Update 23 Story Preview (w/ Vol Concept Art!)

[PurpleFooz]

Greetings! We're hard at work getting Update 23 ready, and wanted to take a minute to give you a sneak peek at a bit of the story line you'll encounter when entering the Epic Orchard of the Macabre...

As you may know, we're bringing a new story to the Orchard that touches on the events you've experienced in the Heroic version of this area, but also expands that story to include a famous resident of Eberron: Lady Vol! Here is a bit of concept art put together as we began work on Update 23, to give you some idea of who you'll be dealing with in the new raid:

Years after the Black Abbot’s defeat, the Emerald Claw have returned to the Orchard of the Macabre. They arrived with large number of cultists and priests of the Blood of Vol. Many of the Black Abbot’s minions are also returning to the Orchard, and this time, they seem to be working together with the Emerald Claw. Though the Silver Flame are alarmed by these events, their attention is divided by an outbreak of lycanthropy in the area.

At the Temple of Vol, the High Priest taunts to the players that all is going according to Vol’s plan, and that they were merely pawns when they defeated the Abbot before...


We look forward to you seeing more of Vol and the Epic Orchard of the Macabre. We'll be previewing this new content in the coming weeks on Lamannia, and would love to read your feedback about it on the Lamannia forums. Thanks!
- PurpleFooz

[Lifespawn]

Greetings! We're hard at work getting Update 23 ready, and wanted to take a minute to give you a sneak peek at a bit of the story line you'll encounter when entering the Epic Orchard of the Macabre...

As you may know, we're bringing a new story to the Orchard that touches on the events you've experienced in the Heroic version of this area, but also expands that story to include a famous resident of Eberron: Lady Vol! Here is a bit of concept art put together as we began work on Update 23, to give you some idea of who you'll be dealing with in the new raid:

Years after the Black Abbot’s defeat, the Emerald Claw have returned to the Orchard of the Macabre. They arrived with large number of cultists and priests of the Blood of Vol. Many of the Black Abbot’s minions are also returning to the Orchard, and this time, they seem to be working together with the Emerald Claw. Though the Silver Flame are alarmed by these events, their attention is divided by an outbreak of lycanthropy in the area.

At the Temple of Vol, the High Priest taunts to the players that all is going according to Vol’s plan, and that they were merely pawns when they defeated the Abbot before...


We look forward to you seeing more of Vol and the Epic Orchard of the Macabre. We'll be previewing this new content in the coming weeks on Lamannia, and would love to read your feedback about it on the Lamannia forums. Thanks!
- PurpleFooz

can't wait lots of loot in this area hope it gets done right

[PuppiesAndRainbows]

I know its too soon for quarterly wallpapers..

..but some more of the new art work, big enough for wallpaper would be appreciated

[Cordovan]

I know its too soon for quarterly wallpapers..

..but some more of the new art work, big enough for wallpaper would be appreciated

If you click on the image it'll open in a full-size version.

[JOTMON]

Looks exciting!

a Lich Half Elf/Half-Dragon.. heir to the Dragonmark of Death and ties to the Emerald Claw.
Erandis Vol should prove to be a powerful arch-enemy.
http://eberron.wikia.com/wiki/Lady_Vol

Enemy to those fanatical zealots known as the Silver Flame
http://eberron.wikia.com/wiki/Blood_of_Vol

[silinteresting]

ooo ooooo can i have one as a pet ?

your friend sil

[Saekee]

Looks exciting!

a Lich Half Elf/Half-Dragon.. heir to the Dragonmark of Death and ties to the Emerald Claw.
Erandis Vol should prove to be a powerful arch-enemy.
http://eberron.wikia.com/wiki/Lady_Vol

Enemy to those fanatical zealots known as the Silver Flame
http://eberron.wikia.com/wiki/Blood_of_Vol

Thx for sharing these links!
Looks exciting thx devs for the communication

[poltt48]

Love lady vol as new raid boss. Kind of tired of all same old undead and lycanthropes though. Don't suppose we can get some new undead and lycanthropes like revanents, banshees, nightshades, or maybe even a angel of decay for undead or weretigers/werebears for lycanthropes.

[Seikojin]

Love lady vol as new raid boss. Kind of tired of all same old undead and lycanthropes though. Don't suppose we can get some new undead and lycanthropes like revanents, banshees, nightshades, or maybe even a angel of decay for undead or weretigers/werebears for lycanthropes.

I hope they bring night crawlers, Night walkers, and night wings. Nothing like giant formations of pure dark evil on the material plane.

[LeoLionxxx]

Love lady vol as new raid boss. Kind of tired of all same old undead and lycanthropes though. Don't suppose we can get some new undead and lycanthropes like revanents, banshees, nightshades, or maybe even a angel of decay for undead or weretigers/werebears for lycanthropes.

Actually, lycanthropes are exclusively werewolves - there are different names for the many types of Therianthropy.

[Oxarhamar]

Love lady vol as new raid boss. Kind of tired of all same old undead and lycanthropes though. Don't suppose we can get some new undead and lycanthropes like revanents, banshees, nightshades, or maybe even a angel of decay for undead or weretigers/werebears for lycanthropes.

Same old same old...

Please tell me where there are Lycanthropes currently in Orchard?

I don't think it would be difficult to reskin the Den Mother for Werebear rare

[Loromir]

Greetings! We're hard at work getting Update 23 ready, and wanted to take a minute to give you a sneak peek at a bit of the story line you'll encounter when entering the Epic Orchard of the Macabre...

As you may know, we're bringing a new story to the Orchard that touches on the events you've experienced in the Heroic version of this area, but also expands that story to include a famous resident of Eberron: Lady Vol!

Years after the Black Abbot’s defeat, the Emerald Claw have returned to the Orchard of the Macabre. They arrived with large number of cultists and priests of the Blood of Vol. Many of the Black Abbot’s minions are also returning to the Orchard, and this time, they seem to be working together with the Emerald Claw. Though the Silver Flame are alarmed by these events, their attention is divided by an outbreak of lycanthropy in the area.

At the Temple of Vol, the High Priest taunts to the players that all is going according to Vol’s plan, and that they were merely pawns when they defeated the Abbot before...


We look forward to you seeing more of Vol and the Epic Orchard of the Macabre. We'll be previewing this new content in the coming weeks on Lamannia, and would love to read your feedback about it on the Lamannia forums. Thanks!
- PurpleFooz

This leads me to think that maybe there won't be as much undead in the orchard as you might think.....Cultists/Priests/Abbot Minions....

[B0ltdrag0n]

Time to reuse mistress and Necromancer mechanics from MoTU already?

[Sebastrd]

Time to reuse mistress and Necromancer mechanics from MoTU already?

It had better not be. Those were some of the worst, most annoying, cheapest mechanics in the game.

[Thrudh]

It had better not be. Those were some of the worst, most annoying, cheapest mechanics in the game.

No, those were awesome, because you had to use your brain....

[Sebastrd]

No, those were awesome, because you had to use your brain....

How so? The number one mechanic that came out of the MotU update was "kill everything twice". It could have been a good mechanic, if using your brain was a viable option. Instead, the devs went out of their way to make sure the mechanic could not be bypassed by smart play in many instances. There are places where a priestess has two slaves readily available for sacrifice, but even (smartly) freeing them beforehand does not prevent her from sacrificing them. In others, there are multiple necromancers raising each other so that you cannot (smartly) kill the necromancer first to prevent him from zombifying everything. CitW is easily the worst offender. There is no way around killing everything twice. From what I understand, it's the mistresses bringing everything back as ghosts in that one. So you either kill stuff just for them to bring it back or beat on the priestess until she sacrifices it and you have to kill her twice - except now with DR

I'm all for mechanics that reward smart play. The MotU mechanics most assuredly did not. Instead, they frustratingly seemed to reward smart play, but it was a ruse.

[harry-pancreas]

This leads me to think that maybe there won't be as much undead in the orchard as you might think.....Cultists/Priests/Abbot Minions....

i have the same feeling

[madmaxhunter]

This leads me to think that maybe there won't be as much undead in the orchard as you might think.....Cultists/Priests/Abbot Minions....

And PLEASE, let each kill be a kill! I have always hated the northeast side of The Orchard because of the alive is a slayer, undead isn't bug (or wai).

[jakeelala]

Er Mah GERD!!!


loot

[Merlin-ator]

Sweet, Lady Vol is finally coming to DDO! The Flame is concerned about werewolves (true to lore). Overall, looks very promising, despite being yet another undead-ridden area. One question - That dragonmark in the pic, she doesn't get to use it, right? I thought that once you had died, your dragonmark becomes a neat tattoo.


Also, are Abbot and the Sigil going to be touched? I almost never see an Abbot LFM, and even when I do, I can't join because of that ******** flagging mechanic. Could you remove the full Sigil requirement and change it to something like a Tapestry/Shield turn-in?