IGN’s Peer Schneider offered a hopeful comment on the shutdown of the Neverwinter Vault after being confronted about it via Twitter:

@SanctumArchmage @talign @SteveButts @Samuel_IGN We were surprised, too. Technical issue + unfortunate redirect. Hopefully we can restore!

— Peer Schneider (@PeerIGN) July 3, 2014

And, indeed…a notice posted at the wiki that the NWVault URL redirects to confirms as much:

Neverwinter Vault Maintenance

The Neverwinter Vault is currently undergoing maintenance and the site is temporarily redirecting to this page. Apologies for the inconvenience — we know Neverwinter Vault is an awesome resource and we’re working to restore nwvault.ign.com as quickly as possible.

Of course, the Vault itself still remains inaccessible, more than two weeks after being taken offline…however inadvertently. Which, in turn, suggests that the technical issue to which Schneider is referring is of a rather significant and serious nature.

Still, if IGN are genuinely working on the matter, that’s a good thing, and we should see the Vault returned to functional order in what I hope will be the none-too-distant future.