Dungeons & Dragons Online Goes Free to Play Model

Dunno I'm a bit lost in the game, I just passed the first village and I'm still lvl one ? xD Now I just run in a big zone and I don't know where to go !

I thought you were the D&D specialist here... :laugh:

You can repeat quests on different difficulties for exp. and more rewards. To continue get the quest from the guard standing near the transition from Khortos Village to Khortos Island. Do that quest, and the follow up "Misery's Peak", and you've completed the tutorial and can start to play the game! :^_-:

*Cry* I'm lost in the tutorial !!! LOL xD

Thania wrote:

*Cry* I'm lost in the tutorial !!! LOL xD

That's the reason why there is a tutorial island :^_-: When you're done with Khortos Island you will never be lost again! :yersh: (Mainly because Reggy can hop after you then <3)

mehh..well I quit this game, its boring alone and I can't even whisp...

Yeah this game is really bad solo.
Maybee give it another shot, when it goes free to play for real, maybee more guildies will try it out then.

:D:

lmao ... cool pic Reggy xD ... damn straight ...
when u run out of spells u can always count on the rusty shotgun to save ur behind :P

Dungeons & Dragons Online developer Turbine recently unveiled the release notes for "Update 3" in its official forums, providing a wealth of information about the MMO's upcoming content patch. Due for release within the next month or so, Update 3 will introduce a variety of new content and gameplay tweaks. Highlights include: Level Sigils will not be required anymore, Stormreach cosmetic enhancements, the "Epic Vault of Night" adventure pack, four new free dungeons, a new "Casual" dungeon difficulty setting and more.

Check out a full transcription of the release notes after the jump, or log in at the DDO forums site to view the official announcement thread.

From the official DDO forums, posted in the "Lamannia Release Notes (last updated 1-7-2010)" thread:

Release Notes: Update 3

Welcome to the Release Notes for Dungeons & Dragons Online! These preview release notes were posted Thursday, January 7th 2010. These preview release notes are subject to changes and additions.

News & Notes

Of Special Note:

No Level Sigils Required

All players can now play DDO without needing to acquire level sigils to progress their characters to level 20! Enjoy unlimited leveling in DDO Unlimited!

Sprucing up Stormreach

DDO's 4th Birthday is around the corner, and in anticipation of the crowds the city tourism commission has been hard at work making various beautification improvements around Stormreach!

• Stormreach by Night
  
  
  
  • All public spaces will be synchronized to display common weather and lighting as you travel between gated instances.
  
  
  • Nighttime in the city will trigger new aesthetic lighting in public instances of Stormreach and the harbor, including enclaves surrounding the Stormreach marketplace. The nighttime cycle will last for 20 minutes of every 3 hour day cycle.
  
  
  
  


• In order to promote tourism and to cut down on petty theft, the Coin Lords have invested in new streetlights in the city wards.


• Market stairways have been swept clean of accumulated dirt and some areas of the Market have received a good power washing.



• House Deneith has done extensive maintenance to rooftops in order to repair leaks and install weaponry, and has also hired plumbers to re-route various unsightly pipes. Gardeners have also been brought in to do some much-needed weeding.


• The Committee for Tourism and the Improvement of the Harbor has funneled funds into the accessibility of the Leaky Dinghy (after yet another tourist was found floating offshore), as well as general removal of accumulated harbor gunk.


• In the House Jorasco ward, a ramp has been added for better convenience getting to Kruz, giving him more bodies to BURN TO ASH for his precious tree... I mean... more adventurers to reincarnate.


• Unfortunately a monster got loose in House Kundarak and decided to do some redecorating of its own!

Epic Vault of Night

The Vault of Night adventure pack now features Epic difficulty for 20th level characters! Gather epic dungeon tokens for reincarnation or to upgrade treasures found in the Vault of Night adventure pack! For more changes and additions to the Vault of Night adventure pack be sure to check the Quest Changes section of these release notes!

New Free Quests

Four new free dungeons are now available!

• Stop a Marilith sorceress in the adventure In the Demon's Den (CR 18)


• A strange new species of Troglodyte is running amok in the adventure Acid Wit (CR 15)


• The new inn near the Tower of the Twelve has some unwelcomed guests from Xoriat in the quest Delirium (CR: 15)



• Discover the secret of how the Kobolds are taking out regional caravans in Mired in Kobolds (CR: 13)

New Dungeon Difficulty: Casual!

All dungeons now feature a new difficulty option: casual! This difficulty is available for quests that are not solo-only or raid in the game now - excellent for smaller parties or players who are struggling with the challenges of a Normal difficulty dungeon!

• Casual difficulty is tailored for solo players and small parties that find Normal mode too challenging, but provides less experience, lower quality treasure, and less favor for completing it.


• Casual difficulty can be played by up to 6 players and can also be played with Hirelings.

More Notice Boards Available To Help!

Having trouble deciding where to go next? Not sure what a good place to hunt would be for your level range? There are now more Notice Boards available in the city to help provide guidance for adventurers who aren’t sure of where to explore next! Simply click on the notice board to learn more about dangers and wonders of Xen’drik, and how to get to them!
More Reincarnation Choices!

Kruz is now offering more forms of Reincarnation! These forms of reincarnation offer different features and do not start your character over again at level 1. Instead, you retain your current character level!

Lesser Reincarnation

By giving Kruz a Lesser Druidic Heart of Wood, you may respec the character and retain your level. You will retain the same class configuration, but may reassign ability points, skill points, feat selection, and enhancements. Lesser Druidic Hearts of Wood are available in the DDO Store. You may Lesser Reincarnate repeatedly, though you must wait for the one week cooldown timer before you can reincarnate again.

Greater Reincarnation

By giving Kruz a Greater Druidic Heart of Wood, you may respec a 28 point build character and retain your level, but you will additionally be upgraded to a 32 point build. You will retain the same class configuration, but you will have more ability points to assign and may redistribute skill points, feat selection, and enhancements. Greater Druidic Hearts of Wood are available in the DDO Store.

+1 and +3 Reincarnations

By giving Kruz a +1 or +3 Lesser or Greater Druidic Heart of Wood, you may respec a character and retain your level. Additionally, you will be able to change your class. The number of levels of the class you may change is dependent on the value of the Heart of Wood. For example, a +1 will allow you to change only one level of your character to a different class, while a +3 will allow you to change 3 levels of your character to a different class. If the Heart of Wood is a Greater Heart, it will additionally upgrade a 28 point character to a 32 point character. You may Lesser Reincarnate repeatedly, though you must wait for the one week cooldown timer before you can reincarnate again.

General Reincarnation Changes

• Fixed an error where a user could become blocked from selecting their alignment when customizing a character in True Reincarnation rather than following a Path.

Crowd Control Improvements

Many changes have been made to make crowd control effects against players more friendly for real-time combat. For a full description of the changes, and details on the spells that have been updated, please see the Spells section of these release notes!

Shopping

In-game Vendors

• Giles Goodman is now just outside the gate to the Market.


• The Free Agent patron and vendor have moved to the southern part of the Harbor.

DDO Store Changes

• The level 17-20 Gold Seal Hireling Contracts in the DDO Store can now be purchased in quantities of up to 10 at a time rather than just 1 at a time.

UI Improvements

• Ctrl-Right-Clicking items now produces a link to the item in the chat entry area. Players can now send links to items to any chat channel including group chat, guild chat, or tells.


• If there is only one quest available in the portal UI, the UI itself will reflect this by not making it seem that you can change the quest.


• Damage that is scaled due to the UI scaling tech will no longer cause the floaty text to shrink (unless there is another reason for the floaty text to have shrunk).


• Double clicking an item in the reincarnation bank or account bank will now move it to your inventory.


• The collector NPC dialog window will no longer close in between trades, and the "take what you need" option is now more accessible at the top of the first page, allowing you to turn in collectibles more easily.


• Quests that require a minimum level will now have their mapnotes made visible once that minimum level has been obtained (previously, you needed to log out/back in to view the mapnotes).



• The character generation screen no longer defaults you to the "suggested race."


• The Account and Reincarnation Banks will now close automatically if you stray too far from the banker.


• A tooltip has been added to the Reincarnation button to provide more information about it.

Hireling Changes

• Hireling summon times have been shortened.



• Hirelings now use potions more sparingly.


• All Hirelings now get the proper number of melee swings for their BAB.


• Cleric Hirelings now have offensive wands to use in battle.


• Arcane Hirelings now have a wider array of better spells on their command bars.


• All Hireling contracts have been updated to match their in-game commands.


• Any Hirelings who previously used summon monster spells can now be commanded to do so without a target.



• Hirelings with two weapons will now wield them properly.


• Cleric Hirelings now have more diverse tactics available. Put them in Aggressive combat mode if you want them to attack enemies physically. Leave them in Defensive mode if you want them to stay out of melee combat.


• Tooltips now appear on Hireling portraits when they are docked as well as undocked.


• Hirelings suddenly realized that they have skills, and they're not afraid to use 'em!


• Bolted some patchwork onto some Warforged Hirelings so they will properly auto-stabilize when incapacitated.

Quest & Adventure Area Changes

The Grotto

• On Shipwreck Shore, Jeets now gives a quarterstaff to those characters on a monk path, eliminating any confusion about which of his weapon types is appropriate for a monk.


• An offensive divine eternal wand is now available for new characters in the Grotto.


• Fixed an error that was causing the the quest to break at the high priest's altar.

Bookbinder Rescue

• Fixed an issue where a hostage would not follow their rescuer.

Chain of Flames

• There are now return portals in the Burning City's lava fields, installed for the unfortunate but fire-resistant slaves who fell off the catwalks.

Come Out and Slay

• Talon Darsin in Come Out and Slay is now somewhat better protected.


• If you recruit a gang emissary in Come Out and Slay, he'll now start following you as soon as you recruit him.

Heyton's Rest

• Added a chest with a starter Heavy Mace and a starter Longsword for a tutorial on damage types against zombies & skeletons

Irestone Inlet

• The Irestone Inlet no longer looks like a big green lump.

Offering of Blood

• On epic difficulty, the respawn rates of some of the drow chasers have been toned down slightly.

The Mark of the Dragon

• The quest now appears in the correct location in the quest journal (Marketplace.)

Monastery of the Scorpion

• The puzzle in the Drow Monastery will now be solvable in all cases.

Necropolis

• Hallestrom no longer appears on the map when he has no quest to give.

Repossession

• The Jarility statue now makes its proper sound when destroyed.


• Glued some seams together so it will be less drafty.

The Sands of Menechtarun

• Mummies in the Menechturun desert will now occasionally drop Antique Bronze Tokens.

Searing Heights

• A road leading from Searing Heights into the wilderness has been cleared of fallen ruins, but remains gated... for now...

The Shroud

• The Pit Fiend in Part 4 should finally stop staring off into space.

Stormcleave Outpost

• Troops in Stormcleave have been supplied with House Deneith armor, and the road back to town has been more clearly marked.


• Alciana d'Deneith's quest chalice has been fixed.

Tangleroot Gorge

• A recent series of rainstorms have caused extensive erosion in Tangleroot Gorge, exposing cliffs and washing away weeds.

Three Barrel Cove

• A couple of NPCs were having a rave on top of a table in the Salty Wench Tavern. They have been asked to stay down on the floor.

Tower of Despair

• Horoth has been taking opera lessons. It is recommended that non-tanks find Boots of Anchoring.

Vault of Night

• The Vault of Night is now available on Epic difficulty for level 20 players!


• Players will only need to play the quests to assemble the Laughing Knives once, in order to access the Vault of Night raid. Afterward, the raid can be replayed without having to replay Prison of the Mind, Tharashk Arena, Jungle of Khyber, or Haywire Foundry.
  
  
  
  • NOTE: If you have completed the raid prior to Update 3, you are permanently flagged.
  
  
  
  


• You may now complete the quests prior to the raid (Prison of the Mind, Tharashk Arena, Jungle of Khyber, or Haywire Foundry) in any order.


• Many of the humanoids that are fought in the Vault of Night series (drow, aurum dwarves, etc.) were mistakenly using the same low damage value from normal difficulty on both hard and elite. This has been fixed. They now will do the proper amount of melee damage on hard and elite difficulty.

Prison of the Mind

• The Prisoner quest no longer fails players for falling off the platform. Players who fall will be teleported... elsewhere.

Tharashk Arena

• You no longer have to run to the elevator in order to complete the quest

Waterworks

• Private Jake now gives directions to Guard Tember and the kobold lairs, for players who have already completed the Lost Seekers, in addition to giving directions while progressing through that quest the first time.

Where There's Smoke

• Weather patterns have been normalized in the region.

General Quest Changes

• Rest on quest completion has changed. Previously, you would be fully rested when you teleported anywhere after completing a quest (including to another place inside the quest). You will now only receive this quest completion rest when you exit the quest.


• Brother Malden and Shir Clowenks in the Leaky Dinghy now wait until dialogue is complete before offering quest rewards.


• A stuck-spot in Reaver's Reach has been fixed.


• Fixed an issue with scaling that was causing it to scale in the wrong direction with certain party makeups.



• Dungeon Alert will no longer over-alert when the following entities are somewhere in your quest: charmed monsters, summoned monsters, allied NPCs, and/or Hirelings.


• Pike-style traps now scale properly on Epic.


• You will no longer be able to enter Epic dungeons more than once (per character); the dungeon is no longer gated by a door.


• When playing in Epic difficulty, the text shown on the death box has been updated to supply more information

Skills, Feats, and Abilities

Class Changes

Monks

• Monks now automatically receive the first tier of elemental stances for free. These are available in the character’s Feat list as a granted feat. Selecting a philosophy will now automatically grant Fists of Light or Fists of Darkness, which will also be found in the character’s Feat list.


• Lists of common finishing moves are now visible in the feats list. As a result of these changes, most monks should find that their enhancements have been reset.


• The Monk's Curse of Healing and Touch of Despair effects now have visual effects on their targets.


• The Two Weapon Fighting and Two Handed Fighting feats have been added to the martial arts feat list available to monks at levels 1, 2, and 6.


• The original monk paths have been replaced with new paths that better incorporate the changes that have been made to the class. Characters that are currently on one of the three paths will continue to remain on it, but newly created monks will have a choice of the Shintao Monk, Ninja Spy, or Henshin Mystic paths.

Skills

• During skill advancement stages, the current rank of a skill will be set to your current rank instead of 0. When you put points into a skill, the number will change colors so it is more obvious which skills have had points put into them.

Feats

• The cooldowns for Whirlwind Attack and Great Cleave have been lowered to 5 seconds to match the Cleave feat's cooldown.


• The cooldowns for Sunder and Improved Sunder have been reduced by 5 seconds each.



• Effects giving players and monsters the chance to negate constitution damage were previously not working, and have been fixed.


• You can now teleport to Meridia with the Greater Dragonmark of Passage, providing you have completed the quest "Meridia."


• The cooldown timers for dragonmark abilities and the spells they mimic have been made separate, allowing you to cast each without affecting the cooldowns of the other.

Enhancements

New Enhancements

• Arcane Archer: Imbue Acid Arrows
  
  
  
  • Cost: 1 Action Point
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Elf or Ranger Arcane Archer II, 30 (or 38 for Elves) Action Points Spent
  
  
  • Effect: Imbues all missiles that you fire with acid, granting them the Corrosive ability (+1d6 Acid damage) and dealing acid damage over time if your arrow damages your target. This ability costs 20 spell points to activate, and triggers a lengthy cooldown of the Melf's Acid Arrow spell. Only one Arcane Archer Imbue ability may be active at any time.
  
  
  
  

• Arcane Archer: Imbue Explosive Arrows
  
  
  
  
  • Cost: 1 Action Point
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Elf or Ranger Arcane Archer III, 42 (or 50 for Elves) Action Points Spent
  
  
  • Effect: Imbues all missiles that you fire with flame, granting them the Flaming Burst ability (+1d6 Fire damage, plus additional damage on critical hits). This ability costs 30 spell points to activate, and triggers a lengthy cooldown of the Fireball spell. Only one Arcane Archer Imbue ability may be active at any time.
  
  
  
  

• Arcane Archer: Imbue Terror Arrows
  
  
  
  
  • Cost: 1 Action Point
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Elf or Ranger Arcane Archer IV, 54 (or 62 for Elves) Action Points Spent
  
  
  • Effect: Imbues all missiles that you fire with negative energy, granting them the Fearsome ability. This ability costs 40 spell points to activate, and triggers a lengthy cooldown of the Fear spell. Only one Arcane Archer Imbue ability may be active at any time.
  
  
  
  

• Arcane Archer: Imbue Force Burst Arrows
  
  
  
  • Cost: 1 Action Point
  
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Elf or Ranger Arcane Archer IV, Arcane Archer: Imbue Force Arrows, 54 (or 62 for Elves) Action Points Spent
  
  
  • Effect: Imbues all missiles that you fire with arcane force, granting them the Force Burst ability (+1d6 Force damage and additional damage on critical hits) and negating the incorporeal miss chance of ethereal creatures. This ability costs 40 spell points to activate, and triggers a lengthy cooldown of the Chain Missile spell. Only one Arcane Archer Imbue ability may be active at any time.
  
  
  
  

• Arcane Archer: Imbue Slaying Arrows
  
  
  
  • Cost: 1 Action Point
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Elf or Ranger Arcane Archer V, Arcane Archer: Imbue Force Arrows, Acid Arrows, Explosive Arrows, and Terror Arrows, 66 (or 74 for Elves) Action Points Spent
  
  
  
  • Effect: Imbues all missiles that you fire with incredible power, granting them the Slaying ability, which will deal massive damage to a living target on what would be a vorpal attack (natural 20 followed by critical confirmation). This ability costs 50 spell points to activate, and triggers a lengthy cooldown of the Finger of Death spell. Only one Arcane Archer Imbue ability may be active at any time.
  
  
  
  

• Static Charge
  
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Path of Inevitable Dominion, Level 3 Monk
  
  
  • Cost: 2 AP, 10 Ki to use
  
  
  • You strike your opponent and curse them to feel the fury of the sky. For the next 30 seconds, any electrical attack targeting them deals 10% more damage.
  
  
  
  
  

• Porous Soul
  
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Path of Inevitable Dominion, Level 4 Monk
  
  
  • Cost: 2 AP, 10 Ki to use
  
  
  • You strike your opponent and curse them to draw acid in like a sponge. For the next 30 seconds any acid attack targeting them deals 10% more damage.
  
  
  
  
  

• Winter's Touch
  
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Path of Inevitable Dominion, Level 5 Monk
  
  
  • Cost: 2 AP, 10 Ki to use
  
  
  • You strike your opponent and curse them to feel the chill of death. For the next 30 seconds any cold attack targeting them deals 10% more damage.
  
  
  
  

• All-Consuming Flame
  
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Path of Inevitable Dominion, Level 6 Monk
  
  
  • Cost: 2 AP, 10 Ki to use
  
  
  • You strike your opponent and curse them to light up like tinder. For the next 30 seconds any fire attack targeting them deals 10% more damage.
  
  
  
  

• Touch of Death
  
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Path of Inevitable Dominion, Static Charge, Porous Soul, Winter's Touch, All-Consuming Flame, Level 9 Monk
  
  
  • Cost: 4 AP, 50 Ki to use
  
  
  • You strike your opponent down with twisted ki, dealing 500 additional damage.
  
  
  
  

• Wizard Pale Master I
  
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Spell Focus: Necromancy, Wizard Energy of the Scholar I, Wizard Intelligence I, Level 6 Wizard
  
  
  • Cost: 4 AP
  
  
  • You are a devoted student of the necromantic arts. You gain 5 hit points as your flesh toughens, deal 25% additional damage with negative energy spells, and have a 3% chance for negative energy spells to generate a critical result for 1.5 times the normal damage amount. (Base spell critical chance is 0% and base critical damage multiplier is 1.5.). You can produce a touch-ranged negative energy effect at will, and can animate skeletons for a small cost.
    
    
    
    • Necrotic Touch (Free with Pale Master I)
      
      
      
      • You sheath your hand in crackling black flames, dealing 1d6 hit points of negative energy damage per caster level to a living creature. A successful Fortitude save reduces the damage by half. Undead allies can be healed by this effect.
      
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Summon Skeleton (Free with Pale Master I)
      
      
      
      • Creates a skeleton to attack your enemies. This ability costs 5 hit points and 1 spell point to activate. You can have only one skeletal minion active at one time, creating another will destroy your old pet.
      
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

• Summon Skeletal Knight
  
  
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Wizard Pale Master I, Level 6 Wizard
  
  
  • Cost: 1 AP
  
  
  • Creates a skeletal knight to attack your enemies. This ability costs 10 hit points and 5 spell points to activate. You can have only one skeletal minion active at one time, creating another will destroy your old pet.
  
  
  
  

• Summon Skeleton Archer
  
  
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Wizard Pale Master I, Summon Skeletal Knight, Level 6 Wizard
  
  
  • Cost: 1 AP
  
  
  • Creates a skeletal archer to attack your enemies. This ability costs 10 hit points and 5 spell points to activate. You can have only one skeletal minion active at one time, creating another will destroy your old pet.
  
  
  
  

• Summon Skeleton Mage
  
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Wizard Pale Master I, Summon Skeletal Knight, Summon Skeletal Archer, Level 6 Wizard
  
  
  
  • Cost: 1 AP
  
  
  • Creates a skeletal mage to attack your enemies. This ability costs 10 hit points and 10 spell points to activate. You can have only one skeletal minion active at one time, creating another will destroy your old pet.
  
  
  
  

• Wizard Pale Master II
  
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Wizard Pale Master I, Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy, Wizard Energy of the Scholar II, Wizard Intelligence II, Level 12 Wizard
  
  
  • Cost: 2 AP
  
  
  
  • You are adept at the necromantic arts. You gain 5 additional hit points as your flesh toughens (for a total of +10 hit points), deal 10% additional damage with negative energy spells (for a total of +35%), and increase your chance to generate a critical result with negative energy spells by 3% (Your base spell critical chance is now 6% and base critical damage multiplier is 1.5.).
  
  
  
  

• Summon Blackbone Knight
  
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Wizard Pale Master II, Summon Skeletal Knight, Wizard Elemental Manipulation I
  
  
  • Cost: 1 AP
  
  
  • Creates a blackbone knight to attack your enemies. This ability costs 20 hit points and 10 spell points to activate. You can have only one skeletal minion active at one time, creating another will destroy your old pet.
  
  
  
  
  

• Summon Blackbone Archer
  
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Wizard Pale Master II, Summon Skeletal Archer, Summon Blackbone Knight, Wizard Lineage of Elements I
  
  
  • Cost: 1 AP
  
  
  • Creates a blackbone archer to attack your enemies. This ability costs 20 hit points and 10 spell points to activate. You can have only one skeletal minion active at one time, creating another will destroy your old pet.
  
  
  
  
  

• Summon Blackbone Mage
  
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Wizard Pale Master II, Summon Skeletal Mage, Summon Blackbone Archer, Wizard Lineage of Deadly Elements I
  
  
  • Cost: 1 AP
  
  
  • Creates a blackbone mage to attack your enemies. This ability costs 20 hit points and 20 spell points to activate. You can have only one skeletal minion active at one time, creating another will destroy your old pet.
  
  
  
  

• Form of the Lich
  
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Wizard Pale Master II, Toughness
  
  
  • Cost: 2 AP
  
  
  • You are able to assume many traits of a lich.
  
  
  
  

• Form of the Wraith
  
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Wizard Pale Master II, Mental Toughness
  
  
  • Cost: 2 AP
  
  
  • You are able to assume many traits of a wraith.
  
  
  
  

• Wizard Pale Master III
  
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Wizard Pale Master II, Wizard Energy of the Scholar III, Wizard Intelligence III, Level 18 Wizard
  
  
  • Cost: 2 AP
  
  
  • You are a master of the necromantic arts. You gain 10 additional hit points as your flesh toughens (for a total of +20 hit points), deal 10% additional damage with negative energy spells (for a total of +45%), and increase your chance to generate a critical result with negative energy spells by 3% (Your base spell critical chance is now 9% and base critical damage multiplier is 1.5.).
  
  
  
  

• Summon Frostmarrow Knight
  
  
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Wizard Pale Master III, Summon Blackbone Knight, Wizard Elemental Manipulation II
  
  
  • Cost: 1 AP
  
  
  • Creates a frostmarrow knight to attack your enemies. This ability costs 30 hit points and 15 spell points to activate. You can have only one skeletal minion active at one time, creating another will destroy your old pet.
  
  
  
  

• Summon Frostmarrow Archer
  
  
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Wizard Pale Master III, Summon Blackbone Archer, Summon Frostmarrow Knight, Wizard Lineage of Elements II
  
  
  • Cost: 1 AP
  
  
  • Creates a frostmarrow archer to attack your enemies. This ability costs 30 hit points and 15 spell points to activate. You can have only one skeletal minion active at one time, creating another will destroy your old pet.
  
  
  
  

• Summon Frostmarrow Mage
  
  
  
  • Prerequisite: Wizard Pale Master III, Summon Blackbone Mage, Summon Frostmarrow Archer, Wizard Lineage of Deadly Elements II
  
  
  
  • Cost: 1 AP
  
  
  • Creates a frostmarrow mage to attack your enemies. This ability costs 30 hit points and 30 spell points to activate. You can have only one skeletal minion active at one time, creating another will destroy your old pet.
  
  
  
  

Enhancement Changes

• Elf Arcane Archer I and Ranger Arcane Archer I now have Arcane Prodigy as an additional optional prerequisite.


• Elf Arcane Archer I's prerequisites have been reduced from level 9 to level 8, with the corresponding reduction in actions points spent required.



• The temporary boosts granted by Human Versatility no longer share a common cooldown timer with other Action Boosts, allowing a Human to use a Human Versatility and a class based Action Boost simultaneously. Note that since both provide Action Boost bonuses, identical boosts will not stack, but a Human Rogue could, for instance, combine Human Damage Boost with Rogue Haste Boost.


• Added Wizard Pale Master I to the list of ""and one of the following"" requirements for Bard Music of the Dead.


• Barbarian Frenzied Berserker II's Supreme Cleave sub-enhancement no longer claims to cost 4 action points.


• The Sorcerer Capstone, Bloodline of Power, now properly stacks with other sorcerer enhancements that amplify spell damage, critical hit frequency, or critical hit damage.


• Fixed an error that was causing Rogue Mechanic II's Smite Construct ability to fail to regenerate over time.

Spells

General Changes

• Wall of Fire and Blade Barrier, when cast by monsters, now have a different appearance from "friendly" Walls of Fire and Blade Barriers. In PvP, Team 2 uses these monster FX.


• Mummy Rot's description now explicitly says that it must be cured as both a curse and a disease.


• Chain Lightning has been fixed to affect multiple enemies... no, seriously!


• Removable curses that reduce or prevent positive energy healing now display a different (brighter) curse effect on a target, making it easier to differentiate between run-of-the-mill curses and healing preventing curses.

Summoned Monster changes

• Summon Monster spells no longer have exceptionally long cooldown timers.


• Summoned creatures now persist for 10 minutes and will teleport to their master if they are not currently in combat and their master is distant from them.


• Summoning a second creature will banish your first creature back to its home plane.

Crowd Control & Spell Improvements

Some monsters regularly end up on players' “most hated” lists, and these usually include our good friends the Air Elementals, Wolves or Worgs, and other monsters that have repeated effects that prevent players from acting. In Update Three, several changes are being made to reduce these frustrating experiences.

Heroic Surge

This new effect provides a brief period of immunity from crowd control once you escape. When a target is crowd controlled, a counter will increment for each second that they cannot act. Once the counter reaches the critical point (i.e. you've been made helpless too long) the crowd controlling effect will be dispelled. This allows players the opportunity to break free and defend themselves before the next onslaught rather than being completely helpless while monsters spam them with effects repeatedly. During a heroic surge, you are protected from being crowd controlled. The duration of the heroic surge is random. Once the heroic surge has ended, you will once again be subjected to the monsters' crowd control effects. Monsters are also able to have heroic surges, but the criteria is more difficult for the monster, and is scaled based on quest difficulty (the tougher the difficulty, the more opportunity the Monster will have for a heroic surge).

Spell-change Overview

Other changes have been made to crowd control spells, permanent negative effects/spells, debuffs and offensive spells:

• The exact same crowd control effects cannot be re-applied to players while they are currently active.
  
  
  
  • If you’re currently tripped by a worg, it cannot reapply the trip effect to you (resetting the timer) until after you get back up. Similarly, if you’re mind blasted by a mind flayer, other mind blasts will have no effect on you.
  
  
  • Note that different effects can still be applied, so you can be tripped, then stunned, then held, but not chain tripped without ever having a chance to act.
  
  
  • This does not apply to monsters.
  
  
  
  


• Lengthy crowd control effects that did not have one before now possess a chance for reoccurring saves for players.
  
  
  
  
  • The duration between repeated saves has been reduced on many effects for players. (Usually to half the monster’s interval.)
  
  
  
  


• Several spells have been changed to provide a greater benefit to the player when they first gain access to casting the spell.

Specific Spell Changes

• The following spells/effects are no longer permanent. They now last 60 seconds base, and 20 seconds per level; the effects have a diminished duration on players.
  
  
  
  
  • Curse
  
  
  • Symbol of Weakness
  
  
  • Mummy Curse
  
  
  
  

• The following spells have been front-loaded to be more useful at lower levels. These spells now have a base duration of 60 seconds, gaining 3 seconds per level, as opposed to just a few seconds per level:
  
  
  
  
  • Fireshield
  
  
  • Prayer
  
  
  • Recitation
  
  
  
  

• The following spells are no longer permanent for players or monsters. Both players and monsters enjoy reoccurring saves against this effect, though players get saves more frequently. The spells now last 60 seconds plus 10 per caster level. The effects have a diminished duration on players.
  
  
  
  • Feeblemind
  
  
  
  • Flesh to Stone
  
  
  
  

• The following spells/effects now have reoccurring saves and diminished duration against players:
  
  
  
  • Cause Fear
  
  
  • Scare
  
  
  • Hypnotic Pattern
  
  
  
  • Greater Command
  
  
  • Sleep
  
  
  • Symbol of Stunning
  
  
  • Symbol of Fear
  
  
  • Paralyzing
  
  
  • Several colors in the Prismatic Spray color wheel
  
  
  
  • Blasphemy
  
  
  • Otto's Resistible Dance
  
  
  • Otto's Irresistible Dance (now with less Ir!)
  
  
  • Halt Undead (ahem, yes, against certain players)
  
  
  • Chill touch (just to be on the safe side - you never know!)
  
  
  • Vampire Domination
  
  
  
  • Ice Flenser Poison
  
  
  • Jarilith Fearful Presence
  
  
  • Lich Paralysis
  
  
  • Gelatinous Cube Paralysis (he has a sad now)
  
  
  • Idyllic Touch
  
  
  • Mind Blast from Mind Flayers
    
    
    
    
    • Now has a diminished duration against players. Stand there too long, though, and he's still gonna eat your brains.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• The following spells/effects now have a diminished duration against players:
  
  
  
  • Hold Person
  
  
  • Hold Monster (hey to them, you're a Monster)
  
  
  
  • Hold Animal (just in case!)
  
  
  • Snare (the spell, not the trap)
    
    
    
    • Now has a max duration of 60 seconds
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Beholder Petrification
  
  
  • Earth Elemental Petrification
  
  
  
  • Change of Heart
  
  
  
  


• Other Spells
  
  
  
  • Touch of Idiocy
    
    
    
    • Touch of Idiocy now has a duration of 60 seconds plus 30 seconds per caster level with a reduced duration against players.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Hypnotism
    
    
    
    
    • Hypnotism had its duration increased slightly. Its duration against players has been reduced. Players get a reoccurring save while under the effects of hypnotism.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Ghoul Touch
    
    
    
    • Ghoul Touch now has a reoccurring save, but a duration that scales better with level.
    
    
    • Ghoul Touch will now cause enemies near the afflicted target to become sickened.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  
  

Crafting

• Epic Augment Slot Restoration: The component cost to clear augment crystals has been changed from a Scroll of Dispel Magic to 3 Epic Dungeon Tokens, as stated it would when this ability was added.


• The epic ritual of restoration can now be performed on Exclusive items. An interim item will be created when the exclusive item is placed in an Altar of Epic Rituals with three Epic Dungeon Tokens. That interim item ("Essence of ___") can be placed by itself in the Altar of Epic Rituals to re-create the original item, cleansed of all Augment Crystals or other rituals.


• The various ingredients from the Path of Inspiration and Dreaming Dark adventures now fit into Ingredient Bags as expected.

Items

• Items that are meant for specific genders (like hairstyle potions) will now pop up a dialog if a character with the incorrect gender attempts to use them.


• The eternal wands of finger of fire, spark of light, and acid splash have had their caster levels (and thus their damage output) increased. This improvement is retroactive.


• Handwraps
  
  
  
  • New monk items have been added to the end reward lists of several quest chains. (Catacombs, Cult of the Six, Delera's Tomb, Splinterskull, and Abandoned Excavation.)
  
  
  • Handwraps with a +1 or greater enhancement bonus now properly set the wearer's unarmed strikes to dealing magical damage.
  
  
  
  • Handwraps with bane enchantments no longer display the bonus to hit that type of enemy twice.
  
  
  • Goblinoid and Gnoll bane handwraps no longer grant bonuses to hit against one of those creatures and bonuses to damage against the other.
  
  
  
  


• Temporary damage amplification effects now grant +15% per tier instead of +10%, making them superior (in the short term) to permanent item effects. This change does not affect universal temporary damage amplification effects.


• The set bonus for the Pale Master set has been changed to ""This item is one of two pieces of the Pale Master set. When both items are equipped you will gain a 30% bonus to all Negative Energy damage, as if you possessed a Greater Nullification IX item. If you also have the Pale Master 3 Enhancement, these items will grant a 60% bonus to all Negative Energy damage, as if you possessed an Epic Nullification IX item.""

Monsters

• A bug that caused some spellcasting monsters to refuse to cast (especially at solo players) has been fixed.


• Monsters should now be a bit smarter about returning to their patrols after de-aggroing.


• Ogre Mages will now spend a much shorter amount of time recovering to full health in their gaseous forms.


• Beholders can no longer remove the effects of a bard's Suggestion song with their antimagic powers.

Other Changes

• Fixed a crashing issue upon exiting the client.


• Fixed a crashing issue while auto-targeting.


• Fixed a stuck spot in the Marketplace.


• Fixed a crashing issue / black-screen hanging during client initialization due to spurious keyboards and mice.


• There is now more bacon in Stormreach.

Known Issues

• Known Issues are now available, click here

Turbine has announced that the third major content update for Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited will launch on Feb. 3. The patch will add a new nighttime mode to the free-to-play game.

We've posted eight new screenshots that feature the nighttime mode in our gallery. Check them out while you wait for Update 3 to launch next week!

When an MMO undergoes some sort of rebranding or re-release, it typically goes through a "honeymoon phase," where the development team, all afire with gaming passion and motivation, just keeps churning away to get new content out and prove to their loyal fan base that their game deserves a second chance. The problem with this ultra-motivated development phase, however, is that most MMO companies that go through it tend to fall to the wayside after a month or two of hard development and, soon after, they're back to their one-update-every-six-months schedule, except now they have to keep up a monthly newsletter that was created at the apex of their enthusiasm.

Well, in the first month or two of DDO's re-launch as a free to play game, there were a number of skeptics who thought that this business model transition marked the beginning of the end. Turbine, however, has done something very odd in the past half year. You see, they've gone and taken their hyper-motivated "honeymoon phase," and they've cleverly decided to keep it up for the next year. Already having released two content updates over the past five months, with an additional three mini-updates every other month, DDO has grown an immense amount with its new life, and we here at ZAM were invited to check out their third major content update in five months.

One of the coolest things about Update 3 definitely has to be that it really shows how much Turbine cares about its players. How do we know this? Well, Updates 1 and 2 were actually in development a little before the re-launch of DDO as a free to play MMO, so, in this way, Update 3 will be their first update where the team has worked entirely with their new business model in mind.

The result?

Update 3 is almost entirely focused on DDO's free-playing demographic. All four of the new instances being introduced are entirely free to all players, with one level 13 instance, two level 15 instances and one level 18 instance. All of these dungeons are designed to fix the "progression gap" that players said was present in the game for those who don't want to pay a single penny. In particular, if a player doesn't buy any DDO adventure packs at all, Turbine wanted to make sure that these players would still have ready access to higher level dungeons, and that's what Update 3 is all about.

In addition to these four new free dungeons, Turbine has removed those extremely confusing "leveling sigils," which were basically little runes that players needed to either buy from the store, or find in-game, that would allow them to advance to the next four levels. Turbine thought that these sigils would work well as a brief introduction to the DDO store, but players were hitting level four and getting confused, and many assumed that you were required to buy something at the DDO store at level 4. With this change, it's Turbine's way of saying that they're committed - even to the players who don't want to pay a cent.

The final overarching change that Turbine added for most of their dungeons was the "Casual" dungeon difficulty. Before, the difficulty was known as "solo," and it tweaked the instance to make it easier for the solo player running through. Unfortunately, if players found solo difficulty to be too difficult, there really wasn't much they could do. Now, with the 'Casual' difficulty, players can bring as many friends and hirelings as they want, so they can play as Casual or as Hardcore as they want.

To get back to our tour, we began it all by walking through the market, where I quickly noticed that… it was nighttime! Fernando Paiz, Executive Producer of DDO and my guide, noted that the team had added some nighttime hours for the city in order to improve the game's immersion and to show off some fancy light work. While there are, currently, no secret quests only available at night, the team does note that it's a simple matter of working it in if they so wish.

Either way, we made our way through the market to check out "Delerium," the new inn near the Tower of Twelve where, oddly enough, a gate has been opened to Xoriat, the plane of madness. Upon entering this innocuous looking inn, it quickly became apparent that we weren't in Kansas (well, Stormreach) anymore. In one bizarre room, there were four beholders having a drinking contest, so we ended up challenging them and drinking them under the table. Later, we had to defend a chef against legions of walking ham-zombies, and finally, we smashed the puzzle-obsessed final boss, who just needed to figure the thing out, even if there were pointy things being stuck inside of him.

Following this, the team whisked us away to the CR13 dungeon, "Mired in Kobolds." In this particular instance, we were tasked with destroying the giant red crystals that the Kobolds were worshipping. The interesting thing about these red crystals, however, is that they chain react with other red crystals nearby, and deal damage to everyone caught in the blast. Much of the instance  consists of more and more difficult puzzles and traps involving these red crystals. At the end of it all, we were treated to some awesome dragon action, as players got the chance to face off against a baby dragon, and then the big mother dragon, if you waited long enough.

At this point, we just didn't have the time to check out the other level 15 dungeon, "Acid Wit," and the level 18 dungeon, "In the Demon's Den," but instead, we had wicked fun playing around on the "Risia Ice Games" in-game event. During these ice games, players will be able to purchase "Ice Skates" from the DDO store, or rent these skates from in-game NPCs, and players will then be able to slide around on the half-pipe skate rink, or, if they're feeling particularly frisky, they can have incredible fun trying out the "ski jump," which involves sliding down a massive ice ramp, and then launching yourself across the water. Finally, players will be able to snag special "ice coins" while they goof off with their skating, and they can then use these coins to purchase some neat ice-themed rewards.

In the end, if there's one running theme that really stands out for Update 3, it's the clear dedication the team has toward all of its players, not just trying to grab more money from everyone. Almost all of the things coming in Update 3 (aside from the reincarnation respect system and the Epic "Vault of Night" adventure pack) are geared towards bringing in more players and allowing them to have the ability to play DDO however they want, even if that means they don't spend a single penny.

In this way, it's somewhat staggering to realize that DDO is a free-to-play MMORPG without that free-to-play stigma, given that it has an incredibly high-octane update schedule and an enthusiastic development team that would put any AAA subscription based MMORPG to shame. Things like their newly implemented night mode and the great fun of skating on a half pipe that come with their "Risia Ice Games" show just how much effort Turbine has put into every little detail.

So the next time you look at DDO and wonder why it's doing so well with such a risky business model, it really has nothing to do with being "in the right place at the right time," no, it's really just about how hard this team is working for its customers. Let's just hope that they can also keep up with their incredible promise of delivering six content updates throughout the year.