List of Fixes and Adjustments Needed After Dungeon Key Changes

The Dungeon Key Changes now had a few weeks to settle in and give players a rough idea about the impact of the system. As you might know I initially wasn’t a fan of the change at all. The main problem remains that farming has been nullified in favor of slightly more rewards out of your daily runs. Depending on your style of play, the experience with the system can vastly differ. Some players see more rewards and are quite happy. Others however that are trying to get the Legendary Marks out of Svardborg face an even higher mountain than before. It’s undeniable that those that farmed their Relic Weapons under the old system gained a significant competitive advantage with the change.

The downsides are intended

As Asterdahl pointed out in this post, they knew and discussed some of these issues. In the above mentioned posts I also reflected on the possibility that the devs might just have misjudged the situation. I guess that’s off the table now. Asterdahl clearly stated that they are aware “that players are now limited to running the number of dungeons their daily key allotment provides for”. After that “it feels like dungeons may just not be worth it”.

He didn’t specifically say they wanted to target farming with the change, but it at least was something they accepted as result of the change. They are of course monitoring the situation ™, but nothing seems to be imminent. I’m not waiting so long though and want to get my own suggestions of improvements out.

Needed improvements

Naturally my list focuses on the farming side of things. I do believe the rewards right now are sufficient for those that are running daily dungeons. The system however is a pain for those farming legendary stuff from Svardborg and Demogorgon for example. So that’s where I’d like to see some improvements.

Make campaign keys universal

Making campaign keys universal is something I’ve brought up before. While the devs like that you need to run different content with different keys, the reality is much less diverse. Some keys are easier to obtain and hence the corresponding content more frequently run. You might have have noticed that Valindra’s Tower gained popularity and Lostmauth now can hoard gold without being disturbed. The VT key is easy to generate on a daily basis and has become the go-to T1 dungeon. That’s why I don’t think you have to hold onto the current system. Just let every campaign task up to Underdark produce the same key that can be spend on any chest in a dungeon or skirmish. It would lead to people running the content they want to run and not have to run.

Legendary Choice Packs

This is kinda obvious in my eyes. Even with enhanced drop rates, the hunt for Legendary Rings and Marks is more annoying than ever, because you can only do so many runs per day. And then even before the Dungeon Key Changes you could be trolled by RNG handing out a “legendary” reward that’s worthless. We need choice packs in Demogorgon, FBI and Svardborg that let players choose the Legendary Ring and Mark they want.

Bring back the Dungeon Delves

For those that weren’t around back in the days: Before the game changed the loot system to a key-centric one, dungeon chests could only be opened in so called “Dungeon Delves” events. This hour-long event rotated every four hours like the Domination and Gauntlgrym 150% Glory ones. It was replaced by the request of the community because many felt that it was too easy to miss out if you weren’t on during the event. That was true back then, but now it might be time to bring it back.

Not only could non-VIPs use such an event to run more dungeons than they’d normally be able to, but it would also bring back farming capabilities, although only in a limited time frame per day. With the Dungeon Key Changes a dual system of keys and the Delves makes tons of sense in my eyes.


Thanks for reading through my quick improvements. Make sure to share your ideas or remarks in the comments below or visit the corresponding thread on our message board!

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j0Shi

j0Shi plays the Neverwinter MMORPG since the open BETA in 2013 and is a regular contributor to the blog and the whole UN:Project. Originally a Guardian Fighter, he has built up ALTs of all classes and plays on BIS/near-BIS level.

2 thoughts on “List of Fixes and Adjustments Needed After Dungeon Key Changes

  • January 27, 2017 at 7:16 pm
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    I’d do a change to your suggestion about the keys. I like the idea of it dropping by tier, but also think they should take a page from the Underdark modules and have those dungeons drop the components needed to make the necessary keys. If after running 3 t1 dungeons I get the ability to craft a legendary key, much like running two thrones and one demo allows me to craft demonic keys, it’s not a bad tradeoff.

    Ultimately, though, and this is one thing they communicated very poorly, you don’t need legendary keys to reap new drops from t1s. I have gotten an unbound heavy inferno Nightmare from a lostmauth VIP chest as well as a BtA Medium adventurer’s horse. Of course, don’t know how common that is or whether there’s a difference in drop rate between the two chests, which is on Cryptic’s lack of communication,

    • January 29, 2017 at 1:17 am
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      The Underdark keys are indeed the most convenient to acquire because you restock by running content. I agree that’s the way to go.

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