Dungeons And Dragons Online: In Development: Patron System / Adventure Compendium

Negotiations were complete. The merchants and explorers of Eberron had completed the pacts that would ensure a steady supply of Sahuagin navigators to lead ships safely through the treacherous Shargon's Teeth. A new sea lane opened between Khorvaire and Xen'Drik and the port city of Stormreach began to grow. Every day brought new travelers seeking fame, glory, riches, or a fresh start. As the inns filled to bursting and new faces filled the marketplace, the original residents of Stormreach had to decide how best to separate the wheat from the chaff.

House Kundarak was the first group to see the opportunity inherent in the situation. They began offering incentives and rewards for service to House Kundarak. What better way to inspire loyalty to their House while simultaneously discovering which of the newcomers were the hardest working, the most dedicated and true? The other Houses soon fell in line. House Deneith, House Jorasco, House Phiarlan, the Church of the Silver Flame, and a loose affiliation of merchants and citizens began offering similar incentives for service to their particular group. The new arrivals to Stormreach flourished under the attentions of their chosen patrons.

The Patron System

With the launch of the Twilight Forge Module, we will be introducing a new system through which players gain favor with different groups by completing specific adventures. Favor allows you access to special items and rewards; the higher your favor, the greater the rewards. This will be a dynamic system - as DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE™: Stormreach™ grows, the Patron system will grow, offering the chance for new and better rewards as well as greater ties and involvement within the various patron groups.

Most adventures in the game will be assigned a patron organization. By completing an adventure you will gain favor with the affiliated patron group. The amount of favor each completed adventure grants you is determined by the Challenge Rating (level), length, and difficulty setting (Normal, Hard, Elite etc.) of that adventure. When you have gained enough favor with a particular group you will gain a new rank (i.e., "Friendly" or "Honored") and a corresponding reward (for example, gaining favor with House Kundarak will allow you to earn additional bank space and gaining favor with the Coin Lords will give you access to expanded inventory slots). Representatives from each of the patron groups will be responsible for giving out new ranks and the accompanying rewards. These Representatives can be found in various locations throughout Stormreach.

When you have earned a new rank with a patron organization, a congratulatory letter will be sent to your mailbox, inviting you to visit the Patron's representative for your reward. You will be able to track your favor with each of the patrons organizations with a new UI element called the Adventure Compendium.

The Adventure Compendium

You can open the Adventure Compendium by either hitting the new "star" button located next to the Quest Journal button on the main menu bar (see below for an attached screenshot) or by hitting the "P" key. The Adventure Compendium has two panels "Adventures" and "Patrons".

The Adventure Panel

The Adventure Panel shows a quick report of your progress through the adventures in DDO by listing your recommended adventures. Recommended adventures are adventures that are your level or one or two levels above you. As you gain in level your recommended adventure list will change. If you successfully complete an adventure that is above your recommended level it will appear in your Adventure Panel. The Adventure Panel also shows the following information:

* Adventure name
* Level
* Patron
* Progress (highest completed difficulty)
* Favor

Favor is only granted the first time you complete an adventure at a given difficulty setting. Repeating an adventure will not grant you additional favor unless you are completing the adventure on a new and higher difficulty level.

Each adventure's tooltip will provide:

* Adventure name
* Story quest it's a part of
* Who bestows that story quest
* The current status of that story quest

Clicking on an adventure will highlight that adventure. Double-clicking on an adventure will open the Quest Journal to the story quest containing that adventure (unless your journal doesn't contain that quest). You will also be able to sort the compendium by clicking on the category of your choice.

See below for the attached screenshot.

The Patron Panel

The Patron Panel shows the various Patron groups, your current favor with each group, and tracks your progress towards the next rank with each group. Hovering over the patron will switch to a numerical display of progress in addition to the progress bar. Completing an adventure for the first time (or on a higher difficulty than previously completed), will update the Patron Favor bar for the relevant patron.

Each patron's tooltip will provide:

* The patron name
* The representative for the next rank to attain
* A description of the lore and purpose of the patron.

In addition to the group trackers, a "Total Favor" tracker is provided. This bar shows the progress of all favor, regardless of individual patrons. Some rewards are not patron-specific, but rather are granted when you have gained enough goodwill with the residents of Stormreach as a whole. In fact, the rewards gained by gaining overall favor might be the best rewards of all....

See below for the attached screenshot.

I've been playing the game since launch! Will I have to start over?

The Patron system will be retroactive and will take into account all of the adventures you have completed at the time the Twilight Forge Module launches. Many of you will find that you can already visit some of the Patron's representatives to gain your ranks and rewards.