The Coin Lords representative for Trivia and Events, Sir Lawrence d'Deneith returns with his next round of events! Join him as he tests your knowledge, and you attempt to win great prizes!


Event Schedule:
Saturday, September 2nd

7:00 PM Eastern / 4:00 PM Pacific: Mabar
8:30 PM Eastern / 5:30 PM Pacific: Tharashk
10:00 PM Eastern / 7:00 PM Pacific: Thelanis

Exclusive DDO Interview!

Stormreach Residents! DnD Radio's DJ Bandio has been hard at work and has gotten an exclusive interview from David Eckleberry, from Turbine's Game Design Team for DDO, and he has some insight into the new module coming out in September.

DnD Radio wants to let all of you know that we will be airing the interview on Friday, September 1, 2006 from 3-6pm PST. But we need you to make this possible!

Tell your friends and be the first to know the juiciest news from DDO.

Connect to DnDRadio by going to www.dndradio.com and choosing your player.

Weekly Development Activities: August 30, 2006
30-Aug-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 next scheduled update - Stormreach Under Siege.

Monsters

• Dead mummies will no longer cause despair.
• Charmed mummies will no longer cause despair in allied players.
• The Warrior of the Six is now correctly tagged as Neutral Evil.

Items

• NEW - The new brigandine armor introduced in the Twilight Forge Module will now appear properly on Drow.

Quests

• Gwylan's Stand
  
  • An influx of foolish adventurers into the area surrounding Gwylan's Stand has allowed the various monsters in the area to accumulate a little more treasure.
    
• Necropolis
  • Bloody Crypt
    
    • The Lich is now the Black Abbot and not a generic lich.
    • Using the levers to open the east and west wings will correctly report that you used a lever, and not a book.
      
    • Salasso now wears the correct robe.
  • Bloody Crypt Junction
    
    • Using the waypoint to the burning heart will correctly place you at the side entrance room.
    • You can now see Brother Salasso at work on the Heretical Path from the junction.
      
  • Graveyard
    • Julia has outfitted her tavern with new tables and glassware.
    • The tavern now has a mapnote.
    • Kai-Teng and Dame Calla have unpacked many of their books and papers.
  • Tomb of the Burning Heart
    
    • Fixed several untargettable sarcophagi.
      
    • Fixed a group of inactive wights.
  • Tomb of the Crimson Heart
    
    • Several undead will no longer spawn on a wall.
      
  • Tomb of the Immortal Heart
    
    • Only one of each book will spawn.
      
    • Hell Hounds and Earth Elementals will no longer respawn.
  • Tomb of the Sanguine Heart
    
    • Fixed a broken trap.

Under Development
These items are currently in development and are scheduled for some time after the next update (most likely Module 3).

Performance

• NEW - The landscape renderer has been overhauled to provide better performance (especially load times). In addition, the new landscape engine enables huge draw distances that were not possible before.
• NEW - The overall frame rate has been improved and ‘hitching’ reduced.
• NEW - Avatars and monsters are now a bit brighter than other objects (the intensity depends upon the environment and lighting conditions).
• Overall bandwidth of the game will be reduced another 1-3%, and certain problematic dungeons and laggy areas will be significantly improved by 20-50% (when your client gets flooded with information about objects in your local area).

General

• NEW - Phantasmal killer is now a fear effect.
• Players will no longer get stuck while dismounting from ladders.
• We are pleased to announce the addition of the /showhelmet command which can be used to hide your helmet graphic.
• We are improving the combat/damage feedback mechanism. This will not only eliminate "false" hits where the target would flinch but no attack roll would take place, but also give better feedback as to the strength of the hit.
• NEW - When you successfully swap a spell, you will now get an alert telling you that it worked.
• NEW - Lava Cam! When your camera is in lava, it now looks more like it's in lava, as opposed to water.
• NEW - Made some small tweaks to our avatar animations. For example, human female's wrists won't twist in the dual weapon combo attack, dwarven arms won't over-extend when they use an axe to cleave, etc.

Monsters

• NEW - Several bow wielding enemies will now shoot various energy arrows like flaming arrows or cold arrows. These will do the typical piercing damage (1d6 and up) in addition to various amounts of energy damage.
• Widow type spiders will once again shoot functional webs.
• Elemental Empathy will work properly on Earth Elementals that have used their Earthgrab ability.
• NEW - Female humanoid villains will no longer charge into melee range if armed with spells or bows.
• We are fixing an issue with the death animations of Arcane Skeletons. They will no longer "eat collectables" they should be creating.

Skills & Abilities

• NEW - Bards can now activate their singing abilities while moving! The activation time on their singing abilities has been reduced significantly as well. An animation glitch has also been fixed!
• NEW - The description for the Paladin's Lay on Hands ability has been corrected to better describe the amount of healing/damage that the ability does.

Turbine and SAKURA internet launch DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE(tm):Stormreach(tm) in JAPAN

WESTWOOD, MA - August 28, 2006 - Turbine, Inc. and SAKURA Internet Inc. announced that DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE(tm): Stormreach(tm) (DDO), the first massively multiplayer online ("MMO") roleplaying game inspired by the legendary pen-and-paper game, has launched today in Japan. DDO is based on the world-renowned DUNGEONS & DRAGONS(r) brand franchise from Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS). DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is under license from the Hasbro Properties Group, the intellectual property development arm of Hasbro, Inc. DDO is published by Atari, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATAR) in North America.

Following on the launch of DDO in North America and Europe, Turbine and SAKURA worked together to localize the award-winning game for theJapanese market including the development of Asian-themed armor, weapons and content. DDO is a unique experience where players must use their combat skills and wits to survive dangerous dungeons, fiendish traps and foes that punish the foolish. The game seamlessly combines the beautiful world of Eberron(r), the classic D&D(r) v3.5 version rules, and the latest innovations in online technology into a breathtaking gaming experience.

"DDO offers fresh and exciting game play that captures the true spiritof the D&D adventures that have been around for over 30 years," saidJeffrey Anderson, president and CEO of Turbine, Inc. "We are confidentthat the game will appeal to both MMO gamers and D&D fans in Japan."

"Today's launch of DDO marks a major milestone for SAKURA as we continue to lead the growth of online games in Japan," said Ryo Sasada, president and CEO of SAKURA Internet Inc. "Players in Japan will appreciate Turbine's faithful adaptation of D&D's party-based adventures that have made the game a premium title in the industry."

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE: Stormreach recreates the essence of the classic pen-and-paper roleplaying experience - with an emphasis onnon-grinding, instanced quests that provide a unique, immersiveexperience for each party. Authentic features in the game includecustomizable characters; dungeons filled with devious traps; monstersand stories from the Eberron campaign setting; an on-screen d20(20-sided die) and a dungeon master. The unique online world ofStormreach is a bustling city with thousands of players from around the world. It represents a new paradigm for the MMO genre with uniquefeatures including party-based quests, integrated voice chat, real-time action combat, and award winning graphics.

Key features:

* Authentic D&D Characters & Monsters
Create a custom character from D&D's newest campaign setting, Eberron,choosing from nine classes (barbarian, bard, cleric, fighter, paladin,ranger, rogue, sorcerer and wizard) and six races (human, elf, halfling, dwarf, drow and warforged) plus hundreds of skills, feats and looks. The result is a countless number of possible combinations. Characters will need both wit and brawn to complete quests and advance over time as they encounter monsters from the D&D universe, including the Mindflayer, Ogre Magi, Red Dragon and Warforged Titan.

* Gripping Combat
A unique active combat control system requires tactical thinking andquick reflexes as much as character abilities and skill. Characters will battle in real-time and have the ability to block with shields, dodge to the side and tumble away from enemy attacks. Unlike other online roleplaying games, the outcome of the battle is not solely determined by statistics - player skill is an important factor in succeeding in combat against fierce monsters in the dungeons.

* Dangerous Dungeons
Players must face devious traps, intricate puzzles and fierce monstersin their quest for treasure and rewards. Private instanced adventuresminimize the interference from party outsiders and reward players forthe cooperative completion of quest objectives, eliminating the sense of repetitive combat found in certain other massively multiplayer online games.

* Authentic Party-Based D&D Gameplay
Coordinate tactics with the game's integrated voice chat system toexperience D&D the way it was meant to be played - in a small partysetting. Players will need to create balanced parties including avariety of character classes in order to complete their quests. Players can also choose to participate in solo adventures to hone their skills for more advanced party-based quests.

DDO is currently available in retail stores throughout Japan for5,040JPY (tax included). Additional information can be found athttp://www.ddo-japan.com

Just to set a thing or two straight. The next Module, with PvP, Level Cap increase, etc., is not an expansion and will be available to all of our customers. That should be released around the end of October.

Stormreach Under Siege is not a Module release. It is another content update, similar to Litany of the Dead. It's slated for late September right now.

Please join us on Wednesday, August 23rd, for a House of Commons with the developers of EverQuest at 5 PM Pacific / 8 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.

We hope to see you there!

Monster Profile: Mummy
23-Aug-2006

From the personal journal of Azalai Korias, Elven Wizard:

12 Sypheros, 998:

The astrologers see evil portents and dire omens -Mabar waxes, and the orreries show it within the constellation Falazure. "The Endless Night lies within Death and Decay", they say.

Where they see danger, I see opportunity.

I paid the little kobold a handsome fee for his work - its words matched a phrase from the rubbings I acquired so long ago in the Storm Giant's tomb. The pieced together hints and riddles make me believe that I know the location of another ancient tomb; another that holds the secrets and relics of old Xen'drik long thought lost.

A young drow fresh from the jungle asked to join us on our expedition, but I sent her on her way. Our journey was not one suited for the inexperienced, so I pointed her towards the Harbormaster.

15 Sypheros, 998:

After two days of travel through the jungle, my deductions proved to be true and we found the tomb. Kleija led us through a series of deadly traps and deep into the crypt. The mazelike twists brought us to a large chamber dominated by a grand sarcophagus inlaid with precious metals and gems. She took a few moments to look it over, and with a nod from Senna, cracked open the seal.

A visible cloud of despair poured from the coffin and the cold grip of fear grabbed at our hearts. A bandage-wrapped hand pushed the lid aside roughly as the Mummy stood. The warriors stood paralyzed in fear as I called upon my magic sending Scorching Ray after Scorching Ray into the creature. The Mummy roared angrily at the burning flame and charged, knocking me to the side with his enormous fist.

Where the Mummy's blow had connected with my body the flesh began festering almost immediately, shriveling away - the dreaded rotting curse of the Mummies. I crawled back away from the monster as Khovis completed his Flame Strike incantation. The combination of holy power and flame was too much for the Mummy, and it fell to the ground as dust.

It's amazing how quickly Mummy Rot progresses. I watched with a mix of fascination and revulsion as my arm began to wither away as I explained to Khovis the proper method of curing the disease. Due to his prompt attendance and ability to listen to instructions, I'm happy to say that I made a rapid recovery.

The tomb did not hold any answers for me, only more riddles and clues.

Always riddles and clues...

***********************

Creature Name: Mummy
Creature Type: Undead
Environment: Usually temples and tombs
Attack: Slam, melee weapons, spells
Special: Despair, Mummy Rot
Organization: Solitary, pair, or gang (3-5)

While Mummies are not extremely common in the areas close to Stormreach, the well traveled adventurer will undoubtedly encounter one of these terrifying creatures when traveling further afield. Often found in exotic desert temples, these powerful guardians will stop at nothing to destroy intruders.

While exploring the halls of a forgotten tomb, you may notice a pungent, not unpleasant, odor of spices and balms. Let me assure you that after one encounter with the source of this odor, you will forever associate that smell with death. Unlike other undead, the Mummy is preserved with these pungent materials as well as dark magic. Also preserved within the funereal wrappings is a single minded devotion to one thing: the destruction of all trespassers.

They pursue this goal with a lethal mix of physical strength, a powerful, almost paralyzing field of despair which precedes them into battle, and an awful ability to infect anyone they touch with a horrible malady, commonly referred to as Mummy Rot. If left untreated, a victim of Mummy Rot has only minutes to survive before being reduced to a pile of dust.

Less common but no less ferocious are Mummies of higher station. Mummy Lords, the twisted trustees of long forgotten rulers, are truly powerful and truly terrifying. While packing all of the same punch as their lesser brethren, these guardians often bring powerful spells to the fight.

So, what in the name of Eberron, is one to do in the face of such evil power? Listen well. If you do not bring at least one Cleric or high level Paladin, then you should consider their ways yourself and start praying. Barring bringing an entire chest full of restorative potions, the Cleric is your indispensable friend when facing Mummies. Mummy rot is like an unholy blend of disease and curse. In order to treat the affliction, you need skills and spells for dealing with both. This is where your Cleric or Paladin companion earns his keep. When Mummy Rot sets in, do not panic and splash around a lot of healing magic and potions. This can lead to disaster, for against Mummy Rot healing magic alone has been known to fall short. One must keep a calm mind and treat the affliction as a cursed disease. With your defense carefully maintained by your healers, take the fight to the Mummies with fire as your main weapon. While incredibly strong and determined, Mummies are quite vulnerable to fire and cannot withstand a sustained fiery onslaught.

The Mummy is a formidable foe. In order to achieve victory, one must plan ahead and be prepared for the worst. And please, bring a Cleric and Paladin along.

In-Game Trivia Event, August 26
22-Aug-2006

The Coin Lords representative for Trivia and Events, Sir Lawrence d'Deneith returns with his next round of events! Join him as he tests your knowledge, and you attempt to win great prizes!

Event Schedule:

Saturday, August 26th

7:00 PM Eastern / 4:00 PM Pacific: Argonnessen
9:00 PM Eastern / 6:00 PM Pacific: Ghallanda

Event Details:

• Event will run 60 minutes
• Questions will take place roughly every 5-8 minutes server-wide via a broadcast message.
• Sir Lawrence will be gathering players in front of the Market gate in the Harbor.
• To reply to a question, send a /tell to "+Sir" with what you believe is the correct answer. The first player to reply with the correct answer will win that round.
• Players can answer a question correctly no more than once per server in order to allow others a chance to win prizes. Winning players may not win on the other servers.
• At the end of the allotted event time, all the winners will be asked to gather together and they will be asked a new question which will determine that server’s grand winner!
• Players may attempt to answer questions on each event server, however all winners may not win more than once.
• Prizes for each finalist will be a unique robe exclusive to trivia winners. In addition, the top players from each server will win a limited edition DDO poster signed by the game designers and Sir Lawrence d’Deneith as well as a copy of the Dungeon Masters Guide II

Join Turbine at Penny Arcade Expo!

The Turbine Team is traveling to Bellevue Washington from August 25 - 27th to show off all of our games at Penny Arcade Expo! Come by the Meydenbauer Center and visit us to see the latest from DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE™: Stormreach™, The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™, and Asheron's Call®! James Jones, David Eckelberry, Sporkfire and Samera will be there to represent DDO!

Turbine and NVidia will raise the roof at the Red Lion Inn as sponsors of the official Saturday night party, starting at 7:30 PM! Eat, drink, play games and win prizes with us!

Turbine is also well represented in the panel discussions being held at PAX. Set some time aside and come listen and ask questions!

Ariel "Samera" Jaffee-Marks (DDO Online Community Relations Specialist): The Growing Role of Woman in the Gaming Industry, Friday August 25 5:00 - 6:00 PM

Jim "Marketroid" Drewry (Turbine Director of Marketing): The Domination of Online Gaming, Friday August 25 7:15 - 8:15 PM

Victor "Sporkfire" Wachter (DDO Online Community Relations Manager): The Role of Community and PR in the Game Industry, Saturday August 26 7:00 - 8:00 PM

All panels are located in the Satellite Theatre!

Weekly Development Activities: August 21, 2006
21-Aug-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 next scheduled update - Stormreach Under Siege.

Monsters

• NEW - Dead mummies will no longer cause despair.
• NEW – Charmed mummies will no longer cause despair in allied players.
• NEW - The Warrior of the Six is now correctly tagged as Neutral Evil.

Quests

• NEW - Gwylan's Stand
  
  • An influx of foolish adventurers into the area surrounding Gwylan's Stand has allowed the various monsters in the area to accumulate a little more treasure.
    
• NEW - Necropolis
  • Bloody Crypt
    
    • The Lich is now the Black Abbot and not a generic lich.
    • Using the levers to open the east and west wings will correctly report that you used a lever, and not a book.
      
    • Salasso now wears the correct robe.
  • Bloody Crypt Junction
    
    • Using the waypoint to the burning heart will correctly place you at the side entrance room.
    • You can now see Brother Salasso at work on the Heretical Path from the junction.
      
  • Graveyard
    • Julia has outfitted her tavern with new tables and glassware.
    • The taven now has a mapnote.
    • Kai-Teng and Dame Calla have unpacked many of their books and papers.
  • Tomb of the Burning Heart
    
    • Fixed several untargettable sarcophagi.
      
    • Fixed a group of inactive wights.
  • Tomb of the Crimson Heart
    
    • Several undead will no longer spawn on a wall.
      
  • Tomb of the Immortal Heart
    
    • Only one of each book will spawn.
      
    • Hell Hounds and Earth Elementals will no longer respawn.
  • Tomb of the Sanguine Heart
    
    • Fixed a broken trap.

Under Development
These items are currently in development and are scheduled for some time after the next update (most likely Module 3).

Performance

• Overall bandwidth of the game will be reduced another 1-3%, and certain problematic dungeons and laggy areas will be significantly improved by 20-50% (when your client gets flooded with information about objects in your local area).

General

• Players will no longer get stuck while dismounting from ladders.
• We are pleased to announce the addition of the /showhelmet command which can be used to hide your helmet graphic.
• We are improving the combat/damage feedback mechanism. This will not only eliminate "false" hits where the target would flinch but no attack roll would take place, but also give better feedback as to the strength of the hit.

Monsters

• Widow type spiders will once again shoot functional webs.
• Elemental Empathy will work properly on Earth Elementals that have used their Earthgrab ability.
• We are fixing an issue with the death animations of Arcane Skeletons. They will no longer "eat collectables" they should be creating.

DDO at Gen Con Indy Photos!
17-Aug-2006

It's called the Best Four Days in Gaming for a good reason. Every year, Indianapolis hosts Gen Con, where gamers from all over the country converge to play with their friends, dress up as their favorite characters, gather swag and check out the newest games, whether they're pen and paper RPG's, Collectible Card Games or video and computer games. This year, Turbine had the pleasure of attending Gen Con once again to show off the newest content coming to DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE™: Stormreach™.

We arrived Thursday morning, and we were immediately greeted by mattllow, extreme DDO fan. While it's a bit of a mystery how he managed to arrive at the booth ahead of most of the Turbine staff, we were very happy to see him. He was among the first to tour the Necropolis and journey through the content that made up the Litany of the Dead update. I was just grateful for the opportunity to try out my standard Litany demo speech for a live audience before the rest of the crowd hit:

You're currently in the Necropolis, the central area where you embark on the quests in our upcoming Litany of the Dead update. Travel the road to the north and in the camp to the left, you will see Raddha Cross, who has a quest for you to do. The Litany of the Dead is the first part of a story arc that will continue to unfold in some of our future updates. In this quest, you'll meet one of the new monsters, Henenu the Mummy, who... Oooh... be careful of that acid trap. If you'd had a Rogue with you, he would have made a spot check and warned you of danger before disabling the device. So, anyway... oops. Wights are attacking. You should probably turn undead.

Other D&D fans arrived, too many to name, but we have to hit the highlights. Delmar Wynn of WarCry showed up. He had a full day covering not only us, but all the games he works on for the network. Dane McArdy, famed forum denizen, came and brought us baked goods: Gelatinous Cube cookies! DungeonMaster98 and his wife (who is my newest MySpace friend) drove up for the day and had so much fun they stayed another night.

In addition to Eldorudo and myself, we were fortunate to have DDO developers on-hand to share their expertise and experience on the game with visitors to our booth. Lead Designer David Eckelberry, Designer Chris Pierson and QA Manager Terry "SIG" White spent the day running players through the Necropolis and answered questions on the future direction of the game through our next module and beyond.

One of the main highlights to the show was seeing so many gamers bring their friends by to show them the game. We go to see avid fans and complete newbies together, with fans showing off their knowledge and love for the game and newbies asking questions and learning to love our little slice of the Con.

We also heard a lot of stories about friends who played D&D back in the day, who were now separated in different parts of the world, but were able to keep in touch through regular DDO play nights. Now that's a worthy cause for our development team!

Wrapping it up, we had a great time at Gen Con Indy. We're looking forward to many more events (starting with Penny Arcade Expo next week!) and continuing to meet the fans who support us and make new fans for the future.

Image Key:

1. Gen Con fans visit the DDO Booth
2. mattllow (right) and SIG (left) talk DDO
3. (left to right) mattllow, Delmar Wynn and Dane McArdy hanging out before dinner.
4. The Gelatinous Cubes face an unusual situation: we're about to eat them
5. David Eckelberry talks to fans

Litany of the Dead Part One: The Necropolis Now Live!
16-Aug-2006

Here are the full release notes for the Litany of the Dead Part One: The Necropolis that will hit live servers on Wednesday August 16, 2006.

Introducing Five New Dungeons (CR 5-6)!

Several centuries ago, a splinter group of the Blood of Vol settled near where Stormreach lies today. The leader of the group had great aspirations, and after following in Vol’s footsteps and becoming a lich, he craved even more power and set out to become a god.

He recruited three vampire friars to write a sacred text for him, The Litany of the Dead. Each vampire would be responsible for a third of the book, The Heretical Path, The Twisted Apocrypha, and The Black Prophecy. When all three works are finished and combined, the lich will arise from his rest and ascend to godhood. The first crypt opens now...

To read more about these dungeons please click here.

Performance

• We have made some changes to the Twilight Forge that should improve performance.

General

• The House Kundarak banking system has opened up a new branch in the harbor inside the Harbormaster's House! House Kundarak – striving to meet YOUR banking needs.
• Loot messages from other players can be filtered out using the chat options on your chat tab.
• Tells sent to invalid character names once again give a more correct error message.
• The spell exchange and energy spell selector dialogs behave correctly when you dismiss them using the escape button.
• Fixed more stuck points throughout the world.

Monsters

• Prolonged exposure to the Plane of Night has had negative effects on Velah and has stripped her of some of her former epic powers. Note that to compensate she has grown a bit smarter, and many of the old strategies used may not work as well as they once did. Experimentation, quick thinking, and valor will surely lead heroes to find new ways to defeat her.
  • Velah’s spellcasting AI and line of sight recognition have been improved.
  • Her attacks are no longer flagged as unblockable.
  • The average damage of her physical attacks have been reduced. The critical hit ranges on various attacks have been modified.
  • Her tail knockdown attack now uses the same mechanics as other Knockdown effects.
  • Wing Buffet is now considered a physical attack rather than a spell. The knockback effect now has a reflex save.
  • Velah’s Dragon Breath is no longer treated as a physical attack. It is now entirely fire damage with a single reflex save, and can no longer crit or miss.
  • Dispelling Breath now removes half as many magical effects as before.
  • Her Telekinesis ability now has a will save.
  • All spells cast by Velah now properly use her Charisma to determine DC’s.
  • Fireballs spit by Velah are now entirely fire damage and scale properly on Hard and Elite.
  • Velah herself scales properly in difficulty on Hard and Elite.
• Warforged Titan
  • Fixed an issue that was locking the Warforged Titan to ranged combat mode. He should chase targets on the ground more often now.
  • Made improvements to the Warforged Titan's target recognition and fixed an issue which was keeping the Warforged Titan's attention locked onto one target longer than intended.
• Wildmen apply the feeblemind effect less often, generally on critical hits and/or their special leap attack.
• Melee oriented Troglodytes will move closer to their targets - they should no longer attempt to make melee attacks from out of range.
• The effects caused by the warforged quori humanoids in the WFT area will no longer produce FX. Previously this on-damage effect could slow down performance due to the spam of visualized effects.

NPCs

• Laina the Excoriated will close her shop window properly.

Combat

• The critical threat range is no longer doubled on the 4th swing in a combo.
• The feeblemind bestowed by wildmen is now curable by player-cast restoration (an upcoming update will fix the NPC-cast heal).

Items

• Vorpal weapons will instantly kill monsters as per the beheading rules in the Players Handbook - you must roll a natural 20 and confirm a crit to vorpal your target. Heads will not actually fall off (as cool as that would be!)
• Niac's Cold Ray and Knock scrolls are now available at Lorna Wyrmtouched, Arcane Scroll Vendor in the marketplace tent for everyone (even people who have completed the Shan-ta-kor series).
• The Freedom of Movement effect on the Kundarak Delving Boots will now ward the movement effects of Storm Giant weather control. It will no longer ward the Beholder's petrify eye beam or the Mummy's Despair ability.
• Items that cast Featherfall have gotten an upgrade in usability. These items are now fast-casting and use a self-only version of Featherfall.
• The "of Destruction" weapon effect is much weaker than intended. To make the effect worthy of its cost, "of Destruction" will now reduce the target's AC by 4 the first time it hits. There is no saving throw for this effect.
• The names for Seeker +1, Seeker +2, Seeker +3 etc. items have been changed to be consistent with other effect naming conventions - they are now named to match the bonus they give (Seeker +2, Seeker+4, Seeker +6 etc.)

Spells

• Hazadill was having such fun with Otto's Sphere of Dancing that he didn't realize that he was breaking the rules of the universe and casting area-of-effect Otto's IRRESISTIBLE dance rather than area-of-effect Otto's RESISTIBLE dance. This has been fixed. Don't forget to pack your will saves!
• Fixed a long-standing issue with dispel effects that was causing dispels from the Dispel Magic spell to be much harder than they should normally be.

Quests

• Gnarl's Tomb
  • Old Gnarl's ghost now opens his door after a fight if he dispatches any would-be thieves. This allows parties to attempt him again without resetting the dungeon.
• Restless Isles
  • The Runetusk Commander will no longer speak to you after he dies.
  • Several encounters were displaying their DM text repeatedly. This has been fixed.
• Twilight Forge
  • If you are carrying a party member's soulstone, the crystals will no longer fire at you if you die while you have the appropriate key. Conversely, the crystals will resume firing at you if you pick up a soulstone. Additionally, we fixed a visual bug where the crystals appeared to fire at other players if they had the appropriate key.

TURBINE PRESENTS LITANY OF THE DEAD PART ONE FOR DUNGEONS & DRAGONSONLINE(tm): STORMREACH(tm)

New Content Module Brings Players to the City of Necropolis

WESTWOOD, MA - August 16, 2006 - Turbine, Inc. announced today the release of the third content module for DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE(tm): Stormreach(tm) (DDO), the first and only massively multiplayer online (MMO) roleplaying game based on the world-renowned DUNGEONS & DRAGONS(r) brand franchise from Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS). The Litany of the Dead Part One module pits players against Brother Salasso, the fearsome Vampire. Turbine will offer the Litany of the Dead Part One module free of charge for all current DDO subscribers. DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is under license from the Hasbro Properties Group, the intellectual property development arm of Hasbro.

"We've been very busy since the launch of DDO adding content and improving features in the game," said Jeffrey Anderson, president and CEO of Turbine, Inc. "The Litany of the Dead is the first of a three part story that delivers epic quests, fearsome monsters and one of the best MMO experiences available today."

The Litany of the Dead Part One module features five compelling new dungeons that provide a variety of additional content for advanced players in the game, including surprises around every corner that will challenge the most jaded adventurer. The Litany of the Dead Part One is the first in a series of three planned modules that will provide new content and features for DDO. Turbine will continue to release additional modules over time that add new content, features, and other improvements to the hit MMOG.

Published by Atari, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATAR), DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE has been enthusiastically received by many gaming critics, including The New York Times, PC Gamer, Game Informer and many more.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE: Stormreach recreates the essence of the classic pen-and-paper roleplaying experience - with an emphasis on non-grinding, instanced quests that provide a unique, immersive experience for each party. Authentic features in the game include customizable characters; dungeons filled with devious traps; monsters and stories from the Eberron(r) campaign setting; an on-screen d20 (20-sided die) and a dungeon master. The unique online world of Stormreach(tm) is a bustling city with thousands of players from around the world. It represents a new paradigm for the MMO genre with unique features including party-based quests, integrated voice chat, real-time action combat, and award winning graphics.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE: Stormreach is currently available online and in retail stores for $49.99. Additional information can be found at www.ddo.com. For more news and information about D&D Online, make sure to check out DDO Stratics!

Archlord Beta Contest!

Alrighty, folks... here it is. The Ultimate Archlord contest has arrived!

Over a period of a 4 weeks, beginning Friday, August 11, 2006 through Thursday, September 7, 2006, we will be accepting your entries.

This is very simple... we have some easy questions for you to answer. Your answers will be saved into a database, with your email attached for identifying you, and a number will be assigned to your entry. At the end of the contest, a random number generator will be used to choose the winners of the contest.

So what are the questions all about? Well, we had someone from our team create some simple questions to give y'all something to do in order to enter the contest! Naturally, we are looking for correct answers... but more importantly, we want you to enter and win!

Yes, yes... I know. You want to know what the prizes are, right? Good thing I know what they are, so I can tell you!

There will be one Grand Prize winner, and 5 Runners-up. The prizes are as follows:

1st & 2nd Runner-up - A Copy Of Archlord and A Beta Key 3rd, 4th & 5th Runner-up - An Archlord Beta Key

And the Grand Prize...

A custom built PC courtesy of NZXT™, this would be a hand built PC including ArchLord custom graphics on the outside!

Seriously! A computer!

So what are you waiting for?!? Enter today!

Please review our contest rules before submitting your entry.

Stratics: Now let's discuss some of the game's features. ArchLord is said to feature over 2500 quests in-game. What sort of quests can we expect? btw suggest: What sort of quests can we expect? (add: Can you give us an example?)

Tim:
ArchLord contains 800 quest chains, whose steps add up to a grand total of 2,500 quests. There will be a real mixture of quests in the game as well. Players can look forward to delivery quests, so go and take this sapling tree to Xian in the other village. It will also feature search quests where you need to go and fine old abbeys and things like that. Players will also be asked to go and kill X number of creatures, or go and obtain X number of an item. An example of another quest type would be 'A wolf pack recently attacked the village and made off with the sacred chalice. We need this back, please go out and hunt those wolves, return to us our chalice.' That's just a small overview of the kind of quests that you can expect from ArchLord. It also doesn't really get across the lore and story that is weaved into the quest text.

I am sure if you examine [the Boots of Striding and Springing] again sometime in, oh, lets say late September you will find that you are mistaken.

Weekly Development Activities: August 7, 2006

07-Aug-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 next scheduled update.

Performance

• We are making some changes to the Twilight Forge to improve performance.

General

• The House Kundarak banking system will be opening a new branch in the harbor inside the Harbormaster's House.
• Loot messages from other players will be tagged as loot messages and can be filtered out.
• NEW - The spell exchange and energy spell selector dialogs will behave correctly when you dismiss them using the escape button.
• Players will no longer get stuck while dismounting from ladders.

Monsters

• NEW – Prolonged exposure to the Plane of Night has had negative effects on Velah and has stripped her of some of her former epic powers. Note that to compensate she has grown a bit smarter, and many of the old strategies used may not work quite so well. Experimentation, quick thinking, and valor will surely lead heroes to find new ways to defeat her.
  • Velah’s spellcasting AI and line of sight recognition will be improved.
  • Her attacks will no longer be flagged as unblockable.
  • The average damage of her physical attacks will be reduced. The critical hit ranges on various attacks will be modified.
  • Her tail knockdown attack will use the same mechanics as other Knockdown effects.
  • Wing Buffet will be considered a physical attack rather than a spell. The knockback effect will have a reflex save.
  • Velah’s Dragon Breath will no longer treated as a physical attack. It will be entirely fire damage with a single reflex save, and can no longer crit or miss.
  • Dispelling Breath will remove half as many magical effects as before.
  • Her Telekinesis ability will have a will save.
  • All spells cast by Velah will properly use her Charisma to determine DC’s.
  • Fireballs spit by Velah will be entirely fire damage and scale properly on Hard and Elite.
  • Velah herself will properly scale in difficulty on Hard and Elite.
  • For more information on the origin of these changes, please read this thread.
• Wildmen will apply the feeblemind effect less often, generally on critical hits and/or their special leap attack.
• The effects caused by the warforged quori humanoids in the WFT area will no longer produce FX. Previously this on-damage effect could slow down performance due to the spam of visualized effects.
• Melee oriented Troglodytes will move closer to their targets - they should no longer attempt to make melee attacks from out of range.

Combat

• The critical threat range will no longer be doubled on the 4th swing in a combo.
• The feeblemind bestowed by wildmen will be curable by restoration.

Items

• Vorpal weapons will behead monsters as per the Players Handbook - you must roll a natural 20 and confirm a crit to vorpal your target.
• Niac's Cold Ray and Knock scrolls will be available at Lorna Wyrmtouched, Arcane Scroll Vendor in the marketplace tent.
• Items that cast Featherfall are getting an upgrade in usability. These items will be fast-casting and use a self-only version of Featherfall.
• The "of Destruction" weapon effect is a much weaker effect than intended. To make the effect worthy of its cost, "of Destruction" will reduce the target's AC by 4 the first time it hits. There is no saving throw for this effect.
• We are changing the names for Seeker +1, Seeker +2, Seeker +3 etc. items. These effects are being renamed to be consistent with other effect naming conventions - they will be named to match the bonus they give (Seeker +2, Seeker+4, Seeker +6 etc.)
• Laina the Excoriated will close her shop window properly.
• The Freedom of Movement effect on the Kundarak Delving Boots will ward the movement effects of Storm Giant weather control. It will no longer ward the Beholder's petrify eye beam or the Mummy's Despair ability.

Spells

• Hazadill is having such fun with Otto's Sphere of Dancing that he doesn't realize that he is breaking the rules of the universe and casting area-of-effect Otto's IRRESISTIBLE dance rather than area-of-effect Otto's RESISTIBLE dance. This spell will be fixed so that Hazadill as well as other NPC casters will no longer cast the irresistible sphere of dancing, but the correct version with a saving throw.
• We are fixing a long-standing issue with dispel effects that causes dispels from the Dispel Magic spell to be much harder than they should normally be.

Quests

• Gnarl's Tomb
  • Old Gnarl's ghost will open his door after a fight if he dispatches any would-be thieves. This will allow parties to attempt him again without resetting the dungeon.
• Restless Isles
  • The Runetusk Commander will no longer speak to you after he dies.
  • Several encounters are displaying their DM text repeatedly. This will be fixed.

Under Development
These items are currently in development and are scheduled for some time after the next update.

Performance

• Overall bandwidth of the game will be reduced another 1-3%, and certain problematic dungeons and laggy areas will be significantly improved by 20-50% (when your client gets flooded with information about objects in your local area).

General

• We are pleased to announce the addition of the /showhelmet command which can be used to hide your helmet graphic.
• We are improving the combat/damage feedback mechanism. This will not only eliminate "false" hits where the target would flinch but no attack roll would take place, but also give better feedback as to the strength of the hit.

Monsters

• Widow type spiders will once again shoot functional webs.
• Elemental Empathy will work properly on Earth Elementals that have used their Earthgrab ability.
• We are fixing an issue with the death animations of Arcane Skeletons. They will no longer "eat collectables" they should be creating.

Items

• We are also working on exempting Kundarak Delving Boots from the movement restrictions of Sleetstorm and IceStorm.

Spells

• Please disregard the previous entry regarding the Fragment of the Silver Flame. Protection from Evil is being worked on to bring it in line with D&D rules.

Dungeons & Dragons Online Unveils the Forsaken Lands at Gen Con Indy 2006!

The Dungeons & Dragons Online team will debut the upcoming ForsakenLands, DDO's biggest update ever, at Gen Con Indy, http://www.gencon.com, August 10 - 13. This will be your first opportunity to learn about PvP, new ranks, feats, spells and the auction house straight from the DDO team and to hear all about the vast desert known as the Demon Sands!

Visit us in booth 1645!

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE Goes to Gen Con Indy!

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE™ will be appearing at Gen Con Indy on August 10 – 13. Come visit us in Booth 1645, play the game and meet members of the DDO team:

David Eckelberry – Lead Designer
Terry "SIG" White – Quality Assurance Manager
Victor "Sporkfire" Wachter – Online Community Relations Manager
Jesse "Eldorudo" Smith – Online Community Relations Representative

Be ready to learn about DDO and its future plans, including the biggest things to hit DDO yet!

SHADOWS OF STORMREACH
By Keith Baker

Chapter Six

Petra said the tunnel had been built by giants, and Shadow could see why. Even a team of ogres would have trouble working with the massive blocks of stone used in the ancient walls. And then there were the lightstones-orbs of cold fire much like those found in Sharn or Stormreach itself, but easily three times the size of the usual streetlamp. How many thousands of years have these been shining in the depths? she wondered.

The halfling stayed a short distance ahead of the others, clinging to any darkness she could find. As she crept forward, Shadow searched for any sort of trap that might lie in their path-pressure plates, tripwires, the vague shimmer that hinted at the presence of a magical glyph. She found nothing, and this made her even more uncomfortable.

The others were whispering behind her. She couldn't quite make out the words, but the sound was annoying. It seemed that there weren't many people down here, but that was no reason to be careless. Shadow turned and caught Marcus's eye, touching a finger to her lips. The whispering continued as she crept forward, and she turned again, anger growing. Then she realized-

The sounds weren't coming from behind her. They weren't the voices of her friends. They didn't seem to be coming from any one direction. Shadow wasn't even sure if she was hearing them or if the voices were entirely in her mind. When she tried to focus on the words, she found that she couldn't hear anything. But the moment she let her attention slip away, the sound began again, and she had a nagging certainty the voices were talking about her.

"Try to ignore it." This voice was crisp and clear. This was one of Petra's magical gifts. "The effect is a minor telepathic projection. It may be derived from an object-much like the organic key we found earlier-or the barriers between the worlds may be weak in this place. These could be the voices of Xoriat, and if so, listening to them could be a path to insanity."

Shadow shuddered, and she heard – or felt – the voices titter and laugh. Xoriat was said to be the source of all madness, and thinking of the warped warforged and the strange hatchway, the thought that this place might be touched by an unearthly force seemed all too plausible. She continued on, doing her best to ignore the mocking whispers. Soon the hall curved to the west. Patterns of light and shadow suggested that a larger chamber lay around the corner and that there was activity within.

Shadow paused, raising her hand and calling the others to a halt. Pressing close to the wall, she inched toward the bend. She'd scouted a hundred dangerous locations in the past; she'd prowled through graveyards, and even explored a dragon's lair – though mercifully, one long abandoned. But as she crept forward, she felt fear rising along her spine. Each step was more difficult than the last.

They're watching me. She could feel it. They'd known she was here from the moment she entered the warehouse. They're waiting. Just around the corner, most likely. It was a game. And she was the prey.

Marcus, Petra, even Spike ... they'll abandon me at the first sign of trouble. They've probably been planning this all along. They're all working together.

If I just stay here ... if I don't move ... I'll be safe.

NO! Gathering all her inner strength, Shadow silenced the voices and forced down her fear. Steeling her nerves, she slipped around the corner.

Color and light washed over the small chamber before her. Cold fire blazed within four pillars; each was a chaotic blur of a hundred hues, blending and shifting with each second. Despite the distraction of the shimmering light, Shadow spotted a warforged soldier to either side of the door. Her eyes seemed to be sharper than theirs, for neither appeared to have noticed her. Both warforged were disfigured in the same manner as the guard they'd fought earlier, the sigils on their foreheads replaced with pits of swirling light.

A long altar of white marble lay in the exact center of the chamber, and an armored figure was stretched along its length. A third warforged, seemingly inert. An orb of crystal about the same size as Shadow's head floated over the altar, filled with the same brilliant light as the columns Shadow was no wizard, but even she could sense the powerful energy boiling out from the orb. A gaunt man, dressed in tattered black robes, bent over the warforged, engraving runes along its torso with a thin, golden blade. Peering around the corner, Shadow couldn't see the artisan's head; a high collar hid his features.

Now what, Shadow thought. Drop back, plan the best way to deal with the two guards-

She didn't have a chance to complete the thought. The man in the center of the room turned, whirling around with uncanny speed. The movement revealed a horror. The stranger wasn't a man at all. Pale white eyes gleamed in a head covered in oily green skin. Four long tentacles writhed around a lamprey's mouth. A mind flayer ... one of the minions of madness.

Shadow could feel the creature's outrage, a crushing pressure in her mind. Its anger swept over her, a terrible barrage of alien thoughts, and it was all she could do to stay on her feet. Shadow staggered back a step, the voices mocking her, hinting at the terrible fate that awaited her. She tried to find the strength to signal her friends, to call them, but all strength had left her.

None was needed. Spike was already at her side, Marcus close behind. Spike charged, and the priest paused to whisper a prayer. A shock of silver flame burned the terror from Shadow's mind, and she could move again. There was no time to speak, but her eyes met his, and Shadow knew that no words were needed.

Spike might have had trouble with the first of the tainted warforged, but this time he was unstoppable. The stones embedded in his arms and legs blazed, and he'd already brought down one of the warped guards. He and Marcus joined forces against the second warforged, hammering at the soldier with a relentless flurry of blows. Shadow was worried about the master, not the guards. But the tentacled horror at the center of the room seemed almost indifferent to them. It stood watching the battle, as if it was curious to see whether its twisted servants would survive without its aid.

Petra had arrived, and with a gesture she flung a crackling bolt of electricity at the creature. Few beings could withstand such an attack, but the bolt of lightning didn't even touch it. The magical energy dissipated before striking the mind flayer, and Shadow could feel its disdain. She felt its shift in focus. Petra's right hand slowly rose, moving inch by inch toward Marcus and Spike. Her face was a rigid mask, and Shadow could only imagine the struggle going on the elf's mind.

Shadow cursed. What could she do? As skilled an archer as she was, she'd heard tales of these creatures. Much like the wererats, normal weapons had little effect on the children of Xoriat. But she had to do something. Studying the room, she made her choice. Raising her bow, she loosed an arrow at the crystal sphere floating over the altar.

Her aim was true. The arrow struck the orb dead center, and a flash of energy wiped away all sight and thought.

* * *

"It vanished?" Link sounded skeptical.

"We were only blinded for a few seconds," Shadow said, staring into her mug. Laughter and voices were all around her, but these belonged to the patrons of the Leaky Dinghy, and she took some comfort in the sheer banality of the scene. "When I could see again, the orb had shattered, the light had faded from the columns, and the monster was nowhere to be seen."

"And the warforged on the altar?"

"Petra's working on it now, but she thinks he'll be fine. The other three... there's nothing she can do for them. Something twisted their spirits, warping them from within. But you already knew that, didn't you?"

"What do you mean?" Link's voice was pure innocence, but Shadow wasn't fooled.

"You weren't interested in the Bilge Rats," she said. "You knew that someone was preying on warforged. What I want to know is if you were just concerned that this killer might eventually catch up with you or if you were acting on behalf of someone else."

"Shadow, you wound me-"

"Not yet."

"Please," Link continued. "I admit, I have concealed the truth, but only because I did not think it would matter. There are those who say that the first warforged were created in this land, tens of thousands of years before my kind were born in the forges of House Cannith. If this is true, the knowledge of the past could be vital to the future of my race. But I fear there are others who would use it to enslave us ... or to enslave you. And what you have found tonight shows that those fears are justified. I only hope that the artifact you destroyed was the only one of its kind. You found nothing else?"

"That's right."

"Nothing at all? No scrolls or crystals? I'm not just looking out for my own interests. This could affect your friend Spike, as well."

"I'm quite aware of that," Shadow said. "And no, there was nothing else. And if you ever want me to do any work for you again... you'd better have gold, and you'd better tell me everything you know, right from the start. Otherwise, I'll get Spike to twist your head off. Do I make myself clear?"

"Absolutely."

"Does that mean I don't get to twist his head off tonight?" Spike said.

"I'm afraid so," Shadow said. "Put him down, and let's get back to Petra and Marcus."

Spike's gemstones dimmed, but he lowered Link into the chair and released his grip on the scout's neck.

"Take my thanks to your comrades, Shadow," Link said, settling into the chair. "You've done a good deed tonight. And in Stormreach, that's a rare treasure indeed."

Shadow shrugged and made her way through the crowd. A moment later they were on the streets and heading for home. Link's words were still on her mind. You found nothing else in the vault? It hadn't been much of a lie. They hadn't found anything of substance, anything that could be used. But there was one scrap of parchment, a mere fragment of a tome or scroll. Age had blurred the text beyond recognition, but it was clear the mind flayer had been trying to reconstruct it. And one thing could be seen-the image of a warforged, an elf, and a giant-and the warforged was shown as being the same size as the giant. She wished she could trust Link, but she was certain the smuggler had a hidden agenda of his own. I fear there are others who would use it to enslave us... or to enslave you. What could it mean?

Time will tell, I'm sure. For now, it was time to forget about wererats and mind flayers and look forward to a warm bed. Whatever the future would bring, tonight they'd done a good deed.

And in Stormreach, that was a rare treasure indeed.

(The End)

Weekly Development Activities: July 31, 2006
31-Jul-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 next scheduled update.

Performance

• We are making some changes to the Twilight Forge to improve performance.

General

• NEW - The House Kundarak banking system will be opening a new branch in the harbor inside the Harbormaster's House.
• NEW - Tell messages will be displayed in all chat windows by default (for new characters and new chat tabs).
• NEW - Fixing a problem with the Mail UI that causes attached items to not display.
• Loot messages from other players will be tagged as loot messages and can be filtered out.
• Players will no longer get stuck while dismounting from ladders.

Monsters

• NEW - Wildmen will apply the feeblemind effect less often, generally on critical hits and/or their special leap attack.
• NEW - The effects caused by the warforged quori humanoids in the WFT area will no longer produce FX. Previously this on-damage effect could slow down performance due to the spam of visualized effects.
• Improved the dragon's spellcasting AI and line of sight recognition. For more information on possible changes to the dragon, please read this thread.
• Melee oriented Troglodytes will move closer to their targets - they should no longer attempt to make melee attacks from out of range.

Combat

• The critical threat range will no longer be doubled on the 4th swing in a combo.
• The feeblemind bestowed by wildmen will be curable by restoration.

Items

• Vorpal weapons will behead monsters as per the Players Handbook - you must roll a natural 20 and confirm a crit to vorpal your target.
• Niac's Cold Ray and Knock scrolls will be available at Lorna Wyrmtouched, Arcane Scroll Vendor in the marketplace tent.
• Items that cast Featherfall are getting an upgrade in usability. These items will be fast-casting and use a self-only version of Featherfall.
• The "of Destruction" weapon effect is a much weaker effect than intended. To make the effect worthy of its cost, "of Destruction" will reduce the target's AC by 4 the first time it hits. There is no saving throw for this effect.
• We are changing the names for Seeker +1, Seeker +2, Seeker +3 etc. items. These effects are being renamed to be consistent with other effect naming conventions - they will be named to match the bonus they give (Seeker +2, Seeker+4, Seeker +6 etc.)
• Laina the Excoriated will close her shop window properly.
• The Freedom of Movement effect on the Kundarak Delving Boots will ward the movement effects of Storm Giant weather control. It will no longer ward the Beholder's petrify eye beam or the Mummy's Despair ability.

Spells

• NEW - Hazadill is having such fun with Otto's Sphere of Dancing that he doesn't realize that he is breaking the rules of the universe and casting area-of-effect Otto's IRRESISTIBLE dance rather than area-of-effect Otto's RESISTIBLE dance. This will be fixed.
• We are fixing a long-standing issue with dispel effects that causes dispels from the Dispel Magic spell to be much harder than they should normally be.

Quests

• NEW - Caverns of Korromar
  • We are removing the intelligence requirement from the Daanvi Codex so any party member can use it to progress the quest.
• Gnarl's Tomb
  • Old Gnarl's ghost will open his door after a fight if he dispatches any would-be thieves. This will allow parties to attempt him again without resetting the dungeon.
• Restless Isles
  • The Runetusk Commander will no longer speak to you after he dies.
  • Several encounters are displaying their DM text repeatedly. This will be fixed.

Under Development
These items are currently in development and are scheduled for some time after the next update.

Performance

• Overall bandwidth of the game will be reduced another 1-3%, and certain problematic dungeons and laggy areas will be significantly improved by 20-50% (when your client gets flooded with information about objects in your local area).

General

• We are pleased to announce the addition of the /showhelmet command which can be used to hide your helmet graphic.
• We are improving the combat/damage feedback mechanism. This will not only eliminate "false" hits where the target would flinch but no attack roll would take place, but also give better feedback as to the strength of the hit.

Monsters

• Widow type spiders will once again shoot functional webs.
• Elemental Empathy will work properly on Earth Elementals that have used their Earthgrab ability.
• We are fixing an issue with the death animations of Arcane Skeletons. They will no longer "eat collectables" they should be creating.

Items

• We are also working on exempting Kundarak Delving Boots from the movement restrictions of Sleetstorm and IceStorm.

Spells

• Please disregard the previous entry regarding the Fragment of the Silver Flame. Protection from Evil is being worked on to bring it in line with D&D rules.

Litany of the Dead Part One: The Necropolis
02-Aug-2006

The Litany of the Dead Part One will be released to live servers this August. Find out what horrors await adventurers in The Necropolis.

After a few drinks and a few laughs at the tavern, I set out to find adventure (and more to the point, gold). I hit the busy streets of Stormreach, wading through the dense traffic of peddlers and would-be heroes. In the distance, a cacophonous din reaches my ears; my eyes make out a terrifying image: a wild-eyed bard singing fragmented melodies of harsh whispers and piercing screams. His song is like none other I've heard before, yet I move closer to listen, fascinated by the lyrics:

They lie here at eternal rest
The dead of ages past
And when his power reaches out
They will serve at his behest

Four tombs comprise a wicked heart
A scholar sits in solitude
A thrice-cursed text and magic-hexed
The bloody prophet crafts his art

He'll hold the living in his hands
Like worms pulled from the soil
The Dead Time comes for one and all
The Abbot's mark will scar the land

Necropolis (CR 5-6)
Several centuries ago, the Blood of Vol splintered, and a group of cultists formed an off-shoot that has, until now, remained a mystery. The abbot serving as the leader of this group had great aspirations and sought to usurp Vol's place and become a godlike being himself. In order to preserve his fragile existence through the ages, he invoked dark rituals to become an immortal lich. His goal was to create a powerful artifact, a "Litany of the Dead" that would herald a mythic age when the abbot would rule. To do this he enlisted the aid of his three most-faithful servants -- the vampires he called his Black Prophets.

Each vampire was tasked with the creation of a part of the Litany. Each chapter contained the magic necessary for the Abbot's ascension. Until the chapters are finished, he told them, you must remain locked away. But now, the first chapter (the "Heretical Path") is complete and the Black Prophet known as Brother Cuore is free to roam the night once more.

The Silver Flame and the Emerald Claw both have a keen interest in these events. While the groups are openly hostile to one another, a truce was called to fight the threat that the Black Abbot poses. To this end, they seek to capture the Litany and use it against the lich when his mausoleum becomes unlocked.

Tomb of the Crimson Heart
Brother Cuore was a powerful alchemist in life and used these chambers to keep prisoners and subjects for his experiments. The Silver Flame attempted to storm the tomb and destroy Cuore's guardians but they were taken as prisoner... there's a slim chance that they're still alive. Followers of Cuore and the Black Abbot are here patrolling the tomb and "caring" for the prisoners. Ghouls and ghasts haunt the dark corridors, on the prowl for would-be escapees.

Tomb of the Sanguine Heart
The Necropolis is old and decrepit and requires constant upkeep. The lich's servants employ mindless zombies for the task and the Sanguine Heart serves as a repository and "breeding ground" for this kind of cheap labor.

Tomb of the Burning Heart
The Abbot will need soldiers for his armies when the Dead Time comes, thus the purpose behind this tomb. The Burning Heart is where undead warriors train their deadly skills, secure behind gated walls.

Tomb of the Immortal Heart
The sprawling library contains much of Cuore's magical lore and it's all at the disposal of the human cultists that live and work here. Many, if not all, possess some kind of magical skill and bolstered by Cuore's knowledge, they are fearsome adversaries.

The Bloody Crypt
The heart of Cuore's subterranean realm is his Crypt of Blood. A powerful spell guards the entrance and can only be breached by defeating the guardians of the four tombs. Only when this is done may the doors to the crypt be unlocked. And a warning for those who dare enter: Cuore's dark magic protects him well. No man who ever faced him lived to tell the tale. Still, there must be a way to defeat him and retrieve the Heretical Path... or is there?