First Impressions of Storm Kings Thunder: Icewind Dale Reloaded?

The first build of the new module Storm Kings Thunder is up on preview and players are able to feedback on a changed Maze Engine daily quest as well as the new adventure zone Bryn Shander. I went on preview to get a first look and feel on the module.

The old transmutes are back

The devs transformed the Maze Engine daily to grant a new currency with which you can buy old transmutes. For some reason they didn’t include all old looks and commanderander shared a little bit about the thought process here. This has been a request ever since the sets got removed in Elemental Evil and it’s good to see them back. Especially the Dread Legion stuff is highly coveted.

Now onto the flip side: One armor set requires running the quest up to 280 times. Yikes! Why you need to turn a quality-of-life feature into a full blown grind is beyond me and absolutely unnecessary. Also add that the time investment for those not looking at transmutes doubled for no reason. The daily is now twice as long and has to be completed to get the old rewards of campaign currency and a Resonance Stone.

Bryn Shander Scenery
Bryn Shander Scenery

More of the same

I was hoping for something innovative and new from the zones and/or campaigns, but it doesn’t look like it. It’s more of the same with a fresh look. The dailies are classic fetch and kill and seem to be as painful to complete as the ones in Icewind Dale. I’m personally not farming Module 3 unless my guild really needs the coffer resources. And The Mod 10 ones also look to be too long to add them to a daily routine.

Heroic Encounters? Merchant Rescue and Assaults. I like the map making though, but for now the quest and campaign structure is pretty common and offers no new elements.

Storm Kings Thunder takes us back to Mod 3

Not only the snowy biome and reused mobs from Icewind Dale (Barbarians, Beasts) contribute to a Module 3 feeling. Black Ice Empowerment will also be back. You need to farm Voninblood this time that you get for trading in Relics that can be harvested using Trowels. Just like the Hammerstone Pick there is probably going to be a ZEN Trowel to speed up the process. Remember Black Ice Damage and the resistance the old Black Ice Armor used to grant against it? That’s now called Elvenfrost. Yes, it’s the full Icewind Dale package all over again!

I don’t understand why they reintroduce Black Ice Empowerment, which can be considered a failed experiment. Same goes for the Black Ice damage, which was removed at a later point with the admission that it never quite worked out.


That’s it for our small first look. There is a lot more going on in terms of class balancing and new item additions, so make sure to check back regularly as we’ll continue our coverage in the coming days and weeks until release.

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.

One thought on “First Impressions of Storm Kings Thunder: Icewind Dale Reloaded?

  • July 14, 2016 at 10:59 am
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    people that make this game know what they are doing, they know alot of stupid assholes will pay to get the new items and that other people will eventually go and farm black ice all over again… icewind dale was ridiculous by every single aspect but I am sure it made some money on stupid people buying black ice stuff, this will not be diferent. they dont do something for the players, they dont do something because it is good, they just weight that they need to invent some new shit with heavy grinding so most people will be appalled by it but the addicted and pay to win will have a new shinny thing to spend money on.

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