A Plan for Upgrades...

[RJC9000]

Earlier in the day, I was coming back from a dungeon run when Destroyer said "I WANT DRAGONFLIGHT ASSAULT ARMOR!" (sic). Nors thought it would be interesting to see how we could do that. Here's my take on our plan for Dragonflight.

End Goal: Get Market 4, to have access to Dragonflight Armors.
In order to get Market 4, we need a Guild Hall 8.
Guild Hall 8 requires resources and we need 6 Structures at Level3 for a GuildHall upgrade to 7.

We are currently at Guildhall 6, with three structures (Market/Guildhall/Lumberyard) at Level3. We need 3 more to meet the Guildhall 7 requirements.

As of January 15th, 2016, we have three structures ready for one upgrade. We are currently pursuing a Rank 3 Wizard's Workshop.
Farm/Mine/Quarry all are ready for upgrades and need Gold, Labor, Campaign Resources, Labor, Dungeoneering Shards, Gems, Equipment, Food, and Lumber.
Wizard's Workshop is close to upgrading to Level3 (needs just 300KAD). It drains our Campaign Currencies and Gold.

As for getting the various currencies: Gold is loleasy; Campaign Resources can vary from easy to hard (lolDreadRing vs. omgTyrannyofDragons); Labor is moderately difficult (takes time); Equips and Gems will be difficult (double RP on Feb11 says hi); and Food/Lumber are free.

Overall, I'd say that our best course of action is Wizards Workshop -> Farm -> Mine -> GuildHall 7 -> Guildhall 8 -> Market 4.

W. Workshop is close enough as is (Hroth, pls?) and we may as well go for it before we drain the resources. It drains out Tyranny of Dragons/DreadRing (ToD/DR). Farm takes Sharandar and the other junk, but not ToD/DR, so we can build up the ToD/DR currencies while the Farm is on upgrades. Then, the Mine should be next as opposed to the Quarry because Quarry requires Sharandar currencies, which would have been spent on the Farm. But the Mine built needs ToD/DR, which we would have built up during the Farm time.

Then it's a simple matter of Guildhall7->Guildhall8->Market4, since that we would be our next course of action for upgrades.

There are a few problems, of course.

Problem 1: Donations for currencies. Some of us have currencies for days. Others need those currencies for Boons.
Donate what you can, but prioritize getting your boons first.

Problem 2: Requirements for Dragonflight Armor. Needs DragonflightFangs, GuildMarks, and Protector's Seals. Guildmarks will come from donations. We can always run a quick Tier1 or EToS for our Dungeoneering shards (and for the latter, Protector's Seals). Dragonflight Fangs are going to be a problem, since (spoilers!) we tend to not do Dragonflight as much as we used to.

I know that most of us are busy (Kids, Litigations, Work, AP Homework, etc.), but getting 18+ Guildies on is going to be hard for the double Dragon and free Fang. Of course, we "can" get keys via the AH, but we're likely going to be spent with the Guildhall upgrades.

Problem 3: Time and Power Creep.

Mod8 has brought the Elemental Drowcraft Armor, which has comparable stats to Elemental Dragonflight Gear. Sometimes, the Elemental Drowcraft is better because it is way easier to get (Follow the HE Zerg Rush and do Mod8 skirmishes vs. Expensive Stronghold Upgrades + Difficult Fights) and doesn't have idiotic stat placement (E.g. CW want Power/Crit/ArmPen. Dragonflight Raid Robes will replace ArmPen/Crit with Recovery/Defense. Dragonflight Assault Robes replace Power/Crit with Recovery/ArmPen). But how do we know that Mod9 or 10 doesn't bring us some armor superior to Dragonflight? That would mean our Dragonflight investment is obsolete...and I'm no soothesayer.

Comment below, talk about your thoughts and opinions.

[RJC9000]

lol and as soon as I'm finished writing this we upgrade the Wizard's Workshop.

[Tundrra]

Wizards Workshop -> Farm -> Mine -> GuildHall 7 -> Guildhall 8 -> Market 4

This is a good plan and I thank you for breaking it down for everyone. Sometimes players don't realize that we have to meet minimum requirements before we can Upgrade the GH and other buildings.


I also want to point out ways we can achieve these goals.

Some guilds require weekly mandatory donation taxes, which of course we will never have. We are here to have fun and socialize together. Leveling the guild in Everquest2 and Dungeon & Dragons Online was a source of great pride and accomplishment for the guild and its members. We came together for a common goal beyond our character goals to gain server reputation and guild perks. Guild leveling in Neverwinter is meant to be a slow burn, something we can strive to month after month, where us older guilds will become stronger over the years as we stay together and newer guilds will have a hard time catching up as they are created later. However no ones wants it to be so slow we cant see it increasing. We also don't want it to fall on the few to rely on donating. So what can we do?

Set personal goals? Donate 1-10k AD on the days you game. Be sure to talk to the Wizard for the 20 influence a day. These are small amounts but at the end of the month with everyone doing it, it puts a huge dent in the coffer.

Guild goals? We should organize groups 1 or 2 consistent nights a week to do a hour of guild runs...We need DR or WoD items? then we quest together for a hour to get as many items as we can for that nightly goal. Next week we need Influnce...its HEs for a hour...etc These groups give us time to fellowship together, goof off and achieve or goals more quickly:P

With a plan to reach Market 4 on the horizon, putting a focus on the Friday Night Dragon Run attendance will help players gain enough Dragon fangs and help excite guild charity runs. 18 members on at once for 30mins should be attainable:)

[Nors]

I agree, very good post Hector. And the plan to update the ancillary structures first makes sense as the other goals have more investment required.

[bluebutton]

I have found it reasonably easy to donate ToD bc I get the demon hunter quest before zerging WoD. I know Benn donates 4K AD pretty much everyday/every time he's online playing. I've started to do that. It's costs 1.3 ring drops from the Underdark.

The UD drowcraft has made me less anxious to get gear from the guild SH. That's too bad. Although TBH, my main is still in Elven and I'm pretty happy with that.

I would REALLY like to do new/less commonly run content which for me would be something like the Green Dragon and eCC. But I've been living with eDemo.

I'm kind of stalled in the game, not really finding anything worth grinding for. The past week I've been playing with jewelcrafting. But I'll be done with that no later than the end of the week.

For me, I'm just in it for the guild and I like helping people out. Grinding the 5-person HEs alone got old very quickly.

I'll stop my pity party now.

Can we get a MOTD that suggests a donation to work on? That would help me pick something to do while online.

[tornnomar]

Its nice to see a plan laid out.

Last night a group of us laid waste to the vile beasties inhabiting the Stronghold. It was refreshing to team up and help each other with their quests and run some HE's.
I've been noticing an increase in Skirmish runs and T1 runs too. There have even been a couple of Donation runs set up with everything gained being fed to the coffer. Maybe having a weekly donation run(s) set up could be something to look into. Not to mention it will get people grouping again, maybe try grouping with players you don't normally group with, mix it up, have a little fun!

I also see some members upset that they can't donate as much as others can, be it due to level, or other things, but everyone needs to be made aware that a donation is a donation, no matter the amount.

We all benefit from the Stronghold and its continued growth will benefit us that much further. As players near the end, or are already finished with Boons/Twisted Weapons for this Mod, I suspect that we will see an increase in SH activity.

[Tyrandil]

Blue: yes, I can change the MotD to point out which currencies are needed for the next Stronghold upgrade. While anyone can check on that by looking in the "Stronghold" tab, an MotD would be a quick and convenient way to let everyone who logs in know what's needed. I'll update the MotD the next time I'm in. FYI, as of right now, what we need is gems (enchantments and runestones) to upgrade the Farm.

Blue and Rain: YES! I think it's past time we started running dungeons again. And designated "donate all proceeds to the Stronghold" runs are an excellent idea. I'm happy to organize such runs on an ad hoc basis...but maybe we should institute a culture of regular donation? Perhaps we should pick out a specific day when everyone is encouraged to donate the proceeds of their play to the Stronghold? A day when lots of people are usually on and playing? Maybe something catchy and alliterative, like a day that begins with "S"?

May I suggest that we start a tradition...Stronghold Saturday?

[Tundrra]

..Stronghold Saturday?

That has a nice ring to it:)