Greetings adventurers! Asterdahl here to discuss the upcoming trial, the Tower of the Mad Mage, launching with Neverwinter: Uprising.

The Tower will pit 10 adventurers against the Mad Mage himself; Halaster Blackcloak, ruler and creator of Undermountain. Emerge victorious and you can earn the powerful lionheart weapons, releasing alongside the trial. The lionheart weapons are the strongest weapons in the game to date, with a maximum item level of 1010 at legendary quality.

Defeating Halaster will be no simple task: the trial features an entry item level requirement of 24,000, and you’ll need every level. The Tower of the Mad Mage is some of the most challenging content we have ever introduced. Surviving will require group coordination and test the ability of tanks, healers, and DPS to perform their roles like never before.

Introducing content of this challenge level is something of an experiment for us, so I’d like to take a moment to answer some potential concerns. If you do not yet meet the required item level to challenge Halaster—don’t worry! We intend for the lionheart weapons to be the best in slot option for quite some time. Even when other weapons of a similar item level are introduced, we intend for this set to remain at the top until an entirely new echelon of weapons and a new corresponding challenge are introduced.

As this trial features an unprecedented challenge level, we will be handling its addition to the random queue selection differently. The Tower of the Mad Mage will not appear in any random queues for the foreseeable future. It will eventually be added to an appropriate random queue, only once sufficient time has passed that the average item level of adventurers has risen to the point where the fight no longer provides such a staunch challenge.

Additionally, while we are experimenting with this increased challenge level for trials, we do not intend to increase the challenge level for dungeons. Though the required item level to enter new dungeons will rise, the mechanical acumen and coordination required will not rise significantly over other recent dungeons. Rest assured we will continue to provide content at the level of challenge you have come to expect.

For those who have been looking for an epic challenge to test your newfound level 80 might, the wait is nearly over. Good luck on the battlefield!

Asterdahl
Staff Systems Designer