Update 16

Release Notes: Update 16, The Netherese Legacy

Welcome to the Release Notes for Dungeons & Dragons Online! These release notes were posted on Monday, November 12th, 2012.

News & Notes

Expand your journey west towards the Stormhorn mountains in the Forgotten Realms with our latest game release, Update 16: The Netherese Legacy!

Of Special Note

New Adventure Pack: High Road of Shadows

Oriphanun Huntsilver's journal, containing a fabled Nether Scroll, has vanished and the Harpers are in need of your help to retrieve it! Featuring a new adventure area and 5 new dungeons for characters of Epic levels 23-25. Available in the DDO Store on November 14th, and free to VIPs today!

• Travel the high road as you seek out the Nether scroll fragments
• Storm castles as you retrace Oriphanun's steps
• Help the local Cormyrians fend off the Netheril Wizards

Head towards the gate to Kingsforest and look for the Harper's Cart near the gate in Eveningstar to begin the search!

New Epic Destiny: The Primal Avatar

A new epic destiny is available! The Primal Avatar extends Druidic abilities and adds another destiny to the Primal Sphere. Like the multi-talented Druid, this destiny supports many playstyles and includes options for spellcasting, healing, and supportive roles. Primal Avatar also offers options to enhance Druidic Wolf and Bear forms, as well as enhancing pets and summons. With the Primal Avatar you can:

• Gather spirits to you and call upon them to bolster your offensive and defensive capabilities.
• Increase your Druidic or Ranger caster levels.
• Use your harnessed spirits to slip through the world unseen by your foes.
• At higher tiers, Call forth natural allies to enhance your party members.
• Draw inspiration and power from the four seasons, and unleash nature's wrath on your enemies.
• Become as strong as an oak as you train in Primal Avatar until you can shapechange into a powerful plant-based form.

Primal Avatar is included in the Epic Destinies system. The Epic Destinies system is available as part of the Menace of the Underdark expansion, or in the DDO Store today.

Other Destiny Changes

• Resetting Epic Destinies now costs 1000pp per point spent in the tree. Each time you reset a tree, this cost increases, decaying back to normal over time. Resetting with Looms of Destiny does not raise the cost or count against the decay timer.
• Fixed a client crash related to resetting epic destinies.
• Removed the "rainbow effect" from Fatesinger's Siren's Song. Sirens Song also now allows for a recurring saving throw every three seconds.
• Fixed an issue where the Shiradi Champion's Prism and Double Rainbow benefits would not work properly when both were twisted, but Rainbow was not.
• Many Shiradi Champion abilities can now be used while moving, without canceling the action.
• The Fatesigner's Siren's Song, Reign, Aria, and Dirge should now regenerate for non-bards when in public spaces or resting.
• Fatesinger's Bound Fate was incorrectly displaying +15% magic vulnerability, when it was in fact only +12%. The description has been corrected.
• The Exalted Angel Rebuke Foe ability now plays appropriate visual effects on its target.
• Exalted Angel Reborn in Light can now be activated with only 50 stacks instead of 100.
• Shadowdancer's Meld into Darkness dodge value isn't limited and now actually reaches 100%.
• Shadowdancer: Executioner's Strike and Executioner's Shot have been reworked slightly. New final rank of the melee version: Executioner's Strike - Melee Attack: Perform an attack with +3(W) damage, +1 Critical Threat Range, and +1 Critical Damage Multiplier. On hit: You have a 35% chance to kill a living target instantly if the target fails a Fortitude save (DC 7 + Character Level + Dexterity Modifier + Number of Shadow Charges). Even on a successful save, the target takes 100 additional damage from this attack.
• Shadowdancer: Fixed an issue where some abilities erroneously used your Rogue levels for the DC. They now properly use character level.
• Grandmaster of Flowers: Due to a bug, the enhancement "Perfection of Soul" granted Hide instead of Intimidate. This has been resolved, it now grants Intimidate as intended.
• The Magister enhancement "Arcane Adept" now explicitly states that its discount to spell point costs is an Enhancement bonus.
• Unyielding Sentinel: If you have gained the feats Turn Undead, Smite Evil, or Lay on Hands from this destiny, they are no longer automatically removed from your hotbars when you reset your Destiny points. (They won't function unless you take them again).
• Fury of the Wild: Adrenaline again functions with ranged combat and tactical feats.

New Offhand Item: Orbs

Orbs are a new type of offhand item for spellcasters to wield. Equipping an orb is like using a shield, however when you block with it, a magical barrier of force provides an Orb Bonus to your saving throws and energy resistances. This is in addition to any effects listed on the item. Note that unlike shields, orbs do not inherently increase your Armor Class and Damage Reduction. The first orb is found as a named item in the High Road of Shadows Adventure Pack. More orbs will be added to the game in future updates!

Crafting

• Shard application recipe tooltips no longer list their applied effect descriptions twice.
• Robes and outfits now always properly display their icons in the ingredient slot for a barter shop.

Challenges

• Chests in the Underdark Arena: Fight to the Finish and Underdark Arena: Ring of Fire Challenges are no longer considered the same for the purposes of Ransacking.
• The XP you can earn from completing star objectives in Challenges after the first completion has been increased. Repeated star objectives now grant 25% of the base XP.
• Fixed a crashing issue.

Classes

• Artificers that are on paths now correctly receive their fifth copy of Artificer Knowledge: Scrolls at level 13 without needing to relog.
• Shifting Rake will no longer negatively affect the druid if they have themselves selected while using Baiting Bite.

DDO Store

• Many hair dyes in the DDO Store are now auctionable and tradable.

Enhancements

• The Bard prestige enhancement Spellsong Vigor now works properly on Warforged.
• Pale Masters in an undead forms once again deal normal damage with their unarmed attacks, instead of thinking they were angels dealing light damage.
• Archer's Focus has been modified:
  • Archer's Focus Offensive Ranged Stance: While you are stationary, you gain On Damage: Up to once every 2 seconds, you gain +2% competence bonus to missile damage. This effect can stack up to 15 times. Moving or using the Manyshot ability clears the stack.
• Since Uncanny Dodge no longer has limited uses per rest, Thief-Acrobat enhancements now grant +2% dodge instead of +2 uses of Uncanny Dodge.
• Half-elf Druid Dilettante enhancements have the correct icon now.

Hirelings & Companions

• Hirelings of all levels have invested their earnings in better equipment. They are now more prepared for the difficulties they will face in their adventures.
• Hirelings that cast spells have undergone training to improve their concentration, making them far less likely to have their spells interrupted when under attack.
• Hireling ability scores now scale higher to better match the challenges they face at all levels of play.
• Epic Shadowdancer Hirelings had tooltips describing abilities that did not match up with what abilities they were actually using. Fixed.
• Added clarification to the Wolf Pet Takedown ability so that it's more apparent that the wolf can perform this action on its own.

Items

• Drinking a potion will no longer cause the heal abilities on the player to ignore the healer's spellpower.
• Eveningstar's Key to the City now has a 30 minute cooldown.
• Reconstruct and other spells will now do their usual damage after a caster fires their runearm
• Ancient Giant Relics, Ancient Dragon Relics, Ancient Elven Relics, and all types of Dragonscales, are now ingredients instead of collectibles. The next time they are removed from a collectible bag, they will not be able to be placed back inside. Instead, they will be able to be placed into ingredients bags.
• Collectibles used for Altar of Insanity crafting now have focus orb images.
• The Enchanted Repair-All Kit now has a proper cooldown to prevent accidental multiple uses in a row.
• The ingredients used in upgrading items in the Lords of Madness quest chain no longer have red question marks for their focus orb images.
• The Stone of Change should once again appear on airships.
• Augment Summoning, Grand Summoner, and summoner treasure effects are now displayed.
• Newly generated random accessories in treasure that have Race Restrictions will no longer be able to generate without a UMD check to bypass the restriction.
• The names of the suffixes "Absolute Law" and "Absolute Chaos" have been corrected to read "of Absolute Law" and "of Absolute Chaos" when on your items.
• The amount of increased movement speed granted by Striding equipment was incorrect, and has been increased to match the percentages displayed in Striding item descriptions.
• The description of the Lesser Slayer Count Boost no longer claims to be a minor boost.
• Death Ward potions in Eveningstar from the Cleric of Amaunator shop now properly require a Cleric of Amaunator commendation, not a Druids of the King's Forest commendation.
• The Turbulent Epee's random energy burst now functions properly while equipped by a druid who is Wild Shaped into animal form.
• Animal collars can no longer have a race restriction other than Required Race: Iron Defender, Wolf.
• Tome Upgrades can now be found in random treasure. These wondrous items will allow you to upgrade an existing inherent bonus in an ability score to the next higher inherent bonus. Upgrades that turn a +4 Inherent Bonus into a +5 Inherent Bonus will be able to be found in treasure levels of 27 and higher.
• Night Black Coffee regeneration now applies to characters of all levels, including 21+.

Monsters

• Purple Worms now have smoother tunneling and entrance animations.
• Golems are now vulnerable to freeze and certain grab effects such as Icy Prison, Earth Grab, and Greensteel elemental weapons.
• Glabrezu demons now have a slightly wider range of spells, and do 75% to 100% more damage on their melee attacks.
• Driders will now take slow effects on their attack animations correctly.
• Yuan-ti and a number of other monsters should no longer get stuck facing the wrong way.
• Dretches should now be able to investigate noises and patrol like any other monster. They just needed a little extra training.
• Phasing has been disabled on non-boss shadows, specters, wraiths, and vampires. These monsters still retain their incorporeal miss-chance where applicable.
• Woodwoads no longer cast 30 second long earthquakes.
• Fixed an issue where Monsters in the Mabar festival could be set to lower CR than intended based on properties in the public instance.

Monster Manual

• Bat Hunter Deeds: reduced the top tier Hunter requirement to 10 Bat varieties.
• Skeletons in the Mabar Event now count toward kills in the Monster Manual.
• Monster manual animated images are now more in focus.
• A number of missing monsters are now being counted. As always, if you identify other monsters that seem missing, be sure to include the specific monster name/quest in your bug report!
• Umbral Gargoyle Lord no longer counts as a basic Gargoyle since it is a Shadow.
• Monster Manuals should now update immediately when one is purchased from the DDO Store

NPCs & Vendors

• Barrigan no longer has a vendor icon.
• Arcane reagent vendors in the Twelve and the Portable Hole now sell level 9 spell components and the material component for the Create Undead spell.

Quests

General

• Vases in the Realms now shatter better when you break them.
• Two quest NPCs, Coyle from Threnal and Lars from Korthos now have more hit points and should be easier to keep alive.
• Bear traps now grant Trap Sense bonuses to both the damage and snare saving throws instead of just the damage save.

The Grotto

• Druid and Artificer class pets now also receive the protection from death effect during the tutorial quest.

Acute Delirium

• Beholders in the Airship portion of Acute Delirium now fall to their deaths properly if they are impaired before reaching the Airship.
• Beholders in the Airship portion of Acute Delirium are no longer considered Extraplanar (due to being in Xoriat), and can no longer be banished.

A New Invasion

• Prisoners can no longer be used by more than one person.

Blockade Buster

• Misty now congratulates the party when they've sunk the enemy fleet.

Caught in the Web

• Drop rates for Commendations of Heroism in the raid Caught in the Web have been increased. On Epic Elite difficulty, every player in the raid is guaranteed one commendation each in the first and second chest.
• Chests in the Demonweb should be more obvious now.
• Powerful new upgrades are available for weapons from Caught in the Web

Don't Drink the Water

• Flawless Green Dragon Scales now have a greater chance to appear in the end chest on Epic Hard and Epic Elite.

Druid's Deep

• The story arc end reward for The Druid's Deep can now have heroic normal versions of rare items from the quest chain appear, in addition to the commendations already available.
• Thorn & Paw - Monsters (druid monsters in particular) will no longer sacrifice themselves by falling into pit traps.
• Anyone who was locked out of being able to repeat Druids Curse should now be fixed.
• Fixed an issue in Uthe Lodge where monsters would sometimes appear to not spawn, preventing quest completion.

Endgame: Marguerite

• Removed some perch spots to alleviate an issue where monsters would run off and become hard to find, which could make dungeon completion difficult. As a consolation, the perching skeletons have been moved as well.

Eveningstar

• Several quest givers have shifted positions.
• The "cows" driving the High Road cart are now oxen.
• The Campaign System in Eveningstar has narrower level ranges for objectives to appear (doing quests way over-leveled may result in missing out on Campaign System narration).
• In Eveningstar, the MotU King's Forest chain quest givers will not have yellow quest chalices above their heads if you are below level 20.
• Now that there is more to do in Eveningstar during Heroic Levels, the Campaign System Quest "Around Eveningstar" will no longer be bestowed. If you already have it, you can complete it as normal.

House of Death Undone

• Zhivisha Szind should no longer sacrifice others behind a hidden room.
• Necromancers should no longer spawn inside of a cart, or inside of a wall.
• Enemies should no longer aggro onto players before the door is opened.
• Doors are no longer able to be repeatedly opened and closed.
• Players can now pick up six flashstones at one time.
• Panthers shouldn't attack people who are still in loading screens.
• A secret door will no longer be late to the party, claiming that it's a secret when it has already been opened.

King's Forest

• Fixed some issues where certain NPCs could become unresponsive when players attempted to interact with them.
• Fixed an issue where players were having difficulty interacting with the Hag in The Hag's Prize random encounter.

Lords of Dust

• Sacrificed cultists can no longer drop empty collectible bags.

Lord of Eyes

• Improved the reverse gravity effect of one of the levitation pads to make it consistent with the others. Lord of Eyes:
• Fixed an issue where the exit door could not be used to leave the dungeon in certain circumstances.

The Grotto

• The text for the "Protection from Death" is no longer broken.

The Missing

• Thaarak Hounds can no longer be unable to move through a couple of narrow hallways.

The Portal Opens

• Players can no longer disable a forcefield before killing all of the enemies in the room.

Reclaiming the Rift

• DM lines will no longer cut each other off.

Spinner of Shadows

• Fixed a stuck spot in a lava pit.
• Chased some spiders out of their hiding spots so they can actually be killed.

Sschindylryn

• Removed a duplicate high priestess journal

Underdark

• The path leading to a Red Dragon encounter in the Underdark should no longer re-appear visually after it is destroyed.

Whisperdoom's Spawn

• Quest items are now destroyed after speaking with the Tangleroot Artifact Collector.

Reincarnation

• The Lesser/Greater Reincarnation trainer's dialog box now closes properly when you take a druid level.

Spells

• Fixed some grammatical errors in the Druid spell Regenerate.
• Enveloping Swarm can now be affected by the Empower metamagic feat.
• Reconstruct and other spells will now do their usual damage after a caster fires their runearm
• Drinking a potion will no longer cause the heal abilities on the player to ignore the healer's spellpower.
• Spiked Growth has a shorter cast time but a longer cooldown duration.
• Fixed a typo in the Faerie Fire tooltip.
• Druid Animal form spells now display correct durations.
• Spell Power: If you have multiple items equipped which provide the same type and amount of spell power, unequipping one item will no longer remove the spell power provided by the other item.

Skills, Feats, & Abilities

• Tendon Slicing, when granted by non-weapon equipment, now functions properly with all forms of physical attack.
• Bard Inspire Heroics was displaying the Rage icon on the effect. Changed to proper icon.

UI

• There is now an option to turn off Titles in UI settings.
• Shield Bashing 10% and Shield Bashing 20% will now provide effects feedback in a player's chat window indicating that the character has an enhancement bonus to Shield Bash chance.
• Chat notification sounds are no longer overly-loud.
• Bulletin Boards now have a unique icon over them.
• Raid-givers, bulletin boards, pawnbrokers, vendors, collectors, Spirit Binders, and Quest Arc Givers now have new icons.
• Focus orb image for the Kundarak crafting hall is no longer a black box.
• A sound now plays when a guild levels up or achieves an optional quest objective.
• The chat box now docks with the "&" menu button.
• Polish on the Auction House UI.

Other Changes

• Fixed a serious memory leak related to physics.
• Fixed a memory issue related to graphical textures in dX9.