Shroud of Souls Console Primer: Loadouts, Story, Queue and Item Levels

A week before the official release of “Shroud of Souls” on consoles, it’s time to bring you PS4 and Xbox folks up to speed about what you are going to get with the mid-module update. Today we’re starting with some mixed stuff before moving on to Masterwork and Stronghold additions over the next days. Have fun with it!

Story

As mid-module update “Shroud of Souls” doesn’t focus on story a lot. It nonetheless features a short quest line. Illusionist Lukan has unintentionally broken a warding rune under the River District that opened a portal to the Shadowfell. Now ghostly creatures swarm the District, as if Kabal’s, Nostura’s and Gyrion’s minions weren’t already enough. In their task to stop a necromancer called Morlanth, players will visit Netherese village Evernight and eventually defeat her in the “Shard of Night”, which then becomes a repeatable instance in the River District like the demiplanes. The companion to get from a completion is the Netherese Arcanist, the campaign itself rewards item level 450 (150) armor.

The story as always is well told and offers a few cool achievements and titles, this time with a heavy drinking theme! Other than that however it’s nothing special, as you would expect from such an update. In case you’re interested in further details you can read our full preview below.

Loadouts

The main quality-of-life update of “Shroud of Souls” is loadouts. Requested by players for a long time these allow to quickly switch between multiple sets of Powers, Feats, Paragon Paths and gear. It’s a great addition overall, but doesn’t help in all areas equally. The main drawback is that Enchantment, Mounts and Companions are not included. So fully one-click switching builds is only possible if both need no change in these areas, which is hardly the case. Outside some Control Wizards that can switch between buff and dps this hasn’t been used on PC a lot, at least not on lfg.

But you’ll love it to switch from your Everfrost gear to save Voninblod, solo DPS loadouts for support classes and different power layouts. All characters get an additional loadout at level 30 and can buy more for 500 ZEN. You are then able to switch between them on all campfire and social hubs like Protector’s Enclave.

30% free Everfrost Resistance

While loadouts still won’t be able to get rid of Voninblod entirely, the next feature can. Upon completing the entry quests on Storm Kings Thunder, new players will now get an item that adds 30% Resistance permanently. It sits in the Useful Items tab and toons that already have completed the quest will find it in their mailbox. This does not only effectively remove the requirements for Svardborg and Fangbreaker Island, it also makes running the content that much easier for anyone already owning a sizeable amount of Resistance. Endgame toons will be able to hit the 80% DR cap on Everfrost.

Queue Changes

Speaking of dungeons: The queue will receive a slight change and feature different requirements for public and private groups. This way random groups are more likely to actually beat the dungeon while premades that know what they are doing are free to enter content even earlier. This is a change that generally makes sense, most will probably still feel that solo pugging is not really viable. In case you found cool dudes in the queue though, a “recently played with” list will help you find and befriend them.

A more irritating change has been done to the queue vs. party mechanic. After completing a dungeon you now join the party you were in before entering the content with your queue group. This was meant to clear up some irritations, instead you can make a point it added to them. There’s not really a lot of cases where you are in a party A, queue with group B, and after the run want to get into party A again. One oversight of the change also was that you leave the queue party before any loot is rolled on. So you actually need to party again to be able to pick it up. Basically the loot system has to be attached to the queue group to make this work.

Overflow Bag Changes

In “Shroud of Souls” the restrictions for having stuff in your Overflow Bag have been severely raised. You are not able to hand in quests, cannot queue and use some other functions. The reason is that the Overflow Bag apparently was massively abused up to a point where it caused stability issues on the server. And well, they also want to sell bag space right? I guess you can bitch about that a lot, but in the end it should not affect too many players.

New Item Levels

Last but not least the item levels will receive a major change. As you might now the former system was not really accurate in telling a player’s power. Some areas were not properly represented, others completely missing. That’s why Mounts, Companions, Insignias and Boons now come with item levels, and others were adjusted. The whole system really takes a great step forward this way.

Please note that this change is not fully supported by our Character Simulator, which partially has old item levels. This will be changed eventually.


That’s the first part of our big console primer! Check back the next days for all the other features of “Shroud of Souls” and make sure to post questions and comments in the meantime!

Neverwinter UN:Blogged is always looking for writers to contribute to the blog. If you are an active player and search for a way to spread your opinions, analysis, diaries or reviews to more than 40,000 regular visitors, then don’t hesitate and get in touch with us on our contact page or message board! We are currently especially looking for console and PVP content, but that’s not exclusive. There is no frequency requirement, you post how often you want.

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 “Shroud of Souls Console Primer: Loadouts, Story, Queue and Item Levels

  • June 13, 2017 at 8:19 am
    Permalink

    Minor correction: players will now get a potion that adds 30% Resistance permanently.

    It’s not a potion. A periapt is a “charm or amulet worn on a string or chain”, derived from the Greek word for “to fasten around”. It’s maybe important to clarify because a bunch of people on PC were trying to figure out how to use it, how to activate it, etc.

    And it’s worth mentioning that it sits in the Useful Items tab and doesn’t take an inventory slot. It’s entirely an awesome addition.

    • June 13, 2017 at 12:43 pm
      Permalink

      Thanks, we’ve added the info!

Comments are closed.