2011 was a banner year for href="http://tentonhammer.com/ddo">Dungeons and
Dragons Online
,
the MMO that changed the industry with its F2P model. DDO
celebrated its fifth anniversary, added lots of new content, added the
new Artificer class, launched French and German versions of the game in
Europe, and created challenges to satisfy the mini-game hunger in all
of us.

With all that Turbine
accomplished in 2011, they began with a bold promise: that 2012 will be
the biggest year yet. Ten Ton Hammer talked with Fernando Paiz,
Executive Producer, and Erik Boyer, Senior Producer, to get all
what’s coming for DDO
in the first half of 2012. D&D
and DDO
fans will rejoice at the biggest news: the introduction of the Druid
class and adding Forgotten Realms content to DDO!

Update 13

Turbine plans to release DDO’s
thirteenth update around the time of the sixth anniversary of DDO.
This update will include a new free adventure pack, which will serve as
the beginning of an important storyline of how the worlds of Eberron
and Forgotten Realms (Faerun) are connected. The level range for the
new adventure pack is level 16, which means that it’s
playable for characters level 14 and up.

Also appearing in Update
13
is a cosmetic pet system.
These creature companions can be collected by players. While these pets
do not affect gameplay, you can give them gear and eventually teach
them tricks. A few pets will become available in Update
13
with more to come later in
the year.

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Forgotten Realms –
Menace of the Underdark

Releasing this summer will be DDO’s
first expansion: Menace of
the Underdark
. This content
package follows in href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro">LotRO’s
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/news/new-screenshots-and-trailer-arrive-with-rise-of-isengard-launch">Rise
of Isengard

expansion wake in that all players must purchase the expansion pack to
access all the content.

The big news here is that
Turbine is (finally) working closely with Wizards of the Coast to bring
Forgotten Realms into DDO.
Players will strive to thwart the plans of Lolth and her followers, the
evil Drow of the Underdark, and her plans of world domination.

As someone who’s
played D&D
for thirty years, this is huge news for me. While I’ve
enjoyed playing in Eberron, I’ve always wished to adventure
in the setting that I’ve spent so many years playing in,
Forgotten Realms. Plus, fighting against the most iconic evil race, the
Drow, in their natural setting, the Underdark, fills me with glee (and
some dread as I hated facing the Drow in second edition AD&D!).
Fernando and Erik also discussed the amount of new art created for the
Forgotten Realms setting, which has a much more vivid, high fantasy
palette as opposed to the brownish, grimy world of Eberron.

Druids

Players have been clamoring for
Druids since the game launched and now those pleas have been answered.
This shape-shifting class arrives in Menace
of the Underdark
and is true to
its D&D
roots. If you want to defend Mother Nature by shape-shifting into an
animal form and rip out the throats of litterbugs, now’s your
chance! Druids will also have animal companions, but few other details
about DDO’s
newest class are available at this point.

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The Spider Queen herself, the
evil Lolth.

Epic Levels

Also included in the Menace
of the Underdark
expansion pack
is a level upgrade. Players can now gain epic levels after level 20;
ranging from 21 to 25. Most of the future content coming in 2012 will
be for epic levels.

Other Notes

Fernando and Erik would not
commit to a specific number of updates for DDO
in 2012, but they stated that Turbine will be aggressive in getting out
new content. The development team of DDO
has been expanded, so we can safely assume that there’ll be a
good amount of content coming out this year with new adventure packs
and new challenges. There will also be a focus on creating cosmetic
items, something which the game could use for those who like to
roleplay.

The additional Forgotten Realms
content that is upcoming after the Menace
of the Underdark
expansion will
be for end-game players. So if you want to breathe the sweet air of
Faerun, you better start leveling your characters! It seems that the
village of Eveningstar, located in Cormyr, will serve as the hub for
the characters’ adventures.

2012 seems like it will be the
biggest year for DDO
since their launch with the addition of Druids and Forgotten Realms
content. D&D
fanboys, such as myself, can’t wait to get their hands on the
expansion pack and start delivering some blows against Lolth and her
Drow followers. Don’t forget that all the items discussed
above will be added in the first half of 2012, so there’s
likely a lot more to look forward to this year in DDO.

Our thanks to Fernando Paiz,
Executive Producer, and Erik Boyer, Senior Producer, for discussing DDO’s
plans with us, and we’ll bring you more information as we
learn more.


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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