Module 5: Accursed Ascension

=Overview= Module 5.0: The Accursed Ascension is the fifth major content update to DDO. Changes and additions in particular are;
 * Litany of the Dead Part 3 story arc including 5 quests
 * Orchard of the Macabre and Litany of the Dead Part 4 (Accursed Ascension) story arc, including 5 quests and 1 raid
 * Raid loot mechanic has changed, players who had been shortmanning raids for better chance of loot took this as a "nurf"
 * Detail window for items and charactors has renewed
 * Quest item/reward bug concerning Blood Offering has fixed

It has announced, development cycle has changed after this module and there will be no content update until Module 6.

=Release date= 27th Sep, 2007

=Final Release Notes: Module 5: The Accursed Ascension=

As the gates of death open, the Black Abbot beckons Stormreache's finest to witness the birth of a god. The hour of ascension is upon us! Can Eberron's newest deity be defeated?

General

 * Dolurrh environmental effects will now display an appropriate screen overlay.
 * Players should no longer experience ethereality issues after a tavern brawl.
 * We have added a glossary tool to the game. To look up a word, type "/glossary {word}"
 * There have been changes to the lifetimes of mail. Unopened mail will now remain for 21 days and opened mail will remain for 5 days. Only mail received or opened after the update will follow these new rules.
 * The /death command, meant to be used only in the most dire of situations, has been changed to automatically release the character to his or her bindpoint after killing the character. This change is meant to address several /death related exploits.
 * Skills should no longer show up as "n/a" in the summary page of advancement

UI Improvements

 * When you close and reopen the Adventure Compendium it will now remember which tab you were on and reopen to that tab.
 * Added a button called "Modify Party" to the "Outstanding Invitation Requests" panel which will open up the "Create Party" panel directly instead of having players open it by opening the social panel first, then hitting the "Create Party" button.
 * Fixed a problem where it was difficult to resize the grouping panel using the lower-right corner.
 * Added a new button to the character options panel called "Gameplay" which contains an option which will allow players to customize the way their quest end rewards are generated. By default, they are generated based on the character's main class, but some players (especially multi-classed characters) may prefer for these end rewards to be completely random.
 * There is a new option located under the Options->Gameplay tab that allows you to turn on the "Fellow Sticky Selection". Description: "Check to prevent 'Select Fellow' keys from toggling/clearing your target when selecting the same fellow."
 * Sorting by quest name in the Adventure Compendium now ignores "The " at the beginning of the name. The Quest Journal will also function in the same way when sorting the Area tabs and the quest list.
 * Primitive drow should now appear correctly in the focus orb.
 * A new command '/quest completions' will display the number of times you have completed each raid.
 * Shortcuts will now properly display cleared keybindings.
 * LFM postings in the Grouping Panel will now properly display quest names on login.
 * Guild invitations that expire will now be reported as expired instead of declined.
 * There is a new UI Option which allows players to hide the long descriptions of effects in examination.
 * Some items which were not marked as magical, such as a Minor Kinetic Lore Scepter, will now have the blue magical item background on it's icon.

Auctions

 * Sorting by duration now works correctly.
 * There are now restrictions on when you may cancel an auction. You may cancel your auction at any time if it has no bidders, or within the first hour of the posting regardless of the number of bidders.

Tooltips

 * Added active/toggle/passive usage to action tooltips.
 * Tooltips that display long cooldown periods will display them in minutes and seconds - e.g., 2 minutes 30 seconds instead of 150 seconds.
 * Action tooltips will inform the user when an action is useable in water, not useable in a brawl, or when it is useable only in public. They will also display the target type for the action.
 * The tooltips on the character stats page have been streatched out to allow 4 digit numbers to be displayed. This was an issue for magic users with 1000+ spell points, for example.
 * Disabling tooltips now disables all tooltips including shortcut bar and examination tooltips.
 * Tooltips for skills now include the key ability.
 * Tooltips for spells and feats now include the save DC and save type(s).

Shopping

 * You can now ctrl-click on an item in a shop to purchase the item in bulk. A pop-up dialog will prompt you to enter the number of items to purchase. Note: This dialog is only used when purchasing items. There is still no way to control the number of items you sell from a stack.
 * When items in a shop are alphabetized, they are sorted first by base name (e.g. sword, dagger) and then by prefix (e.g. masterwork, vorpal).
 * When you add items to the shopping cart, the cumulative cost of the items in the cart will affect the "can afford" status of the items available for purchase / repair.
 * If a player's haggle skill changes, then the shopping cart display price will now update to reflect the change.
 * Blessed Cold Iron Khopeshes, Blessed Cold Iron Mauls and Blessed Cold Iron Heavy Picks will now always be sold at the Divine Reagent vendor in Feather Fall's Apothecary in House Jorasco.
 * The examination display now displays the "adjusted base value" which takes charges and permanent damage into account. This is the value that the vendors used to figure out how much they would purchase items for, so your items are not losing value, just displaying the item's value more accurately.Vendors now use the adjusted price to determine if they would purchase the item or not. So if you had a sword that was too pricy for a given vendor to buy, then once it is well used, it may drop to a value at which the vendor is now able to purchase it from you.

Spells

 * Spell tooltips now include blocks that describe whether or not a spell can be resisted, and what the specific material component is for a given spell (if any).
 * Spell tooltips now include a metamagic information block. This block lists the kinds of metamagic that can affect this spell.

Monsters

 * Monsters now should stop throwing stuff and attacking while they are held or otherwise helpless.
 * Minotaurs may occasionally use thrown weapons if charging headlong at an opponent doesn't seem to be working.

Combat

 * Offensive spells with "touch" range now possess significantly more lenient heading checks. These include Chill Touch, Ghoul Touch, Inflict (various) Wounds, Otto's (ir)Resistable Dance, Slay Living, and Touch of Idiocy.
 * The Crushing Despair FX are now persistent.
 * Now if you are a divine caster and are using wands or scrolls of divine types and you happen to be under the effect of Quell's Intercession, you will have to perform a UMD check just like every non divine caster type.
 * Focusing Chant now displays a proper icon when cast.
 * The metamagic system in Dungeons and Dragons Online has undergone significant changes in Module 5.0: Accursed Ascension.
 * The biggest change that casters will discover is that each metamagic feat other than Heighten Spell now has a fixed spell point cost increase rather than multiplying the spell point cost of a spell as they did before Module 5.0. These surcharges are as follows:
 * Empower Spell: +15 SP
 * Empower Healing Spell: +10 SP
 * Enlarge Spell: +10 SP
 * Eschew Materials: +2 SP
 * Extend Spell: +10 SP
 * Maximize Spell: +25 SP
 * Quicken Spell: +10 SP
 * Heighten Spell: Special (Changes base cost of your spell to that of your highest level spells)
 * These cost increases are cumulative if multiple metamagic feats are active simultaneously, so a Quickened, Maximized, Enlarged Fireball would cost:
 * 20 (base) + 10 (Quicken) + 25 (Maximize) + 10 (Enlarge) = 65 Spell Points
 * Improved Metamagic enhancements have all been changed to flat cost reductions on these surcharges. Sorcerer Improved Maximizing III, for instance, has become "Using the Maximize Spell feat costs you 9 fewer spell points." Wizard Improved Heightening II is now "Using the Heighten Spell feat costs you 2 fewer spell points per level of heightening."
 * Targetting issues with wall of fire have been fixed.
 * Magic missiles now do a better job of tracking moving targets.
 * Despite the protests of the Silver Flame clergy that have grown rich from curing adventurers suffering from curses, Bestow Curse effects are now removed on death.
 * Touch of Idiocy no longer permits Heighten, as it has no save.
 * Stone to Flesh can no longer be cast on "self", since statues are rarely capable of casting spells.
 * Blindness, Feeblemind, and Touch of Idiocy are now removed by Rest Shrines.
 * Acid Rain now uses a normal "attack spell" animation instead of the one associated with summons and lingering clouds.
 * Bull's Strength, Mass now functions correctly.
 * Beholders will no longer emit any beams while petrified.
 * The "Tumble" spell now grants a +10 bonus to tumble scores, as the spell description has always claimed, rather than +12.
 * Shield and Nightshield should no longer be "ablative" protections, and will protect against more than one casting of Magic Missile or Force Missiles. Likewise, Spawn Screen was also incorrectly set as ablative.
 * Temporary hit points gained from Aid and Mass Aid will no longer stack. This time for sure we really mean it.
 * Removed the Empower and Maximize metamagic options from instant-death effects that happen to have a secondary effect of damage - Slay Living, Finger of Death, and Destruction.

Skills, Feats, & Abilities

 * The number of Turn Undead attempts per rest will now be calculated on the current displayed Charisma modifier. Previously only permanent changes to Charisma from level advancement and tomes were counted.
 * The Listen skill now helps you detect hidden monsters.
 * Old feat lists in the feat respec dialog now look like most of the other lists of feats and enhancements in-game and sub-feats have their icons again.
 * Players who have a feat called "Feat Respec Token" will once again be allowed to respec the "Feat Respec Token" and then other feats.
 * Barbarians now possess a new ability in the feats section of their character sheet. "Dismiss Rage" can be used at any time to prematurely end their barbarian rage. Note that you will still be subject to fatigue from your rage, and it functions only on the barbarian class ability - you cannot dismiss any other ragelike effects.
 * It is now possible to trade a feat for a feat which can be aquired multiple times when the player already has one. So players can now aquire Toughness as many times as they like through feat respec.
 * Cure Wounds spells, including the Mass Cures, can no longer be Heightened as Clerics can already freely cast the higher level versions of those spells and are the ones most likely to use them as offensive spells against Undead. Note that the Heal spell is unaffected by this change as there are more circumstances under which you may wish to Heighten the spell.
 * A Paladin's Aura of Courage will no longer cause various other spell effects to repeat over and over. The Aura of Courage bonus has also been changed to a Sacred Bonus to Will Saves vs. Fear, and as such, will stack with Morale effects.
 * The Barbarian Dismiss Rage ability now will only function if you are enraged.
 * A Paladin's Aura of Courage will no longer cause various other spell effects to repeat over and over. The Aura of Courage bonus has also been changed to a Sacred Bonus to Will Saves vs. Fear, and as such, will stack with Morale effects.
 * Crippling strike now occurs with ranged sneak attacks using bows, crossbows, and thrown weapons.
 * Favored Enemy: Orc can now be taken during character generation by rangers.
 * Halflings have always had their +1 bonus to attack with thrown weapons. Now this race specific feat will appear on the character sheet.

Enhancements

 * Lines of Item Defense enhancements have been added to Barbarians, Paladins, Rangers, and Rogues. Note that these lines, unlike the Fighter Item Defense line, are only three enhancements deep, and are acquired at higher levels than the Fighter Item Defense enhancements. Paladins receive Item Defense enhancements at levels 3, 7, and 11, while the others receive them at 5, 9, and 13. Fighters continue to receive them at levels 1, 5, 9, and 13. As with all class enhancements, purchasing level one in one class will lock out the lines from the other classes.


 * Halfling luck, instead of only affecting Reflex saves, is now three distinct enhancement chains. These are not exclusive.
 * Halfling Luck (Fortitude) I
 * Prereq: Halfling Level 1
 * Cost: 1 Action Point
 * Grants a +1 bonus to Fortitude saves.
 * Halfling Luck (Fortitude) II
 * Prereq: Halfling Level 5, 14 Action Points spent, Halfling Luck (Fortitude) I
 * Cost: 2 Action Points
 * Grants a +2 bonus to Fortitude saves.
 * Halfling Luck (Fortitude) III
 * Prereq: Halfling Level 9, 29 Action Points spent, Halfling Luck (Fortitude) II
 * Cost: 3 Action Points
 * Grants a +3 bonus to Fortitude saves.
 * Halfling Luck (Reflex) I
 * Prereq: Halfling Level 1
 * Cost: 1 Action Point
 * Grants a +1 bonus to Reflex saves.
 * Halfling Luck (Reflex) II
 * Prereq: Halfling Level 5, 14 Action Points spent, Halfling Luck (Reflex) I
 * Cost: 2 Action Points
 * Grants a +2 bonus to Reflex saves.
 * Halfling Luck (Reflex) III
 * Prereq: Halfling Level 9, 29 Action Points spent, Halfling Luck (Reflex) II
 * Cost: 3 Action Points
 * Grants a +3 bonus to Reflex saves.
 * Halfling Luck (Will) I
 * Prereq: Halfling Level 1
 * Cost: 1 Action Point
 * Grants a +1 bonus to Will saves.
 * Halfling Luck (Will) II
 * Prereq: Halfling Level 5, 14 Action Points spent, Halfling Luck (Will) I
 * Cost: 2 Action Points
 * Grants a +2 bonus to Will saves.
 * Halfling Luck (Will) III
 * Prereq: Halfling Level 9, 29 Action Points spent, Halfling Luck (Will) II
 * Cost: 3 Action Points
 * Grants a +3 bonus to Will saves.


 * Human Versatility has undergone some revisions, and now grants five subabilities. Instead of being restricted only to a skill boost, Humans may now display their versatility by gaining a short duration increase to skills, damage, attack rolls, saves, or armor class. These boosts draw from one common pool of 5.
 * Human Versatility I
 * Prereq: Human Level 1
 * Cost: 1 Action Point
 * Grants the ability to display your versatility as a +2 bonus to skills, damage, attack rolls, saves, or armor class for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility - Skills I. Activate this ability to receive a +2 bonus to skills for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility - Damage I. Activate this ability to receive a +2 bonus to damage for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility - Attack I.Activate this ability to receive a +2 bonus to attack rolls for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility - Saves I. Activate this ability to receive a +2 bonus to saves for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility - Armor Class I. Activate this ability to receive a +2 bonus to armor class for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility II
 * Prereq: Human Level 4, 10 Action Points Spent, Human Versatility I
 * Cost: 2 Action Points
 * Grants the ability to display your versatility as a +3 bonus to skills, damage, attack rolls, saves, or armor class for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility - Skills II. Activate this ability to receive a +3 bonus to skills for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility - Damage II. Activate this ability to receive a +3 bonus to damage for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility - Attack II. Activate this ability to receive a +3 bonus to attack rolls for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility - Saves II. Activate this ability to receive a +3 bonus to saves for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility - Armor Class II. Activate this ability to receive a +3 bonus to armor class for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility III
 * Prereq: Human Level 7, 21 Action Points Spent, Human Versatility II
 * Cost: 3 Action Points
 * Grants the ability to display your versatility as a +4 bonus to skills, damage, attack rolls, saves, or armor class for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility - Skills III. Activate this ability to receive a +4 bonus to skills for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility - Damage III. Activate this ability to receive a +4 bonus to damage for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility - Attack III. Activate this ability to receive a +4 bonus to attack rolls for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility - Saves III. Activate this ability to receive a +4 bonus to saves for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility - Armor Class III. Activate this ability to receive a +4 bonus to armor class for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility IV
 * Prereq: Human Level 10, 32 Action Points Spent, Human Versatility III
 * Cost: 4 Action Points
 * Grants the ability to display your versatility as a +5 bonus to skills, damage, attack rolls, saves, or armor class for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility - Skills IV. Activate this ability to receive a +5 bonus to skills for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility - Damage IV. Activate this ability to receive a +5 bonus to damage for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility - Attack IV. Activate this ability to receive a +5 bonus to attack rolls for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility - Saves IV. Activate this ability to receive a +5 bonus to saves for 20 seconds.
 * Human Versatility - Armor Class IV. Activate this ability to receive a +5 bonus to armor class for 20 seconds.

Items

 * In order to alleviate inventory clutter by collectables and gems, players will now be able to use a new object known as the "collectable bag" and "gem bag". Small, medium and large versions of both are available. The small version will be awarded to those who complete, or who have already completed the low level intro quests. Medium bags are for sale at vendors, and large bags will be rare treasure. Each bag will occupy one inventory slot, while holding a number of gems or collectables depending on it's size.
 * Critical hit effects on weapons were preventing sneak attack damage from applying in certain rare circumstances. This has been fixed
 * When you inscribe a scroll and already have the spell, it would fail with and give an error message but still take your inscription component. This has been fixed.
 * The chance for raid items to drop is increased when the raid dungeon is run on higher difficulty levels.The actual increase in drop rate is dependent on the actual increase in danger of the raid as the Difficulty Level is increased. The maximum drop rate of raid items from any raid on Elite is 25%
 * Kargon's Tasty Ham can now be enjoyed throughout Stormreach and its environs. No longer must one enter a drinking establishment to revel in the taste of the bestamest ham ... evemar.
 * Characters which have improved UMD skills due to feats, such as "Skill Focus: Use Magic Device" and have an item equipped using UMD which is above the UMD score the player has without the skill focus feat, will no longer find thier item unequipping itself whenever they log in.
 * +2 Tomes and Manuals will no longer drop as Raid loot in the Stormreaver raid. Any +2 tomes found in the warded chest will have been generated as normal treasure. The drop rate for +3 tomes has been increased to compensate for this change to the raid treasure table.
 * Every 20th time you finish a raid quest your end quest rewards will be selected from the raid loot table instead of being randomly generated. The number of items to choose from will be just under half of the total number of raid items without any duplicates. This is in addition to the normal chance of raid loot dropping for each player during the raid.
 * The 4.2 release introduced the new treasure effect Bodyfeeder. Bodyfeeder does not function when applied to ranged weapons even though a bug allowed ranged weapons to be created with this effect. As of the Module 5 release, all ranged weapons that previously had the Bodyfeeder effect will have it replaced with a new effect Lifeshield. Equipping a Lifeshield weapon grants a 10% chance each time the character is hit to gain 15 temporary hitpoints that last for 1 minute.
 * Madstone Rage and several other temporary effects gained from equipment are now removed on death. No more unpleasant experiences after reviving in a tavern and having Madstone Rage wear off.
 * All dragonscale armors can now be repaired with only 5 Relics of the appropriate type.
 * Blessed Cold Iron Scimitars now even look like scimitars.
 * Male Elfs rejoice! No longer will you be forced to show off your skivvies while wearing Medium Dragonscale armors.
 * Freedom of Movement will now protect against the Crippling weapon effect. This change will include some monsters with wards that are similar to Freedom of Movement.
 * Elemental arrows fired by monsters are now less flashy, but should no longer bog your client down when encountered in large numbers.
 * Named loot has been added to the Bloody Crypt
 * The Staff of Arcane Power will now cast Minor Globes of Invulnerability much faster.
 * Bashing damage from the shield Ward of Undeath is now flagged as Good.
 * The touch of the Avatar of Jubilex will no longer make Warforged sick to their stom... err... uhh inner workings.

NPC's

 * Restless Isles
 * MUL-Tong will now place the sigil in your inventory overflow if your inventory is full or if you are encumbered.

PVP

 * A PvP group option has been added to allow parties to instantly join private PvP instances, for 2 to 12 players.
 * The PvP group leader can assign party members to red or blue teams prior to entering PvP arenas.

Monsters

 * The fleeing rust monsters in Stromvauld's Mine will no longer trip over their own feet.
 * Monsters that are hiding or invisible can no longer be tab (or `) selected unless a player can detect the monster using their Spot or Listen skills.
 * Patrolling creatures should get stuck less often.
 * Slimes telekinetically controlled by the Sorcerer/Wizard spell Ooze Puppet are now also telekinetically prevented from splitting. As such, you will no longer lose control of the slime due to splitting.
 * Chain Lightning now requires line of sight to the first target, and will no longer shoot through otherwise impassable barriers.
 * Monsters are more likely to respond appropriately to "calls for help" from other monsters when attacked at extreme distances.
 * The poison immunity that many devils and demons have has been expanded to include more poison effects that they should be immune to. This includes the cloudkill spell.
 * Hobgoblins with pikes will now only trip if they first successfully roll to hit.
 * Black wolves, such as those in the Searing Heights, now use their trip ability much more rarely.
 * Umbral Gargoyles, Umbral Worgs, and Phase Spiders will spend much less time "phasing out"
 * It has been a long standing issue that monsters that are hidden or invisible can be tab or ` targeted, thus trivializing a monster's innate hiding ability. This has been fixed! Now, if a monster is hiding from you, you may only tab target him if your spot skill is higher than his hide skill or if your listen skill is higher than his move silently skill. Invisible creatures are treated as having a +20 bonus to their Hide skill unless you have some means to see invisible creatures.
 * Charmed and summoned monsters now make noise detectable by other monsters as if they were players.
 * Hellcats can once again be selected with your mouse.
 * Monsters will no longer be unable to attack you if you are hiding in most "safe spots".

Quests

 * Gianthold
 * The Gnolls that were erroneously spawning in a tent will no longer respawn.
 * Players should no longer fall through the Gianthold Tor bridge.
 * The Reavers Fate quest will no longer inform players on success via the world broadcast.
 * Okay okay, Drexelhand's defeat will go un-noticed then.
 * The experience values of the dungeons in Gianthold have been re-balanced.
 * Madstone Crater
 * Players should now get fewer cases of hot feet a few steps from the lava's edge.
 * Necropolis
 * The Bloody Crypt
 * Gullet the Famished One will no longer respawn
 * The experience values of the Necropolis I and II dungeons have been rebalanced
 * The Public Area has seen the addition of a mailbox, banker, and an auctioneer.
 * Loremistress Jinna is now nicer about what she resets and when.
 * Plane of Night
 * Velah has informed the guardians of the islands within the Plane of Night that if they leave the areas they are supposed to be protecting, she will eat them.
 * The bridges within the Vault of Night should no longer occasionally be ethereal.
 * Searing Heights
 * Searing Heights has a mapnote indicating the location of its entrance
 * Vile Apothecary
 * Quickfoot Casters in The Proof is in the Poison quest have been downgraded significantly. They no longer have dance or fear spells, have had their caster levels and casting ability stat reduced, have slightly less AC, and have fewer hit points. This quest should be noticeably easier as a result of these changes.
 * Sunken Sewer...
 * ...can now be soloed by anyone.
 * Demon Sands
 * Jaefun Druz now checks to see if you have an Orb of the Djinn before advancing your quest. If you do, he does not advance your quest and advises that you should use the one you have.
 * Zawabi now checks to see if he can give you the demon queen raid quest before taking your items.
 * Caverns of Korromar
 * The objective "Find the source of the evil" will now be completed by entering the beholder's room instead of approaching him.
 * Cerulean Hills
 * Lotigath will now respond when spoken to.
 * Vault of Night
 * Each player is now allowed to only have 1 of the gifts from the Laughing Knives

Other

 * Engine Upgrade
 * We have significantly upgraded the game engine for Module 5. A short list of improvements is as follows:
 * Client Performance: Users should see an improvement in performance at all graphics details. Hitching, rubber banding, and momentary freezing is reduced while overall rendering performance is much better.
 * Graphics Improvements: Several graphics options are new or optimized. Antialiasing will produce better image quality, windowed mode has better controls, and graphics effects have been rebalanced to produce better results at different graphics qualities. Because of these changes we recommend that users go into Options -> Graphics and select "Detect Optimal Settings".
 * Bug Fixes: Many engine related bugs (both minor and major) have been fixed.
 * Network Performance: The network code has been optimized to use less bandwidth.
 * Water Shaders: Most water has been significantly upgraded, and now produces scene reflections depending on detail level. The medium graphic quality experience has also been greatly improved around water.
 * The metamagic system in Dungeons and Dragons Online has undergone significant changes in Module 5.0: Accursed Ascension.
 * The biggest change that casters will discover is that each metamagic feat other than Heighten Spell now has a fixed spell point cost increase rather than multiplying the spell point cost of a spell as they did before Module 5.0. These surcharges are as follows:
 * Empower Spell: +15 SP
 * Empower Healing Spell: +10 SP
 * Enlarge Spell: +10 SP
 * Eschew Materials: +2 SP
 * Extend Spell: +10 SP
 * Maximize Spell: +25 SP
 * Quicken Spell: +10 SP
 * Heighten Spell: Special (Changes base cost of your spell to that of your highest level spells)
 * These cost increases are cumulative if multiple metamagic feats are active simultaneously, so a Quickened, Maximized, Enlarged Fireball would cost:
 * 20 (base) + 10 (Quicken) + 25 (Maximize) + 10 (Enlarge) = 65 Spell Points
 * Improved Metamagic enhancements have all been changed to flat cost reductions on these surcharges. Sorcerer Improved Maximizing III, for instance, has become "Using the Maximize Spell feat costs you 9 fewer spell points." Wizard Improved Heightening II is now "Using the Heighten Spell feat costs you 2 fewer spell points per level of heightening."
 * The primary warded chest in all raids has been converted to the standard format for all chests in DDO. Every player in the raid will have their own treasure generated and assigned to them when they look into the chest. The locking glyphs are no more.
 * Each character has a 1 in 6 chance to receive a special item from that raid's loot table. Otherwise, a standard treasure from the maximum treasure table appropriate for that raid will be generated for that character. Players may re-assign any items to other characters in the raid using the new treasure re-assignment feature. This includes any special raid only items.
 * The raid only items are still bound once they are removed from the chest. A warning confirmation box appears when attempting to grab a bind on acquire raid item from the chest.
 * In addition, the primary warded chest creates the list of characters that are allowed to loot the chest at the time chest spawns. This list contains all the members of the raid at the time the list was created. Characters not on the list do not have treasure generated for them when they open the chest and may not have items re-assigned to them.

=Release Notes for Module 5, Update 1 - Monday, October 22nd, 2007 =


 * Large violet slimes will no longer split an infinite number of times when a Blade Barrier is cast upon them.
 * Any bag containing a bind on acquire item will become bound. The bag itself will become bound once a bind on acquire item is put in it and will unbind once all bind on acquire items are removed from it.
 * The Accursed Ascension now has a repeat delay timer.
 * In Ghosts of Perdition, Cholthulzz now retreats deeper into the icy cavern. You will now have to chase him all the way down before you can launch your attack.
 * Exploiting Cholthulzz through the walls was not very "cool". Now it is. Some would say, down-right icy.
 * The giant gate lever in The Black Mausoleum now requires constant attention. If all members of the party leave the room, the Abbot’s minions will turn it closed and the party will need to pull it again to restart the process from the beginning.
 * As originally intended, the gate levers in Tomb of the Forbidden will now require a gear to unlock whenever they are to be pulled. You will have to quickly switch the gear between the two levers.
 * In response to player feedback on the usability of the experience, many small tuning changes have been made to the Black Abbot's Ascension raid.
 * Fixed an issue where other player's movement may appear to stutter during non-peak times.
 * Sir Rohine Stiedra will now take your sigil after your dialog instead of before it.
 * Fixed a bug with Minos Legans Helm.
 * The "limbchopper" effect is now removed by death or by a good rest.
 * The final vampire room in the Cursed Crypt will now seal upon completion.
 * Desecrated Temple of Vol Changes:
 * The Shadows of Vol have become more deadly and numerous in the temple in response to the trespasses of raiding adventurers.
 * The random chest found within the Desecrated temple will not always appear, as was originally intended.
 * The seal to enter the lower level now requires a silver key and a gold key, as opposed to two gold keys.

=Module 5, Update 2 Release Notes - December 12th, 2007=


 * Any player who's subscription was active as of 11/26/07 will receive a candy cane thank-you gift!
 * Touch of Dolurrh is now removed when you are teleported to a puzzle.
 * Ice platforms last for a longer period of time, and are much less likely to appear underwater.
 * The rate at which raid loot from the Black Abbot drops on hard and elite has been increased to 20% on hard and 25% on elite.
 * The Touch of Dolurrh effect has been removed from Normal difficulty.
 * The Phasing chasm now adjusts based on difficulty. "Normal" mode should be significantly easier than "Elite". "Elite" is unchanged.
 * Mummies no longer spawn on Normal and Hard difficulties
 * A delay has been added to the Asteroids chamber to give players a few moments to prepare for the challenge
 * Multiple-use Rest and Resurrection Shrines have been added to the Black Abbot's platform upon completion of the raid.
 * As the Black Abbot’s power has grown, so have some of the items contained within his horde. Heroes that defeat the Black Abbot will find that certain loot items contained within his chest have been improved. Existing items are unaffected by this change.
 * Multi-class paladins and barbarians will now always be able to respec their feats without crashing their client.
 * If you abandon the Necropolis raid quest instead of letting the NPC reset it, he will now respond accordingly and rebestow if you are eligible.
 * The Black Dragon will no raise a barrier after you complete his puzzle.
 * During Abandoned Keep, the quest will no longer care if Coyle enters the room before you do.
 * Detaching currency from auction mail will now properly auto delete the mail.
 * The Black Dragon's drop gate will permanently close after 10 seconds.
 * The three trials contained within the Black Abbot raid no longer need to all be completed in a single teleport pass and the Black Abbot will now send you back to the three trials if you have not yet beaten them, rather than simply continuing the battle immortal.
 * The Black Prophecy book item now has text!
 * The Festival of the Twelfth Moon has begun! If you have saved any goodies from last year, the Coin Lords would like to remind you that due to shifts in the alignments of the moons and planes, some jelly cakes and cookies may have different effects this holiday season. Happy Festivult!