115 *NOR/Newsletter 2026 Feb 28th
Hail*NOR/
Let’s start with a Congratz to our Dungeons & Dragons Online realm for turning 20 years old on Jan 8th! We have had a Guild Jacket worn by members consistently all this time. Lord Yavool wrote a great article this month detailing some of the milestones the realm has experienced, and many of our games also have a realm timeline you can view on our Realm Archive page. DDO Realm Archive
Last year we were asked to be interviewed by a French gaming blog about the past 30 years of MMORPG gaming and I would like to report that it should be available to read soon. I have seen the rough draft and it’s awaiting some translation and touch-ups before it’s fully published.
The interview sparked a renewed interest to apply for the Guinness World Record for being the longest-running guild. During the interview process we uncovered some great resources dating a couple of years before the current title holders, which we started to compile: Guinness World Record Progress – New Outriders. However, after a couple of email exchanges to the Guinness folks we were told the cost would be a minimum of $16k to overturn a record just to get started. So I’m afraid we will have to continue to be known unofficially as the Longest Running Gaming Guild, but we will keep on gaming and know in our hearts we are oldest.
Enjoy the remaining weeks of Winter!
Lord Tundrra
*NOR/LD-HC
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- 115 *NOR/News Neverwinter
screenshot: Jd Wilson Neverwinter Hail* New Outriders/
As the Red Harvest continues to sweep across Neverwinter, a new update is rising on the horizon. Mod 32.5 is almost here, bringing fresh improvements, smoother progression, and new opportunities for the guild to ride together into the chaos. Here’s your full breakdown of what’s coming and how it’ll shape our adventures.
🔧 System & Balance Updates
Mod 32.5 is expected to deliver a round of tuning and refinement aimed at tightening up gameplay across the board. While not a full overhaul, these changes will make the Red Harvest experience feel sharper and more consistent.
What to Expect
• Class balance adjustments to help underperforming builds catch up and rein in anything too dominant.
• Power curve smoothing for players progressing through the Mod 32 campaign.
• Companion and mount bonus refinements, improving reliability and fixing odd interactions.
These updates won’t flip the meta upside down, but they will make your day‑to‑day runs feel better.
🎁Reward & Progression Improvements
If you’ve felt the grind of Red Harvest, Mod 32.5 is bringing some relief. Mid‑mod updates often adjust pacing and rewards, and this one looks no different.
Incoming Enhancements
• Improved drop rates for key Red Harvest currencies and materials.
• Smoother gear upgrade paths, reducing bottlenecks and resource walls.
• Event tie‑ins that offer bonus tokens, double campaign currency, or limited‑time loot.
This is the perfect moment for returning players to catch up — and for active players to push their builds further.
🧭New or Returning Events
Cryptic loves to spice up .5 updates with themed events, and Mod 32.5 is expected to follow tradition.
Possible Additions
• A mini‑questline expanding the Red Harvest narrative
• A limited‑time dungeon or skirmish refresh • A seasonal event rerun with updated rewards
Whatever arrives, it’ll be prime time for guild group‑ups and fast progression.🐞Bug Fixes & Quality‑of‑Life Improvements
Every .5 patch brings a wave of fixes, and Mod 32.5 should address several lingering issues.
Likely Fixes
• Quest progression bugs in Red Harvest
• Heroic Encounter inconsistencies
• Tooltip and UI corrections
• Performance improvements in the new zone
Nothing flashy — but these changes make the whole mod feel smoother and more stable.
⚔️What This Means for the New Outriders
Mod 32.5 is a perfect moment for the guild to rally. With smoother progression, better rewards, and fresh events, we’re gearing up for a strong second half of the mod.
Guild Opportunities
• Catch‑up runs for returning players
• Build testing after balance changes
• Event nights as soon as new content drops
• More group sweeps through Red Harvest zones and HEs
Whether you’re grinding, experimenting, or just vibing with the guild, Mod 32.5 gives us plenty to look forward to.
🎉Final Word
The Red Harvest isn’t slowing down — and neither are we. Mod 32.5 is bringing the polish, rewards, and fresh content we need to keep the momentum rolling. Thanks for keeping the guild lively, hilarious, and unstoppable. The New Outriders ride together, always.
See you in the Harvest, New Outriders,
Duchess Shava Darksbane
*NOR/DC : BL of NeverWinter - 115 *NOR/News Guild Wars 2
screenshot Count Sofija Guild Wars 2 Hail*NOR/
Hail and welcome to Tyria. We recently got the next expansion to Visions of Eternity. With it came a number of updates. First is a major change for Raids and Strikes. Before Strikes were a way to get into Raids with presenting just a boss encounter without the mobs that are encountered between typical Raid bosses and mostly based on more challenging versions of the boss fights from the main story. Now Strikes and Raids are folded into one. Along with that comes the ability to simply just jump right into any of the boss encounters in any Raid. No need to do the entire wing, just select the encounter. Then, once that’s tackled, simply select the next encounter. In addition, just like with Fractals before, there is also a Quickplay option. This allows a barrier-free entry to get a group together and tackle a select group of Raid encounters with increased healing and boons to make up for the lack of organized parties. A great way to get yourself into Raids. Plus we got a whole new Raid encounter with a Challenge Mode which just went live.
In addition, we got Fashion Templates. These allow you to customize your Fashion Wars for any occasion, holiday, night on the town, smashing enemies with your hammer, or a nice cozy day on the beach all with just a quick button press. Even more updates to the Fashion Templates will be coming through the year.That’s not all. We also got a new legendary ring, Endless Summer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxEaavqDm3c&t A ring that brings the beach with you wherever you go. Then there’s a the revamp of the Wizard’s Vault with new rewards and objectives.
As you are reading this, we have the “Return to Janthir Wilds” Bonus Event. Next week is Dungeon Rush followed by PvP Rush plus even more Bonus Events.
Please join us on our DIS-CORD golem where we share the latest Tyrian news, share Fashion Wars wins, and more including our Guild Events. Wednesdays are Fractals where we build ourselves up to take on tougher and tougher challenges. Thursdays are Helping Hands were we do what NOR does best and help each other through everything from Hero Points, Mastery Points, or whatever strikes our fancy. Then Sundays are, outside of our Monthly Ceremonies, we just get together and chill out fishing, finishing weeklies, or enjoy the current event. Till we meet again, may your hunts be honorable and your mugs full of ale.Count Sofija
*NOR/CT-GW2 - 115 *NOR/News Elder Scrolls Online
Screenshot by Lord Garadian, Elder Scrolls Online Hail *NOR/!
As we step into a new month filled with promise and adventure, we have exciting updates and celebrations to share with you all.
Promotions and New Roles
We are thrilled to announce the promotion of KillingTime from Squire Honor to the esteemed rank of Knight. This well-deserved advancement recognizes KillingTime’s dedication, skill, and unwavering commitment to our guild’s values. Alongside this promotion, KillingTime has been entrusted with the important role of Dungeon Master. We look forward to the thrilling and challenging dungeon and trial experiences that Dungeon Master KillingTime will lead for us.
A Warm Welcome to Our Newest Recruits and Visitors
Please join us in warmly welcoming our newest recruits: SoloMerx, Wildane, and Gulbrant, and to Recruit Ashmog from Neverwinter! We are excited to have you all join our ranks and look forward to your contributions and camaraderie as we journey together through Tamriel.
Trials Completed
Our guild has bravely tackled several trials on Normal difficulty over the last month, demonstrating our teamwork and perseverance.
These include:
* Ossein Cage
* Sanity’s Edge
* Rockgrove
Congratulations to all who participated and helped secure these victories! We had a decent turnout and fun with pugs and guests to fill those empty slots.
Upcoming Changes in Elder Scrolls Online
The world of Tamriel continues to evolve, and with it, so does ESO. We anticipate several upcoming changes and updates that will impact gameplay, including new content releases, balance adjustments, and quality-of-life improvements. Keep an eye out for detailed announcements and prepare to adapt your strategies accordingly. These should come in early April!
Thank you all for your continued dedication and spirit. Together, we forge a guild that stands strong and united.Aim for the Stars and hit the Sky!
Lord Garadian,
*NOR/LD-HC-ESO - 115 *NOR/News The Old Republic
screenshot by Baron Gonzo Hail*NOR/
Where we’re going we don’t need roads. swToR is back into the swing of things in the new year, and the Progression raid team is back at it and going strong. We have started to track end game content in swToR thanks to everyone’s fearless leader Tundrra and team! The galactic season has drawn to a close but the PVP season is still going and there has been some peculiar goings on as of late. The progression raiding team is getting back into some hard raiding and has jumped back into the R4 operation. You can track their progress in theend game page that has been added to the NOR website. We had a couple of weeks of very close calls and some frustrating deaths. The R4 anomaly can be a frustrating fight to put it mildly. There are many mechanics in this operation that are more difficult than many nightmare operation mechanics. It takes a ton of coordination and teamwork and everyone needs to know what to do at all times of the fight. Losing a tank as a sacrifice is sometimes a must, and the back up needs to be on the ball, or everyone will be wiped out. Thankfully, NOR is most famous for having amazing healers, but there is a time limit before the bosses enrage and just tell you in no certain terms not today. However, like Pablo Neruda once said “You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming.” Lady Dominique’s days are numbered and nothing will keep us from rising and succeeding.With the latest game updates, Dantooine has become a place for many people to revisit, and a whole new strong hold to open up. This player housing is enormous and has so many places to put decorations that you could spend weeks and not finish it. Mostly because some of the areas in the stronghold are kept behind reputation unlocks for the area. Galactic season 9 has come to a close, and with it a lot of fun. The flashpoint focus has gotten some members back into flashpoints to finish the Master Mode flashpoint achievement. There is a Wednesday night team that has decided to run some of the more challenging short content. The PVP season is still progressing and has 40 days remaining at the time of this articles publishing, though the PVP scene seems to be a little on the quiet side right now.
Every once in a while everyone needs a little bit of whimsy in their life. NOR and swToR are not very different in that need. For our Superbowl Sunday afternoon fun run with the guild, Intisar had some sneaky tricks up his sleeve, but it was the best kind of shenanigans. You see, a long time ago in a galaxy far far away there was this little planet called Blah that a certain smuggler was from. Now on this planet there is a volcano that you can see from the landing zone. Most people see this and think oh pretty, not us, we had to climb it. If for no other reason than it was there. And, after a good dose of parkour, rescues and summons what we found was quite peculiar. Some think it was the end of all things, others that it was the world within worlds, personally, it had a look of the upside down. What is known for certain is that this was no ordinary volcano, it had some unusual textures, some missing textures, and was obviously a portion of a world we were never meant to see. So we did what all rational teenagers would do in that situation. We jumped, not because it was practical, but because one person suggested it, and then, well you know. We all decided to jump just because all of our friends did it. Over the years we have been on many adventures as a guild, we have had friends come and go, and they all touch us in some way. Every fingerprint a lasting mark on our being. I am very thankful for the friends I have made along the way, and look forward to many unusual and fun interactions like this where we discover things that maybe should not be, but we have a wonderful adventure along the way. And yeah, roads, those don’t always need to be followed. In fact some of the best adventures are off the beaten path.
Baron Gonzowill
*NOR/BA-swToR - 115 *NOR/News 20yrs!! of Dungeons and Dragons Online
Hail *NOR/!
This month marks the 20th year of Dungeons & Dragons Online as a tried and true veteran of the MMORPG genre. This article and in-game screenshots acknowledge and celebrate the New OutRiders’ presence within DDO over the past two decades and its tenure as NOR’s current longest-running active duchy. NOR recognizes each and every guild member who has washed up on the shores of Xen’drik as a level 1 player character and braved their way from Korthos Island to the City of Stormreach and beyond.
On February 28, 2006, in connection with Wizards of the Coast, Turbine, Inc. released Dungeons & Dragons Online to the public. DDO was set in the Eberron campaign world and utilized the 3.5 edition of D&D’s core rules. The New OutRiders guild continued its presence from the DDO beta testing period of 2005 and hit the ground questing at breakneck speed by dungeon crawling all of its fresh content on the Fernia server. Lords Emeritus Abin and Ayeone co-helmed the realm leader position; Lord Emeritus Sarmaran spearheaded the branch; Contessa Lakasha heralded in the new recruits; and DarkJustice, Rad, Asrana, Trebble, Mathais, and Tallanor rounded out the DDO leadership. In the first two months, the branch had over 100 members. Squire Gsling was the first guildie to make it to the initial level cap (10) within a week of DDO’s release.
When Update 3 “The Vault of the Night” landed in 2010, the New OutRiders entered the fray to conquer the new four pre-quests and two-part raid. After several attempts where the guildies were either wing buffeted from The Plane of Night or ended up as dragon chow, NOR victoriously became the first guild on all servers to defeat Velah, the Red Dragon to the fanfare of the NOR guildies and DDO forums, alike. 2010 was also the year DDO conducted server merges, and NOR migrated from Fernia to the Ghallanda server until 2025, where DDO moved from Ghallanda to the new 64-bit Thrane server.
Along the way, NOR/DDO appointed four branch leaders (Sarmaran, Yavool, Nerate, and Skorj); logged a peak of 243 unique accounts and players; adapted to DDO’s pioneering of the free-to-play business model in 2009; utilized the new reincarnation system in 2009; upgraded to the best-in-game guild ship in 2010; explored epic levels for the first time in 2012; took on legendary quest content in 2014; enjoyed the new artificer class in 2015; adjusted to Standing Stone Games taking over DDO from Turbine, Inc. in 2016; accepted the challenge of the permadeath Hardcore leagues that began in 2018; engaged in deeper and more complex gameplay with the releases of Mists of Ravenloft and Masterminds of Sharn in 2019; welcomed the overall population surge in DDO that the pandemic provided in 2020; mastered the revamped epic destiny system in 2022; survived DDO’s performance issues which ultimately led to the 32-bit servers shutdown and introduction of the 64-bit servers in 2025; and navigated eight level cap hikes, with a ninth coming this summer, 2026 to level 36.
NOR’s presence in DDO has not been without its difficult in-game moments, especially as it related to guild members who left DDO to move onto other games, those who went MIA, or guildies that took an indefinite LOA. The pinnacle of disheartening moments happened in 2010 when NOR/DDO experienced a significant defection of over 75% of its guild members when an officer refused to comply with NOR’s multigenerational family-friendly orientation, communication, and playstyle. In a secret coordinated action, the officer in question had guild members disband from NOR and join another guild, the Misfit Toys. Through this adversity, the mettle of the remaining NORbies shined through and those who were true to NOR’s mission “to have fun and help others do the same” became the hallmark of what it meant to be a guild member of the New OutRiders.
As the years roll by and seasons shift in turn, NOR/DDO’s traditions live on. From the historic use of the diplomacy skill on an unopened treasure chest for better loot drops to the /dance and /roll d100 ritual to determine who opens each chest encountered; and from emoting /lfh (looking for ham) for guild screenshots, to the use of the hot springs and dance floor on the guild ship, the light-hearted and fun-loving spirit of the guild runs deep with the New OutRiders in DDO.
As Dungeons & Dragons Online charts its course for the future, the developers show no sign of slowing down with regard to releasing new content, providing ongoing quality of life improvements, and rewarding loyal players for their continued commitment to DDO. The leadership of NOR/DDO aspires to continue enrolling new players to join the DDO branch, collectively engage in all in-game events and experiences, and host future DDO guild unity (GLUE) events.
On behalf of the Dungeons & Dragons Online branch of the New OutRiders, we thank DDO for giving us a wonderful and dependable game to revel in for the past twenty years. We thank the New OutRiders for inspiring a safe space for connection and community for the gaming world at large since 1992. We thank each and every New OutRiders guild member that has been part of the NOR experience in DDO since pre-release beta testing in 2005. Lastly, we hope that everyone in NOR will take a moment to download Dungeons & Dragons Online in 2026, pay us a visit as a new or returning guildie, and join the NOR/DDO group for a quest!See you in-game!
Yavool Ramnoth
Lord and Branch Leader, *NOR/DDO – Thrane Server
-Recent Anniversaries-
zaKarus
January 25th 2020
Squire zaKarus of Neverwinter, congratulations on 6 yrs!! Joining the guild in Neverwinter 2020
Briennia
January 25th 2014
Knight Briennia of Star Wars: The Old Republic, congratulations on 12 yrs!! Joining the guild in NOR 2014
Gloom
February 1st 2020
Knight Gloom of Star Wars: The Old Republic, congratulations on 6 yrs!! Joining the guild in Star Wars: The Old Republic 2020
Gabriel Gdalogan
February 1st 2024
Squire Gabriel Gdalogan of Final Fantasy XIV, congratulations on 2 yrs!! Joining the guild in Final Fantasy XIV 2024
Fyonha
February 4th 2025
Squire Fyonha of Star Wars: The Old Republic, congratulations on 1 yrs!! Joining the guild in Star Wars: The Old Republic 2025
Dayda
February 4th 2013
Baron Dayda of Neverwinter, congratulations on 13 yrs!! Joining the guild in Star Wars: The Old Republic 2013
Razor
February 11th 2016
Knight Razor of Neverwinter, congratulations on 10 yrs!! Joining the guild in Neverwinter 2016
Yavool
February 11th 2006
Lord Yavool of Dungeons & Dragons Online, congratulations on 20 yrs!! Joining the guild in Dungeons & Dragons Online 2006
ShavaDarksbane
February 14th 2015
Duchess ShavaDarksbane of Neverwinter, congratulations on 11 yrs!! Joining the guild in Neverwinter 2015
Shep
February 16th 2022
Knight Shep of Lord of the Rings Online, congratulations on 4 yrs!! Joining the guild in Star Wars: The Old Republic 2022
Stelmarii
February 17th 2007
Champion Stelmarii of Tabletop, congratulations on 19 yrs!! Joining the guild in World of Warcraft 2007
Stephencarrignan
February 17th 2016
Grandee Stephencarrignan of Star Wars: The Old Republic, congratulations on 10 yrs!! Joining the guild in ArcheAge 2016
Windemere
February 18th 2014
Marquis Windemere of Guild Wars 2, congratulations on 12 yrs!! Joining the guild in Star Wars: The Old Republic 2014
Pantagruel
February 20th 2019
Knight Pantagruel of Neverwinter, congratulations on 7 yrs!! Joining the guild in Neverwinter 2019
NorRad
February 23rd 1997
Marquis NorRad of NOMAD, congratulations on 29 yrs!! Joining the guild in Neverwinter Nights 1997
Wyim
February 23rd 2003
Champion Wyim of NOMAD, congratulations on 23 yrs!! Joining the guild in The Realm 2003
Noobicabra
February 23rd 2006
Baron Noobicabra of Dungeons & Dragons Online, congratulations on 20 yrs!! Joining the guild in Dungeons & Dragons Online 2006
Silverquick
February 25th 2016
Squire Silverquick of Dungeons & Dragons Online, congratulations on 10 yrs!! Joining the guild in Dungeons & Dragons Online 2016
Vargorian
February 27th 2018
Duke Vargorian of Guild Wars 2, congratulations on 8 yrs!! Joining the guild in Guild Wars 2 2018
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