Neverwinter's Latest Patch Makes Serious Changes To Combat

Today, Cryptic dropped a new update for Neverwinter with a very focused... well... focus. The update, which has apparently been a collaborative effort between the devs and the community, reworks a lot of the game's combat. Some of the goals of the update are to improve scaling while making things more accurate and easier for players to handle. This includes making it easier for players to understand what's going on with target rating as well as reducing the need to micromanage stats when dealing with gear.

The actual list of changes is fairly significant. We'd definitely suggest reading through the full patch notes. That said, there are some highlights.

Some of the changes were actually announced back in December, when Cryptic was working on the update and what their goals were. At that point they'd addressed changes to the Ratings system, and it looks like they kept pretty close to the original plan on that.

Equipment, companions, mounts, and boons have all also been subject to changes -- some more than others. Companions received the most changes, with the removal of bonding runestones and companion influence. Augmented and fighting companions now both grant 85% of their Item Level to a Combined Rating with the rest of it being distributed elsewhere. Numerical ranks have also been removed from companions and they instead have quality types.

Equipment changes include things like weapons no longer having direct damage. This has been swapped out in favor of them contributing to damage in the same way as other gear, by increasing the player's Item Level. That said, enchantments, runestones, and insignias all now grant higher item levels for their ranks.

Mounts and boons really only have one change each. Mount Collars now have a doubled item level, a portion of which grants combined ratings. Boons, on the other hand, offer no item level at all, instead giving direct stat percentages.

As noted, there's still a good bit more to the patch notes than what's here. Of course, you can read them in full on the Neverwinter site.