Update 11 Release Notes Highlights (with Commentary)

Update 11 is live!
I've been looking forward to this one as DDO pulls the game closer to its D&D steampunk roots with the Artificer class.

The complete notes are available at this link. I will summarize a few important things to note about this update in general as well as some notes I thought intriguing, although they may or may not apply to your characters.

* On the new Artificer class (Rogue meets spellcaster, baby!)
Artificers use a mix of magic and technology to augment items and blast foes. Wielding rapid-fire crossbows and magical "rune arms," they have a fighting style unlike any other class. They also can build their own Iron Defender, a customizable pet that aids them in battle. Artificers are a blend of Rogue and Arcane classes, and can also play a supporting role as a party healer. For more detail on the Artificer, see the Release Notes below. NOTE: For a limited time, all Artificers will need to start at level 1, and play through all levels of the class. Players can True Reincarnate into an Artificer if they have the Artificer class unlocked, but players cannot swap non-Artificer levels for Artificer levels using Lesser or Greater Reincarnations, and cannot take Artificer levels from the Veteran Status boat.

Note above. For now, Artificers must be pure (no multiclassing to or from it). You can make a 32-point character but you must play it at level 1 for the time being.

* Crossbow reload speed and Rapid Shot has been significantly tweaked! Crossbows auto-reload when used and that reload isn't part of the animation/firing process. Your BAB plays more into a crossbow's power, and great crossbows now have the ability to cause a knockdown on vorpal strikes.

* Cannith Crafting is LIVE and the beta is over. Many, many adjustments to this area, including trapmaking, crafted arrows, desperately needed fixes to crafted handwraps (still won't trust it myself for now) and bane recipes.

* Guilds with an AWOL leader can be usurped by officers after 60 days or if a successor is inactive for that same time. (Good thing Paks's sabbatical was brief...)

* Hirelings no longer go all postal and attack when they were told not to earlier. (I've noticed the hirelings become too aggressive, so this is the fix, thankfully).

* Gianthold: BIG CHANGES TO ARMOR CRAFTING. The Gianthold armor quests have been removed from the game, and replaced with barter shops. The cost of regular Dragonscale armors have been reduced to 20 scales. The cost of Dragoncrafted, Elfcrafted, and Giantcrafted armors have been reduced to 10 relics.

* Epic treasure from the Phiarlan Carnival and Sentinels of Stormreach adventure packs have been upgraded greatly.

* Ghost touch effects on handwraps now work again (I personally experienced this annoyance, including on the unique Eternal Rest wraps).

* Slayer count boost pause while in a dungeon (Excellent!).

* Beholders summoned with the Shard of Xoriat won't use telekinesis anymore. It was bugging a few quests. (They STILL TOTALLY OWN the quest they're summoned on, however.)

* Bug fix to the Sustaining Symbiont, for those who have it (like Pynthetica).

* RAID BOSSES are now stronger. Upgrades include: True Seeing, some metamagic feats, and improved fortification on critical hits. Don't assume the same behavior of our bosses in future raids; we'll need to carefully test this and listen to other's experiences.

* Improvements in quests for more XP when running a quest consecutively on Hard and Elite, with better rewards for first time entries in these quests.

* People who TR can open quests on Hard, regardless of account type.

* You'll regenerate HP a bit more in public areas.

* Several bug fixes to many quests. One important one is "The Weapons Shipment" where guildies often farm for Boots of Anchoring ingredients. Good news: More chests, a change in the pattern of enemies, and you need only protect Liella ("Little Miss Spellcasting Badass") d'Orien to the planesgate, but don't need to protect her once there. Bad news: If the whole party dies in that quest, you automatically fail it (So keep your "Surien Maneuvers" in check! )

* Point Blank Shot has been tweaked for more damage.

* Leap of Faith (Favored Souls) and Wind Dance (Air Savants) have their abilities slowed a bit to a 15 second cooldown. The Monk's similar ability, Abundant Step, has NOT been changed per the devs, since the ki cost is more significant there.

* Although you can't yet multiclass Artificers, Half-Elf Dilettante abilities for Artificers ARE available.

* Very significant and numerous changes to the Paladin Prestige Enhancements!

UI Changes

* Shortcut bars remember when an item is exhausted, making it easier for you to know.

* Better looking party portraits appear in party bars if you want.

* You can show your goggles on your characters if you want!

Still parsing through the Known Issues not fixed or introduced. Play carefully!

Great job Syn!

Yes, I have been monitoring this (rogue nerfs) and agree that in some aspects it was needed. When the rogue 'assasin' is taking out more than the frontline fighters there is an imbalance. I expect a fix will be put into place before long as the artificer will bring its own imbalances...I played with one recently and, built competently, can open up a bottle of whoop-@ss even at level 1.

Pms is an acrobat that kicks butt (and avoids damage where possible) - so the way she rolls won't change much.

But I don't need both replicas...Oops is the male counterpart to Pms - though a construct specialist. Rikitiki, also an acrobat - but a halfling 32pt build, already uses a repeating light crossbow and is fairly versatile at range, not strong melee.

Hate to do it, but Oops will likely be remade as an artificer (so I will have a low level toon on Ghallanda again - albeit EVERY new toon seems to be an artificer...oh well).