Invocation Changes to Nerf Big Accounts In Module 10

Alongisde the salvage value changes, which we already discussed on this site, another Astral Diamond related change is going to hit with Storm Kings Thunder. Invocation will no longer grant rough ADs directly, but only add a percentage bonus.

Too much AD for not playing the game

This is something that created quite some noise on the official forum, partly because the devs unintentionally omitted it from the patch notes. The intend is pretty obvious as they want to put a stop to generating ADs without actually playing the game. The change is in line with earlier changes to the Leadership profession, which the devs stripped of all ADs as well.

A character is able to earn 3,000 rough Astral Diamonds for doing the Invocation cycle up to the fifth blessing. That way a full account can make over a million ADs per week, a numbers the devs obviously found too high to permit. In module 10 you need to directly earn ADs through running content to convert the bonus from invoking.

The bonus stacks

The good news is: The bonus stacks until 100,000k AD, which is worth a full month of invoking. And it is slightly higher than the current one. So accounts that only prayed on main characters will see an increase in income. But big accounts that mainly invoked on idle characters are nerfed hard. I think we can agree that the intention is good. Even players like me that have created tons of toons for the sole purpose of running Leadership and Invocation back in the days always stated it’s weird that such a mechanic is actually the main source of income.

Where’s the compensation buff?

If the devs however just continue to nerf alternative characters without buffing the ability to make more ADs on your mains, they won’t make new friends within the community. Many players feel the system is indeed flawed, but that alternative characters are effectively the only way to circumvent several hard caps.

The effectivity of playing time diminishes constantly over a playing session. After players have run their daily dungeons and skirmishes and refined their 36,000 ADs, they hit a pretty thick wall. At that point it’s very hard to generate more wealth with a character. So without a compensation buff in another area, the change is just a nerf and not an improvement of the situation.

New approach

In Module 10 big accounts probably do no longer want to pray up to the higher blessings with characters they don’t play. If you have idle alts it’s probably going to be best to just get them the daily Celestial and Ardent Coin and move on. The one exception are those characters that are used to refine surplus salvage, because they obviously can turn in the bonus from Invocation.

Main or alternative characters that you play occasionally are also still candidates for the higher blessings, because the bonus stacks and can be used later. For active characters nothing changes.

I wouldn’t be too concerned that “dummy” alts are going to be obsolete at some point. The game in its current state doesn’t really encourage playing many active characters, but the devs still need to sell those character slots. So you will always get something out of having more characters than others, idle or not.


What’s your take on these changes? Share it in the comments below or visit the corresponding thread on our message board!

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 “Invocation Changes to Nerf Big Accounts In Module 10

  • August 22, 2016 at 7:21 am
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    This was it for me. After nerfing AD out of Leadership and now Invocation, I am quitting this stupid game. GW2 and Tera, here I come! I have seven level 70 characters and pay LOTS of money into Zen. They are losing a big account here. Oh, well, you become stingy, you pay the price. Goodbye forever, Neverwinter dev jerks!

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