I died in Vellosk. Not of boredom, surprisingly.
I went through Vellosk in a couple of long-ish sessions, just to get it over and done with. Of all the zones that survived the cut this is one I'd have been okay with being dropped. It's not bad, just dull, with samey scenery, repetitive enemies and questgivers so lacking in agency they could have wandered over from Lord of the Rings Online.
Still, I did manage to get killed during the zone finale, so it's got that going for it at least.
The last time I levelled up in Neverwinter the game's balance was shot to hell. I sleepwalked through the first 30 levels or so until I hit a difficulty spike in Ebon Downs, and from there on it was up and down (mostly down) until I reached 70 and entered Undermountain, at which point the challenge offered by most of the content went from not much to none at all. Whatever else the revamp has done it appears to have fixed that, and when I went into my first boss fight in Neverdeath it felt like a boss fight.
I didn't die in Neverdeath, but the balance was about right. Mobs were taking more than two hits to put down, I was actively dodging area attacks rather than just eating the damage, and I was even using the ocassional healing potion. All good stuff. This continued into Vellosk, and after a few close calls I met my first defeat of this run in the final dungeon.
I honestly don't remember if I finished Vellosk the last time around - that's how memorable it is - so I can't say for sure if this is a change to the zone, but it ended with a solo version of Gray Wolf Den, one of the game's dungeons. I say solo, but the mechanics of the boss fights are identical to the group version and it was the second boss that dropped me at the point where he filled the room with about a million wolves.
(That may be an exageration, but it certainly felt like it.)
The challenge has continued into Ebon Downs, and is without question a Good Thing. Combat is where Neverwinter truly shines, and this is, at this stage in the levelling experience, the best it's ever been.
In total I've probably got more hours in Neverwinter than in any other MMO I've played, including City of Heroes, and most of those hours have been spent at max level. One side effect of the combat being more involved this time around is that I've been very aware of how this class plays differently at lower levels.
Most obviously, throughout Neverdeath I spent quite a bit of time staring at my stealth meter wondering why it was taking so long to recharge. Sure, it's been a while since I've played at max level in this game, but at this point that optimal recharge time is just hardwired into me and I'm not there yet.
Another thing that's taken some getting used to is the powers I have available to me right now - not many of them are going to make it into my final build. One that is a lot better than I remember is Smoke Bomb, which seems to work differently now from how it used to - I'm fairly sure of that because if it had always been an AoE daze I'd definitely have used it more frequently on my previous character(s). It actually plays rather like a Stalker's Placate now, being a highly effective panic button to buy me a few seconds when swarmed... and by being totally useless against ranged enemies standing outside its area of effect.
I'm rapidly approaching level 11, which is when I get to pick my Paragon Path. Well, that's easy: I'll go with the one that gives me Deft Strike. I was never ever going to pick any other.
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