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DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Go here to download the game and create an account. Now available on Steam. Note the game is available for Windows and Mac.



Buy the expansions here. Steam. Or in-game with Turbine Points.

:siren: We are on the Argonnessen server, guild is Order of the Ten Bux :siren:
:siren: Get guild buffs once you are off (Snowy) Korthos. Most city zones have a Green Anchor map icon for our guild airship. Use the amenity bar on the top deck to get most buffs. Use a door to go to the cargo hold for resists/experience shrine. Use it. :siren:

The Expansions
Shadowfell Conspiracy - 08/19/13:
  • Two new adventure packs with 5 quests and 1 wilderness area each, taking place in the Stormhorn Mountains (Level 19/27) and Wheloon Prison City (Level 16/26).
  • 4 Iconic Heroes: Bladeforged Paladin, Sun-elf Morninglord Cleric, Shadar-kai Assassin Rogue, Purple Dragon Knight Fighter.
  • Level cap raised to 28.
Menance of the Underdark - 06/25/12: Opens the game up to Forgotten Realms, Epic Levels (up to 2528) and Epic Destiny system for epic level advancement. Also added Druids.

What's New

02/02/17 - Update 34: Reaper Mode. Tower of Frost free 14/28 dungeon. Reaper difficulty added, an additional level of difficulty beyond Elite that lets you select 1-10 skull difficulty. 10 skull is intended to be extremely challenging for veteran players/characters. Reaper experience lets you spend in enhancement trees for +stats for power growth in reaper mode only.

10/21/16 - Update 33: Return of the Night Revels Halloween event. Monk rework and fixing handwraps. More deity options with full feat lines for cleric/fvs/paladins.

09/14/16 - Update 32: 3 new paid quests (8 on heroic, 31 epic), Cannith Crafting revamp, lots of old random appearances added back to random loot.

05/19/16 - Update 31: 3 new free quests (13/15/17 heroic, 31 epic), Fighter Kensei tree revamp, Umber Hulks added, new hairstyles/beards for human males and gnomes.



Dungeons and Dragons Online is a translation of the 3.5 edition of Dungeons and Dragons into an MMO format. While it has more of an action-oriented theme to combat and questing than most D&D games, this works well in an MMO environment. At it's core, it is still the familar D20 system, with multiple story arcs and voiced Dungeon Masters.

What's This Free To Play I Hear About?

Go here to download the game and create an account. Steam.

The game is free to play in the sense that you can reach the level cap without paying for anything if you really want to. So while you can level up to 20 by doing the main Stormreach area content, you'll be missing out on a significant portion of the game and have a longer time getting to 20 (due to lack of good areas to level at the higher end) if you don't have access to any adventure packs.

VIP vs Free To Play

VIP Features

VIP to F2P Downgrade FAQ.

How Do I Get Into The Guild?

Join the channel by typing (better yet, copy/paste):
/joinchannel goons neckbeards

You can then speak in the channel by using /1 blah blah blah, and ask for an invite. We usually use the channel instead of guild chat, as some people are not in the guild on one or more characters for various reasons. Don't be afraid to ask questions, we're here to help!

You're welcome to get your non-goon friends into the guild as well, friend of goons are fine, random people are not.

You can post a character name here for an invite to be mailed to you in-game as well.

:siren: To reiterate we are on the Argonnessen server. :siren:
:siren: Get guild buffs once you are off (Snowy) Korthos. Most city zones have a Green Anchor map icon for our guild airship. Use the amenity bar on the top deck to get most buffs. Use a door to go to the cargo hold for resists/experience shrine. Use it. :siren:

Also make sure to check the guild storage on floor 1 of the guild airship for any loot you can use, as well as some healing potions and shards you can use to craft some good starter armor/weapons. Screaming of Bleeding weapons require level 2, +1 Screaming of Bleeding require level 4. So don't craft a weapon you can't use!

Dungeons and Dragons Online channel on this server.



The game is built around completing quests. However, unlike most MMOs each quest is tied to an instanced dungeon/area that has been handcrafted. There is some randomization in quests, especially in the mid-late levels and the Challenge packs, but there are no completely randomly generated quests, they're all hand crafted to a major degree.

Once inside a quest you'll be presented with a list of objectives that looks like this:



Completing a quest is what gives you the experience reward. You do not get experience for killing things directly, outside of Explorer Areas where you get some at certain breakpoints. Pretty straight forward otherwise, the ones marked (Optional) give you a decent bit of extra experience, and can also sometimes lead to extra loot.

Experience

As said above, completing quests is how you are awarded experience, not directly by killing mobs. Everyone in the group is awarded the same base amount of experience, however this can be further modified by both individual or group based bonuses or penalties. You do not split the experience, regardless of the size of your group, everyone is awarded the same base amount.

The first time you do a quest on a given difficulty, you get bonus experience based on the difficulty. You can group with people up to 3 levels above you, anyone past that will heavily penalize your experience and is not recommended.

Combat

While there is an auto-attack option provided, and you can hold down right mouse to keep swinging, the game is action based in the sense that you don't just hit a cycle of buttons or wait on cooldowns while standing around. You need to use your environment and positioning to your advantage.

You do not regenerate health or mana (spell points) while in a quest! You have to use spells/abilities/potions/wands to restore hitpoints, and largely only shrines to restore mana. Your hp/sp are important resources and it's in your best interest to learn how to conserve both of them while playing.

Scaling?

The game attempts to scale the mobs, by altering hitpoints and damage values, to provide an acceptable challenge for your group size. Hard and elite difficulties scale less than normal, but it's there still.

You do not need to do every quest on Elite when you're new. It's completely okay to be doing quests on Hard or even Normal your first time(s) through them. Feel free to jump up a difficulty level if you don't feel challenged, but similarly don't feel that you need to bang your head against the wall instead of just dropping down a difficulty if it's too tough.

Does This Game Have PvP?

Barely. This isn't the game to go to if you want PvP. It's okay to screw around with, but it's far from a "serious" PvP game.



Character Creation

Character Planner.

Check the second post for information on skills if you're having trouble deciding which to raise.

Other than when using Reincarnation (see below), stats and skills are not able to be altered. So while it's not the end of the world should you create a sub-optimal character, you should put some thought into what kind of character you're going to make. Don't be afraid to ask questions either in the guild or in this thread for advice on character creation!

Help, what character do I make? Warlock!
Don't want to subscribe, or pay for Warlock? That's fine here are some other options[WIP]:
Melee: Paladin
Caster: Wizard, Warlock, Cleric

Stats

(Stat - 10) / 2 = your modifier, this is what actually affects things. Odd stats don't provide you with any bonus, but there are sometimes reasons to start with odd numbers. Ideally you don't want any end-game if you can help it. And yes, this can be a negative modifier for stats under 10.

Strength - Attack/damage, this is sizable factor in your ability to hit or do damage to things in melee combat.

Dexterity - Armor Class and Reflex Save, this is limited by the armor you wear. Robes have no Maximum Dexterity limit, but other than that wearing armor can impede the amount of bonus you can derive from this. It’s also used for your ranged attack bonus (but not damage!) in place of strength. Don't invest in this for armor class unless you have something very specific in mind -- it's not really worth build points for 1-4 extra AC.

Constitution - Hit Points and Fortitude Save, you get your con bonus * level in extra hitpoints, this is a stat that everyone should strongly consider. A general rule is to not start with less than 14.

Intelligence - Skill points and Wizard casting. How many skill points you get is based upon your class, but you get one extra, per level, for every int modifier you have. You also need 10 + Spell Level, minimum, to cast as a wizard. Wizards want this maxed, many other classes can consider it a dump stat or low depending. For a wizard this is their bonus to Spell Difficulty Class stat.

Wisdom - Will Save, Cleric Casting, partial Favored Soul casting. A cleric needs 10 + Spell level, minimum, to cast. It is also their Difficulty Class bonus stat. A Favored Soul uses their wisdom modifier for their bonus to the Spell Difficulty Class.

Charisma - Bard & Sorcerer casting, and partial Favored Soul Casting. All three of these need 10 + Spell Level, minimum, to cast. For Bards and Sorcerers it is also their Spell Difficulty Class bonus stat. For Favored Soul it does nothing other than small bonus SP after you have the minimum needed for your spells, not worth raising past 12 or so for a Favored Soul.

Casting stats also provide bonus Spell Points (SP), and each stat is also tied to some skills. This isn't something you really need to worry about though in most cases.

Races


Human: The most populous and dominant race of Eberron, humans have found strength in their versatile nature.
Benefits: 1 extra Feat at level 1, +1 Skill point per level (4 more at level 1), good racial enhancements, no stat bonuses or penalties.
Penalties: No stat bonuses, if you want to count that as one.
Recommended Classes: Any.
Unsuited Classes: None.
Favored Weapons: None specifically.


Elf: Thin and waifish, elves in Stormreach are often affiliated with House Phiarlan, working as master spies, illusionists and bards.
Benefits: +2 Dexterity. Solid caster enhancements.
Penalties: -2 Constitution.
Recommended Classes: Wizard, Sorcerer, Favored Soul, Cleric.
Unsuited Classes: Frontline melee. -2 Constitution isn't the end of the world, but it hurts when you're the guy whose likely to be hit.
Favored Weapons: Longsword and Rapier OR Scimitar and Falchion.


Dwarf: Former slaves of the giants, many dwarves in Stormreach find employ in House Kundarak where they work as guards, soldiers, wizards specializing in magical wards and are in charge of much of the banking of the city.
Benefits: +2 Constitution. Solid melee based racial enhancements, though they can be a tight fit depending on build.
Penalties: -2 Charisma.
Recommended Classes: Fighter, Barbarian, Ranger.
Unsuited Classes: Sorcerer, Wizard, Favored Soul.
Favored Weapons: Dwarven Axes and Greataxes.


Halfling: Halflings are short humanoids, often characterized by their nomadic heritage and wanderlust. While often independent, many halflings owe allegiance to House Jorasco in Stormreach, serving as herbalists, alchemists and healers.
Benefits: +2 Dexterity. Racial enhancements for sneak attacks as well as buffing a single friend.
Penalties: -2 Strength.
Recommended Classes: Rogue, Bard, and Cleric.
Unsuited Classes: Fighter, Barbarian and Ranger.
Favored Weapons: Throwing (but don't try to use them as your main weapon, seriously).


Warforged: Living constructs born from the fires of the Last War, these beings seek to find a place for themselves in more peaceful times. While they are technically living creatures, warforged have no need to eat, breathe or sleep and tend to have a hard time adapting to life around those who do.
Unlock: Free to VIPs, purchased for 795 Turbine Points otherwise.
Benefits: +2 Constitution. Strong innate immunities. Capable of being healed by the Repair line of spells.
Penalties: -2 Charisma, -2 Wisdom. Healed half as much by Divine Magic (this can be increased with enhancements).
Recommended Classes: Wizard, Sorcerer, Artificer, Favored Soul.
Unsuited Classes: Cleric, Rogue.
Favored Weapons: Any Two-handed weapon.


Drow: Fiercely territorial and devoted to preserving the traditions of their heritage, drow are cousins to the lighter skinned elves. While drow are not inherently evil, their morality and worship of the scorpion god Vulkoor often makes it appear that way to outsiders.
Unlock: 400 total favor on one character, or bought for 995 Turbine Points. Not recommended for purchase via TP, 400 favor is attainable rather quickly.
Benefits: +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma.
Penalties: -2 Constitution. No access to 32 point builds.
Recommended Classes: Wizard, Sorcerer, Cleric, Favored Soul.
Unsuited Classes: Any frontline melee.
Favored Weapons: Rapier and Shortsword.


Half-Orc: Children of the union of humans and orcs, half-orcs are often looked down upon by the other civilized races for their somewhat savage nature. Many half-orcs work for House Tharashk, where their abilities to track down treasure proves useful.
Unlock: Free to VIPs, purchased for 1,295 Turbine Points otherwise.
Benefits: +2 Strength. Solid melee enhancements.
Penalties: -2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom.
Recommended Classes: Fighter, Barbarian.
Unsuited Classes: Cleric, Favored Soul, Sorcerer, Wizard, Bard, Artificer.
Favored Weapons: Any Two-handed weapon.


Half-Elf: Descended from elves and humans, half-elves now have formed their own unique race apart from their parent races. House Lyrander, responsible for the creation of airships and the transport business they generate, is formed of mostly half-elves.
Unlock: Free to VIPs, purchased for 1,195 Turbine Points otherwise.
Benefits: Dilettante feat letting you have minor access to a single other classes abilities (such as cleric wands/scrolls as if you were a level 1 cleric, and higher later on). Access to some of the Human and Elf enhancements.
Penalties: No stat bonuses, and no extra Feat slot like a Human has.
Recommended Classes: Any.
Unsuited Classes: None.
Favored Weapons: None specifically.

Classes

A note on roles: Tanking is not like you're used to in other MMOs. You can use intimidate and a shield and pretend you're a normal MMO tank, but there are very few situations (usually raids) where this is all that effective. Otherwise a tank is just someone with good hp and if you can get there without giving up much: some passive damage reduction or AC. For normal questing no one is designated as a tank usually.

Recommended Two-Handed Weapons: Falchion, Greatsword, Greataxe. In that order, though dwarves may favor a Greataxe.
Recommended One-Handed Weapons: Khopesh, Scimitar/Rapier. Note that Khopesh costs a feat slot and is likely to be more expensive on the Auction House. Worth considering in the teens however. At the level cap there's currently no good named Khopeshes, so it falls behind other available options.
Recommended Caster Weapons: If meleeing, see above. For actual casting you're looking for items that boost a specific type of damage or a Thaumaturgy quarterstaff which boosts two elements you use frequently, they also have a smaller bonus to universal spellpower.


Barbarian: Do you like hitting things? Do you like hitting things a lot? I mean over and over don't stop hitting things DON'T STOP SMASHING THINGS IN THEIR FACES THROUGH THE RED HAZE OF BLOOD AND FURY!!!!!
Role: Melee Damage, Tank.
Recommended Races: Human, Dwarf, Half-orc.
Stats: 12 hp/level. 4 skill points/level.
Recommended Dwarf Starting Stats: Str - 18, Dex - 12, Con - 17, Int - 8, Wis - 8, Cha - 6, raise Strength at level up
Recommended Skills: Balance, Spot, Intimidate
Recommended Feats: Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Crit: Slash, Overwhelming Critical, Two-Handed Fighting Line


Bard: You get to spend most of your time singing songs which are either so boring or so incredible (take your pick) that monsters just stand there in a stupor while the rest of your party beats the crap out of them. Also, you have magical parlor tricks that you picked up to impress the ladies at taverns. And because you sometimes impress the ladies at taverns that already have husbands, you've learned to handle yourself in a straight up fight too.
Role: Crowd Control, Buffing, Secondary Melee Damage, Secondary Healing.
Recommended Races: Human.
Stats: 6 hp/level. 6 skill points/level.
Recommended Human Starting Stats: Str - 16, Dex - 8, Con - 16, Int - 10, Wis - 8, Cha - 14, raise Strength at level up
Recommended Skills: Balance, Bluff, Concentration, Perform, Use Magic Device, Heal, Spot
Recommended Feats: Extend, Two-Handed Fighting, Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Empower Healing, Improved Critical: Slash, Improved Two-Handed Fighting, Overwhelming Critical, Greater Two-Handed Fighting


Cleric: Do you like praying to gods and killing undead monstrosities with shiny lights? Well boy-howdy, is this ever the class for you. Also I hope you enjoy healing things, because you'll be doing that a lot too. On the plus side, you get to shoot laser beams, call down comets to knock your enemies on their asses, and summon giant walls of spinning blades that enemies just seem to love trundling right into.
Role: Healing, Magic Damage, Buffing, Crowd Control, Secondary Melee Damage.
Recommended Races: Human, Dwarf, Elf, Drow.
Stats: 8 hp/level. 6 skill points/level.
Recommended Human Starting Stats: Str - 10, Dex - 8, Con - 14, Int - 14, Wis - 16, Cha - 12, raise Wisdom at level up
Recommended Skills: Concentration, Heal, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device, Jump
Recommended Feats: Maximize, Empower, Empower Healing, Quicken, Heighten, Spell Focus: Necromancy line, Spell Focus: Evocation line, Spell Penetration
Recommended Enhancements: Go into the Divine Disciple tree Light path, get Nimbus of Light, Universal Spellpower, Searing Light, Holy Smite, then go into Radiant Servant.
Example Build.


Fighter: You get to hit things. But unlike the barbarian, you get to be tactical about it, using your brains, your smarts, your wits. Which is to say you're slightly more clever than a rock but you've managed to pick up a few dirty tricks along the way to even out a fight when you might be overmatched. Angry ogre lumbering towards you? Knock him on his rear end and proceed to introduce your sword into his face.
Role: Melee Damage, Tanking.
Recommended Races: Human, Dwarf, Half-Orc.
Stats: 10 hp/level. 2 skill points/level. Bonus Feats at: 1, 2 and every even level thereafter.
Recommended Human Starting Stats: Str - 18, Dex - 12, Con - 14, Int - 8, Wis - 10, Cha - 8, raise Strength at level up
Recommended Skills: Balance, Spot
Recommended Feats: Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Critical: Slash, Two-Handed Fighting Line, Overwhelming Critical


Monk: Monks are masters of enlightenment and serenity, channeling their inner Ki to enable them to perform superhuman feats of strength and agility. Which is a real fancy way of saying they punch the crap out of things using a variety of elemental powers they combine to cause powerful effects. So if you want to shoot fire out of your fists, run across water, leap through the air or use the freaking five step exploding heart technique, this is your class.
Unlock: Free to VIPs, 895 Turbine Points otherwise.
Role: Melee Damage, Tanking.
Recommended Races: Human, Dwarf.
Stats: 8 hp/level. 4 skill points/level.
Recommended Human Starting Stats: Str - 16, Dex - 16, Con - 14, Int - 8, Wis - 10, Cha - 8, raise Strength at level up
Recommended Skills: Balance, Concentration, Spot
Recommended Feats: Toughness, Two-Weapon Fighting, Power Attack, Cleave, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Critical: Bludgeon, Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, Great Cleave, Overwhelming Critical


Paladin: Holy warriors devoted to destroying all things dark, unnatural and unholy in the world. Of course, what is considered dark, unnatural and unholy is purely open to speculation and is at the discretion of the burly dude in platemail with a shining sword. Paladins are tough fighters, able to cleave through swaths of foes without breaking a sweat, and if that weren't enough, their gods give them all kinds of spells to make slaughtering everything even easier.
Role: Melee Damage, Tanking, Secondary Buffing.
Recommended Races: Human, Dwarf.
Stats: 10 hp/level. 2 skill points/level.
Recommended Human Starting Stats: Str - 16, Dex - 8, Con - 14, Int - 8, Wis - 10, Cha - 16, raise Strength at level up
Recommended Skills: Concentration, Heal
Recommended Feats: Power Attack, Cleave, Two-Handed Fighting, Great Cleave, Empower Healing, Improved Critical: Slash, Extend or Improved Two-Handed Fighting, Quicken, Overwhelming Critical


Ranger: Friends of nature, companions to all manner of beasts and plants and hahaha who am I kidding. Rangers are racist bastards who specifically pick a group of enemies to hate and get bonuses to slaughtering them wholesale. In order to help them out in their quest to exterminate all life on the planet, they recieve free feats to allow them to dual wield and use bows more effectively. Additionally, rangers get some pretty useful utility spells, including some that help them kill things even better.
Role: Dual Wield Melee Damage, Tanking, Secondary Ranged Damage, Secondary Buffing.
Recommended Races: Human, Dwarf.
Stats: 8 hp/level. 6 skill points/level.
Recommended Human Starting Stats: Str - 17, Dex - 14, Con - 14, Int - 8, Wis - 11, Cha - 8, raise Strength at level up
Recommended Skills: Concentration, Heal, Search, Spot, Balance, Use Magic Device
Recommended Feats: Favored Enemy: Undead, Empower Healing, Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Critical: Slash, Overwhelming Critical, Quicken


Rogue: Yeah you're not as tough as a fighter and you don't hit as hard as a barbarian. You have less hit points than even a cleric. So why would you want to be a rogue? Because you can learn every single useful skill in the game, and, while your friends are busy getting their spleens stuck full of swords, you get to stab enemies for sneak attack damage. So what you might say. Oh boy, I get to do damage if things aren't hitting me. Well, one of those skills you can learn makes things forget about you, and attack your friends. Which even if you're not trying to get sneak attack damage is still a great party trick. And as for the damage itself? Well, let's just say you will murder the poo poo out of everything. So to recap: you get to be batman.
Role: Melee Damage, Secondary Trap Disarming.
Recommended Races: Human, Halfling, Elf, Dwarf.
Stats: 6 hp/level. 8 skill points/level.
Note: You generally can't sneak attack while solo, making pure rogues one of the worst choices for soloing.
Recommended Human Starting Stats: Str - 12, Dex - 18, Con - 14, Int - 8, Wis - 8, Cha - 10, raise Dexterity at level up
Recommended Skills: Balance, Bluff, Diplomacy, Disable Device, Open Lock, Search, Spot, Use Magic Device | Alternatively drop Balance/Diplo for Hide and Move Silent.
Recommended Feats: Toughness, Weapon Finesse, Precision, Two-Weapon Fighting Line, Improved Critical: Pierce, Improved Sneak Attack


Wizard: So all that reading in some poorly lit dingy room finally paid off. You can now cast magic missile! How proud you must be! But wait, you just gained a few levels and now you can create walls of fire on the ground that incinerate everything. Oh what's that? You've gotten some more spells now and learned some forbidden necromantic arts and are now a lich that can easily instantly kill entire rooms full of enemies with a single spell? Surely no self-respecting wizard would turn to the forbidden arts of necromancy in order to gain incredible godlike power. That would just be wrong.
Role: Magic Damage, Crowd Control, Buffing.
Recommended Races: Human, Warforged, Elf.
Stats: 4 hp/level. 2 skill points/level. Bonus Feats at: 1, 5, 10, 15, 20.
Recommended Human Starting Stats: Str - 10, Dex - 8, Con - 16, Int - 18, Wis - 8, Cha - 8
Recommended Skills: Concentration, Spellcraft, Balance, Heal, Spot, Use Magic Device, Move Silent or Repair
Recommended Feats: Insightful Reflexes, Maximize, Empower, Quicken, Spell Focus: Necromancy line, Spell Penetration line, Heighten


Sorcerer: Books and scrolls? Screw that stuff. You're better than a wizard because you don't need none of that there book learnin. You gain spells naturally as you level up, and sure you might not have as many different spells to choose from as one of them book-learned wizards, but you're inherently better at magic than they are. You cast spells faster, have more magical energy to draw on, and can attune yourself to the very elements themselves, gaining incredible power.
Role: Magic Damage, Buffing, Crowd Control.
Recommended Races: Human, Warforged.
Stats: 4 hp/level. 2 skill points/level. Double benefit from SP increasing items. Higher base SP than a wizard or cleric. Faster casting and less recast than a Wizard.
Recommended Warforged Starting Stats: Str - 10, Dex - 8, Con - 16, Int - 12, Wis - 6, Cha - 16
Recommended Skills: Concentration, Spellcraft, Balance or Repair
Recommended Feats: Maximize, Empower, Quicken, Spell Focus: Evocation line, Heighten


Favored Soul: You're a special person. A very special person. You see, some god decided that you were a pretty cool dude (or dudette) and has decided to make you one of their champions. You have a stronger connection to the divine and as such gain various bonuses related to the god that has chosen you, as well as having more magical power to use on spells. So essentially you're the envy of clerics everywhere. Oh and you get wings. Magic angel wings that let you leap distances and look super cool. And a little glowing light ball friend that hangs out over your shoulder and shoots laser beams at everything, kind of like the shoulder mounted cannon that the Predator has.
Unlock: 2500 Total Favor or 895 Turbine Points.
Role: Healing, Magic Damage, Buffing, Crowd Control, Secondary Melee Damage.
Recommended Races: Human, Warforged.
Stats: 8 hp/level. 2 skill points/level. Double benefit from SP increasing items. Higher base SP than a wizard or cleric. Get a short distance forward teleport with Wings at level 17.
Recommended Human Starting Stats: Str - 8, Dex - 8, Con - 14, Int - 10, Wis - 18, Cha - 12
Recommended Skills: Concentration, Heal, Spellcraft
Recommended Feats: Maximize, Empower Healing, Quicken, Empower


Artificer: You get to be Megaman. No, seriously. You have a cool mechanical dog and an arm cannon that you can charge up which has various effects, much like boss weapons from Megaman games! Other than that, artificers, as their name might imply, are tinkerers and dabblers in mechanical devices. Many use repeating crossbows, though some people do use melee weapons. Additionally, artificers get quite a number of unique spells, several of which can be used to increase damage, bypass damage reduction of enemies, or provide useful defensive buffs. Being tinkerers, they are skilled at disarming traps and also are the best at crafting items, giving them a bit of a unique edge over other classes in that regard.
Unlock: 150 House C favor or 995 Turbine Points. Favor unlocking is annoying, and you won't do it until you're 20+.
Role: Ranged Damage, Buffing, Secondary Magic Damage, Secondary Trap Disarming.
Recommended Races: Human, Warforged.
Stats: 6 hp/level. 4 skill points/level. Awesome mechanical dog companion.
Recommended Human Starting Stats: Coming Soon
Recommended Skills: Coming Soon
Recommended Feats: Coming Soon


Druid: So you like trees? Dogs? Bears? Being a ranger not quite fufilling your nature-hugging needs? Then turn that frown upside down and make a Druid! With the powers of Mother Nature at your beck and call, you can call down lightning, freeze your foes solid, turn into a dog and bark bark bark until they go "AUGH SHUT UP ALREADY!!" Or if that's not your thing you can also turn into a big ol fat bear and chill out doing bear things like getting hit a lot and smacking the poo poo out of skeletons that stole your honey.
Unlock: VIP or Standard Menace of the Underdark Pack or 1495 TP.
Role: Healing, Magic Damage, Melee Damage, Tanking, Buffing.
Recommended Races: Human, Half-Elf, Half-Orc.
Stats: 8 hp/level. 4 skill points/level. Awesome wolf pup companion.
Recommended Human Starting Stats: Str - 12, Dex - 10, Con - 14, Int - 8, Wis - 18, Cha - 8
Recommended Skills: Concentration, Heal, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device
Recommended Feats: Maximize, Empower, Empower Healing, Quicken, Heighten, Spell Focus: Evocation


Warlock: [WIP]Be a magical machine gunner!
Unlock: VIP or 1395 TP.
Role: Magic Damage, Buffing.
Recommended Races: Human, (Blade/War)forged.
Stats: 6 hp/level. 2 skill points/level.
Recommended Human Starting Stats: Str - 10, Dex - 10, Con - 14, Int - 10, Wis - 8, Cha - 18 (8 str/dex and 16 con also good)
Recommended Alignment: True Neutral will let you use any pact. Fiend is recommended, but any can work.
Recommended Skills: Concentration, Use Magic Device, Spellcraft
Recommended Feats: Maximize, Empower, Quicken, Spell Focus: Evocation, Greater Spell Focus: Evocation, Force of Personality
Recommended Spells: (1)Expeditious Retreat, Jump, (2)Blur, Invisibility, (3)Displacement, Dimension Door, (4)Evard's Black Tentacles, Teleport (or scrolls and whatever), (5)Mass Protection From Elements, Finger of Death, (6)Wail of the Banshee, Power Word: Stun
Recommended Enhancements: Passive Shield from Enlightened Spirit, Cone Shape/Consume/Stricken/Hungers from Soul Eater, Penetrating Blast/Strong Blast/Eldritch Ball/Planar Focus/Spell Focus: Evoc from Tainted Scholar
See here also.

Multiclassing

Multiclassing needs to be planned out from the start pretty much. You can have up to 3 classes when multiclassing, and as this is a 3.5E based game you spread out your 20 levels between the classes, it’s not like 2E where you just level slower.

If you want to multiclass I strongly suggest you ask for advice here or on the official forums before going forward.

Reincarnation

As of Update 14, all new and existing characters are given one free Lesser Reincarnation.

Your stats and skills can now be respecced by using a Reincarnation, which has a week long timer and lets you change almost everything about your character. The hearts used for this do drop very rarely in game, but the easiest way to obtain one is via the eStore. A +1/+3 version lets you change that many class levels, as well as everything but your race/alignment. A Greater version will also let you upgrade from a 28 point build to a 32 point build. A True will let you change absolutely everything about your character, start at level 1, get 34/36 build points (1st TR/2nd+ TR), as well as some other minor benefits. At the cost of drastically increased experience requirements. You must be level 20 to True Reincarnate, the others have low/no level requirement (though I would encourage you to reroll at very low levels instead).



Videos

MrCow's YouTube channel is the place to go if you want a million DDO videos or ever need a visual semi-walkthrough of a quest.

My slowly expanding channel with mostly DDO videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V78e1cV36A

Running Frame Work on hard with Valisti, we explain a little bit of what/why we're doing in this run.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9pcw05kK8k

Level 5 first life Druid, solo, on Elite, in Halls of Shan-To-Kor. Have some annotations about traps since people were talking about them. I avoid the vast majority of traps with player skill only getting hit once with one of the hardest to physically avoid traps in the game.

Random Screenshot Section






DemonMage fucked around with this message at 23:06 on Feb 4, 2017

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DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Skills

Insane

Use Magic Device
Lets you bypass race or alignment requirements on almost any item passively, and therefore wear items you might not otherwise have access to. Also lets you use scrolls/wands that your class may not have access to. Must-have for rogues and bards. Highly recommended for pretty much any build with skill points to spare for it.

Great

Balance
Opposed check versus your opponents trip DC for you to stand back up. You get a roll every 2 seconds after being knocked down. Resisting a trip is a str/dex check, so you'll get tripped but get back up quicker with this skill. As a bonus, with 40 (modified) balance you'll not get knocked down by the Titan anymore.

Concentration
Allows you to continue casting a spell even if you take damage during the casting. 1d20 + Concentration is opposed by 10 + Damage Taken + Level of Spell Being Cast. Quickened spells do not suffer a chance to be disturbed when hit, so it's viable to eschew this skill on Sorcerers/Favored Soul if you keep quicken on permanently, but that's not something you do often. This also determines the maximum amount of Ki a monk can hold without degeneration.

Disable Device
Only available to those with at least one rogue/artificer level, it allows you to disable traps when you find the control box via the Search skill. Thus allowing your party to continue safely through the trap. Many traps can be avoided through timing or jumping, so while it's not a required skill it can still prove very useful (especially while TRing and doing elite quests for the experience bonus).

Heal Only Great for Clerics/FvS, Good for Ranger/Bard/Paladin, Skip It otherwise
As of The Shadowfell Conspiracy, increases your Positive spellpower 1:1 for each point.
Increases the amount you and your party heal when you're near them at a rest shrine. Also allows you to use healer's kits to stabilize an incapacitated person and allow them to slowly regenerate health until they are up again. It's much better to simply use a Cure Light Wounds wand charge or even just let them bleed out and take them to a Resurrection Shrine. The benefit is too small to be wasting skill points on.

Perform
Increases Sonic spellpower 1:1.
Bard only skill. Required for some of the bard class abilities, and the bard Fascinate ability gets it's DC from this ability. The DC is 1d20 + Perform skill, meaning at low levels it's not so hot, and at high levels even without items your DC will be decent, and with items it's sky high. Might as well max this if you're a bard.

Search
Well worth keeping maxed as a rogue-like character. Not worth it otherwise. Allows you to find hidden doors, and more importantly trap boxes. For secret doors, other characters can use clicky items with Detect Secret Doors or Wands. Even with a rogue, I'd encourage keeping a clicky on you for doors as it's just faster. True Seeing only lets you find doors up to DC30, so if you can get your skill beyond that, it's worth considering investing in this skill for epic levels.

Spellcraft
Increases Fire, Acid, Cold, Force, Electric, Light/Alignment spellpowers 1:1. Great for any full caster.

Tumble
1 point - Great, beyond - Okay. Passively decreases the amount of damage you take from falls, but featherfalling makes this so-so at best. Actively tumbling allows you to roll when you move while shield blocking, and just 1 point is enough to allow this. This roll also lets you move at full speed while under the effect of movement debuffs such as slow or shallow water. At 31 modified skill you can do back flips and side dives. With 36 modified skill you can do front flips. Not recommended for raising, but if you have the free points and it's a class skill and you want flips go for it. Note: You need both a base skill of 1, and a current skill of at least 1 to be able to do rolls. Armor check penalties can lower you below this, but dex modifier can counteract this. It's usually not a concern, as most people stop using armor late game or can easily counteract the penalty, but it's something to know.

Good

Bluff (Great for Rogues, especially solo)
Single target, makes the target vulnerable to being sneak attacked for a few seconds, as well as giving you a deagro buff for 10(?) seconds. Diplomacy is going to be more useful in a group setting usually but Bluff is great for when you're solo as while it does have a slight activation time, you'll put out a lot of damage in the few seconds of sneak attacking and the deagro can help with not getting agro in a group even after the auto sneak attacks wear off.

Open Lock
Allows you to open (some) locked doors and chests. Some require quest objective keys instead. This skill requires at least one rogue level to obtain. Is also the lowest priority rogue skill because you can try an infinite number of times on a lock, and rolling a 1 has no negative effect unlike with Disable Device (where it can blow the box up, rendering the trap permanently unable to be disabled). So letting it lag a little is okay, but you want to make sure you don't have to spend an hour trying to roll a 20 to unlock something if you can help it.

Decent

Diplomacy
Area Effect skill that lets you shed agro. It has no activation timer and affects all targets in range (short range AE). It also has occasional use in conversations. Handy skill to consider on a rogue character, less so on others.

Haggle
Vendors give you 10% of an items base value (Brokers 15%), this skill gives you an extra 0.25 per point. So 8 points means vendors will now give you 12% (Brokers 17%) of an item's base value. A great way to make extra money over the lifetime of your character, but often a tough fit for non-bards due to other more actively important skills. Also doesn't effect the amount of plat returned via Deconstruction.

Hide
Allows you to, in combination with the Move Silent skill, sneak around mobs and not agro them. It takes a lot of knowledge of how the skill works to properly abuse this, but it has the potential to be a very useful skill. That said, it's very low on my list of priorities.

Intimidate
Small range Area Effect taunt. 6 second cooldown, keeps them locked onto you for 3? seconds. Okay if you have spare points floating around, and it is AE, but often agro is achieved through massive damage, not this skill.

Jump
Increases the height (and therefore length) of your jumps. This skill has an effective hardcap at 40 (buffed) points. With the jump spell providing +30, heavy investment in this skill is not recommended. A few points if you really have nothing to spend them on is nice, but you can easily drink a jump potion if your buff fades to make it over most obstacles.

Move Silent
See Hide

Spot
Allows you to passively detect the presence of secret doors (but does not aid in finding them) and traps. Also allows you to tab target as well as see a faint outline of hiding creatures if you are within a certain amount of their Hide skill. As a rogue it's a solid skill if you don't know where all the traps and trap boxes are, and for the quests where they're randomized.

Skip It

Listen
This skill is largely superceded by the spot skill. It lets you see little red circles around hiding mobs feet, and they often have lower move silent than hide, but it doesn't let you target a stealthed mob like spot would.

Repair
Increases Repair and Rust spellpower 1:1. Might be okay on Warforged Sorcerer or similar.
As heal, but only works on warforged characters.

Swim
Allows you to swim (slightly) faster and/or against stronger currents. Also increases your underwater breathing time. Underwater action items make this skill almost totally irrelevant and the places where it comes in handy are so few as to not be worth the expenditure of skill points.

General Raiding Information

How Do Raids Work?: Raids are quests that allow up to 12 people to enter instead of the standard 6. When completing a raid, you're also placed on a 3 day timer when you accept the quest reward (this means it's very important to get your quest reward right after, not a day later).

There are multiple chests in a raid, but only one Warded Chest (aka Raid Loot chest), which gives each person (on normal) a 1/6 chance of generating a random raid item. On elite the chance scales up to as much as 1/4. The exact amount depends on how much the developers feel the raid scales on different difficulties (titan barely does for instance).

In general the loot policy is: If it spawned for you, it's yours to do with what you like. Loot it, pass it, put it up for roll. However it's common courtesy and strongly encouraged that you put an item up for roll if you're not going to use it yourself.

How Do I See My Timer? /quest will let you see your active raid timers. /quest completions will let you see how close you are to a 20th.

Why Do I Care About A 20th? On your 20th completion (or multiple of 20) of a raid quest, your quest rewards are replaced with a special set. This set is comprised of a randomly generated list of about half the available raid items from that raid. For Hound/VoD this list is so small as to be more like 95%. For the Shroud you get a choice of tomes. +2 by default, possibility of being +3. You can also chose a Cleansing Essence from a Shroud 20th list, which removes the Taint on a Greensteel Accessory allowing you to wear more than one at a time without taking damage.

DemonMage fucked around with this message at 23:00 on Aug 20, 2013

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Still working out the kinks in the build guidelines in the OP, so feel free to suggest alternative routes people could take here especially on the first page where people will find them. I'll get around to adding the Artificer/Druid ones soon and tweaking the existing ones in the near future, and try and keep them mostly up to date if any major changes invalidate them or whatever.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...

Tsurupettan posted:

Also, any build suggestions for the new Iconics?

2 paladin, 18 sorc, going Shiradi. Gets you great saves and all the goodness of a Shiradi Sorc.
Sun-Elfs are probably best built as caster clerics.
Purple Dragon Knights are interesting because they can use their charisma for to-hit with some good weapons, but other than maybe doing a charisma focused fighter build for the hell of it, I'm not sure what to do with them. I guess maybe a fighter/paladin build might be interesting. [Edit] Oh yeah Bard/Fighter/Rogue someone mentioned in the thread is another great idea.
Shadar-Kai just seem to be a solid assassin rogue race, though the devs came up with a funny bear druid build.

Dev U19 builds, note that they're largely not power builds, but they're still some cool ideas.

RosaParksOfDip posted:

So, who the hell is actually going to spend 795 tp just to teleport between Eberron on the FR campaigns? That seems like a tremendous waste. If it was maybe 300 something TP I could see myself doing it just to save myself the 3-4 minute run every time, but it's hardly like you're constantly bouncing between content from the two worlds.

It's apparently free for VIPs on the bright side! But yeah I mean the key to teleport you to Forgotten Realms takes care of most of this, it's an extremely minor convenience feature at best.

DemonMage fucked around with this message at 21:55 on Aug 19, 2013

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Yeah, Iconics are supposed to have it for free.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...


So the new Arcane Archer is pretty fun. That was with Bow of Sinew + Overwhelming Critical on a 20 with Adrenalized Arrow of Slaying. With Manyshot going it's theoretically possible to generate 4 of those once per manyshot, but pretty loving unlikely. Be fun to see my numbers in general when I get Pinion back again.

They're just plain fun in general though, a lot more active with Inferno/True Strike/Slaying shots and you've got the ability to make your arrows one of: All physical damage types, all alignments, all metals. As well as access to elemental imbues with their own fun on-crit debuffs.

DemonMage fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Aug 19, 2013

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Yeah, I'm only 21 on this life so far, so I don't have access to Elven Arcane Archer Core 4 (22) or Core 5 (25) yet, which you can only stance-dance with Core 5. I'm not really sure I want to bother with that given all the other crap I'm already keeping track of, but it's a cool option to have!

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
I gained like 30-50 on my Monkcher. Went from 20 to 50ish and it seems to go up to 70ish sometimes. Maybe my Kensai battle meditation was that? Should increase my implement bonus. When I was on the test server with my Pale Master awhile ago I gained about 30ish Negative and a lot of the spellpowers I didn't focus on. Plus they jacked spellcrit chance up (especially type-specific) and multi is pretty close to what it was before for most Wizard builds (aka 7/1/1 damage/chance/multi). So at least for all the builds I've done so far, I feel pretty happy with the changes even without touching class distribution. And I was able to swap Mental Toughness for Ten Thousand Stars so I didn't really lose anything with that becoming a feat now either.

And yeah Monkchers have been viable every since last expansion really. It's (was?) better to do TWF until you hit 14 and get the Bow of Sinew (or Abbot bow but gently caress that), it's possible with the new changes that you can do straight bow from the start. It also seems like pure ranger arcane archers might actually be more viable now as well, or even Deepwood Snipers. So that's cool.

I was 21 on my Monkcher (12 monk/6 ranger/2 fighter) prepatch, but I might go Archer for my Ranger life too and try it as pure(ish). My biggest problem with archers in general is their lack of AE damage. Your single target damage is anywhere from good-great, but your multi-target damage is crap without Improved Precise Shot, and working IPS is annoying for more than 2-3 targets, and even that can be annoying if you're not solo since it can gently caress with other people trying to kill the thing.

Noricae posted:

And racial toughness not there on humans! Bah.

This doesn't exist anymore. You get free +5 (10?) hp at 5/10/15 levels in a class to account for it's removal. I actually gained hp with the patch.

This also has the side effect of making Toughness far less of a required feat as long as you have any other useful options to take (hooray BAB/caster level requirements), which is a good thing.

[Edit] Also totally agree with the caster level capstone for Artificers thing, it should really just be a baseline auto-grant at 20 Artificer instead of an enhancement thing.

DemonMage fucked around with this message at 04:02 on Aug 20, 2013

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
12 ranger/6 monk/2 fighter fits that just fine! 6 monk is enough to get Ten Thousand Star (6 monk + 13 dex is the feat requirement), and you don't really need much outside of the Arcane Archer tree. Though you'd probably still want to do it via half-elf enhancements rather than the Ranger ARcane Archer tree, just so you can eventually take Shadow Arrows and Master of Imbuement.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Not really no, they have a pet, but they're pretty unimpressive especially later on. They're basically free damage from early-mid levels, most people I know don't even bother summoning the pets later on, they're either too flimsy or too slow to keep up with how fast you tend to move.

----

11 Ranger/6 Monk/2 Fighter (+1 in any of those):

Str - 16, Dex - 13, Con - 14, Int - 9, Wis - 16, Charisma - 8, level ups in Wisdom

Ranger level skills: Concentration, Heal, Search, Spot, UMD
Monk level skills: Concentration, Spot, UMD (take 1 tumble here too if you want)
Fighter level skills: ??

Feats:
1R: Favored Enemy Undead
1H: Cleric Dilettante (Rogue at cap if you feel your healing is fine with just Cocoon and casted CMW)
1: Precision
3: Point Blank Shot
5R: Evil Outsider
6: Zen Archery
9: Empower Healing Spell
12: IC: Ranged
12M: Dodge
13M: Toughness
14M: Light Path (Since it doesn't look like you need dark for taking invis+incorparability in Ninja Spy now)
15: Quicken
17M: Lightning Reflexes
18F: Mobility
18: Ten Thousand Stars
19F: Shot on the Run

Can also try looking at this for ideas.

DemonMage fucked around with this message at 06:00 on Aug 20, 2013

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
It takes 8 fighter and is in tier 5 Kensai let's you stay centered with a focus weapon.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
60ish was only fail on a 1 in Epic Elite at 25. So 65-70 sounds about right for 28. It's basically limited to paladin splash for all saves that high, a Barb might be able to get Fort that high, but in general it's gonna take paladin levels and/or destiny twists to a specific save. There's also the new level 27 feats that give +2 to a save and you can't fail on a 1 anymore.

And at level 28 stat items go up to +11, resist items go up to at least +8 (augments are that high). [Edit] Resistance +10 is available on one named item, +9 on two others.

Ideally you'd be switching to two-handed fighting as a Bard and using Breach or Cleaver with Epic Elemental Greataxe of Fire or Epic Antique Greataxe if you have one laying around as an interim weapon [Edit] or a Stout Oak Walking Stick if you don't have those. If you want to stay TWF though you can grab a pair of Oathblades until you can get a pair of Celestia from Caught in the Web. You can try finding a good Holy of Bloodletting khopesh or something if you really want to stick with them, but it's probably best to drop the feat.

[Edit] Also AC is worth shooting for pre-20, post 20 it's not that hard to get a usable number in Epic Hard, but if you're aiming for Epic Elite it's not worth focusing on AC, and EH is easy enough that I wouldn't devote a ton of slots to it.

DemonMage fucked around with this message at 19:53 on Aug 21, 2013

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Disintegrations in EE are the big thing where failing a fort save sucks. Especially as a lower hitdie class, taking 500+ damage on a failed save means you have to hope you're not down too far when that happens. Outside of Epic Gianthold I don't remember that being an issue ever really though, but I haven't touched the brand new stuff.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...

Tsurupettan posted:

God all these enhancements look (well, aside from FVS) fantastic and interesting. I don't get how pubbies could cry and whine on the forums. Looking at Barb enhancements now, I don't even know what I want to do. They all look good and fun.


Even the FvS ones are pretty awesome as long as you're a caster. There's just no good melee FvS tree yet, which is fair since they're pretty lackluster since MotU. But it's mostly about being new and different and making pure builds not quite as appealing as multiclass builds. Also the fact that they might have had to use their free LR+20 to make their character viable again in certain extremely niche situations. Which is all pretty dumb, and multiclass builds being more appealing is good because it leads to more build diversity, pure builds are pretty boring.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Well I get you didn't like character building before, but you're not really clear on why you didn't like it. What was awkward/ungainly? The UI? The mechanics? What part of the mechanics? I mean it's still using the same mechanics at the core. D&D style leveling up, so no mob grinding, not a lot of actual levels, feats, etc. Enhancements got a prettier UI and an overhaul of what each ability does, but it's still the same basic mechanic as before. Epic Destinies give you some good (albeit not unlimited) end game character advance, and added lots of new abilities that are pretty cool, but they're basically Enhancements for Epic Levels mechanically.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
All the level 27 epic save feats do that, as do most/all of the destiny abilities to boost saves at tier 3.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Wizard is probably your best bet. You don't really need Past Lives to use Shiradi, using DC spells without good gear and past lives can be lovely even in EH, let alone EE however. Pick up Magic Missile and ideally Chain Missile too in Archmage at least, and then get your Pale Master stuff taken care. Though honestly EE isn't that big of a deal anyways, it's nice to be able to build yourself up to take it on, but for the most part the drops are only marginally better than EH, so it's not a huge deal if you just stick to EH.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
You're not making a choice between AM and Pale Master anymore, you want to get things from both trees. But the Tier 5 Archmage enhancements don't seem worth investing in over the Tier 5 Pale Master enhancements.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Rare Scroll List.

And yeah pure is probably better, you don't need evasion in EH and even with Insightful Reflexes getting your saves high enough to be no fail(ish) in EE is a huge pain in the rear end. I guess being able to do traps is kind of cool, I have no idea how common they are in the new stuff.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...

KittyEmpress posted:

Do druids get the cool shapeshifting they get in everything else? And are monks still granting +wis to ac? And if both of these are true can I turn into a bear with wisdom ac?

Yes they get shapeshifting, no it's not as cool as NWN and such. Monks do get +wis to AC. You can totally do a bear with wisdom to AC, but bears are underpowered right now it'd still work okay. There's even a funny shadar-kai bear build the devs made in the link I posted earlier. But the four forms a druid can take are Bear for tanking (ostensibly), wolf for DPS (heavy sneak attack based, centered+handwraps is really useful to keep your base damage up in epic levels), water and fire elemental forms (primarily for casting though there are some two-handed melee builds based around them).



There's my current hotkey setup. I've got a non visible bar filled with stuff I rarely use (Stealth, Search, Eveningstar Key, etc) but like to have access to easily. I limit myself to those bars on every life, so far I haven't had to go past that, but it's rare I can't manage to find enough clicks/potions/scrolls/abilities to fill them up.

Brownview posted:

Are you suggesting a ranged artificer like that dubbel o'seven build that's floating around, or a 32pt melee artificer like the juggernaut? If the latter, hook a goon up. :)

Ranged probably. Juggernaut really doesn't shine if you don't have good weapons to back it up, it starts to feel anemic like most hybrid DPS characters in the late teens, if you've already got leveled destinies then at 20 you jump back up in power. But if you don't have good weapons, or leveled destinies, you're going to feel pretty weak. Especially since you're stuck starting with an Arcane sphere destiny as an Artificer build.

Woden posted:

Forgot to edit out the random peoples names

Also there's barely any reason to do this on the official forums, let alone here.

Brownview posted:

Looking at the "builds for new players" link, what would you say is an easy and fun first life character? I played very briefly years ago but never made it past level 7. I'd be interested in something that doesn't hit much of a difficulty curve at any level.

Human Wizard is really your best bet here. You can play with all the various Wizard/Sorcerer spells, with all the various changes to the game it should be pretty easy to blow through the game (as usual I don't recommend going past hard especially solo first time). You've got great self healing from level 7 on with Zombie and Death Aura, and there's Cure Serious Wounds potions in the guild chest to make life easy until then.

DemonMage fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Aug 22, 2013

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
It's hard to recommend much without a good planner to use in front of me, but I don't find the improved metamagics to be worthwhile, this is even more true post 20 where shrines are pretty common (largely due to being balanced around EE). Also you could ditch the Fire Shield SLA if you need to free up a point (or two?), it's not that hard to scroll or slot when you truly need it (which is no where really in MotU era content). I'd also consider getting the spellpower action boost and the enhancements that let it give +5 intelligence when used.

On the bright side, looks like the new planner version is coming along nicely, ETA is about a week.

quote:

Garix has been feverishly inputting tree data (a very very tedious process, we're up to nearly 9000 lines of text, and only about a third through the trees at this point). He's done most of the trees we have so far (Dragon and I have helped, but he's done the majority of that work).

:bang: Wish Turbine would provide stuff like enhancement/destiny info in a json file or something. I get DDO wasn't designed with web hooks in mind, but it would have been nice if MyDDO was expanded in usability some instead of being shuttered.

DemonMage fucked around with this message at 00:13 on Aug 23, 2013

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
That looks good. It's probable it was changed from +5 to +3 since the last I looked at it. Also keep in mind that Necrotic Ray (with no metas) is a great filler spell and does tons of damage on green named EH/EE guys (which you can't instakill), especially on EE it's worth chucking energy drain and/or enervation at them a few times with Necrotic Ray's between them to get their hp down to a comfortable level for blasting.

Important thing to keep in mind with enhancements is that you're not locked in for 3 days anymore, it's just got a scaling plat cost. Which can get pretty expensive I suppose, but at least you're not forced to live with your choices without paying astral shards.


mfny posted:

When using the iconics with their preset paths all I have to manage manually is Enhancements I assume, skills,feats and stats are all taken care of for me based on the path as I level ?

Also, when did they change all the music, its a bit different to the usual fantasy stuff now, especially in taven.

And yeah that sounds correct, I don't believe it does enhancements as well. And I don't believe there were any global music changes, I think FR taverns have different music than Eberron ones, but I don't pay a ton of attention to the music. It's actually pretty good, I just usually have my music going and/or am too busy talking to really hear the game music.

[Edit] Also on an unrelated note, it looks like Combat Archery was finally fixed to provide the +1[W] it's supposed to with U19.

DemonMage fucked around with this message at 00:41 on Aug 23, 2013

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
The only thing iconic heroes require is to take 1 level of the class they're based on. After that you can build them however you like.

A bard/fighter/rogue PDK would probably be pretty cool, or a Paladin or maybe FvS/Cleric too.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...

Woden posted:

Just completed a True Elite saga, the rewards are kinda crappy. Choice between 4 +3 random skill tomes, 134k xp(that apparently goes away if you relog), 15k guild renown and an impressive trophy.

Yeah they're mostly a way to get skill tomes into the game without making them a super rare drop like stat tomes, at least with the current two. And then the experience/renown are there incase you already have a full set of tomes.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Actually they're given to monks for free rather than requiring points. You can just take them as feats even with one level of monk as an option. It was a straight buff.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
What's your issue with Ron's? Did you post about it in the thread?

I started working on a gear planner once, but I'm way too lazy to finish it instead of working on something more fun =-( Though if you can get Ron's working, it supports adding items to your character so you can prolly use it to mess around with stuff.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Pretty sure it had no hooks, everyone who made tools based off it was just doing so with scraping from what I can remember. Which is what I was saying earlier, it'd be nice if they at least provided JSON files or something, if not just upgraded MyDDO instead of ditching it =-(

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
I can prolly do husks and petals but the rest not so much, I'll look later/tomorrow and send what I can.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Yeah if you've got the important destinies maxed out, let alone all of them, epic levels feel a little barren advancement wise. Limiting the new epic feats, which are a little more interesting, to level 27 only was a mistake. Beyond the class specific epic feats, the only old ones that are interesting are Overwhelming Critical and Combat Archery, casters don't have anything interesting to take. Even with the level 27 feats included, caster feats are still pretty dull. Ruin is sort of neat but since metamagic increases the SP cost normally it gets expensive fast. I guess you'd be able to take all 3 epic save feats if they let you take them at 21, but I don't see a problem with that. You're giving up all other epic feats and still need the saves to back it up. The epic destiny feats are largely well done at least, barring DC problems in EE and a few "What were they thinking" feats (looking at you First Blood).

Though the levels do come fast at least, and hopefully epic TRing won't be following the model of heroic TRing given that they've continually been trying to reduce the grind of heroic TRing. And I'm glad they let you have full access to your destinies as soon as you hit 20, it does make actual questing a lot of fun when you hit 20 and get some cool epic gear and throw on Fury of the Wild or Shiradi 5 and get to wreck poo poo.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Clerics get Positive Energy Aura, but its a tier 5 enhancement and therefore requires character level 12 before you can take it.
Monk's get Healing Curse which isn't nearly as good but is vaguely similar, reactive heal when you strike a creature.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
They're mostly looking for more passive healing options though, of which there isn't much besides Positive Aura/Death Aura PMs/Reconstruct Aura Artificer that I can think of. Which isn't too surprising since DDO tries to be more active than passive in general, but it is drat nice having an Aura.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
They added that one back since people bitched it was removed =-p

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...

Woden posted:

As for Restless Isles, tried to do an at level Titan elite the other day where the boss was immune to the laser and when we dropped a pillar 2 would drop at once.

This has happened regularly since the raid went into the game. It's a big part of why it's never really been a popular raid.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Barbarians are by far the hardest one to make survivable. Cocoon from epic destinies can help a decent amount, but there's not a whole lot you can do when Rage locks out a lot of your good healing options. Silver Flame potions work but are expensive and mildly annoying to unlock. That's why lots of people are planning to use their free +20 heart to LR into a barbarian and then TR so you can completely skip that life.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Yeah I've heard of it a few times and Haggis has been in a group or two with people abusing it, but I've never been able to find out how it's done.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
I really wish I'd gotten a Sireth =-( Neither Valisti nor I managed to get one, she's got two Celestia at least though. I don't know if I can stomach grinding out CitW for one either. They're super neat, and it's good there's more viable uses for them now. I imagine a Cleaver/Breach with a centered build would be pretty drat solid too. What are you using for twists? Cocoon, Dance with Flowers and Meld Into Darkness?

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Breach got upgraded a long time ago, it's basically the same thing as Cleaver now, especially if you're not in Dreadnaught (which is a huge pain in the rear end to use if you're not solo).

Breach: 2.5[2d6], 30%/x2, +7, 2d6 sonic (->3d6), disintegration proc, 6% doublestrike, shatter +10
Cleaver: 2.5[2d8], 10%/x3, +7, 2d8 bleed (->3d8), limb chopper proc, 6% doublestrike, improved cursespewing

So you lose 2 base damage, 2-3 special damage, have a damage instead of a CC proc. Not really sure how much damage improved cursespewing adds, I'd imagine it doesn't keep up very easily with only on-vorpal application.

I'm not sure what kind of new trinkets you can get with the expansion that are worth giving up 4 hit/damage and especially 15 PRR, that's a ton of damage mitigation to give up. But if you can actually take advantage of Dreadnaught then Cleaver takes a step ahead due to Headsman's Chop. Breach also has the aesthetic advantage =-p

[Edit] Also if you don't have an ESoS already it's not remotely worth getting, so it's barely worth even considering. Too much effort for something that's barely more damage than CitW under the best circumstances and gives up a pretty substantial chunk of survivability. It's cool for levels 20-23, but eh I'd rather just use an Epic Antique Greataxe or Epic Greataxe of Fire than farm for an ESoS these days.

DemonMage fucked around with this message at 10:56 on Sep 9, 2013

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
Least I heard Ghallanda is the only server to have less people on it than it did pre-expansion, and it's always been one of the more dead ones. That and Wayfinder, which is a newer server and has an experience bonus. Argo has always been one of the more populated ones. It's 3am now and there's 9 LFMs up, which is on the lower side but it's also 3am.

That said I have no experience doing the random LFM thing outside of raids really. We always duo and then any guildmates who want to join are welcome to, it's been years since we've bothered to do a non-raid LFM.

DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...

Noricae posted:

edit: Everyone wants to run elite in the LFM list. Whether or not they can handle it (usually not).

Yeah I love seeing this in the LFM. Quest two levels above their level on Elite, in progress, but oh we need a healer and tank! Adventure Active: 75 minutes. For Deleras 2 (or whatever).

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DemonMage
Oct 14, 2004



What happens in the course of duty is up to you...
They should really make twists at level 1 a feature, not a bug =-( Daggers, Cocoon and Fey Form are pretty hilarious. Some of the other ones would still be pretty awesome, just not super overpowered since they scale off Character level. Then again I'm all for overpowering the game with poo poo you've earned (remove MLs for BTC poo poo in particular).

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