What I Like About Update 11 Patch 1

A new patch came out for DDO which made some pretty awesome changes to the way the game is played. Here are a few highlights that I find particularly praiseworthy.

Veteran Status for Artificers

It's a little late to benefit my warforged Piecemeal, but this patch allows players to use Veteran Status with the artificer class. This is an important part of the patch. People were rightfully griping about the inability to use veteran status with the artificer. Many were irritated because you paid for a feature that was essentially nerfed for an unknown duration. Others worked to get their veteran status as an in game reward for time spent only to find it didn't work as advertised. Rewards you earn through gameplay or features you pay for shouldn't be retroactively nerfed or removed unless they are damaging to the enjoyment of the game. This was not the case here and I'm glad to see Turbine made this one of their priorities for this patch.

Artificers and their Iron Defenders

As can be expected for a patch following the release of a new game feature there were a few changes made it to how it worked. Artificers can interact with their Iron Defender Pets in a new way; they fixed a glitch where a dead iron defender in a different instance than you could not be dismissed or revived. I'm not sure about the dismissal part, but you can indeed revive them. Thank you Turbine. That happened to me once and it was a real pain trying to get my pet back.

Crafting

Returning throwing weapons are craftable now! I've been waiting for this one for awhile; I like to equip my fighters and such with returning weapons as their ranged option--because it doesn't require as much effort on my part, no purchasing ammunition and no need for higher level quivers.  You can bet I'm going to add extra enchantments to make those throwing weapons even better.

In addition they fixed a lot of the issues with handwraps, including showing the right icon when you turn some into modules and allowing them to qualify as members of the bludgeoning family for enchantments. Impact handwraps anyone?

Damage Indication

Display text has now been added to reveal the damage that summoned monsters are doing. In addition a bulls-eye icon has been added next to your damage text to indicate when you are receiving the benefit of point blank shot.

And There's More

The patch included a ton of other things--such as updates to hirelings and fixed spell point issues for rangers and paladins. You can read the full release notes here.