Update 21 Release Notes

=Release Notes: Update 21=

Welcome to the Release Notes for Dungeons & Dragons Online! These release notes were posted on Monday, March 10th, 2014.

Of Special Note
Celebrate the 40th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons with deadly dragons, iconic adventures, and ancient treasure-filled ruins!

New Adventure Pack: Haunted Halls of Eveningstar Module
Once the lair of the long-dead bandit king Rivior, rumors say treasures still await those brave enough to delve into the depths of the Haunted Halls. A classic D&amp;D module brought to life for CR 28 adventurers; enjoy a special commentary from Forgotten Realms creator Ed Greenwood! Free to VIPs! The quest giver for this minimum level 24 module can be found in the northeastern section of Eveningstar.

New Adventuer Pack: Thunderholme
Explore the dwarven city of Thunderholme and face its current inhabitant: a powerful Shadow Dracolich and its allies! Includes an explorable landscape and two CR 30 raids! Free to VIPs! The two raids can be entered by characters who are at least level 26. The Thunder Peaks public area can be found beyond the Eveningstar Bridge in the Northeast corner of Eveningstar. Once in the Thunder Peaks public area, speak with Ingrith Icefell, the Thunderholme Guide, to teleport to the Raid entrances or the Magma Forge. The entrance to the Ruins of Thunderholme is up the hill at the northern edge of the Thunder Peaks public area.
 * Fire on Thunder Peak: Battle against a mated pair of red dragons high on the mountain top!
 * Temple of the Deathwyrm: Only the most skilled adventurers will survive this frightful journey to face the Shadow Dracolich.

Epic Completionist
Master Epic Destinies and become a legend! Unlock an additional Twist of Fate by completing Epic Past lives in the Epic Reincarnation system! Earn Epic Completionist by achieving three Epic Past Lives in each Epic Destiny Sphere (12 Epic Past Lives total.) Epic Completionists get another Twist of Fate slot which much be purchased with Fate Points to unlock and upgrade. Note that the three Epic Past Lives in an Epic Destiny Sphere can be any of the following: If you have already attained Epic Completionist, you should automatically gain the additional Twist of Fate slot.
 * Three stacks of a single Epic Past Life
 * One stack each of three different Epic Past Lives
 * One stack of one Epic Past Live and two stacks of another.

Anniversary Celebration
Celebrate 40 years of D&amp;D, and 8 years of DDO, with a special in-game card event! Check your character inventory for a "D&amp;D Red Box" and use it to collect classic Dungeons & Dragons cards from the Deck of Many Prizes. Collect, trade, and combine the cards, exchange them for cool rewards, and view the card art in the new Image Gallery! The D&amp;D Red Box is available throughout the month of March! Clicking on the D&amp;D Red Box creates a Magical d20 into your inventory. Using the d20 (once per day per account) will give you a card (two cards for VIP!) Double-click on the "card cruncher" to open a UI where you can place your cards, and get cool stuff!

Daily Dice Prize Updates
Some new prizes have been added to the jack pot of Daily Dice! It is now possible to win +6 Tomes and +5 to +6 upgrade Tomes if you have a very exceptional and lucky roll on the Gold Chest!

Cannith Crafting

 * All crafting XP boosting potions have been buffed to grant a much larger boost to earned crafting XP, and now last twice as long (30 minutes instead of 15 minutes.) The percentage boosts used to range from 5% to 25%, and now range from 10% to 100%.
 * Crafting recipe success boosters (special ingredients) have been boosted as well. These special consumable ingredients boost your success chance for a given recipe run. The percentage boosts used to range from 3% to 20% and now range from 10% to 35%.
 * The challenge ingredient costs for Crafting Satchels have been adjusted.

Classes

 * Many Bard songs that previously shared cooldowns no longer do. In addition, some single-target Songs had their cooldown timers reduced.
 * The Monk's Quivering Palm ability is getting some revisions related to its DC, as part of investigation into balancing Death effects:
 * Quivering Palm no longer benefits from Sundering bonuses. However, whenever an enemy saves vs. Quivering Palm, you get a stacking +4 bonus to your Quivering Palm DC. This stack is dispelled when you successfully kill someone with Quivering Palm.
 * General Tactical combat boosts to Quivering Palm have been restored (except for Sundering effects.)
 * This is the full text of Quivering Palm:
 * “Melee Attack: Deliver a fatal attack by sending waves of vibrations through your target. A successful Fortitude save negates this effect. (DC = 10 + 1/2 Monk Level + Wisdom Modifier + Tactics Bonus) When an enemy saves vs. Quivering Palm, you gain a stacking +4 Perseverance bonus to your DC until you kill an enemy with Quivering Palm (or 3 minutes pass).”
 * Grasp the Earth Dragon no longer sometimes triggers enemy-targeted effects on allies.
 * Characters who are currently undead are now immune to the Fatigued effect from exiting the Barbarian Rage state.
 * Artificer Iron Defenders now bark less frequently.
 * Pets using alignment gear such as good, evil, chaotic and lawful, will now retain it upon summoning.

Combat

 * Many spell-like abilities and supernatural abilities now correctly cannot be used in anti-magic fields.
 * Constructs and Pale Master player characters can now be properly debuffed by an enemy Shadar-Kai's whirling chain attack.
 * Human and Half-elf males will no longer jump to the side when using a sword and shield or jump back when using a two-handed weapon.
 * Fixed some cases where offhand doublestrike would only trigger if the mainhand also had Doublestrike.
 * Shadar-kai Blackguards now hold their weapons better.
 * Fixed some cases where off-hand Doublestrike would only trigger if the main hand also had Doublestrike.

Enhancements

 * Barbarian Ravager
 * Fury is now a Rage bonus to attack and damage.
 * Laughter now only adds one additional stack of Fury when critically Slaughtering.
 * Cleric Radiant Servant
 * Positive Energy Aura should now work properly, even when you don't have anything targeted.
 * Druid Nature’s Warrior
 * Fixed several druid enhancements in the Nature's Warrior tree to properly give 1 HP per action point spent.
 * Natural Adept now refreshes properly even when you don't change animal form.
 * Druid Season’s Herald
 * Time and Tide should now properly add to max caster level and caster level
 * Elven Arcane Archer
 * The Shattermantle effect now properly takes Wisdom into account when calculating the save DC.
 * Fighter Kensei
 * Deadly shot should now function properly.
 * Frenzied Berserker
 * Athletic now properly increases the Jump skill.
 * Monk Henshin Mystic
 * Elemental Words (Tiers 1-4) - All-Consuming Flame and Winter's Touch are no longer giving the wrong damage vulnerability (cold vs. fire).
 * Paladin Knight of the Chalice
 * The increased healing from the Vigor of Life enhancements is no longer sometimes removed upon dying.
 * Ranger Arcane Archer
 * The Arcane Archer Core capstone has been redesigned (for both Ranger and Elven versions), and now does this:
 * "Mystical Archer: You gain +2 Dexterity and +20% Doubleshot chance."
 * Imbue effects should no longer toggle off when zoning.
 * Soul Magic has been changed to have a 15% chance of giving 10 temporary spell points on every successful bow attack rather than a 100% chance to give 1 additional temp spell point (stacking up to 10 max) because the stacking effect didn’t work properly, and sometimes granted additional temporary spell points, or sometimes appeared to grant additional temporary spellpoints.
 * The Arcane Archer tree's core abilities now properly add the correct enhancement bonus to the bow you are wielding in all circumstances.
 * Rogue Assassin
 * Venomed Blades will no longer prevent Rogue Assassinate from working.
 * Rogue Mechanic
 * Hip Flask has gained the following passive benefits:
 * +2 Dexterity and Intelligence
 * +1 to hit with all crossbows
 * +1 damage with all repeating crossbows, +2 damage with non-repeating crossbows
 * +2 Sneak Attack dice and +2 to hit when performing Sneak Attacks
 * Rogue Thief-Acrobat
 * Staff Lunge and Vault no longer share a cooldown
 * Followthrough has gained the following passive benefits:
 * +2 Strength and Dexterity
 * +1 to hit and +2 damage with quarterstaves
 * +5% attack speed with quarterstaves
 * +2 critical hit damage with all weapons
 * +2 Balance, Jump, and Tumble
 * +2 Sneak Attack dice and +2 to hit when performing Sneak Attacks
 * Cartwheel Charge now lasts for 12 seconds (previously 6 seconds)
 * Stalwart Defender
 * The Stalwart Defense stance no longer drops its top-tier buffs when using a wand or scroll with a shield in the off-hand.
 * Greater Dragonmark of Passage: Now allows teleportation to the Harbor, The Twelve, and the House Cannith Crafting Hall.

Epic Destinies

 * Unyielding Sentinel
 * Text clarified in some cases to make the benefits for each rank of its Epic Destiny abilities more clear.
 * Ward Against Evil's 20% chance to trigger has been raised to 100%.
 * Intolerant Blows has been reworked: "Expend one use of Smite Evil: For 60 seconds you gain +200% Sacred bonus to threat generation and deal +1[W] damage."
 * Purify Weapon no longer has a stance requirement.
 * Undying Vanguard no longer requires charging up, can be used once per rest, and has a two minute cooldown.
 * Epic Moment Counters should no longer be reset when you go through a portal within a quest.
 * The Primal Avatar Summer Smoke ability should no longer remove additional damage (ie: Entropic) from Handwraps.
 * The Primal Avatar's Primal Travel ability no longer grants a 100% bonus to Dodge, and instead grants its described 50% Primal Bonus to Dodge (which ignores a character's maximum dodge.)
 * Grandmaster of Flowers - Light as a Feather now properly negates falling damage under all circumstances.
 * The Magister's Master of Evocation (and other schools) should now properly grant their +1 maximum caster level for the first rank.

Events

 * The Festival of the Traveller (aka The Egg Hunt) has been updated. Look for it to return this spring!
 * The prize lists have been updated for the Blessing of the Traveller rewards.
 * Jewels of Fortune now increase the tier of treasure that’s given out when completing an egg hunt run. Jewels of Fortune only affect the standard turnin, not the rewards when turning in a Blessing of the Traveler.

Feats

 * First Blood - The damage dealt by First Blood has been increased from 5-100 to 50-300.
 * Augment Summoning has had its description updated to specify that it does work on pets.
 * Archer's Focus no longer grants benefits when a melee weapon is equipped.
 * Amaunator's Brilliance is now a toggled effect with no duration.

Iconic Heroes

 * Purple Dragon Knights, both male and female, are no longer secretly petite, and shouldn't fall through holes in the world that other races don't.
 * The Bladeforged: Blade Absorption has a proper icon.
 * Morninglords now have most traits of Elves, including proficiency with Longbows, Shortbows, Rapiers, Longswords, immunity to sleep effects, inherent saving throws vs. enchantments, and bonuses to Listen, Search, and Spot.
 * The Morninglord's Rejuvenation of Dawn ability (and Unyielding Sovereignty ability) now remove Dazzle effects.
 * Purple Dragon Knight
 * Purple Dragon Aura, Rallying Cry, Final Stand and For Cormyr! now properly apply their effects to your allies.

Items

 * The +1 and +2 Spell Focus augments (Topaz of &lt;spell school&gt; and Topaz of Greater &lt;spell school&gt;) stack with Spell Focus bonuses on regular equipment. (They do not stack with each other.)
 * All item effects that were previously called "Exceptional Sneak Attack Bonus" are now called "Insightful Sneak Attack Bonus" to reflect their actual bonus type. The functionality of these effects has not changed.
 * Throwing weapons should no longer float next to shapeshifted Druids.
 * All potions should now be able to be used while enraged.
 * In the Auction House, the item "Snow Elemental Gem" will now be listed under "Gems" instead of "Tomes".
 * Items which grant "Weaken Construct" or "Weaken Undead" while equipped now function with unarmed and ranged attacks, not just melee weapons.
 * The Quiver of Poison is now Bind on Acquire, instead of claiming it was Bind on Equip, as this type of item is unable to function properly as Bind on Equip.
 * Epic Chimera's Crown now works with the Greater Dragonmark of Passage.
 * The Birthday Cake of Wishes and the Six Year Old Cake once again function properly when used.
 * Spell absorbtion now protects against negative level spells.
 * Lawrence's Robe of Trivial Knowledge has been renamed, given a new description, and is now a Glamered (cosmetic) armor. The new name is Robe of Trivial Knowledge. Robes already existing in-game will automatically become cosmetic armors, and also undergo the re-name and description change.
 * The effects of the Potion of Wonder have been updated.
 * Fixed the minimum level of the following item effects: Sun's Fury (now ML 12), Erosive (ML 20), Volcanic (ML 28), Corrosive (ML 28), and Obscene (ML 28).

Monsters

 * Earth, Ice, and Lava Elementals now behave much better, and should no longer slide or skate around.
 * Their hit detects have been tuned based on size – small ones will no longer hit a massive area, and huge ones will no longer miss even when they think they are close enough.
 * Added camera shake, particles, and sounds to make the big ones feel like their actual size.
 * Fixed a bug where dragons could get stuck, frozen and looking over their shoulder, if their target was a specific distance directly behind them.
 * Fixed a bug where monsters who turned into NPCs or vice-versa would pause to play a search animation before continuing with attacking or scripted behaviors.

Monster Manual

 * The following enemies from Gianthold should properly appear in the Monster Manual:
 * Duncan the Wayfarer
 * Gold Concord Cleric
 * Gold Concord Fighter
 * Gold Concord Wizard
 * Silver Concord Ranger
 * Halfling Captive
 * Copper Concord Rogue
 * Human Paladin
 * Copper Concord Bard
 * Prisoner
 * Silver Concord Fighter
 * Fixed several other issues where the Monster Manual would not credit you with a kill of a given creature.

Quest Experience Changes

 * Experience for 1 quest has been decreased:
 * The Jungle of Khyber
 * Previous Base XP on Epic Normal: 42,693
 * New Base XP on Epic Normal: 23,299
 * Experience for 17 quests has been increased:
 * Chains of Flame
 * Previous Base XP on Epic Normal: 18,661
 * New Base XP on Epic Normal: 28,459
 * In The Belly of the Beast
 * Previous Base XP on Epic Normal: 18,661
 * New Base XP on Epic Normal: 21,375
 * The House of Death Undone
 * Previous Base XP on Epic Normal: 13,243
 * New Base XP on Epic Normal: 14,500
 * Trial By Fury
 * Previous Base XP on Epic Normal: 16,336
 * New Base XP on Epic Normal: 25,692
 * Outbreak
 * Previous Base XP on Epic Normal: 10,151
 * New Base XP on Epic Normal: 13,085
 * Thorn and Paw
 * Previous Base XP on Epic Normal: 14,762
 * New Base XP on Epic Normal: 19,868
 * The Druid's Curse
 * Previous Base XP on Epic Normal: 17,005
 * New Base XP on Epic Normal: 21,206
 * Friends in Low Places
 * Previous Base XP on Heroic Normal: 5,733
 * New Base XP on Heroic Normal: 6,050
 * Previous Base XP on Epic Normal: 22,762
 * New Base XP on Epic Normal: 26,804
 * A Lesson in Deception
 * Previous Base XP on Heroic Normal: 4,433
 * New Base XP on Heroic Normal: 4,685
 * Previous Base XP on Epic Normal: 17,575
 * New Base XP on Epic Normal: 18,774
 * The Thrill of the Hunt
 * Previous Base XP on Heroic Normal: 2,850
 * New Base XP on Heroic Normal: 4,283
 * Previous Base XP on Epic Normal: 11,257
 * New Base XP on Epic Normal: 17,611
 * Army of Shadow
 * Previous Base XP on Heroic Normal: 4,173
 * New Base XP on Heroic Normal: 5,303
 * Previous Base XP on Epic Normal: 16,537
 * New Base XP on Epic Normal: 22,490
 * Through a Mirror Darkly
 * Previous Base XP on Heroic Normal: 6,166
 * New Base XP on Heroic Normal: 8,855
 * Previous Base XP on Epic Normal: 24,491
 * New Base XP on Epic Normal: 42,314
 * The Tracker's Trap
 * Previous Base XP on Heroic Normal: 4,113
 * New Base XP on Heroic Normal: 7,771
 * Previous Base XP on Epic Normal: 14,990
 * New Base XP on Epic Normal: 29,851
 * Lines of Supply
 * Previous Base XP on Heroic Normal: 4,206
 * New Base XP on Heroic Normal: 4,734
 * Previous Base XP on Epic Normal: 15,333
 * New Base XP on Epic Normal: 16,388
 * Breaking the Ranks
 * Previous Base XP on Heroic Normal: 3,553
 * New Base XP on Heroic Normal: 4,478
 * Previous Base XP on Epic Normal: 12,939
 * New Base XP on Epic Normal: 14,807
 * A Break in the Ice
 * Previous Base XP on Heroic Normal: 6,700
 * New Base XP on Heroic Normal: 6,864
 * Previous Base XP on Epic Normal: 24,471
 * New Base XP on Epic Normal: 26,203
 * What Goes Up
 * Previous Base XP on Heroic Normal: 8,462
 * New Base XP on Heroic Normal: 15,854
 * Previous Base XP on Epic Normal: 30,928
 * New Base XP on Epic Normal: 61,110

Quests and Adventure Areas

 * Fixed an instance where the Shadowfell Overlay effect would sometimes run after resurrecting from death. This would sometimes result in a double Shadowfell overlay effect in certain quests, such as Through a Mirror Darkly.
 * A feature is now available that allows you to receive and immediately consume a Siberys Spirit Cake with Astral Shards when you die: just click on the “Revive” button that appears near the Quest Objective panel when you die. This feature is not usable in Raids. Note that it is still possible to obtain cakes by navigating the DDO Store and using Turbine Points.
 * New gold piles (such as those in the Haunted Halls of Eveningstar) now give out differing amounts of gold based on the CR level of the dungeon.
 * Quest Completion timers should be behave better now. For clarity, the timer starts when you enter the dungeon. Quest Completion timers now output seconds as well.
 * DM Text now shows for longer if it's a larger phrase.
 * You can now re-roll a chest up to three times.
 * Heroic Sagas now properly count quests that you complete on Heroic Casual.
 * A Study in Sable
 * Animated Books now move around in a more lively manner.
 * The objective "Explore the Wine Cellar" can now be completed.
 * Brothers of the Forge
 * Drex now shows up in his proper location.
 * The door to the boss room now has the correct focus orb.
 * Corrected a problem where one of Talbron's voicelines was playing too soon.
 * The exit now works properly.
 * Eveningstar
 * The Eveningstar tavern windows now display properly again.
 * House of Death Undone
 * Players must now obtain the green "Kitchen" Key to unlock a door to the Kitchen. The key will randomly spawn in either the "House Temple to Lolth" room or the "Servant's Quarters" room.
 * Lines of Supply
 * Grablandurr now has the proper Frost Giant vulnerabilities.
 * Offering of Blood
 * The Heroic Aspect of Cunning will no longer try to muscle in on the Epic Hard and Epic Elite runs of the quest.
 * The Stormhorns
 * The entrance to the Storm Horns is now to the left of the Thunder Peaks entrance in Eveningstar.
 * The Rugged Woodsman in Poaching for the Poacher now specifies how many Gamey Venison or Fox Tails he needs.
 * Campfires now sit better in the landscape.
 * Protect Baudry's Interest
 * Certain kobolds that were not being charmed correctly now can be.
 * The Tide Turns
 * Trap boxes now correctly disable traps when disarmed.
 * Through A Mirror Darkly
 * The Mirror now drops rather than be destroyed if you exit the quest.
 * Fixed a bug which would create an increasingly harsh bright lighting effect the more players you had huddled in close proximity to each other.
 * The Harbor
 * A section of wooden dock is no longer slippery when the Risia Ice Festival is active.
 * The Underdark
 * Some bats have been moved so they hang from mushrooms rather than hang in mid-air.
 * A Yuan-ti is no longer spinning in the landscape.
 * What Goes Up
 * The number of orcs in the final stage of the boss fight have been halved on hard and elite difficulty.
 * No Shadar-kai appear in the first phase of the boss fight.
 * Orcs now appear in the last phase of the boss fight on Normal difficulty.
 * Only one pillarless Shadovar will wander from her post at a time.
 * Half the Shadar-kai are now hammer-wielding Blackguards.

Races

 * Half-Orc
 * Oricish Fury effects should now properly show the health cues they trigger at (they were still listing the pre-buff values).
 * Great Cleave's animation for many races is now the same as Cleave, which was already true for other races.

Reincarnation

 * The XP bonus found on Experience Elixirs, VIP bonuses, Guild Airship amenities and items now also increases the Commendation of Valor return found in End Reward lists.
 * Epic Otto's Irresistible Box now additionally contains 1300 Commendations of Valor. This includes unopened boxes that have been previously purchased.
 * The Epic Past Life "Block Energy" now always stacks with Unyielding Sentinel ability Block Energy (multiplicatively). A single Block Energy past life now correctly gives 10% reduction, as per the text.
 * Characters whose names use the maximum length allowed will no longer have the last letter of their name removed when reincarnating.
 * Fixed a bug where the confirmation box used to initiate a reincarnation did not require the correct name to be placed into it in order to proceed.

Spells

 * The following spells should no longer trigger offensive effects on the caster (such as Colors of the Queen, Rainbow, or Stormrage): Divine Wrath, Energy Burst, Energy Vortex, Blade Barrier, Earthquake, Consume, Flaming Sphere, Obscuring Mist, and Wail of the Banshee.
 * Call Lightning Storm should no longer trigger effects such as Beguile or Rainbow.
 * The spells Banishment and Dismissal no longer cost additional Spell Points while Heighten Metamagic is active, as Heighten does not affect those spells.
 * Targets stunned by Soundburst are now considered helpless.
 * Teleport Spell: The "Teleport to Crafting Hall" selection now takes you to the House Cannith crafting hall, instead of House Kundarak.
 * Shiradi Champion abilities should no longer cause self-harm when casting certain spells.

UI

 * Monster Manual and Wilderness Area slayer counts no longer update until a player logs out and then logs back in. This change was made to improve game performance.

Miscellaneous Changes

 * There is a now a (very small) chance of winning +6 Tomes and +5 to +6 upgrade tomes through Daily Dice.
 * The duration for Spell Wards, Bear Traps, and Net Traps has been decreased by 20%. Additionally, the Spell Ward paralysis effect now clearly states that it can be prevented by anti-paralysis effects.
 * A new command: "/raid completions" will list raids and the number of times you have completed them.
 * Fred is now smarter about Toughness feats and other feats that stack. Additionally, you can now differentiate between a feat taken at different levels. For example: If you took toughness at level 1, 12 and 18. You can choose to swap out the level 1 version.
 * Dice and his gambling game are no longer available in the Phoenix Tavern. Allegedly there was quite the incident there one night. Either way, he's gone now, and the Coin Lords disavow his existence.
 * Ice Games and Festivult coins now have their own header for organization in the Collectibles Bag.
 * There is a new loading screen tip: "You can purchase a stack of multiple items all at once. To do so, control + left click on the item in the shop window, then type in the desired quantity."
 * The bulletin board vector to Naleen Lassite now correctly completes.
 * Typing more than 250 characters will no longer delete the first characters typed. Instead, you will be prevented from typing more.

Known Issues
Known issues are now available, click here!

Source: https://www.ddo.com/en/update-21-release-notes