Menace of the Underdark

Menace of the Underdark is an expansion for Dungeons and Dragons Online, released June 25, 2012.

Contents overview

DDO:MotU logo

Story Teaser

Experience the classic fantasy and adventure of D&D's most imaginative and renowned setting. Arrive in the village of Eveningstar and adventure through the surrounding King's Forest wilderness area where the citizens of the nation of Cormyr must unite to face a new threat to the Realms.

The shadow of Lolth has cast darkness over the kingdom of Cormyr where heroes struggle to stem the unrelenting tide of the Drow forces. Descend into the Menace of the Underdark™.

The hopes of the Realms lie with champions from Eberron, whose world has become entangled in Lolth's schemes, bringing them to Faerun where they will make the final stand against the Queen of the Demonweb!

Brave the caverns of the Underdark

Come face to face with the Underdark Drow and Lolth, their Queen and goddess, as you explore this vast and twisted, subterranean world. Infiltrate the Drow stronghold of Sschindylryn - the city of portals - where Lolth's forces work to further her schemes.

Features

Attain Epic levels to 25!

Forge your own epic adventure and create a unique Epic hero with powerful character customization options as you advance beyond level 20 to epic level 25.
Levels up to 25 will be available to everyone, even free to play players without purchasing the expansion.

Epic Destinies

An alternate advancement system that players can use to advance their level 20+ character. The game will be separated into "heroic" advance (as now, except up to level 25) and "epic" destiny advancement, which will require players to run epic content to earn XP to spend on these special enhancements. They will be unlocked at level 20, but unlike regular "heroic" advancement, you can progress your epic destinies indefinitely - even after you hit the new level cap of 25.
Epic Destinies are included with the expansion, and will later be available for separate purchase on the DDO store in Update 15.

Play the Druid Class

Play as the all new shape-shifting Druid class! Wield nature's magic or transform into a powerful animal form with this classic D&D class. Free to VIPs.

Journey to the Forgotten Realms

The core of Menace of the Underdark will be three epic-level (21-25) adventure packs -- The King's Forest, The Underdark, and The Demonweb -- each with its own explorable wilderness area and set of quests as well as the fully featured player city of Eveningstar.

Three Forgotten Realms Adventure Packs and one challenge pack will be available with expansion:

The King's Forest - Explore deep into the King’s Forest and defend the village of Eveningstar from Lolth’s Drow legions!
The Underdark - Venture down into the Underdark and confront Lolth’s elite followers in the Drow city of Sschindlyryn!
The Demonweb - Journey to Lolth’s home plane in this Raid quest, battle demon hordes and confront the spider goddess herself as you attempt to stop her scheme!
Eveningstar Challenge Pack - Will take place in the city of Eveningstar and presumably function similarly to the current Vaults of the Artificers challenge pack. Said to be for levels 15-25. Free to VIPs.

New monsters

Bebilith
Dire Bear
Draegloth [1] - half-demon, half-drow
More Dragons - with customizable, random features; Green Dragon
Dretch [2]
Drider [3] - half-spider, half-drow
Dryad [4]
Goristro [5] - a minotaur on steroids
Glabrezu demon
More Hags
Purple Worm [6]
Werewolf

Pre-order feature comparison

		Collectors Edition	Standard Edition	Base Edition
Price		$79.99	$49.99	$29.99
MotU contents	3 Forgotten Realms Adventure Packs	✔	✔	✔
	Epic Destinies	✔	✔	✔
	Druid Class (Free to VIPs)	✔	✔
	Eveningstar Challenge Pack (Free to VIPs)	✔	✔
Store item bundle	Greater Tome of Learning	1 Free Tome per server	1 Free Tome per server
	Lesser Tome of Learning	1 Free Tome per character forever		1 Free Tome per server
	Greater Experience Elixir	1 Free potion per character forever	1 Free potion per character forever	1 Free potion per character forever
	Turbine Points Included	2,000	1,000
	Veteran Status-Level 7 (Unlockable via Favor)	✔
	Veteran Status-Level 4 (Unlockable via Favor)	✔	✔
	DDO Epic Classics Adventure Pack Bundle	✔
	DDO Classics Adventure Pack Bundle	✔	✔
Pre- Order bonus items	Cosmetic Pet: Demonweb Spiderling	✔	✔	✔
	Cosmetic Pet: Druid’s Wolf Pup	✔	✔
	Cosmetic Pet: Onyx Panther Pup	✔
	Spider Cult Mask cosmetic helmet	✔ (Elite Version)	✔ (Regular Version)
	Figurine of Wondrous Power: Onyx Panther	✔
	Stone of Experience (expires in August 2012)	5	3	2

Notes:

The pre-order packages are no longer available for purchase. However, as of Update 15, all content not previously purchasable (but not the cosmetic items and panther) are available for purchase from the DDO Store.
Check out the official pre-purchase page for more details: http://underdark.ddo.com/
All items/pets are available to all of your characters except the Greater Tome of Learning.
- "One per server" Tomes - You only get said Tome of Learning on the first character you activate your ticket on per server. The Tome binds to character and cannot be transferred via account bank.
- "One per character forever" items - The Lesser Tome of Learning for Collectors Edition and the free XP potion for all Edition will apply to all of your characters on your account forever, including any created after the fact. Works much the same as the original DDO: Stormreach pre-order item did (Amulet of Natural Armor) in that it appears in your inventory automatically as soon as you create a new character.
Some items may only be available if you pre-order:
- All the cosmetic pets, the cosmetic mask and the Onyx Panther

Developer words

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tolero, Community Specialist on the pre order FAQ re: Epic Destinies

What are Epic Destinies?

Epic destinies are a new layer of customization in the upcoming DDO expansion, Menace of the Underdark!

While playing Epic content with a character at level 20 or above, you will be able to advance a chosen Epic Destiny as you gain experience. Even when a character reaches the new level cap of 25, they will still have the opportunity advance a chosen Epic Destiny to unlock powerful character abilities.

We’ll have more Developer Roundtables and guides about Epic Destinies on the DDO websites in the coming weeks.

Can I get Epic Destinies without purchasing the expansion? Can I buy them after the Expansion launches?

You must purchase one of the Menace of the Underdark expansion bundles to gain access to Epic Destinies when the expansion launches. Otherwise your character can still advance until level 25 gaining Epic Level advancement rewards (feats, stats, etc.) but advancement on Epic Destinies will not begin until you gain access to the system. Access to Epic Destinies will also be available for purchase in the DDO Store in August 2012 for 995 Turbine Points.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fernando Paiz, Executive Producer

Hi everyone!

I am very excited today to share the news of DDO's first ever premium expansion 'Menace of the Underdark' which will be releasing to our players in just a few months during Summer 2012!

This will be the biggest release we've ever done for DDO and it is loaded with many long-time top player requested features including an increase in the level cap into Epic levels to a new cap of 25, the introduction of the Druid class, and our first-ever adventures set in the Forgotten Realms setting!

Please check out our new 'Menace of the Underdark' web site to find out more.

We will plan to add more information and assets to the site over the next few months and also roll out some forums discussion threads and dev diaries to let you get a peek at some of our plans.

That is just the beginning of lots of good things coming to DDO in 2012! I hope you are as excited as we are for what we expect to be DDO's best year yet! Please help us spread the word to others who might be interested and stay tuned for more details coming soon!

Happy year of the dragon ! -Fernando.

PS We have a big XP boost in-game this weekend to celebrate our big announcement and the start of the year of the Dragon ! It should help those of us who have some characters to level and get ready to face the dangers we will face in the Underdark!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tolero, Senior Community Specialist

Nomenclature Change: Updates 14 and 15

This isn't really worthy of a big announcement per say, but wanted to mention it as more news articles start to appear about the Expansion...

Previously we had been calling the Expansion "Xpack 1" and the August update "Update 14". We've shifted to labeling the Expansion as the 14th update, and the August update is now called Update 15. This doesn't change when the Xpack launches, nor the August target for when the Xpack content will be available in the DDO Store. Just wanted to clarify in case you started to see press articles talking about content being in the Store in Update 15.

Gallery

Concept art seen on the teaser site	Another concept art	Screenshot
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New Great Axes	New Bows	Screenshot
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