MMORPG.com is featuring an interview with DDO Senior Producer Kate Paiz. The interview covers such topics as update seven and birthday plans:

Next up we discussed Update 7. With the upcoming release of D&D's 4.0 ruleset, I had to ask if DDO's Update 7 would include these new rules. Unfortuenntly, the ruleset for 4.0 is still in beta, so update 7 will not feature any 4.0 ruleset changes.

What it WILL feature is the introduction of a new class: the monk. To facilitate the introduction of the monk, Turbine is updating the new player experience - if you want to reroll, don't worry, there will be new content! And if you were a fan of the Harbor, don't worry; while the tutorial is being completely replaced, the rest of the old content will remain; you just have more content to choose between, now!

Of course, they're not ignoring the high levels either. This update will introduce new raid and wilderness areas. The content will be a continuation of the Shabarath invasion; while I didn't get much detail on the raids, the wilderness area will be a vast underground space with lots of little spots of beauty: crystals and waterfalls will adorn the cave, but it is an invasion area and it's not all sunshine and rainbows.

If you're a DDO player who likes crafting, there's more good news with update 7: crafting will be expanded into the main game, making it more accessable to lower levels and non-raiders.

Looking farther into the future, Kate told me that we could expect druids and half orcs near the end of the year, as well as another level cap raise to 20.

Check out the rest at your leisure.