Perfect World has now discussed multiple facets of Neverwinter’s upcoming Uprising module: the appearance system, the new raid, the loot, the Gith, the lore, and even space stations. But what about new players? What can they look forward to?
Quite a bit, as it turns out. PWE is planning a “more heroic start” for new toons. You’ll spawn in a war camp and team up with a major NPC to take on Valindra and her dracolich before making it to Protector’s Enclave, which itself is seeing a reorganization too, with several landmarks being shifted around to make space for the game’s events.
And there’s more pertaining to visual improvements and lowbie leveling itself. “In addition to some rough spots in the tutorial, we have noticed a number ‘pain points’ in a new player’s journey from levels 5 thru 20. Many of these would be alleviated with clearer direction and flow from one quest to the next.” A main quest NPC has been moved to a better spot, travel time has been shortened with mount acquisition at earlier levels, boss fights have been simplified, and the earliest zones have been streamlined:
“Once players first get to Blacklake, their options are focused on the main quest thread and then open up as they make progress in the story. The goal is to offer side missions only after new players know the lay of the land and have a good grip on the story. Efforts were made to clear away obstructions and leverage lighting so that the Blacklake District environment better supports gameplay and flow. The orc-infested Tower District saw lots of environment and gameplay revision. The haphazard construction of orc fortifications has always been characteristically spot on, but clearing clutter and opening up narrow alleyways makes for much better fighting experience. (Remember, this zone was created before players had dodge powers.) Gameplay through Tower District was made clearer with improved transitions between missions and open pathways through the zone.”
Uprising launches for PC on August 13th. Not far now!
