Neverwinter Online

[LadyCrimson]

I don't know if you saw this already, but one of the things they're testing on the test-build server right now is bind on pickup on purple gear in dungeons, or something. Says they'll leave some rares as bind on equip, but I'd guess not a whole lot. Which would kinda suck for those of us who don't like to grind dungeons (won't see many on the AH anymore). Buy them while you can, har. Oh well, I'm used to that from other online games, heh.

 

Oh and my panther at lvl30 rocks. His "pounce" attack now knocks enemies down, which can actually interrupt their spellcasting/attacks, and he does the pounce very often. Much more helpful than his still pitiful melee damage.

[Keyrock]

I don't know if you saw this already, but one of the things they're testing on the test-build server right now is bind on pickup on purple gear in dungeons, or something. Says they'll leave some rares as bind on equip, but I'd guess not a whole lot. Which would kinda suck for those of us who don't like to grind dungeons (won't see many on the AH anymore). Buy them while you can, har. Oh well, I'm used to that from other online games, heh.

 

Oh and my panther at lvl30 rocks. His "pounce" attack now knocks enemies down, which can actually interrupt their spellcasting/attacks, and he does the pounce very often. Much more helpful than his still pitiful melee damage.

Well, at least I'm already decked out in purples, though I do need to upgrade my helm.  On the flip side, this might drive the value of profession crafted purples up on AH.

[Keyrock]

So the Invasion Event has started.  It happens every 30 minutes and lasts for 5 minutes.  A bunch of portals spawn around Protector's Enclave and waves of trash mobs appear for the slaughter.  They drop enchantments that I've never seen before and some bones which can be used as currency to buy stuff...  eventually, I think.  Pretty meh.  Hopefully there's a big ass boss fight at some point, like the end of the event.

[Keyrock]

WOOHOO!  I had a skeletal dog companion drop during one of the portal events!  I named him Rufus von Marrowstein. 

 

Also, I'm up to 55 bones.  I'm still not exactly sure what I'll be able to get for them, but I hope to have at least 200 by the end of the event.

[LadyCrimson]

WOOHOO!  I had a skeletal dog companion drop during one of the portal events!  I named him Rufus von Marrowstein. 

 

Also, I'm up to 55 bones.  I'm still not exactly sure what I'll be able to get for them, but I hope to have at least 200 by the end of the event.

There's a "bones" merchant up one side of the main stairs that leads to the main praying spot. He has two dogs next to him...where one of the scrying stones usually is, maybe? The bones can be turned in for the enchants, scrolls, and the dog. 40 for the dog. I only have 25 so far, I was focusing on getting to lvl 60 first.

 

At the end of every portal, does the screen totally freeze for you? It doesn't hurt me at all, but it's rather annoying. Combat is fine, just "portal's have closed!" and it's suddenly 1fps for 5 seconds. Only time the game has behaved like that.

 

P.S. - dunno if the bones will be worth anything else later or not...

P.P.S 2 - the vendor just has white dogs, not blue ones. Blue ones from the bag o' bones I gather.

[LadyCrimson]

Well I farmed those portals with everyone else until I could get a white skeleton dog, tried to get a blue dog, then said "I have better things to do than luck-grind forever" and just bought one from the AH, since people were selling them for like 140k (that 2 million founder AD has gone a long way...)  .... was disappointed that they don't actually have a blue fire glow. May not use 'em.  Maybe in a few months they'll be worth a lot 'cause non-bound ones will be rare.

But that's enough defending the city. Talk about a grind.

 

Reached 60 with one character ... she's mostly decked out in cheap purples. Now to get all those professions to lvl20.

[Keyrock]

 

WOOHOO!  I had a skeletal dog companion drop during one of the portal events!  I named him Rufus von Marrowstein. 

 

Also, I'm up to 55 bones.  I'm still not exactly sure what I'll be able to get for them, but I hope to have at least 200 by the end of the event.

There's a "bones" merchant up one side of the main stairs that leads to the main praying spot. He has two dogs next to him...where one of the scrying stones usually is, maybe? The bones can be turned in for the enchants, scrolls, and the dog. 40 for the dog. I only have 25 so far, I was focusing on getting to lvl 60 first.

 

At the end of every portal, does the screen totally freeze for you? It doesn't hurt me at all, but it's rather annoying. Combat is fine, just "portal's have closed!" and it's suddenly 1fps for 5 seconds. Only time the game has behaved like that.

 

P.S. - dunno if the bones will be worth anything else later or not...

P.P.S 2 - the vendor just has white dogs, not blue ones. Blue ones from the bag o' bones I gather.

 

Yeah, the blue dog (the one I got) is a rare drop during the event.  I've gotten 1 so far the entire time (which is enough for me).  The lag thing is happening for everyone (apparently crashing the game for some people, but not me).  When the portal explodes at the end it goes into super duper freeze mode for several seconds.

[LadyCrimson]

When I put some settings down to super low, the freeze-lag seemed to mostly go away. Don't like playing like that, but eh...only temporary.

[Keyrock]

I can live with the super freeze.  A patch is coming today that "should" address this.

 

Edit:  Wow, the rewards for those bones are downright pathetic.  It's just the same stuff that drops during the events.  Weak.

Edited June 18, 2013 by Keyrock

[Keyrock]

Thinking about it, perhaps the blue dog glows if you use the skin you get at higher level?  I mean the only real difference between the white skeleton dog and the blue one is that the blue one can get to level 25 rather than 15 and get one extra skin.  I suspect that maybe that skin is the glowing skin.  I guess I'll find out when I level Rufus up to lev 25.

[LadyCrimson]

Thinking about it, perhaps the blue dog glows if you use the skin you get at higher level?  I mean the only real difference between the white skeleton dog and the blue one is that the blue one can get to level 25 rather than 15 and get one extra skin.  I suspect that maybe that skin is the glowing skin.  I guess I'll find out when I level Rufus up to lev 25.

Hm, that could be. Or maybe if you have one of the higher level special purple companion enchants? I did notice that the lvl1 white dog has less initial hit points than the blue lvl1 dog. Must be a Tier multiplier difference. Wonder when they're going to have the Upgrade Companion tome to purchase...seems a bit odd it's not there already.

[Keyrock]

 

Thinking about it, perhaps the blue dog glows if you use the skin you get at higher level?  I mean the only real difference between the white skeleton dog and the blue one is that the blue one can get to level 25 rather than 15 and get one extra skin.  I suspect that maybe that skin is the glowing skin.  I guess I'll find out when I level Rufus up to lev 25.

Hm, that could be. Or maybe if you have one of the higher level special purple companion enchants? I did notice that the lvl1 white dog has less initial hit points than the blue lvl1 dog. Must be a Tier multiplier difference. Wonder when they're going to have the Upgrade Companion tome to purchase...seems a bit odd it's not there already.

 

Yeah, when I was leveling up my Acolyte of Kelemvor, she already had as many hit points as my max levelled cheesy cleric or wizard companion when she hit lev 8 or 9.  She's got more than double hit points at lev 25 of what the cheesy companions have at lev 15.

 

Speaking of the Acolyte of Kelemvor, travelling around with Rufus to level him up has given me new appreciation for her.  Just doing runs through Bill's Tavern for foundry dailies (Bill's Tavern is my go to  foundry speedrun, I can do it in 11 or 12 minutes) I wind up having to use potions or chilling near the campfire for extended periods because I take so much more damage and heal so much less.  Of course part of that is because Rufus is still so low lev that he gets knocked unconscious but quick, so he doesn't pull aggro for very long, nor get the chance to knock down enemies much, but the other part of that is that a "healer" is just a much better companion for me in most situations since I'm a DPS class.

 

I wouldn't mind getting another blue dog drop, either to save for a future character that could benefit more from it, or to sell in AH for AD.  If I don't get another one, though, I'll just be happy with the one I have.

Edited June 18, 2013 by Keyrock

[Monte Carlo]

Hear that noise? Sort of like a dishwasher full of sticks? IT'S GARY GYGAX SPINNING IN HIS GRAVE.

[HoonDing]

But he approved the first Neverwinter MMO.

 

[LadyCrimson]

Speaking of the Acolyte of Kelemvor, travelling around with Rufus to level him up has given me new appreciation for her.  Just doing runs through Bill's Tavern for foundry dailies (Bill's Tavern is my go to  foundry speedrun, I can do it in 11 or 12 minutes) I wind up having to use potions or chilling near the campfire for extended periods because I take so much more damage and heal so much less.

I had that same issue when I switched to the panther. After running around with the Cleric companion (who works fine at lower levels at least) without realizing exactly how much she was healing me, I was all "oh gee why am I taking so much more damage all of a sudden?" I've gotten used to it by now tho. I'm pretty curious what the current companions will have as their 3rd ability bonus, if/when they're able to be upgraded to purple rank. The only other companion, so far, that I'm curious about is that blue Ioun Stone or whatever ... but I don't know what stats it boosts. They need better in-game descriptions there. I'll have to look it up sometime.

 

Been trying to level up the wizard, but while she kick butt one day, she's so annoying early on, even into the 20's. Plus I have zero clue how to spend her points. None of the skill descriptions feel intuitive. I'd rather level up another cleric or two (could have one for each paragon "path")...or maybe I think I'd rather let Leadership and praying level up all my alts. Should take a couple months.

[LadyCrimson]

Hopefully there's a big ass boss fight at some point, like the end of the event.

I don't think they're "bosses," but they're rather big. And every 5 minutes, too. Rather crazy, but fun. My cleric isn't the dps dynamo but I think I'm at least helpful most of the time. If only I didn't have fumble-fingers these days (keyboard). Opened maybe 30 bags total so far, no stupid blue dog for "free," for me, yet. Also ... I wish they had night in the Enclave more often. I prefer the dark...

 

 

[Keyrock]

Yeah, the Unhallowed Wights at least add another enemy that doesn't get insta-gibbed, though I've seen and participated in taking them down in sometimes as little as 2 or 3 seconds.

 

Anyway, my goal was to get 200 bones (not that they're particularly valuable because there's not really anything good to trade them for), and I'm almost there.  I have 7 rank 5 savage enchantments.  If I can get one more that will be enough to fuse 2 rank 6s.  I doubt I could get enough for a rank 7.  I don't think anyone will be able to fuse a rank 8, unless they buy up rank 7s from AH.

[LadyCrimson]

Yeah, the Unhallowed Wights at least add another enemy that doesn't get insta-gibbed, though I've seen and participated in taking them down in sometimes as little as 2 or 3 seconds.

I think that's mostly because there's usually 10-15 players+companions all wailing away. No companions in some of the dungeons, right? And they can't make it too hard in case not many ppl show up in a spot. I've gotten to a portal solo and me against 2 of those Wights in the middle of a cluster of zombie adds = dicey, lol.

 

I've bought 3 white dogs and have several lvl5 enchants too. Don't care about saving up the bones. Just want the dogs to sell later, once the companion upgrades are available. Don't know why ppl sell them right away before the event is even over. Time for a nap now.

[Keyrock]

 

Yeah, the Unhallowed Wights at least add another enemy that doesn't get insta-gibbed, though I've seen and participated in taking them down in sometimes as little as 2 or 3 seconds.

I think that's mostly because there's usually 10-15 players+companions all wailing away. No companions in some of the dungeons, right? And they can't make it too hard in case not many ppl show up in a spot. I've gotten to a portal solo and me against 2 of those Wights in the middle of a cluster of zombie adds = dicey, lol.

 

I've bought 3 white dogs and have several lvl5 enchants too. Don't care about saving up the bones. Just want the dogs to sell later, once the companion upgrades are available. Don't know why ppl sell them right away before the event is even over. Time for a nap now.

 

Yeah, I'm going to see if it's more profitable to sell white dogs or savage enchantments and spend the bones on whatever I can make a prettier profit on.  The enchantments are nice and all, but not anything special.  Frankly, I'd rather have azure enchantments as I care about critical strike for offense slots above anything else, and while savage enchantments provide both critical strike and armor penetration and the sum of the bonuses is slightly higher than an equivalent rank azure (or other type) enchantment (for example +65 and +65 for a rank 5 savage versus +120 for a rank 5 azure) I'd rather have the singular critical strike bonus of azure than split between crit and armor penetration.

 

I'm currently in the process of trying to find and/or buy the full Titan armor set.  I have the boots, now I need the helmet, armor, and bracers.  Once I have the full set I'll mostly just squirrel away my AD for a potential mount and/or companion training manual in the future.  I may spend a few AD on an enhancement slot enchantment for my axe and my armor (once I have the Titan Scale).  I came to the conclusion that coalescent wards are just way too expensive in AH (I've still yet to EVER get one from a coffer of augmentation).  It's cheaper to just buy the already fused enchantments.

 

Also, about 10 1/2 months from now I'll get that angel companion for 360 ardent coins.  Nothing else is even remotely worth buying with ardent coins (ooh a blue lev 60 weapon that's nowhere near as powerful as even the weakest purple you can easily get with seals of the unicorn that you'll quickly accumulate by doing epic dungeon runs [especially during dungeon delves events]  )

Edited June 19, 2013 by Keyrock

[LadyCrimson]

All right. I've had enough bones to buy a total of 8 "white" skellie dogs, not a single blue dropped. I have the worst luck with this kind of thing. After a while I became good at the chaotic madness and enchants and bags were falling everywhere for me each time, but nothing. Feh.

 

Re: gear, I have no clue what "good" Cleric gear would be. That War Prophet set is cheap, so I'm using that ( + green pants/shirt).  Life steal (at 12%), AP gain over 40%, defense at 29-30%, critical around 18% at the moment. Mostly lvl 5 enchants, couple lvl6's,  with a lesser fire plague gem in the weapon. Only puts me around 9300 gear score tho. I hear the "elite" peeps like 11k.

[Keyrock]

I'm around 9k, but that's with almost no enchantments on any of my gear because I don't want to socket anything into my good gear until I have at least rank 6s, and preferably rank 7s or 8s, of the type I want.  Removing enchantments is just too expensive for me to keep switching it out, it's one time and that's that.  I imagine I'll be around that 11k mark if and when I get a full Titan set and when I socket everything (read: not any time soon).  To me, "good" gear is whatever fits the character build you're going for.  For me, it's all about critical strike and life steal.  Recovery, defense, deflect, power, etc. they're all nice, but they're all secondary to critical strike and life steal for me.

[LadyCrimson]

There's not really much choice per chr, outside of the slots. The "cleric" gear (or sets) tend to focus most often on certain stats, and that's what you can wear. My ... uh ... the shield chr ... gets a lot of gear with a crapton of defense/deflection and regen or something, rogue gets a lot of critical strike (less common on most cleric gear). My main focus has been life steal/defense since lvl30, in terms of enchants and what I search for on the AH. Everything else just came with.

 

I put in higher lvl runes because I figured, since I don't run dungeons, I wasn't going to get much better, ever ... not unless/until I could afford 1,250,000 AD per armor piece instead of 15k-40k per piece. And that will be a long long time away. If ever. And by then it might be BoP so I won't even be able to get it from AH. 

[Keyrock]

I think I'm for the most part burned out on the invasion event.  I have nearly 250 bones, 10 rank 5 savage enchantments and many lesser ones, and I got a second blue dog drop, which I'l save for a future character or sell in AH if I think I can get a high enough AD for it.

[LadyCrimson]

I certainly became burnt out on doing any actual fighting, especially when it's every 5 minutes. I discovered, however, that you don't have to fight. You can just stand near enough to be in the "combat position" and do nothing, and you'll get some drops at your feet + the end 1 bag reward regardless, including the enchants and "chest-that-is-a-bag". Not nearly as many, of course, but some. So I stand there, web surf, watch Netflix, check my feet once in a while.

[LadyCrimson]

*CUSSWORD*-YEAH! ... don't actually need a mount, so dunno if I want to sell/trade it or use/bind it. Sometimes it'd be nice to have a mount that isn't a funky giant spider ...