The 40th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons is just around the corner and Turbine's Dungeons & Dragons Online is celebrating with Update 21: The Legendary Halls. They will be adding two huge new wilderness areas, two very challenging raids, and updates to epic destinies and in game collectible cards that offer prizes. Read on for a full preview from our dev tour with the Turbine team earlier this week.
The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar is a very large wilderness area with a dungeon difficulty of CR28. The area and dungeon being modeled after Ed Greenwood's description. During your adventures here, you will have options that will let you explore this area in a unique way, allowing for more or less adventure, depending on how much time you have to explore. Deep within the dungeon there is an agent of the Zhentarim, Whisper. Players are given the choice to aid him, or to attempt to defeat him, but should be warned, for he is one of the hardest non-raid encounters to date.
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The second area being added, The Ruins of Thunderholme, is an area that was wiped out several hundred years ago. The Cult of the Dragon can be found here, worshiping powerful undead dragons and dracoliches. Thunderholme offers seven layers of exploration in the wilderness area. You'll also find Aurgoloroasa's Lair, a 12 person raid, which is promised to be some of the hardest content released thus far. Getting to the lair requires overcoming some challenging puzzles. The first type of puzzle has to deal with relays and switches to be able to move from floor to floor. There is also an optional jump puzzle, where players will have to split up in order to complete it. For those that are a little to heavy to complete the jump puzzle, there is a second option that will involve intellectual skills. Players are met with a logic puzzle that will require some quick thinking to advance through the portals. Deeper into the Phylactery, packs of mobs will charge at you and orbs that turn Red or Green will either allow you to pass or punish you if you decide to not obey. If players succeed in completing the puzzles, there is still the matter of Aurgloroasa, the shadow dragon who was responsible for the destruction of Thunderholme.
Update 21 brings a second raid as well, Dragons & Dragons. At the summit of the Thunder Peaks are two red dragons. There is a bit of dialogue exchanged and then the fight beings. These sizable dragons must be separated in order to be defeated. If they do get close to one another they become incredibly difficult to defeat, as they are buffed when close to one another. The dragons must also be kept away from the dwarven artifact, which glows like a beacon in the center of the area.
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There are two final additions to Update 21, the first being two new Divine Epic Destinies, giving healers a little more firepower to their heals and damage. The second, in celebration of the upcoming 40th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, will add collectible cards to the game. These cards will have classic D&D images on them, and can be collected and turned in for potions and other prizes. There will also be 10 collection exclusive items added to the game just for acquiring them. All of the content in Update 21 is free to VIPs. Premium and free players will be able to purchase it in two seperate packs from the DDO store.
