Don't forget that Neverwinter Online has done something no other MMO has done: reduce the maximum player level from 80 to 20. Neverwinter Online has also gutted the progress of the entire player-base by first nerfing the enchantments we were already in possession of (regardless of refinement quality), then swapping them out for "new" enchantments that were exactly what we had before the nerf-hammer fell... and none of us can get a fair 1x1 trade-in for "reasons." We can't even count on maintaining the quality of those things bought in the ZEN store since all r15 enchantments purchased are worthless now.
So what is the answer?
To put it bluntly, there is no point in playing a video game where your progression is repeatedly reset on you; where you literally spend more time and resources in damage-control than in actual game-play. There is also no point in spending money on ZEN if you risk permanently losing what you have spent money on whenever a new mod is introduced.
Speaking for myself, while I am appreciative for having a game like Neverwinter Online to have gotten me through over two years of a non-stop Covid lockdown ~ although it is actually you good folks (my fellow players) who kept me company all this time, I can just as easily find companionship in other (more fair) MMOs. That said, I'm done here. I won't be doing any more post-mod damage control. My time and game-play is precious to me. I will be uninstalling Neverwinter Online and moving on.
CaptinHDY
Wednesday 12th of January 2022
Nope this is about it for me. These Frackers at Cryptic have screwed over this long term player once to many god dam times. I have been busting my ass to get those damn stones that are al frigging useless again. Just another BS attempt to knock us long term players back down to med Level. Cryptic you owe me 50,000 Frigging trade Bars and 100.00s of dollars I have sank into the game over the past year and yet again anther slap in the face knocking me back to where I was 3 or 4 years ago. I AM NOT, CAN NOT, AND WILL NOT WAST ANOTHER MOMENT OF MY LIFE IN YOUR DAMN GAME. I can not keep going through this BS over and over again. I am DONE with Neverwinter and will NEVER TRY TO PLAY ANOTHER CRYPTIC GAME NOR RECOMMEND A GAME FROM CRYPTIC AGAIN.
CaptinHDY
Wednesday 12th of January 2022
@CaptinHDY, NOT TO MENTION I AM NOT GOING TO UPGRADE TO A CRAPPY WINDOWS 10 EVER SO YOU WOULD PROBABLY LOOSE ME IN FEB WHEN YOU NO LONGER SUPPORT WIN7 FORCING ME FRO M32BIT TO 64BIT WAS BAD ENOUGH NOW WIN 10 OR 11 WITCH BY THE WAY I AM AN IT GUY BY TRADE AND KNOW HOW MUCH CRAP WINDOWS 10 AND 11 REALLY ARE AND THE COUNTLESS ISSUES THEY CAUSE TO USERS
Andii
Tuesday 14th of December 2021
I don't think you've actually seen the preview server because the new zone looks nothing even remotely close to the fury of the feywild area.
Dracory
Monday 13th of December 2021
@LoL, while I agree about boasting, I could pull my guns out about soloing most of Reapers for my own challenge and also getting the first 50 done back to back, Deadmano... is right.
The new area just isn't a reskin and the grappling hook adds tons of verticality to it. 4 new questing areas in one map (4th locked until the adventure comes out on Feb 22), each has a specific, own feel to it while staying true to the lore.
Enchantment change isn't a cash grab, as far as I'm concerned. Enchants have been devalued for a long time. Now 4 purple will give you a net positive of what 4 r15s would give. Mythic is an end game goal that you can achieve within a little bit of farming dungeons for wards. 32 coalescent motes if you want guarantee and 192 marks for one set on one character to get every enchant to mythic.
I have 9 coalescent wards which will become motes - all of that after maybe 2 months of playing through dungeon drops.
My only complains are really about 5k combined rating missing from defensive stats (although we get a massive boost from new enchants, which theoretically should be enough) and brutal reputation grind in new campaign.
LoL
Monday 13th of December 2021
@deadmano, Wow...Full of yourself much? "I'm the best player blah blah blah me me me. Pffft.
Nobody cares bro.
Go white knight somewhere else.
Doesn't matter how much you try justifying Cryptic's actions, what they're doing is plain wrong & predatory.