Neverwinter Heart of Fire Lockbox Changes and New Opportunities Lockbox Preview

As part of our massive coverage of Neverwinter’s upcoming module “Heart of Fire” we look into the new lockbox additions today. Usually we include these inside a bigger “premium items” preview, but in Module 15 the structure of lockboxes will also change. So it makes sense to give the aspect its own post.

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Structure Changes

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So structure changes you say? Yes, indeed! Ever since Neverwinter’s first Nightmare Lockbox the general setup of lockboxes has been the same. Most rewards inside were boxes themselves that then dropped items players could use. So it was basically boxes within boxes, or layered RNG. Of course we have always tried to give you an accurate idea of what you can expect with our RNG Toolbox, and now the devs apparently decided to make lockboxes a little bit more transparent themselves.

Starting in Module 15, lockboxes will no longer feature reward boxes but drop all rewards directly. Each box will contain one reward from each of the following groups:

  • Main Rewards: Your legendary and epic drops, but also some other “filler stuff”. You’re not getting an epic reward every time, sorry.
  • Refinement Rewards: Compiled here is everything that used to drop from various Enchantment, Artifact, or Companion Crates.
  • Utility Rewards: Stronghold Vouchers, Professions Stuff and likewise.

This by the way is how I interpret the changes that I see in the game files. I’m confident about the conclusions, but things are obviously subject to change on preview. This is especially true since the new system is not yet visible. Old lockboxes either don’t transfer to the new system or it’s simple not yet implemented or unlocked on preview. We’ll see.

New Opportunities Lockbox

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Here’s how the new reward tiers for the upcoming New Opportunities Lockbox look. The box contains one reward from each of the following groups:

Italic rewards indicate stuff that we haven’t been able to fully uncover yet.

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So… this looks different. You still have all the usual lockbox rewards in there however. The Refinement Rewards are familiar, but not sure why those upgrade and reroll tokens aren’t in one of the other reward tiers. As mentioned the devs might simply need some fillers up there because you can’t obviously always drop an epic reward from the first tier. The utility tier hosts all sorts of stuff for the new Workshop system as well as the old Stronghold Vouchers and two blanks in the Stone of Health and Black Opal. I also expect lockboxes to still drop Tarmalune Trade Bars although they aren’t explicitly listed.

Acquired Treasure Lockbox

You might ask what is going to happen with the Glorious Resurgence Lockbox? Usually it got updated with the new rewards on preview and offered a first look at the new Enchantment Packs and such. But that’s not the case this time. It’s probably because the lockbox will be replaced with a new “Acquired Treasure Lockbox” that features the new structure.

The first obvious change is the absence of the Glorious Resurgence Epic Artifacts Pack. Artifacts are widely available and generally fairly cheap on the Auction House. So the devs might just have figured that it’s no longer an “epic” reward. Some new icons in the game files by the way suggest that the legendary pack might feature new skins of existing legendary mounts like Tenser’s Floating Disk. This would give the successor of the Glorious Resurgence Lockbox unique rewards for the first time ever.

I’m not sure why the non-rare rewards don’t entirely match, but I guess having choices shouldn’t hurt and it does make the Acquired Treasure more of an independent lockbox. It’s speculative at this point, but maybe the devs even scratch the time-limited aspect and just let it drop alongside others? The Glorious Resurgence Lockbox as you probably know currently is only available for two weeks before new module releases.

Better or Worse?

It’s hard to tell whether this will be better or worse for players. The assumption is that Cryptic just wanted to get rid of boxes within boxes and that the overall value and drop chances for the main rewards will stay the same. It does however simplify lockboxes. It’s more obvious now that you get multiple rewards for example. That being said, you could very well walk away with a Chest Reroll Token, Rank 8 Enchantment, and Stone of Health. So there are still “blanks”, but the perception of completely missing out should get mitigated by the new structure. We’ll of course run our patented RNG test on the new boxes and will see if and how it affects values.


What’s your take on the new lockboxes and structural updates? Share your thoughts and experience on our social channels, in the comments below, or visit our message board!

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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.

14 thoughts on “Neverwinter Heart of Fire Lockbox Changes and New Opportunities Lockbox Preview

  • October 30, 2018 at 8:16 am
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    Scp_Upgrade_Tokens (Companion Upgrade Tokens… hopefully 30)

    would that mean these will be unbound now, as everything from a box should be…

    could be a big change in the way the tokens are acquired vs now
    (buy them directly in quantity needed if unbound vs buy a lottery ticket to maybe get 2 or 30 now)

  • October 30, 2018 at 8:33 am
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    Unlikely. They are counted as currency like tradebars and this currency is account-bound like tradebars (it can be transferred via bank).

  • October 30, 2018 at 8:37 am
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    yeah good point. if still bound could turn it into a useless reward if you no longer need them and cant sell them, where as now you could sell the companion box if no longer need the tokens.

  • October 30, 2018 at 8:46 am
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    Well think there is more than just getting rid of boxes within boxes. More like getting rid of the 2x refinement drops from boxes. And then there will be less profits to players that prefer to not open some boxes and just sell them outright on auction house. But hey by selling them at auction house might reduce zen sales to some players that just wanted a chance at a certain item if its a fire archon or abolthic mount or leveling weapon looks like them options will soon be gone with gateway.

  • October 30, 2018 at 9:08 am
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    So I guess players will now stack lockbox keys and only open the lockboxes during 2xEnchants events for the extra marks/stones/rp

  • October 30, 2018 at 9:10 am
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    if there still are 2x refinement events, i guess the new way would be to hoard your keys, instead of hoarding the boxes…
    then everything will have huge price swings, and not just particular items tied to events.

    great plan cryptic.
    /s

  • October 30, 2018 at 9:25 am
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    It seems you won’t have packs you can resell on AH. … Thus non-VIP players have no way to get companion tokens and trade bars without buying VIP, keys, or the Companion packs from the zen store.

    • October 30, 2018 at 3:42 pm
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      Don’t disagree, but if our assumptions turn out correct, old boxes are not converted and will still drop the old rewards. Meaning old boxes will still be around for some time, especially if the older lockboxes turn out to be more profitable.

  • October 30, 2018 at 2:27 pm
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    Non-VIP can still acquire tokens via packs on the AH (but it’ll be more expensive than just spending the AD directly).

  • October 30, 2018 at 2:27 pm
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    Simple solution.. buy VIP. Its not even that expensive .. and has to date easily paid for itself.

  • October 30, 2018 at 2:29 pm
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    Losing ‘boxes with boxes’ is going to sting when it comes to storage. All those boxes of one type that were previously stacked? Those are now multiple different refining stones, health stones, vouchers etc etc etc.

  • October 31, 2018 at 6:24 am
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    Maybe Soulmonger’s Lockbox will be worth something eventually. XD

  • November 1, 2018 at 5:25 am
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    Jeez, what a huge list of items.. that’s going to be one huge tooltip (also, looking forward to open 20k of each of those /s)

  • November 1, 2018 at 9:00 am
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    cant wait to watch you do this. Very curious on the drops and how this new way could effect us lock box openers

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