State Of Neverwinter PVP – Mod 7
A few weeks have passed since the launch of Neverwinter’s Module 7: Strongholds and I think it’s time to quickly look what has changed for PVP in the game. The general challenges for the gamemode haven’t really changed over the months, it has always been about balance and bugs, but Strongholds did introduce a few new toys and changes that players slowly starting to adopt as well.
First of all, the new node capture system is grand. I’ve been a longtime supporter of faster PVP matches, because two-hour long encounters don’t match Neverwinter’s action-based and fast-paced combat system. In the contesting era three players could theoretically prevent the opposing team from getting any points, now some node for some team is (most likely) always scoring, setting the duration of a competitive game at about 45 minutes. Besides the general change to strategy that comes with it, speed becomes an even more important component and adds to the variety of builds and classes that are viable.
Sadly, that’s it for the pros. The devs said there is no balancing pass coming with Module 7 so the larger issues like Perma Stun HR’s, only to name a popular one, remain. New items added to the challenge and make true balance an uphill battle for the devs. The new Stamina Wards seems to develop into a must-have and even more AP effectively morph dailies into an additional encounter, from which some classes profit more than others.
Additionally the devs messed with the queue system so that 5on5s have become a true gamble. More likely than not one team will start the match undermanned, making it a complete waste of time. One patch already addressed the issue, but according to some forum posts it hasn’t fixed the issue at all.
[su_quote cite=”panderus” url=”http://forum.arcgames.com/neverwinter/discussion/1201605/strongholds-preview-patch-notes-nw-50-20150722a-15/p1″]Domination PvP will more reliably wait for a full teams before starting the match. This event will be reactivated.[/su_quote]
Add that low-level twinks can still equip some level 70 equipment, a broken Leaderboard, the PuG vs. Premade problem and you have a pretty big mess. PVP probably would need mod-sized attention, but the upcoming Module 8: Underdark is a story-focused PVE once again and no further plans have been revealed yet. The good news is that the arrival of the Strongholds PVP update will reroute the attention to a new flashy game-mode. It would also be a good time to tackle some general issues. But I wouldn’t bet on it, which could leave Domination as dysfunctional as ever for the time being.
Okay here my comment as PvP player who is competing in Premades on a daily basis. Im playing GWF and im definitly top 3 out there as I have a BiS character, run with good rainbow comps and obviously play at least decently. The “Daily” has never been a daily thing thats for sure. Every seasoned player in NW remembers the amount of AP gain CWs used to have early on till module 2 patch there were constant nerfs to that mechanics. After all the just removed the effectiveness of most CW dailies. As for PvP it has always been something on a very low aviability. Its part of common rotations. Think of it like an Ultimate Ability in a Moba game. Yes those tend to have cooldowns on maybe 1 minute, but Neverwinter PvP is more fast paced and theres barely any macro. HRs are not a severe problem on high level and TRs spamming bloodbath aren’t either. HRs can’t root you forever and most of them are quite squishy. Yes I play GWF who pops unstoppable and ignores some of the CC, but the only class who is defenseless against HR is the CW and CWs get destroyed by literally every other class in PvP right now. They are good for 2v2s and 3v3s but 1v1 you can leave them anywhere.
To the low level equipment. Guild PvE gear is still non level restricted, but there are plenty of items that aren’t! Don’t tell me twinks with r12s would loose to actual new players if that wouldn’t exist. I know entire guilds that spend up to 1000$ per character to make them BiS from lvl 10-69 and then never play them on 70 as they only do low level pvp. Yes people have mythics at lvl 10 and run Rank 12s.
By the way matches never last 45min thats some miscalculation there. Most are under 10 minutes, even premades.
Overloads will be a big deal. Everybody will have an AP drain ward, thats basically a necessity and effectively takes away one of your overload slots. The effect is so punishing you cannot take a risk and get AP drained. The other slot will probably be a Stamina Drain ward. People will play a metagame of switching from the Marks to the Wards and back.
PvP isn’t balanced, but it works. As for now DCs and Paladins were unkillable monsters which easily make their nodepartners survive, buff them to insane burst depending on build and make exceptional floaters too. Due to the new cap system thats something you can work with though! Apart from that TRs are managable, HR are managable, CWs are kinda crappy, SWs are decent but held back by Avalance alone (thanks for being piercing damage and multiproc Avalance<3), even GFs who are one of the few who can threaten DCs can be cleared reasonably. GWFs are really strong due to being able to stack lifesteal while maintaining a decent amount of HP plus hitting fast and hard enought to make use of lifesteal. With Stronghold boons other DPS classes will catch up on the HP and might close the gap to GWF.
The big problem for PvP is the playerbase. If more people would play PvP it would be better thats sure.
And for _____ sake why did NCL Leaderboard work fine and normal one doesn't!