The Lowbie Diaries Vol. 9: Restart

Welcome to a new project, experiment, challenge or whatever you wanna call it. Normally experiencing the content with well-geared toons, I figured it would be quite interesting to approach the game from the perspective of a casual player. How does it feel starting from scratch and build up a character without the help of your mains? How long does it take until you are geared enough for the latest endgame content? Welcome to the Lowbie Diaries, it should be fun!

After a combination of working on the Toolbase, lack of motivation, time and my account getting banned saw me not logging into the game for more than three months, I decided to rejoin the Sword Coast with a new lowbie project. This time I actually set up a full new account so we’re getting the unfiltered lowbie experience that some of you were missing during the previous run. The goals remain the same however: Beating the current capstone content comfortably, which would be Demogorgon at the moment. I’m gonna be doing a weekly summary, because I definitely won’t be playing every day.

The first character is a CW, it’s the one I’m most comfortable with and I’ll be running with a VIP subscription. Yes, that’s not strictly F2P, but the title also doesn’t say “F2P diaries”. Also in my honest opinion everyone who has the ability to log in each and every day and does not buy into the VIP program is making a mistake, because as we’ve already reported the subscription pays for itself. In my first 20 days of gameplay, I have bought leveling gear and saved 350k AD from selling the lockbox drops, which means I should be able to resub after 30 days. I even opened some Artifact, Enchantment and Companion Packs. The amount of progression you get from the VIP is so insane it’s almost impossible to avoid.

Our first chapter actually covers the first three weeks and my way to level 55. The first thing I noticed was how well designed the progress is for regular players in the original game, which kind of makes you sad considering what they have done post 60. Although you technically outlevel content, you are able to complete every adventure area easily. The ToD campaign was a stable companion and once I got to the areas that featured Mod 4 content, the campaign had actually progressed accordingly so I could start the introductory quests for the respective area as well.

Otherwise it was the usual walkthrough. I soon bought leveling gear from my first VIP ADs and picked up what I found. I decided to set up a MoF CW, because it’s something I haven’t done so far and it’s a pretty fun support build. None of the quests were challenging, but I enjoyed it anyway. My favorite area by far is Icespire Peak, the axe bridge is just a brilliant scenery. Vellosk comes in second. It’s quite refreshing that you already get full ADs for your first dungeons every day even at low levels (not for the Skirmishes however?), but boy do they get repetitive after a few days. Sadly we know it’s a good measurement what to expect throughout the game.

That’s it for today folks, I’m thrilled to see where this one gets us. Cheers!


The Lowbie Diaries Vol. 4: Rethinking & New Patch FTW!
The Lowbie Diaries Vol. 5: Events
The Lowbie Diaries Vol. 6: Difficulty Changes
The Lowbie Diaries Vol. 7: Happy 4th Of Sigh
The Lowbie Diaries Vol. 8: Summertime


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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.