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Fans
of DDO
have a lot to look forward to with the upcoming release of DDO's
first expansion, Menace of
the Underdark
. Closed beta for
the new expansion starts today, but Ten Ton Hammer got a sneak peek of
the new content that will have players rising to new levels with epic
levels, all whilst traipsing across the hallowed lands of Forgotten
Realms. Turbine's very own Ian Currie, Design Director, Erik Boyer,
Senior Producer, and Leo Tan, Public Relations, showed us several
things, but one aspect of the new expansion really caught our eyes,
Epic Destinies.

What are Epic Destinies in DDO?

The short answer is that Epic
Destinies in href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ddo">DDO
are epic enhancement trees that players can level up in to gain new
abilities. Players will be able to open a new tab (naturally labeled
"Epic Destinies") which will open up your Epic Destinies window. In
this window, there will be two distinct tabs: Tree View and Map View.

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The Tree view of Epic
Destinies.

The Epic Destinies are grouped
into four distinct categories: arcane, primal, martial, and divine, and
there are a grand total of ten Epic Destinies at the current time. They
are:

Arcane
Epic Destinies

  • Draconic Incarnation
  • Fatesinger
  • Magister

Primal Epic Destinies

  • Fury of the Wild
  • Shiradi Champion

Martial Epic Destinies

  • Grandmaster of Flowers
  • Legendary Dreadnought
  • Shadowdancer

Divine Epic Destinies

  • Exalted Angel
  • Unyielding Sentinel

The Epic Destinies do conform
somewhat along class lines, but each one will have advantages that any
class could use. The player's play style will the ultimate deciding
factor on which Epic Destiny and specific abilities to take.

Gaining Epic Destinies in DDO

DDO
players will be able to gain Epic Destinies once they hit level 20 and
talk to a Fatespinner, an NPC trainer. From that point onward, their xp
will be dumped into two separate pools: general xp, which goes towards
increasing your epic level, and Epic Destiny xp, which goes towards
increasing your levels in your Epic Destiny. Each of the ten Epic
Destinies have five tiers of abilities in which you will spend action
points accumulated from leveling that Epic Destiny. Each Epic Destiny
has a grand total of 50 points of abilities to purchase, but you'll
only get 24 total so a lot of decision making will have to go into your
selection. The smaller icons at the bottom of an Epic Destiny tree are
unlocked if you fully gain an entire tier of an Epic Destiny.

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The Map view of Epic Destinies.

Once you hit level three in an
Epic Destiny, you can choose to pick a different Epic Destiny to begin
leveling in, but the new Epic Destiny must be picked from a linked Epic
Destiny (as seen on the Map View tab). However, you can only have one
active Epic Destiny at a time. Any previous Epic Destinies that a
player has picked up will not be able to be used while that specific
Epic Destiny is inactive. There is a way to get around this though by
using Twists of Fate (as seen on the bottom right of the Tree View
tab). DDO
players will get Fate Points as they gain levels in Epic Destinies,
which they can use to purchase Twists of Fate, which allows players to
select an ability (tier level 1 or 2) of an inactive Epic Destiny and
be able to use it. These Twists of Fate can be pulled down to a
player's hotbar for easy use. Players will also be able to unlock the
ability to pick higher tier level abilities by spending additional Fate
Points.

Epic Destinies and Endgame DDO

The introduction of Epic
Destinies will really give endgame players something to quest and
strive for. DDO
players will be able to unlock every single Epic Destiny, which means
that you can adventure to gain fifty levels of Epic Destinies. Since
you can't take every single ability, players will have to carefully
consider what abilities to purchase. However, this isn't the end-all
for Epic Destinies. Turbine states that more Epic Destinies will be
coming out in the future, with three new ones already being worked on.
All in all, Epic Destinies are really going to shake things up in DDO,
not to mention that you'll be doing all this while adventuring in
Faerun.

Our thanks to Ian Currie, Erik
Boyer, and Leo Tan for giving us a sneak peek of the new Epic Destinies
for DDO.
Tune in tomorrow for a hands-on preview of the rest of the Menace
of the Underdark
expansion.


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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