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  • Locked thread
Falented
Sep 2, 2012

UPDATE (07/30/15): Cix has been banned from the game (possibly a temp ban, but don't hold your breath). Many guild players are unhappy with the newest mod and are cynical about the upcoming strongholds features. Any new players should be aware that Something Lawful is basically dead at this time. If the game changes drastically, some of us might come back, but the old guard is leaving and you may want to find another guild.

A WORD ABOUT XBONE: The Xbox version of the game is separate from the PC version. Most people here are PC players and have little knowledge of this version. Xbox players, please feel free to make your own thread or post in this one, as you please.

:yayclod:Guild info can be found at the bottom of this post!:yayclod:

:siren:IMPORTANT!:siren:
If your game is taking forever to load between zones and generally acting slow and stupid, look to make sure the "Disable On-Demand Patching" box is checked in your game launcher's settings. Checking that box will force the game to download the entirety of its content up front, which will in turn make sure it doesn't hold you for 5-10 minutes at a loading screen while it downloads textures. Keep in mind that the game is big and that it will download all at once this way, so it might be best to do it when you first install, while you're asleep, while you're at work, or some other time when you're not going to want to play immediately.



Welcome to Neverwinter Online! Module 4: Tyranny of Dragons is up and running, so here's a new thread for your bad self.

General Info
The basic story behind Neverwinter is that Cryptic Studios (mostly known as the guys behind City of Heroes/Villains, Champions Online and Star Trek Online) started developing the game for Atari as a single player experience with multiplayer elements several years ago. Since then, the project has been re-imagined as a much more multiplayer-focused affair. Neverwinter now seems to be patterned after Cryptic's work in COH/COV in that there are large, persistent adventure zones peppered with instanced quest areas and "dungeon delves" (five-player dungeon areas containing loot, mobs, and bosses). In general, players interact within adventure zones, dipping into instanced quest zones for story-driven solo content and small group activities. At the end of each zone's story arc, players can engage the aforementioned "delves", which make up the "raid-like" content of the game and provide the greatest rewards. The game is published by Perfect World Entertainment (who bought Cryptic and their rights to publish as Atari went down the shitter).

Two of the defining characteristics of the game are user-generated content and action-focused combat. The game has a robust toolset called "The Foundry" that allows players to construct their own adventures to share with the Neverwinter community. The toolset is available from within the Neverwinter client, and players can play and rate other player's creations from within the game. In fact, there is a daily quest for doing so. For anyone that liked the player-made quests in City of Heroes, this is very similar.

Here's a pretty good video of The Foundry in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_7WgszhNN4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzSBodMnPtU

Taking a page from recent MMOs like Tera and Guild Wars 2, Neverwinter ditches traditional MMO control schemes in favor of "reactive" and "action-oriented" combat (to quote the devs). Tab-targeting is gone. Instead, players target NPC's on the fly using a reticle, as they would with a third-person action game. In deference to the 4E D&D rules, PC's can choose from two "at-will" powers that are mapped to the right/left mouse buttons. Players may then choose five additional abilities mapped to other keys: three "encounter" powers and two "daily" powers. Encounter powers are more powerful attacks or (in some cases) strong utility/CC abilities on a short cooldown. Daily powers represent players "ultimate skills" and charge up over time as players gain "action points" in combat. Finally, players must engage in active defense, using a "utility" power mapped to a dodge key (usually shift) to either avoid enemy attacks or to block using their shield (as with the Guardian Fighter class). Most people that I've talked to who have played throughout the beta think that the devs really nailed the feel of fun active combat here, and that the combat is the best draw for this game.

You can read more about Neverwinter's combat system here:
http://neverwinter.gamepedia.com/Combat

Classes
As previously mentioned, Neverwinter is based on 4th Edition D&D rules and lore. As such, it takes a number of cues from the 4E skill system (including things like feats - which largely act in the Neverwinter incarnation in the place of talents). It's important to note that 4E acts as an inspirational foundation for the game, and that Cryptic has pretty obviously modified a lot of things to fit the game into the action MMO model.

The game launched with five classes. There are now seven. Class holds little real importance in solo content, as players have ample access to health potions, healing companions, and lots of damage avoidance through active abilities. The harder, five-man "dungeon delves" require a bit more rigidity in party composition and a good balance between DPS types, control types, and healers. Please keep in mind that any build suggestions in this thread or anywhere else are subject to whatever nerf or buff Cryptic feels like handing out on any given day. To keep up with the latest good builds, we recommend you follow the official forums at http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/forum.php

As of Module 4, the classes are as follows:

Guardian Fighter


As the name implies, this class primarily fulfills a tank role in group play. Wielding a one-handed weapon and shield, Guardians focus on defending their buddies, slamming monsters with powerful attacks, and generally keeping the attention on them. They are unique among the classes in that they have the ability to block attacks rather than being able to dodge them. They are at their best in PvP, although with recent buffs I am told they are decent in PvE as well.

Great-Weapon Fighter


Do you like being a tough guy/gal in heavy armor with a big :fuckoff: hammer or greatsword? Then the Great Weapon Fighter is for you. These guys form a DPS class with an AoE focus. When properly geared, they can both deal and take awesome amounts of damage and are pretty effective tanks. GWF's can hand out a pretty good beatdown in both PvE and PvP content.

Trickster Rogue


Trickster Rogues are the stealthy class in Neverwinter. They are a DPS class focused on dealing out large amounts of single-target damage and (of course) sneaking about. At the moment, this class is most useful in PvP content, as the stealth elements in the game aren't terribly well-implemented and rogues can be effectively replaced with another DPS class in dungeons and other PvE content. I'm told there are modifications coming up in the next module, however, so have faith.

Control Wizard


The famous OP class of Neverwinter Online. Not only do CW's provide a large amount of DPS (even after recent damage nerfs), they also are the one class that is largely focused on controlling enemies, which means they are very much needed in end-game PvE and PvP content. AoE, single target, control... these guys can do it all. Wizards are also absolutely essential for end-game dungeons, and the more the better.

Goofballs posted:

New PvE wizard build looks like this http://nwcalc.com/cw?b=cn4:13ydj4:13ydj4,13e3ih0:150000:1z00uv:1u0000&h=0&p=ssm

Passives are storm spell and eye of the storm. Encounters are tab conduit of ice, sudden storm, steal time and icy terrain. At wills are ray of frost and chilling cloud and the daily is oppressive force.

That's about it

If you have to pvp you should really rethink that decision but people are running orb of imposition for much longer stunlocks and storm spell for damage. Shield now makes you a good bit tankier and ray of frost is the only at will you use.
Devoted Cleric


The healing specialists of Neverwinter, Devoted Clerics can use a variety of direct heals, AoE heals, and reactive heals (e.g. wards they place on mobs that heal damage dealers). Their wards can also grant temporary HP to keep their buddies alive. Clerics are also able to wield the holy fury of their gods to smite foes, lash them with divine fire, and control them with bonds of energy. The Devoted Cleric works in a more active role than healers in most other MMO's, which makes this class somewhat challenging and fun to play.

The (dated) DC build posted by Istar can be found here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3565357&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=32#post425680039

Hunter Ranger


A combined ranged/melee class. Tab is used to switch between ranged or melee, and dailies don't necessarily cost 100% of your AP, as they do with other classes. HR's are strikers focused on taking out enemies quickly. They cannot withstand much punishment from enemies, so strategy and tactics play a large role in the life of a Hunter Ranger. Play one if you like characters that attack from a distance using strategy.

Scourge Warlock


Scourge Warlocks are the newest class in Neverwinter, having just been introduced with the release of Tyranny of Dragons. Warlocks can fill one of two roles in a group: they can dedicate themselves to the dark arts and decimate their foes by dealing necrotic damage and cursing foes, or they can perform a support role by tearing the souls from their foes to heal and empower their allies. At the moment, goons are still in the process of figuring out how this new class figures into the end-game.

Races
The main reason to pick one race over another in Neverwinter is the ability bonuses (bonuses to STR, WIS, CON, etc.) and racial traits that accompany race selection. Although all classes are available to all races, certain races are naturally better suited to certain classes because of these bonuses. Since this and class selection are the most important aspects of character creation, I've attempted a brief rundown of the races and their traits below. Some of the races are locked behind a pay wall (I have marked these with :10bux: in their descriptions), but since they don't offer any real advantage bonus-wise over the free races, it's mostly a cosmetic purchase.

Human

  • Humans can apply a +2 bonus to any single ability they choose.
  • Their "Versatile Defense" trait gives them a 3% bonus to defense.
  • Their "Heroic Effort" trait grants them 3 extra feat points at levels 10, 15, and 20 respectively.

Drow

  • Drow get an ability bonus of +2 DEX and +2 to either CHA or WIS as selected by the player.
  • Their "Darkfire" racial trait means that Drow have a 5% chance when attacking to reduce an enemy's defense by 10% for 4 seconds.
  • Their "Trance" racial trait means that they recover HP and injuries twice as fast while sitting by a campfire.

Dwarf

  • Dwarves get an ability bonus of +2 CON and +2 to either STR or WIS as selected by the player.
  • They have an increased resistance to knockback and repel effects due to their "Stand Your Ground" racial trait.
  • They have an increased resistance to Damage over Time (DoT) effects due to their "Cast Iron Stomach" racial trait.

Half-Orc

  • Half-Orcs get an ability bonus of +2 DEX and +2 to either STR or CON as selected by the player.
  • Their critical hits do an additional 5% damage thanks to their "Furious Assault" racial trait.
  • They gain a 10% bonus to run speed upon entering combat thanks to their "Swift Charge" racial trait. This effect can only occur once every 20 seconds.

Halfling

  • Halflings get an ability bonus of +2 DEX and +2 to either CHA or CON as selected by the player.
  • Their "Nimble Reaction" racial trait means they have a +3% chance to deflect attacks.
  • Their "Bold" racial trait increases their resistance to crowd control effects by 10%.

Tiefling

  • Tieflings get an ability bonus of +2 CHA and +2 to either INT or CON as selected by the player.
  • Their "Bloodhunt" racial trait means they deal an additional 5% damage to enemies who are below 50% health.
  • Their "Infernal Wrath" racial trait means that whenever they are hit, they have a 10% chance to lower the power of their attacker by 5% for 5 seconds.

Half-Elf

  • Half-Elves get an ability bonus of +2 CON and +2 to either CHA or WIS as selected by the player.
  • Their "Dilettante" racial trait grants them a +1 bonus to a random, non-class stat after you have created your half-elf and entered the world.
  • Their "Knack for Success" racial trait gives them +1% Critical Severity, +1% Deflect, and +1% Gold find.

Sun Elf

  • Sun Elves get an ability bonus of +2 INT and +2 to either DEX or CHA as selected by the player.
  • Their "Inner Calm" racial trait means they have +2% action point gain.
  • Their "Sun Elf Grace" racial trait increases their resistance to crowd control effects by 10%.

Wood Elf

  • Wood Elves get an ability bonus of +2 DEX and +2 to either INT or WIS as selected by the player.
  • Their "Elven Accuracy" racial trait means they have +1% chance to crit.
  • Their "Wild Step" racial trait means that they have 10% resistance to slow .

Moon Elf :10bux: Requires Feywild Pack :10bux:

  • Wood Elves get an ability bonus of +2 INT and +2 to either DEX or CHA as selected by the player.
  • Their "Wanderlust" racial trait means they have +1% action point gain and +1% stamina gain.
  • Their "Moon Elf Resilience" racial trait increases their resistance to crowd control effects by 10%.

Menzoberranzan Renegade (a.k.a. special snowflake Drizzt Do'Urden Drow) :10bux: Requires Hero of the North Pack :10bux:

  • Renegades get an ability bonus of +2 DEX and +2 to either WIS or CHA as selected by the player. This is the same ability bonus as normal drow.
  • Their "Faerie Fire" racial trait means they have a 5% chance when attacking to lower an enemy's power and defense by 6% for 4 seconds.
  • Their "Trance" racial trait means that they recover HP and injuries twice as fast while sitting by a campfire. This trait is shared with normal drow.

The Dragonborn (a.k.a. Scalies) :10bux: Requires Dragonborn Legend Pack :10bux:

  • Dragonborn receive a +2 bonus to any two abilities.
  • Their "Dragonborn Fury" racial trait means that their Power and Critical Strike are increased by 3%.
  • Their "Draconic Heritage" racial trait means that they recieve 5% more healing from all spells and abilities.
Choosing a Religion and Backstory
While you are creating a character, you'll be given the option to choose a deity, hometown, and vague backstory for your shiny new adventurer. This whole screen and everything on it is entirely cosmetic. No matter which combination of things you choose here, you'll start in the same area, follow the same questline, and be given the same bonuses for invoking that everyone gets. With this in mind, go nuts and pick whatever you like. You will receive a cosmetic player "title" (selectable from the "History" tab on your character sheet) that denotes your city/region of origin, so I guess that's something to consider.

Leveling
Really the only things you need to worry about when leveling are:
  • Becoming familiar with how your chosen class works and what its best skills are, and filling out your feat and power trees accordingly.
  • Conserving your ID scrolls, which cost AD.
  • Saving up for a mount ASAP (or withdrawing 5g from the guild bank for a mount ASAP)
  • Checking the guild bank for supplies before buying from a vendor, as we likely have plenty of whatever you need in there.
  • Most importantly, make sure you do the quest lines in the Blacklake and Neverdeath zones, as these reward you with bags that are essential for the inventory space they provide.
If there is anything about the grind to 60 that you need help with (defeating a lair boss, for example), don't be afraid to ask for help in chat. Additionally, once you hit 60, check the guild bank for gear.

Dungeons: How do They Work?


In Neverwinter, one of the many types of queued event is the dungeon. Generally 45 minutes long (sometimes longer for end-game, "epic" dungeons), these are separate instances with tough monsters and bosses that are meant for a 5-player team. Each dungeon is appropriate for a certain level range, starting with The Cloak Tower dungeon in the Tower District at around level 16.

Sometimes there are lucrative or useful drops from mobs within the dungeon itself. As with all all party-based events in Neverwinter, the drops in a dungeon are distributed using the "Need, Greed, Pass" rolling system unless the party leader chooses otherwise. Guild loot etiquette is to Greed on purple/epic gear and let people Need on other drops, but if your party agrees on something different, you should listen to them. There is also a chest after the final boss that gives the player a chance to get rare gear. It will contain a piece of loot for your class plus a handful of currency seals. Everyone in the party gets one of these chests. It is locked and will require a dungeon key to open. Keys are available for free from the Dungeon Chest Keymaster in Protector's Enclave once per day. If you need to run dungeons more than once per day, you will need to purchase additional keys from the Keymaster's store or wait until Dungeon Delves. If you enter a dungeon during one of the hour-long Delve events, the chest will be unlocked even if you not have a key.

Goons love running end-game dungeons, and we'll even run lowbie dungeons sometimes. Make sure to ask in guild chat if you need people to run with you.

End-game Zones and Requirements
Once you reach 60 with any character, you will receive quests from Sgt. Knox and Lord Neverember that will point you in the direction of the end-game zones and associated content. All of the zones below can be accessed as soon as you hit the level cap, with the exception of Icewind Dale. Here's a quick rundown of them all.

Gauntlgrym


Gauntlgrym (GG) is an event area, most of which is only open during the Iron Tabernacle, Armories of Moradin, and Delzoun Crypts events. You can see what event is currently active by checking the notifications next to your minimap. The idea behind Gauntlgrym is that everyone's guild is on one of two sides in this event: the Delzoun Explorers or the Luskan Corsairs (our guild, Something Lawful, is allied with the Luskan Corsairs). These groups compete against each other in a three phase contest that includes two resource-gathering phases, a PvP phase, and a dungeon delving phase. In order to partake in the dungeon phase, you must have participated in at least one of the previous phases. In addition to loot from the dungeons and glory from the PvP phase, Gauntlgrym also gives out its own special currency, Grym Coins, that can be used to purchase gear at the Grym Coin merchant. This merchant is also located in Gauntlgrym. In addition, the stuff you do in Gauntlgrym PvP also counts toward your PvP campaign tree.

Sharandar


Sharandar is a pretty, sparkly enchanted forest zone that hosts all the tasks needed for the Sharandar end-game campaign. Access to the region is granted as part of the quest "To the Farthest Forest." Initially, fresh 60 characters will need to complete the quest "The Mystery of Sharandar" (given by Sgt. Knox), but once that's done they will enter New Sharandar and can then move directly between it and other map regions. Amongst other things, the Sharandar campaign tree grants the key to Malabog's Castle, an end-game dungeon.

There's some cool stuff to be found in Sharandar (not to mention how delightfully :sparkles: it is), but the main reason to visit the zone is to complete the dailies and progress in the campaign. In addition to doing your dailies, make sure to catch the weekly quest "The Arcane Reservoir," which gives a decent number of Feywild Sparks, a valuable campaign currency.

The Dread Ring


Similar to Sharandar, The Dread Ring is a campaign zone. Access to the zone is granted by completing the quest "Conquering Our Dread," given by Sgt. Knox. Once this quest is completed, your character will be able to move directly between the Dread Ring and other map regions. Amongst other things, the Dread Ring campaign tree grants the key to Valindra's Tower, an end-game dungeon.

Unlike with Sharandar, much of the dailies are skippable at Dread Ring, since the currency that you'll always be short of in its campaign is Thayan Ciphers, which are obtained by completing Dread Ring lairs. Thayan Scrolls and Vanguard Scrips, the other two campaign currencies, can be obtained by doing the Dread Ring Skirmish, which also nets you AD during skirm hour and is a lot less irritating than yet more dailies. General guild consensus is that if you do one of these lairs per day (making sure to take along a forged gauntlet obtained in camp so that you can get your loot from the chest inside), you will have performed your due diligence to the Dread Ring campaign.

Icewind Dale


Icewind Dale (IWD) requires both a Gear Score (GS) of 10,000 and 3 boons from either Sharandar or the Dread Ring. It's a zone with various PvP areas and quests, heroic encounters, and (of course) daily quests revolving around acquiring Black Ice, a valuable commodity used as a currency, as a means of maintaining high-end Black Ice Gear, and in the Black Ice Shaping profession. The thing that makes IWD unique among the game's zones is its open PvP element, which provides a bit of a different flavor of player combat.

When you first arrive in Icewind Dale (and each day when you come in to do your dailies), you'll be required to sign a temporary contract with one of the zone's two factions: the Ten-Towners or the Arcane Brotherhood. This choice is mainly important because it determines what side you'll be on when you're flagged for PvP. Aside from that, it's a campaign grind like every other zone. Just make sure you're aware when you're in a place where other players may be able to kill you.

There are several class artifacts that you can only get by completing a questline in this zone with characters of each class. These artifacts only need to be unlocked once in order to be available on your whole account. The quest to get said artifacts only appears if you have at least two characters who have arrived in Icewind Dale. Therefore, it can be worthwhile to level up a character that belongs to the class you want the artifact from alongside your main character. You can have a look at these artifacts before you even go to IWD by talking to the rewards claim agent in Protector's Enclave. That way you'll know which artifacts might be worth leveling an alt for (we suggest making the DC artifact a priority here).

Campaigns


There are several campaign trees in the game that give rewards in exchange for currencies and items obtained from doing dailies in the game's various adventure zones. These campaigns take a long time to complete, and they form the bulk of Neverwinter's gameplay at level cap. The campaigns reward things like rare items, dungeon unlocks, and boons (permanent stat buffs or abilities) as you progress through them. Generally speaking, each end-game zone in Neverwinter will have its own campaign tree.

In addition, Module 4 has introduced the first campaign that can be participated in by under-60 characters. The Tyranny of Dragons campaign can be started as early as level 26. To learn more about the game's campaign trees, visit the wiki here: http://neverwinter.gamepedia.com/Campaign

Code Giveaways and the Arc Client


From time to time, various large gaming sites like mmorpg.com and Gamespot will give out free codes for Neverwinter item packs, which sometimes contain cool stuff like a unique title or companion. Naturally, these sites usually require you to sign up in order to receive the code, so just give them an email you don't use and grab the pack. Each site will have its own instructions as to how to actually get the promo code, but once you have it, you'll now always need to enter it on the Arc client. The Arc client is Cryptic's lovely little Steam copycat, since apparently every publisher has to have one these days. It can be downloaded at http://www.arcgames.com/en/about/client. You will get a free in game gift for downloading it; more info on that can be found here: http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/3030473-come-grab-your-free-arc-gifts!. The client is generally unwieldy and useless, and the only time I would recommend opening it up after receiving the aforementioned gifts for installing it would be if you want to redeem a promo code. You can do this by clicking on the icon in the upper left-hand corner of the screen and selecting "Redeem Key" from the dropdown menu there.

A (mostly) complete list of giveaways to date can be found at the wiki here: http://neverwinter.gamepedia.com/Promotional_Item_Giveaway_Codes. Thanks to Lemon King for providing the link.

The Auction House


Sometimes you'll come across an item or two that can net you a lot of AD if sold to other players using the in-game Auction House (AH). This can be a decent way of earning AD, which is the only currency used at the Auction House. When you acquire a unique item or piece of gear, whether you are leveling or at the level cap, it may be worth checking to see if it would sell well. The Auction House can now be accessed in most zones of the game by clicking its button on the toolbar at the top of your screen (the one with a picture of a gavel on it).

The Neverwinter Wiki posted:

  • Purchases on the Auction House must be paid for in Astral Diamonds.
  • The Auction House collects a small fee (10%) from the seller for each successful sale.
  • Characters can list up to 40 items at a time on the Auction House.
  • Items purchased or own items not sold must be picked up at the Postal Courier.
  • While still in the mailbox, those items will continue to occupy one auction spot.
  • Astral Diamonds from selling items, or when your bid was not the highest, must also be retrieved through the Postal Courier.
Crafting (a.k.a. Professions)


Professions open up at level 10. You will get a quest telling you when you can start them. Profession tasks operate using a Farmville-esque timer system, where you set something to craft and forget about it. You can open the professions menu from anywhere, even in the middle of a dungeon, so there's no need to go stand by an anvil. For anyone who played/plays STO and is familiar with the Duty Officer system, this will seem familiar. As you level up a specific profession, multiple profession slots will open, allowing you to have up to 9 "assets" (slaves) doing tasks at a time. Although most of the professions are at least somewhat useful, your main priority as a new player will be to level up Leadership. You will eventually want the Leadership profession at level 20 (maximum) for all of your characters, since this profession pumps out a steady stream of AD at top level.

The Neverwinter Gateway


You can access the Neverwinter Gateway here: http://gateway.playneverwinter.com
This site will let you do profession stuff even when you can't log in to the game (when you are on vacation or at work, for example). It will also let you check your in-game mail and stare longingly at your character sheet. Although goons used to use a professions script to shore up AD using Leadership on the Gateway, Cryptic has disabled this profession on the gateway as of 7/22/15.

Sword Coast Adventures


Sword Coast Adventures is a fun, free little minigame that can be played on the Gateway. The gist of it is that you can organize your in-game companions into a 4-man squad and have them enter little dungeons to gain in-game loot, XP, and currency. When there is a special event or festival happening in game, there will sometimes be a corresponding SCA dungeon that gives you event items/currency as well.

SCA gameplay is simple and honestly pretty entertaining. As your companions explore their dungeon, new points will show up on the map representing obstacles, enemies, or puzzles. You roll dice to see if you succeed in killing/solving/removing the obstacle. I'm pretty bad at tutorials, but the gameplay's easy enough and it's worth playing at least occasionally. Learn more about how to play SCA here: http://neverwinter.gamepedia.com/Sword_Coast_Adventures

F.A.Q.
I didn't read your big post above. Why should I play this stupid game?
  • The action oriented combat is really good and engaging compared to most MMO's.
  • The Neverwinter goons are an accepting and fun group who will give you gifts and help you level. We will also do group content with you.
  • The Foundry guarantees a stream of new content, is fun to mess with, and will give you free stuff if you get good enough at messing with it.
  • The game itself is totally free. Free to download and free to play. There is a cash shop and Cryptic does REALLY want your money, but none of the zones are locked behind a paywall, and you can level all the way to 60 and get decently geared for end-game PvE without paying a dime.
  • There's a lot more end-game content now (compared to launch) that, while somewhat grindy and repetitive in spots, is fun to do in groups and will keep you busy and entertained for quite a while.

I didn't read your big post above, and I really like to nitpick things. Please give me a short list of things to bitch about even if I don't load up the game.
  • Some people think the character models are really ugly, and many wearable items look downright hilarious on some races due to everything being designed for an elf or drow.
  • Although the game is totally free to play, the cash grabs can be a little blatant at times. This is especially obvious with lockboxes and refining components used to augment item enchants and artifacts, although there are ways around the worst of it.
  • PvP is absolutely pay to win at present, assuming you want to win consistently. However, someone who hasn't invested money in the game can usually successfully do their PvP dailies and get AD for it, which is all the game really "requires" you to do. It's just not a pleasant experience currently. This pic from Istar about sums it up:

  • The voice acting is TERRIBLE. Some might say it is "grooooo-some." Just do yourself a favor and turn it off.

Random stat rolling? Do I have to sit here and reroll my stats a million times like I'm playing a Wizardry game?
Those aren't random stats; they just look that way at first. There is a small number of fixed arrays that you cycle through when you "reroll".

Wait, I have gold and astral diamonds and zen and unicorn seals and symbols of Lolth and why are there so many currencies OH GOD MY BRAIN!
Yes, it can be a little daunting at first. It helps once you notice that most of the currencies are just tokens that can be turned in at various places for various rewards. All you really need to know before you start is this: Gold is mostly used to buy consumables like potions and kits, although some things like companions can be bought for high amounts of gold. Zen is the real money currency, which can be used to buy things like bags, bank slots, mounts, pretty princess fashion, and companions in the Zen Store. Astral Diamonds (AD) are the in-between currency that is used for almost everything else, such as auction house purchases, campaign tasks, buying enchant refining components, and upgrading mounts and companions. If you are planning on not putting any money into the game, AD will be very important for you.

How do I make AD?
  • Praying: If you pray 3x per day at level 60, you will earn a total of 2000 RAD each day. Lesser amounts of AD are given for this at lower levels.
  • Dailies: You can pick up quests once per day that will award you 1-4k diamonds for doing stuff like PVP, foundries, skirmishes, etc. The campaign trees also have dailies associated with them. Don't forget to visit Rhix the kobold and Lord Neverember in Protector's Enclave once you hit 60 for even more dailies! Dailies for everyone! Dailies forever!
  • Crafting: Once leveled up, the leadership profession will provide a steady trickle of rough astral diamonds (RAD). The other professions have top-tier items that are always in demand in the auction house, but which require a very high initial investment in tools and materials to gain a profit from.
  • The Auction House: once you start running end-game dungeons you will sometimes receive epic (or "purple") gear from drops. Some of this gear may be quite valuable, so it's best to check the auction house. If it's worth more on the AH than you'd get from salvaging it (minus the auction house's cut), it might be worth it to sell.
  • Salvaging: Any purple items that you don't want any more and can't sell on the AH because they're bound/basically worthless can now be traded in to a guy in Protector's Enclave (the main "town" area) for RAD.
  • Zen Exchange: It is possible to exchange AD for Zen and vice versa via the exchange button on your toolbar. Currently the value of Zen is and has been at its cap (500 AD per) for months. There is also a huge delay in processing AD-to-Zen orders (five days last I heard), so plan accordingly. It is still possible to exchange, though, and the backlog is going down, so hopefully this crucial feature will get less annoying in the future.

What level can I do various things at?
Most things that you hear people talk about in-game but don't currently have access to will be explicitly given to you via a quest at the appropriate level. This quest will likely be given by Sgt. Knox in Protector's Enclave, so if you meet the level requirement but are missing one of these, check with him. Here's a quick list:
  • Begin Professions: Level 10
  • Invoke Your Deity: Level 11
  • Receive Foundry Creation Access (there's no quest for this but I think you get an in-game mail): Level 15
  • Receive First Free Companion (pick the healer): Level 16
  • Buy a Mount (your starter horse will cost 5 gold; you are welcome to withdraw this amount from the guild bank): Level 20
  • Receive quest for first free artifact: Level 21
  • Begin Tyranny of Dragons Campaign: Level 26
  • Paragon Path Choice: Level 30
  • Gauntlgrym, Dread Ring, Sharandar, Icewind Dale, class artifact quest, and other end-game content: Level 60
Give me some sweet PROTIPS.
  • You probably don't want to identify everything that drops, at least at very low levels. Identify scrolls do drop, but they cost AD if you run out. If you ID only your class stuff at first or things usable by anyone (rings, amulets, etc.), you will eventually be rolling in identify scrolls and can ID as much useless crap as you want.
  • It's worth always carrying around like 5 of the kits for the four out of five class skills (thievery, religion, dungeoneering, nature, arcane) that you don't have a skill for. They are cheap and the skill nodes drop copious crafting stuff.
  • Via Lawlicaust: Here's a little tip about companions. Companions get the exp you get for turning in quests. So if you have a max rank companion that you normally quest with (like the cleric), swap companions right before you turn a quest in and the new companion will get all the turn in experience. I've maxed out two other companions just from turn-ins alone without using them at all.
  • Via Thanatos: The first thing everyone should do is get two characters to 11. Even if you don't play one of them, just making the alt run Leadership and invoking with it will get it to 60 eventually, and give you access to the artifacts. Well worth it. It's a huge boost in the medium- and long-term and takes relatively little time.

These money-grubbing assholes want me to PAY to RESPEC? Along with my righteous indignation, I'm also now totally panicking about my power points and feat points and I haven't put any points in anything because oh my goooooooddd...
Calm down. First of all, you can respec Feats with Astral Diamonds, not Zen. The Zen respec token only applies to your Powers. Secondly, you get enough Power Points where you are probably going to take every power in the tree you even remotely want just to get to the next tier of powers, and the only real difference is what you end up maxing out. You may end up doing a respec at 60 when you know what you want your buildout to be and you're ready to be fully optimized, but if you've played that long, maybe you're ready to throw five bucks their way? Even if not, you'll get extra power points as "XP rewards" at 60, so that will help you max out useful powers that you may have missed. In short, don't stress about it. Cryptic will probably totally redo your class next module anyway.

Server Info
Neverwinter decided to merge servers a while ago, and now there is only one server. Its name is Dragon. Needless to say, we are on that server.

How to get into Something Lawful :rolldice:
If this game interests you and you'd like to join our guild, Something Lawful, the first thing you need to do is post in this thread with your in-game character name and @handle. Your @handle can be found at the top left-hand corner of the Neverwinter launcher before you enter the game. It should say something like "@gooberbreath." Once you've found it, just make a quick post in here saying something like "Halitosis@gooberbreath here looking to join the guild." One of us will then invite you.

If, for some reason, you wait a couple days without receiving an invite (or the sent invite isn't working/disappears due to a common and really annoying UI bug), try the following: launch the game, open your chat client, and enter channel_join dndgoons. You can then ask for an invite in that channel. If you are a real goon and have indeed posted your info in here, you should get invited quickly this way.

Keep in mind that the dndgoons channel is usually very quiet because we're all talking in guild chat, but we do keep an eye out for invite requests there. Don't be discouraged from asking for an invite if the channel seems empty when you enter it.

Chatting with Goons
Our guild doesn't really voice chat much. There is a Neverwinter channel on the Camping the Stairs (CTS) goon Mumble network, but there's never really anyone in it. If you absolutely, positively need to play with voice chat, I suggest you round up some people and hang out in there. More information about the CTS Mumble and how to use it can be found in this thread: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3521554

To be honest, though, you'll have better luck using the in-game (non-voice) chat client. Once you've asked for and been granted a guild invite, check your chat settings and make sure that the "Guild" chat channel is turned on in at least one of your chat tabs. This is where the bulk of Neverwinter goon communication takes place.

When chatting/playing with Something Lawful members, please avoid doing any of the following annoying/dumb things that may get you kicked from the guild:
  • Posting "hilarious" and "ironic" racism/sexism in chat or in the thread.
  • Harassing (openly antagonizing) other guild members for any reason.
  • Sulking, whining, or generally acting like a spoiled child for long periods of time.
  • Cleaning out the guild bank and selling/hoarding the contents.
  • Repeatedly rolling "Need" on gear during greed runs. Please abide by the loot rules your party agrees on and ask if you don't understand something.
  • Refusing to return the profession assets, enchants, or other possessions of another guild member when asked.
  • Bragging constantly about your build/class/character/favorite type of pie while belittling those of others.
  • Posting creepy, Archeage-style pedo crap in chat or in the thread. In fact, just don't post any weird sex stuff at all, ok?
  • Constantly complaining.
  • Doing other stupid poo poo and not stopping when we tell you to.
We will generally warn you/make fun of you about problem behavior many, many times before we eventually kick you from the guild, so don't be a huge jerk and you shouldn't have an issue.

Miscellaneous Guild Info
IMPORTANT: If you were part of the guild in the past (more than 3 months ago) and have recently logged in to find you are no longer a member, it's most likely because you have been culled by Our Dear Leader, Nyx. He only culls people in order to stay under the member cap, so if you find yourself booted and wish to get re-admitted into the guild, post in this thread, politely explain what happened, and you'll get back in.

Something Lawful is about evenly mixed between Americans and Europeans at this point (at least among active members), so there will likely be at least a few people on when you want to be. We also have confirmed sightings of at least one Australian, so that's a plus.

One last thing: you may find it easier to turn on account names in chat options, since some of us have a lot of alts and it might be hard to tell who's saying what otherwise.

Thanks to Semisponge for the previous OP. If I left something out of this OP or gave bad advice, I trust my fellow goons will let me know. That's all I can think of for now though.a

Falented fucked around with this message at 11:49 on Jul 29, 2015

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hey girl you up
May 21, 2001

Forum Nice Guy
Might want to add in the respec section that you can now randomly earn extra power points at level 60.

I'd also add a recommendation somewhere to slowly level an alt alongside your main for the free IWD artifacts you can eventually get.

Goofballs
Jun 2, 2011



New PvE wizard build looks like this http://nwcalc.com/cw?b=cn4:13ydj4:13ydj4,13e3ih0:150000:1z00uv:1u0000&h=0&p=ssm

Passives are storm spell and eye of the storm. Encounters are tab conduit of ice, sudden storm, steal time and icy terrain. At wills are ray of frost and chilling cloud and the daily is oppressive force.

That's about it

If you have to pvp you should really rethink that decision but people are running orb of imposition for much longer stunlocks and storm spell for damage. Shield now makes you a good bit tankier and ray of frost is the only at will you use.

Falented
Sep 2, 2012

PFlats posted:

Might want to add in the respec section that you can now randomly earn extra power points at level 60.

I'd also add a recommendation somewhere to slowly level an alt alongside your main for the free IWD artifacts you can eventually get.

Ok, done.

Goofballs posted:

New PvE wizard build looks like this http://nwcalc.com/cw?b=cn4:13ydj4:13ydj4,13e3ih0:150000:1z00uv:1u0000&h=0&p=ssm

Passives are storm spell and eye of the storm. Encounters are tab conduit of ice, sudden storm, steal time and icy terrain. At wills are ray of frost and chilling cloud and the daily is oppressive force.

That's about it

If you have to pvp you should really rethink that decision but people are running orb of imposition for much longer stunlocks and storm spell for damage. Shield now makes you a good bit tankier and ray of frost is the only at will you use.

This was added to the classes section. Anything else I missed?

Ratzap
Jun 9, 2012

Let no pie go wasted
Soiled Meat
Thanks for posting the robot script. I got around to installing it today and thought I'd give some feedback. Firefox with greasemonkey didn't work, the settings icon in the top right (that's a point, the instructions say top left but it was on the top right for me both in Firefox and in Chrome) just did nothing when clicked. Fiddling with settings and turning NoScript off didn't make any difference. I have chrome installed too so I installed tampermonkey on that and got it working in a couple of minutes. I would change the instructions to this:

install script with greasemonkey / tampermonkey
go to gateway login page
click wrench in top right
check the "paused" box
"Save and apply"
open wrench again
click "auto login", enter username and password and number of characters. also click "debug"
save and apply
reload page log in and get to the character selections
open wrench
fill in character names and number of slots for each profession
uncheck paused
save and apply
reload
wish it was simpler

If you add the character info on the login page, it gets lost and you have to do it again on the char select page.

hey girl you up
May 21, 2001

Forum Nice Guy
You don't need debug on unless you're actually debugging the script.

Ratzap
Jun 9, 2012

Let no pie go wasted
Soiled Meat

PFlats posted:

You don't need debug on unless you're actually debugging the script.

Having it on helped me. It wasn't going into my first character, turns out it is case sensitive and 'Fluffybuns' was not correct, it had to be 'fluffybuns'. I switched it off now though because it's all working.

Falented
Sep 2, 2012

Ratzap posted:

I would change the instructions to this:

I put your instructions under Subjunctive's, but since he wrote the script, I'm gonna keep his up there too just in case. For the record, the wrench appears in the right hand corner for me as well. Thanks for looking into this.

Goofballs
Jun 2, 2011



From doing the new dungeon its pretty obvious that warlocks and I think hrs do more single target damage than cws. I assume trs do too but I only ran it once with a tr with much worse gear. That's with my build though. Cix gave up aoe damage for more singletarget so we'll see how that goes in a a few days

Charles Bukowski
Aug 26, 2003

Taskmaster 2023 Second Place Winner

Grimey Drawer
You need to install an old version of greasemonkey,1.5 to make the script work. The latest GM version wont work with the script.

Subjunctive
Sep 12, 2006

✨sparkle and shine✨

Yeah, it's always been top-right. I dunno what I was thinking.

Ham Equity
Apr 16, 2013

i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar
Grimey Drawer
You should tell people they can get the 5 gold for their first mount out of the guild bank.

Also, the first thing everyone should do is get two characters to 11. Even if you don't play one of them, just making the alt run Leadership and invoking with it will get it to 60 eventually, and give you access to the artifacts. Well worth it. It's a huge boost in the medium- and long-term and takes relatively little time.

Falented
Sep 2, 2012

Thanatosian posted:

You should tell people they can get the 5 gold for their first mount out of the guild bank.
This has been added to both mentions of the starter horse.

Thanatosian posted:

Also, the first thing everyone should do is get two characters to 11. Even if you don't play one of them, just making the alt run Leadership and invoking with it will get it to 60 eventually, and give you access to the artifacts. Well worth it. It's a huge boost in the medium- and long-term and takes relatively little time.
Added this to the F.A.Q. (under PROTIPS).

Charles Bukowski posted:

You need to install an old version of greasemonkey,1.5 to make the script work. The latest GM version wont work with the script.
I also stuck this into the script section for people that use Firefox and Greasemonkey.

Falented fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Sep 7, 2014

notanewfag
May 13, 2008
Looking to get invited...

Thank you for the invite.

notanewfag fucked around with this message at 02:19 on Sep 8, 2014

Goofballs
Jun 2, 2011



Thought I would share some of my pms on the official forums

quote:


Well met helpimblindinrl,

Your recent post, quoted below, has now been removed. Furthermore, a look back through your posting history shows repeat offenses of being rude, disrespectful, and flinging insults. Such behavior is unacceptable on our forums.

Frankly, if you cannot discuss things without being rude, disrespectful, or flinging insults -- then please do not post on our forums. Further posting in such a manner will lead to posting right loss and may even lead to game banishment if deemed severe enough by Support.

Please take some time to read the Rules of Conduct, to which you are bound to by the very use of the forum service, and adhere to them in your future postings. Thank you.

Safe travels,
Archmage Zebular of Mystryl


The only rational response to a message like that is,

quote:

Your sign off makes you look like a gigantic tool


Apparently that did not go over well at all. He's also not allowed to even threaten banning from the game but I didn't bother bringing it up. rather punch at the most ridiculous thing.

So my next exchange

quote:


Warning: Section I Violation
You are being issued a formal warning for violation of section I of Neverwinter Forums Rules of Conduct, as per a private message that the community team has been made aware of.

Quote Originally Posted by Violating PM
Sent by: helpimblindinrl
Original Content: Oh would that be the subforum it took 3 of you 2 days to remove the ad selling site link from after I repeatedly pmed mods. Amazing what catches the attention.

Your sign off makes you look like a gigantic tool
Please be aware that private messages are governed by Rules of Conduct as much as any public posts you may make, and infractions/warnings can be issued for violating RoC by means of private messages.

Further violations may result in the suspension or revocation of your posting privileges, the final determination of which to be made solely by PWE staff.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Lewstelamon01;

Neverwinter Community Moderator


To which I replied I'm sure I'll cry myself to sleep at night over telling a guy who signs grand wizard zebular that he looks like a gigantic tool.

The official forums are comedy bad and the mods on them are actually worse than the players, I both encourage and warn you against signing up to them. You might end up reading them but you might also end up ticking off some gigantic dickheads who have zero appreciation of sarcasm.

Hammerstein
May 6, 2005

YOU DON'T KNOW A DAMN THING ABOUT RACING !
Whoa, an actual Archmage responded to you ?

The mods on that forum are some of the most useless excuses for community liaison that I have ever experienced. I also think they are not actual Perfect World employees but just some rpg neckbeards who do this for free. Pretty much everything that makes Perfect World look bad gets closed down with a similar remark to contact support - where you will get no help either and the recommendation to ask for help about your issue on the forums :bang:

At least they have no rights when it comes to your account and barely any on the forums, except for locking and deleting threads.

packetmantis
Feb 26, 2013
Sounds like Archmage Zebular of Mystryl was right, though.

megalodong
Mar 11, 2008

Goofballs posted:

Thought I would share some of my pms on the official forums


The only rational response to a message like that is,


Apparently that did not go over well at all. He's also not allowed to even threaten banning from the game but I didn't bother bringing it up. rather punch at the most ridiculous thing.

So my next exchange


To which I replied I'm sure I'll cry myself to sleep at night over telling a guy who signs grand wizard zebular that he looks like a gigantic tool.

The official forums are comedy bad and the mods on them are actually worse than the players, I both encourage and warn you against signing up to them. You might end up reading them but you might also end up ticking off some gigantic dickheads who have zero appreciation of sarcasm.

Forum mod was right and you look like a giant turd, so well done i guess.

hey girl you up
May 21, 2001

Forum Nice Guy
For future reference for me and anyone else who's curious about Zen Store coupons:

The boxes you get from leveling up give the following coupons:

Level 5: None
Level 10: 20% off a Profession Booster Pack
Level 15: None
Level 20: 15% off any Mount
Level 26: None
Level 32: None
Level 38: None
Level 45: 15% off any Companion
Level 52: 20% off a Character Slot
Level 59: None
Level 60: 50% off any Potion

Remember that if you want, say, the companion coupon, you'll have to open all previous boxes as well. (Except for the L60 box; that one comes in the mail.)

edit: autocurse bind: /bind Lbutton "+EvaluateLeftClick $$ +specialClassPower"

hey girl you up fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Sep 9, 2014

Minsky
May 23, 2001

There's keys here for some free title and other crap:

http://lorehound.com/game/neverwinter/?page=beta

MinionOfCthulhu
Oct 28, 2005

I got this title for free due to my proximity to an idiot who wanted to save $5 on an avatar by having someone else spend $9.95 instead.
Are warlords in yet? I want to yell at people to heal them.

No?

Okay... :saddowns:

DancingShade
Jul 26, 2007

by Fluffdaddy

(and can't post for 7 days!)

MinionOfCthulhu posted:

Are warlords in yet? I want to yell at people to heal them.

No?

Okay... :saddowns:

You'll be waiting a long while as they've yet to tap the largest furry market (shapeshifting druids) and all those yiff dollars.

Al Baron
Nov 12, 2007
They were all out of Marquess.
Next class is probably going to be some type of paladin since it lines up with the initial datamining.

Goofballs
Jun 2, 2011



Hammerstein posted:

Whoa, an actual Archmage responded to you ?



Be moderately sarcastic to idiots and he'll talk to you too

Falented
Sep 2, 2012

We should change the name of that one tab in the guild bank from "Howie is Awesome" to "Please no more lvl 60 blues"

MinionOfCthulhu
Oct 28, 2005

I got this title for free due to my proximity to an idiot who wanted to save $5 on an avatar by having someone else spend $9.95 instead.

DancingShade posted:

You'll be waiting a long while as they've yet to tap the largest furry market (shapeshifting druids) and all those yiff dollars.

They already have Dragonborn isn't that enough?? :argh:

Lemon King
Oct 4, 2009

im nt posting wif a mark on my head

I should be on later tonight but I'll take a guild invite Harihara@Lemon_King

Falented
Sep 2, 2012

Lemon King posted:

I should be on later tonight but I'll take a guild invite Harihara@Lemon_King

Cool. You should be invited now.

Hammerstein
May 6, 2005

YOU DON'T KNOW A DAMN THING ABOUT RACING !
This is odd. I just logged in to check out AH prices and serene/tranquil/indomitable runestones have dropped in price. Which is weird because of the double refinement point weekend only being a few days away. I expected them to be bought up by this time.

SpacePope
Nov 9, 2009

I'd like an invite at Naeva@TheSadPope if possible.

Falented
Sep 2, 2012

TheSadPope posted:

I'd like an invite at Naeva@TheSadPope if possible.

Thanks for posting. You're in.

Hammerstein posted:

This is odd. I just logged in to check out AH prices and serene/tranquil/indomitable runestones have dropped in price. Which is weird because of the double refinement point weekend only being a few days away. I expected them to be bought up by this time.

That is weird, since I don't think those drop from the dragon hoard enchants.

hey girl you up
May 21, 2001

Forum Nice Guy

Hammerstein posted:

This is odd. I just logged in to check out AH prices and serene/tranquil/indomitable runestones have dropped in price. Which is weird because of the double refinement point weekend only being a few days away. I expected them to be bought up by this time.

Lesser fey are down to 49K (no doubt thanks to Horde) so I wouldn't be surprised they're dragging serene/etc. down with them.

Bert Roberge
Nov 28, 2003

OP can you add this to the PVP section?



Safe Travels,
Istar of Something Lawful

Valar Morghulis
Jul 20, 2014

All Men Must Die

Why are pubbies listing Coal wards at 500k :argh:? All I do lately is login, post stuff for sale, add a zen order or two and then log off.
500k doesn't even break even!

Also, I managed to buy 2 armoured polar bears before they released them as a zen order. People are so stupid listing them for 5m when they could easily get 25.

Falented
Sep 2, 2012

Bert Roberge posted:

OP can you add this to the PVP section?



Safe Travels,
Istar of Something Lawful

Hail, adventurer!

This is truly a humourous rendering, and I believe it would do wonders to augment yon post. Thy request is granted, but now I must away to hasten my magical designs.

Safe Travels,
*faaaaaaarrrrrrrt*

Greggy
Apr 14, 2007

Hands raw with high fives.
Could I get an invite? Thanks

Greggy fucked around with this message at 18:58 on Oct 1, 2014

Falented
Sep 2, 2012

Greggy posted:

Could I get an invite?

Done. Welcome aboard.

Falented fucked around with this message at 19:33 on Oct 20, 2014

Ham Equity
Apr 16, 2013

i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar
Grimey Drawer
Is it safe for me to just delete the refining portion of the script? Or will that break something?

Also, I still can't get double Adventurers working for Leadership. :(

Subjunctive
Sep 12, 2006

✨sparkle and shine✨

Thanatosian posted:

Is it safe for me to just delete the refining portion of the script? Or will that break something?

Also, I still can't get double Adventurers working for Leadership. :(

Not sure what's up with the adventurer stuff, but there should be a checkbox in the settings to control whether it refines AD.

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Dinictus
Nov 26, 2005

May our CoX spray white sticky fluid at our enemies forever!
HAIL ARACHNOS!
Soiled Meat
Who are some of our resident Foundry map makers, or otherwise are recognized as 'people that make fun campaigns' for the Foundry? I'd rather not wade through a lot of terrible missions and just enjoy myself while doing the Foundry while I get my daily in.

  • Locked thread