Dungeons & Dragons Online

***Dungeons & Dragons Online*** (abbreviated as "***DDO***") is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Standing Stone Games, formerly Turbine, Inc., for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. Originally marketed as ***Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach*** before being rebranded ***Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited*** in 2009 the game was later rebranded a second time in 2012 to simply ***Dungeons & Dragons Online*** with the release of the *Menace of the Underdark* expansion. Turbine developed DDO as an online adaptation of *Dungeons & Dragons* (*D&D*) based loosely on the *D&D* 3.5 Rule-set. It is set in the Eberron campaign setting, with later expansions adding Forgotten Realms and Ravenloft to the game. Internet access is required to play.

*DDO* is a fantasy action role-playing game. Progression is defined by completing quests and leveling up. After creating an avatar on the character selection screen, players are required to go through a tutorial, which may be skipped after completing once. Players receive quests from non-player characters. After accumulating enough experience points through quests, the character is entitled to gain a level, which grants access to more feats, spells and skills. There are currently thirty levels in the game.

## Development

***Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach*** was developed by Turbine, Inc. over the course of approximately two years. The initial prototyping and concepting was done by Jason Booth, Dan Ogles, Cardell Kerr, Ken Troop, and Michael Sheidow, in coordination with Wizards of the Coast, the current publisher of the Dungeons and Dragons pen and paper game. Later, this initial team was moved to work on Turbine's other title in development Lord of the Rings Online, or left the company. Development was then led by James Jones and was published by Atari.

Invitations for the alpha were sent out in August of 2005. Three months later, In November, a public beta was announced. Access to the beta would be given out as keys in the January 2006 issue of PC Gamer magazine. This beta included three stress tests. The beta ended on February 12, 2006. The game was launched in February of 2006, with a head start on the 24th, and to the public on the 28th.

For awhile, content was released under the name of modules. Eight modules were released from April 2006 through to October 2008. However after Module 8: Prisoners of Prophecy, there was a content drought. In 2009 it was announced that the game would be going free to play. During the summer, the game was re-branded as **Dungeons & Dragons: Eberron Unlimited.**

In December of 2016 the teams for DDO and Lord of the Rings Online split of from Turbine to form Standing Stone Games. As part of the separation, they took the licences for both games with them. Daybreak Games took over publishing from Atari.

## Setting

 File:Map of Northern Xen'drik.jpg
DDO is set on the fictional continent of Xen'drik, in the world of Eberron, a *D&D* campaign setting. Players can create their characters following the revised edition of *D&D* 3.5 rule-set fashion, and play them in both indoor and outdoor environments, including a large variety of dungeons.

Although the game is based in large part on the *D&D* 3.5 rule-set, it contains numerous changes from the tabletop game, most of which were introduced due to differences in the dynamics between the media of computer game combat and tabletop gaming. For example, Turbine wanted *DDO* to use a real time combat engine, where tabletop *D&D* uses a turn-based system. This brought considerable amount of changes in combat, character skills and feats; situations where Turbine felt the turn-based combat system and real-time combat did not mesh well. Most noticeable differences are greatly increased amount of hit possibilities in round/same amount of time (as much as twelve times more), greatly increased spell-casting resources over rest periods, and spell point system instead of spell slots. Magic items are greatly under-priced (average of 1/8 the D&D prices), magic weapons and armors have a maximum of only two abilities, characters have considerably higher stats, and offensive effects created by characters do not harm their allies. A near-complete list of other differences between *DDO* and *D&D* has been listed on the DDO Wiki.

The core of the game is set in the city of Stormreach, a giant-scaled city built ages ago, and recently settled by humans. There are a number of areas within Stormreach: The Harbor, Marketplace, and four Dragonmarked Houses (House Deneith, Jorasco, Kundarak and Phiarlan). In addition, there are a number of adventures that are taken beyond the city walls, into other areas across the continent, each home to quests of their own.

Generally, the issues of the game revolve around the following dark plots:

* Giants attempting to regain mastery over the city of Stormreach and the continent of Xen'drik
* The gate to Xoriat attempting to be reopened
* The Black Abbot and his undead minions attempting to gain power over Xen'drik
* Devils from Shavarath attempting to invade and conquer Eberron

Later expansions added quests in the Forgotten Realms,Greyhawk, and Ravenloft campaign settings.

## Subscription Information

Dungions & Dragons Online started off as a subscription based game. As of September 2009, DDO is free to play in the USA, with an available micro-transaction store; players can gain VIP status by paying a subscription fee, which garners them additional rewards every month. Furthermore, a free-player's first micro-transaction converts him/her to a "Premium player" with a few additional perks (though substantially less than those of a "VIP").

## Server Information

There are eight DDO servers for the North American market (merged from the original 14), named after various geographic locations and organizations in Eberron. For the European market there were initially 5 servers (later merged to 2), named after Eberron deities that were maintained by Codemasters. However in 2010, the EU servers were shut down. European players were given the option to migrate their characters to the NA servers. In North America, Standing Stone Games themselves deploy the game and maintain the day-to-day operations. In China, the game is operated by Shanda.

There are no servers for the Southern Hemisphere market. The game distributed in Australia by Standing Stone is the US version. Players in that region will get a ping of ~300 ms to North American servers.

## Gameplay

*DDO* is played from a third person perspective. There is the option to move the camera view to first person perspective. The camera follows behind the player and can be adjusted to view surroundings. The game is controlled either by keyboard or gamepad. Every action in game can be remapped to suit the player, even controller buttons. This allows a player to play the game just like a console game if desired. Within a toolbar on screen, items and action abilities may be placed and activated at will. Everything in game takes place in real time. For instance, characters move around in 3D with directional keys and may dodge long range attacks aimed at them.

A party system is in place, placing more emphasis on multiple players grouping together more so than most other MMO games on the market. Joining a party or creating one is accessed by the Grouping panel. Interacting with other players is implemented with chat windows on screen. Voice chat with other players is also possible with a headset or microphone if in a party.

### Progression

Standard groups can be up to 6 characters. Characters gain experience (XP) by completing quests. Killing monsters will usually increase the size of the experience reward, but are not always central to the reward. In some cases, simply running through a quest from one end to the other will grant an XP reward. *Raid* parties may be up to 12 characters. They are usually high level adventures with multiple tasks to complete. There is usually a specific method of unlocking them. DDO does support solo play via the casual and normal difficulties. A more typical party consists of multiple characters filling roles such as "tank" (melee types), healer (clerics) and caster (magic users).

The quests in *DDO* are organized by character level, difficulty, and length. Each quest has a base level, and the XP reward increases if all of the party members are below that level, and decreases if any of the party members are above that level. Characters more than three levels below the "base level" are not allowed to initiate a quest, however they are able to join a quest started by another party member.

There are five difficulty levels for quests: Casual, Normal, Hard, Elite and Epic. VIP players have imitate access to all difficulties, while free and premium players must clear easier difficulties to do anything harder then normal. Hard and Elite increase the XP bonus the first time the quest is run at the given level, and generally provide a much more challenging experience to the players. As a bonus, the quality of the "loot" (items, equipment, etc) in the chests in hard and elite is better. Generally speaking, the highest level quests on the Elite setting offer the best treasure, although that is not always the case. Epic difficulty is available in very few quests, and only to characters who are level 20 or higher. Certain quests also have a sixth difficulty called Reaper.

Most quests have an item or monetary reward when finished, but the character must have talked to the quest giver to receive the reward. Some dungeons require several visits to the quest giver to complete the entire quest chain. Speaking to the quest giver also generally allows players to repeat the quest. Note that completing a specific quest multiple times will reduce the XP given upon completion.

The quests are narrated by a "Dungeon Master" who gives additional details and information to the players about what they see and hear on their adventure. For the "Delera's Tomb" quest chain, the dungeon master duties are performed by (now deceased) *D&D* co-creator Gary Gygax. In his memory, a special 'shrine' area of the graveyard was added. The Ruins of Threnal quest chain features the voice of D&D's other co-creator, the late Dave Arneson, as well as a monument to him in the wilderness area.

On the other hand, Casual (formally Solo) offers very little loot, and few, if any, special items. Generally, the Solo difficulty section were added to the game in June 2006 to make it more accessible to lower-level characters who do not have a group. That was until Module 6, when there was a huge XP reduction for solo play (this was reduced from 50% to 20% with the launch of Module 6), and only some low (6th and lower) level dungeons offer this capability.

Besides the regular quests, there are instanced areas known as Wilderness Areas. This areas have multiple objectives that involve finding a number of locations, killing a number of spawned enemies, and killing a certain number of rare spawns. After one objective is finished it is replaced with another objective with the same requirement but with a higher number needed to complete it, though the original's total still counts to the new one.

There are also Challenges, a special type of timed quest that allows the player to pick the character level that the quest is designed for. These have specific requirements that must be met in a certain amount of time, or before a certain resource is depleted. Challenges require tokens that can be picked up by certain individuals in game, or purchased from the DDO Store. Challenge tokens are not needed for VIP players to enter them, as they have free access.

### Features

The game includes built-in voice chat, integrated into the overall experience.

*DDO* is an *instanced* game, where each party receives a private "copy" of a dungeon for their own use.

Languages available so far are English, French and German.

A gamepad is supported, as well as a virtual keyboard.

When the game went free-2-play, an in game cash shop was added called the DDO Store. This uses the proprietary currency known as DDO Points, that can purchased with real world money. These points can also be earned by reaching certain favor milestones

## Characters

Character in DDO are created using a system similar to 3.5's point buy system, giving them 28 points to spend to increase their ability scores.

### Races

There are 12 races in DDO. They are aasimar, dragonborn, drow, dwarf, elf, gnome, half-elf, half-orc, halfling, human, warforged, and the elven sub-race, wood elf, as its own race. The dwarf, elf, halfling, and human are available to all players. The drow can be earned through in game favor or be purchased from the in-game store. The aaismar, dragonborn, gnome, half-elf, half-orc, warforged, and wood elf are freely available to subscribers, but must be purchased from the DDO Store for premium and free players if they wish to play them.

### Classes

There are 14 playable classes with no race restrictions. Following the 3.5 edition rules and the rules of the Eberron campaign, players choose a class to begin with but are not limited to remaining in that class.

At the character creation screen, the player is allowed to choose a path or to customize their stats. Choosing a path will automatically give the character feats when they gain a level. Artificer, druid, favored soul, monk, and warlock do not have paths of their own.

The druid, monk, and warlock are freely available to those that subscribe to the game, but must be purchased by non subscribers. The artificer and the favored soul must ether be earned through favor or purchased from the DDO Store no matter the payment tier..

* **Artificer** A specialist class that has many buff spells. Also one of two classes that have a designated pet, an iron defender.
* **Barbarian** A melee class that has special powers when angry and specializes in damage dealing.

* **Bard** An specialist class that has abilities that work well to buff allies and debuff enemies.

* **Cleric** a divine spell casting class that uses all armor without penalties. They can excel in healing or combat.
* **Druid** A divine spell casting class that can fill any roll needed by a party. Also one of two classes that have a designated pet, a wolf.
* **Favored Soul** A divine spell casting class that follows the path of the Cleric, but is more spell casting oriented.
* **Fighter** A melee class with extra feats, allowing him to specialize in melee.

* **Monk** A melee class that fights without weapons, shield, or armor, that performs amazing techniques in battle by using a power source called Ki.
* **Paladin** A melee class that trades some of his melee power for the ability to cast divine spells.

* **Ranger** A specialist class that can focus on stealth or magically augmented ranged combat, or two-weapon melee combat.

* **Rogue** A specialist class with an aptitude for stealth. They have the most class skills in the game.

* **Sorcerer** An arcane spell caster that knows limited spells, but can cast them more often.
* **Wizard** has access to a large assortment of spells. They can learn spells from scrolls to add to their spell lists.

### Iconic Characters

With the release of the second expansion, The Shadow Fell Conspiracy, Iconic Characters were introduced. Iconic Characters are a particular race and class option that starts with enough experience to reach level 16. Each one has a path that it can follow, or they can choose to manually build the character, allowing for cross classing in those initial sixteen levels. The first level must always be the class of the combo of the Iconic character. The expansion released four options, while two more were released later. All iconic characters are free to VIP players. They can other wise be purchased from the DDO Store.

**Aasimar Scourge** An aaismar ranger with a specialization in one handed blunt melee weapons and destroying evil aligned creatures.

**Bladeforged** A warforged paladin that focusing on two-handed weapons that deals massive damage with smites and personal buffs.

**Deep Gnomes** A gnome wizard that focuses on deception and close combat.

**Purple Dragon Knight** A human fighter with high AC, designed heavily for tanking.

**Shadar-Kai** A human rogue that focuses on high damage and the avoidance of damage.

**Sun Elf/Morninglord** An elf cleric that specializes in ether healing or fire/light spell damage.

The above applies mainly if the path option for the characters is chosen.

### Alignments

Dungeons and Dragons Online does not feature the full spectrum of alignments available in Dungeons and Dragons, instead limiting itself to only *good* and *neutral* alignments. The ability to play *evil* aligned characters is unavailable. Some character classes have restrictions based on alignment. A Barbarian and Bard may not be Lawful. A Monk must be Lawful, and a Paladin must be Lawful Good. A character may not multiclass into those classes if the alignment is not allowed for that original class. In addition, some weapons and equipment have alignment restrictions as well.

### Feat, Skill, Enhancement, and Epic Destinies system

In *DDO*, there are a number of progressive systems in place for additional variety between characters. Feats are special abilities that grant a character additional actions or abilities. Skills can be increased to give better proficiency of talents. Enhancements can be chosen which augment feats and talents.

Feats are divided into regular feats and class feats. Whereas most feats are available to any class(so long as the requirement is met), class feats can be chosen only by specific classes. For instance, Ranger is the only class that is able to choose Favored Enemy, which grants an attack bonus against certain monsters. Every class is granted at least one feat during character creation, as well as one every level of a multiple of three. Other feats include Toughness, which grants additional Hit Points, and Whirlwind Attack, which lets a character perform a special attack where the character spins 360 degrees.

Skills are available to all characters. It is a fixed list of talents such as Jump and Tumble. Upon leveling up, a character adds a certain number of points into those talents based on the Intelligence statistic. For instance, putting more points into Jump will allow a character to jump higher. Also, each skill is augmented by a character's stat. For instance, Tumble is connected to dexterity. The higher a DEX score, the more able a character is able to roll away from attacks. Finally, skills are dependent upon classes. Each class has a certain number of skills connected to it. Class skills cost one point to raise one point. A skill not connected to a class costs two points to raise one point.

 File:Racial action points.jpg
Enhancements are similar to the skill tree systems in other MMORPGS. Each character starts with one racial tree and up to three prestige trees based on the class that they started with. If a character cross-classes, the prestige trees of the class they have taken a level in are made available. A character can have up to six prestige trees at a time. There are also three premium prestige trees that can be bought from the DDO Store that any class can access. They are the Harper Agent, Vistani Knife Fighter, and the Falconer. Players use action points (AP) that they gain every rank of every level (four ranks per level). Each prestige tree has core abilities that require a certain number of action points spent in the tree, and a certain amount of levels in the class that that tree is associated with. The other enhancements in the tree could vary wildly, and should be taken into account when leveling. The reaper difficulty has its own enhancement system separate from the stranded system.

 File:ED Map U21.JPG
Epic destinies are similar to the enhancement system. They open up at level 20, and use destiny points (DP) in place of action points. A player chooses their first epic destiny at level 20, each destiny fits into one of four spheres, arcane, divine, martial and primal. Unlike with the prestige trees, the core abilities of epic destinies are automatically granted at when they gain an epic level and have that destiny active. DP is earned the same way as AP is. Every rank of of an epic destiny level (max six) grants one DP. Epic destiny levels are tracked apart from character level. When the sixth level is reached the character can choose a new epic destiny, ether in the same sphere or in the sphere that their current epic destiny connects to. Doing so makes the new one active, and disables the one that you just switched from. While leveling these epic destinies, players will earn Twists of Fate, which allows them to access abilities from other trees they have leveled. Players can swap between epic destinies at a Fate Spinner. Epic destinies have their own trainer called a Fatespinner.

## Modules and Updates

Standing Stone releases major content updates to the game as updates, though they were formally called modules, named after the module concept in the pen-and-paper version of *D&D*. Additional content was released between modules as "updates." Starting with Module 5, the development team made the decision to stop releasing interim updates. Responding to the players' feedback that the interim updates do not provide enough new content, the developers instead focused on creating significantly larger modules. However, prior to the launch of *DDO: Eberron Unlimited*, there was a 10-month content gap.

Standing Stone Games generally does updates and patches on Wednesdays before 12 pm est.

### Module 1: The Dragon's Vault

Module 1: the Dragons Vault was released on April 5th, 2006. It included the Vault of Night raid and its attunement quests, the introduction of weapon sets, a founder's fountain, and a /roll command. Later updates included more quests and the solo difficulty.

### Module 2: The Twilight Forge

Module 2: the Twilight Forge was released on July 12th, 2006. It included the Twilight Forge raid, its attunement quests, the Restless Isles wilderness area (not known as a wilderness area at the time), the favor system, the drow race, in game mail, a couple of new spells, and the ability for bards and sorcerer to swap spells at their respective trainers. Later updates to the module included the first part of the Litany of the Dead story, and a few more quests.

### Module 3: The Demon Sands

Module 3: the Demon Sands was released on October 25th, 2006. It raised the level cap to 12, and included the Against the Demon Queen raid, its attunement chain, the Menectaran Dessert wilderness area (still not called a wilderness area), Player vs. Player, the auction house, the ability to increase the amount of points they have on new characters to 32 points and a character slot through favor, and the ability to use dragonshards to swap out feats. Later updates to the module included more quests, and the second part of the Litany of the Dead story.

### Module 4: Reaver's Bane

Module 4: Reaver's Bane was released April 12th, 2007. It raised the level cap to 14. It included the Reaver's Bane story quests, and finally officially announced wilderness areas by announcing the Ruins of Gianthold and the Cerulean Hills. Later updates to the module included the introduction of dragonmarks, and another wilderness area called Searing Heights.

### Module 5: The Accursed Ascension

Module 5:The Accursed Ascension was released on September 27th, 2007. It included the last two parts of the Litany of the Dead story, as well as its associated raid, the Accursed Ascension. It also included the Orchard of the Macabre wilderness area, and some mechanical tweaks. From this point on, modules were no longer supposed to get their own updates.

### Module 6: The Thirteenth Eclipse

Module 6: The Thirteenth Eclipse was release January 30th, 2008. It included the Vale of Night raid and its attunement quests, the ability to bind weapon and armors to themselves so that those items no longer took permanent damage. During this time, the game's second anniversary took place, in which the market place was over run with devils and ended with the market place tent, the main shopping hub of the game, was destroyed.

### Module 7: Way of the Monk

Module 7: Way of the Monk was released on June 3rd, 2008. It's major contribution was the monk class.

### Module 8: Prisoners of Prophecy

Module 8: Prisoners of Prophecy was released on October 29th, 2008. It introduced the Fall of Truth raid and its attunement quests. It also introduced a revamped starting are, moving new characters from the Stormreach harbor, to the island of Korthos. For almost a year there was no new content after this module.

### Eberron Unlimited Re-Launch/ Module 9/ Update 0

Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach was relaunched on August 30th, 2009 as Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited. This relaunch converted the game from a purely subscription based game to a subscription optional free-2-play game. It raised the level cap to 20, released the favored soul class, integrated the DDO Store, added two new Adventure Packs that could be bought from the DDO Store. Any story lines introduced in previous modules were moved to the DDO store as adventure packs and a new adventure pack, *the* *Devils of Shavarath* was also added. The chain involved striking back at the devils that had destroyed the Marketplace tent. VIP still had access to them, and have access to future ones, but free/premium players would need purchase them from the store. From this point on, content updates would no longer be called modules. They are called updates from the relaunch forward.

### Update 1: The Path of the Inspired

Update 1: The Path of the Inspired was released on October 28th, 2009. It added the *Path of the Inspired* adventure pack to the DDO Store. The chain involves fighting off a quori invasion of Stormreach. This all took place in the old Stormreach harbor, which was the original starting zone of the game.

### Update 2: The Dreaming Dark

Update 2: The Dreaming Dark was released on December 16th, 2009. It added the *Dreaming Dark* adventure pack to the DDO Store. The chain is a continuation of the previous update's story.

### Update 3

Update 3 was released on February 3rd, 2010. It released the first additional free quests with 4 new ones located by the Tower of the Twelve, and converted the solo difficulty to casual. It also added epic difficulty to *The Vault of Night*, which was released in Module 1: The Dragon's Vault.

### Update 4: Sentinels of Stormreach

Update 4:Sentinels of Stormreach was released April 5th, 2010. It added the *Sentinel's of Stormreach* to the DDO Store. The chain involves the Deneith Enclave being attacked pirates. DDO's 4th anniversary was also celebrated with the Festival of the Traveler.

### Update 5: The Phiarlan Cranival

Update 5: The Phiarlan Carnival added the *Phiarlan Carnival/Malificent Cabal* adventure pack to the DDO store. The chain involves demonic forces trying to hinder House Phiarlan. It also introduced guild housing in the form of guild airships. It also added the Radiant Servant enhancements to cleric and Shintao Monk and Ninja Spy to monks.

### Update 6: The Red Fens

Update 6:the Red Fens added *the Red Fens* adventure pack to the DDO Store. The chain involves helping the drow of the Red Fens with defending themselves against a tribe of sahuagin. It also added the Red Fens wilderness area.

### Update 7: Half-Bloods

Update 6: Half-Bloods added the the half-orc and half-elf races to the game, three new f2p quests located in Lordsmarch Plaza, and the Mabar Endless Night Festival Halloween event. It also added the *Chronscope* raid to the DDO Store. The raid involves going back in time to the destruction of the Marketplace Tent, seen back in Module 6.

### Update 8: Attack on Stormreach

Update 8: Attack on Stormreach added the *Attack on Stormreach* adventure pack to the DDO Store. This was a continuation of the story from the quests added in the previous update, and involves stopping an invading force from Droaam. It brought the first canonical Eberron character to the game, Sora Katra of the Daughters of Sora Kell. The Crystal Cove event was added to the game in celebration of DDO's 5th Anniversary.

### Update 9: Harbinger of Madness

Update 9: Harbinger of Madness added the *Harbinger of Madness* adventure pack to the DDO Store. The chain involves the investigation of people going missing from the city. It also introduced the Cannith Crafting system to the game, allowing player to craft and augment weapons and armor. It added the Elemental Savant enhancements for sorcerers and the Angel of Vengeance enhancements for favored soul

### Update 10: Reign of Madness

Update 10: Reign of Madness added the *Reign of Madness* Adventure pack to the DDO Store. The chain involves the accidental release of a Daelkyr.

### Update 11: Secrets of the Artificers

Update 11: Secrets of the Artificers added the *Secrets of the Artificers* to the DDO Store. The chain involves warforged taking over the Cannith Manufactory, ending in a raid. It also introduced the Cannith Manufactory wilderness area. This was the first time a raid and its associated quest chain was added to the game since its relaunch. It also introduced the Artificer class. It brought the second canonical Eberron character to the game, The Lord of Blades.

### Update 12: Vaults of the Artificers

Update 12: Vaults of Artificers added the Challange system to the game, and added unbound challenge tokens to the DDO Store.

### Update 13: Web of Chaos

Update 13: Web of Chaos added the *Web of Chaos* quest chain to the game for free. The chain involves the Lords of Dust attempting to free one of the Overlords, The Spinner of Shadows. This was to lead up to the release of the game's first official expansion. DDO's 6th anniversary was also celebrated.

### Menace of the Underdark/Update 14

*Menace of the Underdark* was the first official expansion to Dungeons and Dragons Online, dropping Eberron Online from its title. This was due to the fact that players were now able to travel from city of Stormreach on Eberron to the town of Eveningstar on the world of Toril in the Forgotten Realms via the newly added Demon Web wilderness area. It added the Druid class to the game, epic destinies, and the *Menace of the Underdark* adventure pack and its raid, and the King's Forest, the Underdark, and Sschindylryn wilderness areas. The chain involves players trying to stop Loth and her followers. The contents of the expansion can be bought all at once, or purchased à la carte from the DDO Store.

### Update 15: Song of Druids Deep

Update 15: Song of Druids deep added the *Song of Druid's Deep* to the DDO Store. The chain involves a group of rogue druids attempting to spread corruption over Eveningstar. It also introduced the Monster Manual. An achievement like system that gave bonus experience, cosmetic pets, and various other rewards as the manuals were filled up. While all volumes are available to VIP players, free players only have immediate access to the prologue. Premium players have immediate access to the prologue and first volume. In both cases, the rest of the volumes can be purchased from the DDO Store.

### Update 16: The High Road to Shadow

Update 16: The High Road to Shadow added the *High Road to Shadow a*dventure pack to the DDO Store. The chain involves the Harpers having the players seek out one of the Nether Scroll that has gone missing. It also added the High Road wilderness area. It introduced the Astral Shard system, a currency that could be bought with DDO Points that have various uses in game.

### Update 17: Return to Gianthold

Update 17: Return to Gianthold updated the quests from the *Ruins of Gianthold* adventure pack, formally the content from Module 4: Reaver's Bane, to epic levels. It also added *Fall of Truth* raid to the adventure pack. It also added the Shard exchange (an auction house that uses astral shards) the Daily Dice Lottery, and an overhaul of the weapon augment and collectibles system. DDO's 7th anniversary was also celebrated.

### Update 18: Disciples of Shadow

Update 18: Disciples of Shadow added in three new quests to the game that continued the story of the Netherese that had begun in the previous update. It was also to set up for the game's next expansion. Two of the quest are available to all players, but the third requires f2p/ premium players to purchase the *Shadowfell Conspiracy* adventure pack.

### The Shadowfell Conspiracy/ Update 19

*The Shadowfell Conspiracy* is the second official expansion for Dungeons & Dragons Online. It increased the level cap to 28, added iconic heroes, and the Wheloon Prison and Stormhorn Mountain wilderness areas. It also added the *the Shadowfell Conspiracy* adventure pack to the DDO Store. The chain involves entering the prison city of Wheloon to stop the Netherese from spreading the influence of the Shadowfell to the outside of the prison. The expansion pack came with a complete redesign of the Enhancement system, changing it to the more traditional tree system seen in other MMOs.

### Update 20: Critical Return

Update 20: Critical Return added two new free quests to the game, one in Stormreach and one in Eveningstar. It also overhauled the reincarnation system to account for epic characters, and released the Eldritch Knight enhancement trees for wizard and sorcerer.

### Update 21: The Legendary Halls

Update 21: the Legendary Halls added the stand alone quest *The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar* (a retelling of a classic module) and the *Shadow Under Thunderholme* adventure pack to the DDO Store.The chain involved entering the wilderness area of Thunderholme to stop the Cult of the Dragon. This was a tie in to the real world *Tyranny of Dragons* event that was taking place in the tabletop Dungeons and Dragons game. It also added the Divine Crusader epic destiny to the Divine sphere. DDO Celebrated it's 8th anniversary and Dungeons & Dragons' 40th anniversary with an in game card collecting event.

### Update 22: Pirates of the Thunder Sea

Update 22: Pirates of the Thunder Sea updated *the Thee-Barrel Cove* adventure pack. It also added pirate themed sagas, as well the Swashbuckler enhancement tree for bards.

### Update 23: The Mark of Death

Update 23: The Mark of Death added *the Mark of Death* epic raid to the *Litany of the Dead Part 4* adventure pack, introducing the third canonical Eberron character to the game, Erandris Vol. It added the universal Harper Agent enhancement tree to the DDO store and to the favor rewards from the Harpers. It also added the Vanguard enhancement tree for fighter and paladin.

### Update 24: Heart of Madness

Update 24: Heart of Madness added the *Heart of Madness* adventure pack to the DDO Store. The chain was 3 new quests that were a lose continuation of the story from the *Reign of Madness* adventure pack. It also added a stand alone free adventure to Eveningstar. The barbarian's enhancements were reworked, and a new event, the Mimic Hunt, was added to the game for DDO's 9th anniversary.

### Update 25: Reign of Elemental Evil

Update 25: Reign of Elemental Evil added *the Temple of Elemental Evil* to the DDO Store. This was a modernization of a classic Dungeons & Dragons module.It also included a reworking of the rogue's enhancement trees.

### Update 26: Warlock's Legacy

Update 26: Warlock's Legacy added the Warlock class to the DDO Store.

### Update 27: Trials of the Archons

Update 27: Trials of the Archons added the *Trials of the Archons* adventure pack to the DDO Store. The chain continued the Shavarath story line.

### Update 28: The Devil's Gambit

Update 28:The Devil's Gambit added *the Devil's Gambit* to the DDO Store. Further continuing the devils story line, as they once again attempt to once again invade Stormreach. The Deepwood Sniper and Tempest prestige enhancements for ranger were revamped. Also the Night Revels event was introduced to the game, replacing the Mabar Endless Night event.

### Update 29: The Codex War

Update 29: The Codex War added legendary content to the game. Legendary content is content meant to be done and earned at level 30, which the update increased the level cap to. It added two legendary quests to the game, and added legendary versions of three raids.

### Update 30: 10th Anniversary

Update 30 added the gnome race and the deep gnome iconic race to the to the game. It also tweaked the artificer's Arcanotechnician prestige tree. Finally it added the Anniversary Party event to the game for its 10th anniversary. This has been the anniversary event since.

### Update 31: Gnomework

Update 31: Gnomework added three free to play quests to the game. It also included tweaks to the fighter's Kensei and Stalwart Defender enhancment trees.

### Update 32: Against the Slave Lords

Update 32: Against the Slave Lords added the *Against the Slave Lords* adventure pack to the DDO Store. This was yet another retelling of a classic module. It also overhauled the Cannith crafting system.

### Update 33: Return of the Night Revels

Update 33: Return of the Night Revels added two new quest to the Night Revels event, as well as a rework of handwraps, and the monks Henshin, Ninja, and Shintoa trees. It also added new Deity feats to the game, increasing the progression of the existing ones.

### Update 34: Death and Glory

Update 34: Death and Glory added the Reaper difficulty and its associated enhancement system. It also added a single free quest.

### Update 35: Dawn of the Dragonborn

Update 35: Dawn of the Dragonborn added the *Dragonblood Prophecy.* The chain involved helping dragonborn against a Cult of the Dragon Below. It also added the dragonborn race and racial reincarnation, allowing a character to change their race if they choose to reincarnate.

### Update 36: Duel for the Underdark

Update 36: Duel for the Underdark added *the Mines of Tethyamar* adventure pack to the DDO Store. The chain involved helping a mining outpost on Toril that is being harassed drow. It also added domain feats to clerics and favored souls. The Battle Engineer enhancement tree for artificers was tweaked.

### Mists of Ravenloft/ Update 37

Mists of Ravenloft was DDO's third expansion. It gave players the ability to travel from Stormreach on Eberron to the village of Borovia in the demiplane of dread, Ravenloft. It also added the *Mists of Ravenloft* adventure pack to the DDO Store. The chains involved the players helping the people of Borovia until they eventually fought Strahd von Zarovich, one of the most iconic characters of the Ravenloft campaign setting. The expansion also added the aasimar race and the aasimar scourge iconic race, as well as the sentient weapon system. This system allows players to socket certain weapons with personality gems, granting the weapons special abilities and the abilities to gain their own levels/

### Update 38: Disciples of Rage

Update 38: Disciples of Rage added the *Disciples of Rage* adventure pack to the DDO Store. The chain involves players helping House Jorasco deal with a strange illness spreading throughout the city. It also added the Renegade Mastermaker enhancement tree for artificers. Druids were given tweaks.

### Update 39: White Plume Mountain and Other Tales

Update 39: White Plume Mountain and Other Tales added the *White Plume Mountain and Other Tales* to the DDO store. This was another yet another retelling of a classic Dungeons and Dragons module, as well as 4 side quests. It also added the Beacon of Hope enhancement tree for favored soul, as well as the universal Falconer enhancement tree. The other two favored soul enhancement trees and the cleric Warpriest enhancement trees were also reworked.

### Update 40: Cloaked in Darkness

Update 40: Cloaked in Darkness added the Killing Time raid to the *Dragonblood Prophecy* adventure pack. It added the wood elf subrace to the game, as well as allowed for the visibility of cloaks.

### Update 41: The Khorvaire Shipment

Update 41: The Khorvaire shipment added one new free quest to the game. It also involved passes to the bard's songs and the Eldritch Knight enhancement tree.

## Awards

* **Freebie Award: Best Free-to-play-MMORPG**, 2009 RPGLand.com RPGs of the Year 2009
* **Best Free to Play MMO**, 2009 MMORPG.com 2009 Awards
* **Best Free to Play Game**, 2009 Tentonhammer.com Best of 2009 Awards
* **Best Multiplayer Game**, 2006 British Academy Video Games Awards
* **Most Anticipated Game**, 2005 MMORPG.COM Reader's Choice Awards
* **Best Persistent World Game**, IGN.com Best of 2006 Awards
* **Nominee, Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year**, 10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards
* **Third Prize, Best Graphics**, Les JOL d'Or 2006
* **Third Prize, Public's Award**, Les JOL d'Or 2006

## External links

* Dungeons & Dragons Online - Official website

### Media coverage

* DDO Reviews at *Game Rankings* (meta-review site, Average Ratio: 76%)
* Interview with Alex Rodberg & David Eckelberry from GenCon 2005 at GamerGod.com
* PC Gamer Video Podcast #3 Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach

## Citations

1. ↑ Standing Stone Games – A message from Rob Ciccolini Rob Ciccolini December 19, 2016
2. ↑ PnP differences. DDOwiki. Retrieved on 2007-02-24.
3. ↑ https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-1, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-1-patch-2, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-1-patch-3, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-1-patch-4-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-1-patch-5-official - Module 1 Patch Notes
4. ↑ https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-2, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-2-patch-1 - Module 2 Patch Notes
5. ↑ https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-3, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-3-patch, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-3-patch-1, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-3-patch-2 - Module 3 Patch Notes
6. ↑ https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-4 - Module 4 Patch Notes
7. ↑ https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-5 - Module 5 Patch Notes
8. ↑ https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-6 - Module 6 Patch Notes
9. ↑ https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-7-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-7-patch-1-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-7-patch-2-official - Module 7 Patch Notes
10. ↑ https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-8-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-8-patch-1-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-8-patch-2-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/module-8-patch-3-official - Module 8 Patch Notes
11. ↑ https://www.ddo.com/en/update-0-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-0-patch-1-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-0-patch-2-official - Update 0 Patch Notes
12. ↑ https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-1-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-1-patch-1-official - Update 1 Patch Notes
13. ↑ http://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-2-official - Update 2 Patch Notes
14. ↑ https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-10-release-notes-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-10-patch-1-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-10-patch-2-official - Update 10 Patch Notes
15. ↑ https://ddowiki.com/page/Update\_11\_Release\_Notes, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-11-patch-1-official - Update 11 Patch Notes
16. ↑ https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-12-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-12-patch-1-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-12-patch-2-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-12-patch-3-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-12-store-release-notes-official - Update 12 Patch Notes
17. ↑ https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-13-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-13-hotfix-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-13-patch-1-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-13-patch-2-official - Update 13 Patch Notes
18. ↑ https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-14-expansion-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-14-hotfix, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-14-patch-1-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-14-patch-2-official - Update 14 Patch Notes
19. ↑ https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-15-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-15-patch-1-official, https://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-15-patch-2-official - Patch 15 Patch Notes
20. ↑ http://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-16, http://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-16-patch-1-hotfix-official - Update 16 Patch Notes
21. ↑ http://www.ddo.com/en/game/release-notes/update-17-official, http://www.ddo.com/en/update-17-patch-1-release-notes - Update 17 Patch Notes
22. ↑ http://www.ddo.com/en/update-18-release-notes, http://www.ddo.com/en/update-18-patch-1-release-notes, http://www.ddo.com/en/update-18-patch-2, http://www.ddo.com/en/update-18-patch-3 - Update 18 Patch Notes
23. ↑ http://www.ddo.com/en/update-19-shadowfell-conspiracy-release-notes-official, http://www.ddo.com/en/update-19-patch-1, http://www.ddo.com/en/update-19-patch-2, http://www.ddo.com/en/update-19-patch-3-release-notes - Update 19 Patch Notes
24. ↑ http://www.ddo.com/en/update-20-release-notes, http://www.ddo.com/en/update-20-patch-1-release-notes - Update 20 Patch Notes
25. ↑ http://www.ddo.com/en/update-21-release-notes, http://www.ddo.com/en/update-21-patch-1-release-notes - Update 21 Patch Notes
26. ↑ http://www.ddo.com/en/update-22-release-notes, http://www.ddo.com/en/update-22-patch-1-release-notes, http://www.ddo.com/en/update-22-patch-2-release-notes, http://www.ddo.com/en/update-22-patch-3-release-notes - Update 22 Patch Notes
27. ↑ http://www.ddo.com/en/update-23-release-notes, http://www.ddo.com/en/update-23-patch-1-release-notes - Update 23 Patch Notes
28. ↑ http://www.ddo.com/en/update-24-release-notes, http://www.ddo.com/en/update-23-patch-1-release-notes, http://www.ddo.com/en/update-24-patch-2-release-notes, http://www.ddo.com/en/update-24-hotfix-release-notes, http://www.ddo.com/en/update-24-hotfix-2-release-notes - Update 24 Patch Notes
29. ↑ http://www.ddo.com/en/update-25-release-notes, http://www.ddo.com/en/update-25-patch-1-release-notes, http://www.ddo.com/en/update-25-patch-2-release-notes, http://www.ddo.com/en/update-25-patch-3-release-notes - Update 25 Patch Notes
30. ↑ RPGLand.com RPGs of the Year 2009. RPGLand.com.
31. ↑ MMORPG Best F2P MMO of 2009. MMORPG.com.
32. ↑ Ten Ton Hammer Best of 2009 Awards. Tentonhammer.com.
33. ↑ British Academy Video Games Awards, Latest Winners and Nominees. British Academy of Film and Television Arts (2006-10-05). Retrieved on 2007-02-24.
34. ↑ 2005 Reader's Choice Award Winners. MMORPG.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-24.
35. ↑ Best of 2006: PC, Best Persistent World Game. IGN. Retrieved on 2007-02-24.
36. ↑ 10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. Retrieved on 2007-03-01.
37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Les JOL d'Or 2006. JeuxOnline. Retrieved on 2007-03-05.