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.