| ESRB:Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited Previews: Update One Preview
MMORPG.com's Jamie Skelton presents this first look at the first update for Dungeons and Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited, which launches today.
By Jaime Skelton on October 28, 2009
Scheduled to release on Wednesday, October 28th, Update One is the first major update To Dungeons and Dragons Online since Eberron Unlimited went live in September. Turbine has shifted away from calling these updates modules to simply referring to them as "updates," in an attempt to help distinguish between software changes and new features. Players will see smaller additions and changes to the game between each major update as well, so that new content can be constantly added to the game rather than spread out over longer spans.
The focus of this update is on high level players, and there are plenty of treats in store. One of these special treats is known as Veteran Status. Earned by characters who have garnered at least 1,000 favor, Veteran status allows players to start new characters who will enter the game at level four and begin their adventures in the Stormreach Marketplace, bypassing many of the early low-level quests - and yes, it is retroactive. Players who have not reached 1,000 favor but would like to purchase this status may do so in the DDO Store. This allows players to bring new custom characters easily into the game, and makes it easier to tinker with new builds, particularly multi-class builds.
With Update One also comes a brand new difficulty setting - Epic. Designed to allow players to revisit old favorites redone for the level cap, Epic Dungeons not only allow players to re-experience the challenge of these areas on a newer, harder difficulty designed exclusively for level 20s, but also allow players to gain new, Epic versions of the items that dropped there before.
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The first area to receive an Epic difficulty is the Demon Sands Adventure Pack. Several areas in this Adventure Pack - including the raid on Queen Lailat - can now be played in Epic difficulty, and the designers have made it so that players can quickly get into the climatic battles of these areas. Defeating these adventures will reward rare scrolls, seals, and shards which can be used to upgrade older loot from these areas into new versions designed for maximum level characters. In addition, special tokens will drop that will be tradeable for Epic Augment Crystals, permanently add new effects to these items, or even True Reincarnation Tokens. These later tokens will be of use when Reincarnation enters the game, which will allow players to experience a "true reroll," and will be particularly valuable for players wanting to restart a favorite character.
There is, of course, a new Adventure Pack waiting for players too. Designed for players of levels 17 to 19, The Path of Inspiration offers five new adventures with fun new challenges, and is part one of a two part series. Long time players of DDO will remember the area of the old Harbor, which has been sealed off for quite some time. The Coin Lords have allowed a group from the city of Dar Qat, who follow the mysterious Path of Inspiration, to take up residence there. But everything is not as it seems in the Inspired Quarter, and players will soon find themselves digging deep into the cult's true nature.
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I got to play through parts of the new adventure pack, and there are a lot of exciting things to see that I don't want to spoil. I can tell you, however, that players will be seeing some old friends like Jeets Shimis again. Expect to delve into both the lands of dreams and nightmares as you confront the Dreaming Dark. Besides facing a new threat, there are new puzzles, tricks, and secrets to be discovered. It will do players well to be creative in their thinking.
One last thing to mention - besides a set of fixes and tweaks, the beloved 32 point character build will now be available for purchase in the DDO store. This is a great option for newer players who may not have the favor required to use it, but are willing to buy it and save themselves the hours of favor grinding. With all of these great changes and additions coming to DDO in this update, there's a lot to look forward to!
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I downloaded the game three days earlier and tested it a bit. Now this patch comes on.
I try to play but always get an error, that I dont have installed the current version.
No automatic download
No online help
No manual download of the patch at the homepage, but lots of links to the release notes....
Useless timeconsuming "knowledge"-database
So I downloaded the game again, wasting 2 hours.
But thats only the old version. Therefore the same error.
Send with lots of trouble to find a possibility in all desperation a email to the technical support. There it is said, that an answer need normally 1 or 2 week.
Do I need to say more?
Turbine (with DnD) have hardly had the best track record in support.
But to be fair you can never judge a game on incidents like these...only rage because you can't try out the game (i've been there before). I suggest you find someone else to help (like a player) and bypass the lame support system they have.
As for the update...sounds good
If you run the game through the launcher you should automatically have the update installed. Are you for some reason launching the game from the executable instead of the dndlauncher?
As a relative newcomer to DDO, I am really enjoying both the game play as well as the direction the game is going. This new epic level will allow old timers to play some of their favorites as level 20s for good loot. Sounds like a good idea to me! :) See ya in game.
I remember that this same issue would happen on AC, patch cause game to not load. It will be fixed fairly quickly unless things have change at Turbine.
As for DDO now I would still keep trying since it is free to play so you have lost nothing but time. Of course some would say time is money but this is bullshit unless you skipped work to download the game but then you would have to be an idiot to do something like that.
Are you running Windows Vista? or Windows 7? If so, try running the launcher as an administrator.
I love the way players who were not keen on a F2P invasion were painted as some sort of immigrant hater. Yes I am sure all those who had concerns spend their free time at airports with ‘immigrants go home’ signs. What nonsense, flooding the player base for any reason causes issues, these people are not being bigoted, but Mr Skelton is being sensationalist.
I dont think immigrants who fly in on planes are exactly what immigrant-haters have in mind while they are conspiring against immigration. :-D
I kinda like DDO
for what its worth
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