Cryptic to Severely Nerf Rough Astral Diamond Income in Module 15

[blog_subscription_form]

Ahead of today’s expected preview release of Neverwinter’s Module 15, more and more information about the features and changes are slowly coming to surface. And this one probably won’t please you, because the wording of a preview thread opened yesterday suggests that the devs are severely nerfing rough AD income in the upcoming update. The thread “Salvage and Dungeon Chests” goes over all the changes, which will majorly affect they way players are able to earn RADs.

Let’s Be Clear Here: It’s a Nerf

[su_quote]We aren’t trying to say this will be a boost for all players and that RAD will be overly abundant from these changes. For some play styles and AD generation methods, the amount of RAD generated will decrease and some play styles will inevitably change.[/su_quote]

I guess that’s as close to saying “nerf” as possible using corporate language. Some folks in the preview thread seem to think the opposite and that this might be positive in the end. Long-term for the game? Sure, maybe, that’s at least debatable (which we’ll do at some point). But for now it’s safe to assume that the changes will decrease RAD income across all tiers of players. It’s kind of a new development since the devs with earlier changes nerfs more targeted bots and/or the hardcore community. But this is very much going mainstream.

Let’s sort through the changes first:

  • Salvage will be no longer
  • Instead, dungeons and HEs are giving rough ADs directly on completion or in end chests
  • More RP rewards from chests
  • All other sources of RADs stay intact
  • Normal and Epic Dungeon Keys are being removed and replaced with tokens to re-roll chest contents (also VIP keys)
  • Normal chests are free to open, epic and campaign ones still need their corresponding keys
  • All Salvage vendors will transform to Seal vendors, including VIP and Strongholds

Mentioned Goals:

  • Separate Gear and RAD progression
  • Tweak economy
  • Daily Dungeon Key mechanic was frustrating

Here’s the Assumed Impact

Granted, we will have to wait and see how many rough ADs are actually dropping from chests and HEs in the new system. But it’s pretty save to assume that those won’t cover what you’ve made from Salvage so far. “Tweaking” the economy for sure doesn’t mean they want even more ADs in it. The other goals are nice and make sense (to a certain extent), but the overall intention is obviously to limit the income of players. Your daily dungeon runs, especially the ones that dropped a lot of Salvage (TONG, only to name one) will become much less lucrative.

[su_quote cite=”putzboy78″ url=”https://forum.arcgames.com/neverwinter/discussion/comment/13051135/#Comment_13051135″]Reroll tokens and RP (I have a balance of RP north of 7M) are worthless in this game. So your trading items of value to items of no value. This is a blatant nerf. This is a blatant nerf to VIP and another poke in the eye to loyal long term players to encourage more transient traffic to play the game. [/su_quote]

This is probably how many feel right now. It’s not only Salvage, but also VIP is going to take a hit. Depending on how much ADs dungeons hand out now, it might not even make sense to enter any content for RAD farming purposes after doing your daily Random Queues. The changes to an account AD cap already decreased dungeon activity, and this could further contribute to fewer players doing group content. This might be a bit of a hyperbole without additional infos, but it’s an alarming possibility.

There Are Positive Aspects

[sc name=”discord”]

I don’t want to sweep the positive aspects under the rug by the way. Because there are definitely some. The ability to re-roll results in my opinion is a neat idea to counter some of the horrible chances to get specific items. It might not sound like much right now, but could come in handy in future content (UES might be worth re-rolls though). This kind of reminds me of farming the Eye of Lathander back in Module 2. The Star Metal Gauntlet allowed to open the end chest in Dread Ring lairs multiple times so you could use up all your gauntlets after a single run.

I do also agree that it’s generally a good idea to separate RAD and gear. It’s indeed a problem that, when thinking about progression, the devs might be hesitant to hand out gear because there’s additional value attached to it. Plus non-VIPs now at least get one end chest per run, which is an underrated great change. But overall players will rightfully make this about the RAD nerf and RAD nerf only. Now I sure hope that the preview indeed will be updated tonight so we can hop onto it and evaluate the changes first-hand.

Until then, Salvage and farm as much as you can. Because you won’t be able to for much longer…


Do you agree that this is going to be a nerf? Or do you think this will have a positive impact eventually? Share your thoughts on our social channels, in the comments below, or visit 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 75,000 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.

j0Shi

j0Shi plays the Neverwinter MMORPG since the open BETA in 2013 and is a regular contributor to the blog and the whole UN:Project. Originally a Guardian Fighter, he has built up ALTs of all classes and plays on BIS/near-BIS level.

21 thoughts on “Cryptic to Severely Nerf Rough Astral Diamond Income in Module 15

  • September 21, 2018 at 9:21 am
    Permalink

    I believe that the reroll chances are a great idea and will make getting UES and stuff much easier than prior. However the fact that they are adding even more refinement compared to what we already have with millions surplus is just a shitty idea overall.

  • September 21, 2018 at 9:34 am
    Permalink

    There is another aspect, a new player that hits 70. They do not have all the randomQ unlocked, and RQ grants only RAD once, they can’t in practice run a dungeon more than once, because there is only 1 free key per day and they don’t have, nor can afford to make the campaign keys (need to progress in there to begin with) all they left is grinding campaigns without much progress.
    The change will allow those players actually run content regardless of ViP keys, and progress both in gear and RAD while currently they are very limited.

    The main negative impact is on end-game players who mainly get a lot of salvage as byproduct of farming something else, like UES in cradle. But in the big picture, IMO, with these trade offs it is worth it.

    More so if the change will encourage the devs to make more unbound loot, and thus make the game more reliant on trade of those instead of RAD we will all benefit (IMO).

    • September 21, 2018 at 11:21 am
      Permalink

      I like the idea of more unbound loot. Especially for common items like enchants and RP.

      In many cases binding makes items almost worthless unless you have an alt to send it to. Makes way more sense to bring some of that into the economy.

      If salvage is going away, there will be a lot more items relegated to the status of complete junk.

      I also think a lot of the various currencies in the game are going to be almost worthless if there’s no salvage. They’re going to have a hard time trying to balance all this. Older modules could become completely irrelevant as their items become even more useless.

      The professions change is also going to affect Guild Marks. It doesn’t sound like we’ll be able to use professions to earn them any more. Scrolls might be changing too. … which begs the question of what to use guild marks for if not for scrolls and outdated gear for salvage.

      I think it’s going to be interesting to see how they think this is all going to pull together.

    • September 21, 2018 at 12:16 pm
      Permalink

      Oh yeah, that’s why I said that the long-term impact is definitely debatable. I do like this for new non-VIPs and it’s one of the underrated great changes here. The rest, I’m a little more pessimistic it seems. Short-term, there will be no compensation, just a nerf. And then of course Cryptic will need ages to “monitor” and do further adjustments…

    • September 25, 2018 at 1:21 pm
      Permalink

      Exactly how is anyone going to trade on unbound items without AD? New players can’t buy this unbound gear because they can’t acquire rough AD. And anyone that still has AD probably doesn’t need the gear.

  • September 21, 2018 at 10:40 am
    Permalink

    So sad. This plus the professions nerf equals the devs basically saying “go find a new game.” These changes are probably months away on console, but I already don’t want to play anymore.

  • September 21, 2018 at 1:55 pm
    Permalink

    Making me hate the game more and more…be be on this game for 4yrs … I see no benefit from my perception…. I just see another loss to AD and way to make AD for VIP… I have had VIP from the start…and gets harder and harder to make ad to exchange for Zen.. what I see happening is they are trying to get people to pay more instead of free play…. I saw this happen to EverQuest and it was the downfall of the game.. undermining the long term loyal people… To screwing them into making more money…and I see no value in more rp… I don’t see the value of taking a away salvage… this might be the straw that broke the camel’s back for a lot of long term players… I know I will be one of them….

  • September 21, 2018 at 3:37 pm
    Permalink

    Yeah time for find a new game the devs have to this into a money grab piece id crap

  • September 21, 2018 at 4:27 pm
    Permalink

    Well, at >21 million backlog on the ZAX, it seems their idea to give AD “more value” to transient, casual churn by limiting it to 100k per account has worked out well!!

    Not clear on a few things:

    *”Salvage will be no longer”*
    Does this mean that NO gear can be salvaged for AD any more, or just that chests will not include old Mod gear that only has value as salvage for rough AD? EG, getting Elven Assault gear in Tiamat? I still have a lot of Dragon Queen keys on a lot of Alts that don’t need the Linus, so one day I was going to use them up just to get the account-bound Salvage. I suppose some people spam things daily just to get more salvage gear, so maybe they want to reduce that?

    *”More RP rewards from chests”*
    Well, personally I don’t mind this.

    *”Normal and Epic Dungeon Keys are being removed and replaced with tokens to re-roll chest contents (also VIP keys)”*
    WOAH! What does this mean? I have had VIP since the start and some Alts, which I do play now and then, have up to 3000 Epic Dungeon keys. What will happen to the keys I already have in my Useful Items tab?

    Cheers!

    o_O

    • September 24, 2018 at 4:59 am
      Permalink

      Those 3000 Epic Dungeon Keys will turn into 3000 Chest Reroll Tokens.

    • September 24, 2018 at 6:51 am
      Permalink

      They does sound like there will be NO salvage, period. I do think that’s an odd decision for the devs to make.
      1. A lot of gear is already pointless. No salvage makes it even more pointless.
      2. Why get rid of it when they could just reduce the AD reward for salvage? They could just lower how much you get rather than killing it altogether.
      3. The biggest source of salvage is from Barovia, which on console they just released. … So they’re looking to nerf the module that just came out? 😐
      4. Who needs RP? … I’m a newer player and have yet to find myself without RP. … I need reagents and wards, but not RP.

      I feel like these changes are meant as a nerf for AD generation on PC. … On console they seem pointless, and will probably kill a lot of player’s enthusiasm for the game.

      I’m somewhat pessimistic about the idea of removing a mechanic and introducing a new RNG role.

      • September 24, 2018 at 12:13 pm
        Permalink

        Cheers, John. I read some of the forum thread since I wrote that. Shame I can’t do 100 re-rolls on the loot, but only 4. So that’s 5 attempts per dungeon run. I remember when we never needed a key, anyone could open the chest, but only during Dungeon Delve Hour.

        @sumplkrum, Yes, definitely an AD nerf. We all need RP until we are maxed out BIS and have 100,000 RP per character, but yes, at your level in your adventuring career, you need Marks, Enchanting Stones and Wards to make use of your RP.

        But to get those you must refine rough AD and go to either:
        the Wondrous Bazaar or AH for Marks,
        the AH, Advanced/Expert dungeons or lockboxes for Stones,
        the AH or Zen Market for Pres Wards

        So whichever way you cut it, you need AD. Or to spend cash. Even with 30 characters invoking six times a day, you can’t get enough Pres Wards from Celestial Coffers. Although, I have a huge number of BtA and BtC Green and Blue Marks and Stones.

        So I suppose we’d best Spam Tiamat, Kessel’s, Malabog, Demogorgon etc to use up all those special keys on all our Alts.

        🙂

  • September 21, 2018 at 5:16 pm
    Permalink

    Well, I am not reading all 7 pages on the official forum, but I read the first two and skimmed though the rest.

    I had to say ROFLMAO at this response to the quote above from Putz:

    hamsterhero99
    Posts: 3
    “Someone mentioned RP is useless because they have 7mil of it. If you have 7 mil RP, that means you’re BiS and have been playing forever, nobody cares about you. This is aimed at new players, who have nothing and want to get something. If you need millions of RP to upgrade your stuff, you want more in chests. (yes, people on your level are ditching new players for “meta” groups and hinder their progress)”

    A perfectly valid point of view, I suppose…

    🙂

    And a comment from an old-timer I just HAVE to agree with:
    sandukutupu
    Posts: 561
    “You should be playing the game, instead you are just farming.
    You should be having fun and looking forward to new content, instead you are in Protector’s Enclave having toxic conversations.
    I am hoping that most of you will enjoy this new content in Mod 15.
    Remember games are meant to be played, enjoyed, and conversations fun. If you are getting bent about RAD and BAD (bonus AD) then you are working the game and not playing it.”

    Ain’t it the truth?

    I estimate that 90% of those on my ignore List are Flat Earthers, God Squadders, Racists, Sexists, Armchair Philosophers, Polititards and Pseudo-Economists and other assorted, Toxic TrollTards.

    I’ve hardly even seen a gold spammer for about 2 years.

    😀

  • September 21, 2018 at 11:35 pm
    Permalink

    My main problem with this.
    Its further strenghten the the short dungeon spamming.
    Instead of a longer (30-40mins+) hard dungeon with good loot.
    Artifacts/mounts and everything which comes from chests the will have no price days after the people opened it.

  • September 22, 2018 at 12:04 pm
    Permalink

    One question is will they lower ad costs on things like guild structures and armour kits?

  • September 22, 2018 at 8:09 pm
    Permalink

    the reroll mechanic is stupid, its essentially a way to “buy” your way out of rerunning a dungeon. If they cared about the chest mechanic and getting loot the easy fix is to improve drop rates. End game players aren’t going to use the reroll because they don’t NEED anything, why spend precious AD for bound stuff you probably don’t need. The one exception is if someone can prove that its worth it to use rerolls on end game dungeons to get and sell UES.

    I do think the ability to run more dungeons for newer players that don’t have VIP is a good idea. Here’s a great fix, bring back dungeon delves. The loss of dungeon delves killed dungeon farming in this game. Newer players will benefit far more from dungeon delves than a reroll mechanic on chest loot.

    And that’s correct, i have played this game a long time. That does not mean I do not contribute to the game or to newer players. Don’t project my playing style based on my acquired resources. There are many long term players that contribute to this game in ways they are never rewarded for. Stabbing them in the eye or pushing them to take a break in the game is not going to improve the gaming experience.

    Play a DC, play with a competent DC. Odds are those players have benefited directly or indirectly from contributions from Kaelacs, Jarek, Sharp, Dupeks, Jazzfong, Michela, Amber Elmshadow, and even myself

    The largest guilds in the game are ran by long term players, the channels that you enjoy were staretd by long term players. The longterm players add value to everyone’s gaming experience

    Crab Mentality, which is far more toxic for the environment than flat earthers

    • September 24, 2018 at 5:02 am
      Permalink

      You get three free rerolls a day from VIP and one from the Daily Chest Key Guy (assuming he sticks around). I can’t imagine spending AD on anything but a chest that might drop a double-UES, but for damn sure I’m going to enjoy my free ones. And I might kinda sorta have like several thousand in the bank on every character.

      In the mean time, the opening of chests to people who *don’t* have keys is a great change.

  • September 29, 2018 at 5:06 pm
    Permalink

    Personally, after mod 15 is released, I will simply restrict myself to just playing the story/campaign missions and completely discontinue queuing up for dungeons/skirmishes. There is no true incentive running them apart from the RAD and if any RAD earned is to be nerfed to a paltry sum, then it is just a waste of time and effort.

  • September 30, 2018 at 9:12 am
    Permalink

    I guess a reroll mechanic is supposed to offset piss-poor drop rates?

  • October 8, 2018 at 12:53 am
    Permalink

    Glad it’s almost over. These changes gives me and my friends a reason to play something else. Fairwel neverwinter but you’re not squeezing a dime from me.

  • October 27, 2018 at 5:01 pm
    Permalink

    I am sure they will remain just as poor. We will have to buy tokens once we run out of keys. The whole goal IMHO is to take away “free” keys made with AD and replace them with real money purchases of tokens
    .

Comments are closed.