Dungeons & Dragons Online will provide players with the definitive online Dungeons & Dragons experience, complete with dramatic dungeon crawling, terrifying monster combat and challenging puzzles, character advancement and guild-based power struggles.

Adventurers have long traveled to the shrouded continent of Xen'drik to explore ancient ruins and discover the treasures hidden beneath. The bustling frontier city of Stormreach, a cauldron of ambition and secret plots, has grown on the edges of this dark and dangerous continent, safe and secure as the gateway to Xen'drik. But now danger threatens. Few explorers who set out adventuring the lands near Stormreach ever return, and those that do bring back only tales of death and destruction.

Based heavily around Instances, players are kept close to the action at all times with designated roaming areas to cut out the down time. Players can hand-craft their character with flagship D&D races, traits and classes and further progression by completing Instances and utilizing DDO’s unique Reincarnation system. Players take a deep dive into classic Dungeons & Dragons campaigns in the same way as they would the tabletop game.

Daybreak Games announced during Gen Con 2019 in Indianapolis that it will introduce a Hardcore League server to Dungeons & Dragons Online. The three-month experience, which begins August 16 and ends on November 15, will test the skill of players with the ultimate penalty for failure - permadeath!

During the Hardcore League, goals will be set for players, and their progress will be based on two factors, each with their own ladder: One will test the player’s ability to conquer as many quests as possible and the other will test the player’s ability to survive in the hardest mode ever brought to the game.

Some of the goals and cosmetic rewards planned for the Hardcore League include:

• Reaching a Total Favor of 1750 - Eyes of Darkness cosmetic
• Reaching a Total Favor of 5000 - Bloody Footprints cosmetic
• Gaining 10 Reaper Enhancement Points - Special Tattered Cloak
• Gaining 20 Reaper Enhancement Points - Blood Reaper Pet

A cosmetic prize will be awarded to anyone who can reach Level 20. The top 100 winners of the two ladders will be immortalized in the Hall of Heroes, and any character who reaches at least Level 5 on the server will be recognized in The DDO Chronicle newsletter.

When the Hardcore League ends on November 15, players will have a limited time to transfer any character from the Hardcore Server to any of the existing DDO servers of their choice - even characters who have died. These dead characters will miraculously find their way out of the nether realm to reenter the world of the living and resume play like a normal character. It is not possible to transfer a character from another world to the Hardcore League.

The Hardcore League Server is a members-only experience available to VIP subscribers and Season Pass holders.