State of the Game Developer Stream Summary

Yesterday Community Managers Julia, Andy and Lead Designer Thomas Foss gathered on the Perfect World Twitch channel to talk the state of the game and answer user questions. We have summarized their most important statements and provided some additional comment. Have fun with it!

On the State of the Game

Foss said that they are trying to actively get more D&D spirit back into the game. The Treasure Maps, exploration and choices in the new campaign are what they want to continue. The concept of replayability introduced in Underdark has also been picked up again lately. Foss mentioned the Illusionist’s Gambit skirmish as example how they envision more content to be structured. No run should be like the previous and next one.

In terms of modules they will continue to do one big module (like Storm Kings Thunder) and then one smaller “b” module (like Sea of Moving Ice). In those “b” modules they work down a list of quality of life issues and tackle them one by one. Module 11b will be dealing with Guilds and Strongholds and include a new guild event and Masterwork updates. Foss added that they also want to make it easier for small guilds to get somewhere.

Also not a lot on Module 12 or release date of Module 11 for consoles. Strum however said if you look at earlier release dates PC vs. console, you will probably be able to do the math yourself.

On Personnel

Recently a few Neverwinter devs have been relocated to a new, yet unannounced, game of Cryptic. They brought in some replacements, for example former Star Trek Online Lead Designer Charles Gray. He will work on dungeons and adding mini-puzzles to traps and profession nodes. It’s not really great to hear that Cryptic did take some manpower off the game, but it didn’t actually sound concerning either. Probably more that they’re trying to get their new project over the hump and brought in extra resources for a short time.

On Loadouts

Loadouts will come in Module 12. You can switch between different full respecs. The only things not included are Companions and Mounts. This is great stuff, although you need to wait and see how much ZEn the feature will cost in the end.

On PVP

Cryptic is currently testing dueling arenas within Strongholds so you can challenge your buddies at any time. Foss also said there’s a possibility of a new map, but no timetable. The statement regarding PVP was pretty disappointing. Dueling and a new map is at least something, but PVP desperately needs a complete overhaul, fewer barriers for players to compete on a high level and true competitive systems for solo players and premades. He also didn’t pick up the solo and due queues and whether they had time to analyze the data.

On the Foundry

The Foundry remains in the doghouse. What they have started doing is collecting data about how many players are actually interacting (creating, playing) the Foundry and decisions going forward will be based on that. The original designer left the company long time ago and it’s set up in a way that basically someone has to maintain it all the time. So they are looking into the issue, but no immediate plans.

On Class Balance

They have switched their approach of class balance recently. First of all because the dev and “mastermind” behind the changes left the building, but also because balancing a class took at least one module. They are now doing a layered approach, meaning they change single aspects and work towards balance gradually. It’s not clear yet which class they will tackle after the Cleric.

Great Weapons Fighters will be pleased to hear that the Unstoppable bug has finally been fixed.


We hope you enjoyed our little summary! It was a nice stream with lots of information and the trio promised to try to make more of these AMAs and FAQs type streams in the future. Did you like the format? Did we miss something? Share your additions and rermarks in the comments below or visit the corresponding thread on our message board.

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3 thoughts on “State of the Game Developer Stream Summary

  • March 8, 2017 at 11:02 am
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    I love these streams because out of several great and important questions posed by the audience the devs choose to focus on things like the potbelly pig mount and things of that nature (ha!no?ok.)

    I’m also really disappointed that the “fixes, changes, and balances” only address half of the problem before the devs move onto something else. For example: the camera shake fix for consoles – wonderful! But what about the option directly below it? We still cannot save our camera sensitivity settings.

    Oh well. I guess their motto should be “Use future content as an excuse for old content.”

  • March 8, 2017 at 11:42 am
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    Its a shame the foundry is in the dog house, i always thought it was a great aspect to the game. The problem was always the loot as there was never a decent incentive to play through the content. If they could find a way of allowing reasonable loot drops (like the salvageable 2k AD rings etc) then i’m sure more people would take an interest.

  • March 8, 2017 at 4:20 pm
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    Since the Foundry is not available on consoles, I doubt they will put much resources into supporting it.

    Also, it’s way easier just to re-skin mounts and copy/paste together “new” dungeons from old content…

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