On August 22nd Cryptic released their first expansion, Module 1: Fury of the Feywild, for Neverwinter. Fury of the Feywild adds to the game a new zone for adventures to explore. In addition to the new zone, Cryptic has also added in a new campaign system that goes hand in hand with telling the story of Sharandar and unlocking the zone for further exploration. The Neverwinter team has also added in a number of new features and quality of life enhancements throughout the game.
Fury of the Feywild turns the attention of the player away from the comings and goings of the city of Neverwinter and shifts the focus to assisting the Iliyanbruen elves in retaking their ancestral home from the Fomorian Giants and the their lackeys, the Red Cap Gnomes. The new zone of Sharandar has four distinct regions. The first of these regions acts as a hub for the other three. You will be able to unlock the first secured region, the Blighted Grove, on your first visit to Sharandar. The next two regions can only be unlocked as you progress through the Campaign system.
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The campaign system is the crown jewel of Module 1. The campaign system acts as a roadmap for your progression throughout the game's story campaign. It provides you with rewards based upon your level of completion. The campaign system does require the completion of daily quests and it will take you at least three days to complete the first step. This throttles player’s progress. For some of you this unfortunately mean you will not be able to tackle Malabog’s Castle on the first night. While you will find rewards in Sharandar that you have grown accustomed to with Neverwinter (mounts, clothing, and companions), the campaign system adds another new type of reward in the form of boons. Boons are permanent buffs to your character that you will be able to select as you progress through the campaign. Towards the end of the campaign one of the boons allows tanks to regenerate stamina 10% faster. While these boons are not overpowering additions they will be a noticeable welcome addition to any capped player.
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Fury of the Feywild also brings with it a number of new instances. The pinnacle instance is the previously mentioned Malabog’s Castle. This is where you will find the commander of the Fomorian army. These encounters have been designed with new mechanics so players should see less of the tank and spank with waves of adds most of you have grown used to in Neverwinter. Another three new instances, Gnarlroot Cave, The Witch Fen, and Tower of Celadaine, have also been added into the game. These are referred to as lairs and there is one for each of the locked regions in Sharandar. At the end of these instances players will find a campaign chest they can open with a dark fey key (these are granted with gold, astral diamonds, gold cresents, or even via a repeatable daily quest).
Weaponsmithing and Artificing are the two new crafting abilities that have made their way into the game with this expansion. There is also a temporary crafting skill that has been introduced with the Midsummer event. Weaponsmithing and Artificing promise to make some of the most powerful weapons in the game and currently can make +6 weapons when players achieve level 20. There have also been significant improvements made to the foundry system. Drag and drop 3D editing has been added. Foundry authors should now be able to make the bulk of their missions with the 3D editing tool. Players looking to play foundry missions can now search by keyword and return more accurate results.
While not technically part of Module 1 there is currently an in game event running in Neverwinter. The Midsummer Festival celebrates the midpoint of summer. This is the holy day of Selune. There are three different activities surrounding this event. One involves fighting trolls, another is killing kobolds and collecting fireblossom flowers, the third is about herding animals and collecting crops. You can earn yet again another currency to turn in for rewards such as a pig companion and a pig mount.
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Cryptic also added in two new types of Elves for this expansion. Which brings us to what was noticeably absent from Module 1. Fury of the Feywild did not have any new classes or paragon paths for existing classes. Senior Producer Andy Velasquez has stated that we should see a new class by the end of the year. I hope Cryptic is able to deliver on this. At this point players are looking to roll new characters to play as a new class, not to roll as one of the 6 different elf re-skins in the game (Moon, Sun, Elf, Half-Elf, Drow, Menzoberranzan Renegade). What about you? What is your favorite part of the new module? Are you OK with more elf re-skins and no new classes? Do you think the campaign system leans too heavily on dailies? Let us know in the comments below.
Robert Lashley / Robert Lashley is a Staff Writer and Online host for MMORPG.com and RTSGuru.com. Rob's bald and when he isn't blinding people from the glare on his head talking in front of a camera you can find him running through Sharandar on his Menzoberranzan Renegade or you can chase him down on twitter @Grakulen
Read more of Rob's work:
- Divergence Online: Interview with Ethan Casner
- EverQuest Next: The New Lore of Norrath
- Final Fantasy XIV: Review In Progress Part 1
