A Look Ahead - 2019 Producer's Letter

[Aelonwy]

I was overruled on this front, I'm sorry. I let you down.

No worries. I'm sure we'll see more of your Machiavellian machinations soon.

[Teeaaa]

I was overruled on this front, I'm sorry. I let you down.

Better get started on social engineering next years to being april 1st

Anyways <3 you guys, even though its a small producers letter I'm sure theres much that you'd love to tell us but can't at the moment. My one request is the new class be Monk-able

[Arkat]

Speculation time!

...

...the new racial variant which I think will be Talenta halflings - again in the anniversary stream, there were mentions of visiting other areas in Eberron & also mention of dinosaurs. Talenta halflings are nomads who ride dinosaurs & if there's another iconic added too it'd probably be a Talenta halfling barbarian as one of the only remaining f2p classes available plus it'd certainly fit with the lore.

This seems much more likely than the Duergar someone suggested above.

Also, having the spirit shaman class becoming available at the same time as introducing those tribal nomads would fit too.

What the new class will be, I have NO idea.

[SerPounce]

I'm particularly happy to hear destines are getting some work along continuing tweaks to the class trees. Some of those destines are really showing their age.

Also happy to hear there will be followup stuff in Sharn. Quest design has been outstanding lately, but some kind of meta-plot would be great. It would give more reason to pay attention to what's going on other than killing mobs.

Aww you missed the opportunity to keep stringing it along till April first.

LOL

[Yamani]

I'm particularly happy to hear destines are getting some work along continuing tweaks to the class trees. Some of those destines are really showing their age.

Same, I hope they look into shiradi and fatesinger quite a bit. Half of shiradi's abilities dont even work or are so small its a joke in todays game.

[Arkat]

Aww you missed the opportunity to keep stringing it along till April first.

I was overruled on this front, I'm sorry. I let you down.

I see my extensive, two-day campaign of putting MASSIVE public pressure on SSG to produce the Producer's Letter had its intended effect!

I'm in your heads, SSG!!

[AbyssalMage]

Overall looks promising. I wish some of the things recently discussed on the Livestreams would have been included in the producer's letter. Not everyone watches them.

[Arkat]

Overall looks promising. I wish some of the things recently discussed on the Livestreams would have been included in the producer's letter. Not everyone watches them.

Yeah, there's a suspicious lack of even a mention of the Isle of Dread info given in one of the live-streams (Sev's).

[HuneyMunster]

Yeah, there's a suspicious lack of even a mention of the Isle of Dread info given in one of the live-streams (Sev's).

If Isle of Dread is being done I don't think it will be until next year. Sharn March/April, follow up pack based in Sharn July/August, Borderlands November/December.

If the dates are on the earlier side there is usually a f2p single quest at end of year.

[Teeaaa]

Thank you very much for this letter. Everything sounds exciting

If I had my way, I would like the dev team to produce something like a Necromancer. Imagine the Pale Master extracted from the Wizard tree and given its very own class. The idea of using negative energy to heal and use multiple forms is unique enough to have its own class. They could take the various types, Zombie, Vampire, etc. and give them unique trees. I would love to target dead enemies, bring them to life, and make them do as I command them. Muwhahaahaaa! On the flip size, it wouldn't be hard to give the Wizard a new tree in exchange.

Even if this doesn't happen (a pipe dream, I know), any work done on Pale Master is appreciated.

That as a new class is highly unlikely as there is already plans to update Pale Master with Reaper in mind within the coming updates after sharn

[Teeaaa]

Speculation time!

...the new racial variant which I think will be Talenta halflings - again in the anniversary stream, there were mentions of visiting other areas in Eberron & also mention of dinosaurs. Talenta halflings are nomads who ride dinosaurs & if there's another iconic added too it'd probably be a Talenta halfling barbarian as one of the only remaining f2p classes available plus it'd certainly fit with the lore. Also, having the spirit shaman class becoming available at the same time as introducing those tribal nomads would fit too.

I mean, I guess Steel (or some dev) DID say he "couldn't disclose information about halflings riding dinosaurs, but he really wanted to"...

[DrawingGuy]

Great news for Destiny Passes being on the table! Far too many destinies are still garbage comparatively. I've been wanting to run my Monk in GMoF for years, but it doesn't hold a candle to LD or DC or even FotW. Though all of us will have our opinions on which ED should get the pass first.

[Zites]

Greetings! I’m excited today to share a look at our 2019 road map, featuring a new expansion, new quests, a new race, and more! DDO enters its 13th year with a passionate player base and a development team dedicated to making DDO great, and it couldn’t be done without you.

You've known about our plans for an expansion into Sharn for a while now, and last week we were able to start sharing more information with you, including the debut of our first Sharn-related preview material to our public preview server, and an announcement that we will begin accepting preorders for Masterminds of Sharn in March. Bookmark ddo.com/mastermindsofsharn to make sure you have the latest information.

We intend to follow up Sharn with a new adventure pack set in the City of Towers, but you won’t need the Sharn expansion to run these quests. Update 43’s adventure pack set will be free to VIPs (and Season Pass holders). Update 44 will introduce our next new class as well! More information about what this class will be is under wraps for now, but we will have much more to share later this year.

Update 45 will arrive later in the year as well, and feature our next classic adventure pack. We don’t feel it would B2 early to talk about it, so we’re pleased to announce that Keep on the Borderlands will offer a new experience for players adventuring at the lower levels of the game. The classic pack will also feature several other dungeons, similar to what we did with White Plume Mountain and Other Tales.

Some other things we are hoping to do this year is to work on Epic Destinies, with a few targeted changes per destiny along with additional work to Knight of the Chalice, and the debut of a new racial variant!

As always, we are honored to be the place where you enjoy the most authentic Dungeons & Dragons experience in video gaming, and we will continue to work hard to earn your patronage.

Sev~

Thank you Sev and team for your hard work very much enjoying all the new teasers, from Sharn to Borderlands and all the classic packs, looking forward to what you have in store for us going forward. Especially happy to hear of your, hoped for goal to work on Epic Destinies, with a few targeted changes per destiny along with additional work to Knight of the Chalice thank you ty ty ty !!!

I assume that your still in discussions about Reaper changes and the possibility of new reapers to challenge us, as well as tweeks to the meta as you mention in the anniversary interview with Cordo.

I hope you don't mind me dropping the video in this tread. thx again!

[apocaladle]

Update 44 will introduce our next new class as well! More information about what this class will be is under wraps for now, but we will have much more to share later this year.

Sev~

I'm just gonna leave this here.

https://youtu.be/aG62IS8cvt4?t=546

[Fezz1k]

[Tiefling] seems much more likely than the Duergar someone suggested above.

Yeah, but there's already an iconic tiefling, and this would then make three similar variants of the tielfing tree, whereas dwarf only has their one. But maybe I'm just hoping for duergar more.

[Livmo]

Update 45 will arrive later in the year as well, and feature our next classic adventure pack. We don’t feel it would B2 early to talk about it, so we’re pleased to announce that Keep on the Borderlands will offer a new experience for players adventuring at the lower levels of the game. The classic pack will also feature several other dungeons, similar to what we did with White Plume Mountain and Other Tales.

Sev~

B2 came with my original box set. Thanks for doing this! Expedition to Barrier Peaks next?

[mr420247]

Guessing Psionics for the class no idea what else it could be

[Arkat]

Yeah, but there's already an iconic tiefling, and this would then make three similar variants of the tielfing tree, whereas dwarf only has their one. But maybe I'm just hoping for duergar more.

I wasn't referring to any Tieflings. I was referring to the Talenta Halfling variant that FuzzyDuck81 mentioned in his post.

[Arkat]

I'm just gonna leave this here.

https://youtu.be/aG62IS8cvt4?t=546

It isn't going to be the Knight class.

A former Player Council member posted on another site that the Knight was discarded long ago.

A Psionic class, however, would be cool.

Aren't Kalashtar a Human variant?

[Elbaren]

It appears that the Japanese concept of "Kaizen" or "continuous improvement" is alive and well at SSG.

Much to our benefit! Thanks for all the hard work.