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Massively interviews Kate Paiz of Dungeons and Dragons Online
Dungeons and Dragons Online continues to plough on as a successful (to its players, at least) little MMO based on the official, original pen-and-paper board game. Just off the release of Module 6 and the recent second anniversary of the game, Massively got to interview their senior producer Kate Paiz. She talked to us about the upcoming Module 7 (including a little tip that lower level players will enjoy), the main goals of her dev team as Wizards of the Coast heads toward the release of the pen-and-paper game's fourth edition, and, oh yeah, that Penny Arcade comic that Ms. Paiz featured prominently in.The interview starts right after the break, so grab your masterwork Vorpal blade, your +4 Shield of Blocking, and wade on in by clicking below.
Come back to DDO for the price of free
If you've every had a Dungeons & Dragons Online account, then you'll be interested in this piece of news. Starting this Wednesday on March 5th and continuing through until Tuesday March 11th, previous players will have free access to all the new content added (including all the modules) into DDO over the past two years. We mention two years because of its significance -- this special offer marks the second anniversary of the tabletop inspired massively game and it looks like Turbine plans on celebrating the event in style.
Happy Birthday to Dungeons and Dragons Online
Yesterday marked the second anniversary of Turbine's Dungeons and Dragons Online! Given the amazing new content they've been rolling out recently, there's certainly a lot to celebrate. A recent newsletter highlighted some of the game's newest projects, including a referral program to get friends and family involved and the very well-received Module 6 content. As a present to the players, the community team has dropped a few select tracks from the official DDO soundtrack onto the players site. (My favorite is the 'Tavern Rock volume 1' track.) I definitely hope they release more of these selections in the future; I love MMO music.They're also offering up a new payment offering to honor the game's anniversary. For a limited time you can up a subscription, or have your subscription switched over, to paying only $9.99 a month. There's always a catch though, right? You have to sign up to pay for six months of service upfront, at a total cost of $59.94. That saves you about $18 that you would have spent on the service otherwise. Kind-of-weak payment offering aside, I heartily respect the work the Turbine folks are doing on that game. Say what you will about its place in the Massive genre, the game has its charms.
DDO receives +6 Patch of Awesome: Module 6 is live
Dungeons & Dragons Online's Module 6 has quietly gone live! The impressively large update comes with about ten pages worth of patch notes.There are UI improvements, new quests, a ton of new mid-level spells, the ability to bind valuables to your person for a price (thank God), item-making altars, new character creation options and feats for various classes ( including a lot of love for Rangers especially), about a million balance changes and general gameplay enhancements, new encounters, and more.Our own Mike Schramm got his hands some of the new content in Module 6 a few days back and was impressed. In spite of what Penny Arcade's Tycho said about World of Warcraft being the 800 (or 10 million) pound gorilla, the DDO team has produced a quality update that should please the game's player-base.[Thanks, Schad!]
Looking ahead during Turbine downtime
All Turbine game servers are down today for their once-ever-other-Monday scheduled maintenance. Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online and Asheron's Call players, we hear your pain. What to do until the servers come back up at 2pm EST today? Instead of trolling the official forums, we'd like you to look ahead at what awaits you. For LotRO, Book 12 is now on the test server with its revamps to the Guardian, Burglar and Champion classes as well as the Barbershop and the cosmetic Outfit system and polish pass on the high level solo zone, Angmar. Also, last week's dev chat dropped quite a few hints on post 12 plans.DDO is not to be outdone with its upcoming Module 6 content patch. Our own Mike Schramm got a hands-on tour from the devs. Not only did he get a grand tour of what is to come this week when the Module goes live, but hints of what Turbine is planning throughout the year for this title.And finally, Asheron's Call is looking forward to...um, 9 more years? We'll look into it and get back to you on this one.
Massively goes Hands-on with DDO and the Shroud
It's pretty fair to say that Turbine's Dungeons and Dragons Online has never been one of the biggest players in the MMO space-- it was released with relatively little fanfare, and though the setting (Wizards of the Coast's Eberron setting from the pen-and-paper D&D game) appealed to a lot of roleplayers, Turbine's choice to make the game a real-time combat experience turned off many of the hardcore D&D crowd.But since release, DDO has definitely forged a small but strong fanbase. In the game's just under two short years of existence, they've already released fourteen major updates. The latest, Module 6, is due out next week, and Turbine offered us a chance to take a spin in the new content, and join Senior Producer Kate Paiz, Lead Designer Stephen Murray, and Quest Designer Joe Barry in a run through the brand new raid instance, The Shroud. Read on to learn where they took me and what it was like to take down a big red demon in the newest raid.%Gallery-14446%
DDO team announces more updates for Module 6
Developers at Turbine added a few small notes to the Dungeons & Dragons Online Module 6 updates list today. There's not a lot that's changed from the previous list, but there are a few good bugfixes and improvements to the UI worth nothing. Greater two weapon fighting will now enable a new left hand attack hook, self targeting spells will no longer ever be "blocked," and there's also a new Conjuration (Healing) spell in the game called "Seek Eternal Rest." Available to Clerics at 2 and Paladins at 1, it grants a +4 Sacred bonus to turning undead. Back off, zombies!Are you all excited about this update? I have no idea what kind of audience DDO still has-- I tried it once and liked how closely it stuck to D&D proper, but didn't find it interesting enough to stick around for long. I liked the fact that they tried active combat, but it just didn't vibe too well with me for the short time I tried it. Do we have a dedicated DDO audience in the house, or has everyone moved on?
DDO Module 6 includes raised level cap and more
Module 6 for Dungeons & Dragons Online is currently in testing, and the developers have posted a list of changes they're working on. The most notable of these is a raise of the level cap to 16, but there are many other interesting updates as well, such as whole slew of new spells. Want to charm whole masses of enemies, or trap their souls in a gem? Well, soon you'll be able to!Though it's not exactly Turbine's flagship product anymore, DDO provides a unique online gaming experience to a passionate niche that includes fans of the table-top RPG. If you're part of that niche, get ready to move on up to the next level and take on new quests sometime soon-ish.[Via Razorwire]
