Seminar on Stronghold Development II

Figure 1: Millabout Market on Neverembers Lackey's

Welcome,

The second Seminar on Stronghold Development is focused on strategies for dealing with the most common resource bottlenecks you will encounter during your stronghold progression.  Those resources are Influence, Shards of Power, Surplus Equipment, Gems and Campaign Currencies.

All of these resources can be acquired by playing the avialable content of Neverwinter. But since there is a significant diffrence in playstyle for PvE (Player versus Environment) and PvP (Player versus Player) Content in this Game alot of Player will hesitate to experience the full scale of Neverwinter and therefore cut them self off of options to earn the afore mentioned resources. 

Stronghold Chests

Cryptic is of course offering Items in the Zen Store to speed up the Stronghold Development process with real money or with exchanged Astral Diamonds. Those Items are the Stronghold Starter Pack for 3500 Zen and the Stronghold Chest of Power for 300 Zen. The Starter Pack also includes the Stronghold Chest of Campaigns..

Both, the Chest of Power and the Chest of Campaigns can be purchased from the Auction House as well.

A good price for the Chest of Power is x < 150.000 AD and for the Chest of Campaigns it is x < 50.000 AD.

The Stronghold Chest of Power will give you 100 of each Shards of Power (Heroic-, Adventurer-, Dungeoneer-, Conqueror-) for a total of 400 Shards. That amount is doubled during a 2x Shard of Power Event.

The Stronghold Chest of Campaigns will give you your choice  of 5 Major Vouchers for one of the campaign currencies or 5 Major Influence Voucher.

With the Guild Marks you'll receive from donating the Items from the Chest to your Coffer and a clever Guild Mark Management you can also make more Astral Diamonds back than you initialy spend on the Stronghold Chests.

Influence

... is probably the most important resource overall since it is required in every Guild Hall and Boon Structure upgrade. Influence is exclusivly earned from PvE content.

Find a List of Influence sources below.

• Companion Stronghold's Cleric => +10%  Influence gain (To be confirmed!)
• 400 Influence per Character per day from Heroic Encounter on the Stronghold Map
• 600 Influence per Character per week from the Stronghold Marauders Event
• 20-100 Influence from the daily Boon Structure Quests, depends on the Rank of the Structure
• 2000 Influence from the Strongbox of Influence, is a rare reward from Dragonflights. ALWAYS open them with a Strongbox Key (6-10k AD on the Auction House)
• 18.000 Influence per week from The Recruiter (temporary Structure)

Shards of Power

There are 4 different types of those Shards and they can be earned by completing the Stronghold Quests and some Campaign Tasks. Find a List below (values are for Level 70 Character).

Heroic Shards of Power

• 10 Shards from The Builder daily Quest
• 10 Shards for the first Tier 3 Heroic Encounter on the Stronghold Map every day

Adventurer's Shards of Power

• 10 Shards form The Master of Coin daily Quest
• 10 Shards from The Ranger daily Quest

Dungeoneer Shards of Power

• 20 Shards form The Cleric Skirmish and Dungeon Dailies
• 2 Shards from the Elemental Evil Campaign for completing 3 Heroic Encounter daily in each of the 4 Zones. Choice between Dungeoneer and Conqueror Shards.You spend to much time on that for to little Rewards.
• 10 Shards from the Maze Engine Campaign for completing five times the Daily Quest. Choice between Dungeoneer and Conqueror Shards

Conqueror's Shards of Power

• 10 Shards form The Master of Coin Quest "Fight to the Finish". This was a big problem for PvE focused Guilds since the quest goal is to win a PvP match which is not an easy task for alot of PvE Player. BUT with Mod 12 we received the option to form a Private PvP Que. Winning a private match will give no rewards but will complete the Quest "Fight to the Finish". So simply form a Private PvP Que (1vs.1, up to 5vs.5). In the first round Team one wins and in the rematch Team 2. If people want to fight they can do it off the Nodes. The fun will take a total of roughly 10 minutes and everyone will receive their daily 10 Conqueror's Shards.

A Big Thanks goes out to Tim, Guild Master from Critical Attack for shaing this Method with the Alliance.

• 2 Shards from the Elemental Evil Campaign for completing 3 Heroic Encounter daily in each of the 4 Zones. Choice between Dungeoneer and Conqueror Shards.You spend to much time on that for to little Rewards.
• 10 Shards from the Maze Engine Campaign for completing five times the Daily Quest. Choice between Dungeoneer and Conqueror Shards 

Surplus Equipment

...is also a valuable resource and is required for the majority of Stronghold Structures. Donating Surplus Equipment can in your personal Astral Diamond gains since Epic salvageable Items are a good source for Surplus Equipment. Find a List of alternatives below.

• Epic Salvageable Items will give 810 Surplus Equip, but you lose the RAD by donating it
• Rare Salvageable Items will give 20 Surplus Equip, not worth donating get the AD instead
• Green level 70 Items will give 5 Surplus Equip, if you have enough Bag space go for it.
• Drops from Quartermaster enchantments, Spoils of War will Give 350 Surplus Equip, Abandoned Gear will give 150 Surplus Equip 
• 4850 Surplus Equip from the Strongbox of Surplus Equipment, is a rare reward from Dragonflights. ALWAYS open them with a Strongbox Key (6-10k AD on the Auction House)
• various Professions can craft Crates of Surplus Equipment

Gems and Jewelcrafting

To increase your Gemstorage for Stronghold Structures you can feed enchantments, runestones and insignias to your Coffer. But the Gemvalue for these is compared to their AD value and their Refinement points very low. For Example a rank 7 Enchant/Runestone is only worth 100 Gems and we need hundreds of thousands of Gems. Therefore donating Enchants, Runestones and Insignias to the Coffer is not a very efficient way to a mass Gems for your Stronghold Projects. Find a List of Options below.

• Enchants/Runstones Rank 5 = 50 Gems, Rank 7 = 100 Gems, Rank 12 = 45.000 Gems, that is worth alot of Astral Diamonds
• Insignias Blue = 50 Gems, donate the Character Bound Insignias you get from running Dungeons and don't fit your needs
• 1800 Gems from the Strongbox of Gems, is a rare reward from Dragonflights. ALWAYS open them with a Strongbox Key (6-10k AD on the Auction House)
• 24.000 Gems per week from The Gemcutter (temporary Structure)

As you can see the Gemcutter is your best Bet for Gems, but there is another option which can generate theoratically 47.000 Gems per week per Character.

Jewelcrafting

Is a Profession which can be leveled up fairly quickly. It can be used to make AD but more importantly you can craft Crates of Gems with it.

Overview:

Jewelcrafting Task	Rank unlocked	Gems	Leather Strips	Duration	Coffer Value
Crates of Uncut Gems	4	20 Raw Gems	-	6 hours	80-160 Gems
Crates of Valuable Gems	10	20 Semi-Precious gems	-	6 hours	120-240 Gems
Crates of Simple Jewelry	17	20 Precious Gems	10 Exotic Leather Strips	6 Hours	160-320 Gems
Crates of Precious Jewelry	23	20 Perfect Gems	10 Aberrant Leather Strips	6 Hours	200-400 Gems

As you can see we can generate up to 1120 Gems every 6 hours, with a Epic Asset it is done in just 4 hours. The listed resources can be bought for Guild Marks from The Atelier and The Tannery. A detailed Guide will be published seperatly.