See that beholder up there? He has friends... a lot of living dead-type of friends. We think it's time you make that beholder's social circle a little bit smaller this weekend by making them permanently dead in Dungeons and Dragons Online.

The folks at Turbine Inc. are putting the Risia server back online with content for the second part of the Litany of the Dead storyline of their Twilight Forge module. They've got five new quests, all of which have something to do with shadows and the aptly named "Shadow Crypt" dungeon, as well as a couple of new enemies for people to try out.

That's not to say the process was perfect, however. As they write on their updates page:

We have combined all of the servers onto Risia this time: the data was grabbed on December 9th, so any character you created before 12/9/06 should be on Risia for you to play.

Unfortunately we did have a small implementation issue as we were transferring over all of the characters: Some guild data did not survive the jump. You will be able to create a new guild, but your old guild will not exist. In addition, players from Xoriat, Mabar, Sarlona, Fernia, and Lhaazar will be missing their Friends Lists.

Time to get your plate mail out again, we suppose. Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more.

Samera has posted a first look at the release notes for Stormreach Under Siege, the latest update for Dungeons and Dragons Online, in the DDO forums. Included in the update are server performance improvements, updates to existing monsters, spells and items, and a new NPC. Stormreach Under Siege also includes updates to two quests, namely Gwylan's Stand and the Necropolis quests.

Here are the release notes:

Performance

• We have made some improvements to server performance.
• Fixed some server problems that were leading to missing mail items.
  

General

• The Spell Selection window should no longer crash the client.
• You will no longer get hit with two death penalties if you logout or go link-dead while dead.
• Some quest rewards were becoming permanently ransacked; this is now fixed.
• Disease immunity items, and paladin and warforged disease immunities, now work properly against mummy rot.
• The tavern in Necropolis is now named "One Foot Inn" and has a new flavor NPC to relate the tale of how it got the name.
• Changed the language in character generation to clarify that Dwarves need to have martial weapon proficiency in order to receive proficiency in the dwarven waraxe, an exotic weapon, for free.
• The spelling and grammar of the /sheathe (formerly /sheath) emote have been fixed.

The full list awaits after the jump!

We give you another batch of weekly development activities for Dungeons and Dragons Online. It's nice to see that the guys behind the MMO has been working really hard to improve the game for their community even if some of the development activities may have been lingering in the list for the longest time now. But still, you gotta admire these people who work tirelessly to bring something new and improved to the game amidst the tough challenges. So, we'll quit blabbing about how good and determined they are and we will now hook you up DDO's weekly development activities for September 11.

In Q&A
General

• NEW - The Spell Selection window should no longer crash the client.
• NEW - Some quest rewards were becoming permanently ransacked; this is now fixed.
• The tavern in Necropolis is now named "One Foot Inn" and has a new flavor NPC to relate the tale of how it got the name.

Monsters

•  Dead mummies will no longer cause despair.
•  Charmed mummies will no longer cause despair in allied players.
•  The Warrior of the Six is now correctly tagged as Neutral Evil.

Items

•  Repeating crossbows should once again be functioning properly.
•  NEW - If you have a shield and a wand/scroll/thrown-weapon equipped and are blocking, in most cases the shield will now take item wear, not the right hand item.
•  All adamantine weapons have been given a boost to their Hardness. This change will affect all existing weapons as well as newly created adamantine weapons.
• The new brigandine armor introduced in the Twilight Forge Module will now appear properly on Drow.

The full list awaits after the jump!

If there's one thing you can say about Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach, it's that you have a pretty good idea what they intend to do to improve the game and know just when that fix will happen, more or less.

To that end, DDO fans may want to look at this week's development details. Some of the stuff is redundant when compared to last week's development details, but you might just find the good news you've been hoping for, like free items or that bandwidth reduction to make the game run more smoothly. Unlikely? Yeah, it is, but it's good to hope for a saving throw, isn't it?

If you'd like to brush up on what those poor folks at the Dev Dungeon have to go through, keep reading.

Change is always a good thing. Although, sometimes tedious, the rewards of changing makes up for all the trouble one has gone through for it. This maybe what the developers of Dungeons and Dragons Online have in mind everytime they dish out their consistent weekly updates just to satisfy the cravings of their gaming community. So, here are the new things you could expect from DDO.

Performance

• We are making some changes to the Twilight Forge to improve performance.

General

• NEW - The House Kundarak banking system will be opening a new branch in the harbor inside the Harbormaster's House.
• NEW - Tell messages will be displayed in all chat windows by default (for new characters and new chat tabs).
• NEW - Fixing a problem with the Mail UI that causes attached items to not display.
• Loot messages from other players will be tagged as loot messages and can be filtered out.
• Players will no longer get stuck while dismounting from ladders.

Monsters

• NEW - Wildmen will apply the feeblemind effect less often, generally on critical hits and/or their special leap attack.
• NEW - The effects caused by the warforged quori humanoids in the WFT area will no longer produce FX. Previously this on-damage effect could slow down performance due to the spam of visualized effects.
• Improved the dragon's spellcasting AI and line of sight recognition. For more information on possible changes to the dragon, please read this thread.
• Melee oriented Troglodytes will move closer to their targets - they should no longer attempt to make melee attacks from out of range.

The full list of DDO weekly development updates await after the jump!

Players of Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach will be happy to know that the good folks at Turbine have been busy making improvements to the game. Along with improved performance in Twilight Forge, here's a quick overview of what you can look forward to seeing this week.

New features and fixes for this week include:

• The House Kundarak banking system will be opening a new branch in the harbor inside the Harbormaster's House.
• "Tell messages" are now displayed in all chat windows by default
• A problem with the Mail UI causing attached items to not display has been fixed.
  
• Loot messages from other players will be tagged as loot messages and can be filtered out.
  

Additionally, Players will no longer get stuck while dismounting from ladders. New for this week is a fix in which Wildmen will not apply the feeblemind effect as often. This will be confined to critical hits and/or special leap attacks.

Other monster fixes:

• The effects caused by the warforged quasi humanoids in the WFT area will no longer produce FX. Previously this on-damage effect could slow down performance due to the spam of visualized effects.
• Improved the dragon's spellcasting AI and line of sight recognition. For more information on possible changes to the dragon, please read this thread.
• Melee oriented Troglodytes will move closer to their targets - they should no longer attempt to make melee attacks from out of range.
  

The full article awaits after the jump!

It's a good thing that developers are constantly trying to make Dungeons and Dragons Online better via the numerous updates they make on the game. Even though players have encountered (many) downtime because of several updates, the game's all good.

Here now is a rundown of what changes to expect in the next scheduled update of DDO:

Performance

• Changes are being made to the Twilight Forge Module to improve performance.

General

• Filtering out loot messages from other players will now be possible by tagging them as loot messages.
• Players won't get stuck dismounting from ladders anymore.

Monsters

• The dragon's line of sight recognition and spellcasting AI have improved.
• NEW - Melee-oriented Troglodytes will not make attacks from out of range; they'll be moving closer to their targets.

Combat

• NEW - The critical threat range will not be doubled on the 4th swing combo anymore.
• NEW - Wildmen bestowed feeblemind now curable by restoration.

Items

• As per the Players Handbook, vorpal weapons will behead monsters; players must roll a natural 20 and confirm crit to vorpal targets.
• NEW - Niac's Cold Ray and Knock scrolls will be available at Lorna Wyrmtouched, Arcane Scroll Vendor
• NEW - Featherfall-casting items will get usability upgrade. These items will use a self-only version of Featherfall and will be fast-casting.
• NEW - The "of Destruction" weapon effect will now reduce the target's AC by 4 on the first hit. No saving throw for this effect now.
• NEW - The names for Seeker +1, Seeker+2, etc. items will be changed to be consistent with effect naming conventions (those renamed will match the bonus they give, Seeker+2, Seeker+4, etc.).
• NEW - Laina the Excoriated will close her shop window properly now.
• The Freedom of Movement effect on the Kundarak Delving Boots won't ward the Mummy's Despair ability or the Beholder's petrify eye beam. It will ward the movement effects of Storm Giant weather control.

Spells

• NEW - Developers are currently fixing the dispel effects that cause much harder dispels from the Dispel Magic.

Quests

• NEW - Gnarl's Tomb - Old Gnarl's ghost will open his door after a fight if he dispatches any would-be thieves. This will allow parties to attempt him again without resetting the dungeon.
• NEW - Restless Isles - The Runetust Commander won't speak to players anymore when he dies; developers are also fixing the repetitive DM text of several encounters.

We'll keep you posted on the latest Dungeons and Dragons Online news.

With the release of Twilight Forge (Module 2) enhancements, we expected Dungeons & Dragons Online to feature more exciting gameplay. But as with all new enhancements, there are still some problems with the Twilight Forge Module.

The developers have looked into these issues and are already trying to fix them. Here are the said issues with DDO's Twilight Forge (Module 2):

• We are aware that certain items (like Chill Shard) have had their quantity increased from 1 to 50. We are trying to fix this now.
• Two spells that should be self-only are currently being cast as part of the Patron system (Divine Favor and Shield). This will be fixed as soon as possible.
• The Coin Lords' Patron Representative in the Marketplace gives unclear directions. His dialog will be changed to read:

          Part 1: "As a token of his esteem, Lord Berrigan Enge is authorizing you to carry a rare magical item in your day-to-day travels: Lang's Bag of Holding! Very handy, I must say. I should get one myself! You can now hold more items in your inventory."

          Part 2: "Lord Grospic, to his credit, is unwilling to be outdone by Berrigan's generosity. He requisitioned the services of a master enchanter, the great Ryo Silerbrow. If you bring him a damaged vessel, say a portable hole, he can repair it and make it usable. Find Ryo near Harbormaster Zinn's home."

• It is possible that you won't have the keys you need to progress through the Restless Isles adventure area, since this is a large multi-part instance and the doors can reset. Please be sure to check your inventory to make sure you have a key before you try to teleport to a base further into the adventure area or try to enter a new quest. If you are missing a key, simply recall back to the Foothold and obtain another key.
• AOE spells are not applying their crits correctly (if you take the new line of enhancements for spellcasters).
• "You can turn loot messages on and off." is not working as intended. Toggling this option turns off your loot messages and not your party members'.
• The DM voiceovers are not working for some of the new quests.
• Players who already have enough faction to gain a favor rank (from retroactive favor) will not receive the in-game letter from their Patron. You will still be able to advance in rank, you just won't get the congratulatory letter.
• There is a graphical issue where the new Wall of Fire spell can get "stuck" on objects and doesn't appear to reach down to the floor. This is a graphical issue only – monsters running into the Wall of Fire will still take damage.
• If you die and you get too far away from your soulstone and then, instead of snapping back to your soulstone you see a teleport screen, a "failed teleport" message, and you suddenly resurrect with 1 HP you should abandon the quest as you have entered a bugged state and will not be able to continue with your current adventure. This can only happen in a few places within the world, so if it happens to you we would find it helpful if you would return to the place your soulstone dropped, use the /loc command, take a screenshot, and then send the screenshot to ddobugs@turbine.com.

Hopefully, DDO developers get these issues addressed so that players can finally enjoy the game more.

We know you've all been waiting to know what's going to be happening with Dungeons & Dragons Online Stormreach, especially with the Twilight Forge Module scheduled for release July 12.

Here's your chance to join the DDO Stormreach dev team and finally get the chance to ask the developers about the future of DDO (or you can just join in if you're a fan of the game).

Chatting with the Dungeons & Dragons Online Stormreach dev team will be possible via the IRC Dev Chat with Stratics House of Commons which will be happening on Thursday, July 13.

This the time for all you DDO Stormreach enthusiasts to get in touch with the developers with your questions and suggestions, so see you there.

Fans have noticed that Dungeons & Dragons Online continues to grow and improve, with recent updates like Module 2. Now, D&D is offering new content filled with new items and creatures.

The official website says that players can visit new dungeon areas like Baudry Cartamon’s Shipping Warehouse, Ghola Fan’s Compound, The Shrieking Mines, and The Twilight Forge.

To access the Restless Isles, lower-level players should tag along with their veteran friends, since the recommended levels are 7-10.

The Restless Isles will contain some of the toughest challenges in the D&D world. New creatures like the Ogre Mage (pictured at left) are included in this module. New loot and items are also available for the taking!

So get your game on!