Menace of the Underdark FAQ

[Thalmor]

Expansion FAQ

How did you link the Eberron and Forgotten Realms setting in the game, isn’t that against the D&D rules?
We’ve worked closely with Wizards of the Coast, as well as setting creator Ed Greenwood, to carefully craft a story that leads to the linking of the two game worlds. The threat of Lolth is something that touches multiple parts of the D&D universe, and we’re excited to let DDO players take part in a story that will span both D&D settings to try and stop her!

Kinda figured he ( Ed Greenwood )would of had some input into this.

Expansion FAQ
Are the abilities based on reaching “level cap to 20” going to change to 25? (e.g. True Reincarnations Capstones, Completionist feat, Prestige Enhancements)
Capstones, True Reincarnations, Prestige Enhancements, and Completionist feat are all still going to be based on reaching level 20 of what is now called “Heroic” levels (Heroic levels are the levels from 1-20 prior to epic).

So does thas mean if you have a 19 RGR/1 ROG and you take your 21 level as Ranger youd get the Ranger Capstone?

[dkyle]

The only problem with this is it makes respec'ing those epic lvls that much harder. Of course, we have no clue what we'll get with an epic lvl so maybe that's not an issue. But if we say can make a character with 25 lvls of sorcerer, its kind of silly when you TR to a fighter and are now 20 fighter/5 sorcerer.

My hope is that "Epic XP" would be kept, but that Epic XP would be as flexible as AP as far as what you spend it on. So once you get back to 20, you'd have that Epic XP available again, ready to spend on whatever you want for this new life.

Designing a whole new level system, and making it as rigid and inflexible as "heroic" class levels are would be a big mistake, I think.

[dkyle]

So does thas mean if you have a 19 RGR/1 ROG and you take your 21 level as Ranger youd get the Ranger Capstone?

I think what it means is you don't take "heroic" levels of classes when you take levels past 20. You could get 19rgr/1rog from your 20 heroic levels, but the stuff you take past that would be entirely different. No 20th level of Ranger (so no Capstone), but possibly a first level of "Epic Ranger".

[GoldyGopher]

Tolero

You should check out my Menace of the Underdark Thread for a list of questions people have been asking.

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=358499

Thor

[Havok.cry]

I warned you I would complain hehe:

Why even put in the questions that the only answer you have for us is, "we'll tell ya later"? The rest of it seems like no more than a consolidation of info that has already been released... seems like a waste of your time posting this.

[NXPlasmid]

You forgot this FAQ

I want to buy the expansion, but I am sure my wife will hit me with a skillet if I do. How can I address this?

As long as she hits you in the head you'll be fine, your mad gamer skillz might even improve. If she goes after your limbs, just block with your head.

[Cyr]

Tolero

You should check out my Menace of the Underdark Thread for a list of questions people have been asking.

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=358499

Thor

The answer to all those questions is...we will tell you more closer to the release date.

[Havok.cry]

The answer to all those questions is...we will tell you more closer to the release date.

lol that is what I was reading too. its a bit of a letdown

[Gratch]

Q: While working with Ed Greenwood and Turbines "hope to further incorporate more voiced NPCS/mobs".... any chance you got Ed to voice one of the upcoming FR packs as DM or at a minimum an NPC in it? Just cuz.

P.S: Then you could come back to Eberron and let K. Baker do the same).

P.P.S: Then you could get us someone well known outside the D&D industry (aka BRUCE CAMPBELL).

[zeonardo]

Druids being released on the FR Expansion, will be able to start as a lvl1 character playable in Eberron, right? I want screenshots from my Druid in Redwillow's Ruins.

[porq]

Will crafted items with a current minimum level of 20 be set to 21+ after the expansion release?

[GoldyGopher]

Druids being released on the FR Expansion, will be able to start as a lvl1 character playable in Eberron, right? I want screenshots from my Druid in Redwillow's Ruins.

Druids are a part of the Expansion, but the first Quests/Adventure Areas in the FR will be for Level 20 Characters or Higher. As you must be level 20 (or higher) to use the "gate" to get to the FR from Eberron.

For now all Druids will start in Korthos.

[Targonis]

will we be using our own characters when the beta becomes available? if so will you be providing pre built characters for those who dont have suitable ones?

It is January right now, so if you can't get to at least 18 by the end of May, it will be a while before you should be concerned about epic levels. For the Forgotten Realms stuff, I expect that a paid expansion will have either a LOT of high level content(at least 20+ quests plus 3 raids), or we will see 20+ quests from levels 1 to 25).

The real key is that those who are VIPs will expect that having to pay $30+ of additional money had better give a fair amount of content since our monthly subscriptions SHOULD provide all content in the game. Will Epic levels and the Forgotten Realms content require that we have purchased the expansion, or will some of it be included with some of it a part of the expansion fee?

[Thalmor]

Q: While working with Ed Greenwood and Turbines "hope to further incorporate more voiced NPCS/mobs".... any chance you got Ed to voice one of the upcoming FR packs as DM or at a minimum an NPC in it? Just cuz.

He'd be the voice Elminister.

[Talon_Moonshadow]

I've got some questions and comments about this subject.

I'll post them here in a few months.

[Aeolwind]

Kinda figured he ( Ed Greenwood )would of had some input into this.

Greenwood isn't crazy enough to let WOTC or Turbine mess with his brain child without supervision. Track Record and all.

[Calebro]

I warned you I would complain hehe:

Why even put in the questions that the only answer you have for us is, "we'll tell ya later"? The rest of it seems like no more than a consolidation of info that has already been released... seems like a waste of your time posting this.

Speculation: It is my assumption that none of this information was supposed to be released yet at all, but with Stainer's discovery and subsequent thread about it, they figured that the cat was already out of the bag. As such, they have given us a few small details ahead of when they were planning to.
As they weren't planning on telling us any of this just yet, they are being decidedly coy as to what they actually say.

Basically their marketing strategy was forced into play earlier than they wanted. They can't deny it's happening, but they can certainly try to contain it to get themselves a little closer to their original schedule (which has been borked already).

I have two words for you: Damage control.

[Gratch]

The "mmo news blurbs" about Update 13 (coming for our 6th anniv) talk about L16 quests introducing the DDO crowd to FR land. So figure they'll have a few packs in FR land, an expansion in FR land (with epic quests) and then more packs back in Eberron or ya know Amrath... that demon or angel side of Amrath needs some love.

Turbine plans to release DDO’s thirteenth update around the time of the sixth anniversary of DDO. This update will include a new free adventure pack, which will serve as the beginning of an important storyline of how the worlds of Eberron and Forgotten Realms (Faerun) are connected. The level range for the new adventure pack is level 16, which means that it’s playable for characters level 14 and up.

Druids are a part of the Expansion, but the first Quests/Adventure Areas in the FR will be for Level 20 Characters or Higher. As you must be level 20 (or higher) to use the "gate" to get to the FR from Eberron.
For now all Druids will start in Korthos.

[DANTEIL]

My condensed version....

Expansion FAQ

We’ll post more previews and dev diaries for the community regarding these exciting new features

as we get closer to launch

in the coming months

very soon!

check out Update 13, our next update where you’ll learn more

in the future as well.

[Aeolwind]

P.P.S: Then you could get us someone well known outside the D&D industry (aka BRUCE CAMPBELL).

I would actually pay for that with Turbine Points.