Update 11 Release Notes

Lammania Release Notes For Update 11: Secrets of the Artificers
These release notes were posted on Tuesday, August 9th, 2011. These notes are subject to change.

=News & Notes=

Secrets of the Artificers
The biggest update of the year brings a new era of magic! Home of the Artificers, House Cannith is a new high level quest hub where magic and mechanics converge. House Cannith includes a new public area, a new Cannith Crafting Hall, a premium adventure pack (free to VIPs) featuring a new wilderness area, 3 new dungeons, and 2 new high level raids (raids currently not available for preview on Lammania.) Born in war, forged in fury, Stormreach faces its most terrible foe yet!


 * Adventure Area: The Cannith Manufactury - In the center of the House Cannith enclave lies the soaring Manufactury – a vast complex that demonstrates the technical mastery of House Cannith. Battle two invading forces as you explore the Manufactury’s offices, workshops, and research facilities.
 * Quest: Schemes of the Enemy - Negotiate with different rebel factions, infiltrate the depths of the Cannith Manufactury, and deal with its devious devices. Plus, field-test one of House Cannith’s new weapons prototypes – as the target.
 * Quest: Blown to Bits - How do you stop powerful invading forces from turning House Cannith’s warehouse full of constructs into his own personal army? Explosives. Lots and lots of explosives.
 * Quest: Power Play - A powerful enemy has disabled the Cannith Crystals that House Cannith’s artificers draw upon. Can you restore arcane power to the Manufactury and defeat the deadly enemy lieutenants?
 * New Class: Artificers (Available now on Lamannia!)

Armor Appearance Kits

 * Dark/Steel Leaf armors that saw their decorations change to the color gold in a previous update have had their steel-colored look returned.

Classes

 * The ki costs for higher tiers of monk elemental and void attacks have been reduced to 5 ki each.

Combat

 * The mechanics behind crossbow combat have been updated:
 * The "reload" animation has been broken apart from the "fire" animation of crossbows. "Attacking" with an unloaded crossbow will now cause the player to reload the crossbow. When a player fires a loaded crossbow, the crossbow will fire. You will then begin to reload the crossbow, but this reload animation can be interrupted (by tumbling, for instance). If you interrupt your reload, clicking the attack button again will reload. This means that it is now possible to fire a crossbow and then start spellcasting without waiting for the crossbow to reload, although the crossbow will need to be reloaded before they can fire again. Crossbows start unloaded when equipped (you don't want to keep a loaded crossbow in your pack, do you?), but you will start an interruptible reload after equipping it.
 * Repeating crossbows, in the hands of a proficient character, now fire three-round bursts (with sufficient ammunition.) One "click" will fire all three shots. This will resolve synchronization issues that sometimes caused repeating crossbows to "lose" shots. It is no longer possible to fire one or two shots with a repeating crossbow without interrupting the attack through other means. Once a Repeating Crossbow attack is interrupted, the crossbow will need to be reloaded before firing again. Repeating Crossbows still function as regular crossbows when wielded by non-proficient characters.
 * Crossbows now have slightly differing reload rates, with Light Crossbows reloading the fastest, and Great Crossbows reloading the slowest. The Rapid Reload feat now significantly increases the reload speed of crossbows.

Crafting

 * Special Runestones are now available exclusively thru crafting using Cannith Crafting devices. These magical stones allow characters to debuff enemy targets. There are three different types of runestones, and they come in four strengths.
 * New Bound to Account arrows and bolts can now be crafted using the Cannith Bound Crafting devices, including Holy, Acid, Fire, Frost, Shock, and Bane arrows, with an enchantment level of +1 through +5.
 * A new crafting recipe is available to reduce the minimum level usage restriction on a crafted item by 2. The recipe is called Masterful Craftsmanship I, and requires a special Bound to Account item that is only available from a House Cannith favor vendor or rare treasure drop. Currently, House Cannith favor can only be acquired by high level characters, but this will change in a future update.
 * Deconstructing low-tier effects from high-end loot will now return more essences.
 * A bug that was driving up the Total Enchantment Level of crafted items with charges has been fixed. This mainly applies to caster damage amplification clickies. These items will now have two less Total Enchantment Value, which means they will have a lower minimum level of 3 or 4.
 * Ghost Touch crafted handwraps now work correctly.
 * Recipes will now properly update their XP return and success rate after crafting.
 * Fixed an issue that prevented crafting vendors from buying equipment.
 * Crafting devices should no longer need to be closed and reopened upon a crafting failure or other error.
 * Several Greater Bane recipes in the Bound Shard Device incorrectly required three Soul Gems. They now require just one.
 * Many regular Bane recipes in the Unbound Shard Device incorrectly required one Soul Gem. They now require a stack of three.
 * Adamantine Ore now stack up to 150, which allows players to craft certain Construct Bane and Greater Bane recipes that had previously not been craftable.
 * +3 Tomes have been removed from the crafting “Trade Essences” barter shop. The crafting vendor NPCs will no longer accept +3 Tomes in exchange for Purified Eberron Dragonshard Fragments.
 * Moving from one page to another in a Cannith Crafting Device recipe list will now snap the scroll bar back to the top of the list.

Guilds

 * Officers can now usurp a guild after 60 days if there is no successor, or if the successor has been inactive for 60 days.

Hirelings

 * Rogue hirelings no longer have a drinking problem.

Items

 * Dragonscale Armors no longer require special repair shops.
 * The Gianthold armor quests have been removed from the game, and replaced with barter shops.
 * The cost of regular Dragonscale armors have been reduced to 20 scales. The cost of Dragoncrafted, Elfcrafted, and Giantcrafted armors have been reduced to 10 relics.
 * Great Crossbows now knock most opponents over on a vorpal strike (floating targets, bosses, and raid bosses are immune to this effect.)
 * Descriptions have been updated for exotic weapon proficiencies to include the special abilities granted by those weapons when proficient.

Note: Official epic item release notes were outdated and wrong for several items, updated them to reflect Genasi's latest notes from the final disccusion thread [here]
 * Epic treasure from the Phiarlan Carnival adventure pack has been upgraded:
 * Epic Antique Greataxe: Added Righteous, increased base damage to 3d10, fixed hardness and Adamantine property.
 * Epic Kron'zek's Cruelty: Added Improved Paralyzing. Replaced Deception with Improved Deception, which procs twice as often.
 * Epic Phiarlan Spy Dagger: The weapon now includes Improved Paralyzing.
 * Epic Noxious Fang: Added Disintegration.
 * Epic Garos' Malice: Added Greater Incineration (procs about twice as often as normal Incineration). Sneak attack bonus was replaced with a new effect called "Blinding Embers." This blinds an enemy on a vorpal hit, no save.
 * Epic Brimstone Verge:Replaced Fireball with Delayed Blast Fireball, added Epic Combustion VII (60% damage boost), increase CL to 20, decreased charges to 15, Increased ML to 20.
 * Epic Roderic's Wand: Now grants Augment Summoning while held.
 * Epic Brawn's Spirits: Added Incite 10% and Exceptional Con +2. The Intimidate bonus is now a +20 competence instead of the stacking 5 enhancement, and the Rage clicky caster level is now 15.
 * Epic Grim's Bracelet: Added Dodge +3. Strength bonus upped to +7.
 * Epic Mask of Comedy: Improved Healing Lore to Major, added Superior Devotion VII. Now has Greater Potency VII as well.
 * Epic Mask of Tragedy: Improved Void Lore to Major, added Superior Nullification VII. Now has Greater Potency VII as well.
 * Epic Phiarlan Mirror Cloak: Improved Spell Resistance to 30, added Spell Absorption (5 charges), added Greater Light Resistance. It will also keep Blurry (there was some debate about whether it would).
 * Epic Ring of Elemental Essence: Added Epic Combustion/Glaciation/Magnetism/Corrosion (60% damage boosts), added Inherent Resistance 5 to fire, cold and electric.
 * Epic Shimmering Pendant: Increased Charisma boost to +7, increased skill boosts to +20


 * Epic treasure from the Sentinels of Stormreach adventure pack has been upgraded:
 * Epic Elyd Edge: Now has Screaming, as well as "Cacophony:" a sonic damage effect equal in proc rate and power to Incineration. It will use the higher of Strength or Charisma for to-hit and damage. Will also have a new effect called "Inspiring Echoes:" a Bard wielder's Inspire Heroics, Inspire Competence and Song of Freedom become AoE while this weapon is held.
 * Epic Midnight Greetings: Enhancement bonus is now equal to Int modifier (min 6, max 10). Replaced Deception with Improved Deception. Added Improved Paralyzing. Now boosts your Assassinate DCs by 2. It will use the higher of Strength or Dexterity for to-hit and damage.
 * Epic Deneith Heavy Chain: Now has Superior False Life and Vertigo +15.
 * Epic Blademark's Docent: Now has Superior False Life and Vertigo +15.
 * Epic Chimera's Crown: Now grants stacking hit points depending on the number of Dragonmarks you have: 1 Dragonmark grants 10 HP, 2 grants 15, and 3 grants 20. 3 Dragonmarks will also grant Spell Resistance 30.
 * Epic Chimera's Fang: Base item is now +6, 2d10 base damage, Silver, Keen, Shocking Burst, Disintegration, Destruction, Shatter +10, Red Augment Slot. Dragonmarks add extra effects to the item:
 * 1 or more Dragonmarks: Bastard sword proficiency, +7.
 * 2 or more Dragonmarks: Sup. Parrying, +8.
 * 3 Dragonmarks (non-Sentinel): Disintegration, +8.
 * 3 Dragonmarks (all Sentinel): +10, Fortified Defenses 50%, Incite 20%.


 * All epic wands also now have a maximize-like effect applied to them to boost their damage by 100%. Due to the implementation method, this doesn't stack with the enhancements that boost wand damage, but it still beats them out.
 * The Ghost Touch effect on Eternal Rest handwraps now work properly.
 * XP, Guild XP, Crafting XP, and Loot Boost Potions will now have their duration carry over through reincarnation.
 * Slayer Count Boosts now pause while in dungeons.
 * Butter-Rum Coffee and Night-Black Coffee effects now persist through death and resurrection.
 * Epic Augment Crystal slots on Crytal Cove items can now be cleared like other Epic items. The items can be placed into a Stone of Change, along with three Epic Dungeon Tokens, to clear the Epic Augment Crystal slot.
 * Disrupt Undead scrolls can now drop in treasure.

Monsters

 * Many raid bosses have grown stronger as a result of their numerous encounters with players. Many that did not have the following now do: True Seeing, some Metamagic feats, and some amount of fortification versus critical hits. They have also been given extra hit points and physical damage output. The amount of the increase is higher for higher level raid bosses, and for those on harder difficulty settings.

NPCs

 * Crafting vendors in the House Kundarak Cannith Crafting Hall will now properly buy and repair equipment.

PvP

 * Players will now receive a buff to their maximum hit points while in a PvP arena or Tavern Brawling Area.
 * There is now a 10 second immunity timer when a player enters a Tavern Brawling Area before the player's PvP flag is activated.

General Quest Changes

 * A new bonus has been created that awards players for running quests consecutively on hard and elite difficulties. This Bravery Bonus is a 5% bonus (10% bonus on Elite) that will "stack" up to five times, or until a player runs a quest on Normal difficulty.
 * XP Rewards for first time completion on normal, hard, and elite are now 25%, 40% and 80% respectively.

Fear Factory

 * Ambient music has been added to part of the quest.
 * Neihoden's rage effect now works properly.
 * An optional chest has been added for destroying all of the cocoons.

In The Flesh

 * Several bugs have been fixed that could cause problems for players who died during the final fight against Yaulthoon.
 * The final encounter against Yaulthoon has been upgraded on Hard and Elite difficulties.

Sinister Storage

 * Fixed a bug that caused only gold to be given as an end reward.

Korthos Island

 * Some changes have been made to the storyline and dungeons on Korthos Island.

A Small Problem

 * The chest at the end of the quest is now further away from the entrance, to prevent players from accidentally exiting the quest.

The Snitch

 * It is no longer possible to get permanently locked out of the final battle with Garos on a party wipe. Garos will re-open the gate shortly after a party wipe, and close the gate a few seconds after noticing party members again. (If Garos does bring up the door, and you are on the wrong side, move far enough away so that he stops noticing you, and he will lower the gate again.)

Devil Battlefield

 * The Devil Cannons on Shavarath are now properly constructs, rather than living constructs.

Rackam's Trial

 * Monsters can no longer become stuck behind closed doors during the final trials.

Feat Changes

 * The Rapid Reload feat now significantly increases the reload speed of crossbows.
 * Rapid Shot is now significantly more effective.
 * Any characters with the Completionist Feat will have that feat replaced with a free feat respec upon the release of Update 11.
 * The Dragonmarks of Making now grant bonuses (+3 for Least, +3 for Lesser, and +4 for Greater) to crafting skills.

Prestige Enhancements

 * The Favored Soul Angel of Vengeance's Aura of Menace is now suppressed while sneaking or invisible to prevent unwanted aggro.

General Spell Changes

 * Metamagic feats can now be applied to specific spells. Players can select a spell on a toolbar, click the right mouse button, and set the metamagic feats that apply to that spell.
 * Repair spells now give an error message when targeting someone immune to repair spell effects.
 * Ice Storm has had some graphical changes made to it to improve game performance.
 * Disrupt Undead is now available to Sorcerers and Wizards as a first level spell, with the following modifications:
 * Disrupt Undead:
 * School: Necromancy
 * Level: Sor/Wiz 1
 * SP Cost: 5
 * Effect: This ray deals 8 to 12 positive energy damage plus an additional 4 to 6 positive energy damage for every two caster levels to an enemy undead. A successful Will save reduces the damage by half. D&D Dice: Deals 2d3+6 plus an additional 1d3+3 damage per two caster levels to an enemy undead.

UI Improvements

 * Shortcut bars will now remember items placed in them when consumed or deleted, and will display the item with a greyed-out icon. If the item is available in the DDO Store, right-clicking on the greyed-out icon will open the DDO Store page for the item. If a character has several stacks of the same item, and the one in the shortcut bar goes empty, the shortcut bar will be filled with another stack of the same item.
 * The vitals UI for characters and parties has been given a new look. Portrait icons are shown as rendered characters in the vitals UI bar. Options now exist in the UI Settings of the Options menu to show percentages of health remaining, and whether your vitals UI displays in the party vitals list when in a group. Players can toggle the display of their rendered characters in the vitals UI bar, and turn off their personal vitals UI through the UI Settings as well.
 * Goggles can now be made visible on characters by clicking the head toggle switch of their character "doll" in the Inventory UI.

Other changes

 * Cosmetic armor and helmet choices are now maintained when reincarnating.
 * Shadows will now display properly on computers running DX10 and DX11.

Known Issues:

 * Known issues are now available, [Click here]