Dungeons & Dragons Online

Dungeons & Dragons Online
Original Box Art
Second Logo
Current Logo
Release	February 28, 2006
Developer	Standing Stone Games, formally Turbine, Inc
Publisher	Daybreak Games, formally Atari
Platform	Mac, Window
Genre	MMORPG
Rating	ESRB T, Pegi 12

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 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 2006, with a head start on the 24th, and to the public on the 28th.

For a while, 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 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 licenses for both games with them. Daybreak Games took over publishing from Atari.

Turbine vs. Atari Lawsuit

In August of 2009, not long after the game's relaunch as a free to play title, Turbine filed a lawsuit against Atari. Turbine claimed that Atari had failed to live up to their obligations in regard to the support of the game all back in 2006, when Atari still held the video game rights to the Dungeons & Dragons franchise. This happened alongside the rights holders of Dungeons & Dragons, Hasbro, suing Atari due to them sublicensing the DnD license to Bandai Namco. In 2011, the Hasbro Atari lawsuit was settled, and it can be assumed that the Turbine lawsuit was settled at the same time.

Setting

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. 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 five dragonmarked houses (House Cannith, 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 US, 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"). In February of 2022, the gnome; half-elf; half-orc; drow; dragonborn; and tiefling races as well as the druid; monk; and warlock class were made available to everyone. Previously, these had been premium features or required reputation to unlock.

	VIP Subscriber	Premium Account	Free to Play
DDO Points per Month	500	0	0
Initial Character Slots	11	5	3
Alchemist Class	Full Access	Purchase	Purchase
Artificer Class	Purchase or unlock through favor	Purchase or unlock through favor	Purchase or unlock through favor
Druid Class	Full Access	Full Access	Full Access
Favored Soul Class	Purchase or unlock through favor	Purchase or unlock through favor	Purchase or unlock through favor
Warlock Class	Full Access	Full Access	Full Access
Monk Class	Full Access	Full Access	Full Access
Drow Race	Full Access	Full Access	Full Access
Dragonborn	Full Access	Full Access	Full Access
Gnome Race	Full Access	Full Access	Full Access
Half-Elf Race	Full Access	Full Access	Full Access
Half-Orc Race	Full Access	Full Access	Full Access
Warforged Race	Full Access	Purchase	Purchase
Wood Elf	Full Access	Full Access	Full Access
Tiefling Race	Full Access	Full Access	Full Access
Shifter Race	Full Access	Purchase	Purchase
Tabaxi Race	Purchase	Purchase	Purchase
Iconic Heroes	Purchase	Purchase	Purchase
Aasimar Scourge Iconic Race	Purchase	Purchase	Purchase
Deep Gnome Iconic Race	Full Access	Purchase	Purchase
Elf Morninglord Iconic Race	Purchase	Purchase	Purchase
Human Purple Dragon Knight Iconic Race	Purchase	Purchase	Purchase
Human Shar-Kai Iconic Race	Purchase	Purchase	Purchase
Shifter Razorclaw Iconic Race	Purchase	Purchase	Purchase
Tabaxi Trailblazer Iconic Race	Purchase	Purchase	Purchase
Teifling Scoundrel Iconic Race	Purchase	Purchase	Purchase
Warforged Bladeforged Iconic Race	Purchase	Purchase	Purchase
Epic Destinies	Purchase	Purchase	Purchase
Epic Destines - Training	Access in Public Areas	Speak with Fatespinner	Speak with Fatespinner
Premium Adventure Packs	Free Access, cannot purchase	Purchase	Purchase
Expansion Adventure Packs	Purchase	Purchase	Purchase
Challenge Packs	Full Access	1 Free Universal Token Per Day or Purchase	1 Free Universal Token Per Day or Purchase
Base Adventure Difficulty	All Difficulty Levels	Casual, Normal to start. Hard, Elite unlocked via completion, store purchase (one use consumable, 15 DP per Hard, 25DP per Elite), or TRing (once to open on Hard, twice to open on Elite)	Casual, Normal to start. Hard, Elite unlocked via completion, store purchase (one use consumable, 15 DP per Hard, 25DP per Elite), or TRing (once to open on Hard, twice to open on Elite)
Public Area Movement Speed	+10% stacking speed boost and Chronoscope guild airship buff or unlock Phiarlan's Pendant of Timewith favor	Chronoscope guild airship buff or unlock Phiarlan's Pendant of Timewith favor	Chronoscope guild airship buff or unlock Phiarlan's Pendant of Timewith favor
Experience	+10% stacking XP Boos	None	None
Monster Manuals	Full Access to All Volumes	Prologue & Volume 1	Prologue
Saga Quest Skip	Skip One Quest per Saga	Purchase with Astral Shards	Purchase with Astral Shards
Guild Creation	Full Access	Purchase a Guild Charter	Purchase a Guild Charter
Shared Bank	Initial 20 Slots	Purchase with Astral Shards	Purchase with Astral Shards
Platinum Vault	First Tier Storage	Purchase	Purchase
Crafting Storage	Initial 45 Slots	Initial 12 Slots	Initial 12 Slots
Gold Daily Dice Roll	Free Weekly Roll	Purchase with Astral Shards	Purchase with Astral Shards
Silver Daily Dice Roll	Free Daily Roll	Free Daily Roll	Free Daily Roll
Harper Agent Enhancement Tree	Free Access for All Characters	Purchase or Unlock with Favor	Purchase or Unlock with Favor
Vistani Knife Fighter Enhancement Tree	Free Access for All Characters	Purchase or Unlock with Favor	Purchase or Unlock with Favor
Falconer Enhancment Tree	Purchase	Purchase	Purchase
Inquisitive Enhancement Tree	Purchase of Collector's or Ultimate Fan Bundle of Masterminds of Sharn or unlock through favor (probably)	Purchase of Collector's or Ultimate Fan Bundle of Masterminds of Sharn or unlock through favor (probably)	Purchase of Collector's or Ultimate Fan Bundle of Masterminds of Sharn or unlock through favor (probably)
Feydark Illusionist Enhancement Tree	Purchase of Collector's or Ultimate Fan Bundle of Fables of the Feywild	Purchase of Collector's or Ultimate Fan Bundle of Fables of the Feywild	Purchase of Collector's or Ultimate Fan Bundle of Fables of the Feywild
Login Queue	Priority	High	Low
Chat	Unlimited	Unlimited	Limited
Auction House	50 Items at a Time	50 Items at a Time	1 Item at a Time
Platinum Storage	Normal Game Limit	Normal Game Limit	1,250 pp x 2(Level-1)
Customer Service	Full Access	Full Access for 15, 30, 90, 180, or 365 Days	Online Self-Help Only
Official Forums	Full Access	Full Access	Some Limits
Beta Access	High	Normal	Normal
Idle Auto-Logout	60 Minutes	30 Minutes	30 Minutes
Buyback History	40 Items	40 Items (Supposed to be 10)	10 Items

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 immediate access to all difficulties, while free and premium players must clear easier difficulties to do anything harder than 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 D&D co-creator, the late 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. This system is also comonly used for holiday events.

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(formally Turbine Points this was changed after Standing Stone games seperated from WB Games), that can be 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, tiefling, warforged, shifter, tabaxi and the elven sub-race, wood elf, as its own race. The dragonborn, drow, dwarf, elf, gnome, half-elf, half-orc, halfling, human, tiefling and wood elf are available to all players. The drow can be earned through in game favor or be purchased from the in-game store. The aaismar, shifter, tabaxi, and warforged 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

DDO Character Classes
Style	Class
Melee	Barbarian
	Fighter
	Monk
	Paladin
Specialist	Alchemist
	Artificer
	Bard
	Ranger
	Rogue
Spell	Cleric
	Druid
	Favored soul
	Sorcerer
	Warlock
	Wizard

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 barbarian, bard, druid, cleric, fighter, monk, paladin, ranger, rogue, sorcerer, warlock, and wizard are freely available to any who play the game. The alchemist is free to any that subscribe to the game, but must be purchased by non-subscribers. The artificer and the favored soul must either be earned through favor or purchased from the DDO Store no matter the payment tier.

• Alchemist A specialist class that specializes in grenade like attacks, buffs and debuffs, or poison damage.
• Artificer A specialist class that has many buff spells. Also one of two classes that have a designated pet, in the artificer's case an iron defender.
• Barbarian A melee class that has special powers when angry and specializes in damage dealing.
• Bard A 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, in the druid's case 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 otherwise 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.

Tabaxi Trailblazer A tabaxi monk that focuses on quarterstaves.

Teifling Scoundrel A teifling bard that specializes in melee combat.

Razorclaw Shifter A shifter barbarian that uses handwraps to fight. Handwraps are the games way modifying attacks while having the character considered unarmed.

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

Alignments

Dungeons & 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, a paladin must be lawful good, and a warlock's alignment depends on the pact that the chose. 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 progression 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.

Sub-class enhancement trees

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, the Falconer, and the Inquisitive. 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 number 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.

The now depreciated Epic Destiny star map.

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 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. This system was revamped in Update 51.

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 5, 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 12, 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 25, 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 number 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 12, 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 27, 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 30, 2008. It included the Shroud raid and its attunement quests, the green steel crafting system, and 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 marketplace was overrun with devils and ended with the marketplace 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 3, 2008. Its major contribution was the monk class.

Module 8: Prisoners of Prophecy

Module 8: Prisoners of Prophecy was released on October 29, 2008. It introduced the Stealer of Souls quest and its attunement quests. It also introduced a revamped starting area, 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 30, 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, and added two new Adventure Packs that could be bought from the DDO Store: The Devils of Shavarath and The Sharn Syndicate. Any storylines introduced in previous modules were moved to the DDO store as adventure packs. The new endgame 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 28, 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 16, 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 3, 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 5, 2010. It added the Sentinels 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 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 Challenge 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 & 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 adventure 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 into 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 its 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 quests 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. This was a retelling of the original Ravenloft module, though it was closer to its Curse of Strahd incarnation for 5th Edition. The expansion also added the aasimar race and the aasimar scourge iconic race, the Vistani knife fighter enhancement tree, 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.

Masterminds of Sharn/ Update 42

Masterminds of Sharn is DDO's forth expansion. It gives the player the ability to travel from Stormreach to the city of Sharn on the continent of Khorvaire. It also adds the Masterminds of Sharn adventure pack. The chain involves the recovery of the item that was recovered in the quest that was added in Update 41, while avoiding a conflict with the Aurum, the Boromar Clan, and Sharn's city council. The expansion also added the teifling race, the teifling scoundrel iconic race, and the inquisitive enhancement tree.

Update 43: The Soul Splitter

Update 43: The Soul Splitter adds the Soul Splitter adventure pack to the DDO Store. The chain involves the exploration of parts of Sharn as players try to uncover who is attempting to take control of the city's warforged population. This is the first time that an adventure pack has been added that involves an expansion's major hub but does not require purchase of the expansion. This is done by opening up the Clifftop Tower District to all players.

Update 44: Keep on the Borderlands

Update 44: Keep on the Boderlands added the Keep on the Borderlands adventure pack, another classic adventure module, to the DDO Store. This eight-part adventure chain retold the module that was released by TSR in 1979. The adventure takes place in Greyhawk, same as Update 25: Reign of Elemental Evil and Update 39: White Plume Mountain and Other Tales. It however gives favor the Eberron faction, the Gatekeepers. It also added the mount system, allowing players to use mounts in public areas and wilderness areas.

Update 45: Age of the Alchemist

Update 45: Age of the Alchemist added the Alchemist class, based on the alchemist savant subclass from the Magic of Eberron source book from 3.5. This was added as a separate class from artificers, as artificers already had three enhancement trees. It also added a 64-bit client to the game, though this was in beta at the time. The update also included epic versions of the Catacombs and Delara's Tomb Quest chains. Finally, it brought the return of the anniversary party, signaling the 14th anniversary of the game.

Update 46: The Lost Gatekeepers

Update 46: The Lost Gatekeepers added the Lost Gatekeepers adventure pack to the DDO store. It also added the Gatekeeper Grove to Stormreach's harbor, moving the entrances to the chains based on old modules there in the process. The chain involves finding four lost Gatekeepers by retracing their steps. The quest chain appears to be a primer for the Feywild expansion pack that was announced in early 2020.

Update 47: The Promise of Fire

Update 47: The Promise of Fire released Legendary versions of the House Cannith raids, as well as the Vision of Destruction raid. It also released the Shifter Razorclaw for those that pre-purchased the Fables of the Feywild expansion.

Fables of the Feywild/Update 48

Fables of the Feywild is the fifth expansion. It added the Feywild wilderness area, as well as thirteen quests for the area. The expansion also added the shifter race, the razorclaw shifter iconic class, and the feydark illusionist. Players travel to the plane of the Feywild, encountering archfey as well as new creatures. The Feywild in this expansion is a combination of Eberron's Thelanis and the generic Feywild of other DnD campaign settings.

Update 49: Peril of Planar Eyes

Update 49: Peril of Planar Eyes added the Peral of Planar Eyes adventure pack to the DDO Store. The adventure pack involves adventurers attempting to secure artifacts identified by Morgrave University before a mysterious cult can get them. It also reworked how bows worked in the game.

Update 50: Sinister Secrets of Saltmarsh

Update 50: Sinister Secrets of Saltmarsh was the first of what Standing Stone Games called a mini expansion. It added the Horizon Walker universal enhancement tree, 4 new quests, and 6 new dungeons. It also reworked the Shadar-Kai and Radiant Idol enhancement trees.

Update 51: A New Destiny

Update 51: A New Destiny revamped the Epic Destiny system. No new quests were added in this update.

Update 52: Portent of Dread

Update 52: Portent of Dread added the free quest Dread Sea Scrolls, the precurser to Isle of Dread expansion pack. It also added the 2021 incarnation of the Festivualt event.

Update 53: Hunter and Hunted

Update 53: Hunter and Hunted add the Hunter and Hunted adventure pack to the DDO store. The adventure pack involves joining the Wild Hunt in a series of deadly challenges. It also added the 16th aniversary event. Finaly it moved the gnome; half-elf; half-orc; drow; dragonborn; and tiefling races as well as the druid; monk; and warlock classes to the free tier. They previously required them to be purchased or the player to have a VIP account.

Update 54: Isle of Dread

Update 54: Isle of Dread added the new expansion Isle of Dread for presale. It also added the tabaxi race and the tabaxi trailblazer iconic race to the game for those that pre-purchased the expansion.

Isle of Dread/ Update 55

Isle of Dread is the sixth expansion. It added the Isle of Dread wilderness area to the game as well as twelve new quests and a new raid. The expansion is based on module X1: The Isle of Dread, though not a retelling of the module's story. In the DDO story, a cult of Vecna has been spotted, and the new raid ends with a battle with Vecna himself.

Update 56: Archetypes and Archvillains

Update 56: Archetypes and Archvillains added a legendary version of Temple of Elemental Evil to the game. It also added archetypes, a system similar to iconic characters. The archetype system replaces one of the existing enhancement tree with the archetype tree. At release there were three archetypes added to the game: the dark apostate (a cleric the focuses on inflict spells rather than healing ones), the sacred fist (a paladin that adds in monk features), and the stormsinger (a bard that focuses on electric and thunder damage). These three archetypes were added to all players for free, though later ones may not do the same. The update also included a revamp to the bank system as well as the 2022 Crystal Cove holiday event.

Update 57: Grip of the Hidden Hand

Update 57: Grip of the Hidden Hand continued the story from Update 55, adding 5 new quests. It also had a rework for the way Hit Points and the return of the Festivault event for 2022, which added the Snow Peaks challenges to the event.

Update 58: Unlikely Heroes

Update 58: Unlikely Heros added three new archetypes to the game, the Acolyte of the Skin warlock (a warlock that slowly bonds with a demon, eventually becoming demonic themselves), the Blightcaster druid (a druid that uses necromatic spells), and the Dark Hunter ranger (a ranger that focuses on stealth). It also added a new free quest that was a precursor to the then upcoming mini expansion. Finally, it added the 2023 version of the anniversary event.

Update 59: Legendary Drooam

Update 59: Legendary Drooam added the legendary versions of the Attack on Stormreach quest chain, originally added to the game back in Update 5. It also revamped the prequel quest for the chain. It added the Underdark Warrior's Coffer to the DDO store, which was a bundle in the store that contained various cosmetic items. These items were based more off the Underdark of the Forgotten Realms rather than Khyber, Eberrons equivalent to the Underdark. Finally, the update included general updates for the game UI and performance.

Update 60: Vecna Unleashed Pre-Patch

Update 60 was added to the game to add the pre-purchase rewards for DDO's then upcoming mini-expansion, Vecna Unleashed. It added the Machrotechnic epic destiny, an epic destiny that is geared towards the use of electric and sonic damage. It also added the 9th volume of the Monster Manual system and an overhaul of rune arms.

Update 60: Vecna Unleashed

Update 60: Vecna Unleashed added the Vecna Unleashed quest chain. This quest chain involved dealing with Vecna and his cult on Eberron, ending in raid against one of Vecna's demonic generals.

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 & Dragons Online: Stormreach