Touring with Turbine: Dungeons & Dragons Update 10 [Dungeons & Dragons Online]

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While Chris "Pwyff" Tom usually handles our tours of the Dungeons & Dragons Online updates, this week I stepped up to the plate to take a look at Update 10's features with members of the Turbine team. Led by Design Director Ian Currie, Executive Producer Fernando Paiz and Producer Erik Boyer, I got a crash course on the latest content that is now live in the game for VIP members.

Keep reading after the jump for all the details from my personal tour of Update 10: Reign of Madness!

The tour started out in the Tower of the Twelve. The developers pointed out the Eldritch Devices in the area, noting that the update would raise the crafting levels from 75 to 100 skill. They began talking about the story, noting that there are four new sequential quests. The team mentioned that the quests continue the story of the growing influence of Xoriat, the plane of madness, which would also eventually affect the tower itself. We took a trip out a door and headed toward the Sleeping Spell Inn for our first quest.

Outside the inn I met with a recurring character from the last update, Rorry Malcanus, lamenting the loss of his scepter... as well he should be, as this specific scepter opens up the plane of Xoriat! Upon entering the inn, I ran with my group to catch a mindflayer while taking care of the corrupted occupants of the inn. If they are not killed quickly, they sprout floating eye balls that cause significantly more harm! After cornering and killing the mindflayer, the scepter is returned and we all live happily ever after. Ha ha, no, not really... a mimic in the form of a treasure chest appears and eats the scepter! The team was incredibly excited about the mimic, mentioning this is the first time one has appeared in the game. Another deranged game of tag ensues, with the mimic spewing sticky slobber all over the floor as we chased him down.



Of course, nothing is that simple. No sooner had we finished trouncing the mimic than he activated the scepter, causing a really cool scene where everything got tinged red and the ceiling dissolved into the swirling madness of Xoriat. Before we could grab the mimic, a beholder arrived and gobbled up both the mimic and the scepter. At this point insanity was starting to take hold and the DM informed the group that the only way to get the scepter back was to chase the beholder into the sky. And how better to do that than by activating furniture in the room and convincing it to create an airship? Thus, the next task was interacting with various pieces of furniture around the inn and holding off an invasion of frost beholders and other nasties while our airship was constructed.

Eager to show off more of the update, we exited the adventure at this point and headed toward the second quest at the Sane Asylum.

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The Sane Asylum features some recurring characters, such as Durk the Deranged and Fred the Mindflayer. From what the team told me, owing to the growing influence of Xoriat, the Asylum is now used by the insane to drive sane prisoners crazy. Fred, being one of the least insane mindflayers, is a key victim and must be rescued from his prison. After dealing with some receptionists and orderlies who need a good lesson in proper manners, further areas were revealed after we downed a Nightmare enemy. Our characters changed to a ghostly translucent model, and new pathways opened up. We soon made our way to the asylum cells. Inside one of them, we found a secret passage with a treasure chest at the bottom, watched over (literally) but some creepy giant eye terrain. The team mentioned that these textures were to emphasize the Lord of Eyes, the master of Xoriat, and his increasing corruption of the world.

Teleporting forward, the team took me through a battle between twin beholder enemies named “The Right Eye” and “The Wrong Eye.” The two tag-team out, and defeating them involved one of several strategies – either everyone focusing on one side at a time, or splitting a group into two to take down both at the same time. However, there is an entirely different path to take as well; instead of fighting the beholders, a party can attempt to solve a multi-layered random puzzle near Fred. The puzzle changes every time the adventure is attempted, but completing it awards good experience and a chest, and allows a party to forgo a tough fight!



At this point we exited the Asylum and headed back to the Tower of the Twelve. The team mentioned that Update 10 allowed them a chance to update the Tower of the Twelve a bit as they spoke about the last two quests. The third quest involved getting help from the Lord of Eyes' nemesis, the Lord of Stone, ruler of creatures like medusas and gargoyles. The quests would also change the tower as the Lord of Eyes takes over. The final quest would involve defeating the Lord of Eyes using the power of the Lord of Stone.

And thus ended my Update 10 tour! Players can look forward to the continuation of the storylines they've played so far, as well as interesting new mechanics, enemies, gear and encounters. The insanity caused by Xoriat made for a creative twist to the normal questing I've seen in other games. The update is now live for free for VIP members, and will be available for purchase in the DDO Store starting June 24.

Paul "LockeColeMA Cleveland, Staff Writer

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