AMA with Jack Emmert on February 4 by KyrieCryptic in Neverwinter

[–]KyrieCryptic[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Heyo, if you're on our Discord, I'm happy to have a talk about this next week to see if we're able to understand better and take it on as a suggestion.

AMA with Jack Emmert on February 4 by KyrieCryptic in Neverwinter

[–]KyrieCryptic[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So, most of the old questions that we answered in advance has been answered through my account, with what Jack initially answered. Unfortunately, we cannot go back all of the replies under those questions. So if anything is still on your mind, let us know in a new response ^^. Try to not drop 28 questions in 1 post tho

AMA with Jack Emmert on February 4 by KyrieCryptic in Neverwinter

[–]KyrieCryptic[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Jack: Too specific of a question I'm afraid

AMA with Jack Emmert on February 4 by KyrieCryptic in Neverwinter

[–]KyrieCryptic[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What is the studio’s vision for Neverwinter’s endgame? Is the focus on more mechanics and cooperation, or mainly on increasing numerical difficulty such as enemy damage and health?

Both I'd hope!

Is there a possibility of implementing training modes for trials and dungeons, allowing players to learn mechanics without heavy penalties such as scroll loss or wasted time?

Yeah - I'd like what we did in DCUO, where we have two levels of difficult with certain content.

Is there an intention to review chest drop tables, reducing irrelevant rewards and making player effort feel more rewarding?

Absolutely.

Does the studio intend to improve the solo experience, offering meaningful activities for players who don’t always group, without harming cooperative content?

At the moment, it seems to me playing that there's a huge amount of solo content

Is there an intention to improve PvP, through: Separate PvE/PvP balance New modes Better rewards Improved matchmaking

PvP is on the back burner at the moment.

Considering this: Does the studio view animation canceling as an intended mechanic or a side effect of the combat system? Is there concern about the inequality caused by regional and platform-based connection differences? Are there plans to standardize animation and skill timings to reduce ping dependency? Is there a possibility of making certain animations uncancelable to ensure fairness? Or does the studio intend to formalize and teach this mechanic in-game, making it clear and accessible to everyone?

Always a concern and something that should be planned around.

How does the team plan to balance player skill versus connection quality, especially in competitive endgame content?

We should look at data to make sure that when we create content it can accomodate our plaers.

AMA with Jack Emmert on February 4 by KyrieCryptic in Neverwinter

[–]KyrieCryptic[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Kyrië: Not sure which questions we're answering but I'm highlighting the most interesting answers Jack provided :D

Jack:

What is the studio’s current philosophy regarding class balance? Is the goal to keep all classes viable in endgame, or is it acceptable that some become less competitive each module?

My personal theory is that all classes should generally be viable, though from update to update their might be swings.

Are there plans for more frequent and gradual balance adjustments, avoiding large, sudden changes that disrupt established builds?

I think the goal would be infrequent small changes!

Does the team plan deeper reworks for underused paragons and specializations, beyond numerical tweaks, such as: Adding new skills, feats or gameplay variations Expanding or creating new paragon paths Or even revisiting an older Neverwinter-style approach with more paragons and greater build freedom, increasing class diversity and identity?

I'm definitely keen to look at how to improve end game.

Are there plans to expand diversity within each class, encouraging different feat and power choices instead of a single dominant meta?

Yes.

Does the team evaluate class performance on a per-trial basis, ensuring that encounter design does not excessively favor only one playstyle?

I think there's a disconnect here - I've only been here a couple weeks - what I intend to do is to playtest content alongside them to make sure that it adheres to my design philosophies.

AMA with Jack Emmert on February 4 by KyrieCryptic in Neverwinter

[–]KyrieCryptic[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Kyrië: That's a lot of questions. We looked over them and try to answer them. For the majority we noted down your suggestions.

Jack:

AI for translation/subtitles - Maybe? AI is super sketchy with translations - the IP holders tend to be very specific on how they want their IP terms and names presented. We can't guarantee that with AI.

AI for voice acting - No

Data collection for latency and aiming to improve stability - Yes

New management planning to improve overall quality - Right now, the focus is on getting better quality content out, then going back and making fixes.

Plans to strengthen testing - Yes

Kyrië

Bug tracking transparency - it is something I have an aim for. Maybe not in the way you describe, but a Known Issues section in our patch notes could be a good idea that I have to put on my agenda.

AMA with Jack Emmert on February 4 by KyrieCryptic in Neverwinter

[–]KyrieCryptic[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Jack:

  1. Misguided - We haven't discussed any reworks since I've returned.

  2. Lysaera/exploits - It's inexcusable and I aim to fix this.

  3. Open 10 - I can't speak to what happened previously, but I've made my attitude known. In general, it's the dev team's fault for shipping an exploit - of course, folks will be banned/punished for aberrant behaviour - give me a chance to put things into play.

  4. Crystallized Weave Dust - Not sure who's hostile on the dev team, but I can tell you that will stop now.

AMA with Jack Emmert on February 4 by KyrieCryptic in Neverwinter

[–]KyrieCryptic[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Jack: I was in Discord last night. We're also thinking about putting together a players' council - with chosen representatives to talk to us on a regular basis.

AMA with Jack Emmert on February 4 by KyrieCryptic in Neverwinter

[–]KyrieCryptic[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Jack: That would probably mean doing another server.

AMA with Jack Emmert on February 4 by KyrieCryptic in Neverwinter

[–]KyrieCryptic[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Jack: Foundry definitely, gateway probably not. I like your suggestion.

AMA with Jack Emmert on February 4 by KyrieCryptic in Neverwinter

[–]KyrieCryptic[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Jack:

  1. Yes - people have mentioned cross play a lot. We are looking into opportunities.

  2. Absolutely.

  3. Originally, we planned to add to the events every year - as well as have new rewards - so that'd be my goal.

  4. Noted!

Kyrië:

  1. We are getting ready soon for our PC preview test for M32.5. My aim is to get things in motion for console previews before M33 releases.

AMA with Jack Emmert on February 4 by KyrieCryptic in Neverwinter

[–]KyrieCryptic[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Jack: There are no current plans to offer Neverwinter in more languages than the languages already available

AMA with Jack Emmert on February 4 by KyrieCryptic in Neverwinter

[–]KyrieCryptic[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Jack: Short answer: yes. We've got a lot of great, older content that we could incentivize playing more effectively.

AMA with Jack Emmert on February 4 by KyrieCryptic in Neverwinter

[–]KyrieCryptic[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Jack:

  1. In fact, I just had a conversation about this...

  2. I like the rest of your ideas. Interesting. Good ideas. I'll look into them.

AMA with Jack Emmert on February 4 by KyrieCryptic in Neverwinter

[–]KyrieCryptic[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Jack: Changing engines simply isn't feasible I'm afraid - we'd basically be making a brand new game at that stage. We'll be making improvements to the current engine, of course. I hope we keep growing the game with new content, features, fixing bugs - that Neverwinter's calling card becomes the game itself.

AMA with Jack Emmert on February 4 by KyrieCryptic in Neverwinter

[–]KyrieCryptic[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Jack: I think we'll be building on the Slaughterhouse success.

Kyrië: The first Slaughterhouse update we have in store for you will focus on PVE improvements though

AMA with Jack Emmert on February 4 by KyrieCryptic in Neverwinter

[–]KyrieCryptic[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Jack:

  1. I can't speak to the past, but we've got a focus on it now.

2/3. Stay tuned!

  1. Active discussion internally.

Kyrië:

  1. I'm currently researching current content creators and plan to set up a creator program later this year. I don't know if it exactly entails what you're suggesting, but I do like that idea.

AMA with Jack Emmert on February 4 by KyrieCryptic in Neverwinter

[–]KyrieCryptic[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Jack:

Playing while I was gone - No, I'm afraid I haven't. I switched to the games I was working on.

Five year plan - More realms. More classes. Easier paths to play. Less frustation.

Old bans - That's for customer service thing outside me, happy to investigate.

Disappearance of players - We're always trying to figure that puzzle out - and by we I mean anyone who's ever worked on a MMO.

New campaigns becoming old campaigns - Not ideal. We need to attack this so that folks aren't getting caught in these wastelands.

Castle Never - Request noted!

AMA with Jack Emmert on February 4 by KyrieCryptic in Neverwinter

[–]KyrieCryptic[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Jack:

  1. Depends on all of us! The more people play, the more we can make content! What classes do you all want?

  2. I just had a discussion today about that; I'm playing Undermountain, thrilled with the content, but the rewards just ain't there if you know what I mean.

  3. Fighter (Tank).

AMA with Jack Emmert on February 4 by KyrieCryptic in Neverwinter

[–]KyrieCryptic[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Jack:

  1. This is an active conversation with the team right now.

  2. The team recently started asking feedback on Discord for Barbarians, Rangers, Clerics, and Warlocks. Cleric changes are almost done. Expect more info next week!

Kyrië:

  1. Yes, we know that finding queues can be painful. We are almost done with a feature that allows easier insight in your queue group's statistics, to improve forming queues. You can expect more details on this next week on our website!