New Random Queuing System.

[Relaed]

https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter#/discussion/1234049

 

Greetings adventurers, this thread is for providing bug reports and feedback on the following topic:

• Random Queues

Due to the nature of this feature, the format of this introductory post will be a bit like a mini blog post outlining the details of random queues. I’d like to take this approach because random queues will change how everyone interacts with queues, as well as affect how bonuses are obtained. Of course we are confident all these changes are major improvements, but any changes come with understandable speculation, so I’d like to make sure everything is clear as this feature hits preview.

Please bear in mind and this is exceptionally important to note, this feature is still under development and every detail and value I outline below is subject to change. Now without further digression—

Random Queue Overview

Random queues! A new category of queues will appear in your queue list on preview. The new category random queue has within it a queue corresponding to each of the existing PvE queue categories: skirmishes, dungeons, epic dungeons and epic trials. By selecting one of these random queues, you will be matched into a queue in that category at random.

And of course, there will be incentives for queuing for a random queue, let’s take a look. Queuing for a random skirmish for the first time in a day will net you a daily bonus of 60 seals of the protector and 3,400 rough astral diamonds. Subsequent use of the random skirmish queue will net you a repeatable bonus of 20 seals of the protector and 400 rough astral diamonds.

Regardless of which skirmish you end up in, be it Master of the Hunt or the new skirmish in Module 12B—The Merchant Prince’s Folly—if you successfully complete the queue you will receive the same daily or repeatable bonus.

Goals of Random Queues

Before I dive into some of the finer details some of you may be wondering about, I would first like to talk about why we are introducing random queues. Here are the goals we set out (not necessarily in order of importance):

• Ensure all queues are firing in a reasonable time frame, regardless of popularity.
• Reduce burnout from running the same queue ad nauseum by introducing variety.
• Make it clear when you are eligible for and when you receive daily bonus AD and seals.
• Provide further bonuses for those players who can master the most difficult content.
• Incentivize playing roles that are currently underplayed to reduce queue wait times.
• Incentivize helping players who are new to a queue to foster a positive environment.

Queues Firing Faster & Increased Variety

Now I’ll address each of these goals individually in order to better illustrate the feature. I’ve talked a little bit about how you will be assigned to a random queue in the category if you use random queues, but there’s a little more to it than that. In order to help ensure all queues are firing, players who queue, for instance, for Random: Skirmish will also be matched with players who queue for an individual skirmish in the traditional manner. 

For example, if you have queued for Master of the Hunt even if no one else manually queues for that skirmish, your queue will eventually fire with 4 other players who queued for Random: Skirmish. In that sense, if you queue as an individual the queue you end up with is not entirely random. You may see recently released queues that players are manually running more often than older more obscure queues. However, if you queue with a full party of 5, the queue you arrive at will be truly random. 

Whether you’re queuing with a full premade group, or queuing as an individual, your experience will be significantly more varied, because even with a number of players manually queuing for individual content, there is a high chance you’ll be matched with 4 other players in the random queue, resulting in a truly random result. You’ll have the opportunity to play through some less common content and still receive bonus rewards thanks to random queues.

Bonus AD Rewards

Speaking of bonus rewards, many of you are familiar with the bonus AD rewards that are paid out at the end of certain queues, and some may also be familiar with the bonus cache of seals that are paid out at the end of certain other queues. Both of these systems are being replaced with the random queue daily and repeatable bonuses. 

By selecting a random queue in the queue window you will be able to clearly identify ahead of time whether you are eligible for your daily bonus. In addition, upon reaching the end of the queue, your bonus reward will clearly be displayed on the scoreboard. Where before you would have to run two skirmishes or dungeons a day to receive the maximum daily skirmish bonus, you will now only need to run one. At the same time, categories like epic trial and epic dungeons now also have a daily bonus. These changes will make daily bonuses much easier to understand.

Some of you are certainly wondering about the total amount of bonus AD that may be earned. One of the goals I mentioned above was that we wished to provide additional bonuses to those who have mastered more difficult content. As such, the total amount of bonus AD that may be earned is going up! With the introduction of the new epic dungeon and epic trial category, the amount of total daily bonus rough AD that can be earned is increasing from 19500 to 28000. 

Here are the details:

Rough AD per daily bonus run (before → after):

• Skirmish 2250 → 6000
• Dungeon 4500 → 7000
• Epic Dungeon N/A → 5000
• Epic Trial N/A → 5000
• Hero’s Accord N/A → Jadeite (2,500 RP (25,000 by current live reckoning))
• PvP 3000 → 5000

Notes:

• PvP is not part of the random queue system, but you can earn bonus AD from running a PvP match and the amount of matches that can be run for that bonus is being adjusted down to one bonus match per day, to be in line with other categories.
• The nature of Hero’s Accord will be addressed further on in this post.
• Please note that the bonus AD values displayed are slightly lower than what is displayed in game, because the repeatable reward of a few hundred AD is paid out even during the player’s first run, and the lump sum is displayed. 

For example, if you run 1 PvP match, 1 skirmish and 1 dungeon, in the old system you would net 9750 bonus AD, whereas you will now net 18000 bonus AD. In the new system, however, if you cannot run epic dungeons, epic trials or the special hero’s accord queue, you have reached your limit for daily bonus AD. In the old system, you could have run another PvP match, skirmish and dungeon to get to a total of 19500 bonus AD. Although you'll be earning 1500 less rough AD, the bonus seals you will also receive as part of random queues will more than make up for that value in salvage. 

However, if you can run an epic trial and epic dungeon you will get to 28000 bonus AD. If you can also complete hero’s accord, you’ll have earned a total daily bonus of 28000 bonus AD plus a jadeite, a refinement stone worth 2,500 RP (25,000 RP by current live reckoning.) Even if your character isn't endgame ready, you’ll be able to earn just as much rough AD per day, and in a much quicker time.

Bonus Seal Rewards

Here’s the breakdown for bonus seals. Daily value followed by repeatable value in parenthetical:

• Skirmish 40(20) Seals of the Protector
• Dungeon 60(30) Seals of the Protector
• Epic Dungeon 90(30) Seals of the Protector
• Epic Trial 60(40) Seals of the Protector
• Hero’s Accord 10(10) Seals of the Brave

With all categories of random queue paying out seals, players will now have new methods of obtaining seals, particularly noteworthy for those characters who have just reached 70. For those in farming mode, these seals will of course also contribute to your overall earn. 

Understanding exactly how these changes will affect you based on your play style may be confusing to quantify but we think that overall these changes are going to be big improvements across the board in terms of providing a wider variety of content to play for bonuses, as well as making those bonuses easier to understand.

Post edited by asterdahl on September 15