Update 56 Release Notes

Archetypes are a new way we’re adding soon to play a class type. So for example, you can play a Cleric, but now as the Cleric archetype called “Dark Apostate”, which takes a darker look at the traditional cleric role. These archetypes can be almost anything - they can have different enhancement trees, spells, feats, special abilities, and past lives - and are meant to explore tons of unused design space for our existing classes. We'd done some of this in the past through Universal Enhancement Trees, but Archetypes give us much more room to create into, and we expect to see the debut of many more archetypes in the future. Our first set of three archetypes debut in Update 56, and are as follows:


 * Dark Apostate (Cleric): This undead-shrouded channeler focuses on Negative energy and darker magic.
 * Stormsinger (Bard): This archetype focuses on the magic of music along with Sonic and Electric-focused spellcasting.
 * Sacred Fist (Paladin): Play a handwraps-using Paladin that combines Ki with Holy energies!

Update 56 also gives us the opportunity to take a fresh look at our classic adventure pack Temple of Elemental Evil! We’ll be making some changes to the heroic version, and also adding support for Legendary levels. We've heard from you over the years about some of the tougher and more confusing parts of Part One and Part Two, and we'll be breaking up these exceptionally long dungeons into a series of smaller quests! Now you can make progress in the Temple without feeling like you have to go back to the drawing board if you can’t get through it all in one sitting. We're also looking at some of the more difficult boss encounters (looking at you, Zuggtmoy...) and updating the entrance to the temple, among other things.

Temple isn’t the only classic DDO thing getting some love. I'm excited to tell you about changes coming in September to our Crystal Cove event! This work will make it easier for players to get into Crystal Cove, and we’ve identified some changes to improve performance during the event. No more gathering Treasure Map pieces and waiting around for the mining challenge to open. Instead you can simply open the door to the Kobold challenge as long as the event is running and you have a Treasure Compass to enter! You'll be able to turn in your old map pieces for doubloons. Speaking of doubloons, you'll find them randomly in chests while the event runs, and you'll have a chance to get a Treasure Compass whenever you defeat new “Ghost Champions” that can appear in dungeons whenever the event is active.

https://www.ddo.com/news/ddo-producers-letter-august-2022