Dungeons & Dragons Online Update 8 Previews

Turbine is gearing up to release an eighth post-F2P update for Dungeons & Dragons Online this month, and both Massively and ZAM have the first hands-on details.

An excerpt from the former:

This quest took us back to Lordsmarch Plaza to investigate some strange noises. We arrived just in time for the ground to shake beneath our feet and a corner of the Plaza to collapse, revealing a group of Droaam soldiers who announced, “We have made it past their pitiful walls!” Of course we fought them off — them, and all of their buddies who kept leaping out of the newly made giant hole in the ground until there were no more emerging.

The next obvious step was to see where they had come from, so into the chasm we went. The other end contained a surprisingly elaborate tunnel full of walkways and exploding Kobolds. No, really. The quests from here on out are all about demolitions, and things are blowing up everywhere — including some of these Kobolds, so look out. We soon encountered a named foe: Kaboom the Kobold. We were close to taking him down when he wised up and bolted, leaving behind a small gift. No, not that kind of gift — he left a mine.

And a little something from the latter:

After we came to the end of the Undermine dungeon, there still remained the final instance, “Siegebreaker,” to jump into, which involved actually taking on the Droaam monster army, as well as fighting a powerful Green Hag, but we decided that this would be a fight best explored by the players themselves. Just remember to bring your A-game or you might be overwhelmed!

Finally, also coming with Update 8 are some new cosmetic armors that can be attached to existing armor sets to give you that nice ‘chic’ adventurer look without sacrificing your hard-earned stats. With eight available patterns for each armor type (heavy armor, robes, etc) and a slightly different style for each race and gender (gender is the big difference-maker here: we’re talking spikes versus bare midriffs for the same cosmetic armor kit), that gives players a lot of room to find their own unique look. There are also plans to get some more of these cosmetic armor kits into the market, depending on player demand, so if you like what you see here, and you want more, make sure your voice is heard!