New Spells for the Twilight Forge Module
29-Jun-2006

The Twilight Forge is filling up fast with features for arcane spell casters. First, we announced Spell Swapping for Sorcerers and Bards (click here and here to learn more about spell swapping). Next, we reworked the Sorcerer's "Energy" line of spells (click here to read about the changes). Now, we're adding even more: New Spells for Wizards and Sorcerers, and even one for Bards!

New Spells for Players

Niac's Cold Ray
Shoots a ray of ice at your foes; does 1d10 per caster level, max 5d10 (Reflex save negates) cold damage to a single target. Niac's Cold Ray is a level 1 spell for wizards and sorcerers.

Knock
This spell unlocks locked doors and chests as if a rogue with a pick locks skill of caster level + ability modifier (where the ability is int for wizards and cha for sorcerers) was attempting to pick the lock. Knock is a level 2 spell for wizards and sorcerers.

Dimension Door
This spell, castable only in dungeons and adventure areas, creates a door of magical energy. Any member of your party may click on the door to return them to the inside entrance of the area (you will be returned to the inside entrance so you won't take an XP hit for exiting the adventure). There is no waiting time, unlike recalling, and the teleport cannot be interrupted by monsters hitting you. Dimension Door is a level 4 spell for wizards, sorcerers, and bards.

Wall of Fire
Creates a wall of flames in front of you. Watch and laugh as monsters run into it and burn; don't forget to bring the BBQ sauce. Wall of Fire is a level 4 spell for wizards and sorcerers.

Teleport
This spell is usable only in town and is designed to lower your time spent traveling. It lets you pick from several destinations useful to wizards and sorcerers (the marketplace, your class trainers, etc). Please be advised that as per D&D 3.5 rules, this spell has a 3% failure rate. Teleport is a level 5 spell for wizards and sorcerers.

New Spells for Monsters

Monsters also have several new spells (some of which will be available to players once the level cap is increased), but we will let you discover those on your own...

Drow Race Revealed!
30-Jun-2006

Kirris Tor'kha of the Venomblade slipped quietly through the jungle foliage of the postern gate wilds, crouching down behind a rock to observe her surroundings. The decadent city of Stormreach lay just ahead, built by the foreigners upon the bones of the old giant city. This is the city that would become her new home.

She was sent to be an emissary of sorts – the outsiders were vast in numbers and were growing more powerful each day from the riches they plundered from the ruins of Xen'drik, causing the Elders concern. These newcomers were a force that could no longer be ignored, and they hoped that with careful assistance, they could be guided to greater ends than simple tomb raiding.

Whispering a brief prayer to Vulkoor the Hunter, Kirris bade farewell to the comforts of the jungle and sprinted across the final clearing to reach the harbor gate. Halting before the surprised guard, her first challenge of the many to come began – parleying her way into the city itself...

Most Drow choose a life of adventure out of necessity, given the dangers of their homeland. Still, they greatly desire personal power, and many Drow take up the mantle of adventurer seeking to satisfy their ambitions. The majority of Drow follow the evil scorpion-god Vulkoor, though exposure to the cultures of Stormreach has brought a few of them to less malevolent deities.

The elves of Eberron were born on the mysterious southern continent of Xen'drik, where they were slaves of the giant kingdoms. Tens of thousands of years ago, Elf slaves rebelled against their masters. Unlike other Elf races who fled the continent, the Drow stayed behind on Xen'drik. Today most of the Drow live within the ancient giant ruins, hoping to take vengeance on their former masters and to learn the secrets of the giants' long-lost might. The Drow believe that they alone preserve the dignity and valor of the Elf race, dismissing the rebels who fled to Aerenal and their Valenar heirs.

Only recently, a few Drow have allied themselves with foreign-born heroes who have come to Stormreach. Members of the Venomblade tribe led by Elder Durandimon, these skilled warriors, cunning trackers, and wielders of arcane power have joined their might with their new friends to turn back to the tide of evil that threatens both human-dominated cities and the wilds of Xen'drik that the Drow claim as their own.

In order to gain the approval of the drow tribes and access one of their great heroes for your side, you must first prove yourself a hero of renown. To do this, succeed in many of the quests and adventurers located about Stormreach. In each of those, you’ll gain favor that’s noted in your own adventure compendium. You get more favor the more difficult the quest, especially if you dare to accept challenges that are hard or elite. Once you’ve reached a certain amount of favor, the drow will send you a message through Stormreach’s new mail system about the availability of their bravest and strongest.

• +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma, -2 Constitution: Also known as dark Elves, Drow are nimble, clever, and magnetic, but physically delicate.
• Magical Defense: Drow are immune to magic sleep effects, and they gain a +2 saving throw bonus against Enchantment spells and an additional +2 Will save bonus against spells and spell-like effects. Finally, Drow characters begin play with Spell Resistance 11, and this resistance can be increased as the Drow gains levels.
• +2 bonus on Listen, Search and Spot checks: A Drow's senses are extremely sensitive.
• Bonus Weapon Proficiency Feats: Drow are proficient with the rapier, shortsword, and shuriken.

Release Notes, June 26, 2006

• Monsters will be less likely to end up stuck in inactive states.
• Kobold Shamans will now cast spells again on "Hard" and "Elite" mode.
• We have fixed an issue that was causing some users to crash while teleporting.
• Traveling back and forth between the harbor and the market could sometimes reset your bind point to just inside the market. We have fixed this so that your bind point will stay at the brother where you last bound until you intentionally bind somewhere else.
• We have changed the descriptions for item Damage Amplification effects to more accurately reflect what they do.

In Dev: New Enhancements for Module 2, Part 4 of 4
27-Jun-2006

New Enhancements

Module 2 will be introducing a number of new enhancements (purchased with action points) that will let players further customize and specialize your characters. Almost everyone will be getting some new enhancements to choose from; this is the fourth in a four part series of articles featuring in-depth descriptions of what these new enhancements are and how they work.

Fighter Enhancements

The wise fighter knows that the deadliest blow is not necessarily the one that does the most damage, but rather the one that hinders your opponent the most. The new Strategy line of enhancements makes it more difficult for foes to resist feats which have saving throws: Trip/Improved Trip, Sunder/Improved Sunder, Hamstring, Stunning Blow, and Slicing Blow. The enhancements run from Fighter’s Strategy I at second level, giving a +1 to the DC check, up to Fighter’s Strategy V at tenth level, giving a +5 bonus to the DC check.

After you’ve tripped or stunned your opponent, you need to concentrate on pure damage. This is where the Critical Accuracy line of enhancements comes in, giving you a bonus to confirm critical hits. These enhancements range from Critical Accuracy I at second level, granting you a +2, up to Critical Accuracy V at tenth level, granting you a +10.

The more defensive-minded fighters learn how to take advantage of their dexterity to dodge blows even while wearing the heaviest of armors or shields; Armor Mastery I grants a third level fighter +1 to the max dex bonus on his armor, and by level 9 the fighter can get Armor Mastery 3, increasing the max dex bonus by +3; Tower Shield Mastery is the same benefits, but restricted to tower shields.

• Fighter’s Strategy I; level 2, +1 to the DC of your combat feats
• Fighter’s Strategy II; level 4, +2 to the DC of your combat feats
• Fighter’s Strategy III; level 6, +3 to the DC of your combat feats
• Fighter’s Strategy IV; level 8, +4 to the DC of your combat feats
• Fighter’s Strategy V; level 10, +5 to the DC of your combat feats
• Fighter’s Critical Accuracy I; level 2; +2 to confirm critical hits
• Fighter’s Critical Accuracy II; level 4; +4 to confirm critical hits
• Fighter’s Critical Accuracy III; level 6; +6 to confirm critical hits
• Fighter’s Critical Accuracy IV; level 8; +8 to confirm critical hits
• Fighter’s Critical Accuracy V; level 10; +10 to confirm critical hits
• Fighter’s Armor Mastery I; level 3; +1 Max Dex Bonus from armor
• Fighter’s Armor Mastery II; level 6; +2 Max Dex Bonus from armor
• Fighter’s Armor Mastery III; level 9; +3 Max Dex Bonus from armor
• Fighter’s Tower Shield Mastery I; level 3; +1 Max Dex Bonus from shields
• Fighter’s Tower Shield Mastery II; level 6; +2 Max Dex Bonus from shields
• Fighter’s Tower Shield Mastery III; level 9; +3 Max Dex Bonus from shields

Dwarven Enhancements:

Dwarven lore is full of tales of the great Dwarven warriors of old, legends passed down through the generation to educate the newest generations of dwarves in the arts of fighting. The Dwarven Tactics line of enhancements functions like the Fighter’s Strategy line (and stacks with it, for Dwarven Fighters who take both), and the Dwarven Armor Mastery line of enhancements functions like the Fighter’s Armor Mastery line (and stacks with it, for Dwarven Fighters who take both).

• Dwarven Tactics I; level 1; +1 to the DC of your combat feats
• Dwarven Tactics II; level 4; +2 to the DC of your combat feats
• Dwarven Tactics III; level 8; +3 to the DC of your combat feats
• Dwarven Armor Mastery I; level 4; +1 Max Dex Bonus from armor
• Dwarven Armor Mastery II; level 8; +2 Max Dex Bonus from armor

Elven Enhancements

As the Dwarves have spent the ages studying the art of war, Elves have spent generations studying the flow of magic and the effects of the caster’s equipment on spellcasting. Elven and Drow arcane spellcasters can take the Arcane Fluidity enhancements, which lower the arcane spell failure chances from wearing armor.

• Elven Arcane Fluidity I; level 3; Arcane Spell Failure chance from light armor reduced by 5%
• Elven Arcane Fluidity II; level 6; Arcane Spell Failure chance from light and medium armor reduced by 5%
• Elven Arcane Fluidity III; level 9; Arcane Spell Failure chance from light and medium armor reduced by 10%

But wait! I’m already level 10!

In order to give players who are level 10 the opportunity to swap out their old enhancements in favor of the new enhancements we will be implementing a new experience system for level-capped players. Once a player achieves level 10 they will begin earning experience points towards an action point token. This token will give players the ability to visit a trainer and trade in one of their current enhancements for a new one. Every time a player gains 20,000 points worth of action point experience, they will gain a new token. It is important to note that the action point experience gives you the ability to trade in one of your four enhancements for a new one - it does not give you additional enhancements on top of the four, nor can you stockpile more than four action point tokens (just like regular action points).

What will happen when the level cap is raised?

The action point tokens will go away when you level up, just like normal action points. So, when the level cap goes up, spend your remaining action point token to rearrange your benefits, then simply gain 1XP and talk to a trainer to get to level 11.

Shadows of Stormreach: Chapter Three
23-Jun-2006

SHADOWS OF STORMREACH
By Keith Baker

Chapter Three

In Stormreach, a secret could be more valuable than gold, and more deadly than any sword.

Spike found Link in a dark corner of the Leaky Dinghy, talking with a dwarf merchant. Joy flowed through Spike as he charged the pair - the burning thrill that only came with battle. A swift, open-handed blow with his left hand sent the dwarf tumbling to the ground. His right hand locked around Link's throat. Spike pulled his victim out of his chair, lifting him into the air.

"Hello, Link," Spike said. "My little princess would like a word with you."

A human would have been gasping for breath and clawing at Spike's fingers. Link didn't need to breathe. He was warforged, just like Spike ... but where Spike was a soldier built for power and durability, Link was a scout, barely larger than Shadow. The scout knew his limitations, and he didn't struggle. Like a kitten in the teeth of its mother, he went limp in Spike's grip.

The warforged knew when to fight and when to surrender ... but others weren't so wise. The dwarf that had been doing business with Link rose to his feet, his hand dropping to the knife at his belt.

Spike slammed Link's head into the dwarf's face.

The warforged scout was formed from mithral, steel, and wood. Spike might just as well have hit his enemy with an iron ingot. The merchant collapsed, blood streaming from his nose and shattered lip. Spike knelt and picked up the knife the dwarf had dropped. Spike studied the dwarf blade, admiring its weight and design. Then he remembered the scout hanging in his grip. He tapped Link's forehead with the point of the dagger, producing a sharp ring. Spike's face was a metal mask, and he couldn't grin. Instead he tightened his grip around Link's throat, savoring the victory and anticipating the battles that lay ahead.

*                        *                        *

Spike set Link down in the chair across from Shadow. Her tutors might not have spent much time on history lessons, but they'd taught Shadow to spot incongruous details, and she noticed the blood smeared across the little scout's forehead. By now she was quite familiar with her bodyguard's love of violence, and Link himself seemed to be intact, so she chose to let it lie. As long as he does the job, let him have his fun.

"Link!" she said. "So good of you to drop by."

"What is this about, Shadow?"

"You tell me, doorstop. Bilge Rats. You said that I might want to find out what they were up to. When I went to do that, all I got for my trouble was a few crossbow bolts and an exciting opportunity to lose blood."

"Why did you speak to them?" The scout's voice was flat, like the grinding of a millstone, but Shadow recognized surprise.

"I see. So that wasn't part of your plan. Why don't you just tell me what you expected, Link?"

"The Bilge Rats are part of the Quickfoot Gang, and through the gang they have ties to your family. At least, that used to be true. From what I have heard, they've found a new master. I do not know who they are working for, but what I have heard concerns me. I expected you to study their activities and see that you had been betrayed and to use your own resources to destroy them."

"And why didn't you tell me this from the start?"

Link only paused for an instant, but it was long enough: Shadow could hear the wheels of thought turning. She tapped her temple with a finger, and Spike mimicked the gesture, only he used his steel fist against the side of Link's head. The clang of metal on metal rang throughout the room; if Spike hadn't been holding the scout by the throat, the force of the blow would have sent Link tumbling across the room. As it was, the blow left a dent in the side of Link's head. A few of the other patrons glanced over at their table, but the sight of the warforged soldier was enough to discourage any interference.

"Let me guess," Shadow said. "You have your own reasons for wanting to see these wharf rats destroyed, and you wanted to trick me into doing your dirty work."

Link nodded, the motion slightly off kilter.

"So why don't you tell me what this is really about?"

"I cannot."

Spike drew back for another blow, but Shadow raised a finger and he held his hand.

"Tear me apart if you must, Shadow. This is not my secret to tell, and believe me when I say you are better off without this knowledge. There is another whose interests coincide with those of your clan. But you will be helping your own if you put a stop to the actions of these rats. Do you really need anything more?"

"You tried to play me, Link," Shadow said. She rubbed her fingertips together, trying to decide if he deserved another blow. Her father would have had the scout torn into pieces for his audacity. But he lived in Sharn, and in Stormreach a favor was far more valuable than vengeance. "You're right. This is in both of our interests. But if you want me to do a job, tell me up front and offer me gold. My friends and I, we'll handle this situation for you. But when I get done, then we'll have a little talk about what you and your mysterious benefactor owe me. Do we understand each other?"

Link nodded.

"That's it?" Spike said, one hand still wrapped around Link's throat.

"That's it," Shadow said, sliding out of her chair. "You'll get your fill of battle tonight."

"Unlikely," Spike said, but he released the scout.

Link watched the halfling and her guardian as they left the tavern, one hand drifting up to rub his dented head. If he'd been human, he would have smiled.

*                        *                        *

Stormreach was a city of ruins. In the distant past, Xen'drik had been a land of giants, and crumbling walls and foundations hinted at the wonders of this lost age. Over the centuries the city had been home to pirates, merchants, soldiers, and explorers, and each had built their homes amidst the shattered remnants of the past.

There was no telling how old the gray warehouse might have been, but cracks and blackened craters in the granite walls suggested that it had seen battle and fire. Perhaps it had been a pirate's lair or the fortress of an early coin lord. Whatever its history, today it was home to the Bilge Rats.

Spike and Marcus were watching from the shadows of an alley. Spike had his greataxe in his hands, and his heartstones pulsed with light, reflecting his anticipation for the battle to come. For all that they were allies, Marcus felt a vague unease standing next to the warforged. Spike's face was an emotionless, inhuman mask, but Marcus knew the bloodlust that lurked within. He knew that this time they were fighting for a noble cause, not simply battling for gold or treasure. But Spike didn't fight for honor. He wasn't trying to battle evil. He just loved to fight. Sometimes Marcus thought that the warforged was only comfortable when he was covered in blood. In the debates at Thronehold, theologians had concluded that the warforged had souls. But there were cardinals of the Silver Flame who disputed that claim, and the more time he spent around Spike, the more Marcus began to think that they might be right.

"I've found our entrance."

Marcus hadn't seen Shadow approach, but that was hardly a surprise. The halfling deserved her nickname. It was Shadow who had brought Marcus to Stormreach. The hierophant had ordered him to protect this young woman, saying only that her fate was of great interest to both the hierophant and the church itself. Marcus had soon realized that Shadow's family was ... unsavory, to say the least. Sometimes he wondered if the hierophant herself wasn't playing some sort of political game. He'd heard the rumors about corruption in the church, and now and again he wondered if he was serving as a pawn in a greater game.

But Shadow ... Whatever her lineage, however she was raised, Marcus saw a potential within her. She was searching for adventure, for gold and opportunities, but Marcus could feel the embers of the Flame within her. She was not evil. And perhaps, in time - and with his guidance - she could become a true servant of the light.

Surely that was why the hierophant had sent Marcus to Sharn ... that, and to destroy foul creatures like these cursed rats.

"Marcus? Are you with us?" Shadow's voice called him back.

"Yes ... yes," he whispered. "My apologies. What have you learned?"

"The main entrance - the one I used before - is well guarded. But I've found another path inside. I know you think these people are monsters, but this doesn't need to be a massacre. We don't even know if all of these people are infected with this ... rat-curse of yours. I want information. We go in, we find out what's going on, then we see if fighting is necessary. Fair?"

"Perhaps I should charge the front gate," Spike suggested hopefully. "It could be a valuable distraction."

"I don't want a fight, Spike," said Shadow. "I need you with me."

The warforged's eyes dimmed, but he inclined his head. "Very well," he said.

"Is Petra here?" Shadow said, studying the alleyway.

"Of course," the sorceress said, her voice seeming to drift out of empty air.

Of his four companions, Petra was the one who concerned Marcus the most. Spike was bloodthirsty, but he was ultimately driven by his desire to protect Shadow, and the little halfling had proven that she could keep the warforged under control. Petra was a mystery. She'd found the trio shortly after they'd arrived in Stormreach. She'd known exactly where to find them, she'd known their names, and through her occasional cryptic statements she'd made it clear that she knew quite a lot about each of them. With her magical talent for invisibility, she could appear anywhere at any time. And Marcus still didn't know why Petra was working with them. The sorceress said that she needed gold, and her mystical powers and knowledge had proved invaluable to them in the past. But Marcus was certain that Petra had her own agenda ... secrets of her own, which might prove more sinister than any of them could imagine.

Even as he mulled over these concerns, Petra came into view, her charm of invisibility fading away as she cast another defensive spell. There was a flicker of spectral energy—ectoplasmic armor, a shield she always raised before going into battle. "Lead the way, Lady Shadow," Petra said.

"Silent, then, until I give the word," Shadow said. "Marcus, be ready."

He nodded.

Shadow led them deeper into the alley, away from the warehouse. They made their way through a labyrinth of twisting little passages, weaving between tenements and crumbling storehouses. Soon enough, Marcus could hear the sound of the tide and the harbor. A minute later, they arrived at a dead end that came to a stop at a gray stone wall. Marcus thought that Shadow had gotten lost... until he saw the corpse. A lean, pockmarked man was nestled in one corner of the alley. At a glance he appeared to be sleeping, but a second look revealed the pool of blood almost hidden beneath him... and the gap where an arrow had torn his throat out.

Shadow's work.

The man was dressed in the same black leathers as the four people who'd attacked them earlier in the night, and he still had a spiked densewood cudgel clutched in one hand. A guard, presumably. But guarding what?

Shadow held up one finger for silence. She walked over to the gray wall, calling Spike over with a sharp gesture. He took up his position behind her as she produced a few steel-and-crystal rods from a pouch. Holding a rod in each hand, she made a series of passes before the wall, and as she did, the outline of a door shimmered into view. There was no sign of a handle, and Shadow continued her motions. A faint click, and the door drifted open an inch.

Shadow allowed herself a smile as she tucked the rods back in her pouch. Turning back to the others she held up a hand in a familiar gesture— Slow. Caution. Marcus nodded. His morning star was a comforting weight in his hand, his shield held before him.

Shadow touched the door with a single finger, slowly pulling it open.

Spike charged.

Marcus never saw what it was that drew Spike's attack. The door opened, the warforged leaped forward—

And a gout of flame boiled out through the doorway, washing over him in a wave of terrible heat.

(To be continued next week...)

Weekly Development Activities: June 26, 2006
26-Jun-2006

Check out the latest updates to the "Weekly Development Activities." The goal for this feature is to give solid expectations on what you can expect to see in future updates.

In QA
These items are in QA and should be a part of the Twilight Forge Module. Please note: this list is still a work in progress and should not be viewed as final.

UI Improvements

• We are adding Guild Names! They will be visible under player names.
• Party Member names will be distinguished from other player names by color.
• The colors for names of party members, other players, npcs, and monsters will be able to be changed.
• Displayed damage values for sneak attacks and critical hits will appear in a distinctive fashion.
• Hostile monsters names will now appear in a configurable color (default red). Friendly or neutral monster's names will look like NPCs names rather than hostile monster's names.
• "Accept Choice" is no longer mapped to the number pad enter key by default. Existing players will still have this mapped to the number pad enter key and will need to change the setting on their own if they wish to unmap it. "Accept Choice" is intended to be what you use to answer "yes" to dialogs in the game. This change will prevent players from accidentally releasing from their body when they did not wish to.
• When dragging items over the equipment slots in the UI, they will only highlight if the slot is compatible with the item. In addition, whenever you select an item, all of the compatible inventory slots will be highlighted.
• The latency meter will be located in the main menu bar. Also, the latency meter will no longer want to be on top of everything (tooltips, for example).
• Apostrophes and spaces will once again be allowed in player surnames and guild names.
• The player biography panel will be adjusted to allow for more punctuation and printable character types.
• The alive/incapacitated/dead state of members of your fellowship will update properly even when your group members are far from you.
• The tooltip for feats will display how many times you have acquired the feat if you have acquired it more then once.
• The tooltip for "Sneak Attack" will display how much extra damage you cause when performing a sneak attack.
• Correcting a text error with the tooltip for Greater Bane items that improperly states that Greater Bane is a +2 bonus instead of a +4 bonus.
• Alerts for "Missing Spell Component" will now list what the missing component is.
• The "/help alias" description of the /alias command is being updated to properly reflect /alias' capabilities.
• There is now an option to ignore all guild invites.
• Guild invites from squelched players will now be ignored.
• The correct error message will now be displayed if your guild invite expires.
• If you die from constitution damage you will no longer have an ability damage icon appear on your screen after you have resurrected.
• In order to explain the death penalty more clearly, the Death Penalty tooltip will be changed to read "You are significantly below the minimum amount of experience points required for your level. Your maximum hit points and spell points have been reduced, and you suffer a penalty to your attack rolls, saves, skills, and caster level."
• When you hover over the icon for items in your inventory, shops, chests, and reward UI, you will receive the examination information in a tooltip. This is in addition to the current method of examination (using the "z" key or the magnifying glass on the focus orb).
• The effect descriptions will be displayed directly upon examination, you will no longer need to hover over the effect names to get the descriptions from a tooltip.
• We are fixing a display issue where players who are wearing a +Con item or are under the effect of a +Con spell during level advancement see an incorrect increase to hit points.
• The "Play this Character" button in character generation will be renamed to "Create this Character" to more accurately describe what the button does.
• NEW - Pressing the "Default" button at the bottom of the options panel is incorrectly setting Engine Speed to "Very Low". It will be fixed to correctly set it to "Very High".

General

• We are adding a new emote into the game! You will soon be able to /eat.
• You will now be able to log out while incapacitated.
• You will no longer be able to be both exhausted and fatigued; exhaustion will remove and block fatigue.
• The upper limit of 40 on skills will be removed.
• We are changing the way "Over Time" spells and effects work. The intervals will be closer together (i.e., 2 seconds instead of 6 seconds), but will do less damage/benefit during each interval. There will be no change to the total amount of damage/benefit, this is purely a change to how the damage/benefit is spread out over time. This change also applies to the way lava does damage over time.
• Owing to their construct nature, Warforged will find that they are able to hold their breath under water significantly longer than they could before.
• NEW – Human males are being given a more "manly" run.
• NEW - You can no longer hear the sounds of dead party members running along with you.

Combat

• UPDATED - All enemy trip and knockdown attacks (including Grease) will give the player a reflex save attempt every 2 seconds for the duration of the knockdown. * Check out the "In Development" section below for more detail.
• Ranger's favored enemy bonus will now apply a +2 to the bluff skill against favored enemies.
• All races will be able to cause damage when they attempt to attack while sneaking with a shield.
• The display for your party member's HP/SP bars will refresh more frequently.
• We are fixing a display issue where the damage over time component of Slicing Blow isn't displaying properly (please note: the DOT is occurring properly, it just isn't displaying properly.).
• We are fixing a display error that sometimes causes the damage numbers over your target's head to be incorrect when a sneak attack is performed while the precision attack feat is active.

Enhancements

• Warforged with Improved Fortification will no longer be healed, even if they have taken the "Healer's Friend" enhancement.

Items

• NEW - Common collectables will have their stack sizes increased to 99.
• NEW - Wizards and Sorcerers will have a greater chance to receive Damage Amplification modified weapons as part of NPC-based quest rewards.
• NEW - Scrolls for Death Ward and Ball Lightning will be added to the game.
• NEW – Outsider-Chaotic, Outsider-Lawful, and Outsider-Evil Bane effects will function correctly on the appropriate monsters.
• NEW – We are adding Immunity special effects to treasure effects (for example, Proof against Poison).
• NEW - The Kundarak Warding Shield's minimum level requirement will be changed from level 2 to level 10 for shields looted after this change goes live.
• Any wand offered as a quest reward will now be fully charged.
• We have fixed a display error in the description text for mithril armor where the text stated that mithril armor was a medium armor instead of a light armor. This was a text error only and will not change performance.

Spells

• NEW - Jump spell bonus will increase to 20 at 5th level and 30 at 9th level.
• The Phantasmal Killer spell will include a will save to disbelieve and completely negate the effects (this will bring it in line with the Player's Handbook 3.5 rules).
• We are fixing a problem where the Flame Arrow spell can fail based upon your spell resistance.
• We are fixing a problem where holy smite is not properly stunning evil creatures.
• Lightning bolt and flaming sphere would periodically hit targets more than once. This issue will be fixed.
• The Divine power spell is being fixed to properly apply the correct amount of temporary hit points to its target.
• We are fixing the Bard song "Inspire Greatness" and the spell "Greater Heroism" so that their greatness effects will no longer prematurely end when the bonus temporary hit points are used up.
• Melf's Acid Arrow is having its look and effects changed so that it appears bigger and brighter.
• We are fixing an issue where if you've been hit by multiple blindness spells, all of the spells would end as soon as the first spell expired. Now your full sight won't be restored until the final blindness effect has ended.
• The "doom" spell will now properly give you a -2 to your attack rolls (as per D&D rules).
• Having the benefit "Improved Heightening" will no longer give a discount to spells that are already maximum level.
• The poison spell will now show immunity effects if cast on an immune target.
• When you resist a spell due to an item of spell resistance, it will now send feedback to the combat chat tab.

Monsters

• NEW - We are adjusting several monsters' vulnerability to light. Ghouls, wights, skeletons and slimes will no longer take extra damage from light. On the other hand, Vampires will be more vulnerable to light.
• The Beholder's Scorching Ray eyebeam will function properly. Beholders will also no longer be able to shoot through walls. Dead beholders will no longer emit antimagic fields. NEW – Vorpal weapons will no longer effect Beholders.
• The alchemist fire thrown by kobolds will have a reflex save for half damage instead of having the regular to-hit roll.
• We are making some adjustments to Fleshrender, Ice Flenser, and Fire Reaver AI's.
• Storm Giant's arrows will no longer disappear before being fired, and will also now fire from their bow.
• The Guardian of the Seal of Shan-to-Kor will now be less likely to walk on top of people (float) during combat.
• Xorian skeletons will no longer be immune to fire.
• Casting "Blind" on Velah the Dragon will have no effect.
• When a wraith kills something that is already undead, it will not spawn a new wraith.
• Icestorm will have the proper visual effects when cast by troglodytes, kobolds, and hobgoblins.
• We are fixing a bug that is incorrectly inflating trolls' vulnerability to poison. In conjunction with this fix, we are also raising the strength and damage capabilities of trolls and ogres on the "hard" and "elite" settings.

NPCs

• NEW - Henda Boulderbreaker will actually pay you if you win your gambling game.
• NEW – All vendors in House Jorasco once again give price discounts for finishing the Delera's Tomb storyquest.
• Many dungeon-based NPCs will only converse with one player at a time. This will alleviate a number of quest NPCs who might toggle a door or item twice in succession due to multiple conversations taking place simultaneously.
• Any open conversations with an NPC will be closed when a player recalls out, to ensure player and NPC don't get locked.

Quests

• Party members will not be able to leave their party while in a dungeon. If you wish to leave your party you will first have to recall to a public space.
• Attempting to abandon a story arc quest will alert the player that they will be abandoning multiple quests (and will list these quests).
• NEW - Caverns of Korramar
  • A chest will have its loot table adjusted upwards.
• NEW - Sharpwood's Warehouse
  • You will have to complete all objectives in order to finish the quest.
• NEW - Sorrowdusk Island
  • Fane of the Six
    • Sear will no longer respawn.
  • Grey Moons Den
    • Hammerfist will no longer count towards the kill trolls objective.
• NEW - Stormcleave Outpost
  • Killing 50 minions is now a required objective
• NEW - Tear of Dhakaan
  • The Warmage will always spawn.
  • Karnat Thaar will have the appropriate quest chalices over his head.
• NEW - Three-Barrel Cove
  • Fixed a bug where both Red Tom and Rosie the Jinx weren't giving players the option to repeat their quests.

Under Development
These items are currently in development and are scheduled for after the Twilight Forge Module.

Combat

• MOVED FROM "IN QA" - All enemy trip and knockdown attacks (including Grease) will give the player a balance skill based save attempt every 2 seconds for the duration of the knockdown.

The Stormreach Assistance Program: Helping New Players

There is immense excitement in the arrival to a new continent, especially one as story-filled as Xen'drik, ancient home of the giants. The city of Stormreach is the port of arrival for newcomers seeking fame and fortune. These adventurers soon learn that fame and fortune do not come easy and will be paid for in bruises and scars.

House Ghallanda welcomes new adventurers, and invites them to visit the taverns throughout the city. House Tharashk encourages veteran adventurers to seek out and assist new arrivals in their first adventures. The continent of Xen'drik will be mastered only by skilled and experienced individuals, and it falls to us all to work together to cultivate the talent we have arriving each day.

In the spirit of cooperation, House Ghallanda and Tharashk have partnered to reward individuals who assist new adventurers by helping them gain entry to the Harbor. We call upon the preferred professions of cleric, rogue and bard to guide their charges through the early tasks required by Gerald Goodblade or the rumored Low Road. House Representatives will monitor and select a few individuals each day who take the time to offer this assistance and reward them with recognition through the Stormreach community. You will see your name commemorated on the Aspirants Square fountain, and receive a special forum rank and avatar.

Guidelines
If you answer this call to adventure, we recommend that you be trained as either a cleric, a rogue or a bard. You should be first level, in order to help your new friend gain as much as experience from the quest as possible. We do not seek mentors who will take the forefront of combat, rather we seek those who can support the efforts of the new arrivals to conquer the foes inside the quests.

Clerics
The primary expectation from the cleric is to cure the wounds of the battle-scarred combatant. The Cleric has a number of other abilities that can also enhance their companions' combat abilities, including Divine Favor, Protection from Evil and Shield of Faith.

Rogues
Rogues have the ability to spot danger in the form of traps and find treasure hidden behind secret passages. The Rogue's combination of Spot, Search and Disable Device skills will help the new arrival navigate through the harbor dungeons with much less danger from traps.

Bards
The song of a bard can inspire the brave and drive their combat acumen to new heights. Bards should also be ready to use the roguish skills they have acquired. Bards are able to cast Cure Light Wounds and Remove Fear on their allies to get them back in the battle. They can also Charm or Hypnotize monsters, diminishing their threat to their charge.

This is your chance to shape the future of Xen'drik's adventuring population. New arrivals need a mentor; Why shouldn't it be you?

There's no formally instituted program to do it. We're asking players totake some time to help new players. While they do that, Turbine Reps are watching and selecting individuals to give rewards to. So, the answer is, "just go do it." We'll watch and give cool stuff.

In Dev: Change to Sorcerer's "Energy" Spell Lines

We are currently working on a change to sorcerer’s “Resist Energy” and “Protection from Energy” spell lines. With the introduction of the Twilight Forge Module, Sorcerers will no longer need to learn both “Resist Energy: Acid” and “Resist Energy: Fire” in order to be able to cast both. Instead, they can simply learn the new spell “Resist Energy” and choose which element at casting time. See the attached screenshot below for a view of the new “choose your element” panel.

Why are you making this change?

We are making this change for two main reasons. First, this change actually brings us closer to the PnP D&D Rules. Second, we feel that without this change the “Resist Energy” and “Protection for Energy” spell lines are not viable choices for sorcerers. Currently, with their limited spell slots, very few sorcerers choose to learn one of the specific “Resist Energy” spells. Not many sorcerers choose to take “Resist Energy: Acid,” but this new version of the “Resist Energy” line is much more feasible.

How will existing sorcerers switch to the new spells?

The first time you log in after the Twilight Forge Module Update, all of the element-specific “Resist Energy” and “Protection from Energy” spells will be removed from sorcerer’s spell books. If you had learned any “Resist Energy” spells previously, you will automatically learn the new “Resist Energy” spell. The same applies to the “Protection from Energy” spell line.

On the other hand, if you find yourself missing spells, for example because you already knew both “Resist Energy: Sonic” and “Resist Energy: Cold,” you will receive an alert every time you log in instructing you to seek out a sorcerer trainer (see below for a screenshot). You will then need to use the spell exchange to pick out your new spell(s). In this case, since it involves a change we made to spells, you will not be required to pay for the spell, nor will it affect your spell exchange timer.

Greetings,

Our primary web server decided it wanted to take a nap late last night and this morning we gave it a slight spank on the butt and told it to get back to work. Everything should be fine from this point forward. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Regards,

Jhariden
Network Director

Greetings,

We are currently doing emergency maintenance on our primary forum server. We are working diligently to correct the problem and we hope to have our forums back up and running smoothly as quickly as possible.

We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.

Regards,

Jhariden
Network Director

How did I, Quirk Meadora put myself in this predicament? One moment I am laughing it up in the tavern enjoying a drink, the next I am on the run. Truth be told, I do know why I am on the run, and that reason is the same one that is helping me to escape this horrible situation. You see, I saw these boots. These boots weren't just any boots, these boots were special, although I didn't realize just how special until a couple moments ago. I know I am light on my feet, but I was running quicker than I ever have before. Besides, that greedy little Elf didn't need them, he had another pair, so I was more than happy to take these off his hands. Little did I know they would come in so handy.

Sure, the boots are really nice, but I also acquired another even more useful item. You see, I put on this cloak, which is a few sizes too big for my well-toned Halfling frame, but darn do I look sharp in it! Those brutes chasing after me didn't even know where I went. When I ducked behind a corner they ran right by me as if I was invisible. I even feel stronger wearing it! Its as if this cloak was blessed by a Cleric or something.

Phantasmal Killer nerfed

"NEW - The Phantasmal Killer spell will include a will save to disbelieve and completely negate the effects (this will bring it in line with the Player’s Handbook 3.5 rules)."

From today's weekly developments.

Yes I know that it was currently overpowered compared to PnP so its technically not a nerf but a fix. But so were monster saves and hit points were also out of line with PnP, so I do consider this a nerf.

In DDO they made monsters tougher and fighters better. As for casters: well they got more spells per rest but resting is severely limited.

Its been getting harder to find wizards and sorcerors. I can't imagine this will help.

Allow me to shed as much light on this as I can...

First off, I didn't expect this to all that noteworthy a change. There was a glitch with how spells with two saves of different types (in this case will and fortitude). The loss of a will save was unintentional. At least internally this was a "fix". That it "nerfed" Phantasmal Killer is as much coincidence as intent (it just happened to be the only spell affected by the change).

A quick perusal of the monster stats in DDO leads me to believe this won't be that big of an issue. There are monsters with high will saves (dragon, vampire, some paladins, etc.) but most have a will save in the range of .5 to 1.0 times their level. The majority of our monsters on Normal Difficulty have a save in the 3-8 range. Higher difficulty levels do increase this by a point or few.

Walking through the math for a will save bonus of 8...Base DC: 10.
Spell level bonus +4
Caster must be at least level 7, so figure primary caster stat of 20 or 22.
Stat bonus +6
DC: 20

8+d20 vs 20. Effect works on a 1-11, or 55% of the time, from an average caster against an opponent of equal or slightly higher level.

Against boss monsters, this is more likely to be meaningful... However, boss monsters tend to have higher fortitude saves than will saves, or have death resistance, so this probably wasn't the best answer to begin with.

For a moderately enhanced level 10 character:
Starting stat 18, +1 for tome, +4 from items, +3 from class benefits, +2 for level-up stat bonuses = 28.
This would make a DC of 23, for a success on rolls of 1-14 against an 8. This is a 70% chance.
This can be even higher with heighten and/or racial benefits.

If PK's your spell of choice, it'll still work. There are some places it isn't as advisable now, and there's a moderate general chance of failure. Even so, it's still a pretty potent effect.

Network News: Horizons Dev Chat HoC - Thursday, June 22th

Please join us on Thursday, June 22th, for a House of Commons with the developers of Horizons at 5pm PsT / 8pm EsT in the #StraticsHoC channel on Stratics IRC.

Topic will be on Confectioner, New Employees, and Upcoming Client Changes.

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
irc.epaxsys.net port 6668, USA - Colorado

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 Horizons will take place before, during, and after the chat in room #horizons. We hope to see you there!

Support Stratics and Enter to Win an XBOX 360

We hate "shoot the monkey" ads as much as you do and as a result we are always striving to attract the most relevant advertisers to Stratics. However, top of the line advertisers demand up to date data and it has been many years since our last user survey.

Thus, we are asking for your help. Please take just a few minutes of your time and head over to our Survey Page to answer a few questions about you and your interests.

As a special thank you, every one who completes the survey will automatically be entered to win an XBox 360.

Thanks again for your support!

Release Notes, June 14, 2006

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE™: Stormreach™ delivers the most exciting group-focused experiences available in online gaming today. Up till now the city has held dangers that are to difficult for a single player to overcome. An all new solo setting is being introduced to help DDO players navigate through content on their own, allowing them the time and space to learn about their characters, try strategies and face monsters for the first time on their own. Players will be able to play at their own pace without having to worry about finding others to group with. For the full article on the new solo play features click here.

Experience Table Adjustment

In conjunction with the new solo options for the Harbor, we have made some adjustments to the experience required to get from level 1-3. Advancing to level 2 will now require 5,000 experience points instead of 10,000, and advancing to level 3 will require 20,000 total experience points instead of 30,000, allowing you to visit the trainers even earlier.

As a result of this sliding experience, the experience point requirements for level 3-10 will be 10,000 points lower. The amount of experience required to move from level 3 to level 10 will remain the same, but will require less total experience, as a result of the changes made at levels 1 and 2. To balance this out for existing characters, all characters who are currently level 3 and above will see a one-time, 10,000 point, experience shift closer to their next level. Please note: this is NOT a gift of 10,000 xp, merely a shift however depending on your current xp total this may grant you a new level or rank.

Performance

• We have fixed a graphics memory leak that caused performance to severely degrade over time, eventually causing instability or crashes. This should also help alleviate "hitching."
• In a continued effort to help our dial-up players we made some further reductions to bandwidth usage. All players should see some benefit from this reduction.
• We fixed a bug that sometimes caused players to crash while teleporting.

UI

• You can now use punctuation in your Guild Message of the Day!!!!! Use all the commas, exclamation points, and questions marks you like!!!!!!!!!
• We changed the text of the in-game help request for "Stuck" to reflect the best procedure to follow if you get stuck somewhere in-game. Previously the instructions directed players to log out of the game, which is not the best course of action. Instead you should submit a help request and wait for assistance.
• We have added or corrected several focus orb images.

General

• Starting characters now start with 3 starter healing potions and 3 potions of light repair.
• Rogues now begin the game with a shortsword instead of a dagger.
• In order to bring the stealth and invisibility systems closer to the D&D Core Rulebooks, we've redesigned how the systems work.
  • Monsters that think they have detected a hidden target will no longer unerringly home in on the stealthed character; rather they will rely on a "best guess" to target where they logically believe the character to be.
  • Invisibility, rather than being complete undetectability, now routes through the stealth system as Hide and Move Silently do. When using invisibility, you will now have to make a stealth check with a +20 bonus. Invisibility does not grant Move Silently, and so you are advised to activate stealth when you are invisible.
  • Both invisibility and stealth now contain detaunt elements when you are in a party. Opponents will prefer to attack targets that are visible, and if they cannot find you they will eventually give up, rather than omnisciently hunting you over long distances.
  • Read more about the Invisibility changes here.
• We have fixed several typos.
• Fixed several stuck points throughout the world.

Vendors and NPC's

• After months of pensively watching the citizens of Stormreach do their shopping at the Marketplace Bazaar Tent instead of at their shops, the jewelry brokers from the "Erstwhile Emporium" in House Phiarlan and the clothing brokers from the "Empty Hand" in House Jorasco have given in to the inevitable and relocated to the Marketplace Bazaar. They have leased their shops to local entrepreneurs who are hoping to make some money selling all kinds of non-magical consumable goods to House visitors.
• Fixed some (now) incorrect quest dialogue to reflect the recent relocation of several harbor NPCs.
• Scrag has become more sociable and less shy. He has acclimated to life in the big city and no longer becomes confused when more than one person attempts to talk to him at a time.
• Sailor Calatin of Smuggler's Rest has taken a stroll down the dock. He can now be found next to the Rook's Gambit Tavern. He is now more centrally located so that you can choose to skip the class-specific tutorials and head directly to Stormreach if you want. However, we still recommend running through the class tutorials that can be found in the buildings behind the Rook's Gambit.

Items

• Permanently damaged items will now reduce in value at a slower rate.
• Haven't been able to find the perfect Bane/Greater Bane/Slaying arrow or bolt for the monster of your choice? Fret no more – we've quadrupled the types of bane arrows and bolts in the game! In addition, all Bane and Greater Bane missiles have now been added to the loot tables for chests. Previously these powerful missiles were only available from a few collectors. As a side effect, players will no longer find Slaying arrows that don't have killable monsters associated with them.
• The barkeeps and tavern owners of Stormreach have decided to reward the Warforged for months of dedicated service to the city. They are now stocking vastly improved Warforged Oil (Drink) so that the Warforged's drinks have an effectiveness similar to non-oil drinks of equivalent cost.
• A temporary magical disturbance was interfering with the effectiveness of the Brooch of Waterbreathing but the Artificers are pleased to announce that equilibrium has been found and the brooches should once again give their wearer 90 seconds worth of air.
• The merchants of Object Desire in House Phiarlan have finally received a long back-ordered shipment of Hold Person scrolls. They are currently carrying a complete selection of level 3 Arcane Scrolls.
• We changed the description of some resistance items to help clarify stacking. For example "of resistance" items do not stack with items that give a bonus to a specific category of saves (i.e. will saves). You can read the full Knowledge Base article on this topic here.
• There is the possibility that some items have been created that cast Fireshield. Fireshield has not been fully implemented into the game and does not return damage to enemies that attack a fireshielded character. These items will no longer be created, but Fireshield items already in existence will not be changed. Fireshield does reduce damage from fire while it is in effect.
• Holy, Axiomatic, and Anarchic weapons no longer display the Immune message when a player of the correct alignment equips them.
• The Brooch of Shielding and Raktu's Trifle will no longer display an alert icon for their Magic missile shielding effects.
• Any new Docents of Filtration will be properly identified as docents.
• Any new Thanatos Weave Robes will be properly identified as robes.

Quests

• In conjunction with the new Harbor solo system, the Challenge Rating for several adventures has been adjusted along with their experience and treasure. In almost every case this is an upward adjustment (the notable exception to this is Euphonia's Challenge, which was adjusted downward to account for the lower experience requirements between levels 1 and 2).
• The Blackheart chieftains in the Jungles of Khyber have become worried about their recent heavy losses and ordered rest and resurrection shrines be erected at their camp to aid their soldiers.
• The first kobold in Old Sully's Grog was finally awakened and chased out by the wily runty kobolds. Unfortunately, the runty kobold ordered to replace him on guard duty found the area quite comfortable, and promptly fell asleep.
• A mysterious illness is plaguing the Conjured Spiders that live in Euphonia's training ground. They are listless and weak, and do not pose much of a threat to new adventurers as they once did.
• Temple of Vol – a door has been adjusted to allow monsters to pass through freely.
• We have removed a chest from Abandoned Excavation / Gate of the Black Moon.
• If you fail the "Arachnophobia" by destroying more than ten sarcophagi in the Jorn Family Crypt, you will now be automatically teleported out of the dungeon.

There are now several quests in-game that are solo-only.

Here's a complete list:

Smuggler's Rest

• Euphonia's Challenge
• Healing Magic Training
• Combat Training
• Combat Magic Training
• Stealth Training

Wavecrest Basement

• Taking Stock
• Cleanse the Evil Beneath

Aspirant's Corner

• The Miller's Debt
• Defend Haverdasher
• Home Sweet Sewer
• Arachnophobia
• An Explosive Situation

Combat

• We made some improvements to the combat feedback for critical hits. Effects triggered by a critical hit will now show up after the to-hit die roll in the combat chat tab. When you score a critical hit on a monster and it resists, you will now get a "Critical Hit Resisted!" message in the combat chat tab.
• We have changed the tooltip description for the Power Attack feat to help clarify that this feat only applies to melee attacks. We have also changed the language of several additional tooltips to help make sure their meaning is clear as well.

To discuss this game update, visit the DDO Forums.

Weekly Development Activities (June 19, 2006)

In QA
These items are in QA and should be a part of the Twilight Forge Module. Please note: this list is still a work in progress and should not be viewed as final.

UI Improvements
NEW – We are adding Guild Names! The will be visible under player names.
NEW – Party Member names will be distinguished from other player names by color.
NEW – The colors for names of party members, other players, npcs, and monsters will be able to be changed.
NEW – Displayed damage values for sneak attacks and critical hits will appear in a distinctive fashion.
NEW – Hostile monsters names will now appear in a configurable color (default red). Friendly or neutral monster’s names will look like NPCs names rather than hostile monster’s names.
NEW - "Accept Choice" is no longer mapped to the number pad enter key by default. Existing players will still have this mapped to the number pad enter key and will need to change the setting on their own if they wish to unmap it. "Accept Choice" is intended to be what you use to answer "yes" to dialogs in the game. This change will prevent players from accidentally releasing from their body when they did not wish to.
NEW - When dragging items over the equipment slots in the UI, they will only highlight if the slot is compatible with the item. In addition, whenever you select an item, all of the compatible inventory slots will be highlighted.
The latency meter will be located in the main menu bar. Also, the latency meter will no longer want to be on top of everything (tooltips, for example).
Apostrophes and spaces will once again be allowed in player surnames and guild names.
The player biography panel will be adjusted to allow for more punctuation and printable character types.
The alive/incapacitated/dead state of members of your fellowship will update properly even when your group members are far from you.
The tooltip for feats will display how many times you have acquired the feat if you have acquired it more then once.
The tooltip for "Sneak Attack" will display how much extra damage you cause when performing a sneak attack.
Correcting a text error with the tooltip for Greater Bane items that improperly states that Greater Bane is a +2 bonus instead of a +4 bonus.
Alerts for "Missing Spell Component" will now list what the missing component is.
The "/help alias" description of the /alias command is being updated to properly reflect /alias’ capabilities.
There is now an option to ignore all guild invites.
Guild invites from squelched players will now be ignored.
The correct error message will now be displayed if your guild invite expires.
If you die from constitution damage you will no longer have an ability damage icon appear on your screen after you have resurrected.
In order to explain the death penalty more clearly, the Death Penalty tooltip will be changed to read "You are significantly below the minimum amount of experience points required for your level. Your maximum hit points and spell points have been reduced, and you suffer a penalty to your attack rolls, saves, skills, and caster level."
When you hover over the icon for items in your inventory, shops, chests, and reward UI, you will receive the examination information in a tooltip. This is in addition to the current method of examination (using the "z" key or the magnifying glass on the focus orb).
The effect descriptions will be displayed directly upon examination, you will no longer need to hover over the effect names to get the descriptions from a tooltip.
We are fixing a display issue where players who are wearing a +Con item or are under the effect of a +Con spell during level advancement see an incorrect increase to hit points.
The "Play this Character" button in character generation will be renamed to "Create this Character" to more accurately describe what the button does.

General
We are adding a new emote into the game! You will soon be able to /eat.
You will now be able to log out while incapacitated.
You will no longer be able to be both exhausted and fatigued; exhaustion will remove and block fatigue.
The upper limit of 40 on skills will be removed.
We are changing the way "Over Time" spells and effects work. The intervals will be closer together (i.e., 2 seconds instead of 6 seconds), but will do less damage/benefit during each interval. There will be no change to the total amount of damage/benefit, this is purely a change to how the damage/benefit is spread out over time. This change also applies to the way lava does damage over time.
Owing to their construct nature, Warforged will find that they are able to hold their breath under water significantly longer than they could before.

Combat
All enemy trip and knockdown attacks (including Grease) will give the player a balance skill based save attempt every 2 seconds for the duration of the knockdown.
Ranger's favored enemy bonus will now apply a +2 to the bluff skill against favored enemies.
All races will be able to cause damage when they attempt to attack while sneaking with a shield.
The display for your party member’s HP/SP bars will refresh more frequently.
We are fixing a display issue where the damage over time component of Slicing Blow isn’t displaying properly (please note: the DOT is occurring properly, it just isn’t displaying properly.).
We are fixing a display error that sometimes causes the damage numbers over your target's head to be incorrect when a sneak attack is performed while the precision attack feat is active.
Enhancements
Warforged with Improved Fortification will no longer be healed, even if they have taken the "Healer's Friend" enhancement.

Items
Any wand offered as a quest reward will now be fully charged.
We have fixed a display error in the description text for mithril armor where the text stated that mithril armor was a medium armor instead of a light armor. This was a text error only and will not change performance.

Spells
NEW - The Phantasmal Killer spell will include a will save to disbelieve and completely negate the effects (this will bring it in line with the Player’s Handbook 3.5 rules).
We are fixing a problem where the Flame Arrow spell can fail based upon your spell resistance.
We are fixing a problem where holy smite is not properly stunning evil creatures.
Lightning bolt and flaming sphere would periodically hit targets more than once. This issue will be fixed.
The Divine power spell is being fixed to properly apply the correct amount of temporary hit points to its target.
We are fixing the Bard song "Inspire Greatness" and the spell "Greater Heroism" so that their greatness effects will no longer prematurely end when the bonus temporary hit points are used up.
Melf’s Acid Arrow is having its look and effects changed so that it appears bigger and brighter.
We are fixing an issue where if you’ve been hit by multiple blindness spells, all of the spells would end as soon as the first spell expired. Now your full sight won’t be restored until the final blindness effect has ended.
The "doom" spell will now properly give you a -2 to your attack rolls (as per D&D rules).
Having the benefit "Improved Heightening" will no longer give a discount to spells that are already maximum level.
The poison spell will now show immunity effects if cast on an immune target.
When you resist a spell due to an item of spell resistance, it will now send feedback to the combat chat tab.

Monsters
NEW - The Beholder’s Scorching Ray eyebeam will function properly. Beholders will also no longer be able to shoot through walls. Dead beholders will no longer emit antimagic fields.
NEW - The alchemist fire thrown by kobolds will have a reflex save for half damage instead of having the regular to-hit roll.
NEW - We are making some adjustments to Fleshrender, Ice Flenser, and Fire Reaver AI's.
NEW - Storm Giant's arrows will no longer disappear before being fired, and will also now fire from their bow.
The Guardian of the Seal of Shan-to-Kor will now be less likely to walk on top of people (float) during combat.
Xorian skeletons will no longer be immune to fire.
Casting "Blind" on Velah the Dragon will have no effect.
When a wraith kills something that is already undead, it will not spawn a new wraith.
Icestorm will have the proper visual effects when cast by troglodytes, kobolds, and hobgoblins.
We are fixing a bug that is incorrectly inflating trolls’ vulnerability to poison. In conjunction with this fix, we are also raising the strength and damage capabilities of trolls and ogres on the "hard" and "elite" settings.

NPCs
NEW - Many dungeon-based NPCs will only converse with one player at a time. This will alleviate a number of quest NPCs who might toggle a door or item twice in succession due to multiple conversations taking place simultaneously.
NEW - Any open conversations with an NPC will be closed when a player recalls out, to ensure player and NPC don't get locked.

Quests
NEW - Party members will not be able to leave their party while in a dungeon. If you wish to leave your party you will first have to recall to a public space.
NEW - Attempting to abandon a story arc quest will alert the player that they will be abandoning multiple quests (and will list these quests).

MMORPG.com: Will the Solo option on quests only be available in the Harbor? Or will we see similar options in the Marketplace and other zones?

Turbine: In our next update, we have focused on adding solo mode to dungeons in the Harbor. Beyond the Harbor, players are a higher level and can already solo some of the content or can return to the Harbor and play through adventures on Normal as a solo player. We want the early experience to be fun for the new player who hasn’t had the chance to meet friends and join a guild yet. The solo option will allow players to learn their chosen class, and become more comfortable with the unique combat experience that DDO provides at their own pace.

MMORPG.com: How will Solo mode compare to the Normal, Hard and Elite settings?

Turbine: Solo mode contains all the monsters and traps that you’d find if you tackled a dungeon at a higher difficulty level with a group. The monsters and traps are not as potent as they are at the group difficulty settings. They will still provide ample challenge for the single player, but a much more manageable one.

In Development: New Enhancements for Module 2, Part 3 of 4
16-Jun-2006

New Enhancements

Module 2 will be introducing a number of new enhancements (purchased with action points) that will let players further customize and specialize your characters. Almost everyone will be getting some new enhancements to choose from; over the next few weeks we will be posting in-depth descriptions of what these new enhancements are and how they work.

New Energy Resistance Enhancements

After extended periods of exposure to the elements, or after hours of dedicated practice, some characters have begun developing limited resistances to elemental damage. Rogues, through study of the traps they may face, can learn to blunt the effects of fire, acid, cold, sonic, and electric damage; rangers and barbarians can draw on their knowledge of wilderness lore to gain resistances to fire, cold, or acid; dwarves can get in touch with their inner rock, becoming resistant to sonic and fire damage.

These benefits will stack with other sources of energy resistance, such as items of fire resistance and the resist energy spell, and with each other if you have several of them (so a dwarven rogue/ranger/barbarian could stack four different fire damage resistances if he cared). They otherwise work just like energy resistances from items or spells.

For Barbarians:

• Barbarian Desert Lore I: 5 versus fire – level 4
• Barbarian Tundra Lore I: 5 versus cold – level 4
• Barbarian Swamp Lore I: 5 versus acid – level 4
• Barbarian Desert Lore II: 10 versus fire – level 8
• Barbarian Tundra Lore II: 10 versus cold – level 8
• Barbarian Swamp Lore II: 10 versus acid – level 8

For Rangers:

• Ranger Desert Lore I: 5 versus fire – level 3
• Ranger Tundra Lore I: 5 versus cold – level 3
• Ranger Swamp Lore I: 5 versus acid – level 3
• Ranger Desert Lore II: 10 versus fire – level 7
• Ranger Tundra Lore II: 10 versus cold – level 7
• Ranger Swamp Lore II: 10 versus acid – level 7

For Rogues:

• Fire Trap Lore I: 5 versus fire – level 4
• Cold Trap Lore I: 5 versus cold – level 4
• Acid Trap Lore I: 5 versus acid – level 4
• Sonic Trap Lore I: 5 versus sonic – level 4
• Electric Trap Lore I: 5 versus electric – level 4
• Fire Trap Lore II: 10 versus fire – level 8
• Cold Trap Lore II: 10 versus cold – level 8
• Acid Trap Lore II: 10 versus acid – level 8
• Sonic Trap Lore II: 10 versus sonic – level 8
• Electric Trap Lore II: 10 versus electric – level 8

For Dwarves:

• Strength of Stone I: 3 versus fire and sonic – level 3
• Strength of Stone II: 6 versus fire and sonic – level 6
• Strength of Stone III: 10 versus fire and sonic – level 9

But wait! I’m already level 10!

In order to give players who are level 10 the opportunity to swap out their old enhancements in favor of the new enhancements we will be implementing a new experience system for level-capped players. Once a player achieves level 10 they will begin earning experience points towards an action point token. This token will give players the ability to visit a trainer and trade in one of their current enhancements for a new one. Every time a player gains 20,000 points worth of action point experience, they will gain a new token. It is important to note that the action point experience gives you the ability to trade in one of your four enhancements for a new one - it does not give you additional enhancements on top of the four, nor can you stockpile more than four action point tokens (just like regular action points).

What will happen when the level cap is raised?

The action point tokens will go away when you level up, just like normal action points. So, when the level cap goes up, spend your remaining action point token to rearrange your benefits, then simply gain 1XP and talk to a trainer to get to level 11.

Discuss the new enhancements on the DDO Forums.

SHADOWS OF STORMREACH
By Keith Baker

Chapter Two

The air rushed from Shadow's lungs as her foe slammed her into the ground. His teeth flashed towards her throat.

I'm not going to be killed by a ... a ... white rat!

Adrenaline burned in Shadow's veins. She smashed her forehead into his nose, deflecting the bite and earning a surprised yelp. The strange creature was holding her wrists, but in that moment of distraction she was able to twist in his grip, digging a deep furrow along his arm with her sword.

The rat didn't even wince, and the wound closed the instant the blade passed through the flesh. He tightened his grip, pinning her against the ground. His jaws opened wide...

A brilliant blue light flared. The ratman stiffened, and the light flowed out of his beady red eyes as the smell of scorched fur filled the air. Flesh twisted, and a moment later he was just a pale halfling, wisps of smoke rising from his back. Shadow shifted her weight, and the corpse tumbled to the ground.

An elf stood over her, a tall woman with skin as pale as the dead ratman's fur, though her hair was midnight black. Arcs of blue energy flickered around the headpiece of the staff, remnants of the power she'd unleashed.

Petra helped Shadow to her feet, her expression calm and distant. Shadow hated the way the elf never showed emotion. "Couldn't you have done that before he reached me?" she said.

"I follow my own path," Petra replied. "If you want to help Spike, use your dagger."

Shadow wanted to ask why, but this was no time for discussion; Marcus and Spike were still locked in battle. And as much as she hated the sorceress's mysterious ways, Shadow was certain Petra knew what she was talking about. Shadow turned and raced for Spike, drawing her dagger as she ran.

The warforged put up a fierce defense against his foe. The dwarf-rat wasn't bleeding, but he was unsteady on his feet, with a posture that hinted at broken bones. The rat-creatures might be resistant to the bite of steel, but the sheer force of Spike's blows was taking its toll. Shadow had seen Spike wrestle an ogre to the ground, and she knew the strength the warforged could bring to bear in full battle-frenzy. But there were deep gouges in Spike's armor, and the light in his heartstones pulsed erratically.

The dwarf was completely focused on his warforged opponent. Even as Shadow moved closer, he ducked beneath a wild axe blow and jabbed his blade into a gap in Spike's plating. When he withdrew the sword, it was covered with thick black fluid.

I'll never hear the end of this, Shadow thought. The dwarf didn't even notice her as she stepped behind him. For a moment, she was a child again, listening to her mentor speak about anatomy and the benefits of the swift strike. Hopefully rat-dwarves have the same innards as the rest of 'em, she thought, and she lashed out with her dagger.

The rat-creature spasmed, and blood flowed as Shadow pulled the blade free. Her victim dropped to his knees, transforming while he fell. As Spike's axe descended for a final blow, there was another flash of blue light behind them as Petra helped Marcus with his enemy.

Shadow studied the ruin at her feet. Blood pooled in the cobblestones, and despite the many horrors she'd seen over the last few years, Shadow could feel the bile rising at the back of her throat.

Just another night in Stormreach.

*                    *                    *

The last echoes of the tenth bell faded into the night. Shadow sighed, examining her torn and bloody shirt. In the corner of the room, Petra knelt over Spike. The warforged soldier was gravely damaged, but just as Marcus could heal injured flesh, Petra could restore steel and stone.

"I'm still waiting," Shadow said.

Marcus had refused to discuss the battle until they were safely back in their room at the Rusty Nail. He'd stripped off his armor to expose his injuries and was binding the last cut with a tongue of flame. He clenched his jaw against the pain. As the fire faded, he turned to meet Shadow's gaze.

"Wererats," he said.

Shadow waited. A moment passed, and Marcus said nothing more.

"So?" Shadow said. "The thugs who tried to kill me turned into war-rats. That part, I noticed. But that doesn't tell me why you started acting like ... well, Spike."

"Where?" said Spike, sitting up. Petra pushed him back down to the floor, continuing her work.

"Wererats, not war-rats," Marcus said. "Don't you know anything about history?"

Shadow shrugged. "My tutors focused on other subjects."

"Twelve ways to cut a purse-string?"

"Please. I came up with fifty while I was still in the cradle."

Marcus shook his head, a finger straying to the silver arrowhead that hung from the chain around his neck. "Your soul can still find the light, little one. The wererat ... it has no such hope. These creatures are lost spirits, and the mystical infection they carry can corrupt and destroy even the most innocent soul. Over a century ago, the Church of the Silver Flame went to war in a crusade to expunge this scourge from our world. We drove the shapeshifters from Khorvaire."

"All hail the selfless heroes of the church." Petra's voice was cool and sardonic. "You may have studied history, priest, but I have lived it. I was there for your so-called crusade, and I saw nothing but horror ... on both sides of the battle."

Marcus's grip tightened around the haft of his morningstar. Shadow stepped between them.

"Drop it, Pet," she said. "You too, Marcus. You're telling me you put all our lives at risk because of a history lesson?"

"It is my duty to fight these horrors, which is why you're going to tell me exactly what you were doing earlier tonight." Marcus made a sweeping gesture with his morningstar. He was angry, and the motion was a little sharper than he might have intended. But Shadow never felt threatened. She'd been through fire with the priest, and she knew he wouldn't hurt her.

Spike, apparently, did not share her confidence.

The warforged soldier rose up in the blink of an eye. He smashed into Marcus, three hundred pounds of metal moving with the speed of a warhorse. The priest flew across the room, dropping his weapon as he crashed into the wardrobe.

"Spike!" Shadow shouted.

Marcus groaned, but he knew better than to stand; this was hardly the first misunderstanding he'd had with the warforged.

Spike turned to face her, his eyes glowing with emerald light. "This is the fifth time he has threatened you."

"Spike ..."

"My instructions are to protect you from all harm and—"

"You just wanted to hit something. And we both know it."

"He-"

"Spike!"

The light in Spike's eyes dimmed, and he bowed his head. Shadow could see Petra standing in the corner, smiling faintly. She remembered how Petra had waited until the last moment to save her from the rat. The elf was a powerful ally, but of the four of them ... Petra was the last she'd put her trust in.

Shadow walked over to Marcus. She was too short to help him to his feet, but she put a hand on his leg.

"I'm sorry. You know how Spike gets when he hasn't been able to hurt anything for a few hours."

"Then let's give him something to hurt," Marcus said, standing up. "If there's any more of those creatures in Stormreach, I want them dead. That was no random encounter. They knew who you were. You told us where to meet you ... you knew something like this could happen. What's going on, Shadow?"

"Well, as to that ..." Shadow weighed the truth in her mind, trying to decide just how much she should reveal. "Link asked me to look into the activities of these bilge rats. Because of my family's connections in the ... shipping business, I thought I might be able to deal with them directly if I talked to them."

Petra laughed, a soft and musical sound. "So these thugs used to work for your father, but now they've found a new master. Is there no honor among thieves?"

"I wouldn't expect you to understand," Shadow said.

"I suppose you should send a little message to your family?" Petra said. "Surely they'll deal with these traitors."

Shadow held back her anger. Spike was always looking for a chance to hit something, but Petra preferred emotional jabs. "Spike, I want you to fetch my good friend Link. And Marcus, get your armor back on. Tonight we go hunting for rats."

(To be continued next week...)

Solo Play Arrives in Stormreach!
07-Jun-2006

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE™: Stormreach™ delivers some of the most exciting game play experiences available in online gaming today. Turbine has received tremendous positive feedback on the launch of DDO. Feedback from new players has included the request for more solo-play content as an option to the already fun and challenging group-focused content throughout the game. Turbine has listened to this feedback and is pleased to announce the upcoming availability of solo-friendly content. An all new solo setting is being introduced to help new DDO players navigate through the early game content, allowing them the time and space to learn about their characters, try strategies and face monsters for the first time on their own. Players will now have the option to play at their own pace as a solo-player in the Harbor.

The Harbor Solo Option

Quests in the Harbor have a new option available to you, opening up solo gameplay during your character's earliest levels. In addition to the Normal, Hard and Elite settings already available for each dungeon, the Solo option allows you to take on a dungeon at a difficulty setting suited for a single player. When you enter a dungeon on the solo setting, it contains monsters and traps that can be defeated without the help of a party.

After completing the solo adventures, you will be better prepared to gather allies and gain the best Experience rewards and loot, only available at the higher difficulty settings. Solo mode will not unlock the Hard and Elite difficulty settings. To gain access to the increased danger and reward from the Harbor's higher difficulty settings, you will need to complete each dungeon on its Normal setting, just as you do today.

The Waterworks, Irestone Inlet and the Kobold Assault dungeons will remain areas that require a team to conquer. The Solo difficulty setting will not be available in these areas.

Experience Table Adjustment

You will need to learn quickly in your early days in Stormreach and advance not only your own knowledge, but also your character's power. New players will advance more quickly than ever before in Stormreach, gaining the benefits of new feats, spells and enhancements from advancing through levels one and two at a faster rate. Advancing to level 2 will now require 5,000 experience points instead of 10,000, allowing you to visit the trainers even earlier. Advancing to level 3 will require 20,000 total experience points instead of 30,000, bringing character progression benefits even closer again.

As a result of this sliding experience, the experience point requirements for level 3-10 will be 10,000 points lower. The amount of experience required to move from level 3 to level 4 will remain the same, but will require less total experience as a result of the changes to total experience requirements made at levels 1 and 2. If you have a character at level 3 or above that is within 10,000 experience points of reaching the next level, you will advance to that level, due to the lesser requirements for total experience.

Experience Requirements
	Old Requirement	New Requirement
Level 1	0	0
Level 2	10,000	5,000
Level 3	30,000	20,000
Level 4	60,000	50,000
Level 5	100,000	90,000
Level 6	150,000	140,000
Level 7	210,000	200,000
Level 8	280,000	270,000
Level 9	360,000	350,000
Level 10	450,000	440,000

Stormreach Awaits!

The new player can now become better acquainted with the continent of Xen'drik than ever before. The new Solo experience in the Harbor and the Experience bonuses will allow you the time to prepare yourself for the life and death struggles that await beyond the first levels of the game.

Please join us on Thursday, June 29th, for a House of Commons with the developers of EverQuest II at 4 PM Pacific / 7 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, 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
• irc.epaxsys.net port 6668, USA - Colorado

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 EQ2 will take place before, during, and after the chat in room #everquest2. We hope to see you there!

TURBINE LAUNCHES NEW “SOLO-MODE” FOR DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE™: STORMREACH™

Turbine, Inc. announced today that it has launched the eagerly awaited solo-mode for DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE™: Stormreach™ (DDO), the hit online game that has quickly become one of the fastest-growing massively multiplayer online games in North America.

Turbine has introduced a series of solo–friendly enhancements and content improvements as part of the new player experience in DDO. New players can now experience over 20 dungeons throughout Stormreach™ harbor in a single-player mode. This feature grows the overall scope and quality of the game by enabling players to journey alone in epic adventure zones or dangerous dungeons. It also is particularly useful to new players, allowing them to hone their skills and better prepare for higher-level quests where they can join with fellow gamers to achieve success. This mode will be in addition to three existing game play options of “Normal,” “Hard” and “Elite.”

“We are very thankful for the support and feedback from our players,” said Jeffrey Anderson, president and CEO of Turbine, Inc. “Today’s announcement demonstrates our commitment to make the game fun and easily accessible by all types of gamers.”

Turbine has a strong track record of operating massively multiplayer online games; one of the keys to the company’s history of success is listening to its fans to continually evolve and invest in its games. This most recent change to include solo-friendly dungeons is the result of feedback from its customers. More exciting changes are still to come. In addition to the eagerly anticipated launch of the Twilight Forge module in July, Turbine has plans for another module slated for August and the title’s first expansion pack this fall which will include exciting player-versus-player combat arenas.

Since its launch, hundreds of thousands of players have entered the unique online world of Stormreach to form one of the strongest online communities in the gaming industry. This community has been instrumental in driving the success of DDO which has sold over 300,000 units worldwide. For the latest information about updates to DDO, please visit http://www.ddo.com.

Shadows of Stormreach: Chapter One
09-Jun-2006

SHADOWS OF STORMREACH
By Keith Baker

Chapter One

Blood.

Shadow could taste blood in her mouth ... her own. A crossbow bolt was embedded in her left shoulder, another in her right thigh. Every step was torture, and her vision blurred. But she couldn't give in to the pain. The enemy was on her trail.

A group of sailors blocked the street ahead of her: Sarlonan traders unloading their scow, shouting and laughing. Shadow plunged into the mob. The sailors were human, and they towered over her. One nearly tripped over the halfling girl. Shadow didn't speak their language, but from the tone she guessed the oath was a foul one. She emerged on the other side of the throng and kept running. If she was lucky, the sailors would prove more of an obstacle for her pursuers. A newcomer might have begged the men for assistance, but Shadow was no fool, and she knew better than to look for charity on the wharves of Stormreach.

Almost there. The sounds of ocean and city seemed distant, and even the pain had dissolved into cold void. She stumbled, barely staying on her feet. You've come too far to fall.

The world was fading, and she was running through a labyrinth of shadows. She heard her father: You see the price of disobedience, girl? You shame us all.

Then he grabbed her, powerful hands tight on her shoulders. Movement was all she had left. Held fast in that grip, all energy flowed out of her. But it wasn't her father. The hands ... the hands were too big. A dwarf? No. A human, kneeling on the street. She forced her head up to look at his face, laying her hand on the hilt of her curved blade.

Dark eyes shadowed beneath a steel helm. Eyes narrowed in concern. Dark beard, stern mouth.

"Dorn's Teeth, Shadow! Who did this to you?" The voice was deep, gruff.

Marcus.

She'd made it.

"Rats," she said and let the darkness take her.

* * *

Shadow's thoughts drifted. Memories of childhood passed over her. Were they hers? They seemed so scattered, contradictory ...

Staring out of the window of a luxurious manor, looking down on a city of towers ...

Cutting purse-strings in a crowded market, dodging watchmen and ogre guards ...

A cloaked figure pulling back his hood to reveal a reptilian face wreathed in serpents ...

The fire brought her back. Agony searing through every nerve. Pain drowned out all thought. But as the fire burned through her, it restored her nerves, bringing new life in the wake of pain. Her eyes snapped open. Her shoulder, her leg ... both were restored, and her surroundings were sharp and clear.

Marcus knelt over her, the last flickers of silver flame fading from his hands. "Back now?" he said.

"Why's healing hurt so much?"

"Pain's a lesson, girl," he said. "Teaches you not to do foolish things, like run off and collect quarrels in your skin." He showed her the crossbow bolt in his hand, the point still covered with her blood. "Care to tell me what sort of rat spits these?"

The rats! How long had she been unconscious? She opened her mouth to explain - but someone else spoke first.

"I believe the young lady was speaking of us." The voice was oily, obsequious, born to lie. The speaker was a halfling, like Shadow herself; a tiny, delicate figure, his features hidden beneath a deep hood. The halfling wasn't holding any weapon, but his companions made up for this. Two lanky human women stood to either side of him, heavy crossbows loaded and leveled. The two might have been twins, though it was difficult to tell beneath the dirt and grime. The final member of the quartet was a dwarf; this stout figure had an odd, crouched posture, as if he'd been stretched out on a rack. Like the halfling, he hid his face beneath a heavy hood. The dwarf held a long knife in each hand, and the hilts of another dozen blades protruded from his clothing. All four were dressed in black leather armor, and the nicks and tears in the leather suggested that they'd seen their share of battle.

"Bilge rats," Shadow whispered. "Wharf gang. I thought ... we had a family connection."

"Oh, we did," said the halfling. It seemed his ears were as keen as the dwarf's daggers. "But I'm afraid someone made us a better offer. Still ... no reason you need to die this night, priest. Shadow is coming with us, but you can still walk away."

"You've a fine sense of justice for a worm," said Marcus. He rose to his feet, Shadow standing next to him. "I think it only fair that I make you the same offer."

The two women glanced at one another, but the halfling laughed. "The numbers are in our favor, friend. Last chance."

Marcus shook his head. "I suppose it is," he said. He glanced down at Shadow. "You know what needs to be said?"

Shadow nodded. "Of course. SPIKE!"

The pale halfling frowned, confused. He opened his mouth to issue a command-

Too late.

A whirlwind of steel swept out of the alley behind the thieves - a blur of blades and metal. The first archer fell before she even had a chance to cry out, nearly decapitated by Spike's long axe. The warforged soldier was a fearsome sight: he towered over the bandits, a monster formed of metal and wood, gore dripping from his axe. Emeralds were set into his armored shell, and these pulsed with a baleful light, hinting at furious energy that burned within him. Spike pulled his blade from the stranger's neck, and the dwarf flung up his hand as his comrade's blood sprayed across his hood. Spike drew back for another blow-

"Enough!" Shadow called. "Withdraw!"

Spike's axe was already descending, but he checked the blow just before it struck the dwarf's head. The light burning in Spike's heartstones dimmed, his version of a sigh. He took a step back but kept his axe poised to strike.

"Do you really need all three?" Spike said. His voice was strangely high-pitched for his size and always made Shadow think of a pipe organ. "What about the matching female?"

The woman in question had dropped to the ground to examine her wounded twin. On hearing the warforged's words her gaze shot up, fear mingling with fury in her eyes.

Shadow allowed a little satisfaction to creep through her usual concern. They'd cut things close, but all in all, a good night's work. She drew her curved sword, and gestured toward the little man. "It seems the numbers have turned, my friend. And unless your companions drop your weapons now ... Spike's axe is still thirsty."

"That's another way of saying that I'll kill you," Spike added.

Marcus said nothing. Shadow knew that the priest disliked fighting people, even thugs like these; he was at his best battling restless spirits or supernatural beasts and never liked the sight of blood on the streets. It was an annoying trait in their line of work, but tonight wasn't the first time Marcus had saved her life, and so far he'd followed her lead.

"You have no idea how much trouble you're in," the halfling said. For a man with no weapons, he seemed awfully calm. Shadow felt a shiver of doubt: Could he be a spell weaver? No matter - Spike was poised behind the little man, ready to strike at the first sign of incantation or mystic gesture.

"True." Shadow said. "But I know exactly how much trouble you're in. I know who you're supposed to be working for. And from what I've seen tonight, you're playing a new game. So here's what's going to happen. Your friends are going to put down their weapons. You're going to tell me your name. And then you're going to tell me exactly what you Bilge Rats are up to. Or you can stay silent, and my friend Spike can start removing limbs."

"Do that," Spike said.

The stranger shook his head. "You shouldn't have hurt Drella. But the girl is all we need. This is the last chance for the rest of you to walk away."

Shadow sighed. These people were supposed to be gutter thugs. She hadn't expected this sort of resistance from them. And even if they had tried to kill her, she didn't really want to let Spike loose on strangers. It was time to get this off the street. "Spike-"

Shadow didn't see the signal, but clearly one was given. The thieves moved forward, cloaks falling back. What was revealed surprised even Shadow.

They were rats.

Beneath his hood, the halfling had a long, angular snout covered with sleek white fur. Red eyes caught the torchlight, and teeth flashed as he snarled at Shadow. The archer was still human, but the man Shadow had thought was a dwarf was another ratman, his fur black and patchy; a long, wormlike tail lashed out from beneath his cloak. There was magic at work here, and Shadow hated magic. And the leader had seemed so confident in the face of danger...

They needed to pull back. There were too many unknown factors.

Unfortunately, her companions had other ideas.

"Sovereign bitch!" Marcus swore. Priest he might be, but he was quite free with the names of other people's gods. Marcus was in motion the instant the rats revealed themselves. Shield raised and spiked morningstar in hand, Marcus charged the former halfling. His weapon fell, and there was a glimmer of blood, but the shield blocked Shadow's view. Still, if the gore on Marcus's weapon was any indication of his enemy's fate, the thieves should have surrendered when they had the chance.

What's gotten into him? Marcus was the least bloodthirsty member of their little troupe. It wasn't like him to attack a stranger.

Shadow stepped to the side, trying to get a clear line of sight on the enemy. What she saw next chilled her to the bone.

Spike joined the fray. The warforged swung his greataxe, his heartstones pulsing with pure joy. He landed a solid blow on the ratman. Spike's axe sliced through armor, cleaving through flesh and bone with a crunch. It was a blow that should have cut into heart and lung. But when Spike drew his axe back for another blow, there was no fountain of blood. The dwarf lashed out with his own weapon, and sparks flew as his blade dug into Spike's armor plating.

Marcus was fighting the woman. Though human, this thief was still a deadly foe. The priest's heavy plate armor slowed him. The woman darted and weaved around him, thrusting with her own short sword and searching for gaps in his armor. She'd found a few already. Blood streaked Marcus's armor, while he couldn't land a solid blow with his morningstar.

And the other ... where was the albino?

The answer came all too quickly, a white streak in the corner of her eye. Shadow turned, but she wasn't fast enough. The little ratman slammed into her, knocking her to the ground, and even as she struggled against him, his teeth were moving for her throat.

Perhaps it wasn't such a good night's work after all...

(To be continued next week...)

In Development: Patron System / Adventure Compendium
09-Jun-2006

Negotiations were complete. The merchants and explorers of Eberron had completed the pacts that would ensure a steady supply of Sahuagin navigators to lead ships safely through the treacherous Shargon's Teeth. A new sea lane opened between Khorvaire and Xen'Drik and the port city of Stormreach began to grow. Every day brought new travelers seeking fame, glory, riches, or a fresh start. As the inns filled to bursting and new faces filled the marketplace, the original residents of Stormreach had to decide how best to separate the wheat from the chaff.

House Kundarak was the first group to see the opportunity inherent in the situation. They began offering incentives and rewards for service to House Kundarak. What better way to inspire loyalty to their House while simultaneously discovering which of the newcomers were the hardest working, the most dedicated and true? The other Houses soon fell in line. House Deneith, House Jorasco, House Phiarlan, the Church of the Silver Flame, and a loose affiliation of merchants and citizens began offering similar incentives for service to their particular group. The new arrivals to Stormreach flourished under the attentions of their chosen patrons.

The Patron System

With the launch of the Twilight Forge Module, we will be introducing a new system through which players gain favor with different groups by completing specific adventures. Favor allows you access to special items and rewards; the higher your favor, the greater the rewards. This will be a dynamic system – as DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE™: Stormreach™ grows, the Patron system will grow, offering the chance for new and better rewards as well as greater ties and involvement within the various patron groups.

Most adventures in the game will be assigned a patron organization. By completing an adventure you will gain favor with the affiliated patron group. The amount of favor each completed adventure grants you is determined by the Challenge Rating (level), length, and difficulty setting (Normal, Hard, Elite etc.) of that adventure. When you have gained enough favor with a particular group you will gain a new rank (i.e., "Friendly" or "Honored") and a corresponding reward (for example, gaining favor with House Kundarak will allow you to earn additional bank space and gaining favor with the Coin Lords will give you access to expanded inventory slots). Representatives from each of the patron groups will be responsible for giving out new ranks and the accompanying rewards. These Representatives can be found in various locations throughout Stormreach.

When you have earned a new rank with a patron organization, a congratulatory letter will be sent to your mailbox, inviting you to visit the Patron's representative for your reward. You will be able to track your favor with each of the patrons organizations with a new UI element called the Adventure Compendium.

The Adventure Compendium

You can open the Adventure Compendium by either hitting the new "star" button located next to the Quest Journal button on the main menu bar or by hitting the "P" key. The Adventure Compendium has two panels "Adventures" and "Patrons".

The Adventure Panel

The Adventure Panel shows a quick report of your progress through the adventures in DDO by listing your recommended adventures. Recommended adventures are adventures that are your level or one or two levels above you. As you gain in level your recommended adventure list will change. If you successfully complete an adventure that is above your recommended level it will appear in your Adventure Panel. The Adventure Panel also shows the following information:

• Adventure name
• Level
• Patron
• Progress (highest completed difficulty)
• Favor

Favor is only granted the first time you complete an adventure at a given difficulty setting. Repeating an adventure will not grant you additional favor unless you are completing the adventure on a new and higher difficulty level.

Each adventure's tooltip will provide:

• Adventure name
• Story quest it's a part of
• Who bestows that story quest
• The current status of that story quest

Clicking on an adventure will highlight that adventure. Double-clicking on an adventure will open the Quest Journal to the story quest containing that adventure (unless your journal doesn't contain that quest). You will also be able to sort the compendium by clicking on the category of your choice.

The Patron Panel

The Patron Panel shows the various Patron groups, your current favor with each group, and tracks your progress towards the next rank with each group. Hovering over the patron will switch to a numerical display of progress in addition to the progress bar. Completing an adventure for the first time (or on a higher difficulty than previously completed), will update the Patron Favor bar for the relevant patron.

Each patron's tooltip will provide:

• The patron name
• The representative for the next rank to attain
• A description of the lore and purpose of the patron.

In addition to the group trackers, a "Total Favor" tracker is provided. This bar shows the progress of all favor, regardless of individual patrons. Some rewards are not patron-specific, but rather are granted when you have gained enough goodwill with the residents of Stormreach as a whole. In fact, the rewards gained by gaining overall favor might be the best rewards of all...

I've been playing the game since launch! Will I have to start over?

The Patron system will be retroactive and will take into account all of the adventures you have completed at the time the Twilight Forge Module launches. Many of you will find that you can already visit some of the Patron's representatives to gain your ranks and rewards.

To discuss these upcoming additions, visit the DDO Forums.

Greetings All:

A few weeks ago I was having a conversation with the directors regarding editorials. We wanted to find someone with a history of MMOG experience and the talent to write. Strangely enough, not five minutes later I received an email that stunned me. Here was a fellow asking if we needed anyone to write editorials. After several email conversations, I decided this was going to work really well! So...

I want to introduce you to Ben "Coercion Starfire" Pateman.

Ben is 20 years old and currently at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England, studying Psychology and Computer Science. When I asked him about his gaming experience, he said:

I've been a gamer for as long as I can remember. First started playing games when I was around 7 or 8 I think, on an absolutely ancient Amstrad computer, as well as NES & mastersystem. Wasn't long before my dad bought a proper windows PC, and soon after I was plugged into the primitive Internet through such wondrous ISPs as Compuserve and Pipex Dial.

I then asked him about his experience with MMORPGs. He replied:

It wasn't till around '97 when I started getting properly in to online gaming. Ultima Online was what started it all, for me. Before then I'd played a few games online (Command and Conquer, Worms 2 and a few others), but it was so fiddly that I rarely got them to work, despite being fascinated with the idea of playing games with people from across the world.

This was around the time I first started checking out Stratics, too, after seeing it mentioned in PC Gamer as the place for everything UO. Soon enough I was playing Everquest and Asheron's Call as well and checking Stratics regularly concerning those games too.

Like many others, I left UO around 2002 after its uniqueness was killed off by a few fatal patches. From there I wandered around the MMO market for a while, trying all sorts of stuff but always missing UO. Shadowbane was the next game to really do something for me, a small (albeit buggy and well, rather ugly) island of originality in a sea of EQ clones. I'd followed it through development for almost 3 years, and when Swing! went bust (right after I got into their beta!), and it appeared that the game wouldn't be available in Europe, I was slightly peeved to say the least. I hopped into Eve Online, which went live around the same time (I had followed its development a fair bit too, and beta tested in the final phase). Came back for Shadowbane when I discovered that there was a European server after all (I had kind of lost hope), and ended up having a fantastic 6 months as the leader of a role-playing "Temple of the Cleansing Flame" guild, causing all kinds of fanatical havoc across the shard. The server was eventually killed off for a number of reasons, though, and I was back in Eve Online again.

Not that I'm complaining, in my opinion EVE is by far the greatest MMO available at the moment, and I'm happy with my position in the game (a corporation known as 0utbreak, essentially a cosmic mafia organisation), but of course it still isn't perfect.

On the horizon I eagerly await Vanguard, a game which I look forward to just getting absorbed in, to complement (or more precisely, balance out) the frantic rawness of PvP in Eve Online (if I can still afford to pay for two games at once by this point, heh). It appeals to the old school Everquest player in me, and I'm really hoping that Sigil doesn't end up compromising the challenging gameplay which sets it apart from a lot of recent games. Also looking forward to Darkfall, although I've been following it for far too long (Shadowbane paranoia beginning to kick in), so I'm not holding my breath with its release. Roma Victor is also quite interesting, but I can't see it being at all popular until its user interface is vastly improved upon.

It sounded to me that Ben had plenty of experience. I asked him if he would be interested in writing about his opinions for Stratics. His response was music to my ears:

I've been spending a fair bit of time making long winded posts on various online gaming forums, and getting a reassuring amount of praise for them. Based on my current situation and my history, Stratics seems like by far the most appropriate network to write for, so yes, I'd be delighted!

A few days later Ben sent me his first "Opinion" article. I decided to set up a page for presenting his interesting, sometimes controversial editorials. I think you'll thoroughly enjoy reading his often-amusing content covering all areas of our MMORPG industry.

Please take a few minutes to see what Ben has to say in his Risk in Games: The Secret Ingredient article. At the bottom of that article you may link to our Stratics Central forums and let him and others know your opinion. Positive or negative, we want to hear what you have to say too.

_____________________________
Roger "Teresk" Brown
Stratics Central Content Director
Stratics Forums Programmer
Guild Forums Administrator
teresk@stratics.com

The staff of DDO Stratics is pleased to announce a House of Commons with the developers of Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach! The House of Commons is scheduled for Thursday, June 15th, 2006 at 5PM 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 use 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
• irc.epaxsys.net port 6668, USA - Colorado

General chat relating to Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach will take place before, during, and after the chat in room #ddo. We hope to see you there!

p>DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE™: Stormreach™ delivers some of the most exciting game play experiences available in online gaming today. Turbine has received tremendous positive feedback on the launch of DDO. Feedback from new players has included the request for more solo-play content as an option to the already fun and challenging group-focused content throughout the game. Turbine has listened to this feedback and is pleased to announce the upcoming availability of solo-friendly content. An all new solo setting is being introduced to help new DDO players navigate through the early game content, allowing them the time and space to learn about their characters, try strategies and face monsters for the first time on their own. Players will now have the option to play at their own pace as a solo-player in the Harbor.

The Harbor Solo Option

Quests in the Harbor have a new option available to you, opening up solo gameplay during your character's earliest levels. In addition to the Normal, Hard and Elite settings already available for each dungeon, the Solo option allows you to take on a dungeon at a difficulty setting suited for a single player. When you enter a dungeon on the solo setting, it contains monsters and traps that can be defeated without the help of a party.

After completing the solo adventures, you will be better prepared to gather allies and gain the best Experience rewards and loot, only available at the higher difficulty settings. Solo mode will not unlock the Hard and Elite difficulty settings. To gain access to the increased danger and reward from the Harbor's higher difficulty settings, you will need to complete each dungeon on its Normal setting, just as you do today.

The Waterworks, Irestone Inlet and the Kobold Assault dungeons will remain areas that require a team to conquer. The Solo difficulty setting will not be available in these areas.

Experience Table Adjustment

You will need to learn quickly in your early days in Stormreach and advance not only your own knowledge, but also your character's power. New players will advance more quickly than ever before in Stormreach, gaining the benefits of new feats, spells and enhancements from advancing through levels one and two at a faster rate. Advancing to level 2 will now require 5,000 experience points instead of 10,000, allowing you to visit the trainers even earlier. Advancing to level 3 will require 20,000 total experience points instead of 30,000, bringing character progression benefits even closer again.

As a result of this sliding experience, the experience point requirements for level 3-10 will be 10,000 points lower. The amount of experience required to move from level 3 to level 4 will remain the same, but will require less total experience as a result of the changes to total experience requirements made at levels 1 and 2. If you have a character at level 3 or above that is within 10,000 experience points of reaching the next level, you will advance to that level, due to the lesser requirements for total experience.

Experience Requirements
	Old Requirement	New Requirement
Level 1	0	0
Level 2	10,000	5,000
Level 3	30,000	20,000
Level 4	60,000	50,000
Level 5	100,000	90,000
Level 6	150,000	140,000
Level 7	210,000	200,000
Level 8	280,000	270,000
Level 9	360,000	350,000
Level 10	450,000	440,000

Stormreach Awaits!

The new player can now become better acquainted with the continent of Xen'drik than ever before. The new Solo experience in the Harbor and the Experience bonuses will allow you the time to prepare yourself for the life and death struggles that await beyond the first levels of the game.

Discuss these upcoming changes on the DDO Forums.

Player Screenshot Poll - 6/02/06

The next batch of Player Screenshots are up! You can find them HERE.

Have a look at the screenshots this week and vote for the one you like best. At the end of the week we will tally the votes and announce the winning screenshot. The winner at the end of each week will be awarded the forum title of Stormreach Chronicler.

We received some really great entries so far. If yours wasn't selected, don't fret it may still appear in a future poll. With that said, keep sending your screenshots. The less UI that appears on screen, the better chance you will have of being selected. (We realize there is a bug with some of the UI not turning invisible and it is something we are investigating.)

For more information regarding the Player Screenshots click here.

The ONLY thing that was changed the other day were some improvements to the launcher. No changes were made to anything in-game.

I know that many of you are interested in changes to the launcher too, so we are working with the launcher team to insure that in the future we have patch notes for the launcher too. I apologize for the fact that there weren't any notes the other day. Spork and I were both under the impression that this was a routine maintenance only. If/when the launcher changes again in functionality again (beyond a simple background image change) we're going to try to make sure we have notes for that too.

Check out the latest updates to the "Weekly Development Activities." The goal for this feature is to give solid expectations on what you can expect to see in future updates.

In QA:
These items are in QA and should be a part of the next update.

UI

• NEW - The Guild message of the day will be able to contain punctuation.
• NEW - We have changed the text of the in-game help request for "Stuck" to reflect the best procedure to follow if you get stuck somewhere in-game. Previously the instructions directed players to log out of the game, which is not the best course of action. Instead you should submit a help request and wait for assistance.

General

• NEW - In order to bring the stealth and invisibility system closer to the D&D Core Rulebooks, we've redesigned how the systems work.
  • Monsters that think they have detected a hidden target will no longer unerringly home in on the stealthed character; rather they will rely on a "best guess" to target where they logically believe the character to be.
  • Invisibility, rather than being complete undetectability, now routes through the stealth system as Hide and Move Silently do. When using invisibility, you will now have to make a stealth check with a +20 bonus. Invisibility does not grant Move Silently, and so you are advised to activate stealth when you are invisible.
  • Both invisibility and stealth now contain detaunt elements when you are in a party. Opponents will prefer to attack targets that are visible, and if they cannot find you they will eventually give up, rather than omnisciently hunting you over long distances.
  • Read more about the Invisibility changes here

Vendors and NPC's

• The Jewelry and Clothing Pawnbrokers will be moving to the Marketplace Tent. Vendors selling non-magical consumable goods will take their place in the House shops.
• We will be correcting some of the (now) incorrect NPC dialogue following the recent relocation of several quest NPCs.
• Scrag the kobold will be fixed so that he can talk to more than one player at a time.
• NEW - Sailor Calatin of Smuggler's Rest will be moving down the dock next to the Rook's Gambit Tavern. He will be more centrally located so that you can choose to skip the class-specific tutorials and head directly to Stormreach if you want. However, we still recommend running through the class tutorials that can be found in the buildings behind the Rook's Gambit.

Items

• NEW - Permanently damaged items will reduce in value at a slower rate.
• The variety of Bane/Greater Bane/Slaying arrows and bolts will be significantly increased. Additionally, we will be adding Bane and Greater Bane missiles to the loot tables for chests.
• Warforged Oil (Drink) will be significantly improved so that it is comparable in effectiveness to similar to non-oil drinks of equivalent cost.
• The Brooch of Waterbreathing will once again have a 90 second effect.
• Players will no longer find Slaying arrows that don't have killable monsters associated with them.
• Hold Person scrolls will now be available for sale with the rest of the level 3 Arcane Scrolls.
• We are changing the description of some resistance items to help clarify stacking. For example "of resistance" items do not stack with items that give a bonus to a specific category of saves (i.e. will saves).
• There is the possibility that some items have been created that cast Fireshield. Fireshield has not been fully implemented into the game and does not return damage to enemies that attack a fireshielded character. These items will no longer be created, but Fireshield items already in existence will not be changed. Fireshield does reduce damage from fire while it is in effect.
• Holy, Axiomatic, and Anarchic weapons no longer display the Immune message when a player of the correct alignment equips them.
• The Brooch of Shielding and Raktu's Trifle will no longer display an alert icon for their Magic missile shielding effects.
• Any new Docents of Filtration will be properly identified as docents.
• Any new Thanatos Weave Robes will be properly identified as robes.

Quests

• We will be adding a rest shrine near the Black Heart Encampment in the Jungle of Khyber.
• When we made the recent adjustments to the difficulty of the kobolds in the Old Sully's Grog quests, we neglected to adjust the level of the kobold in part 1. He will now be the same difficulty level as the other kobolds.

Combat

• We will be making some improvements to combat feedback for critical hits.
• We will be changing the tooltip description for the Power Attack feat to help clarify that this feat only applies to melee attacks. We will also be changing the language of several additional tooltips to help make sure their meaning is clear as well.

Monsters

• The Conjured Spiders in Euphonia's Challenge have had their AC reduced. This should reduce the amount of time it takes new players to take these spiders down.

Performance

• We are fixing a graphics memory leak that causes performance to severely degrade over time, eventually causing instability or crashes. This should also help alleviate "hitching."
• NEW - In a continued effort to help our dial-up players we will be making some further reductions to bandwidth usage. All players should see some benefit from this reduction.
• Fixing a bug that sometimes causes players to crash while teleporting.
• We have added or corrected several focus orb images.

Under Development:
These items are currently in development and are scheduled for the Twilight Forge Module or later.

(Please note: this is just the second installment in the extremely lengthy list of fixes and changes that we are working on for the Twilight Forge Module. This is just the beginning.)

UI Improvements

• Alerts for "Missing Spell Component" will now list what the missing component is.
• UPDATED - The "/help alias" description of the /alias command is being updated to properly reflect /alias' capabilities.
• NEW - There is now an option to ignore all guild invites.
• NEW - Guild invites from squelched players will now be ignored.
• NEW - The correct error message will now be displayed if your guild invite expires.
• NEW - If you die from constitution damage you will no longer have an ability damage icon appear on your screen after you have resurrected.
• NEW - In order to explain the death penalty more clearly, the Death Penalty tooltip will be changed to read "You are significantly below the minimum amount of experience points required for your level. Your maximum hit points and spell points have been reduced, and you suffer a penalty to your attack rolls, saves, skills, and caster level."

General

• You will now be able to log out while incapacitated.
• You will no longer be able to be both exhausted and fatigued; exhaustion will remove and block fatigue.
• NEW - The upper limit of 40 on skills will be removed.
• NEW - We are changing the way "Over Time" spells and effects work. The intervals will be closer together (i.e., 2 seconds instead of 6 seconds), but will do less damage/benefit during each interval. There will be no change to the total amount of damage/benefit, this is purely a change to how the damage/benefit is spread out over time. This change also applies to the way lava does damage over time.
• NEW - Owing to their construct nature, Warforged will find that they are able to hold their breath under water significantly longer than they could before.

Combat

• NEW - All races will be able to cause damage when they attempt to attack while sneaking with a shield.
• The display for your party member's HP/SP bars will refresh more frequently.
• We are fixing a display issue where the damage over time component of Slicing Blow isn't displaying properly (please note: the DOT is occurring properly, it just isn't displaying properly.).

Enhancements

• Warforged with Improved Fortification will no longer be healed, even if they have taken the "Healer's Friend" enhancement.

Items

• We have fixed a display error in the description text for mithril armor where the text stated that mithril armor was a medium armor instead of a light armor. This was a text error only and will not change performance.

Spells

• NEW - We are fixing a problem where holy smite is not properly stunning evil creatures.
• NEW - Lightning bolt and flaming sphere would periodically hit targets more than once. This issue will be fixed.
• NEW - The Divine power spell is being fixed to properly apply the correct amount of temporary hit points to its target.
• NEW - We are fixing the Bard song "Inspire Greatness" and the spell "Greater Heroism" so that their greatness effects will no longer prematurely end when the bonus temporary hit points are used up.
• Melf's Acid Arrow is having its look and effects changed so that it appears bigger and brighter.
• We are fixing an issue where if you've been hit by multiple blindness spells, all of the spells would end as soon as the first spell expired. Now your full sight won't be restored until the final blindness effect has ended.
• The "doom" spell will now properly give you a -2 to your attack rolls (as per D&D rules).
• Having the benefit "Improved Heightening" will no longer give a discount to spells that are already maximum level.
• The poison spell will now show immunity effects if cast on an immune target.
• When you resist a spell due to an item of spell resistance, it will now send feedback to the combat chat tab.

Monsters

• MOVED FROM "IN QA"- The Guardian of the Seal of Shan-to-Kor will now be less likely to walk on top of people (float) during combat.
• NEW - Xorian skeletons will no longer be immune to fire.
• NEW - Casting "Blind" on Velah the Dragon will have no effect.

To discuss this new feature, or the upcoming changes visit the official DDO Forums.

MXO 10-DAY FREE TRIAL

Stratics and Sony Online Entertainment are pleased to be able to offer you an opportunity to try The Matrix Online for free for ten days! This free trial offer will provide for you an opportunity to try out this great game and it could not be easier to do so. All you need to do is complete a simple form and you’ll receive your trial license, then you will be sent to download the file. It is as easy as that!

What is The Matrix Online?
The Matrix Online is the future of the Matrix, picking up right where the trilogy left off. The revolution is over, but within the Matrix a secret war still rages – a war of control between the machines, the Exiles, and the people of Zion. Join the continuing storyline of The Matrix where you decide who to oppose and what to believe. Only your courage and perseverance can protect the legacy of Neo’s sacrifice. Jack in!

To get your free 10-day trial of The Matrix Online, visit this page and follow the instructions!

[ Jack in and enter the Matrix now! ]

In order to bring the stealth and invisibility systems closer to the D&D Core Rulebooks, we’re redesigning how the systems work.

Monsters that think they have detected a hidden target will no longer unerringly home in on the stealthed character. Now, alert NPC’s will begin making “best guess” attacks near the last suspected location of their target (the last location they either saw their opponent, or heard them if they made noise), and will search in a progressively wider radius until they find their foe. A monster that physically bumps into a stealthed player will automatically detect them and begin attacking.

Invisibility, rather than granting complete undetectability, now routes through the stealth system the same way Hide and Move Silently do, but grants the target a substantial bonus (+20) to their stealth score and permits stealth in bright daylight (“five eyes”). We highly recommend engaging stealth mode while invisible since the invisibility spell will not prevent monsters from hearing your footsteps otherwise. Invisible Rogues should still use cover to their advantage - casting the invisibility spell on a rogue enhances their already excellent stealth abilities. Hanging out in front of a monster for prolonged periods of time even if you are invisible is tempting fate (just like the normal stealth system). Eventually the monsters will notice your presence.

Both invisibility and stealth now contain detaunt elements when you are in a party. Opponents will prefer to attack targets that are visible, and if they cannot find you they will eventually give up, rather than persistently hunting for you over long distances. Distance to your observer also now plays an important role – beyond a certain distance they are unable to detect you at all, even when they think they may know where you are. Hate will now decay much faster if a monster has no idea where you are.

This system gives us more flexibility to adjust and improve the gameplay of stealth and invisibility. For example, among our future development plans, we would like to add in the ability to open doors and pull levers without invisibility or stealth dropping. However, opening a door or pulling a lever would still make a sound, which the monster would have a chance to hear.Known IssuesThe detaunt effect of stealth and invisibility currently only function while in a party - monsters will currently not give up searching for you if you are solo.

The Couriers of House Orien, masters of transport and delivery, have begun a new effort to make inroads into the wealth held by Xen’drik and Stormreach. To that end, they have placed enchanted delivery devices throughout the city to allow citizens, for a small fee, to transport items quickly over short distances.

These devices will be found in the city wards of Stormreach when the Twilight Forge Module is released. A representative of House Orien will also be available in the city to talk to and answer the questions of those interested.

Features

Send Text Messages

You can write messages to your friends or other characters on your account and they will be delivered the next time they come online.

Send Items

When sending a message, you can attach an item from your inventory to it. The item will be removed from your inventory and wait for the recipient to retrieve it.

Send Currency

When sending a message, you can enter an amount of currency that you would like to send.

Receiving Mail

You can send and retrieve mail through mailboxes, which are placed across Stormreach in the different City Wards. When you receive a message, you will see a letter icon on your focus orb. Once a message is opened, it will be deleted after three days.

Dead Letter Office

If a person on your ignore list attempts to send you a message, it will be returned to the sender. Unopened letters will be returned to the sender after 30 days. If you receive a message that was returned to you, you must open it within 30 days or it will be deleted.

The services of the House Orien Couriers will provide a complete system for communication and commerce with other residents of Stormreach. It’s never been easier to do business and keep in touch!