The Blue Dragon
Type: Dragon
Environment: Usually desert or arid wastes
Attack: Bite, claws, tail slap, breath weapon
Special Qualities: Spells and spell-like abilities
Organization: Solitary or pair

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I have been in the company of dragon slayers. And while I might regale you with heroic tales of a grand victory over a malicious black wyrm, I honestly believe that a more sobering story will be more instructive. My first encounter with a dragon is something I will never forget.

My companions and I were exploring an old fortress that was being slowly swallowed by the desert. At one point, some of us began to feel unsettled. As we walked on down a dusty stone corridor, the hair on my head began spreading out in all directions and would not lie down. The muscles on the back of my right arm began twitching every couple of seconds and would not cease. Static electricity permeated the air around us, and a deep snort from deeper in the fortress brought these disconcerting feelings home. We rounded a bend and, gazing through a doorway at the end of the passage, I caught sight of brilliant blue scales. A massive head then dipped down and a pair of baleful gleaming eyes pierced through me. A fear gripped me so tightly that I was barely able to turn away. I pressed my forehead against the wall of the passage and slumped heavily into the stone. The dragon disappeared from view, and the hand of my paladin friend on my shoulder revived me a great deal, but when my head was clear, I knew the only thing to do was to turn back. Luckily, the dragon was only toying with us, knowing we would spread word of him and more potential victims and riches would be drawn to his new lair. As we turned and left, I swore I heard a deep rumbling laugh.

The blue dragon is certainly among the most intelligent and dangerous of the dragons. In combat, a blue dragon uses its breath weapon, a powerful line of lightning, with lethal precision and has fearsome bite and claw attacks. Along with the universal dragon qualities, like immunity to sleep and paralysis, blues have immunity to electricity. Like all dragons, blues gain spell resistance and their draconic frightful presence once they become young adults. They generally prefer to dwell in arid desert areas and often use hallucination inducing spell-like abilities to confound trespassers in their jealously guarded territory.

While my brush with that mighty blue dragon had an incredible impact on me, all dragons are impressive in their way. They can possess great power, high intelligence, and even beauty, but often along with these, deep in the hearts of many are extreme malevolence and greed. From nobility and honor to wickedness and brutality, dragons embody everything that we humanoids know is in ourselves, except in them, all these things seem somehow more impressive. I’m sure this is why so many dragons think themselves superior to all other beings.

This inherent diversity among dragonkind certainly adds to their mystique and adds to the challenge of fighting them. Aside from knowing the nature of the various breath weapons and immunities, planning for a battle with a dragon is extremely difficult. And the older a dragon gets, the less prepared you can hope to be when you finally meet her. You must do your best to prepare for anything.

Risia Preview Server - Online Full-time
[23-Mar-2007]

Are you the type of person who enjoys adventuring in the unknown? Do you like trying out new things? When something is broken are you excited by the thought of fixing it? Are you always the first person to try out a new technology? If you answered yes to any of these questions, Risia might be the server for you!

New updates to DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE ™: Stormreach™ (DDO) will be made available to players on the Risia Preview Server prior to their release to all other DDO worlds.

After several months of periodically opening the Risia Preview Server to showcase new updates, we've decided to bring Risia online for an extended run! Risia will now be a persistent world where you can try new pre-release content and features. Your participation in the Risia Preview program is optional and purely voluntary. In order to play in Risia, you must have an active DDO account and abide by the terms and conditions of the applicable license agreement, terms of service and code of conduct.

To help populate Risia any characters that were created on the live DDO worlds before December 24th, 2006 have been copied over to Risia. Playing on Risia requires the installation of a separate DDO client software. If you have played on Risia before, and still have the launcher installed, you will be able to simply patch up your Risia client with the latest version.

Click here for the Knowledge Base article with download instructions and other very important information.

Please join us on Wednesday, March 28, 2007, for a House of Commons with the developers of Planetside at 5:00 PM Pacific / 8:00 PM Eastern in the #StraticsHoC channel on Stratics IRC.

You can connect to one of our IRC servers through the use of your favorite IRC client or you can visit our new Downloads section to choose a suitable client. Connect to irc.stratics.com port 6668 or whichever server is closest to you:

• stratics.frws.com port 6668, USA - Colorado
• irc.glowfish.de port 6668, EU - Germany
• stratics.afraidyet.net 6668, USA - Atlanta

You may also connect through our handy Java link which may be found right here. You must have Java installed to use this which can be downloaded from the Java homepage.

We will be discussing general topics with the developers, and general chat will be in our IRC channel #planetside before, during, and after the House of Commons.

We hope to see you there!

Beyond the Gates of Stormreach
[27-Mar-2007]

“The following journal came to me from a colleague and was discovered outside the gates of Stormreach. Apparently the journal belonged to a fool hearty Dwarf. The Dwarf’s language was not quite up to our scholarly standards so we cleaned it up prior to publication”

Sir Phiras D’Sivas – Inquistor for Hire.
An Excerpt From The Stormreach Chronicles

Sul, Eyre 2nd

I grew complacent,

The guards are not to my liking. I had heard of adventures elsewhere in the confines of this stodgy city, and being a short term resident of Stormeach, I have come to learn that no greater gossip is left unspoken – or unsung by the lips of a bard. Luckily, and to my utter dismay, there was an obnoxious singing bard across the way.

I carefully listened to his words and to my surprise - Or perhaps it was the ale I had been drinking all day, I found his tone soothing.

Being ever bold I assumed there must have been some truth to his words. Just what I need a new place to explore and adventure! I stepped from the table intent on finding out all I could from the chorus and refrains.

“Hey there Bard, tell me more about these Cerulean Hills?”

The bard looked up from his table of adventurers and calmly spoke “Well, aren’t you a demanding Dwarf! Do I look like I give information away for free?” He laughed with a cautious eye. “My name is Serft. May I sing you a song, or perhaps have you buy me a drink?” He winked as he spoke. “Perhaps that may loosen my tongue, if you get my drift,” He melodically voiced as he pointed towards the empty wine glass sitting on the table.

“I’ll tell you what. Tell me what you know about outside the gates of this town and I’ll see about filling that glass to the top with whatever suits you.”

“Quite an offer… I graciously accept!” He then motioned for me to sit down.

His glass now full, Serft begin to sing

“Oh let me tell you of places to fill your wandering wondering a place called Cerulean Hills ..”

Before he could start his second verse I cut him short. “I paid for a story, not a song, so kill the singing and start to talking, lest I drink your drink!”

“Oh, but the music adds so much more to the presentation!” He defiantly stated while placing his lute on the ground beside the chair. He then proceeded to tell his story.

“There is another way out of Stormreach besides the Harbor. The gate is not as closely guarded, but only fools choose to enter the Cerulean Hills. Where beasts may roam as they see fit. And danger lurks where you least expect. They call this place the hills of death…”

Serft started to jump into song. I cleared my throat and he pouted all while returning to his narration.

I listened intently for a few hours, about the dangers of the ruins outside. I knew just how dangerous areas of X’endrik could be. I being well educated, knew you that you never could tell what manner of creature, or being would attempt to take your life next. The bard talked for what seemed like hours about strange corpses of hobgoblinish creatures. Of green hills that stretched for miles and miles. He spoke of lush land leading into the threshold of a jungle, of runes toppled by armies of the past. He trailed off into stories of adventurers heading out into the wilds past tranquil rivers cascading through emerald valleys. I listened intently and planned to leave the next morning.

Sul, Eyre 3rd

I gathered my goods and got directions from young Captain Niles. Upon exiting the gates I was greeted by ruins of generations come and gone. Off in the distance birds hovered in the skies, flanked by rolling hills and cliff-sides. I soon noticed I was not alone as I ventured not but a few hundred feet outside and a pack of wild wolves begin to follow. I quickly struck them down with ease and headed deeper into this vast region. I crossed stone bridges etched into the landscape covering a calm serene river.

Soon I came upon another ‘oft traveled path, or so it appeared. A wagon covered in the foul scent of hobgoblins lay burned and broken near my feet. To my surprise an arrow whizzed past my head, another, and yet another. I was under attack! Was it the same hobgoblins that had killed these unfortunate travelers? In the distance I saw my foe, as he notched another arrow, pulling the bow back taught to his rough pig like face. I knew right away this was like no hobgoblin I had ever seen before. Sharp beady eyes took aim and I ducked behind the wagon as another shot pierced the leftover canvas just hanging from the destroyed wagon. I waited for another arrow to fly by and then leapt out with a terrifying cry charging towards this animalistic beast. It never had a chance to release the arrow as my axe cleaved it in two. .

My victory was short lived, as I had only a few moments to take in this creature as I heard the distant pounding of more footsteps. Perhaps there would be more of these things, coming soon. I knew I had to leave.

I ran east and came upon the ruins of a once lively temple. I took a moment and a few deep breaths to climb the inclines leading up to the temple. I was thankful they were not stairs as moving up stairs with short legs is not as easy as it looks.

Upon reaching the top, a pack of wolves caught me deep in my thoughts and struck out with gnashing teeth. Wolves were the least of my worries. I blocked fiercely with my shield only to be swiped violently by the deadly palm of a lion. Great claws sliced through my armor tossing me back as I rolled painfully down the incline. I felt pain pulse through my arm as I regained my stance and quickly swung at the approaching wolves. By this time my upper arm was drenched in blood. I ran from the other attacking beats, my heart racing to the sound of my feet. When finally I felt safe I knelt by a rushing stream removed my armor and washed my wound as the cool bluish water cascaded into rivulets of mixed colors.

Hours passed or so I thought as the moons above began to shine down on me. My wound did not close and I felt weak as night approached.

In the far off distance I saw the brilliant glow of the gates of Stormreach… They seemed further away now much further than I anticipated…. I took out my quill and propped myself up against a rock… No more adventures today…A little drink and rest I’ll be just fine…….I took out my flask of ale and drank…..night was here…I heard the baying of wolves in the distance…The grunt of something in the darkness made my mind race….the moons of Eberron highlighted moving shadows in the stream near my head…. Shivers went down my spine… my arm ached….I started to hum the bard’s tune in my head….laughing as I reached the final refrain….

A Pact Between Two Souls
[21-Mar-2007]

40,000 years ago, Gianthold was the capital of the Lost Empire of the giants on Xen'drik. Protected by the fortress of Gianthold Tor, the giants of Gianthold learned mighty magics, trained fearsome soldiers, and created great works of art. But Gianthold was destroyed by the dragons of Argonnessen. Only the dragons themselves remember this event well, and their historians believe that the giants brought about their own downfall by misusing the magical secrets entrusted to them by the dragons. This is true -- but it is only part of the story…

The Stormreaver was a hero of the disastrous war against Dal Quor, and when faced with imminent defeat, he turned to his most powerful ally – an old dragon whose true name is lost, but whose wisdom had earned him the epithet, "the Truthful One." The Stormreaver forged a pact with the Truthful One, who was approaching the Twilight and his death: They would sacrifice their lives to power a great spell, the Reaver's Bane, which would turn all of Xen'drik itself against the Quori.

In his heart, the Truthful One regretted this decision. He considered the giants an inferior species, not worthy even of sacrificing the last few years of his life. His resentment pushed him into a fateful decision. When it came time to cast the spell, instead of truly dying to cast the Reaver's Bane, he sacrificed only his body. The Truthful One then claimed another dragon's corpse for his spirit. The Stormreaver died, but the Truthful One became a dracolich.

The Truthful One’s spirit became dark with corruption, and this darkness infected the magic of the Reaver's Bane. Although it successfully destroyed the Quori, it also poisoned the magical currents of Xen'drik. For the next thousand years, curses and disasters swept across Xen'drik. The dragons blamed the giants for failing to cast the Reaver's Bane correctly. The giants blamed the dragons for helping to cast the spell, but refusing to help repair the damage.

Relations between the dragons and giants continued to worsen. The drow elves rebelled against their giant masters, and the giants were slowly pushed out of their strongholds across Xen'drik, finally retreating to Gianthold. It seems the only thing that was agreed upon was that the Stormreaver would return to hold the Truthful One to his promise.

Many years later, a long-forgotten giant sorcerer -- corrupted by the Truthful One -- attempted to cast the Reaver's Bane again in an attempt to wipe out the Drow. The dragons could not allow this to happen. They cast a terrible curse upon Gianthold, wiping out the last refuge of the giants and satisfying the Truthful One's insane hatred of all giant-kind. The Truthful One now dreams of founding an undead draconic nation in Xen'drik -- and he plans to use the dragons of Argonnessen to clear his path to power.

Today, the Ruins of Gianthold are a magically-poisoned wasteland. Only traces of the city's original architecture survive, although Gianthold Tor still looms above the shattered landscape. Monster camps litter the area, and the most powerful tribes have carved out living spaces in underground ruins.

Gianthold itself has recently been occupied by hordes of monsters who worship The Stormreaver hero, hoping to exploit his future victories when he finally returns.

We are now accepting questions to send over to the WoW Developers for the month of March.

You can submit your questions here and remember just one question per person. We will take the top ten questions and send them over to Blizzard.

 

Our February questions should be arriving soon, so keep an eye out for them!
 

Events are a part of why most players have fun in MMORPG's. Who doesn't love logging in and finding Vader standing in Coronet, running around finding parts to make a snowman, or getting masks as a trick or treat? They are a fundamental part of that one item that always keeps us coming back to MMO's: community.

We collect the players’ demands and suggestions through various ways and scheme different events. We are relentless to improve the event by the players’ feedback and keep down good events. In this process, the events are updated continuously and avoid being repeated.

Myth War Online is one of the major new games on the market, and their events are in a class of their own.

Read more in our Exclusive Interview!

NCSoft has provided Stratics with this exclusive screenshot of thenew large expansion to Lineage II called Interlude,which marks the transition from the Chaotic Chronicles (Prelude and 5expansions) to the Chaotic Throne. Below is a description of thescreenshot.

Primeval Isle

This Gladiator is surveying the newly discovered PrimevalIsle. The island is teeming with primeval creatures, and she's goingto need her clanmates if she wants to continue exploring the island!The Gladiator is wielding the new A Grade dual swords, Damascus *Tallum Blade, and wearing the new Demon Circlet accessory.

Click on image for larger version

State of the Game Address
[08-Mar-2007]

Hello!

My name is Kate Paiz,Nereid on the Forums, and I am the Producer on DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE™:Stormreach™ (DDO). I have worked in the MMO space as a Producer since thesummer of 2002, and have been working on DDO since it was in early beta. Now that  our one-year anniversary has come and gone, I wanted to introduce myself and reflect backon the amazing year we've had.

This was a huge year for us - we are incredibly proud ofDDO. One of our goals was to make an MMO that stands out from the rest, and wereally feel like we accomplished that. Our fast action combat allows you totumble through traps and spin and slice your way through monsters in yoursearch for loot and experience. The flickering torches, levers and runes, andthe rumbling voice of the Dungeon Master escort you through treacherousadventures, and bring to life the heart of the Dungeons & Dragons®experience. We are very pleased with what we accomplished in 2006 toexpand and enhance DDO. To see a timeline of our first year visit the end of thisletter.

DDO is a unique experience with some of the best combat andaction packed dungeons of any MMO to date. In 2007, we are going to continue to set ourselves apart by continuingto deliver game updates on regular cycle. Here is a partial list of thevery cool features that we are hoping to release over the next year. Please keep in mind that while these are ourgoals, development often uncovers unexpected complexities, and there are boundto be changes as we go. We will alsochange our priorities based on the feedback that our fans provide, as we havedone this past year.

Major Additions

• Level Cap Increases – We are raising the level cap to Level 14 in April, and are planning on raising it again in the fall.
• Monk Class – We have heard your clamor, and are hoping (fingers crossed) to have the Monks out for the fall.
• Half-Orc & Half-Elf Race – Were you hoping for a little more diversity in playable races, and perhaps a tusk or two? Keep an eye out towards the end of the year.
• Crafting – Are you wondering what to do with all your gold and merchant fodder items? Don’t worry, crafting is coming! Crafting will focus around letting players make useful items out of loot and other resources and we’re targeting late Fall of this year for its release.
• Guild Housing – Another often requested feature, Guild Housing is something we are working on for late this year or early next year. Housing will provide Guilds with a home base in the city, where they can display their accolades and possibly purchase conveniences for Guild members like a Tavern keep or a Guild Bank Manager.

Improvements onExisting Features

• Advancement Improvements – We will be releasing a new enhancement system in which you will be able to exchange action points for enhancements without ever having to give up any. You can choose to specialize in a few, powerful enhancements, or have lots of diversity with these changes.
• Collectibles Improvements – We really like the Collectables mechanic, but feel like it needs some work, especially around the rewards, so expect some revision this year.
• Landscape Quest System – We are revisiting the way our landscapes work, and are very excited about applying a new quest technology to our existing landscapes. There are 3 new types of landscape quests: Slayer, Explorer, and Rare Encounter, and we'll be telling you more about this soon.
• Titles – You’ll be able to unlock titles by doing the things you always do, to help differentiate you from all the others of your class –more details on this will be coming later in the summer.

New Content

• Gianthold Adventure Area – This Spring, you’ll explore the strange and hostile Gianthold area, and learn the secrets of the Stormreaver…
• New Dragons – Putting the “S” in Dungeons & DragonS Online – You’ll have to combat the new Named Juvenile Black, Blue and White Dragon in the Gianthold Adventure Area to unlock the Stormreaver.
• Litany of the Dead, Part III – At last, you can wage war against the final Vampire and the Black Abbot Lich himself!

Social / UI Improvements

• Guild & Friends Improvements – We have a lot of ideas for how to improve these features, and will take some time to focus on them and get you better social tools to make and keep friends.
• Item Accessibility – Tired of trying to unpuzzle which item bonuses stack with which? Unless you are a D&D® rules god, this revision should take some of the mystery out of our items, so you know which are great for you and which are merchant fodder.
• Expect a lot of tweaks, changes, and all out improvements over the year.

I will be updating you periodically over the course of theyear as our plans firm up and let you know which features and content can beexpected in which releases. It’s been a pleasure creating the game up tothis point, and we’re looking forward to having another great year in 2007. DDO is one of the most exciting combat and dungeon MMOs there is and Ihope you continue to enjoy DDO as much as we do. Thanks for taking the time toread this, and I’ll see you in game!

 

-Kate

 

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Timeline of the last year in DDO:

• February 28, 2006 – LAUNCH!
• In April, we introduced the Vault of Night storyline and the Red Dragon Raid boss, along with a handful of other dungeons and 2 new monster species (Red Dragon & Vampire).
• In May, we began to respond to the community’s concern that we did not have enough Solo content, and so started our year-long focus on the solo experience by releasing three level 1 solo dungeons.
• In June, we greatly expanded on the solo-able experience by creating a new difficulty level of “Solo” and applied it to the Harbor dungeons.
• July saw the release of our second Module, which introduced the Restless Isles, Twilight Forge story arc, the Favor System, and a new playable race, the Drow. July also introduced 3 new monsters species (Mindflayer, Ogre Mage, and Wild Man), and the feared Warforged Titan Raid boss.
• The Litany of the Dead, Part 1 was released in August, and started the Necropolis story arc while introducing another 2 new monster species (Mummy, Lich).
• In September, we stayed true to our monthly releases of content with 5 new adventures throughout Stormreach and 1 new monster species (Mummy Soldier).
• On October 25^th, we released one of the largest free MMO updates in the industry. The Demon Sands Module included a huge Desert landscape area and a new city area called Zawabi’s Refuge, as well as a long list of new features and improvements. Some highlights include: the Marilith raid, level cap increased to level 12, 33 new spells, 6 new feats, 4 new monster species (Efreet, Djinni, Rakshasa, and Gnoll), the Auction House system, 2 types of Player versus Player combat (light-weight, free-for-all Tavern Brawls, and team-based Arena Battles), major combat system adjustments, and more solo dungeons.
• In November, we responded directly to community feedback and made changes to the Death Penalty system, to reduce the death penalty, especially at Levels 11 and 12, and to return more XP lost from death when using a resurrection shrine. We also adjusted the fees charged by the Auctions Systems, especially around using the Buyout feature.
• In December, we continued our monthly game releases, and introduced 6 new adventures in and around Stormreach.
• In January, we released Litany of the Dead Part 2 which included 5 new adventures and XP Debt Decay feature, which allows XP Debt accrued from dying to disappear slowly while in town or logged off.

The future is a mystery, and most of us gamers can spend hours and hours just contemplating where the industry is going. Our own DeadAvatar has put together an interesting look into one of my personal favorite genres: The Real Time Strategy.

For years the genre has been sluggish. Developers of new games never moved the innovation barrier forward. Improvements included 3-D unit and terrain graphics, more varied units, and larger maps. And limited multi-player. The innovation barrier has remained motionless for years.

READ HERE his perceptive look into the RTS Crystal Ball.

Please join us on Monday, March 12, for a House of Commons with the developers of The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar at 5:00PM Pacific / 8PM Eastern in the #StraticsHoC channel on Stratics IRC.

You can connect to one of our IRC servers through the use of your favorite IRC client, such as mIRC, ircle, xchat, or whichever you prefer. Connect to irc.stratics.com port 6668 or whichever server is closest to you:

• stratics.frws.com port 6668, USA - Colorado
• irc.glowfish.de port 6668, EU - Germany
• stratics.afraidyet.net 6668, USA - Atlanta

  You may also connect through our handy Java link which may be found right here. You must have Java installed to use this which can be downloaded from the Java homepage.

  General chat relating to The Lord of the Rings Online will take place before, during, and after the chat in room #middle-earth. We hope to see you there!