Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

The latest expansion for Dungeons and Dragons Online, Update 11, is full of red meat! Update 11 features the new artificer class, a new quest hub, 3 dungeons, a new wilderness area, 2 end-game raids, and an update to crafting. Ten Ton Hammer’s Ethec has braved the hordes at gamescom 2011 and secured a sneak peek from DDO producer Erik Boyer, who gave out a lot of juicy details that will surely fire up players.

The Artificer

First and foremost, the newest class to appear in DDO makes its debut in Update 11, the artificer. The artificers fuse magic and technology and were responsible for the creation of the warforged and have a lot of unique abilities. First, they get some really nice spells. Erik gleefully described the Mass Deconstruction spell that wreaks havoc on warforged gone bad. Further enhancing their combat abilities is their use of the rune arm, which is a device that allows them to focus their energy in order to cast a more powerful spell. These devices can be charged up to increase their effectiveness. There are a total of five tiers of charging and the spell damage is multiplied by the tier charge. It has a good range of roughly 60 meters, but Erik laments that he has yet to bring down an airship with one. Normally, the charge in the rune arm drops during movement, but an artificer can take enhancements to negate that effect.

Artificers also have the ability to use a flame turret, which acts as a vicious trap. Erik pointed out that NPC artificers have them too, so expect to see them while you’re questing. To round out their combat skills, artificers also can use the new repeating crossbow to pincushion their enemies.

Another aspect of the artificer is that they can have a pet. The standard pet is everybody’s favorite warehouse watchdog: the iron defender. When you first get one, it starts out as a puppy with big feet. (Erik thinks they’re cute, but anything that can tear the flesh off your bones ain’t cute in my book!) As a player gains levels, so too does your pet in the form of training. You can have your pet increase his aggro by taking specific enhancements. In addition, you’ll be able to modify their appearance so that everyone will know that Old Rusty is your dog!

At the current time, the artificer is a pay-only class to be found in the DDO store. Turbine expects the final price to be in the mid-range cost for classes, even though it has the most features.

Goggles

A new item piece comes into DDO in the form of goggles. Players will be able to toggle their goggles (nice rhyme, eh?) on their equipment page. They’ll be a number of different lens colors and some of them will glow. The epic goggles will glow purple in their epic majesty. Every player will get a free pair of randomly generated goggles for them to be profiling and styling.

House Cannith

House Cannith is the newest enclave to be added to Stormreach and is accessible from the Marketplace. House Cannith is a human house that specializes in artificers, but you’ll find plenty of warforged in the area. You will notice a difference in interaction with the NPCs if you’re a warforged as opposed to being a member of another race. Moving around the enclave will require you to use various moving platforms as that House Cannith is always bustling with activity.

House Cannith serves as the quest hub for Update 11. Erik remarked that this is the first time in over two years that the content (quest-wise) was geared for end-game players. The levels for the adventures start at 19. Overall, there are three quests and 2 raids, most of which feature in or around the wilderness area, the Cannith Manufactury. This sprawling structure is the epicenter of the enclave. You will spend a lot of time in the Manufactury now, and in the future as well. Erik mentioned that more quests will take you back into the Manufactury in Update 12.

As you travel through the Manufactury, you’ll get clues to the ongoing story by finding records in the various explorer points. These records are voiced in character to more fully draw you into the story.