Exploit leads to Neverwinter server rollback

An exploit in the beta test of the Neverwinter MMO caused such dramatic inflation that developer Perfect world rolled back the servers.

Cryptic Studio’s Dungeons & Dragons based game uses a currency called astral diamonds, and so many were produced by the exploit that the damage to the in-game economy was deemed irreparable.

"Thanks in no small part to the efforts of our continually amazing Beta community, we were able to quickly identify the exploit and the perpetrators," said the publisher in a forum post.

"Once identified, we took immediate action, calling in the entire development and publishing teams to lock down the Neverwinter OBT as we sought out a solution."

Though Perfect World admits the decision to roll back the servers – destroying seven hours of time in-game – is far from a perfect solution, the publisher says it was definitely necessary.

"Rather than let the malicious efforts of a few unsavory players linger and continually impact the game’s economy and balance as we progress through these later stages of Open Beta, we have made the extremely difficult decision to rollback Neverwinter to a time shortly before the abuse and exploitation began," explained the post.

While some players were certainly upset, the studio is doing its best to repair relations with the community of beta testers by offering a "thank-you gift" to players.