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Neverwinter dispels the mystery of its artifact system
For those of you who are a little mystified over the new artifact system coming with Neverwinter's Shadowmantle module, Cryptic's put out a clear-cut guide to what's what with these special objects. Artifacts are items that imbue the possessor with certain bonuses while at the same time giving players new skills to use. These skills recharge every few minutes and offer significant benefits, from healing to damage boosting to... shopkeeping. Players will get their first artifact for free at level 20, after which additional artifacts will need to be found elsewhere in the game. Artifacts can be leveled up through the refinement system (also coming with module 2). Ultimately, a player can have one active and two passive artifacts slotted at any given time, with the passives offering only the stat bonuses.
Neverwinter's Shadowmantle module coming December 5th
Neverwinter's Shadowmantle update will be arriving in plenty of time for the holidays. Today Cryptic announced that the game's module 2 will arrive on December 5th. "We're incredibly excited to share the release date of Shadowmantle -- our second free expansion," said Cryptic Studios Executive Producer Craig Zinkievich. "With Neverwinter, our plan has always been to release massive regular updates that provide new unique online experiences with exciting new content for players to explore." Shadowmantle will include the Hunter Ranger class, new paragon paths, the Dread Ring zone, and the artifact system. If you're unfamiliar with it, get up to date with the changes by reading our preview of the module.
Neverwinter's new paragon paths detailed [Updated]
Neverwinter's upcoming Shadowmantle module will finally be giving players a second option with their paragon paths. A new dev diary from the folks at Cryptic gives an overview of these new paths along with details regarding the skills involved. Devoted Clerics will get a buff-centric path, Trickster Rogues will be flinging knives more, Control Wizards will go all pyro on their enemies, and Guardian Fighters and Great Weapon Fighters will be swapping each other's paragon path for a different playstyle. Don't just take our word for it: Check out the Shadowmantle paragon paths preview video after the jump for a visual inspection of these lines. [Update: We had to take down the video at Cryptic's request; we'll get it back up as soon as the new one is out!]
Neverwinter sheds light on Dread Ring zone
The Neverwinter community is buzzing over the upcoming Shadowmantle module, and today Cryptic is giving us a closer look at one of its core features: the Dread Ring campaign. The Dread Ring is a new zone in which Valindra Shadowmantle and her motley crew are attempting to resurrect a mighty dragon in order to make it the world's biggest dracolich. The zone has many significant landmarks amidst the bones of this long-dead dragon, but Valindra's Tower, an epic dungeon, will be the one everyone will be eying. The dev diary gives some of the lore behind the region, but of course all preservationist players have skipped past that to see which rewards might be worth the risk. Cryptic assures us that these will be "more plentiful and more powerful" than anything seen to date. The studio is also tweaking its daily quest system, promising more variety in the themes, instances, and rewards that it offers.
Dawn of the Hunter Rangers: Touring Neverwinter's Shadowmantle module
Considering all of the exciting reveals of Neverwinter's second module, Shadowmantle, I think it's prudent to start with the unknowns. No, we don't have a specific date of release (although it will be "by the end of the year"). No, we don't know whether Druids or Warlocks or any other Dungeons and Dragons classes are in development for next year. And no, we can't tell whether there's a massive honey badger conspiracy in the city of Neverwinter. With that said, there's plenty that Lead Designer Andy Velasquez had to reveal to us for this upcoming module. For starters, it's 100% free, just in case you were wondering. Sure, Cryptic will continue to run a robust store (and doesn't seem to have any inclination to rein in the lockbox invasion), but all of the content of Shadowmantle will be available to the entire playerbase on day one. It's shaping up to be an even meatier update than Fury of the Faewild, believe it or not. The big star of Shadowmantle is the first new post-launch class: the Hunter Ranger. But this flexible fighter won't be hogging the entire spotlight; Neverwinter will also be adding a new zone, additional paragon paths, and a spiffy artifact skill system. So read on and prepare for the stampede of players rushing to be the next online Legolas-slash-Drizzt.
