In development

'''This page aims at listing dev words on future updates of the game (as a kind of a WDA replacement). Feel free to contribute by adding your own finds.'''


 * See In development/Enhancements for a list of future enhancements.

Module 9

 * Planned around 3rd Anniversary - Kate Paiz, gamebanshee.com
 * for reference, the 2nd Anniversary Release (the Devil invasion in the Marketplace) was Feb 27, 2007.
 * Level cap raised to 20
 * "Players will take the fight to Shavarath to fight the Devils on their home turf. Players will make friends of old enemies once again as they make their way across the battle scared ruins of the Plane of Battle to once again deflect the expansionist tendencies of the Devils." gamebanshee.com

New Races and Classes

 * "Half Orcs are the next race that's currently planned, we expect the first half of '09. The Druid is on our list as the next class." - Eladrin, Stratics dev chat
 * "The Druid class will feature classic abilities, like shape-shifting, and we’re very excited about getting it out to players sometime mid next year. The Half Orc and Half Elf will be coming sooner, probably in Module 10, and will also echo their classic, D&D player handbook selves. Everyone is very excited about the Half-Orc’s +2 strength bonus as well as customizing their tusks. " - Kate Paiz, gamebanshee.com

UI & Control Improvements

 * "First-person view is coming! You'll be able to mouse-wheel in on your character and see the world around you from the eyes of your avatar, rather than hovering behind/above them. Still love the traditional 3rd person view? That's ok, you will be able to control your camera view by mouse-wheeling in/out to change from third-person, to first-person, and back again as often as you want!" -Tolero, ddo.forums.com
 * "One of these changes is a quest/adventure area feature that shows shrines and chests on the map once you've discovered them!" - Tolero, ddo.forums.com
 * "The chest and shrine mapnotes will only appear when *you* find them. There are a couple other map improvements that you'll be hearing about soon. Something many of you have brought up, multi level maps, and indoor/outdoor maps are not in the works at this time. There are some technical issues we need to work out (we do know it would be great to have!)." -Phax ddo.forums.com followup
 * "You will be able to use the "Loot All" button to automatically have all the items in the chest that dropped for you placed right in your inventory with a single click! Items that bind will still ask for a confirmation prior to ending up in your inventory." - Tolero, ddo.forums.com
 * "When you equip a wand, you will be able to activate it by using single-attack! Casters rejoice - no more punching with candycanes! Using the same key you use to attack with a weapon (or your fists if you're a monk), your character will activate the wand instead of trying to smack things with it. Still fond of keeping wands on your hotbar? You will still be able to use a wand from your hotbar. This feature will work on both aggressive wands (such as a wand of magic missle) and beneficial wands (such as healing wands). You can also hold your attack key down to continually activate the wand. Auto-attack will also allow you to continue to use the wand repeatedly. "Wand whipping" will be easier than ever with attack-activated wands!" - Tolero, ddo.forums.com
 * User list in user chat channel
 * "I just suggested to the design team yesterday that we should do this, and have word from the engine team that it would not be hard to get the list of characters, so you may be seeing this in the future!" - Phax, forums.ddo.com

Spells

 * Mandate of Shavarath and Suggestion
 * "The Mandate of Shavarath currently wards creatures from Charm effects, but the Suggestion spell (and Mass Suggestion) are not tagged as Charm effects in the Player’s Handbook. As a Compulsion that pacifies hostile opponents, however, Suggestion likely should be prevented by the ward." - Silthe, QA Lodge thread

New Spells

 * "Players are going to enjoy some amazing spells from the 9th level list, including Mordenkainen's Disjunction, which will temporarily strip all the magical properties off equipped items. We’ve also got the instant death spells of Weird and Wail of the Banshee, and players will be pleased that they will be able to cast Meteor Swarm (the Pit Fiends can’t have all the fun!) Regretfully, Wish and Time Stop will not be introduced with Module 9, though, as the challenges in bringing them to life in an MMO still require more balance and tuning testing. We will also be filling in some lower level spells, such as the Prismatic spells, so that lower level players get some additional abilities as well." - Kate Paiz, gamebanshee.com

At-Will Spells

 * "We agree that at-will powers are valuable additions to the casting classes. In Module 9, eternal wands have been given some improvements - faster use times, and their charges recharge over time. When the Prestige Enhancements come out for the Cleric, Sorcerer, and Wizard, I expect many of them to have at-will powers. A Sorcerer Fire Savant III, for example, will likely have the ability to produce Burning Hands, Scorching Ray, and Fireball effects at-will. (These will likely be on a slightly longer cooldown than if they had cast the actual spells, but will be free.) The Wizard Archmage is currently planned to be able to reduce their spell point maximum to purchase a variety of low level spells as spell-like abilities. Pale Masters will have their own necromatic twist, and Wild Mages... Well, they'll do something when they push that "Nahal's" button.(These are very early plans. Details are subject to change.)" - Eladrin, ddo.forums.com

Skills, Feats, and Abilities

 * Combat Expertise
 * "It's not intended that Combat Expertise drop after using potions (or monk finishers). We're looking at various solutions including changing the basic nature of Combat Expertise." - Eladrin, Stratics dev chat
 * Tactical Feats
 * "Prestige enhancements are planned for fighters and paladins. Before that, however, the melee classes (especially fighters) will be glad to see an array of tactical feats made available to them." - Eladrin, Stratics dev chat
 * Monk Wind Stance
 * "Currently wind stance does not stack with haste. It's possible if our evaluations deem wind stance needing a boost that a portion of the haste effect will stack with the haste spell. It's almost certainly not going to fully stack in the way that Tempest does - we've already seen how that played, and would like to see people playing something other than just two weapon fighting dex monks. ;)" - Eladrin, Stratics dev chat
 * Eladrin: In Module 8, Monk Air Stances will partially stack with Enhancement bonuses to attack speed. Lesser Wind Stance: +2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution, 7.5% Enhancement bonus to Attack Speed, 2.5% Insight bonus to Attack Speed Wind Stance: +2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution, 10% Enhancement bonus to Attack Speed, 5% Insight bonus to Attack Speed Greater Wind Stance: +3 Dexterity, -2 Constitution, 12.5% Enhancement bonus to Attack Speed, 7.5% Insight bonus to Attack Speed
 * Monk-related Fixes
 * "Some Monk related tidbits on things I've been working on" - Eladrin forums.ddo.com


 * The Monk enhancement "Way of the Tenacious Badger" now functions as expected.
 * The movement speed penalty on Mountain Stance has been reduced.
 * Higher levels of Mountain Stance now grant more Ki when critically hit, and have increased Damage Reduction.
 * Higher levels of Sun Stance now grant more Ki on critical hits.
 * The thrown weapon speed bonus from Ten Thousand Stars has been increased. (Note: The nature of Ten Thousand Stars may change in the future, but it will remain a "more thrown weapons" type of ability.)


 * Fixed errors in monk character generation advice.

Enhancements

 * See In development/Enhancements

Items

 * Module 9 raid loot
 * "Module 9 will definitely include a fantastic raid (hope you like a whole lot of Pit Fiends and Horned Devils) and we’ve got some great raid loot to go with it. These raid items will not leverage the crafting system -- that is something for M8, but in M9 we are focusing on more traditional named raid items that instead combine to greater heights. Some of the high-level Enhancements players can get at level 20 will also stack with the raid set bonuses to give even greater benefits." - Kate Paiz, gamebanshee.com
 * +4 tomes in module 9 - DDOcast Ask the Devs 6
 * Jerry (host): Really, did we just get a confirmation of +4 tomes in Mod 9?
 * One of devs: Yup.
 * Holy Avenger
 * "Oh, and Tharagrim's working on the Holy Avenger." - Eladrin, forums.ddo.com
 * "A Holy Avenger's a special thing. You can't just hand them out to everyone. ;) I expect that a certain level of dedication will be required, and perhaps a task or two to prove your worth. Not the pirate quest." - Eladrin, Stratics dev chat
 * Vicious prefix
 * "The Vicious weapon enchantment now deals 2d6 damage to opponents struck by the weapon and 1d3 damage back to the wielder instead of 1d6." - Eladrin, ddo.forums.com

Crafting

 * Full Crafting System
 * "Implementation of a full crafting system is underway. We don't have a release date yet, but we are working hard on it." "High level powerful items will certainly be one of the material goals of crafting, but characters will also be able to make all sorts of items that can be used by characters of all levels." "To begin with, the crafting system will focus on the making of equippable items like weapons, shields, armor, and accessories. Magic arrows and potions certainly may come later." - Piloto, Stratics dev chat
 * Armor Dyeing
 * "... we will continue to monitor the demand. Once the crafting system goes live, you will be able to dye parts of your armor and monk outfits pink to your heart's content." - Piloto, Stratics dev chat

Monsters

 * Succubus in Mod9 - Kate Paiz, Massively Podcast (20:18)

Quests

 * Major changes to Ascension Chamber (The Black Abbot) raid - by Eladrin, forums.ddo.com (thread)
 * Significant changes are being planned for the Abbot module nine. These happen to include several of the bullet points from the original post, including Fix the holes in the story line (why does he send us to do puzzles, etc.).
 * Many of the issues that may come up in this thread may be obsolete - I rescripted and updated most of the encounter during my pass. Very little went untouched.
 * There are still three areas where the Abbot has his defenses (guarding objects of critical importance to him), that the Silver Flame / Emerald Claw force access to when you create a moment of weakness.
 * Bounty system is going to be removed from the game in module 9.
 * Restless Isles to be revamped as wilderness adventure area
 * "... in Module 9 the Restless Isles area is getting a slight bit of an update with the addition of the slayer tech that is used in other landscape areas (Slayer / Rares / Explorer). Every kill will now bring you closer to getting more XP." - Thoon forums.ddo.com

Other Changes

 * Guild Housing
 * "I'm sorry to say that we won't have any guild housing features for mod 8." - Zyrca, forums.ddo.com