Neverwinter Online

[LadyCrimson]

I'd largely agree with Keyrock, especially about the fast leveling and the diminishing returns aspect. At most it's a "pay to avoid time grind", which if that's the way one wants to go, it's an option. But I tend to roll my eyes when people cry P2W because of a "want it now" mentality.

 

Most people who spend "a lot" of cash on this game (more than $60 say) do so because they just like to ... collect things. They have no true game-need for it, they just want to have it.

 

There is one type of companion that isn't as "negligible" in effect, imo, however - the augment pets (cat, stones). These don't fight but they boost your stats by whatever gear/enchants you equip them with (like getting to wear 4 more pieces of gear). They don't attack, pull any unwanted aggro and can't die - thus the augments are usually the only "pet" people want to see you using in tough dungeons (well, crybaby PUG's anyway). And they can be overall quite helpful to lower-dps or lower-defense classes. However, one can do fine without an augment pet too. They are not needed and anyone who tells you they are is mindlessly parroting what "everyone" else says or are the obsessive "max stat" type power-gamers.

 

One reason some complain, I think, is because of the PvP. There's no ranking match-up system apparently so the game will toss brand-new lvl60's together with long-term, high geared lvl60's. Or newbie lvl20's against lvl20's from long time players who can toss high rank enchants in their lowbie gear. This is just bad design and I can sympathize with people who like to PvP complaining about it. They should match up PvP matches by at least gearscore or something.

 

Anyhoo - switching topics....the sled is silly fun! Worth getting for my main at least (she'll get a mimic too from an alt). Also ... I've gotten just past 13000 gearscore now because of those Artifacts. I'm starting to, for a DC, finally get moderately fast at doing solo stuff. Still...I'm not built with max HP in mind so I'm kinda crunchy. 

 

 

[Keyrock]

Yeah, there are definitely things to criticize about Neverwinter.  For example, the matchmaking system (whether for PvP or for assembling groups for running dungeons) sucks.  Also, the new enchantment upgrading system is insanely convoluted (the previous system, if nothing else, was quite straightforward).  Neverwinter's F2P aspect is something I heartily praise.  Do they give you incentives to spend money? Of course, if they didn't then no one would ever spend any money and they would all be looking for new jobs.  Can you get to level 60 faster if you spend money?  Sure, but you're going to get to level 60 really fast without spending a dime.  Can you get better end game gear faster if you spend money?  Sure, but you can get all that same gear by running epic dungeons, buying them from the in-game shop with astral diamonds you earn yourself in-game, or, most likely, a combination of both, all without spending any real life cash, and it won't take forever.  This is one F2P game that you truly can play for free and create a powerful, viable end game character.

 

LadyC, I got so much height off the lake jump with my GWF that I hit the invisible wall probably about 15 feet above the top of those rocks.  I wish that invisible all wasn't there, I would have landed well into the Monsters on Ice area. 

[Keyrock]

Getting down at the festival:

 

http://youtu.be/8borSPfMEgU

 

Lake Jumping:

 

http://youtu.be/C9vUpWban-s

[LadyCrimson]

Been trying to play with hubby, and I have to say - the party system (even for co-op) sucks. Doesn't share the quests (most of the time anyway) so each player has to get it/turn it in, etc. Hubby's very slow with any learning curve in games and gets "lost" very easily (plus he doesn't like to "think" in games) so it's tough enough as it is without having to tell him constantly what to click on because I can neither acquire nor turn in quests for us as a group.

 

Is there a share-quests option that I'm missing, or is that just the way it is...I've got us on free for all loot so he can just pick up everything without the stupid need/greed menu, but that's all the options I really see.

[Keyrock]

Scooped up an Ioun Stone augment companion for free (real money wise) during the sale (converted AD to Zen).  Now gotta level Rocky Rhodes up. 

[LadyCrimson]

Yeah...I'm afraid this last sale (plus with bags on sale too) gave my discipline a hard knock and I caved and bought some more Zen, which I haven't done in a while. A few more bags to spread among alts, couple of Stones and a few other pets. Could of done it all with AD to Zen exchange but I'm planning on using a lot of my AD to buy more fawns after Zenith (when their price will drop a fair bit more I'm sure) + I might upgrade a few pets.

 

I can't do much more fishing, I'm fished out.

[Keyrock]

Where do you keep all those animals?  Do you have a ranch or a barn?  Who cleans up after them?

[LadyCrimson]

My mailsmiths and alchemists are all lazy roustabouts with nothing much to do most of the time, so they get to muck the stalls and run after me with the magical pooper scoopers.

[Keyrock]

Have you tried Sword Coast Adventures yet?  It's a pretty fun way to level up your companions and you get some companions too.  You get a dog just for doing the tutorial adventure.  I named my dog Commander Shepherd.

Edited December 31, 2013 by Keyrock

[LadyCrimson]

Yeah....I got the free puppy on a few chrs. Tried the top dungeon only once, with my main (only one that has 5 epic pets) which has a chance for a blue pet. Got through about 3/4 of the encounters I think but by then my group had lost almost all of their health bar (lost a lot of fights/had to do them twice) so I gave up. Haven't tried that one since. It's tough.

[Keyrock]

I gotta say it's a nice little distraction that I can do while I'm away from my gaming computer (This in no way, shape, or form means killing time at work.  No siree bob, not one bit.  Why would you even suggest such a thing?  ) 

Edited December 31, 2013 by Keyrock

[Keyrock]

I didn't even know until just now that there's more than one launching ramp around the lake.

 

http://youtu.be/7k1qSlNQA0g

Edited January 1, 2014 by Keyrock

[LadyCrimson]

So how far can you get with that one? Doesn't seem like you can get as high? Btw, I find it absurdly funny to see your daintily dressed chr (summer festival clothes) flying forward with a giant glowing hammer.

[Keyrock]

No, I haven't been able to get that much height off that jump, maybe because there are only 2 "boost points" instead of the 4 for the other jump.  Because I'm a roleplayer like that I only wear my fashion clothes at the festival (never mind that I'd be freezing my badonkadonk off in that dress) or in Protector's Enclave, I switch back to my armor as soon as I enter Dread Ring, or any other "dangerous" area.  It is hilarious that my giant mallet shows up as soon as I sprint. 

[LadyCrimson]

Zenith bonuses are kinda lame. Although double Lights for just entering the contests is ok. And the t-bars for stars is cool for my main so I don't have to give up a mimic on any alt. But ... meh. I was hoping for a new crafting task, not the Feast again. Something like tha

 

3rd fawn sometime today then I think I'm done with this Festival outside of the telescope/star quest. Except for some ledge jumping, maybe.

[LadyCrimson]

So I realized I have something like 9 million AD, which is enough to get maybe 22-24k Zen if I felt like it. Which doesn't count the mega millions worth of assets I have sitting in inventories, if I sold them off. Immediately after that realization I concluded that after that last pet sale, there isn't much I'd want to "buy" at this point. I still want to upgrade some stuff, but not in a hurry for that. Don't care about r8+ enchants or Perfect enchantments etc. I think I have enough pets and mounts, don't really need more, even if they are adorable.

 

Even daily praying isn't motivating. Don't really need that healer pet and the 7 day pray reward has become almost useless. I just might be largely done with the game - although if they have a 3rd module, that might re-interest me briefly.

 

Think it's time to start selling off stuff and tidying things up. Might even delete a couple alts. Anything you need/want, Keyrock?

[Keyrock]

So I realized I have something like 9 million AD, which is enough to get maybe 22-24k Zen if I felt like it. Which doesn't count the mega millions worth of assets I have sitting in inventories, if I sold them off. Immediately after that realization I concluded that after that last pet sale, there isn't much I'd want to "buy" at this point. I still want to upgrade some stuff, but not in a hurry for that. Don't care about r8+ enchants or Perfect enchantments etc. I think I have enough pets and mounts, don't really need more, even if they are adorable.

 

Even daily praying isn't motivating. Don't really need that healer pet and the 7 day pray reward has become almost useless. I just might be largely done with the game - although if they have a 3rd module, that might re-interest me briefly.

 

Think it's time to start selling off stuff and tidying things up. Might even delete a couple alts. Anything you need/want, Keyrock?

Well...  It's really expensive (around 2 million, I think) but I want to get the training manual to upgrade my Blue Ribbon Pig (clearly the champion of pigs) mount to rank 3.  I've already upgraded the pig to rank 2 and it's utterly hilarious to watch those stubby little pig legs churn while I'm zipping along at +80% speed.  It's going to be even better at +110%.

[LadyCrimson]

Yeah, I did finally ugprade the pig mount on my DC to rank2. Definitely hilarious. Probably the best mount in the game, really. Wasn't sure if I was going to go up to r3, since I have multiple other 110 mounts already.

 

Let me see what stuff I want to try to sell off (12 chrs. inventories, gah) that I don't need. I think the training manual isn't BoP so I could just buy it and mail it?

[Keyrock]

I've seen a manual on AH before, so I don't think they're BoP, but definitely read the description before purchasing.    Thank you, by the way.

 

Edit:  Crap, according to the wiki the manual is bind on pick up, so never mind.

Edited January 3, 2014 by Keyrock

[LadyCrimson]

Hm. In-game neither manual actually states BoP or BoE in the descrip. text. When I upgraded pig/sled not long ago I bought the green manual off the AH for cheaper than the Bazaar price. But don't know if the seller had bought them before they became BoP or something.

 

I'll ask around, sometimes those wikis are wrong. Otherwise, I'd have to trade diamonds in-game with you I guess?

[Keyrock]

Can you even trade AD between players?  The way I do it between characters is by making a purchase bid for Zen at the exchange at 50 AD per Zen (no one will sell me Zen for 50 AD a piece, then I cancel and withdraw it with the character I want to give it to.  Don't worry about it if this is going to be a pain in the butt.

 

Edit:  Also, if you need any Greater Marks of Power, Union, or Stability, let me know, I have a bunch.

Edited January 4, 2014 by Keyrock

[LadyCrimson]

Yeah, you can trade diamonds between players through the trade window. Or at least...you can with gold. I haven't actually tried with AD, but I think there was an option for it. I'll double-check with hubby's chr. later.

[LadyCrimson]

I tried to ask on the forum about being BoP or not but all anyone ever says now is "use the Preview shard to test it." If I wanted to bother with the preview shard, I wouldn't ask the question on the forum.

 

Anyway....I can just trade you the diamonds some time. I'm waiting to see if I can actually sell a Stag for a silly amount of AD or if I'll have to put it back up again at a more reasonable price. I usually do reasonable pricing to begin with but eh...thought I'd try it.

 

I've tried the t6 Sword Coast dungeon a few more times and still haven't gotten to the end fight. Or rather, I lose enough group hit points that I decide to just leave without going further. I guess I don't have the right type of pets to make it easy...seems like an army of Lillends would work well in there.

[Keyrock]

No hurry on trading AD.

 

 

Also,

Edited January 5, 2014 by Keyrock

[Keyrock]

SQUEE!

 

I named him Darryl.

 

Edit:  The Astrologer's Scarf rocks!

 

Edited January 5, 2014 by Keyrock