The First Contact Battle Pass!

Hey there, everyone! This is Terramak, here again to give you a rundown of the First Contact Battle Pass, new to our 27^th module, Spelljammer. 

Overall, we’re keeping the same Battle Pass structure as before. You can gain 4,000 Battle Pass XP over the course of each campaign, with a reward at every increment of 1,000 Battle Pass XP. Once again, the Premium Reward Track is available, unlocking a second set of rewards at those increments across the entire Battle Pass for 2500 Zen. 

As usual, players are eligible to gain Battle Pass XP from each of these activities once per day, and that eligibility accumulates for up to three days. More details below! 

Campaign Details 

Campaign 1: A Fell Omen 

Start: 7:30 AM Pacific time on November 7, 2023 

End: 7:30 AM Pacific time on December 12, 2023 

Note: Players who purchased the Premium Track may gain progress through the Last Chance period. 

 

Activities: 

• Random Skirmish / Trial Queue: 115 Battle Pass XP 
• Random Dungeon / Advanced Dungeon Queue: 135 Battle Pass XP 
• Loot an Invasion Chest: 75 Battle Pass XP 

 

Rewards: 

Battle Pass XP	Free Track	Premium Track
1000	15x Mount Upgrade Token  15x Companion Upgrade Token	10x Shard of Greater Empowerment
2000	Astral Lockbox	Xaryxian Companion Choice Pack
3000	Coalescent Mote	4x Enchanted Key
4000	2x Enchanted Key	Artifact: Alaric’s Artillery Beacon - Account

Campaign 2: Seeds from the Stars 

Start: 7:30 AM Pacific time on December 12, 2023 

End: 7:30 AM Pacific time on January 16, 2024 

Note: Players who purchased the Premium Track may gain progress through the Last Chance period. 

 

Activities: 

• Random Skirmish / Trial Queue: 115 Battle Pass XP 
• Random Dungeon / Advanced Dungeon Queue: 135 Battle Pass XP 
• Complete a Major Heroic Encounter new to Spelljammer: 75 Battle Pass XP 

 

Rewards: 

Battle Pass XP	Free Track	Premium Track
1000	20x Reward Reroll Token	2x Astral Lockbox
2000	2x Enchanted Key	Coalescent Mote
3000	Xaryxian Vanity Pet Choice Pack	Epic Collar Upgrade Progress Pack
4000	Astral Lockbox	4x Magnificent Resurgence Lockbox  4x Enchanted Key

Campaign 3: Cultivating Bonds 

Start: 7:30 AM Pacific time on January 16, 2024 

End: 7:30 AM Pacific time on February 20, 2023 

Note: Players who purchased the Premium Track may gain progress through the Last Chance period. 

 

Activities: 

• Random Skirmish / Trial Queue: 115 Battle Pass XP 
• Random Dungeon / Advanced Dungeon Queue: 135 Battle Pass XP 
• Complete a quest in the new zone: 75 Battle Pass XP 

 

Rewards: 

Battle Pass XP	Free Track	Premium Track
1000	Astral Lockbox	15x Mount Upgrade Token  15x Companion Upgrade Token
2000	Greater Bag of Holding (72 slots)	Xaryxian Mount Choice Pack
3000	5x Scroll of Mass Life	4x Enchanted Key
4000	5x Shard of Greater Empowerment	Coalescent Mote

After the Battle Pass 

Once the Cultivating Bonds campaign ends, players will be able to buy a pack that unlocks the Premium Track and automatically completes progress in all First Contact Battle Pass campaigns. This purchase will be available until the start of the next module, and as usual, the price of this purchase is reduced based on the player’s progress in the Battle Pass and whether they had purchased the Premium Pass. 

Reward Information 

Artifact: Alaric’s Artillery Beacon 

The unique reward from this Battle Pass is an artifact, Alaric’s Artillery Beacon. An artifact originally belonging to a paladin of vengeance, it’s been warped through time and tinkering in Wildspace to pull in arcane artillery through portals above your target. 

When earned through the First Contact Battle Pass, Alaric’s Artillery Beacon starts at Epic quality. 

Use Power 

Alaric’s Artillery Beacon casts Artillery Sweep, which deals about 30% of an artifact’s damage budget to all enemies in a target area (making it competitive with single-target artifacts at ~3-4 enemies hit). It also applies a stun (0.8 seconds per quality to NPCs, 0.4 seconds per quality against players), and a Damage Taken debuff to enemies (1% per quality) for 10 seconds. 

For the number crunchers, here’s some extra information: 

• Cast time: Instant lock-in, 0.67 seconds post-cast animation 
  • Roots the player during cast. 
  • Animation cancellable by Encounter powers, Daily powers, and tactical mechanics (e.g. dodge and block). The power is immediately locked in, so the anim cancel will not prevent it from taking effect or going on cooldown. 
  • Against players, stun is applied 0.67 seconds after button press. 
  • Against NPCs, stun is applied 1.17 seconds after button press. 
  • Damage is applied 1.17 seconds after button press. 
  • Debuff is applied 1.67 seconds after button press. 
• Range: 50 ft 
• AoE radius: 20 ft 
• Maximum targets hit: 10 
• Stacking behavior: Stacks with other unique Damage Taken debuff sources. Does not stack with other iterations of the same power. Debuff name is Artillery Sweep. 
• Values at different ranks: 
  • Damage: Scales based on player item level. You can check estimates in the “Special Artifacts” category of the Artifacts collection, but for an example character at 47,500 Item Level: 
    • Epic: 15,048 
    • Legendary: 24,048 (60% improvement from Epic) 
    • Mythic: 33,072 (37.5% improvement from Legendary) 
  • Stun duration (halved vs. players): 
    • Epic: 2.4 seconds 
    • Legendary: 3.2 seconds 
    • Mythic: 4.0 seconds 
  • Damage Taken debuff: 
    • Epic: 3% 
    • Legendary: 4% 
    • Mythic: 5% 

 

We expect that this artifact will be useful to players in open-world content and those who are still gearing up in early endgame content. The Stun and Damage Taken debuffs are great both for creating breathing room and contributing to coordinated artifact burns, and the higher target cap makes it useful for accidental double-pulls. Combine with pull powers like the Minotaur Mercenary’s Tidal Force and you can keep enemies grouped a few extra seconds for focused AoE. 

Stats 

This stat combo is mainly damage-focused. The values are standard for an artifact that caps out at Item Level 1500, with a 1:1 ratio. 

 

Epic quality 

• 703 Accuracy 
• 703 Combat Advantage 
• 531 Combined Rating 

 

Legendary quality 

• 1,125 Accuracy 
• 1,125 Combat Advantage 
• 850 Combined Rating 

 

Mythic quality 

• 1,688 Accuracy 
• 1,688 Combat Advantage 
• 1,275 Combined Rating 

 

(These are technically 1,687.5, but the tooltip rounds up.) 

As mentioned, we mainly expect this stat combo to find use among DPS players. 

Xaryxian Companion Choice Pack 

This pack contains the player’s choice of one of the following companions: 

• Icosahedron Ioun Stone - Available formerly from the Foundry as well as some Collector’s Packs. 
• Kuo-toa - Previously purchasable. 
• Rust Monster - Available from premium dungeon rewards and Juma’s Bags. 
• Swashbuckler - Available from premium dungeon rewards and Juma’s Bags. Previously available from Call to Arms events. 
• 150 Companion Upgrade Tokens - For players who may not be interested in these companions, or have all the ones they’re interested in. 

Xaryxian Vanity Pet Choice Pack 

This pack contains the player’s choice of one of the following vanity pets: 

• Mini Cephalon - Previously available from Call to Arms events. 
• Mini Chartilifax - Previously available from Call to Arms events and Tales of Old. 
• Mini Garrundar - Previously available from Call to Arms events. 
• Mini Idris - Previously available from Call to Arms events and Tales of Old. 

• 10 Gold - For players who are not interested in any of these vanity pets. 

Xaryxian Mount Choice Pack 

This pack contains the player’s choice of one of the following mounts: 

• Dawn Unicorn - Available from the Moon Elf Race Pack, premium dungeon rewards, and Juma’s Bags. 
• Dusk Unicorn - Available from premium dungeon rewards and Juma’s Bags. 
• Gelatinous Cube - Available from premium dungeon rewards and Juma’s Bags, as well as some promotions and out-of-game purchases on certain platforms. 
• Heavy Howler - Available from premium dungeon rewards and Juma’s Bags. Previously available through certain promotions and Zen Market purchases. 
• 150 Mount Upgrade Tokens - For players who may not be interested in these mounts, or have all the ones they’re interested in. 

 

Completion Achievement & Title: Out of This World 

We’re continuing the completion award introduced in the Chaos Between Realms Battle Pass. Upon receiving 4000 Battle Pass XP in each of the Battle Pass campaigns, the account will be eligible for an in-game achievement: Out of This World. On future logins or map transfers, characters on the account will receive the achievement if they don’t already have it, and will be eligible to claim a title of the same name from the Reward Claims Agent. 

As this is a time-limited achievement, it grants 0 achievement points, and should not appear in the Achievements list if the Battle Pass is not running, or if the character is below level 20. 

Purchases 

This battle pass has the standard suite of purchases: 

• First Contact Premium Pass 
  • 2500 ZEN 
  • Unlocks the ability to earn Premium Track rewards in all campaigns of the First Contact Battle Pass. 
• Campaign Completion 
  • 1000 ZEN 
  • Raises your progress in the current Battle Pass campaign to 4000, allowing you to claim all rewards immediately. 
• Premium Pass & Completion 
  • 5500 ZEN 
  • Only available between the end of the First Contact Battle Pass and the start of the next module. Unlocks Premium Track rewards and automatically raises progress to 4000 in each of this Battle Pass’ campaigns. 

 

Price is reduced based on: 

• Whether the account has already purchased the Premium Pass. 
• How much progress the account has made in each of the Battle Pass campaigns. 

Closing 

These are the main details of the First Contact Battle Pass! 

I know I haven’t yet gotten to adding transmute rewards as folks have previously requested, but is there anything else you’d like to see that isn’t listed here? How about the stuff you’re absolutely sick of seeing? Does the Epic Collar Upgrade Progress Pack feel like a sufficient improvement over just Epic Collars? Feel free to let us know in the forum! 

Thank you for reading, and thank you for playing Neverwinter! We’re always glad to see you in-game. 

Vincent “Terramak” Malley