Update 11 Release Notes

Lammania Release Notes For Update 11: Secrets of the Artificers
These release notes were posted on Tuesday, August 30th, 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. 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?
 * Raid: The Lord of Blades - Eberron’s most powerful warforged has come to Stormreach, looking for one of House Cannith’s oldest secrets. He’s as powerful as a god, filled with rage, in command of an army, and looking for vengeance. What could be worse? You’re about to find out. Twelve-player raid.
 * Raid: The Master Artificer - Once one of House Cannith’s brightest stars, Toven d’Cannith was cast down and disgraced when the Lord of Blades attacked the Manufactury. Now Toven has a simple plan to fix everything – a plan you must halt at all costs. Twelve-player raid.


 * New Class: Artificers

Artificers use a mix of magic and technology to augment items and blast foes. Wielding rapid-fire crossbows and magical "rune arms," they have a fighting style unlike any other class. They also can build their own Iron Defender, a customizable pet that aids them in battle. Articers are a blend of Rogue and Arcane classes, and can also play a supporting role as a party healer. For more detail on the Artificer, see the Release Notes below.

NOTE: For a limited time, all Artificers will need to start at level 1, and play through all levels of the class. Players can True Reincarnate into an Artificer if they have the Artificer class unlocked, but players cannot swap non-Artificer levels for Artificer levels using Lesser or Greater Reincarnations, and cannot take Artificer levels from the Veteran Status boat.

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

 * Artificers are now in DDO as a playable class!
 * Artificers are able to summon Iron Defender minions using a special ability. These minions are similar to hirelings, and enable a UI bar for players to control their pet's actions. The minions are treated as hirelings, but do not take up a party slot. The Iron Defender will level up with the number of Artificer levels of its owner, and gain two action points per Artificer level that can be spent on special Iron Defender enhancements.
 * The death of an Iron Defender is traumatic for the Artificer, causing the Artificer to take 10% of their maximum hit points in damage (but cannot bring the Artificer below 1 hit point), and 10% of an Artificer's maximum spell points.
 * Iron Defenders have Modules that can be equipped from their "inspect" screen. Docents and modules created in Device Workstations can be equipped in module slots.
 * (Lammania Only): Docents can now be equipped on Iron Defenders.
 * (Lammania Only): Iron Defenders now retain their equipped docents when a character goes through a Lesser Reincarnation.
 * Iron Defenders can be named one time only by players. The ability to rename an Iron Defender is expected to be available in a future update.
 * Artificers are the only class that have the ability to use special Rune Arms to fire blasts of magical energy. These House Cannith creations will equip to the Artificer's off-hand weapon slot, and allow Artificers to use one-handed weapons or crossbows in their main hand.
 * When a Rune Arm is equipped, the "Alt" key is used to fire the Rune Arm. The key is pressed to begin charging the Rune Arm; hitting the key again will fire the weapon. Rune Arms can be charged only a limited amount while moving, but can be powered to become far more powerful when the Artificer is standing still. Charging a Rune Arm does not interrupt or prevent other actions, but may hinder some abilities or speed while a charge is held. A charge-up UI shows what tier of charging the Rune Arm has reached. Rune Arms have a cooldown that is tied to the level of the charge fired.
 * (UPDATED FOR LAMMANIA): The key to fire a rune arm has been changed from "Caps Lock" to "Alt". This change will not modify existing Lammania installations unless you reset your keymap to the default settings.
 * There are several different Rune Arm fire patterns. Many will fire projectiles at a selected hard target, or at the reticle if no target is hard selected, while others fire unguided shots at the reticle or fire blasts of energy in an area in front of the Artificer.
 * Rune Arms have imbue effects that apply to your equipped weapons. For example, Thought Spike, a Tier One Force Shot Rune Arm, adds 1 to 2 points of Force damage to all of the Artificer’s melee or ranged attacks.
 * Artificers can select bonus feats at levels 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 from the following list: Augment Summoning, Construct Essence, Adamantine Body, Improved Fortification, Mithral Body, Mithral Fluidity, Improved Critical: Ranged, Power Critical: Ranged, Weapon Focus: Ranged, Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Improved Precise Shot, Precise Shot, Shot on the Run, Any Dragonmark of Making, Any Skill Focus, Any Metamagic.
 * The ki costs for higher tiers of monk elemental and void attacks have been reduced to 5 ki each.
 * (Lammania Only): Artificers now have their proper gear displayed during character generation.
 * (Lammania Only): Iron Defenders no longer enjoy breaking barrels and crates as much as they used to.
 * (Lammania Only): Iron Defenders will no longer repeatedly teleport to their owners when their owner is on a moving platform.
 * NEW (Lammania Only): Artificer character paths are now available.
 * (Lammania Only): The sound and visuals have been improved when a rune arm charge decays.
 * (Lammania Only): Fixed an issue which caused Artificers to move slowly when their rune arms were inactive.
 * NEW (Lammania Only): Players can now click on their homunculus' vitals UI in the party UI to select their homunculus.
 * NEW: Players whose artificer characters arrive on the airship "Heart of Wind" now get a message explaining that they are not able to take artificer levels using the NPC on the airship. Players who wish to take artificer levels should choose the dialog option to take them to Korthos Island as a level 1 character.

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.
 * Hirelings will no longer improperly attack enemies while in their defensive stance.
 * (Lammania Only): Hirelings once again have tooltips for their spells.
 * NEW (Lammania Only): Fixed an issue that sometimes caused hirelings and homunculus to no longer follow players at quest and wilderness entrances.

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.
 * NEW: Beholders summoned using the Shard of Xoriat should no longer move enemies with telekinesis, to prevent an issue that could cause quests to not be able to progress.

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.

The Cannith Manufactury

 * (Lamannia Only): The switch puzzle in the Artificer Workshops no longer leaves levers permanently locked.
 * (Lamannia Only): The Cannith Manufactury now scales properly based on the size of the party (or raid group.)

Power Play

 * (Lamannia Only): This quest is now more challenging on Hard and Elite difficulty.
 * (Lamannia Only): Fixed an issue where Kylea would occasionally forget who she was following out of combat.
 * (Lamannia Only): Kylea is now more likely to activate crystals while in the midst of battle. Players can also talk to her while she has her magic shield up, and ask her to drop it (though of course she may just bring it up again if she gets hit. She's a magewright, not a fighter!)

Schemes of the Enemy

 * (Lamannia Only): Peacemaker is now disabled longer on Normal and Hard difficulties after the wheel puzzle has been completed, or a trap box disarmed. Peacemaker is also disabled longer for small or solo parties.
 * (Lamannia Only): Attacking the security door now displays a warning message rather than activating the wave battle. If the security door continues to be attacked, the wave battle will begin in approximately 15 seconds.

Feat Changes

 * The Rapid Reload feat now significantly increases the reload speed of crossbows.
 * Rapid Reload is now automatically granted to Artificers at level 1.
 * 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.
 * Point Blank Shot has been changed to, "You gain +1 bonus to hit with ranged attacks within 45 feet, and your ranged weapons deal deals +1(Base Weapon Damage). (A weapon that deals 1d6 damage per hit will deal 2d6 damage per hit instead, while a weapon that deals 2d8 damage per hit will deal 4d8 damage instead. This affects the base dice associated with a weapon any time they are rolled, including critical hits.)"
 * Improved Sunder now lowers fortification by 10% on a failed saving throw, in addition to the feat's prior reduction of a target's armor class by -5. The lowered fortification effect does not stack. Additionally, Improved Sunder will apply a -3 Fortitude Saving Throw penalty that lasts for 24 seconds on a successful hit. The saving throw penalty stacks up to five times.
 * NEW: Wind Dance and Leap of Faith have been modified:
 * Leap of Faith: You are able to leap through the air to bring the fight to your enemies or traverse chasms that make normal adventurers balk. Using this ability costs 10 spell points. Uses of this ability recharge at a rate of one every 15 seconds. (5 uses, 3 second cooldown.)
 * Wind Dance: You leap through the air, propelled by a gust of wind. Uses of this ability recharge at a rate of one every 15 seconds. (5 uses, 3 second cooldown.)
 * NEW: Past Life: Berserker's Fury no longer modifies existing rage feats.
 * NEW: Past Life: Berserker's Fury has been updated. The description is now, "You recall more about your past life as a barbarian. You gain +20 hit points, have +2 to your Intimidate skill and can enter a barbarian rage one additional time per rest, and enter a basic rage once per rest even if you do not have any other rage abilities. (Activate this barbarian ability to enter a bloodthirsty frenzy, granting you a +4 bonus to Strength and Constitution, a +2 Morale bonus to Will saves, and a -2 penalty to AC. When the rage ends, however, you will lose the hit points granted to you by increased Constitution and become fatigued. Your rage will last for 30 seconds.) This feat grants access to Racial and Class Toughness enhancements."
 * NEW: Past Life: Warrior of the Wild can now be properly cast on allies.
 * NEW: The Angel of Vengeance's Condemnation effect has had its duration increased from 15 to 20 seconds, and now increases vulnerabilities by 10% per stack, instead of 20%.

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]