DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE™: Stormreach™ Beta 4.5 Release Notes

Welcome to Beta 4.5!

Now that all of us here on the DDO team are back and well-rested from the holidays, there’s a palpable sense of energy around the office. It seems like something happens each and every day that reminds us that launch is just around the corner: we lift the NDA, we get a status update on the preorder program (it’s going really well – thanks everyone!), we get to see the near-final box design, and so on.

We know the game’s good now, but we want it to be even better. We’ve added a ton of bug fixes to this update – these release notes are our longest yet by a good margin – and we already have lots of people working on the first post-launch update.

Here are some of the highlights for this update:

• We performed a complete XP pass on each and every dungeon in the game. We looked at each dungeon, evaluated its length and difficulty, and adjusted its XP reward accordingly. In some cases, we found that dungeons were easier than they should be; instead of drastically lowering their XP, we decided to bump up their difficulty to make them worth the XP delivered. The net result of all of these changes is that there is much more XP in the game overall than in the last update.

• It’s no longer possible for characters to get stuck in the market tent, and previously stuck characters should be fixed. Hooray! And thank you to everyone who posted and helped us finally track this down and fix it. If for some reason you do see this issue again, please let us know right away.

• We made some further changes to address the recent chat server issues – these should now be a thing of the past. Thank you for your continued patience while we fixed this problem. Again, if you happen to have any further chat problems, please let us know right away.

• General chat is now available in public areas – you will automatically subscribe to an area’s general chat channel when you zone in. To speak in general chat, just type “/general <message>”.

• Some important combat changes for balance purposes: Manyshot now lasts 20 seconds when activated; it has a 2 minute cooldown timer. If you’re wielding a ranged weapon, monsters will also have a +4 bonus to hit you in melee combat. Melee attacks made while moving now suffer a -4 penalty to hit. You can offset this penalty with the Spring Attack feat.

• Boss monsters should be significantly tougher – we want these fights to be challenging and memorable. You’ll find that boss monsters are now highly resistant or even immune to charm, fear, poison, and death spells. We’ve also raised the AC of many boss monsters.

• We made a number of improvements to combat text output. We clarified a number of existing messages, and we now capture many events that we didn’t capture before.

• We fixed a number of dungeons in the House Kundarak ward that didn’t always successfully record the completion of their quest. These dungeons include the Lair of Summoning, the Forgotten Caverns, the Chamber of Insanity, the Ruined Halls, and the Haunted Library. As a result of this fix, you will no longer be able to enter these dungeons without being on their corresponding quest.

• The Redwillow Ruins received some significant changes: surface encounters now give XP, we added optional objectives to the mini-dungeons, and we simplified the dungeon objectives to make the quest flow better overall.

• Cyrese now gives you a proper story quest for Tempest’s Spine – the quest will show up in your quest journal, and you will receive a reward from Cyrese if you talk to her after you finish the quest.

• We fixed several issues with the puzzle in the Search for the Rare Scrolls quest. This puzzle is now consistently solvable.

• We reduced the effectiveness of (nerfed) the Turn Undead ability. The old version was too overpowered.

We look forward to hearing your feedback on this update on the preorder and beta forums. Enjoy!

Sincerely,
The DDO Team

Known Issues

• Items stored in banks may disappear. We are still working on this issue. In the meantime, we recommend that you not store anything in the bank unless you’re willing to possibly lose it.

Content

• Performed a global review of experience rewards, and adjusted many of them. The main focus is to reward more xp for long story arcs, puzzle-heavy dungeons, and particularly dangerous dungeons. This change increases the total amount of experience points available in the game by a significant amount.

• Overall, high level adventurers are now worth more experience. For every challenge rating level past 1, we apply a +10% to the base experience of the adventure.

• Lowered the experience bonus for completing a dungeon for the first time from 50% to 25%.

• Added a 25% experience bonus for completing a dungeon on hard for the first time.

• Removed the "chests looted" experience bonus.

• Experience bonuses for finding secret doors should now be working correctly.

• Fixed a bug with the final treasure chest in Eyegouger's basement.

• Added a missing control panel in Deneith Sewers 2.

• Fixed a problem with the floor puzzle in the Search for the Rare Scrolls quest.

• Fixed a problem where the head librarian in the Old Archives would never open the door for you if you didn't complete his conversation the first time.

• Turned on traps in the Temple Outpost. Be careful!

• Fixed a blocked valve (which controls a secret door) in the Gnashtooth Prison.

• As always, cleaned up the various environments visually and fixed locations where you could get stuck.

• When Cyrese gives you the Tempest's Spine quest, it now shows up in your quest journal.

• Fixed some XP problems with Tempest's Spine.

• You can no longer access the blocked-off hallway in Freshen the Air.

• Increased the difficulty of the Emerald Claw's Laboratory.

• Improved grammar, wording, and content in several NPC dialogues.

• Reduced the weight of the supply crates in Stormcleave Outpost.

• Changed the name of the Northern Ruins in the Abandoned Keep to the Southern Ruins to reflect their actual location.

• Made many general improvements to the Redwillow Ruins quest. Surface encounters now give XP, we added optional objectives to the mini-dungeons, and we simplified the dungeon objectives to make the quest flow better overall.

• Fixed a problem with the end of the Entering the Gate Chamber quest - you should now be able to actually enter the gate chamber.

• Added some new flavor NPCs to various areas of Stormreach.

• Doors in the Haunted Library should now open and close when you expect them to.

• Added an optional objective for the Glass Spider Queen in the Caverns of Korromar.

• The tutorial and newbie quests received extensive polish passes.

• Fixed some problems with completing the Lair of Summoning, Forgotten Caverns, Chamber of Insanity, Ruined Halls, and Haunted Library.

• Added a new vendor, Four-Fingered Thad, to the tutorial. He will sell weapons to you after you finish Euphonia's quest.

• Fixed the map for the Swiped Signet quest.

• Added a map for Postern Gate Wilds.

• Added missing fog of war effect to Delera's Tomb and Sorrowdusk Isle.

• The game should now recognize that you've talked to Greezix in the Caverns of Shaagh quest.

• You can no longer free the Clan Tunnelworm prisoners without opening their cell doors.

• It’s now possible to select and disable the fire trap control box in the Vault of the Restless.

• The Rotting Crypt in Upper Sorrowdusk is now completable.

• The idol pieces in Scoundrel's Run now need to be physically brought back to the pedestal.

• The troglodyte warlock in the Butcher's Path will no longer respawn once you've killed him.

• Increased the difficulty of Redfang's Nesting Ground.

• Increased the difficulty of the Troglodytes' Get and Old Gray Garl.

• Increased the difficulty of Valak's Mausoleum.

• Increased the difficulty of the Hidden Chapel.

• The Catacombs quests received an overall difficulty increase.

Characters

• Converted Manyshot to a click feat that lasts for 20 seconds, with a cooldown time of 2 minutes.

• Fixed some problems with advancement to level 10 - fighters now receive their bonus feat, rangers receive their new favored enemy, and wizards receive their new meta-magic feat.

• Rangers no longer get greater two-weapon fighting at level 10 - they should get it at level 11.

• Spellcasters who raise their primary stat (intelligence for wizards, wisdom for clerics, etc.) will now see the expected increase in spell points.

• When you advance an ability score as part of gaining a level, you can take feats that require the new ability score. For instance, if a fighter advanced to fourth level and used her ability score increase to raise her dexterity score from 14 to 15, she would be able to select two-weapon fighting (which requires 15 or higher dexterity) as her class feat for that level.

• As per D&D 3.5, the duration of a barbarian's rage ability factors in the constitution bonus from the rage itself.

• The Extend Rage and enhancements are now working correctly.

• As per D&D 3.5, the barbarian rage ability now gives a -2 AC penalty instead of a +2 AC bonus.

• The Precise Shot feat was never implemented and is therefore no longer listed in game.

• The Inspire Competence bard ability now has a range of 10 meters.

• Bards will now correctly receive the Inspire Greatness ability at level 9.

• Bards now need line-of-sight with their target in order to use their Fascinate ability.

• Removed some non-functioning warforged enhancements.

• The warforged Construct Thinking II enhancement is now available.

• The warforged Healer's Friend and Inscribed Armor enhancements are now working correctly.

• Human enhancements that improve healing are in and functional.

• The Improved Mental Toughness feat is now available and working correctly.

• Paladin aura enhancements are now in and functional.

• Paladin fear immunity is now working correctly.

• Skills now have a maximum value of 40.

• Untrained, unusable skills will now show up with "n/a" in all columns when viewed in the character sheet or during character generation.

• New clerics now have the opportunity to review their known spells during character generation.

• Multiclass characters will now display their classes from highest level to lowest level, instead of in alphabetical order.

• Death penalties received at first level no longer carry over to second level.

Gameplay

• When you enter a public area, you will now be automatically subscribed to a general chat channel for that area - use "/general" or "/chat general" to speak on the new channel. Please note that dungeon instances do not have general chat available.

• Chests can now only be looted by people who are in the party when the chest is opened. Anyone who joins the party after a chest is opened will not be able to loot anything from it.

• Reduced the duration that cowered undead remained turned from 60 seconds to 20 seconds.

• Reduced the base number of monster hit dice affected by turn undead from 2d6 + modifiers to 1d6 + modifiers.

• Improved teleport loading times! We made several changes to reduce load times for players.

• Fixed a bug where clicking the Cancel button in the Options panel could corrupt your UserPreferences.ini, which would causes errors when logging back into the game.

• Fixed a problem with the way death penalties were being calculated. The net effect is that deaths will now cost slightly more XP.

• You may now logout while you are dead.

• You may now finish or recall from a dungeon while swimming.

• Summoned monsters no longer count towards kill tallies on adventures.

• Dart and vial traps now properly scale with the trap level.

• Traps and secret objects now scale their difficulty based on the level of difficulty (normal, hard, elite) of the dungeon.

• Corrected and polished a number of character and monster animations.

• Turn undead now shows your turning roll (in both the d20 display and in chat), and the damage inflicted (in chat).

• Removed the charge-up animation from the paladin Smite Evil attack.

Combat

• Melee attacks made while moving now have a -4 penalty to hit. Spring attack is now a passive feat that removes this penalty.

• Slightly increased the attack speed for characters with a high base attack bonus by reducing the delay between combo attacks.

• A monster making a melee attack against a player wielding a ranged weapon now gets a bonus to hit - this roughly simulates attacks of opportunity.

• Fixed a rare bug where ranged attacks would stop working until you logged out and logged back in.

• Sneak attacks now display separate damage amounts for your regular damage and your sneak attack damage. The chat window now tracks sneak attacks as well.

• You will now get appropriate text feedback when you hit a monster for 0 damage.

• You can no longer make melee attacks while stunned or when one or more of your stats is at 0.

• You can now cleave and make sneak attacks while unarmed. Really though, you should just wait until we add monks.

• Issues with cleave, great cleave, and whirlwind attack hitting only one target have been fixed.

• Human males should now be able to sneak attack while holding a sword and shield.

• Your text feedback now clarifies glancing blow attacks.

• Fixed a problem where fired missiles would first stay in place for 100ms before starting to move.

• If you try and use a condition effect (like blindness or level drain) on something that's immune (like the undead), you will now get appropriate feedback.

• You no longer suffer two-weapon fighting penalties when a throwing weapon is in your main hand and a melee weapon is in your off-hand.

Items

• Items that grant feather fall now behave as expected.

• Weapons with charges per day of damage amplification are now functional. Spend a charge to get 30 seconds of the appropriate type of damage amplification.

• It’s no longer possible to use Elemental Gems in public areas.

• There are no longer two different kinds of "Scholarly Note" collectables – we renamed one of them "Research Diary".

• Examining a collectible will now tell you who collects it.

• The rewards for rare arcane collectibles are now magical robes.

• House Phiarlan vendors now give the correct discounts to people who have completed Splinterskull.

• High-level pawnshop vendors will no longer create items with a minimum required level of 11 or higher.

• Kundarak pawnshops now buy magical shields.

• Vendors can now repair magical jewelry.

• Vendors no longer sell invisibility potions or wands of invisibility.

• Mass Camouflage scrolls will no longer drop, since they require a level 13 ranger to cast.

• Added a number of new wands to treasure tables and wand vendors.

• Warforged docents now grant new and improved colors.

• Items now display their base value only - to find out their real value, talk to a vendor.

• Added a Lesser Bane effect (+1 to-hit, +1d6 damage) to weapons. Bane weapons are now more rare.

• Added some new types of enchanted ammunition to the game.

• Rogues should no longer receive shields as quest reward choices.

• If you have a full inventory and you are carrying a type of stackable item, you can now pick up more of that item as long as you still have room in the stack.

Monsters

• Most boss monsters are now very resistant to charm, fear, poison, and death spells.

• Reviewed, and in general slightly increased, the AC values of named and unique monsters.

• Monsters that decide to run and hide will now actually use their hide skill if applicable.

• Monsters will no longer automatically detect hostile monsters that are invisible, hiding, or behind an obstacle.

• Monster names no longer appear over dead or invisible monsters.

• Monsters should no longer continue to attack while dying.

• Many general improvements to monster pathing and AI.

• Mephits are now capable of casting spells under certain circumstances.

• Hobgoblins now have ranged attacks.

• Fire elementals now have a fiery aura that burns nearby enemies.

• Some monsters will now chase players up onto crates and other climbable objects.

• To avoid the effects of a troglodyte stench cloud, you must now make a Fortitude saving throw instead of a Will saving throw.

• Many monster spellcasters will now cast a wider variety of spells.

• You can now make physical attacks against the named spider Whisperdoom.

Spells

• Protection from evil will no longer protect you from effects that aren't charms or compulsions.

• Divine reagent vendors in House Kundarak and House Jorasco now sell spell components for level 5 divine spells.

• Soundburst was allowing a save for damage but not the stun effect. It now allows a save for the stun effect but not the damage, as per the D&D rules.

• Removed Fire Shield spells from the spell lists, as these will not be in for launch.

• Incendiary cloud has a new visual effect.

• The Shout spell now allows a save for half damage.

• Break Enchantment will now hit enemies as well as friendly targets.

• Cure Light Wounds (Mass) will now damage any undead creatures caught in the spell's radius.

• The Cloudkill screen splatter should now go away when you leave the cloud.

• Most offensive spells should no longer pass through doors and other objects.

• Capped the duration of cloud spells (cloudkill, etc.) at 30 seconds per caster level. Cloud spells with a shorter duration (like stinking cloud) are unaffected.

• The Virtue spell now adds 10 temporary hit points, plus 2 per every 2 caster levels over 4 (12 at level 6, 14 at level 8, etc.) to a maximum of 20 temporary hit points.

• Sleep spells no longer affect elves. Elves that are hit with sleep spells now give the expected "Immune" message.

• Characters and monsters affected by Otto's Resistible Dance can no longer make melee attacks.

• The Flame Arrow spell is no longer subject to its caster's spell resistance.

Graphics

• New advanced graphics option “Environment Stencil Shadows” enables or disables shadows cast from architecture.

• New advanced graphics option “Player Mesh Combining” allows distant players to render faster, at the cost of additional RAM.

• Added new visual effects to the melee action point boosts.

• Fixed many clipping problems with character models and animations.

Voice

• Voice chat is now fully multithreaded. This allows seamless chatting during loading screens, improves quality, and makes voice chat more responsive.

• The voice capture threshold for voice chat no longer defaults to 1.0.

• There is now a slider that lets you set the network latency buffer time for voice chat.

• You can now independently change the playback and capture devices used for voice chat.

• Microphone audio now echoes back during mic testing for easier adjustment of settings.

Interface

• Improved d20 text output - the purpose and result of the die roll should now be clearer.

• You can now use "/who lfg" to find other players looking for a group.

• Added the following slash commands: /lfg, /anon, /invite, /quit, and /logout.

• Added an "Anonymous" button to the social panel. Players who turn this option on will not appear in player search results.

• The /suicide command has been changed to /death.

• Added many, many more new icons.

• Cleaned up a number of focus orb images, and added some images that were missing.

• Dungeon master text should look better when playing in an 800x600 resolution.

• The trade panel now displays the name of the person you are trading with.

• Made some changes to DM text to make it easier to read.

• The mouse cursor should now appear correctly when trying to purchase enhancements in mouselook mode.

• The spellbook interface should now be a little more intuitive.

• The voice capture threshold for voice chat no longer defaults to 1.0.

• There is now a slider that lets you set the network latency buffer time for voice chat.

• You can now independently change the playback and capture devices used for voice chat.

• The Options panel now allows you to map a key to hide the main UI.

• The experience panel will now tell you if you entered an instance after the adventure was completed.

• The experience panel now does a better job reporting experience for encounter areas without a main quest (Waterworks, Tangleroot Gorge, etc.), where experience can only be gained from overcoming individual encounters.

• Added a new enlarge map icon to the radar.

• The trade panel now scrolls when more than eight items are inside it.

• If you press the LFG button associated with a quest, it will turn on your LFG flag and set your LFG comment to the name of the quest.

• Lists of feats and enhancements will now sort alphabetically.

• The inventory panel now displays your AC and blocking AC.

• The party invite button now grays out if you are in a party and not the party leader.

• The right mouse button (along with the mouse wheel and left mouse button) is no longer bindable. You can still switch the left and right mouse buttons in the options panel.

• Changed the character generation steps in the title bar to match the actual order of character generation.

• You can now navigate most game UIs with a game pad or keyboard keys.

• You can now assign mouse cursor control and keyboard keys to game pad buttons. This includes better support for analog controllers.

• The game will now auto-detect an attached XBox 360 controller and load a default key mapping for it.