Highlights

 

New Storyline: Descent into Avernus

Complete the descent into Avernus and learn more about the fallen angel Zariel, who now rules over a war-torn waste. Face off against devils and demons, while helping a very special someone recover memories about the events surrounding Zariel's fall.

More info:

Developer Blog: Introducing Avernus!
Developer Blog: Avernus Adventure Zone
Developer Blog: Avernus Heroic Encounters

 

New Campaign: Path of the Fallen

As you reveal more memories and collect more supplies, you can unlock progress in this new Campaign. Finishing the campaign unlocks the new Trial, as well as access to more Boon Points.

  

New Trial: Zariel's Challenge

Face off against Zariel herself in the newest Trial! Like other trials unlocked by campaigns, this trial is unlocked for all characters on the account once any character completes the appropriate campaign task. Complete the trial and you may be considered worthy of a weapon befitting the challenge.

 

Class Balance

To bring some less-than-competitive Paragon Paths back into the playing field, we've taken a close look at the Hellbringer Warlock and the Dreadnought Fighter. The Hellbringer Warlock, as part of this update, has had updates to their feats, while the Dreadnought Fighter has seen a range of magnitude increases to their powers.

Various smaller changes have been made to a variety of classes, too; see the patch notes below for details.

More info:

Developer Blog: Avernus Class Balance

 

General Healing Adjustments

In efforts to improve the gameplay of healing paragon paths, we've overhauled healing to remove the reliance on Channeling Divinity or casting Essence Drain, while requiring more tactical choices for when, where, and how to heal.

Further information can be found in this thread https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/11469693

  

Scaling Changes

A pass has been made to how the scaling system works in our game. When players have their levels temporarily changed to provide an appropriate challenge for certain content, players' ratings, damage, and hit points will now be scaled proportionally based on their overall loadout, rather than scaled based on individual items' maximum levels.

A more detailed description is in the blog linked below.

More info:

Developer Blog: Scaling Changes

 

Trade Bar Store Update

The Trade Bar Store has had its stock reviewed and refreshed. Check out the Trade Bar merchant in Protector's Enclave, or use the respective button in the Wealth tab of the inventory, to check out the new stock!

Some notable items include: Enchanting Stone, Rank 6 for 100 Trade Bars; Mark of Potency, Rank 7 for 125 Trade Bars; Enchantments and Runestones ranks 12-15 for 400 - 1000 Trade Bars

 

Guild Protection

We've made it a little more difficult for guilds to change hands unexpectedly, when there are multiple players at Guild Leader rank. When a player is newly added to Leader rank, they are put into a provisional state for up to two weeks, where they may not promote anybody else to guild leader rank. 

In addition, when a Guild Leader is demoted by another Leader, it will not happen immediately. Instead, a timer will appear in the guild UI showing the amount of time until the demotion goes through. Another active Leader can reinstate this person at any time while the timer is active; in the meantime, the leader pending demotion will not be able to kick, promote, or demote any other guild members. 

While this does make the promotion and demotion process more cumbersome at Guild Leader ranks, we hope this will improve the guild experience for the vast majority of guilds, and make guild theft much less likely in cases where there are multiple leaders.

 

  

Release Notes

Content and Environment

Achievements

• The in-game achievement, "The Ascended," now uses Collections to verify that all of the artifacts have been refined to Legendary. You no longer need to have all of them in your inventory at the same time.
• The in-game achievements that require Deeds can once again be achieved. Their descriptions have been updated to match the requirements.

Chult

• Hunts: Resolved an issue wherein the King of Spines had unexpectedly low health.

Dungeons

• The item level for scaling has been increased by 1000 in the following dungeons: Caverns of Kaarundax, Temple of the Spider (Normal difficulty), Master of the Hunt.

Legacy Campaigns

• Manycoins Bank Heist now properly unlocks for all characters on the account when unlocked on one character.
• Various quests have been updated to give credit toward weekly legacy campaign quest progress.

 

Summer Festival

• Piñatas now only drop loot when destroyed.
   

General

• Teachings of Zerthimon: The fragments now specify that they are one of four, not one of two.
• Temple of the Spider: There's no longer a door leading to a completely empty, old part of the map.
• The obsolete quest, "Inside Every Spider," has been dropped from players' journals.
• Tower of Alteration: There should no longer be a spot for the camera that will cause the entire building to vanish.
• Various minor issues in environment art have been addressed.
• Various minor issues in text, quest flow, etc. have been addressed.

 

 

 

Combat and Powers

Artifacts

• Forgehammer of Gond: The damage resistance granted by this artifact is now limited to 20%, to be comparable with other damage resistance artifacts. The duration has been increased to 10 seconds.
• Sigil of the Paladin: The healing value of rank 5 has been reduced to be more comparable to other artifact healing.
• Sigil of the Paladin: The radius of this power's effect now more closely matches its visual effects.
• The artifact "Sigil of the Fighter" has been adjusted as follows: the blocking effect may no longer block more damage than 25% of your maximum hit points per individual block. This is a decrease from an unstated limit of 999,999 damage.
• The cooldowns for all artifacts have been standardized per rank. Artifacts like Heart of the Dragon, among others, no longer have their recharge rate modified.
• Heart of the Dragon Set Bonus: Changed to increase Recharge Speed by +10%.

Classes and Balance

Note: Changes for Devout Cleric, Oathkeeper Paladin, and Soulweaver Warlock are in a different post. See the segment titled "General Healing Adjustments" for a link to the post.

• Barbarian: Any
  • Determination can no longer incorrectly be gained outside of combat.
• Barbarian: Blademaster
  
  • At-wills
    • Brash Strike: Increase magnitude from 90 to 110
      • Reduced activate times to .75/.9/.9 down from .9/1.1/1.1
      • Reduced Unstoppable activate times to .35/.45/.45 down from .53/.63/.63
  • Encounters
    • Bloodletter: Increase magnitude from 400 to 520
    • Frenzy: Increase magnitude from 750 to 975
      • Reduced cooldown from 18 seconds to 16 seconds to bring closer to Griffon's Wrath.
  • Mechanics
    • Rage: Increased generation from at-wills and encounter powers.
  • Feats
    • Bloodspiller: Reduces the cooldown of Bloodletter by 3 seconds.
• Barbarian: Sentinel
  • At-wills
    • Challenger's Slash: Reduced activate times to .65/.55/.8 down from .75/.65/1.05
      • Reduced Unstoppable activate times to .35/.25/.45 down from .45/.35/.55
  • Encounters
    • Come and Get It: Reduced cooldown from 18 seconds to 15 seconds.
    • Enduring Shout: Increased the maximum hitpoints granted from 10% to 20%.
  • Mechanics
    • Rage: Increased generation from at-wills and encounter powers.
    • Unstoppable: The block from Sentinel’s Unstoppable is now correctly set to 50% of the player’s maximum hp.
  • Feats
    • Extended Unstoppable: Come and get it now grants the effect of Extended Unstoppable for 10 seconds, causing the effect of Unstoppable to persist for an additional 4 seconds.
      • NEW Rage and Rally: Unstoppable increases threat generated by your attacks. When Unstoppable ends, recover stamina based on the amount of Rage consumed, up to a maximum of 40%.
• Cleric: Arbiter
  • Encounter Powers
    • Prophecy of Doom: Damage dealt prior to the cast completing no longer has a chance to count toward the final burst.
• Cleric: Devout (Additional changes, made after the ones listed in the Healing Adjustment patch notes)
  • The magnitude of Soothe has been increased to 275, up from 250.
  • The magnitude of Bastion of Health has been increased to 1600, up from 1500.
  • The magnitude of Healing Word has been increased to 450, up from 400.
  • The magnitude of Light of Divinity has been increased to 1700, up from 1600.
• Fighter: Any
  • Encounters
    • Shield Slam: This power can no longer be animation canceled after it has applied its knockback.
• Fighter: Dreadnought
  • At-wills
    • Heavy Slash: Slightly more of the animation must complete before damage is applied. Additionally, slightly more of the animation following damage application will now be cancelled automatically if any other attack is queued up.
    • Reave: Increase magnitude from 30 to 45
  • Encounters
    • Commander's Strike: Increase magnitude from 400 to 560 600 to match Wicked Reminder.
      • Reduced cooldown from 21 seconds to 18 seconds to match Wicked Reminder.
    • Kneebreaker: Cooldown reduced by 5 seconds
  • Feats
    
    • Weight of Vengeance: Increase magnitude from +300 to Anvil of Doom to +380
      • Reduced the Vengeance requirement and consumption from 25 to 15.
    • Ricochet: Damage reduction from shield bounce has been lowered to 10%/20%/30%
      • Now has a 10% chance on powers that hit multiple targets to proc a Shield Throw without incurring a cooldown. (Does not include Shield Throw)
• Paladin: Justicar
  • Encounters
    • Vow of Enmity: This power can now properly proc weapon enchantments.
• Paladin: Oathkeeper (Additional changes, made after the ones listed in the Healing Adjustment patch notes)
  • The magnitude of Cure Wounds has been increased to 275, up from 250.
  • The magnitude of Divine Touch has been increased to 650, up from 600.
  • The magnitude of Divine Shelter has been increased to 220, up from 200.
  • The magnitude of Hand of Divinity has been increased to 1000, up from 900.
• Ranger: Hunter
  • Encounters
    • Commanding Shot: Now increases incoming damage to the target by 10% instead of 5%. No longer reduces outgoing damage from the target and instead applies strong gasping roots
    • Longstrider's Shot: Reduced cooldown from 18 seconds to 16 seconds
  • Feats
    • Biting Snare: No longer requires a stance shift
    • Biting Snare: Now grants the player 1% of their Action Points when they apply Grasping or Thorned Roots
    • Cordon of Arrows: Now applies Strong Grasping Roots instead of a normal root
• Rogue: Assassin
  • Encounters
    • Wicked Reminder: This power is now more difficult to accidentally cancel with a dodge.
  • Feats
    • Toxic Blades: Will now be able to deal critical damage. 
• Warlock (General): Players have received a free, but forced, retrain for their powers.
• Warlock: Hellbringer
  • Encounters
    • Fiery Bolt: Changed to 200 magnitude
      • Removed the AoE penalty
      • Cooldown time increased by 6 seconds
    • Infernal Spheres:
    • Summon six infernal spheres that seek out and cause fire damage to those who attack you. While the spheres are active, activating this power again sends them out to enemies in front of you, dealing damage. Magnitude decreases as the number of targets increases.
      • Magnitude: 50 per sphere
      • Added Effect: Increases your damage by 5%
      • Duration: 10s
      • Additional Action: Seeking Spheres
      • Magnitude: 350
  • Feats
    • Creeping Death: This feat can now properly deal critical damage.
    • Double Scorch: Soul Scorch damage over time is increased by 10%.
      • NEW: Soul Scorch deals an additional 9 magnitude damage per Soul Spark spent.
    • Power of the Nine Hells: Daily powers now grant 12 soul sparks on use
      • NEW: Grants your encounters powers without Curse Synergy or Curse Consume the ability to summon a Soul Puppet.
• Warlock: Soulweaver (Additional changes, made after the ones listed in the Healing Adjustment patch notes)
  • The magnitude of Soul Reconstruction has been increased to 275, up from 250.
  • The healing magnitude of Vampiric Embrace has been increased to 330, up from 300.
  • The magnitude of Revitalize has been increased to 850, up from 800.
  • The magnitude of Inspirit has been increased to 120, up from 100.
  • The magnitude of the heal over time effect of Soulstorm, when affected by Feypact, is now 250. (The notes incorrectly said 400; it had been 100 at the time.)
• Wizard: Arcanist: Storm Spell can now crit, but now has an internal cooldown.
• General
  • Cleansing powers now properly fully cleanse Partial Paralysis, instead of clearing the buff icon but still somehow leaving the effect active.
  • Various powers that previously could incorrectly build Action Points outside of combat have been addressed.

Companions

• Baby Bulette's Presence: This power now properly restores 15-20% of the player's max HP over 5 seconds, instead of restoring 15-20% every second for 5 seconds.
• Celeste's Wisdom: This power's cooldown is now 30 seconds, reduced from 2 minutes. This should bring its healing closer in line with other similar Companion powers.
• Pig's Instincts: The maximum health restored by this power has been reduced to 3%, down from 5%, to better fall in line with other similar companion powers.
• Sun's Insight: This companion power should now apply its bonuses properly.
• Tutor: This companion's Instructional Aid now properly attacks.

Item Powers

• Ebonized gear: Butcher's Might: The maximum stack count of this effect has been reduced to 5, down from 10.
• Pack Mentality: This item power now functions for augment companions.

Mounts

• Arcane Maelstrom now deals more damage, to bring it in line with other mount powers.
• Celestial Lion: The shield granted by Aureal Armament is now capped at 120,000, 30% of 400,000 Maximum Hit Points.

Mount Insignias

• Knight's Defense: This insignia bonus should now correctly trigger as described.

Power Slotting

• Players may no longer incorrectly swap Enchantments, Companion powers or equipment, Bonding Runestones, Mount-related items or powers, or Insignias during combat.

General

• Fear and Charm effects should no longer cause players to become stuck in a power channeling or charging state.
• The size of the Dragonborn player character collision has been reduced to match all other playable races.

 

 

Enemies and Encounters

Lair of the Mad Mage

• Arcturia's cocoon power now takes longer to pop, to better fit with the changes to healing.

 

Items and Economy

General

• Artifact Weapons: All Guardian Primary weapons, up to M11, now have their FX gem slot unlocked.
• Legendary Insignias now require an extra prompt before discarding.
• Magnificent Resurgence Lockbox: Legendary mounts earned from this lockbox from this point on will be unlocked for the entire account once they're bound.
• Marbled Stallion: This mount is now available in the Reward Claims Agent for characters who had leveled their characters prior to the Shimmering Lockbox being added to the level progression.
• Various minor item issues, e.g. typos or mismatching icons, have been addressed.

PvP

• The PvP Seasonal Store will now offer Rank 13 Enchants and Runestones, and Rank 12 Armor/Weapon Enchantments, replacing their old Rank 10 offerings. The price remains the same.

Refinement

• Insignias may now be converted into Insignia Powder.
  • This Insignia Powder can now be used to upgrade insignias; this should reduce the need to hold onto spare insignias in order to upgrade an Epic one to Legendary.
  • As a result, Insignias can no longer be converted to Refinement Points.

Reward Claims Agent

• Account-unlocked Legendary Mounts can once again properly be claimed.

 

Vendors

• An all-encompassing Bounty store has been added to Protector's Enclave.
• New items have been added to the Seals of the Adventurer store.
• Tarokka Deck: The store that sells Tarokka cards now shows items that can't be purchased, with error messages explaining why.

Zen Market

• Acquisitions Incorporated Campaign Buyout: The "Bane of the Incorporated" token no longer takes up inventory space. Existing tokens may still stick around in the inventory; double-clicking may move it.
• With the launch of Avernus, Delver's Expedition Pack and Fallen Apprentice's Expedition pack will no longer be available for purchase in the Zen Market.

 

 

User Interface

General

• Several minor issues, e.g. text placement overlapping art in certain interfaces, have been addressed.

 

Inventory

• The starting player bag size is now 42 slots, to match the current largest purchasable bag.
• When per-bag display is deactivated, the Sort button now sorts the full inventory.

Mounts

• Mount tooltips no longer show power details by default.

 

Overworld Map

• Locations on the overworld map now show a minimum and maximum level. Players may still enter certain zones outside of this level range, but this will better communicate the expected level.

 

Art, Animation, Audio, and Effects

Animation

• Several minor animation issues have been addressed.

Visual Effects

• Camera shake has been removed from the Decanter of Atropal Essence artifact's activated effect, and its visual effect has been toned down.
• Whirlpool visual effects should no longer appear around a character's head when they display.

 

Known Issues

• The Blood War currently has the potential to have unexpectedly wide swings in the amount of effort required to fill the meter. We’re currently testing ways to normalize and simplify this feature.
• Sometimes, the war party appears not to spawn on some instances.