Lamannia Release Notes: Second Preview of Enhancements

Welcome to the Lamannia Release Notes for Dungeons & Dragons Online! These release notes were posted on Thursday, June 27th, 2013. '''These notes are subject to changes and additions... lots and lots of changes and additions.'''

News & Notes
This Lamannia preview includes features that are in very early stages of development or still in the planning stages. Please be sure to review Lamannia announcements and release note updates for instructions on preview around specific features.

Of Special Note
DDO's Enhancement system is being revamped. Some of these changes will address/clean up UI concerns. Some will enable new forms of gameplay and decisions that improve the character building experience. The new design will allow us to more easily add new enhancement trees in the future.

Thanks for your patience and for participating in the Second Preview of Enhancements!

Goals
The Enhancement system revamp is intended to:
 * Make it easier to see what enhancements are available, both for your current level and to plan for character building as you level up.
 * Help increase character differentiation through distinct character builds.
 * Improve the development flow and presentation so we can add enhancements and better display those changes to you.
 * Make it easier for us to implement class trees with complete Prestige Enhancement (PrE) lines and further expand character build options.

Recent Changes to Enhancements:

 * You now have access to 6 Class trees and 1 Racial for a total of 7 trees
 * The first Core Enhancement is Required to take the first Enhancement of that Tree
 * Improved Enhancement UI. Core Enhancements are now called out more clearly, and a white box highlights them when they can be taken (like non-Core enhancements have already done)
 * You can now re-arrange your enhancement trees by clicking on the drop-down box near the bottom of the trees. The “TBD – DNT – Unset” panel is available so you can select the order you prefer.
 * You can only take tier 5 abilities in one class tree
 * Cleric Divine Disciple:
 * We have added a new Cleric Tree!
 * To access the Tree on a previously created Cleric Character, you may have to scroll to the end of your available Class Trees. (IE: It appears in the 7th Enhancement Panel.)
 * Bard Warchanter:
 * Tree has been significantly rearranged
 * Inspire Recklessness now works as intended
 * Ironskin Chant now works as intended
 * Northwind now works as intended
 * Iced Edges now works as intended
 * Armorer now has the correct AP cost
 * Wassail is gone, and now included in the 2nd Core Ability
 * Poetic Edda is now in Tier 1
 * Fervor has been removed
 * Heroes' Feast has been removed
 * Skaldic Rage now scales based on song duration
 * Bard Action Boost: Sprint is now an Action Boost rather than a Bard Song
 * Boast should no longer stack with itself
 * Bard Gathering Cold now is a stance that, when active, grants a 20/35/50% chance of getting the "Armor of Frost" effect: Armor of Frost: +1 Stacking AC and Cold Resist. Stacks up to 5 times.
 * The AC bonus on Rough & Ready is now 2/4/6
 * Rallying Cry (the old one – Tier 2) is now called Words of Encouragement
 * The “New” Rallying Cry (Tier 5) is an Action Boost: “You and all allies within range of your songs gain +10% movement speed and a +1 Morale bonus to Saving Throws for twenty seconds. This ability can be used while feared, and dispels fear effects.”
 * Added Bard Frozen Fury: Melee attack with a chance of freezing enemies
 * Added Enchant Weapons
 * Bard Spellsinger:
 * Song of Arcane Might and Spellsong Trance are now working as intended
 * Flicker now works as intended
 * Haunting Melody now works as intended
 * Fighter Kensei:
 * Gained Haste Boost and Extra Action Boosts
 * Rogue Assassin:
 * Bleed Them Out’s tooltip has been updated
 * Bladeforged:
 * The Bladeforged Racial Tree has access to additional abilities
 * Dwarf:
 * Iron Stomach has been changed to grant Remove Poison/Remove Disease/Heroism for two minutes whenever you drink a Potion
 * Warforged:
 * Construct Toughness has been increased to 10HP

Faith Based Feats:

 * Some old religious feats that were exclusive to Favored Soul (such as Child of Vulkoor and Beloved of Lord of Blades) are now available for Clerics and Paladins if they want them for the cost of a feat. They remain freely granted for FvS. The stats have been slightly improved to give more bonuses and give them at earlier levels.
 * As previously seen on Lamannia, Clerics and Paladins now choose a deity to worship at level 1 as a feat, similar to Favored Souls. Old religious enhancements for Clerics, Paladins and Favored Souls such as Unyielding Sovereignty are now freely granted at level 6 as feats.
 * Amaunator will be available as a deity for Forgotten Realm characters.

Treasure Changes:

 * Randomly generated treasure has been improved to better scale to player power at all levels of play.
 * The following only applies to new items that can be found throughout Ebberon and the Realms:
 * There are many new item effects and higher bonuses to find!
 * Notable new effects to find include Improved Vorpal, Energy Absorption, and **Doubleshot, +10% Dodge, among many others.
 * Some effects have been rebalanced or removed, with the overall goal of reducing the proportion of items which are of very low quality for their level.
 * New randomly-generated items will no longer be able to appear with Race Restrictions.
 * Instead, new items have a chance to appear with “Masterful Craftsmanship”. An item with Masterful Craftsmanship has a lower minimum level to equip than an item with its enchantments otherwise would.
 * Changes to existing items: Below are some notable changes that are retroactive:
 * Dodge bonuses:
 * Dodge bonuses have been doubled in value.
 * Items that had +1% dodge now have +2% dodge.
 * Items that had +2% dodge now have +4% dodge.
 * Items that had +3% dodge now have +6% dodge.
 * Items that had +4% dodge now have +8% dodge.
 * Dodge bonuses of different numerical values no longer stack.
 * Exceptional Bonuses to Skills:
 * Exceptional Bonuses to Skills have been doubled in value.
 * Items that had a +1 Exceptional Bonus to one or more skills now provide a +2 Exceptional Bonus to those skills.
 * Items that had a +2 Exceptional Bonus to one or more skills now provide a +4 Exceptional Bonus to those skills.
 * Items that had a +3 Exceptional Bonus to one or more skills now provide a +6 Exceptional Bonus to those skills.
 * Exceptional Skill bonuses of different numerical values no longer stack.

Please Note that the following are in very early stages of development and many aspects and values are subject to change. We would like to focus on Enhancements at this time, but you will likely encounter the following changes:

Repetition Penalty:

 * The Repetition Penalty system is in the process of being changed.
 * Please note that the values currently on Lamannia are place-holder values!
 * More information here.

Stealth and AI Awareness:

 * We are updating Stealth and AI Awareness.
 * You can find more information here.

Harbor Adjustments:

 * The Harbor is in the process of being updated!
 * Many NPCs (Trainers, Quest givers, etc.) have been relocated
 * Fitzpat the Fence now gives out the free gem bag
 * Baudry Cartaman now gives players collectible bags
 * Mari Mosshand has been removed
 * Added a simple skill-check quest to allow players to help refugees in the Harbor arrival area
 * While fixing a server crash in Baudry Cartamon's Interests, we made some other updates. The quest is now available.

Hall of Heroes:

 * Two new buttons appear in Character Select
 * Transport to Eberron
 * Transport to Forgotten Realms
 * Currently only newly created Bladeforged characters can utilize this function

Miscellaneous Changes:

 * We're changing the name of Extra Shot to Doubleshot to match consistency with Doublestrike. If you see the term Extra Shot anywhere, please bug it -- this should be called Doubleshot now.
 * The Haste spell now provides +1% Dodge instead of +1 AC

Bug Fixes:

 * XP Potions should now affect ALL Monster Manual XP rewards. (Tome of Learning XP bonuses DO NOT APPLY to monster manual only to quests.)
 * Uncaring Masters should no longer be told how much they care
 * You can now easily click on the chat window type box
 * The Eveningstar Spirit Binder now once again binds you to Eveningstar (and not Wheloon.)
 * Stuck Spots! A number of stuck spots have been fixed: a couple in House P and one in the Underdark.
 * Discovering all explorer locations in Gianthold once again reveals the entire map

Launcher

 * The New Launcher is making a reappearance on Lamannia

Known Issues
Known issues are now available, click here!