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Eberron and beyond: Seven years of Dungeons and Dragons Online
Dungeons and Dragons Online has always been a strange creature in the realm of MMOs. Ever since its launch, it decided to veer off in its own direction instead of following the rest of the pack. It brought back complicated character creation, somehow worked the arcane rules of D&D into an MMO format, and put a huge emphasis on group instanced content instead of world exploration. Then when Turbine turned DDO into an experimental platform for a successful free-to-play model, suddenly the rest of the industry was following DDO instead. Virtually overnight, a small-teetering-on-extinction MMO became a modest hit well into its lifespan. As DDO celebrates its seventh anniversary and looks back on the past year, let's look at how this odd duck of a game continues to surprise and delight gamers. Join us as we consider the journey that bridged the gap from last February to this one -- and see if, just maybe, DDO is calling you to roll its dice once more.
DDO celebrates a birthday, shares Update 17 notes, and introduces new Augments
Happy seventh birthday to Dungeons and Dragons Online! Like every good game, DDO is celebrating its anniversary-birthday-thing by giving out presents. Update 17 is live, a gift in its own right, and characters that were created before the patch will find that they've got a giftbox in their inventory. But wait, there's more! Update 17 is a substantial patch. A whole slew of updates have been made to different bits of the game. On the DDO Store (and free to VIPs) is a new Monster Manual edition that features new deeds and objectives and two new Creature Companions. In what is arguably the most significant update, Restless Bats -- which don't exist and never have existed ever -- have been removed from the manual. Augments, a new way to customize your equipment, have been added to the game. Items with augment slots can be, well, Augmented. Slotted Augments give their host item an additional effect for as long as they're slotted. People will be able to find named items with augment slots, pick augmentable items up from the DDO Store, or trust their luck to find one of the 5% of randomly generated items to have an augment slot. This system replaces the old Epic and Guild Augments. You can read up about Augments here.
Take a gander at DDO's Update 17 screens
Players will be experiencing the new and improved Gianthold when Dungeons and Dragons Online releases Update 17 this month. Turbine's launched a new page dedicated to the update, and that page contains many, many pretty pictures that convey story and wonder in a digitized format. Check out 10 of these new screenshots in the gallery below, and while you're at it, why not read up on our recent tour of Update 17? %Gallery-178070%
A tour of DDO Update 17: Return to Gianthold
Just because Dungeons and Dragons Online has spent the better part of a year fawning all over the Forgotten Realms doesn't mean that Turbine is finished with Eberron. As a matter of fact, the team called us in to check out next month's Update 17, which is all about Eberron and some classic content made fresh and new once more. Update 17: Return to Gianthold revisits the popular Gianthold content that came out with DDO's second level-cap increase. The devs said that players love to run it for its variety of quests, loot, and experience, which is why they wanted to tweak up the existing content as well as add a brand-new raid for epic-level characters. Read on as we take a look at Gianthold 2.0 and other exciting additions coming to DDO in February!
Taking the high road with DDO's Update 16
You know how the saying goes: Neither wind nor rain nor hurricane will keep Turbine from its appointed rounds. While the studio lost power due to this past week's Hurricane Sandy, all of its games kept on ticking. Dungeons and Dragons Online Senior Producer Eric Boyer said the studio is generally hurricane-proof. "The servers are in a secret location powered by magic and are not affected by anything," he laughed. "Well, most anything." We spoke with Boyer on the phone about DDO's second post-expansion update, which is loosely scheduled to hit the game in a couple of weeks. Update 16: The Netherese Legacy will continue the Forgotten Realms storyline that began with Menace of the Underdark and Update 15. It's an update that takes us down a famous path, introduces a new enemy faction, and gives additional love to the fledgling Druid class.%Gallery-170124%
DDO Update 16 will have 'generous helping of adventures'
Dungeons and Dragons Online's Update 16 is preparing to deliver a "generous helping of Forgotten Realms adventures" this November, according to Producer Fernando Paiz. In a new letter to the community, Paiz looks ahead to the game's next major update, which he says will expand high-level content in the new world setting. "There will be new monsters to fight, a new story to explore, and castles to plunder (because every good D&D campaign needs castles)!," Paiz writes. He says that Update 16 will also contain an additional Epic Destiny called Primal Avatar. Turbine is also focusing on whittling down its known issues list with several bug updates and fixes. Paiz says that Update 17 should arrive by the end of the year as well, but it will be a smaller patch with updates to seasonal festivities. He also hints at the studio's plans for DDO in 2013, including updates to both campaign settings and a return to Gianthold.
