Update 61: Vecna Unleashed Release Notes

Here are the release notes for Update 61: Vecna Unleashed, released on Wednesday, August 16th, 2023.

Face the Power of Vecna!

Experience the Thrilling Climax of The Codex of the Infinite Planes Saga! High amongst the Sharn city of Towers, something sinister is afoot in the halls of Morgrave University. The Codex of the Infinite Planes has escaped to the academy, and with it comes the dark presence of Vecna and his cult. Now with the university's vast collection of rare and powerful artifacts under their control, the destiny of not just Sharn but the entire Eberron plane hangs in the balance. Do you have what it takes to stop Vecna before he claims your universe for his own? Prepare to explore new areas, face perilous enemies, and uncover dark secrets in Vecna Unleashed!

Unleash the power of the Machrotechnic with a new Epic Destiny, battle powerful creatures that have been unleashed amongst the halls, and experience new dungeons that will push you and your group to the limit! The latest Dungeons and Dragons Online expansion, Vecna Unleashed, is available to purchase now!

Learn more on DDO.com!

Includes 13 Dungeons and a new raid (raid coming soon!)  To acquire any of your purchased items, speak to Makraal in the Clifftop Tower District of Sharn. Enter the Morgrave University Air Shuttle nearby to travel to Morgrave University! Access Vecna Unleashed content through the air shuttle by traveling to Upper Morgrave University. Ultimate Edition purchasers of Vecna Unleashed can travel to Upper Morgrave University using their teleportation item. Players can travel to the Clifftop Tower District by accessing Sharn through their Sharn teleportation item, or through the docks in The Harbor.

News and Notes:

Balance Adjustments:

We've adjusted 13 distinct features across 7 classes and 2 universal trees to provide a larger holistic set of changes meant to intrigue character builders and shore up some statistical weaknesses. These adjustments include Action Point cost reduction, Cooldown reduction, and generalized buffs meant to bring up underused specs and add excitement across the board.

• Harper Agent
  • Cores 1, 6, and 18 now give +1 To-hit and Damage and not just hit/damage versus Evil.
  • Core 20 now gives +2 to all ability scores, +1 hit/damage, +5 hit/damage vs Evil, and +20 Universal Spell Power.
  • Weathered Traveler Tier 1 now gives 2/4/6 Energy Resistance.
• Swashbuckler
  • Battering Barrage cost reduced from 2/rank to 1/rank.
  • Thread the Needle now gives +5% to-hit (percentage bonus based on precision) while Precision is toggled on.
• Warchanter
  • Spinning Ice, Frozen Fury, and Skaldic Scream now use the highest of Dexterity, Charisma, or Strength for their DCs.
  • Their DCs are now (0x bard level / 1/2 bard level / 1x bard level) and (10/12/14) (Skaldic Scream is 1x bard level and 14.)
  • Spinning Ice is now a 3/4/5[W] Cleave.
  • Northwind's cost has been reduced from 2/rank to 1/rank.
• Sorcerer Savant
  • Tier 5 Actives scale with highest of Charisma or Constitution, and not just Constitution.
  • Earthen Armor (Tier 4 Earth Savant) is now +3/+6 Armor Class.
• Ninja Spy
  • Tier 2 and Tier 4 Dark Ki upgrades now grant +1 to hit and +2 to damage to match similar enhancement lines.
  • Tier 5 Touch of Despair now grants +3 To-hit and +3 to damage to match similar enhancement lines.
• Shintao
  • Tier 2 and Tier 4 Light Ki upgrades now grant +1 To-hit and +2 to damage to match similar enhancement lines.
• Henshin Mystic
  • Lighting the Candle now applies the fire portion of its imbue to Ki Spells.
• Class: Monk
  • Quivering Palm has a new DC formula: DC 10 + monk level + highest of Dex or Wis mod + assassinate bonuses.
  • It also now gains +2 DC on a failed saving throw.
• Assassin
  • All of the active poison attacks up the line are now +3W, use full rogue level for their DCs instead of half, factor in assassinate bonuses for their DC, and now make certain enemies that would be immune to poison, weak to poison.
    • Ice Chill = Undead
    • Heartseeker = Elementals
    • Soulshatter = Outsiders
• Vistani
  • Kukris now function with this tree, with the exception of the core 12, which only gives +1 multiplier (this keeps them in parity crit-wise with daggers as they naturally have +1 threat range over them.)
• Archmage
  • Master of Magic (Core 20) now also grants +20 Universal Spell Power, and increases from +2 Intelligence to +4 Intelligence.
  • Efficient Metamagics have their Action Point cost reduced from 2 to 1, since AM having metamagics be good seems flavorful.
  • Spell Penetration has its AP cost reduced from 2 to 1.
  • Energy of the Scholar has its AP cost reduced from 2 to 1, matching other trees.
  • Cores 12 and 18 now grant a generic +1 to caster level and max caster level.
• Vanguard
  • Stunning Shield cooldown reduced to 45/30/15 seconds.
  • Shield Rush cooldown reduced to 40/30/20 seconds.

Bug Fixes:

• Ravager's Laughter now reliably adds Fury to your character.
• The Challenge XP panel is no longer a string table error.
• Consecration now heals Hirelings (note: this note was erroneously in U60 release but is actually here.)
• When you have items in the Store queue and clear the queue, the queue icon now properly clears itself from you when the queue is empty.
• Lighting the Candle's buff now has the correct text for real this time.
• Fixed a mess of errors and typos in the tavern keepers logic in The Harbor
• Augmented Summons Feat from temporary sources will now work on Hirelings.
• The Augmented summon buff will no longer be stripped from Hirelings when they die.
• Various summon enhancements from the warlock enlightened spirit tree and magus destiny will now work on henchmen again and also not be stripped on death or rest.
• Knock down animations on pixies will no longer blip.
• Caster Level scaling should now work as expected on all Rune Arm shots.
• Huge Black Puddings can no longer subdivide into 8 slimes, and now have a maximum subdivision of four.
• The third tier of Morgrave University Favor now grants +2 Saves versus Magical Beasts.
• Equipping a Rune Arm should no longer hide your main hand weapon.
• Archmage's Heighten Metamagic no longer erroneously requires character level 12
• Shield Specialization line's damage bonus is now visible to the player.
• Nature's Protector's natural armor bonus now correctly stacks.

General Changes:

• Tomes of Learning and Epic Tomes of Learning (both Greater and Lesser) have been upgraded and now check each tier of difficulty independently to determine if you are "repeating" a quest. This means that completing a dungeon on Heroic will not count as "completed" for the Epic tome, so you'll be eligible for the Tome's first time bonus again separately.
• A set of performance updates have been applied to the game that affect combat bonuses, spell casting, login times, and regen in public spaces in an effort to reduce generalized and gameplay lag.
• Dretches will now pitch goo a little more frequently when being kited.
• Enemy casters will have a longer cooldown when casting Comet Fall to make it less spammy.
• The Legendary Dread Isle's Curse set now correctly lists its Profane Attack and Damage bonus value in its tooltip.
• The volume of combat music in Fables of the Feywild and Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh has been lowered.

UI:

• You can no longer move the Rune Arm Charge UI. This change corrects an issue that was making it sometimes difficult to attack while charging a Rune Arm.
• The DDO Store logo has been shifted so it no longer blocks interaction with header links when purchasing subscriptions.

Known Issues:

• The DC boost portion of Quivering Palm is currently granting +2 DCs instead of +4