Ahead of the rollout for Season 2 of the Avernus module for Dungeons and Dragons MMO Neverwinter, Game Rant got an exclusive chance to talk to the game's Senior System Designer Doug Miller, also known as Asterdahl on Reddit and other forums. We had a lengthy discussion with Miller on all the big and small details of Neverwinter Avernus season 2, including server-wide goals, new areas, and the future of episodic content, but a few juicy details caught our attention right away. A new area of the Redeemed Citadel, more Hunts in the War Room, and a couple of special artifacts related to Zariel herself will all be available as season 2 progresses.
In the Avernus expansion, players got the chance to explore the first layer of Hell, fighting powerful devils and demons in end-game missions. With season 2, players will have even more to do in and around the Redeemed Citadel, a massive heavenly fortress in Avernus that serves as a staging ground for Zariel's assault on the abyss. Zariel was once an angel who tried to conquer hell, but was corrupted into becoming a powerful devil for centuries. Now, with the help of players, she is redeemed once again and has another chance to subjugate her infernal foes. There is a lot more to the tale discussed in the full Neverwinter interview, but for now we will focus on a few key pieces of new content.
Unlocking New Content in Avernus
New content for Avernus season 2 won't be unlocked after a maintenance period or an immediate update. Instead, players will have personal goals to work towards helping Zariel that will also fill one big progress bar for the entire server. At certain milestones, new rewards and content will be immediately unlocked for everyone. Miller explained that the new Neverwinter systems for community-wide goals are one part of the update the development team is looking forward to seeing move forward.
I think the server-wide progress is the most exciting for us just because we haven’t done it before.... the dynamic of learning about new things together, seeing that big progress bar increase, and then as soon as it completes new things happen right then and there.
When asked what kinds of things players would be able to unlock through the activity, Miller explained there there are personal rewards as well as group ones, but the server-wide rewards will include new hunts, new rooms in the Citadel, and new items in the store. Hunts were a mechanic that was unlocked in season 1, in which players could go out into the open world and spawn a rare enemy to take out, but it looks like that mechanic will be expanded on in a few interesting ways with this update.
New Hunts, The Library, and Zariel's Special Artifacts
When asked to give a rundown of some of the new content players would unlock by completing server-wide goals, Miller first explained how the War Room works. The War Room was unlocked at the end of episode one, and in it resides Heaven's Septem, a faction of elite angelic hunters. These elite angels work with players to "track down the most dangerous marks- the most wanted list of the demon and devil realm." With season 2 of Avernus, new, higher tier hunts will be available. However, those hunts will now also link in with the new room of the Citadel.
Episode two is going to bring the Library, a new room in the Citadel which is a repository for lore. For people who are really into lore, this is going to be an episode to get excited about. The Library will have lore entries on its own, but also when you defeat any of the hunt marks their story is going to be added to the Library, so after you defeat them you can go and see, 'who was this pit fiend that I just destroyed?'
That may be the biggest thing to look forward to in this update, but we also wanted to get a sense for some of the other rewards that players can work towards earning this time around. When we asked Miller what his personal favorite detail of the new update is, he gave us some exciting details on two new artifacts that will allow players to use some of Zariel's own magic for themselves.
The leaderboard reward for this milestone is going to be an artifact that people have been wanting. It’s the Golden Memories artifact from the zen market, and the Scathing Light version from the leaderboards. Those are both artifacts that are going to have visual effects from Zariel’s own spellbook. When you fight her in the trial she has access to a lot of spells, and with these artifacts you’ll have effects from her spells, so you’ll basically be able to use her spells. I think that’s my favorite thing because... I got to work on some of the visual effects from her fight, so getting to give some of those to the players is really cool for me.
There will be plenty more to find out in part 2 of Avernus, from the exact lore details contained in the library to the rewards gained from defeating even more varied and powerful hunt targets, but the only way to discover all that content is to hop on and start working towards the milestones. Avernus part 2 goes live on September 15th.
Neverwinter is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.