In an effort to increase communication between the players and the developers, we’re starting a little something we call Community Corner where every few weeks we’ll post a blog similar to this, which answers any burning questions the community may have. Watch out for announcements on when we gather questions! This batch was from a meet-up we had in Moonstone Mask about Strongholds and the developer stream forumthread.

Pasteldovahkiin: Will there be an actual interior to the strongholds, such as barracks or a guild hall? If so will the interior be customizable? Would love it if the stronghold could feel a bit more homey to the players verses us always being outside of it.

Not at launch, but this is a feature we would love to do in the future.

Thia Lightsister: Will PvP "siege" cause actual damage to our Stronghold? In other words, after we get leveled by a bigger and better guild, will we have to rebuild things?

Your guild will never be permanently affected by anything in the PvP Siege. Buildings will not be damaged in PvE and no progress will be lost if you PvP.

Are there going to be shortcuts or portals in the Stronghold map to move around faster?

There are shortcuts present to get between areas, we’ll be keeping an eye on feedback to see if anything further needs to happen.

Eixelebrat: Will there be new assets for the Foundry in Strongholds?

Not at launch.

Thia Lightsister: Can non-guild members enter your Stronghold? If so, can they buy from your vendors and do Heroic Encounters?

Non-guild members cannot enter your Stronghold.

General: Can we invite players from other guilds to do PvP with us? Smaller guilds won’t be able to have 20 people online at a time.

We are working on methods to make Stronghold Siege as inclusive as possible. We absolutely want smaller guilds to participate, and are not going to require 1 guild of 20 vs. 1 guild of 20.

Bronta Stormbringer: Will we be able to track our personal donations or at least have the guild leaders track them?

There will be logs of what people do, but we are not going to have a guild contribution leaderboard at launch. That said, we will be paying attention to feedback in this area.

Wizzette: Will the slowing effect from the Sorcerer’s Tower be negated by the Elven Battle Enchant?

The Sorcerer’s Tower now drains your Action Points in addition to doing damage.  The Archer’s Tower has the Slow effect and yes the Elven Battle Enchantment will lessen the amount of time that the Slow affects you.  No rank of Elven Battle Enchantment will negate any effects.

Matiagronx: If the guild builds max boons structures and levels them up to the maximun AND someone gets all these final boons at max level AND then leaves guild for any reason, what happens to the boons? They stay active or the requirement is that you have to be a guild member in ANY other guild WITH the accordingly leveled up boon structure?

Boons are features of structures, not permanent powers on players. So if you destroy a boon structure, or leave a guild that has a given boon structure, you won’t have access to said boon. If you join a different guild, you'll then have those Boons active.

General: Do mobs in Strongholds get harder as the stronghold ranks up? Any difficulty scaling at all?

Mobs will get different, but not stronger. While your guild is ranking up, the players within it may not necessarily be getting stronger. The goal with different mobs is to tell the story of Strongholds and to have a variety of enemies to fight. It’s worth noting that there are some very powerful enemies waiting to be challenged on your stronghold map.

Kreatyve: What happens when you’re kicked from a guild when you’re in the stronghold?

Though you’ll lose access to that stronghold map, and any associated boons, you will not lose anything you personally acquired during the process of building up your stronghold. So you’ll keep any guild marks, loot items, equipment, etc. that you might have collected.

Kreatyve: Are the small guilds (5 - 10 accounts) going to have to gather the same amount of materials as the large guilds (150+ accounts)?

Yes they are. This is one of the reasons we put a cap on the number of accounts that can be in a guild. Based on our analysis, most of the smaller guilds are generally closer to 20-30 people. By assuming a range of participation from 25 to 150 accounts-per-guild, we were able to balance somewhere in-between. Yes, large guilds have an advantage, but it’s not so bad the number have to feel crippling to smaller guilds.

Kreatyve: What is your favorite pizza topping?

[Goatshark (Goat in the PvP Alpha playtests)] – Spicy sausage, red peppers, pine nuts, garlic, fresh basil.

Angrysprite: How are the Stronghold PvP maps assembled dynamically to include both guilds current Stronghold models and states (in terms of visual representation)?

Here’s the really short answer: A wizard did it. Slightly longer: we make all of the different assets, and the appropriate pieces are displayed/active based on the state of the guild that “owns” the map. Can’t really go into too much more than that.

Rickcase276: Will the smaller guilds (i.e. less than 10 accounts) be able to acquire the necessary dragonshards to buy the new dragonflight armor another way within the game, as there is little chance for those size guilds to have 5 members online at the same time to be able to do the dragon HEs? I know there is the rumored lockbox item to acquire them, but that is not a guarantee to get them.

You will need to field enough people to bring down 2 dragons (this can be as few as 10 per dragon, depending on your gear of course) to make progress towards the best-in-slot gear that comes from the Dragonflight event. If you get access to a strongbox key (new in M7 and tied specifically to the Dragonflight event), you can make progress by defeating 1 dragon. Again, this is best-in-slot gear and the fight is meant to be tough.

Teribad15: Will there be any upcoming class balance changes?

We will be monitoring player behavior and feedback once Module 7 goes live. Based on that observation and feedback, we may decide to make class balance changes. That said, at launch there are no large class-balance changes.

Beckylunatic: Since this question has been cropping up here and there, could we get confirmation that donation of PvP items like Glory are *only* required for the PvP structures like towers? Players seem concerned, and there isn't a simple way to access the information of what you need to build anything you're not currently eligible to build.

Glory and Conqueror’s Shards of Power are required for PvP-related structures (towers, siege structures, and for the straight power bonus on the barracks), but are not required on other structures or the guild hall.

Romotheone: How relevant are Strongholds going to be when a new mod comes out? Are Strongholds going play a big role in later modules?

We believe Strongholds are an important facet to Neverwinter, and specifically to player longevity and a sense of growth and accomplishment. We have every expectation that Strongholds will continue to grow and expand with upcoming modules. We want players to feel invested, and we want that investment to stay relevant.

Make sure to watch our official gameplay trailer.

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