Lamannia Release Notes: Update 13

Lamannia Release Notes: Update 13

Welcome to the Lamannia Update 13 Release Notes for Dungeons & Dragons Online! These release notes were posted on Thursday, January 26th, 2012. These notes are subject to changes and additions. News & Notes

Of Special Note

Update 13: Web of Chaos serves as a prequel to DDO's upcoming expansion, Menace of the Underdark, and offers three free quests in addition to numerous other changes! The Lords of Dust: The Silver Flame must now contend with an uprising cult! Controlled by the Rakshasas, the cult of the Lords of Dust have one priority, to free the ancient demons trapped in Khyber. Two more adventures will be available to preview on Lamannia soon! Adventurers will now see all available named items as an option in their quest arc end reward lists when completing a quest arc for the third time (and every three times thereafter!) See Quests, Challenges, and Adventure Areas for specific details. Players can now reach level 200 in Cannith Crafting! New recipes are available, and higher-level shards can now be crafted that have looser equipment slot restrictions. Introducing the “Global Objectives” system! New players who arrive in Korthos will have a helpful DM voice/text in the public spaces to guide them to points of interest on Korthos Island. Players can add or remove objectives from their Global Objectives window using the "x" button in the window, or with the "track" button in the Quest Journal.

Classes

Monk melee attack ranges have been increased while moving forward or chasing a target. Monks and unarmed characters will no longer proc dual wield or double strike attacks when using Trip, Sunder, Stunning Blow, or other special attacks, making them consistent with other classes. Special "monk-only" abilities are unaffected by this change. Monks will now resume their attack sequence a little faster after performing a buff-style finishing move. Wizards with class-specific end rewards turned on should now see improved rewards in extremely high-level quests. Many classes now gain the "Arcane Lore", "Religious Lore", or "Wilderness Lore" feats every level, which may modify certain dialog options or come up in other ways during quests.

Combat

It is no longer possible in rare cases to be able to attack on ladders. Fixed a display issue that caused non-stacking damage effects to appear as if they were affecting the target. For example, if two Wall of Fire spells were in the same location, only one would be doing damage, but both would display in the examination panel.

Crafting

Cannith Crafting recipes now have higher-level versions with less restrictive equipment slot restrictions. These new recipes are available at levels 101-150 for Bound shards, and from level 151 to 194 for Unbound shards. Cannith crafters can now level up to 200. Players can now craft Righteous, Armor Bonus +6, and Armor Bonus +7 Shards. The enchantment value of the "Returning" effect for thrown weapons will no longer contribute to an items Total Enchantment Level. Players will now experience improved game client performance in Crafting Halls.

Favor

Favor-granted Turbine Points will no longer expire after two years. The House Phiarlan patron will now properly reward characters a Phiarlan Pendant of Time when a character reaches 150 House Phiarlan favor.

Guilds and Guild Airships

The House Phiarlan Retainer's buff for Enchantment Save DC's is now a Morale bonus instead of an Enhancement bonus, to allow it to better stack with items.

Hirelings and Homunculus

An Artificer's Iron Defender will now be healed in cities and taverns. An Iron Defender's fortification amount will now be displayed in its character sheet. Hirelings and Iron Defenders will no longer attack far away enemies after engaging in closer combat while in defensive mode. Tooltips for hirelings and pets will now describe them as "companions". The Zeal spell icon will now appear on hireling command bars when appropriate. Dead Iron Defenders will now be brought back to life when their owners enter a public area.

Items

The Epic Docent of Grace now has "Epic" in its item name. The icons for Artificer Iron Defender modules have been improved. The Witching Hour staff can now be sold to vendors. The Tinker's Finesse set bonus now correctly grants True Seeing. Fixed a bug where some items with the Pure Good, True Law, and True Chaos effects were able to be equipped by characters of the wrong alignment. The Greater Gem of Freezing Tides and Greater Gem of Ocean's Winds now have the correct icons. Fixed an issue where the Boon of Undeath item effect would not work unless the item was equipped before a Pale Master assumed undead form. The Deneith Thin Quiver and Deneith Wide Quiver are now named the Large Thin Quiver and Large Wide Quiver. The word "Colorless" has been added to augment crystal names to make them easier to find at the Epic Trader vendor. Fixed a bug where some Artificer spell scrolls had incorrect icons. Fixed a bug where the scroll of Cure Moderate Wounds had an incorrect icon. The weapon property Improved Destruction now functions correctly. Inflict Wound potions now have the correct focus orb images. Shield Bashing and fortification reduction effects now stack correctly between feats and items. Shield Bashing grants a chance for secondary shield bash attacks while striking with a main-hand weapon, and Armor-Piercing will now bypass a percentage of enemy fortification when attacking. Challenge loot with the Craftable effect will no longer have a minimum level one lower than they should. Tier 1 and Tier 2 Challenge loot items will no longer become Craftable upon Disjunction. Fixed an issue where Exclusive or other items could disappear from the Buy Back tab if the items failed to place into a player's inventory. The effects of Madstone Rage have been changed so that its bonuses to Strength and Constitution are Morale-based, it no longer prevents spellcasting, it inflicts penalties to Will Saves, Intelligence, Charisma, and Wisdom, and it bestows a 30-second Shaken effect when the buff wears off.

Monsters

Fixed a bug that could cause zombies to get knocked down and be unable to get back up. Monsters with rogue levels and the Sneak Attack ability now have the ability to reduce fortification to personal attacks to some degree. For example, a CR 10 bugbear assassin with 4 Sneak Attack dice will now be able to critically-hit someone with heavy fortification approximately 10% of the time. That same bugbear will be unable to critically hit a character with 110% fortification. Some undead monsters that were incorrectly vulnerable to critical hits or sneak attacks are now immune. Some undead monsters that were healed instead of harmed by healing spells will now be harmed by the spells. Fixed a bug that caused undead enemies to always fail their saving throws against healing spells.

NPC's

Public Quest bestowers have new overhead icons.

Quests, Challenges, and Adventure Areas

Many adventures will now offer special end reward lists when players complete their quest arcs for the third time (and every three times thereafter!) Named items that can appear on a quest arc’s end reward list will have a 100% chance of appearing on every third completion of the story arc. Special third completion rewards are available for: The Catacombs The Ruins of Threnal Sorrowdusk Isle Delera’s Tomb Tangleroot Gorge Shan-to-Kor The Phiarlan Carnival The Sharn Syndicate The Reign of Madness Harbinger of Madness Attack on Stormreach The Waterworks The Path of Inspiration The Dreaming Dark Reaver’s Reach The Red Fens Some quests offer specific rewards on third completion, see individual quest information below for further detail. Players will no longer be unable to open Epic chests when in a party with an Artificer's deceased Iron Defender. Helpful effects will now be removed after a player has been granted hit points, to prevent situations where a wizard can die when resting while in Lich form, for example. This also means that the amount of hit points recovered by resting can be influenced by buffs that would previously be removed before resting.

Secrets of the Artificers

The hit points of non-boss enemies in this adventure pack have been adjusted down slightly.

Cannith Manufactury

Blown to Bits

A Bladehound that was not becoming active will now properly engage its enemies.

The Lord of Blades

The Lord of Blades will no longer sometimes go "invisible" and become stuck for a period of time after his jump attack.

The Catacombs

The Crypt of Gerard Dryden

Changed the dungeon description to state that this is an "extremely challenging" dungeon for its level.

Endgame: Marguerite

Removed the description that this was an "extremely challenging" dungeon for its level.

The Cerulean Hills

Where There's Smoke...

Killing certain Orc Ambushers in this quest will no longer complete the objective to slay Armnok the Warband Leader.

Challenges

Epic Challenge dungeon entrances now have purple map icons. The Lich has been removed from Extraplanar challenges, and the Marilith has been returned to these challenges.

Dr. Rushmore's Mansion: Moving Targets

The minimum level of this challenge has been reduced to 8.

Extraplanar Mining: Dragon's Hoard

The minimum level of this challenge has been reduced to 8.

Kobold Island: The Disruptor

The minimum level of this challenge has been reduced to 8.

Lava Caves: Colossal Crystals

The minimum level of this challenge has been reduced to 8.

The Dreaming Dark

Completing the final quest in this series three times (and every third time thereafter) will offer players a single random Ioun Stone, crafting items, and random loot from its end reward list.

Gwylan's Stand

Phiarlan Cylinders now weigh 20 pounds instead of 100 pounds.

The Inspired Quarter

Inspired Quarter residents have convinced the Coin Lords to place a Teleporter in the enclave. Characters level 4 and higher can now enter the Inspired Quarter. Completing the final quest in this series three times (and every third time thereafter) will offer characters the option to select several shards or disks, and offer the chance for named items that normally appear in the Mindsunder chest, in its end reward list.

Orchard of the Macabre

All chests in the Orchard of the Macabre that had a chance to drop Sigil pieces, Tattered Tapestries, Tome of Untold Legends pages, or Shield of Legend fragments now have a chance to drop any of the above. If a chest previously had a specific Sigil piece, Tome page, or Shield fragment associated with it, that chest will remain the best source for that particular item. However, these items can now drop from any of the above chests.

The Reaver's Reach

The third completion end reward list will offer players 50 Dragontouched runes, plus a random Eldritch, Sovereign, or Tempest Rune.

Monastery of the Scorpion

Fixed a stuck spot.

The Red Fens

Each dungeon in this chain will offer its own third completion reward list that includes named items associated with the adventure pack.

Into the Deep

Soul stones will no longer get stuck in a pit.

Reign of Madness

The Sane Asylum

This quest now has a working exit.

Sentinels of Stormreach

The quest arc bestowed by Taggart Deneith can now be repeated, and Taggart will offer an end reward every time the arc is completed.

The Sharn Syndicate

The quest arc bestowed by Yorrick Amanatu can now be repeated, and Yorrick will offer an end reward every time the arc is completed.

The Vale of Twilight

Rainbow in the Dark

Fixed a door which could close and trap players, or prevent them from accessing a section of the quest.

Meridia

The Shroud

Shavarath Blades will no longer strike as rapidly, do less damage on all difficulties, and display a warning when they first enter the game.

Races

Fixed a bug that could cause Half orc characters to have an unusual pose when engaging in unarmed combat after using a quarterstaff. Half-Elf Artificer Intelligence now requires the Feat Half-Elf Dilettante: Artificer instead of Wizard.

Reincarnation

Ability Tome benefits are now preserved after True Reincarnation. Bravery Streaks will now be preserved through Lesser and Greater Reincarnations.

Skills, Feats, and Enhancements

The Improved Repair enhancement line now uses the Repair icon instead of the Spot icon. Fixed a bug where the "Silent Moves" and "Greater Shadow" item effects were giving the incorrect skill bonuses. The Lightning Icon for the Monk stance has been given a new look. Metamagic feat context menus now indicate when no metamagics are available to place onto a spell, rather than present a menu with no options.

Spells

Animations will now match the appropriate metamagic state for the spell shortcut. The debuff icons for Otto's Resistable Dance and Otto's Irresistable Dance are no longer switched. The buff icon for Angelskin is now correct. The Lantern Archon's Focus Orb is no longer an Eladrin Ghaele. Fixed a bug where the icon for the Paladin spell "Zeal" would not always appear. Item enchantment spells like Elemental Weapons and Lucky Cape now display a buff icon in the upper-right corner of the screen while an enchanted item is equipped. Hold Animal now affects Magical Beasts and Vermin. If cast on a mindless creature, the creature receives no saving throw, but the spell has a reduced duration. The tooltip for Aid, Mass now describes the spell instead of saying it acts like the Aid spell. Necrotic Ray is no longer subject to Spell Resistance Deep Slumber's description has been updated to reflect the actual duration of the spell. The spell lasts for 20 seconds +2 seconds per caster level (instead of its previous description of 20 seconds +1 second per caster level.) Several typos have been fixed in the spell descriptions for Elemental prod and Aid. Fixed the icon for Ram's Might in the buff bar. Conjure Bolts now creates more powerful bolts when cast by a more powerful caster. At 4th level, and every four levels after, the bolts gain +1 to their enhancement bonus, to a maximum of +6 at level 20. The Toughen Construct buff now has the correct icon. Fixed some typos in the description for Niac's Cold Ray. Horrid Wilting will now hit a hard-targeted enemy in addition to the enemy's neighbors. Deadly Weapons has been temporarily changed to address balance and other issues. The spell now adds +1d8 force damage to a target's main hand weapon. This spell will undergo further changes in the future. Additionally, scrolls of Deadly Weapons have been added to the treasure tables, and now have a chance of appearing in chests like other scrolls in the game.

UI

The description of Adamantine Ritual II now correctly states that it increases the Durability of an item by +15. Helmets will now be shown for players whose characters had /showhelmet off set prior to the release of Update 10. The show helmet state will now be properly preserved following a Lesser or Greater Reincarnation. Fixed a text error that could display when a character's guild achieved a new level. UI skinning should now work properly again. A new “effects” log has been added to chat to help new players recognize when they have item or spell effects that don’t stack. This option can be turned off in the “incoming chat” options list. The Auction House UI will now display remaining times more precisely.

Other Changes

Improved the behavior of Alt+Tab when running DX10 or DX11. Players can now start their characters at level 7 with a new tier of Veteran Status! Veteran Status (7) can be earned by acquiring 3,000 total Favor or by purchasing the account option in the DDO Store.