Here are the release notes for the latest game update to Dungeons and Dragons Online, Disciples of Shadow. This is update number 18 for Dungeons and Dragons Online since they have gone free to play. Dungeons and Dragons success in this model is apparent with this latest free to all players expansion and with the announcement of the new expansion coming out this summer.
There are not a lot of big changes with this update. The biggest changes are a few things that many of us players have been asking a long time for. I think this is a good strategic time to release them, hopefully sating us players until the expansion comes out this summer.
First is Glamored Armor. They finally added some cosmetic inventory slots so you can keep your look which changing and upgrading items. Hooray!
Second is the addition of Skill Tomes. These should be a nice way to get those few extra points you may want in a skill that you had to sacrifice to a build or gear choice.
There are a few other minor additions, a bunch of fixes but not too much in this Dungeons and Dragons game update. Though it is to be expected, one it is a free update to all players, and it is a lead in to there next expansion.
Make sure you read through to see if there are any changes that will affect your or your characters. See you online!
Release Notes: Update 18
Welcome to the Release Notes for Dungeons & Dragons Online! These release notes were posted on Wednesday May 22, 2013.
News & Notes
Prepare for the coming of the Shadowfell! The groundwork is being laid for the events yet to unfold in the dangerous prison city of Wheloon.
Of Special Note
Shadowfell Conspiracy Pre-Purchase
The Shadowfell Conspiracy Expansion pack is now on sale! Pre-purchase to receive special bonus items ahead of the Expansion launch, including access to the exciting conclusion of Disciples of Shadow prequel story in Update 18! Click here to learn more.
Disciples of Shadow
Two free prequel quests to the Shadowfell Conspiracy expansion are now available to all players. Those wishing to assist the Cormyrean Magistrates with the escort of prisoners to Wheloon should head north in Eveningstar to seek out Magistrate Abella Toth.
Introducing Iconic Heroes
Jump into the action of DDO with these new prestige characters! For players who pre-purchase the expansion, the Bladeforged Iconic can be played today, ahead of the Expansion launch this summer! Learn more about Iconic Heroes by clicking here.
New: Glamered Armor
The cosmetic armor system has been completely revamped to use a cosmetic appearance equipment slot! Slot cosmetic armor enchanted with the Glamer spell to change the appearance of any equipped armor.
- Cosmetic armor, also known as Glamered Clothing, has one type of visual appearance and can be applied for all classes, races and gender – except Warforged in most cases.
- Warforged have exclusive Glamered Armor for their race.
- Glamered armor is available in heavy, medium, light, robe, outfits and select costumes.
- The effect of the cosmetic item can be toggled on and off on your characters inventory paper-doll, or removed from the cosmetic equipment slot and placed back in your inventory.
- Cosmetic armors have unlimited uses and are bound to account.
- Armor Appearance Kits, from the previous cosmetic system, will remain available in the DDO Store through June 30th.
- Many of the styles from the armor appearance kits have been converted to Glamered armor. Check out the DDO Store for the full catalog of options available!
- Cosmetic hats and helms can now be equipped to the cosmetic headwear inventory slot to change your appearance!
- Cosmetic hats and helms with bonuses can be activated to buff your character with the corresponding bonus until you log out. Only 1 buff from cosmetic hats and helmets can be active at a given time.
- The following hats have been retroactively converted to function with the cosmetic headwear inventory slot:
- Three-Cornered Hat
- Charming Mask
- Spooky, Ninja & Festival Masks
- Lucky Green Hat & Top Hat
- Gold, Green, Red & Silver Party Hats
- Black & Indigo Secretive Hoods
- Gold Skull & Fiendish Rabbit Helm
- Glowing Circlet
- Spider Cult Mask
- Commemorative Bunny Hat
New: Skill Tomes
Skill tomes permanently increase one of your character’s skills. You select the skill you want to increase once in game by activating the Tome, where at you’ll be presented with a list of possible skills to increase. You cannot select Use Magic Device – UMD tomes are available separately. Bonuses from tomes persist through reincarnation.
Note that only the most powerful version of a tome will apply (using two +1 tomes on the same skill will only provide one +1 total inherent bonus to that skill). Hover over your skills’ total mods in your character sheet to see what inherent bonuses you may already have to each skill. Skill tome increases do not count for the purposes of meeting skill rank prerequisites (such as having enough ranks of Perform to activate a rank-gated ability).
Other Changes
- It is now possible to view the character creation options for classes you do not own. You can now make customization choices, appearance choices, etc prior to making a decision to purchase a race or class.
- Daily Dice now offers some new prize options, such as Skill Tomes and Glamored Armors!
- Adjusted many collectible turn-ins to more reasonable prices.
- Fixed a bug that could cause inconsistent results when monsters detect noises (such as an invisible player who is not sneaking.) Monsters should once again move to the location of the noise and look around, without aggro, unless they can see through a character’s Hide or Invisibility.
Classes
- Paladin’s Rally now shows up in the buff bar, and grants a Morale Bonus instead of a Sacred Bonus to make it stack with a Paladin’s Aura.
Combat
- Incapacitation has changed for characters who stabilize. Once a character stabilizes, a twenty second timer begins. If a character is still incapacitated when the timer runs out, the character will get up with twenty percent of the character’s maximum hit points returned.
Epic Destinies
- Shiradi Champion’s Stay Good now makes ranged or thrown weapons deal Good Damage, as intended.
Items
- A new named Augment called the Gift of the Master can now be created at the Altar of Epic Rituals near The Twelve by combining the Voice of the Master, Mantle of the Worldshaper, and five Greater Tokens of the Twelve. This item can be placed into any Colorless Augment Slot and provides a +5% Enhancement Bonus to all earned Experience Points. Using this augment on an item will permanently make the item Bound to Character.
- The Toughness effect on items has been renamed to “Vitality” to better differentiate between when the effect is granted as the result of an item vs the feat.
- Collectors in Stormreach now have powerful new healing potions for sale! These Elixirs of Healing provide a large instant burst of healing, followed by a heal-over-time effect that continues to heal for ten seconds. Elixirs of Healing function equally well on living creatures, constructs, and undead who use them. Yes Warforged and Pale Masters, that means you too. Elixirs of Healing come in five varieties:
- Elixir of Lesser Healing: Immediately heal 10 Hit Points, plus 2 to 4 additional Hit Points every 2 seconds for the next 10 seconds.
- Elixir of Moderate Healing: Immediately heal 20 Hit Points, plus 4 to 8 additional Hit Points every 2 seconds for the next 10 seconds.
- Elixir of Improved Healing: Immediately heal 30 Hit Points, plus 6 to 12 additional Hit Points every 2 seconds for the next 10 seconds.
- Elixir of Greater Healing: Immediately heal 50 Hit Points, plus 10 to 20 additional Hit Points every 2 seconds for the next 10 seconds.
- Elixir of Superior Healing: Immediately heal 80 Hit Points, plus 16 to 32 additional Hit Points every 2 seconds for the next 10 seconds.
- Elixir of Sovereign Healing: Immediately heal 130 Hit Points, plus 26 to 52 additional Hit Points every 2 seconds for the next 10 seconds.
- Elixirs of Healing can also be found in Daily Dice rewards and in the DDO Store!
- Fixes have been made to several older raids to prevent Jewels of Fortune and Loot Bonus weekends from having an undesirable impact on named item drop rates.
Monsters
- Many undead creatures, particularly in older content, now have smaller Hit Dice values that match their CR. The main effect of this will be to make the Turn Undead ability more effective against them.
- Bear and Dire Bear slam attacks have had some timing glitches fixed.
NPCs
- Quolish Wren, the potion vendor in House Jorasco, now sells Potions of Inflict Serious Wounds in addition to Cure and Repair Serious Wounds.
Quests and Adventure Areas
Eveningstar
- Eveningstar’s Tressyms have come out to enjoy the spring weather. It is forbidden by the kingdom of Cormyr to kill a Tressym. You may, however, have an opportunity to adopt a few.
Web of Chaos
- Seals for the items in these quests are now found in the Epic Chests at the end of the quests.
- Shards for all items in this quest chain are now found in the Epic Chest at the end of the capstone quest The Spinner of Shadows.
- The base items will continue to drop on all difficulty levels.
- Issues with the distribution of specific items or Tokens of the Twelve have been corrected.
Spinner of Shadows
- Drop rates for Seals and Shards have been increased for Epic difficulty. Shards and Seals now have a five percent chance to drop on Epic Casual, ten percent on Epic Normal, fifteen percent on Epic Hard and twenty five percent on Epic Elite.
Menechtarun Desert
Offering of Blood
- The number of fragments of a Token of the Twelve that drop from the Epic chest in this quest on Epic Hard difficulty have been corrected. The quest previously provided one fragment on Epic Hard difficulty, and now provides 8d10+15 fragments.
The Necropolis
- The Seal of the Black Abbot has been added as an additional reward option when turning in a completed Tome of Untold Legends or Shield of Legend.
Gianthold Tor
- The Seal of the Stormreaver can be obtained at the Stormreaver Monument by making an offering of twenty Blue, Black, and White Dragonscales.
- Fixed an issue where quests would not show up in the Adventure Compendium or grant proper favor.
- Pride Leader Xilic now once again has a chance to spawn in the Gianthold wilderness.
The Crucible
- A rare named augment called the Diamond of Vitality +20 can now be found at a certain location deep within The Crucible on Heroic Normal, Hard and Elite difficulties.
Sentinels of Stormreach
- Fixed an issue where Taggart d’Deneith would sometimes give you the wrong vector quest.
Reign of Madness
Acute Delerium
- Fixed a bug where the scepter could get stuck up in the air.
Races
- The Half-orc enhancement Orcish Fury is no longer removed after resting, if the character’s total health does not rise above fifty percent.
Bring on the new Rogue build! And, jeez, people, use a dictionary. It’s “glamored,” not “glamered.” I kept saying, “What the hell is a “glamer?” That glaring error was just seen by how many thousands of people? *blush* Hey, I wonder if they would hire me as a proofreader? LOL – that would rock.
Anyway, thanks, Gore, for putting all this together every time an update comes out!
Hehe, sure thing! The guides for the new quests should be coming out soon. :)