A Letter from Executive Producer Rob Ciccolini – February 2021

[Severlin]

Happy 15th Anniversary DDO! We are excited to reach this milestone and are ever-thankful to our players for making this possible. Today I'll be talking about some of our plans for the rest of the year and letting you know what we are looking forward to.

In the coming weeks we will be celebrating in House Phiarlan as we bring out an updated Anniversary Event! This year's event features a few minor updates to the challenge itself along with a large number of new items added to the reward list. We're bringing back all of the House-specific Eberron Cloaks in the rewards list that we gave out a few years ago for our anniversary, in case you missed one or missed it, and we're adding a new cosmetic helm and cosmetic pet as well. We're also going to be distributing two special gifts to everyone! One will be something your character will wear as a cosmetic, and the other is something your character will equip.

The release of the new raid, The Dryad and the Demigod, marks the grand finale of the Fables of the Feywild expansion. This raid features the music of our in-house composer Bill Champagne and we think it is a raid unlike any other you may have seen before. The idea of a “musical raid” has been kicking around for a while in the office, and we think players of all types will find something special here. Anyone who has purchased Fables of the Feywild will have access to this new raid.

This spring brings the first Hardcore League season of 2021 to the game! Our 4th Hardcore Season will feature some new and returning guests in the form of the minions of the Nine Daelkyr Lords. You’ve met the Lord of Eyes and the Lord of Stone, but have you met the rest? We're also planning to run a 5th season of the Hardcore League later this year.

This spring will also bring Update 49 that includes four dungeons where you will help Morgrave University hunt down lost relics in a series of adventures that feel somewhat “Indiana Jones-like”. Alongside this adventure pack the bow combat style is being revamped and will get new animations.

This summer will see the release of the first "mini-expansion" in Dungeons & Dragons Online in the form of the Classic Adventure: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh! An evil Alchemist's mansion stands alone on a cliff and mysterious lights and hauntings have kept people away despite rumors of great treasure. What is the secret? Debuting alongside this classic adventure will be our next Universal Enhancement Tree called Horizon Walker, which focuses on marking and neutralizing extra-planar and other enemies with a bow. As we get closer to the release of Saltmarsh, we will have more information about what to expect from a DDO mini-expansion, the lessons that we learned from The Lord of the Rings Online’s first mini-expansion last year, and plans to give more value to VIPs.

The fall will feature a set of new adventures and a raid revolving around the Wild Hunt as well as a significant update to our Epic Destiny system. We are restructuring the core of the system, modernizing some trees and redesigning others, and making Epic Destinies more versatile by allowing players to have multiple Destinies active at the same time.

Other things to look forward to this year include a new Monster Manual volume, a free dungeon to wrap up the year, updates to our various festivals, and more! We want to thank you for continuing to make this game and community thrive, and we look forward to making 2021 a fantastic year for DDO!

Sev

[straytext]

Lots of really long awaited bits here. Can't wait. Well.. I can. I have no choice. But, I'm excited all the same.

[cdbd3rd]

A "musical raid"...

So at every dramatic scene, every character stops and breaks into an involuntary emote of singing and dancing.

*CD hears* "mumble something mumble mumble Monster Manual! something mumble"

[Madja]

Some exciting stuff! I'm very much looking forward to the bow pass, as I've long wanted to play an archer build.

Though I must say that I'm surprised that the grand finale of an expansion comes only 4 months after its release. I've probably been spoiled by WoW. Since Wild Hunt stuff is coming out later this year, does "Grand Finale" mean the final adventure pack that is free for owners of the expansion?

[NemesisAlien]

A "musical raid"...

So at every dramatic scene, every character stops and breaks into an involuntary emote of singing and dancing.

*CD hears* "mumble something mumble mumble Monster Manual! something mumble"

Bollywood comes to ddo.

[NemesisAlien]

Some exciting stuff! I'm very much looking forward to the bow pass, as I've long wanted to play an archer build.

Though I must say that I'm surprised that the grand finale of an expansion comes only 4 months after its release. I've probably been spoiled by WoW. Since Wild Hunt stuff is coming out later this year, does "Grand Finale" mean the final adventure pack that is free for owners of the expansion?

Hopefully I can finally do monkcher built.

[SlyGO12]

Another lowbie level quest chain and one I enjoyed back in the PnP days!

I love the diversity we are introducing to the low levels it will inspire new players to keep at the game and now they basically have 4 options to choose from - Korthos, Harbor, KBL and now Salt Marsh!

[axel15810]

Thanks for the update, getting info like this is always appreciated.

[JoeCamb02140]

This summer will see the release of the first "mini-expansion" in Dungeons & Dragons Online in the form of the Classic Adventure: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh!
Sev

Ah nostalgia! I owned this one back in the day, and loved it. Thanks.

[Aelonwy]

The Nine Daelkyr Lords? Oh I hope that means someday we might see a Xoriat expansion. Xoriat content kicks my bum but its always fun and mind-bending.

Will the mini-expansion include more than just Salt Marsh what about the module after it with the Lizardfolk? Dunwater?

A set of adventures centered around the Wildhunt?! Awesome! And a wildhunt raid, interesting. I'm glad we're getting more feywild content. Will its items be included in the feywild season sets?

Looking forward to the revamp of Epic Destinies.

NEW Monster Manuals! Yes. I love these.

[Valerianus]

mini-expansion?

sorry my blood is boiling can't help it i even forgot about the good things i wanted to....


just for using that words you learned nothing seriously


you got so much rage with lotro mini-expansion (war of the three peaks) that you just in the past days you had to reassure, much needed, that the next pack WON'T be a mini-expansion

for those who don't know about it, it means an adventure pack, priced almost as an expansion, 20\60\100 dollars, not free to vip cause labeled mini-expansion. released october 2020 and available for lotro points only since a few days ago, exactly like a real expansion, available at lauch only for cash.



you got so much rage about it and you even got reactions like

***** SSG BIGGEST MMO BLUNDER 2020 (staff pick) \\ STANDING STONE’S LOTRO FIASCO ********

https://massivelyop.com/2020/12/14/m...ggest-blunder/



please edit that out and don't even think about creating a rage surge like that here in DDO really please please please

[CaptainSpacePony]

Ah nostalgia! I owned this one back in the day, and loved it. Thanks.

I only played U1, but was a big fan.

[Stoner81]

Lots of good stuff in here it would seem to me

Stoner81.

[Annex]

Happy Anniversary! Thank you to everyone at Standing Stone Games for all your creativity and hard word. May the fruits of your efforts bring you happiness and prosperity. I look forward to exploring all these upcoming adventures.

[ShifterThePirate]

Yay cosmetic overload!

No word on how the state of the game will be improved? Like the lag or the storage/inventory space problems (making a new character is insta full inventory)?

[Dalnarac]

Not sure if I missed something or just misunderstood. Wasn't a level cap increase on the charts for this year? Delayed from last expansion? Not happening anymore?

[The_Human_Cypher]

Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh!! I've suggested the U-series modules as the next classic adventure pack many times. Thanks!

[TharJr]

so the only raid for 2021 was the one from the 2020 expansion???

[The_Human_Cypher]

so the only raid for 2021 was the one from the 2020 expansion???

No, there will be a raid later in 2021 about the "Wild Hunt."

[Elfishski]

This summer will see the release of the first "mini-expansion" in Dungeons & Dragons Online [...] the lessons that we learned from The Lord of the Rings Online’s first mini-expansion last year, and plans to give more value to VIPs.

This is deeply disappointing. More "value" to VIPs or otherwise, it appears the lesson that was learned from LOTRO is that SSG could get away with charging essentially a full expansion price in cash for essentially a regular quest pack [+a cosmetic or two], instead of just releasing that regular quest pack as part of the understood arrangement with players.

Repackaging quest packs as "mini-expansions" comes across as insulting and either desperate or greedy, and I'm shocked that the response over in LOTRO didn't tell you that already. Bugs and lag notwithstanding, I very much enjoy my time in DDO and I do appreciate the dedication and quality that has gone into the game in recent years in many respects, and I can be parted with money in many ways that would leave me feeling satisfied instead of taken advantage of, including but not limited to:
- proper expansions with large swathes of new content and a cohesive story to tie that content together, in addition to regular updates
- a cosmetics closet (then sell all the cosmetics you can make) - how is THIS not in the plan yet (or any other storage improvements)?!
- a new season's pass