Dungeons and Dragons Online Crystal Cove CrystalsIt’s another exciting anniversary for Dungeons and Dragons Online. This unique and fun MMO based off of the most popular role playing system of all time almost petered out when it was just three years old. However, Dungeons and Dragons Online unleashed the first AAA MMORPG game model in the US to go fully free to play. If you haven’t played DDO yet, please do, its a great game and the free to play model is great. You can get your free account here: http://bit.ly/gu6OY1 A testament to this success is that Dungeons and Dragons Online is celebrating it’s 7th anniversary now and the game is better, more fun, and more popular than it ever has been before.

Today Dungeons and Dragons Online has released it’s 17th game update since it went to a free to play MMO and it shows no signs of slowing. In this update the developers at Turbine have revamped Gianthold, all of the quests within, as well as the raid making it possible to run all of this content on epic difficulty! Another one of the major changes this update is the addition of a universal magic item augment system that is to replace several of the other crafting augment systems in the game. This should add even more variety to the magic items you collect and will give all players the ability to highly customize gear to suit their build. It should be great!

As is tradition they will also start the in game special challenge quest event, Crystal Cove. Check out the DDM’s Realm guides to make the most of the quest and be ready for the Crystal Cove event!

Good luck and enjoy all the new loot!

Play smarter, not harder!

~Karranor

Dungeons and Dragons Online Release Notes: Update 17 – Return to Gianthold

Welcome to the Release Notes for Dungeons & Dragons Online! These release notes were posted on Tuesday, February 19th, 2013.

Happy Birthday DDO!

DDO is turning 7 years old this year, and we’re celebrating by giving a gift to all our players! A birthday giftbox will be placed in the inventory of all characters created prior to Update 17. Simply activate the box to open a list of lovely gifts and pick the one you like best!

Return to Gianthold

Gianthold is now available for Epic level characters in addition to heroic level characters. The mysteries of the Draconic Prophecy await you!

  • Gianthold now supports heroic and epic mode!
  • Raid and quest flagging mechanics have been changed for heroic and epic versions of Gianthold.
    • You must now complete the following quests for Gainthold Tor & Raid flagging:
      • Cabal for One
      • Prison of the Planes
      • Madstone Crater
    • You no longer need to turn in relics as part of quest progression. Relics can now be used instead to barter with NPCs for new treasure.
    • Players who have not previously completed Cabal for One may need to run this quest before they can play the raid, even if they were previously raid flagged.
  • Epic Dragonscale armor is now available!
  • It is no longer possible to turn in outdated Dragonscale Armor in exchange for scales.
  • The Epic version of the landscape features random encounters.
  • Players who already own the Gianthold adventure pack will automatically have access to the new Epic difficulty versions of the quests.

Other Changes

  • Prison of the Planes:
    • Using social skills when speaking with Carum Imur now use a d20 roll to determine success. The difficulty for this skill check has also been increased.
    • It is now possible to leave the Daanvi room after completing Sir Raleigh’s challenge.
  • The Crucible:
    • Using social skills when speaking with Daggertooth and Vrall now use a d20 roll to determine success. The difficulty for these skill checks has also been increased.
    • Fixed an issue where picking up the Horn of Agility would sometimes trap players in the room.
  • Madstone: A Fire Giant no longer gets stuck spamming the chat log with a report about a door opening.
  • Gianthold Tor:
    • Removed some stuck spots.
    • A quest objective no longer triggers at the wrong time, spoiling the story outcome.
  • Feast or Famine
    • A treasure chest that was previously devoid of treasure is now filled with goodies. To balance this, a trap that was previously not very effective is now much more problematic if not disabled.
    • There is now a way to manually summon the Orc Hunting party instead of waiting the full amount of time for them to return. It may still take a minute or two for them to get there after being summoned.

Monster Manual III

A new edition of Monster Manual is available! Featuring more monsters for slaying, discovering, and mastering. Volume III is available in the DDO Store, and is free to VIPs! This edition of Monster Manual features more experience than ever before, easier deed objectives, and two new exclusive Creature Companions!

Other Changes

  • Jukree, Phase Spider, Tormented Bones, and Zombie now increment correctly in the Monster Manual.
  • Restless Bats no longer appear in the manual since there was no such thing.
  • Ghasts no longer count as ghouls.

Crystal Cove

The pirates of Crystal Cove will soon be here! A special preview night will occur on the live servers this Thursday! Then from March 1st – 10th, help the Kobold Miner’s Union fend off pirates as you delve into the Crystal Cove for plunder!

  • The cove now supports Epic levels!
  • Star objectives have been added for the Cove.
  • Compasses are now redeemed at the start of the Cove rather than the end.
  • The navigator now applies an effect called “Paid the Navigator”. So long as you have this buff active and the Cove door is open, you can re-enter the Cove in the event of a party wipe.
  • Drop rates of Compasses have been increased in Smuggler’s Rest.
  • Crystal Cove now grants XP and Rewards consistent with
  • Progenitor Crystals can now be found deep in the Cove on difficulty CR21 or higher. They are worth 100 Crystals if brought back to the Foreman.
  • Enemies in Smuggler’s Rest and Crystal Cove now have a chance of dropping Heroic Deeds, which are converted into Guild Renown.
  • Crystal Cove now distributes XP and Rewards like Challenges, including granting bonus XP for first-time star objectives.
  • Two new items have been added to the craftable rewards for Crystal Cove.

Introducing Augments

Augments are a new way to customize your equipment with additional bonuses and effects!

  • An item with an augment slot can have an Augment placed in it. A slotted Augment bestows an additional effect to the item for as long as it is slotted.
  • Augment slots will be introduced on some new named items, and randomly generated items have a 5% chance of having an augment slot. Some augments are also available in the DDO Store.
  • Augment Slots will appear in one of seven different colors:
    • Colorless Augment Slots can only hold Colorless Augments. Colorless Augment Slots can be found in any type of item.
    • Red Augment Slots can hold Colorless or Red Augments. Red Augment Slots can only be found on Weapons, Shields, or other hand-held items.
    • Blue Augment Slots can hold Colorless or Blue Augments. Blue Augment Slots can only be found in Armor, Robes, Outfits, Shields, or other off-hand items.
    • Yellow Augment Slots can hold Colorless or Yellow Augments. Yellow Augment Slots can only be found on Accessory items. (Ring, Neck, Boots, Belt, Gloves, Eyewear, Helmet, Bracers, Cloak, Trinket)
    • Purple Augment Slots can hold Colorless, Blue, or Red Augments. Purple Augment Slots can only be found on named Weapons, Shields, or other hand-held items.
    • Orange Augment Slots can hold Colorless, Red, or Yellow Augments. Orange Augment Slots can only be found on named Weapons, Shields, or other hand-held items.
    • Green Augment Slots can hold Colorless, Blue, or Yellow Augments. Green Augment Slots can only be found on named Armor, Robes, Outfits, or Accessory items.
  • You can replace a slotted augment with a different one by simply over-writing it with a new augment.
  • It is also possible to salvage a slotted augment and pull it back out of the item using a Jeweler’s Tool Kit (available from the DDO Store).

This system will replace the two existing augment systems- Epic Augments, and Guild Augments. Existing guild augment slots and the guild augment vendors will remain, but new items won’t have guild augment slots after Update 17.

  • Old style Epic Augment Crystals will no longer be available after Update 17, and they do not function in the new slots.
  • To convert an old Epic item to use the new slots, place the item you would like to convert into the Altar of Epic Rituals along with 50 Siberys Dragonshard Fragments. This performs the “Cleansing Ritual”, which updates items to the new Augment Slots.
    • This converts the augment slots on the item to the new system. They retain their colors and can accept the new augments, but can no longer use Epic Augment Crystals from before Update 17. This process will remove all currently slotted Epic Augments in the item, and may also remove other modifications, such as Stone of Change recipes.
  • You aren’t forced to update old Epic items. If you are happy with your current item, you do not need to use the Cleansing Ritual to update your item

To learn more about the augment system, click here!

Challenges

  • Raised the Spawn Rate slightly for Island Djinns in the Kobold Chaos Challenge, and Orthol Lieutenants in the Short Cuts Challenge.
  • Large Extractors in Kobold Island Challenges will no longer display String Table Errors when trying to buy more Turrets.
  • The Disruptor boss in The Disruptor Challenge now has a mapnote.
  • Kobold Island: Short Cuts -The Objective to kill 25 Orthon Lieutenants now requires only 5. * The spawn rate of Orthon Lieutenants has also been raised slightly. * The Optional to maintain an extraction rate of 20 Shards per second for 2 minutes now only requires a rate of 12 Shards per second.
  • Kobold Island: The Disruptor -The Star Objective to leave the Giant Skeleton alive now only requires you to do so for 4 minutes (previously 5) *The Star Objective to have a certain number of Level 2 Turrets active now only requires 5 Turrets (previously 10).
  • Eveningstar Challenge rewards have been increased.
  • Dryad Grove Challenges:
    • Quotas in The Great Tree have been raised to 1400, 1750, and 2000
    • Quotas in Defenseless have been raised to 625, 850, and 1000
    • Un-upgraded Life Trees now give out 3 Points each while alive
    • Upgraded Life Trees now give out 7 Points each while alive
    • Upgrading Life Trees now costs 80 Points in Great Tree and 50 Points in Defenseless
    • Defense Trees in The Great Tree now cost 80 to upgrade.
    • Defense Trees in The Great Tree now cost 20 to resurrect.
    • Life Trees can now be resurrected in either an Upgraded or Non-Upgraded state, if they were in an Upgraded state when they died.
    • Life Trees now cost 1 to resurrect in a Non-Upgraded state.
    • Life Trees that were Upgraded when they died can now be resurrected in an Upgraded state for 30 points in The Great Tree, or 20 points in Defenseless.
    • The two versions of Vineman Defenders (sold from the Great Tree) now cost 30/50 in Great Tree and 15/30 in Defenseless.
    • Red-named Bosses in Dryad Grove Challenges now grant 100 points when killed.

Classes & Races

  • Druid: Jaws of Winter now has an attack animation.
  • Druid Dilettante enhancements have the correct icon now.

Epic Destinies

  • The DC of all Grandmaster of Flowers activated attacks has been standardized to 10+Character Level+Wisdom Modifier.
  • Grandmaster of Flowers: Dancing with Flame has had its bonus damage dice while in Sun Stance increased from 0.25/0.5/0.75 to 0.3/0.6/1.
  • Shadowdancer Executioner’s Strike DC should properly scale.

Items

  • Improvements have been made to Cursespewing, Improved Cursespewing, and Vorpal weapon effects:
    • Cursespewing: This item effect now only applies on a natural 20 attack roll, but no longer has a saving throw. In addition to its previous effects, this curse now causes the victim to take 1d6 damage every two seconds. The curse now has a duration of 12 seconds. Additional cursespewing procs will add 12 seconds to the remaining duration.
    • Improved Cursespewing: This item effect now only applies on a natural 20 attack roll, but no longer has a saving throw. In addition to its previous effects, this curse now causes the victim to deal 4 less damage with its melee and ranged attacks and take 2d6 damage every two seconds. The curse now has a duration of 12 seconds. Additional Improved Cursespewing procs will add 12 seconds to the remaining duration.
    • The “Vorpal” weapon prefix now also adds an additional 0.5 damage dice to the attacks of the weapon it is on.
  • The final upgrade for the weapons from the raid “Caught in the Web” has been unveiled. Augment Slots can now be added to each weapon at the Purple Dragon Knight favor representative.
  • The Dwarven Thrower can now be Bound and Attuned in the Stone of Change.
  • The Scepter of the Ogre Magi now properly behaves as a 1-handed weapon when attacking.
  • The Madstone Rage effect no longer applies “Shaken” after it expires.
  • The suppressed power description on ioun stones is no longer so suppressed that it’s missing from the description.
  • Versions of Antipode and Grave Wrappings that were found before Update 16 may have accidentially gained an extra 1[W] damage in Update 16. Affected items have been corrected to the damage dice they are supposed to have.
  • Halfling females and Warforged should now have a better grasp on Orbs.
  • Many set bonuses have had their benefits standardized to be an “artifact” bonus. Artifact bonuses of the same type do not stack.
  • More than a half dozen new outfit looks have been added to the game! These styles can appear on randomly-generated outfits.
  • A bug affecting the drop rates of Paralyzing weapons in random treasure has been found and fixed. Paralyzing weapons will once again generate properly.
  • Many older named items have been updated, redesigned, or otherwise buffed to be more useful for characters at the level of the related quests.
    • Items from these adventures have been updated:
      • The Waterworks
      • Irestone Inlet and some other Harbor and Marketplace Quests
      • The Catacombs
      • The Seal of Shan-to-Kor
      • Redwillow’s Ruins
      • Tear of Dhakaan
      • Caverns of Korromar
      • Gwylan’s Stand
      • Assault on Splinterskull (Tangleroot Gorge)
      • Stormcleave Outpost
      • Delera’s Tomb
      • Sorrowdusk Isle (Cult of the Six)
      • Ruins of Threnal
      • The Restless Isles
      • Sands of Menechtarun
      • Tempest’s Spine
      • The Necropolis (Parts 1-4)
    • From the above adventures, the following items have not been changed:
      • Ring of Feathers
      • Planar Gird
      • Royal Guard Mask
      • Ring of the Ancestors
      • Carnifex
      • Docent of Defiance
      • Ring of Spell Storing
      • Bloodstone
    • Please note the following with regard to these item changes:
      • Epic items have not been altered.
      • The only raid that has updated items is Tempest’s Spine. Other raid items have not been altered.
      • Tempest’s Spine’s named items are now considered Raid treasure. They are generally much more powerful, and newly dropped items are now Bind to Character on Acquire. These item’s drop rates have increased from 1% per item per player to 10% per item per player.
      • Most changes don’t affect existing items already possessed by players.
      • Some changes, such as buffs to weapon damage dice, critical profiles, or armor’s base AC do affect existing items. Updated versions of items can be acquired by running these quests.
      • The minimum levels on some items have been adjusted to be more appropriate to the level of the adventure the item is from.
      • The minimum levels of items already possessed by players do not change.
      • Bind to Account items from end reward lists remain as Bind to Account.
      • Newly found named items from chests now Bind to Character on Equip.
      • Unbound items already possessed by players remain unbound.
      • Drop rates of many of the updated named items have been increased.

Monsters

  • Many monsters who had trouble hitting multiple targets with their special attacks have been fixed
  • Monsters will no longer play armor impact sounds/sparks when damaged by non-physical sources, such as periodic poison damage and elemental attacks.
  • Players who are knocked down will no longer be hockey-pucked around on their back from knockback attacks (yes this includes giants and air elementals!)
  • A number of steps have been taken to improve monster responsiveness to crowd control status effects, and reduce sliding:
    • applying blind in addition to daze no longer allows monsters to ignore daze
    • paralyze, stun, daze, stone, fascinate, mesmerize, etc.. now immediately stop monsters from moving.
    • Monsters will no longer turn to face their target even when paralyzed, stoned, etc…
    • Monsters will no longer move in slow motion when not running in a straight line!
  • Monster behavior relating to stealthy players has been improved:
    • Monsters should no longer “slide” while investigating noises and searching for players
    • Sleeping monsters who are woken up by noises should no longer glitch out
    • Investigate behavior has been updated
    • Player characters should now display “hot footsteps” while sneaking in any direction, rather than just forward and back (this is a cosmetic change only, monsters could hear these footsteps before, but there was no feedback)
    • Critters are now more easily “spooked” by nearby noises
  • Forgotten Realms Drow:
    • Female drow no longer T-pose when they stealth, or swap equipment/clothing when they stealth or die.
    • Can now swap weapons to do ranged attacks, and don’t feel the need to switch back to their melee weapon in between every attack
  • Dragons of Eberron and Forgotten Realms recently had a summit, and have exchanged many combat techniques and teachings:
    • When being knocked back by dragon attacks players should “studder” less before being flung away.
    • Dragons have refined their fighting techniques. They are now better at deciding when to employ various types of attacks for various combat situations (such as being flanked, ranged, or dog-piled by adventurers).
    • Black dragons have learned how to deliver more effective AOE attacks, instead of always relying on straight-line attacks.
    • Black and White dragons are better at realizing when they can’t reach their targets.
    • Dragons should no longer ice skate across the ground when chasing after players.
    • Several existing dragons such as Aussircaex, Auraxyllon, Sinvala, Eternity, etc have learned combat tricks from their Forgotten Realms cousins.
    • You should now be able to more easily hit several of the Eberron dragons in melee by attacking the head, rather than needing to stand practically inside them.
    • Aussircaex and Aussiroth’s cold breath will now work (for the first time!)
    • Aussircaex, Aussiroth, and juvenile dragons can now whip you with their tails.
    • Several adult Eberron dragons have grown up, and have attack reach befitting their size (rather than juvenile dragon size)
    • Blocking now prevents knockback.
  • Air elemental AI has been updated:
    • Melee characters have a larger safe range to attack them when they’re not charging.
    • They now have distinct casting and charging states.
    • Blocking now prevents knockback/knockdown.
  • Giant AI Has been updated:
    • Giants now prefer sword swings to stomps, and non-named giants only apply knockdown on critical hits.
    • Storm giants no longer behave spastically when their lightning attacks go off.
    • Many wide angle attacks now hit multiple targets
    • Giants no longer fire arrows from knee height
    • Giants now behave according to roles better (caster vs. melee)
    • Giants no longer slide everywhere without moving their legs. They also have a new ability to charge and overrun fleeing targets.
    • Giants now intelligently switch back and forth between bow and sword. They have also stopped cradling their bow like a sword.
    • Storm, cloud, stone, frost, and skeletal giants will spend less time running back and forth between melee and ranged attack distances.
    • Blocking now prevents knockback.

Quests

  • Delera’s Tomb: A Sarcophagus that was not previously breakable can now be smashed.
  • Delirium: Fixed an issue preventing floor tiles from behaving correctly.
  • High Road of Shadows
    • A Stay at the Inn: It should now be a little more obvious which room is the Innkeepers. Also fixed a typo.
    • Detour: Updated a couple instances where ending the conversation with Bensen did not close the conversation window.
  • The Lord of Eyes: The fight against Belashyrra will no longer reset in the case of a full party wipe.
  • Let Sleeping Dust Lie: The failure condition (killing Crimson Foot) has been reworded for clarity.
  • Menace of the Underdark:
    • The King’s Forest random encounter “Undead Heroes” now gives out War Wizard commendations like it’s supposed to.
    • Fixed several typos in the King’s Forest.
    • Fixed a case where the Cleric of Amaunator in the “Burn the Dead” encounter wouldn’t speak to the player.
    • Fixed grammatical errors in the dialog of several Eveningstar NPCs.
    • The final upgrade for the weapons from the raid “Caught in the Web” has been unveiled. Augment Slots can now be added to each weapon at the Purple Dragon Knight favor representative.
    • Underdark – House of Death Undone: A spell trap should no longer trigger on adventurers through a closed door.
  • Redwillow’s Ruins: A locked chest was previously unpickable. Players may now pick the lock on this chest.
  • Under the Big Top: Parties should now be able to split up without risking a client crash.

Skills, Feats, & Abilities

  • The Magical Training feat is now a trainable feat. It can be taken to receive +80 Spell Points and to gain Echoes of Power. It is still automatically granted by Artificer, Cleric, Druid, Favored Soul, Sorcerer, or Wizard level one.

Other

  • Platinum is now the standard currency of the auction house, and you can no longer append gold, silver, or copper amounts to an auction listing.
  • Campaign objectives in Eveningstar have a narrower level range to appear (as a result, doing Quests way overleveled may result in missing out on some Campaign objectives in that region).
  • Straightened out the chalice icons on several NPCs, which were appearing/check marking at odd times in the story progression.
  • You no longer get a double-teleport when teleporting into the Twelve.
  • Positive and Negative Effect Icons can be combined into 1 row by setting “Combine Effect Icons” in UI Settings.

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