The Lowbie Diaries Vol. 4: Rethinking & New Patch FTW!

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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 at item level 1,600 and build up a character without the help of your mains? How long does it take until you are geared enough for T1/T2 and where do you get all the RPs from? Welcome to the Lowbie Diaries, it should be fun!

First of all, I’d like to talk a bit perspective and the general direction of the project. The last volume caused a quite passionate debate on reddit. The general consensus around there was that the casual player isn’t represented at all, because I started with more goodies than most. Pondering about the whole issue, first and foremost I did make a mistake in being too vague about the starting point and the goal of the project. Terms like “casual”, “lowbie” and “from scratch” don’t really classify anything and are highly subjective. The introduction now states that I was starting at ilvl 1,600. That might or might not be what people are seeing when they hit 70, but it’s something I’m gonna roll with and based on all the feedback I’ve got, it’s not unreasonable. The low-end experience seems to differ quite a lot anyway, so you can’t please everyone.
The dollar problem is related to that. To set everything off, I spend the equivalent of 10$ (500k AD). Most probably have never spend something for Neverwinter, but I’m not one of those. Nor do I think you can expect pay-to-play or subscription-type development while not willing to invest anything. I accept this is more opinion-based than a realistic representation of most players, but if you actually like the game, I can only suggest to follow the lead. It supports the game and makes things so much easier.
But there indeed were three substantial issues. The first is the completed Dread Ring campaign, the second is the Leadership profession, and the third the class artifact. I completely overlooked that, playing only one char, you simply don’t have access to class artifacts and so this one goes into the bin. I also replaced the purple Lantern with a blue one. I further invested a respec and did only take two boons of the Dread Ring campaign. If I ever complete the other campaigns within the project, I’m gonna reactivate them. Last but not least, I’m gonna cap Leadership at Rank 12.
The rest is not really worth arguing about, although it’s true that I never went through the 60-70 grind, at least not within this project, and have one or two boons to start with. But that’s really only time saved and not something unachievable.

Although some might not agree with the general approach I’m taking, this should at least remove some uncertainties and I’m really thankful for all the feedback provided. Keep it coming!

Onto the diary, which only covers two days this week (been busy):

Thursday 05/28
Wohoooo! New patch is out and what the fuck? Zerged half an hour in Icewind Dale for 30k worth of RPs. I think I’m gonna just sell them for now and buy Rank 7s for it. Also aiming for the new ilvl 120 armor. So it’s safe to say that I’ll be switching between Spinward Rise, Dragon Runs, Icewind HEs and Sharandar Dailies, which also give BoE RPs, for the foreseeable future.
Btw.: Unified farming is off before it even started, because.

Friday 05/29
The patch could really be one big step for characters like this. I was able to buy two R7 Radiants from today’s and yesterday’s raiding. 10k from Sharandar dailies, 15k from the Dragon run, 20k from Icewind Dale HEs, it adds up. I’m not even doing the daily dungeon any longer because zerging in IWD and WoD makes much more sense. The only annoying thing is the occasional lag and the time I need to complete quests. I fully expect the market to settle rather sooner than later, but some stuff that was well out of reach last week just got upgraded to probable.
I’m not farming Dread Ring because the RP that drop there are BoP and at this point I want to sell as much as possible to get more progress in other areas. Hell maybe even an Augment long-term or a second Artifact. One can always dream…

So long!


The Lowbie Diaries Vol. 1: Setting Up The Char
The Lowbie Diaries Vol. 2: The First Week
The Lowbie Diaries Vol. 3: To Kessell Or Not To Kessell


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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.

4 thoughts on “The Lowbie Diaries Vol. 4: Rethinking & New Patch FTW!

  • June 1, 2015 at 12:15 am
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    Josh the sad truth is.. w/o a guild you are pretty much doomed in DD. I have a CW undergeared and DC overgeared and the difference in dungeons are apparent. With much dodging and good party, 2,2kTIL is good enough to run T1 (not much wipes at all) BUT my 2.2k TIL CW has a full alliance, G vorp, LM set and a decent knowledge of game mechanism. I highly doubt that newbies, not having those, can steamroll any T1 with the ease I had.

    That’s where the guildies come in..they carry you thru but sometimes people do feel tired when demand ousted supply. My DC and my GF friend basically had to run multiple T2 for that since we had lot’s of well-geared DPSers but we’re the only tank and healer that can actually do eToS and eCC smoothly. Ofc with much wipes and determination (plus luck) there are a few other options. I shudder the day eCC get fixed and the only way is to do eToS. We like to help but it does get tiring running the same thing repeatedly (mostly eCC with 3 other guildies at their own pick so they can get their cache or eToS if we have a better group). This game needs more well-geared and skilled tanks/healers. (no, i’m not considering those OPs with auto-heals and spamming DJ for dps! – for example)

    Note: I shall run my CW and bit more and see how it works out.. Maybe… I’m just pampered by no wipe runs lol. But seriously, people should NEVER ever queue for T1s with level 65 GREEN gear… Eternal set is fine but greens are just ridiculous.

    • June 1, 2015 at 12:17 am
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      P:S I amend the word “carry you thru”, they help you to improve your knowledge and also to gear up.

    • June 1, 2015 at 6:58 am
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      I think adding RP to IWD, Sharandar, and DR is gonna help. However, what would help more is better rewards from T2 content. There needs to be a reason for geared people to go in there and farm something . In the process they drag lesser geared people through/up with them. I am a DC with the elemental elven set and therefore do not do T2 runs anymore. Yet a day does not pass where i am requested to do so and have to politely decline because running that content is a loss for me compared to other farming activities.

  • June 1, 2015 at 8:29 am
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    I’ve been building up an Oathbound Paladin without any help (except for a few companions) and have found it to be relatively easy. They are eminently survivable. I’ve gotten up to 1550 item level and can run Sharendar, Dread Ring and do the IWD zerg with no problems. As soon as I get some Sharendar or Dread Ring gear, I should be ready to run some T1.

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