Update 30 Release Notes - https://www.ddo.com/en/update-30-release-notes

Here are the Release Notes for Update 30, released on Monday, February 29th, 2016.

Celebrating the Anniversary, Dungeon-style!

Check out a new anniversary-themed dungeon in House Phiarlan! This dungeon is available from level 1-30.

Gnomageddon!

The Gnomes have arrived! Free to VIPs and available in the DDO Store.

Gnomes: Gnomes are a sharp-witted race that excel in a variety of roles, including arcane spellcasters. They start with a +2 bonus to Intelligence and a -2 penalty to Strength. This purchase allows you to create new Gnome characters on any server. FREE FOR VIPs!

Deep Gnome Iconic: Start at level 15 with a powerful Deep Gnome Earthen Illusionist! Deep Gnomes have access to special racial abilities and unique Illusion spells. This purchase allows you to create new Deep Gnome characters on any server. As Iconic Hero characters, Deep Gnomes also have the ability to use the Hall of Heroes Passport feature when entering the game.


News and Notes:


Cannith Crafting:

The new randomly-generated loot from Update  29 can now be deconstructed properly.


Enhancements:

Arcane Archer now has a new active Tier 5 ability called Final Strike which deals area-of-effect damage on hit, and deals additional damage to injured enemies based on the hit point total of the enemy.
Soul Eater's Cone Shape has had its casting time reduced.


Here is the Gnome racial enhancement tree:

Core Abilities:
Gnomish Perseverance: +1 Dodge, +1 Use Magic Device
Intelligence: +1 Intelligence
Gnomish Perseverance: +1 Dodge, +1 Use Magic Device
Intelligence: +1 Intelligence
Scrolls: Retain Essence: You gain a 15% racial bonus to your odds of retaining a copy of a scroll when using it. +2 Dodge, +1 Use Magic Device

Tier One:
Dragonmark of Sivis: +1/2/3 Dragonmark uses per day, +1/2/3 Use Magic Device
Wand and Scroll Mastery: +25/50/75% effectiveness from wands, scrolls, and other items that cast spells, and +1/2/3 to the save DC of your offensive wands.
Keen Insight: +2/4/6 to Will saving throws vs. Illusions
Stealth or Awareness: Choose one:
Awareness: +1/2/3 to Listen, Spot, and Search
Stealthy: +1/2/3 to Hide and Move Silently
Gnomish Weapon Training: +1 to hit and damage with light hammers, light maces, light picks, shortswords, shortbows, light crossbows, and light repeating crossbows.

Tier Two:
Lesser Dragonmark of Scribing: Lesser Dragonmark Spell - Illusory Mark of Flame. Works as the Symbol of Flame spell, but with Illusion as its school, and Will as its saving throw.
Against the Giants: +2/4/6 to Saving Throws and Armor Class against Giants.
Color Spray: Activation cost 10/5/2 Spell Points,. Cooldown 8 seconds. Enemies are sprayed with illusions of color, and must make a Will save or be Dazed, Blinded, and/or Silenced. The target must make a Saving Throw for each effect.
Permanent Blur: You gain a permanent Blur effect.
Gnomish Weapon Training: +1 to hit and damage with light hammers, light maces, light picks, shortswords, shortbows, light crossbows, and light repeating crossbows.

Tier Three:
Greater Dragonmark of Scribing: Greater Dragonmark Spell Illusory Symbol of Stunning. Acts as the Symbol of Stunning spell, but with Illusion as its school and Will as its saving throw.
Nimble Reason: +1/2/3 Armor Maximum Dexterity Bonus and Maximum Dodge Bonus.
Racial Spell Focus: Illusion: +1/2/3 to Illusion DCs.
Gnomish Weapon Training: +2 to hit and damage with light hammers, light maces, light picks, shortswords, shortbows, light crossbows, and light repeating crossbows.

Tier Four:
Gnomish Favored Enemy: Choose Gnoll or Reptilian as a favored enemy feat.
Gnomish Weapon Training: +2 to hit and damage with light hammers, light maces, light picks, shortswords, shortbows, light crossbows, and light repeating crossbows. +1 Competence Bonus to Critical threat Range with these weapons.


Here is the Deep Gnome Iconic enhancement tree:

Core Abilities:
Wariness: +1 Dodge, +2 Magical Resistance Rating
Wisdom: Select either +1 Intelligence or +1 Wisdom
Wariness: +1 Dodge, +2 Magical Resistance Rating
Wisdom: Select either +1 Intelligence or +1 Wisdom
Scrolls: Retain Essence: You gain a 15% racial bonus to your odds of retaining a copy of a scroll when using it. +2 Dodge, +2 Magical Resistance Rating

Tier One:
Illusory Escape: When you tumble, you phase out of reality briefly, passing through enemies as you do so.
Wand and Scroll Mastery: +25/50/75% effectiveness from your wands, scrolls, and other items that cast spells, and +1/2/3 to the Save DC of your offensive wands.
Underdark Experience: +1/2/3 to all saves
Stealth Awareness: Choose one:
Awareness: +1/2/3 to Listen, Spot, and Search
Stealthy: +1/2/3 to Hide and Move Silently
Gnomish Weapon Training: +1 to hit and damage with light hammers, light maces, light picks, shortswords, shortbows, light crossbows, and light repeating crossbows.

Tier Two:
Conjure Stone: Conjure a boulder and hurl it at an enemy, dealing 6d4/12d4/20d4 bludgeoning damage and knocking down enemies on a failed Reflex saving DC 10/15/20 + Intelligence modifier. Costs 25/15/5 Spell Points. Cooldown of 10/8/6 seconds.
Hardy Nature: +2/4/6 to Armor Class and +1/2/3 to Physical Resistance Raing
Color Spray: Activation cost 10/5/2 Spell Points,. Cooldown 8 seconds. Enemies are sprayed with illusions of color, and must make a Will save or be Dazed, Blinded, and/or Silenced. The target must make a Saving Throw for each effect.
Permanent Blur: You gain a permanent Blur effect.
Gnomish Weapon Training:  +1 to hit and damage with light hammers, light maces, light picks, shortswords, shortbows, light crossbows, and light repeating crossbows.

Tier Three:
Spellcraft: +5/10/20 Spellcraft
Nimble Reaction: +1/2/3 Armor Maximum Dexterity Bonus and Maximum Dodge Bonus
Stoneskin: You get Stoneskin as an SLA. Activation cost of 10 Spell Points. Cooldown 20/15/10 seconds.
Racial Spell Focus: Illusion: +1/2/3 to Illusion DCs.
Gnomish Weapon Training:  +2 to hit and damage with light hammers, light maces, light picks, shortswords, shortbows, light crossbows, and light repeating crossbows.

Tier Four:
Phantasmal Killer. You gain Phantasmal Killer as an SLA. Activation cost of 25/15/5 Spell Points. Cooldown of 6 seconds.
Gnomish Favored Enemy. Choose a Favored Enemy feat of either Goblinoid or Reptilian.
Gnomish Weapon Training:  +2 to hit and damage with light hammers, light maces, light picks, shortswords, shortbows, light crossbows, and light repeating crossbows. +1 Competence Bonus to Critical threat Range with these weapons.
The Artificer Arcanotechnician enhancement tree has been adjusted:
The first core now grants +10 Electric Spell Power in addition to its previous effect.
The fourth Core (Lightning Bolt) is now an SLA.
Lightning Bolt now passively grants +1 Evocation DC
The fifth Core (Critical Admixture) now passively grants +1 Evocation DC
The sixth Core (Arcane Empowerment) now grants +4 INT (previously +2).
Evocation Focus now has 3 ranks (previously 1).
There is a new Tier 5 Enhancement: Arcane Mechanism: While wielding a Rune Arm, gain +10/15/20 Electric Spell Power and +5/10/15 Universal Spell Power.
Prerequisites for all of the pet enhancements have been removed.
"Imbued Defender" is now "Imbue Defender"
Imbued Defender now grants you a passive +5 Electric and +2 Universal Spell Power per rank.
Arcane Engine now grants you a passive +5 Electric and +2 Universal Spell Power per rank.


Epic Destinies:

Exalted Angel's Excoriate ability has been fixed to no longer stack its effect on itself too many times, which could cause lag.
Feats:

Scion of Limbo's spell damage proc now only functions on offensive spells.


Items:

Special 10th Anniversary gifts can be obtained by trading them for a token in House Phiarlan. Each character that logs into the game during the anniversary event through March will receive a token.
Chests will now glow blue for the entire party when a character gets a particularly lucky loot roll when initially interacting with the chest.
The proper Potions of Mnemonic Enhancement will now appear in the various loot tables.
The maximum possible bonus loot level to a chest has been lifted. Players should now see chests of the appropriate adjusted loot level regardless of their character level.
The Magma Fiendling Creature Companion Certificate is no longer Bound to Account, and is now Unbound.
The Vacuum benefit of Legendary Green Steel no longer applies Vulnerable to allies.
The "Spooky" bonus type, primarily found on Night Revels items, has had its name changed to "Festive" to support the bonus being used on non-scary things.
"Blank" end rewards should no longer appear in Three Barrel Cove and several other questing areas.
Broccoli Juice and Bacon have been added to taverns.
Treasure Hunter's Elixirs are now functioning properly.
Jewels of Fortune now have their correct descriptive text.
Night Revels ingredients will now be removed from players' inventories, now that they have become stale.


Quests and Adventure Areas:

Eveningstar Cavern
Fixed an issue where iconic characters could sometimes find themselves unable to travel back to Eberron.
Meridia
Legendary Shroud
Empty treasure bags should no longer appear.

Orchard of the Macabre
Ghosts of Perdition
The Wheep brothers now have high health on Epic Elite difficulty.

The Subterranean
Hound of Xoriat
The puppies are now less likely to turn around in unwanted situations.
Spells:

Lightning Bolt is now a standard Artificer spell


UI:

The Founder's Fountain has returned!
Challenge Rules can now be read by clicking on the question mark in a Challenge UI panel.
Party member voice volume can now be adjusted individually on a slider when in a party.
The scale and opacity of floating names can now be adjusted with sliders in the Options > UI Settings panel.
Guild Airship Amenity icons will no longer change to flask icons when clicked.
Bags will no longer automatically gather items if they do not occupy a backpack slot. This prevents an issue where destroyed bags could gather ingredients.
Miscellaneous:

Players should now see fewer Awesomium processes in their computer's Task Manager when running the DDO client.
The game credits have been updated.

Metal-Beast wrote on Feb 29^th, 2016 at 12:55pm:


Same.


Would have been nice if they'd fixed the LFM panel to show avatars for the iconic races.

harharharhar wrote on Feb 29^th, 2016 at 1:12pm:

both are comp bonus, human still seems better from boost.

harharharhar wrote on Feb 29^th, 2016 at 1:16pm:


You're trolling right?

6 Base damage is pretty good for a Swash that could use Int to Damage if they want to. I know all of the 15 bard/whatever/whatever PDKs are the only thing people in a mental box can think of because of Cha to damage or whatever, but there seem to be some other possibilities.

Why is that troll-sounding?

hmmmmmmm

How about a Gnome Mech (pure or 18/x) using Needle for 18-20x4 Before IC: Ranged?

harharharhar wrote on Feb 29^th, 2016 at 2:14pm:

not bad, but if gxb is still bugged for mechs, it gets 20 sneak dice extra.

Durk wrote on Feb 29^th, 2016 at 1:28pm:


#1 is actually helpful.  I can't remember what any of the ones I made are...

harharharhar wrote on Feb 29^th, 2016 at 2:14pm:


DoRayEgon wrote on Feb 29^th, 2016 at 2:33pm:



You are truly a fucking moron. Needle is a light repeater.

They fixed Shining crescents.... which is why they put it on the reward list... which I only found when I picked it.... which luckily was on a bank toon.... which....turbine.

harharharhar wrote on Feb 29^th, 2016 at 2:14pm:


Looks great for leveling. I would still want to use GXB for endgame though.

Probably the best DPS way to roll a traditional Arti. That doesn't say much though. Still, great for past lives.

5 Foot Step wrote on Feb 29^th, 2016 at 2:38pm:


well hold on now,

Gnomes now make it possible to have all of the benefits of Mechanic, with the benefits of 14 Pally for Holy Sword (Theat +Multi).

Many people swear by their Pally/Mech splits. Now I know that's because it lets have the benefits of Great Xbow with Holy sword, but the best parts of Gxbow dont allow 14 Pally.

So, I think this becomes a very viable end game build. Rubbins point about broken SA dice notwithstanding.