What's been added to DDO since launch?
Since launch in March, 2006, a huge amount of new content, features and adventures have been added to DDO. Below is a summary of what was added with each content update, (free to subscribers) from full module releases to interim updates.




LATEST - Module 9: The Plane of Battle

The new features in Module 9 “The Plane of Battle” include:

New Player Class - Players can now create characters using DDO’s newest class, Favored Soul. Favored souls draw on divine magic to both heal and destroy. Like clerics, favored souls have access to powerful healing spells, but they are also more skilled with weapons than any other spell caster. Like sorcerers, they get a larger number of spell points than other spell casters and cannot freely switch spells at taverns or rest shrines.



Raised Level Cap - Players can now advance to 20th-level under the D&D® rules. This includes access to new arcane and divine spells, new character abilities, feats, and skills.


New Adventures:

The Plane of Battle - Players can now travel to the Plane of Shavarath and explore a large wilderness area as they try to infiltrate several fortresses and upset the carefully laid plans of the Devils.

The Crime Syndicate - Coin Lord Yorrick Amanatu, who controls the Stormreach Guard, wants players to help him eliminate the growing Sharn Syndicate presence in Stormreach.

The Fiercest Combat - This update introduces some exciting enhancements to DDO’s extraordinary combat experience including a new combat feedback and smart targeting system that gives players even more information and control that lets them fully engage in the battle by relying on their wits and reflexes in real time.



Mind-blowing Visuals - Explore DDO’s vivid and dangerous online world featuring some of the most advanced graphics in the industry with the fully deployed DX10 technology that brings the world to life.

The Return of the Marketplace - Last year, Turbine and Codemasters Online held a spectacular live in-game event that resulted in the complete destruction of the Stormreach Marketplace. The Coin Lords have completed their beautification project and the once desolated Market has been restored to its days as a center for trade, entertainment, and welcome to all who come to Stormreach!




Module 1: Dragon's Vault
This first module named "Dragon's Vault" brought new additional content and quests including 15 compelling dungeons and a new large-scale raid feature; the Vault of Night that is protected by a ferocious guardian the red dragon!

• Weapon Sets shortcuts: You can now set up a single item shortcut to point to both a main weapon and off-hand item. So, for example, you can now equip two daggers, or a sword and a shield – all with one shortcut.
  
  
• Kobold Island: A fun and re-playable landscape experience for new players that still learning what their characters can do in combat.

Module 2: Twilight Forge
The Twilight Forge module featured a new story module consisting of a series of adventures culminating in an epic encounter against a legendary foe - the Warforged Titan.



The Twilight Forge also included a host of features, including the introduction of the Drow as another playable race, the Restless Isles, a new outdoor area, enhanced grouping tools to improve the player experience, an in-game mail system, a compendium to track completed quests, a “favour” system to track a player's standing in the world, additional inventory slots and bank slots and a plethora of new monsters from the D&D® universe, including the Mindflayer, Ogre Magi, and Warforged Titan.





Upate 2.1: Litany of the Dead Part 1
The Litany of the Dead Part One module featured five compelling new dungeons that provide a variety of additional content for advanced players in the game, including two new monsters the Mummy and the Lich providing surprises around every corner that will challenge the most jaded adventurer including an encounter with a vampire!



Update 2.2: Stormreach Under Siege
The Stormreach Under Siege module called on players to return to the familiar grounds of Stormreach Harbor to save the city. It featured five compelling new dungeons that unveiled new threats to the city from dark forces including the Cult of Madness, the Dwarves of Ironroot and a tribe of troglodytes.



Module 3: Demon Sands
The Demon Sands module increased the game content by 40 percent since the launch of DDO a few months earlier and included a slew of new features including:

• PvP Tournaments: Players are now able to face-off against other players in action-packed PvP tournaments and brawls.
  
  
• Increased Level Cap: This new module raised the level cap by adding 10 more ranks that provide players of all levels with more content, enhancements, feats and spells.
  
  
• New monsters: New enemies to fight in the new desert area including Efreeti, Genies, Gnolls, and the infamous demon - the Marilith.
  
  
• Auction House: Players can visit one of the many virtual auction houses located in wards across the city where they can meet with an auctioneer to buy and sell in-game items.
  
  
• More Solo-Based D&D® Gameplay: More solo quests have been added for players to hone their skills for the more advanced party-based quests.

Update 3.1: Evil Resurgent
The Evil Resurgent update featured six new, handcrafted dungeon experiences for advanced players in the game; "Parthilcar Tower Crypt", "From Beyond the Grave", "Spire of Validus", "Whisperdoom", "Haywire's Grotto" and "Gate of Nightmares".



Update 3.2: Litany of the Dead Part 2
Included in this update were five quests that continue the Necropolis storyline. Also unleashed are five new monsters: Umbral Worgs, Umbral Gargoyles, Phase Spiders, Shadows and Invisible Stalkers.



Update 3.3: Academy Training
The Enhancement System was completely revamped in this update. You can now save your action points up from level to level and spend them on a whole new range of enhancements. Furthermore, the "solo" option was added to seven more adventures! Now you can solo your way through many dungeons up to CR: 6!




Module 4: Reaver's Bane
In this enormous update, you are invited to combat the Stormreaver's Dragons, Stone and Cloud Giants, Orcs and more in 12 new adventures.
The level cap was also increased from 12 to 14 and two new landscape adventures Gianthold (high-level), and the Cerulean Hills (low-level) were added.



Another huge feature of this update is the "Wilderness Areas". This new model for our outdoor landscape areas introduces three new kinds of quest:

• Slayer Quests – Slayer quests keep track of how many of specific type of monster you've killed in the area. The higher your goal, the more XP you will earn – and the quest will never lose your kill count, even if you leave the zone.
  
  
• Explorer Quests – The objectives for explorer quests are twofold: discover the lore of the area, and find all of the dungeon entrances. Explorer Quests are solved by wandering the wilderness. When you find an important point of interest, you will be rewarded with XP. Discovering all of the explorer objectives in a particular landscape will give you a final, big XP payoff.
  
  
• Rare Encounter Quests – Certain unique NPCs or powerful monsters have a chance of spawning in the wilderness. Solving the objective usually involves combat, but not always. Similar to explorer quests, you get some XP when you complete each rare encounter and a big XP payoff when you complete the whole quest.

Update 4.1: Mark of the Dragon
Included in this update were "Dragonmarks", the addition of a new encounter area: Ataraxia's Haven, more solo quests, revamped adventure areas; Sorrowdusk Isle and Tangleroot Gorge – both areas now include Slayer, Exploration, and Rare Encounter quests! Additionally improvements were made to the Friends List and spell/spell point balance.



Update 4.2: Searing Heights
Discover new secrets and enemies in the newly revamped Menechtarun desert landscape and the Waterworks adventure area. Wage war against the Sulatar firebinders on an all-new CR 4 landscape and discover new spells, abilities, and enhancements including Holy Sword and Warchanter.



Module 5: The Accursed Ascension
This module update brought parts three and four of the Litany of the Dead story series doubling the amount of quests in the Necropolis Area and culminating in a high level raid. Also included were eleven new high level dungeons set within the Orchard of the Macabre, 8 new monsters including the Quell, Wheep and Cinderspawn and an upgraded metamagic system bringing new power to spell casters. Various improvements and enhancements were also made to the tooltip system along with additions to aid inventory management.



Module 6: The Thirteenth Eclipse
This major update to DDO brings new open landscape regions, an increased level cap, and more monsters, spells, magic items, and traditional dungeons.



New content features:

• New Landscape: Players can now explore three new areas of Stormreach including The Twelve, a series of floating towers, Meridia, an Eladrin enclave and the Vale of Twilight a huge explorable region with four distinct areas filled with quests to challenge high-level players.
  
  
• Increased Level Cap: Players can now advance to 16th-level under the D&D® rules. This includes access to 8th-level arcane and divine spells (Polar Ray, Sunburst, Firestorm, Trap the Soul, and more), new character abilities, feats, and skills.
  
  
• 12-player Raid: DDO's biggest and best raid yet calls on players to weather waves of devils from Shavarath, solve intriguing puzzles and battle several uniquely powered lieutenants across five distinct regions to face Arraetrikos, a huge red-winged menace with plans to conquer Xen'drik.
  
  
• Prototype Crafting System: The new crafting system opens up new possibilities to turn unused items into something exciting using The Eldritch Device and one of over 1000 recipes.

Module 7: Way of the MonK
This update introduced the first new playable class, the Monk! (To read more about the Monk, visit our special article). The favourite class of many adventurers, the monk features a martial discipline of hand-to-hand combat and kicks, including special abilities that make the Monk even deadlier. Stun your foes, unleash a flurry of blows, and work up to the deadly quivering palm attack, which can kill enemies with a single strike!



Other features included in this update:

• New Landscape: Players can now explore the all-new, much larger Three-Barrel Cove wilderness and the underground Black Loch outpost. Three new hand-crafted adventures have been added to make this an exciting and challenging area!
  
  
• Two new Raids: In the wake of the destruction of the Marketplace tent, the scholars of the Twelve have found that dangerous enemies lie below the city of Stormreach.
  
  
• More Solo Adventures: Daily quests in the Harbor provide new adventuring opportunities for solo adventurers. Collect trophies from vanquished monsters, make deliveries, and collect bounties for the meanest enemies around!
  
  
• Gygax Memorial: Set in a wooded alcove near Delera's Tomb, the adventure series Gary Gygax narrated, a symbolic memorial site has been erected for visitors to pay homage to Dungeon Master Gary Gygax.

Module 8: Prisoners of Prophecy
This major update to DDO delivers a completely upgraded experience for new players, improves solo play with the introduction of Hirelings, upgrades the DDO engine to support DX-10 graphics technology, and adds more monsters, spells, magic items, and challenging dungeons.



This latest update provides a wealth of new features and experiences for players including:

• Enhanced New Player Experience: To support a more story-based and friendly introduction to the game and make DDO more accessible to players unfamiliar with the 3.5 Edition rules-set, we have created a completely new starter experience. Players will now have the option to create well-built characters based on their play style without needing to assign any stat or skill points, or select any feats or spells. Subsequent characters created on the account will have the option to skip the tutorial, and will gain relevant XP and rewards as if they had completed it.
  
  
• Introducing Hirelings: Hirelings is a huge new system designed to improve the solo play experience in DDO by letting players contract henchmen to help them in their adventures. Hirelings are player controlled NPC combatants with a given class, level and personality that can be contracted to aid a player in the dungeons of Stormreach. Players can contract with one Hireling of their level or lower for a few hours at a time, or until the adventure they are playing is complete. This massive new system will be introduced to players through a series of live in-game events after the launch of Prisoners of Prophecy.
  
  
• DX-10 Engine Upgrade: Players can now experience Stormreach like never before with major improvements to DDO’s graphics engine, including DX-10 support for upgraded shaders for water, particle effects and lighting for terrain.
  
  
• More D&D®!: A new wilderness area and several high-level dungeons await players who dare to meet the challenge of new monsters including Kobold Archmages, Frost Giants and a White Dragon.