Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 28, 2024, 01:38:12 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Search:     Advanced search
we're back, baby
*
Home Help Search Login Register
f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  The Gaming Graveyard  |  Dungeons & Dragon Online  |  Topic: It finally happened; i capped a character 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Pages: [1] Go Down Print
Author Topic: It finally happened; i capped a character  (Read 10378 times)
Xilren's Twin
Moderator
Posts: 1648


on: March 25, 2009, 10:10:48 AM

Shockingly, it finally happened; i got my casual playing butt to max level (16 currently) on my Wizard/Rogue.  I probably only play like 10 hours a week (usually less)and the rate of progress never really hit a slump; no hell levels.  I even managed to collect enough high level crafting stuff along the way i may actualy dabble in that to make me some Dragon Touched robes and a Green Steel item.

There was no doubt that when the game launched there wasnt enough content; now, im finding I have so many quests I havent touched at all its quite the change.  When i check the master quest log in game, it looks like ive only done about half.  One of my decisions when playing now is do i want to keep doing the high level stuff i have not done to get more crafting stuff, or go back to do lower quests i skipped to gain favor points to progress towards unlocking 32 point character builds.  Sometimes its fun just to take a high level guy through a lowbie quest on elite to goof around; you get no XP but the favor still counts.  If im on and dont feel like doing much i will do loot runs in some of the adventure areas, looking for named spawns (they always have chests).  Since they are still instanced areas you can clear sections, recall out to get more mana, and come back in to continue with no respawn worries.  As long as you are not outside of an instance for more than 5 minutes, they dont reset.

Things I still like: random loot.  You never know what you'll pull from a chest.  One of my "problems" is i have found so much good stuff i dont want to sell i am running out of both bank and inventory space.  I even made a ranger and fighter character just to have someone to use the stuff i keep getting (they are levels 6 and 5 at the moment).

Multiclassing: with just the two levels of rogue i took, having kept putting skill points into Disable Device, Open Lock, Search and UMD, and with appropriate gear and buffs, i can still function as the party rogue when needed. The more builds i see, the more i just love the flexibility of the character creation system.  For the last 5 levels my wizard has been wearing +4 Twighlight Mithiral Chain which due to an enhancement i took, only gives my a 5% arcane spell failure rate for a decent AC. And one of my favorite giant killing moves when soloing is to flesh to stone the giant, then switch to my light weapons and beat the fool outta it (stoned mobs are automatically critical hit).  Hell, I flesh to stone a lot of mobs period, which brings me too...

Spells.  Since the Hit point numbers are not completely ridiculous (i have 150, a tank might have 450) for characters and monsters, there are lots of instant kill type spells or damaging spells that give noticable impact.  Rather than other games where you are just spamming damage spell after damage spell all in one fight, you can use spells more intelligently to maximize your limited resources.  One shot kills ranger from Stone to Flesh, Finger of Death, Banishment, Phatasmal Killer, Slay Living, Trap the Soul, Undead to Death, etc to crowd control like Dancing Ball, Acid Fog, Solid Fog, Cloudkill, Web (still using!), plus charms, holds, paralyzers, and tons of buffs and debuffs.  That doesnt even include all the normal damage spells like Freezing Sphere, Cone of Cold, Delayed Blast Fireball, Disintergrate, Force Missles etc.  When using your metamagic feats like Maximize or Empower spell, sick damage.  I also like that you have to pick and choose which to memorize for any given quest.  Situational spells can make a huge difference.

Quests: have done some pretty cool quests in the teen levels.  In one area called the Vale of Meridia there two quests named Running with the Devils and Rainbow in the Dark (sounds like someone grew up with my musical background).  In rainbow in the dark, the whole quest area is pitch black except for a Magic staff you get at the beginning that acts as a light source with a limited radius.  Was a very different experience.  Below is a screen shot of a pit filled with sharp spears you have to traverse while unde these light conditions.



Other quests make good use of the 3rd dimension: height.  Did one where we had to feather falling down a hugh opening (took like 2 minutes just to get the bottom), and once we got there, had make our back up.  Jumping as a character skill (plus the twitch element) was very important.  Below is a screen shot not of that quest, because it was rather dark, but of me jumping off an airship to drop down to an underwater crevasse that leads to a high level area. It was higher than this.



Man these posts always get long on me.

So when you get bored, try Turbine's red headed step child.  You might like it.

PS Undead Beholders are a world of hurt
« Last Edit: March 25, 2009, 10:13:20 AM by Xilren's Twin »

"..but I'm by no means normal." - Schild
Lantyssa
Terracotta Army
Posts: 20848


Reply #1 on: March 25, 2009, 10:23:08 AM

Can I solo to the cap without wanting to kill myself, or are groups still very helpful to enjoying the game's content?

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
Ashamanchill
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2274


Reply #2 on: March 25, 2009, 10:44:47 AM

Hows the soloability?  I remember you were big on that.  That was one thing I liked about this game, solo life was a challenge, but possible for the most part.  I cancelled a little while ago but am looking for a reason to resub.

A poster signed by Richard Garriot, Brad McQuaid, Marc Jacobs and SmerricK Dart.  Of course it would arrive a couple years late, missing letters and a picture but it would be epic none the less. -Tmon
Xilren's Twin
Moderator
Posts: 1648


Reply #3 on: March 25, 2009, 07:22:30 PM

Can I solo to the cap without wanting to kill myself, or are groups still very helpful to enjoying the game's content?

I'll give soloing to the cap a conditional yes.  You can do it, but post level 10 the solo game does change.  Most players solo strictly in outdoor areas doing the 3 static quests there: slayer, explorer and rare encounters.  You can rack up good XP for doing those, but only slayer is repeatable in increasing increments.  Example, you start off needing kill 10, then 25, then 50, then 100, then 200 etc and at mark you get an increasing amount of XP but its the closest thing to grinding in DDO.  I actually finished the last 15K or so of level 15 this way.  Many players do "loot runs" through outdoor areas even in groups, where they make a circut of all rare spawn points killing the ones they find for the chests.  The nice thing about that is you are building your kill counts as you do that.

But i dont find that nearly as enjoyable as doing quests.  Personally, i get in groups so easy in the teens i havent needed to solo b/c i enjoy doing new quests more than soloing (b/c I tend to only solo a quest i had done at least once post level 10; they just get brutal with traps, ambushes and puzzles that often require more than 1 person).
If I only wanted to solo quest with a hireling post level 10, i would probably do it 1-2 levels down.

So it's doable, but grouping is still preferred. For me I play levels 1-8 as solo heavy, 8-12 less so, and 12-16 very much less so.  My level 6 ranger and 5 fighter that im working on have almost exclusively solo'd so far.


But it also depends heavily on how you built your character and your playstyle, and your available gear.

Oddly enough, Wizards and Sorcs can solo quest probably better than anyone b/c of all the spell choices I mentioned.  For example one tactic you can use would be to buff up with extended Blur, Jump, Displacement and Stoneskin, haste yourself, then run around grabbing aggro and pulling mobs to a common area where you can drop maximized extended firewalls and Acid clouds on them, then just run em in circles through it.   Works very well on undead since they take increased damage from firewall.  It's a little cheesy, but it works.  Other times, if you have rogue skills and gear, you could sneak through the bulk of a quest, avoiding mobs or charming mobs and setting them on each other while you run past.  It just depends on the objective of the quest; you don't have to klill everything in most quests so you can just avoid a lot fighting.  Very low equipment needed b/c your spells do it all.

Clerics, if built right can also solo very well; they too have very decent buffs and offensive spells plus heavy armor and shields.  In the above example, replace Firewall and Acid Fog with Blade Barrier and can throw in blocking inside the raidius of the spell

Other characters like Ftrs/Barbs/Paladins/Monks/Rogues/Bards can solo too, but they have to rely much more on consumables such as haste, barkskin, and cure/heal potions, plus things like Heal scrolls or wands of stoneskin/shield they can use with UMD.  They also do well matching gear to quests, so again if you are doing undead quests, having a disrupting weapon makes a HUGE difference.  However, since most players above level 10 have a ton of cash, thats not a problem.  I have right about 1 million gold at the moment after buying some upgraded equipment at level 16.  Doing loot runs on teen level chests drop gear that can be sold for 1-10k gold per shot, so it adds up quickly.

The other thing to keep in mind about soloing is time; it will take longer to solo a quest to completion than as a group, no question.  And some of the quests are very long even in a group.  If a quests says "very long" in the description, you're probably looking at 45 mins to 1 hour grouped: solo you might take 2 hours plus.
That more than anything else is my main issue; i just dont have they time needed to do that at the higher levels. 

And it can be friustrating to spend 45 minutes soloing a quest only to fail a save near the end and die since you get 0 xp unless you complete the whole thing.  Some people love the challenge and the board often have brag posts of characters putting up pictures of them soloing some hard quest in X minutes.  These are not new players.

The other thing which is prevalent in DDO that surprised me is lots of Perma Death guilds.  Wide variety of these, but the basic premise of most is you make a character and will delete them if they wipe in a dungeon and no one can get to a shrine.  Such guilds tend to play carefully and slowly in quests, dont twink, dont use the auction house etc which suits some players just fine.  On the whole the community is generally helpful and inclusive to new players.  You will see LFM groups with comments such as "fast run, know your way, be self sufficent"  or "no newbs/kids" but that is not the rule.  When in doubt, throw up a LFM quest notice yourself and even if you just get 1 or 2 more players to join you, often thats enough.

Hope that helps.

"..but I'm by no means normal." - Schild
Lantyssa
Terracotta Army
Posts: 20848


Reply #4 on: March 26, 2009, 08:18:00 AM

It's something to keep in mind, but I don't do PUGs.  I don't tend to group at all unless I know someone really well, or someone I kind of know invites me.  So soloability is important to me.

Thanks.

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
Ashamanchill
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2274


Reply #5 on: March 26, 2009, 11:18:16 AM

Are pally builds still unloved and denied groups if no one else can be found?  I had four levels of pally, two of fighter (i know not the best build, but it was my first toon and I was working more on what the character would be like, pnp style, than getting the ultimate build down), and I was denied groups alot.

A poster signed by Richard Garriot, Brad McQuaid, Marc Jacobs and SmerricK Dart.  Of course it would arrive a couple years late, missing letters and a picture but it would be epic none the less. -Tmon
Ard
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1887


Reply #6 on: March 26, 2009, 01:47:30 PM

Are pally builds still unloved and denied groups if no one else can be found?  I had four levels of pally, two of fighter (i know not the best build, but it was my first toon and I was working more on what the character would be like, pnp style, than getting the ultimate build down), and I was denied groups alot.

Did something change since launch regarding this?  I was playing a paladin then, and it seemed popular at the time to splash a level or two of paladin into CHR heavy class builds for the save bonuses and whatnot, or Sorcerer into a Paladin build for wand use.  I don't remember hearing anyone complain about being blocked from groups back then.
Xilren's Twin
Moderator
Posts: 1648


Reply #7 on: March 26, 2009, 05:25:25 PM

Are pally builds still unloved and denied groups if no one else can be found?  I had four levels of pally, two of fighter (i know not the best build, but it was my first toon and I was working more on what the character would be like, pnp style, than getting the ultimate build down), and I was denied groups alot.

I havent seen any of that.  Pally's seem be doing just fine; i think they got some enhancement love.  I see Two handed Pallys, two weapon pallys and splash build pallys all the time.

"..but I'm by no means normal." - Schild
Pages: [1] Go Up Print 
f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  The Gaming Graveyard  |  Dungeons & Dragon Online  |  Topic: It finally happened; i capped a character  
Jump to:  

Powered by SMF 1.1.10 | SMF © 2006-2009, Simple Machines LLC