Order of the Playground - The GITP guild in DDO

[Whammydill]

So the Dungeons and Dragons Online guild is up and running. I'm heading up the guild with a Warforged Favored Soul, I've always wanted to try that combo. I named him Deficient, hopefully his name doesn't doom him.

If it pleases the mods, I'd like to use this thread to keep the playground updated with guild milestones and events; any non-guild related DDO discussion should be kept to the other thread.

Anyone who plays DDO and is a playgrounder can join us, we are on the Thelanis server. Just mention you are a playgrounder! You can also get with TedEBearNC's character Zenkaido for an invite as well. As soon as we get guild level 5. I will be able to mail out invites in-game. Untill then catch us in game, after that I can check here for invite requests.

I'll also try to post some helpful links here in this first post for players to reference.

MILESTONES:
9/9/10 Guild Created
9/11/10 Guild level 5 attained: Guild invites by mail possible! Remember the fallen!

LINKS:
Robi's Free-to-play Guide. An excellent resource for utilizing quests to gain favor and get stuff from the DDO store without spending a dime!
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=198865

[dromer]

Sign me up, name is Dromerr.

[T.G. Oskar]

As I posted on the other DDO thread, here's a list of who's who in Thelanis and other servers (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=9059664&postcount=23). This should help whenever the time comes to send guild invites. It's also moderately updated, and it can also be used as a format to determine progress within the game and the guild.

So, as I mentioned before...would that make me at least an officer since I did all that effort for something meaningful? I'll update with the new info as it comes.

[Whammydill]

I had forgot about that, thanks. It's a good resource. I don't have a problem with you beign an officer; it never hurts to have help.

For those interested in joining I'm usually on in the afternoons EST, unless I have something else going on.

[T.G. Oskar]

Guild mail invitations now open!

I got the guild to level 5 about 3 or 4 minutes ago, trying to level up my Paladin to level 6 (and thus, getting Defender of Siberys). Just in case you wish to add to the milestones, Whammy :P

So, now that the list is ready, I presume everyone that's currently playing should be getting the invitation shortly enough?

[Whammydill]

Outstanding!

I will be going through the list of folks on Thelanis and mailing them invites, if they want in they can just accept, no biggie.

[king.com]

Can i get an invite to the guild?

Character name = Martihu Hersi

[T.G. Oskar]

Can i get an invite to the guild?

Character name = Martihu Hersi

Hmm...odd, you haven't gotten an invite? Lemme see if we can fix that. Though I still haven't been able to work with the mail system (I presume it has to use the first name exclusively, since I tried with both names and no response).

That should also help me update the table to represent any changes. I see a good bit of rogue multiclasses, oddly enough.

[Fri]

I'm still in vacation and can't login until at least next week, but can you invite Komun Seinz?

[Whammydill]

I will send invites out today if an officer hasn't already.

[Foeofthelance]

If someone wouldn't mind inviting Dinarka Godhand? I just started a dwarven paladin for tankishness.

[Sindriss]

How many people are actually in the guild? I am playing on another server unfortunately, but I might make a character on the server if I can find nice people to game with. Been playing it for some time on and off so I know a bit about the game.

[Crow]

Hey send an invite to Warcaller. He's a bardarian 4/1.

[Terry576]

I might keep playing until Forever Realms out. It should be fun.

Sign me up, Kaitoi, on Thelanis.

[Sindriss]

feel free to mail invite to bjorning

[Daremonai]

Any chance I might get an invite? Yettic, currently Ranger1/Wiz2

[Eldan]

Ah, nice to hear. Now I actually might give this a try...

[Shyftir]

I'm currently updating the game, as I type.

Not sure what race/class combo I'll be shooting for.

[Eldan]

I'll certainly be a spellcaster. I'll have to decide between Sorcerer and Wizard, though.

[Eldan]

Okay, now. Downloading this as we speak.

A question, however. Assuming that:

A) I don't want to pay any money for this, since neither do I have a credit card, nor are the turbine point cards sold in this country

B) I don't intend to do make a character on every server or grind special quests for more turbine points

How much content is there in the game for free? Enough to really play? Because I've heard a lot of different things about this.

[T.G. Oskar]

Okay, now. Downloading this as we speak.

A question, however. Assuming that:

A) I don't want to pay any money for this, since neither do I have a credit card, nor are the turbine point cards sold in this country

B) I don't intend to do make a character on every server or grind special quests for more turbine points

How much content is there in the game for free? Enough to really play? Because I've heard a lot of different things about this.

In terms of percentages, you could say:
You have roughly 66% of all races (Human, Dwarf, Elf and Halfling are free, Drow and Warforged are not), but you can reach up to 73% since your first reward for total favor is unlocking the Drow on your server.

You have around 77% of all classes currently in-game (Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer and Wizard are free, while Monk and Favored Soul are not; Druid has not yet been implemented, nor Artificer). Technically, you can unlock Favored Soul via favor, but you can only reach a total of 1,001 favor points via free content.

The amount of free missions over paid missions, IIRC, exceeds more than half the total quests (I'd estimate about a 56% of all quests), and you can easily reach level 20 just by going on those quests. As an example: you can get good XP by going Normal, then Hard, then Elite difficulty on quests roughly 2 EL behind your own level; thus, you can gain XP as a, say, 7th level character by getting on Normal quests with a minimum level of 5th. The highest, IIRC, level for a free play quest is level 18, so you might have a chance of getting high levels. Also consider that some of the open areas have Explorer (find rare places), Slayer (slay X amount of monsters) and Rare Encounters (think Notorious Monsters or rare monsters) which also grant an amount of XP.

You can get a reliable amount of money and items since the loot is roughly based on the tabletop treasure tables. Every now and then, encounter rewards will deal a pretty useful item (such as getting a +2 shield when you have loads of other +1 or equivalent price items). Haggle is essential, or at least high Charisma, an item of Command (+2 on all Charisma skills) and an item that grants a competence bonus to Haggle; however, you can post stuff in the Auction House and get some money out of it.

Finally, there are places you can unlock based on levels. Some are the side entrance of the Waterworks and the Inspired Quarter. Another is that you can check on the specials to see which packs you can buy with Turbine Points.

Now, as for the DDO store...playing casually, you *might* be capable of buying one or two Adventure Packs if you dedicate yourself to a single character, but most of the time you'll have no access to anything unless there's an insane special. Updates *may* change that (AFAIK, Update 3 gave a great boost to F2P gaming and people expect upcoming Update 7 to be the same, since Update 1 and Update 5 were mostly for VIPs and even-numbered Updates mostly introduce new adventure packs).

So yeah, you *can* reliably play F2P without much loss, but you really have to play with the system and know a bit about the game (not to mention play a lot) to get all the goodies. You might be capable of reaching Drow, if that's your catch, and the highest reward you can achieve via F2P is Veteran characters (you start at level 4 instead of level 1) with extreme effort. 32-point buy characters and other goodies are out of reach, not to mention most of the patrons' tier 1 benefits (Silver Flame, Agents of Argonessen, and one or two of the houses).

Ah, one more thing: if you have any questions about the game itself, check the official DDO thread right around here. I'll go and post all that I wrote here for the benefit of everyone: try and keep things related to the Guild in here (such as whether someone wants a day to have most if not all of the guildies online to do a raid or something).

[Eldan]

Made a dwarf wizard now, but it's getting too late... I'll start the actual game tomorrow.

[Cheesegear]

I'll get playing on the 24th.

Question; I'm a player from way back. Back when I had all the content. Do I have to pay money to play my Warforged characters? Do I still get to do dungeons that I've already done, etc.

How does re-starting an account work, in regards to content? :smallconfused:

[Shyftir]

my character name on Thelanis is Donovan Jabez, currently I'm a lvl 1 ranger but plan on going ranger/fighter.

[Eldan]

...

I forgot my character's name.

[Shyftir]

dur i misspelled the name and just now realized it

My character is Donoaven Jabez (I meant to go with Donovan but somehow...

anyway dwarven ranger 1/fighter 1, eventually going to add some rogue and do some crazy heavy armor + Repeating Heavy Crossbow silliness.

[Eldan]

Okay. Ready for my first game now...

Character's name is Galvar Zakharis, Dwarven Wizard.

[Eldan]

Okay... can someone help me here? Are the servers down or something?

Started the game, logged on, clicked on my character, started. He took five minutes to load, then the game crashed, said I had no connection. Now I can't even get on the logon server...

My connection is fine, it's on my firewall's exception list... what's up here?

Edit: an afternoon of fiddling around with port forwarding and firewall settings, I think I'm giving up. Have fun without me, then.

[MacGiolla]

Hey all, I just joined the guild, but due to school my playtime will be severely limited. I have a level 5 cleric named Rogare. Say hello if you see me online.

[king.com]

I'll get playing on the 24th.

Question; I'm a player from way back. Back when I had all the content. Do I have to pay money to play my Warforged characters? Do I still get to do dungeons that I've already done, etc.

How does re-starting an account work, in regards to content? :smallconfused:

Pay for Warforged. Premium account is re-starting, you get some things but not the dungeons.

[TedEBearNC]

I think the only thing you get is premium account status which allows you to make four characters per server instead of just two that F2P people are limited to. Drow, Warforged, Monk and Favored Soul have to be bought as well as a number of the dungeons.

[Sindriss]

You have to buy the WF is you want to use the characters. You cannot enter those instances, unless you buy the adventure packs or become premium member again.

If you subscribe to the game, you get everything, except 32p build.

[T.G. Oskar]

Official announcement!

Since about two days ago, Alterform's Ailora and Lorn's Splitbark have been ascended as officers. Any complaints, requests of change from the aforementioned people, or otherwise troubles with the promotions, please post here to consider.

...Did I sound too official this way? :P

[Fri]

Hey, shouldn't this actually merged with the main ddo thread? Anyway, I'm itching to play with you guys but I don't actually have the time to play this game until maybe the second half of october.... keep this guild alive until that time, will you?

[Cheesegear]

Anyway, I'm itching to play with you guys but I don't actually have the time to play this game until maybe the second half of october.... keep this guild alive until that time, will you?

This is seconded right here. I thought I would be playing sometime this week. I'm not. I'll be waiting a while longer. I'll see if I can get some character transfers in the meantime.

[T.G. Oskar]

Hey, shouldn't this actually merged with the main ddo thread?

I'd rather keep it separate so as to announce promotions, allow people to post recruitment requests, and decide what to do as a guild (such as reuniting to tackle an Extreme challenge or so). Cluttering that with the main DDO thread would force me to miss a bit on potential recruiting, even though both threads are pretty slow nowadays.

Though, mostly it's because instead of using the DDO thread for game-related questions and leave this thread clean for guild-related stuff, both are used for the same. Mind keeping any non-guild related stuff on the main DDO thread, please? A friendly advice, I hope.

[Terry576]

*Foundin' Members, Yo*

T.G. Oskar
Terry576
That one dude who was makin this hapen.

[Lorn]

Guild is now level 10.

(And Splitbark is now level 7...)

Anyone up for a guild Depths or Tear of Dhakaan run at some point?

[king.com]

Level 5 at the moment but ill get there to run with you :smallbiggrin:

[Timarvay]

Started playing on again after a decent break.

Could someone mail an invite to Felisius when it's convenient?

[Qwertystop]

Please invite me, character name: Onlee HuMann

I just started a minute ago, where do i pick up an invite when I get it?

[ghost_warlock]

Thought I'd give this game a shot. Not sure how much time I'm really going to be able to devote to it, but played for a few hours the other night and had a good time. :smallsmile:

My character's name is Valdekez Cyanblade (lvl 2 ranger). I'd appreciate an invite.

[Lorn]

Sending invites now.

Should appear in your ingame mailbox.

[Qwertystop]

Where do I check my mailbox?

[T.G. Oskar]

Where do I check my mailbox?

You must go to Stormreach in order to check your mailbox. Korthos Island has no mailbox to check (in order to prevent people from getting high-level items before finishing [or skipping] the Korthos storyline). Going to Stormreach means you skip the Korthos storyline (but you can still get all the items and return to finish the quests if you want), but you can get all the stuff from Stormreach if you desire. There's a mailbox virtually everywhere in Stormreach (the Harbor, the Marketplace, and each of the enclaves).

If you haven't finished the storyline, you shouldn't worry so much unless you take about a week or so. Finishing Korthos takes merely days (between a day or two depending on how quick you intend to finish it), so you should be capable of checking it on time.

Now...if you're already on Stormreach, the mailbox is near where the auctioneer is (you might check on the map; as it's presented, it's on the upper left area where there's a sort of very small scroll & quill icon; that's the mailbox there) on the Harbor, or near the bank on the Marketplace.

[ghost_warlock]

Finished the last quest in Korthos the other day and went to Stormreach to get my guild invite out of the mail tonight before work.

I'll probably go back to Korthos and redo a few quests for shiggles. A little irritated that I didn't get to, you know, actually fight the dragon but whatever. I took a couple pot-shots at it with my bow. :smalltongue:

[T.G. Oskar]

I'll probably go back to Korthos and redo a few quests for shiggles. A little irritated that I didn't get to, you know, actually fight the dragon but whatever. I took a couple pot-shots at it with my bow. :smalltongue:

Redoing quests is good for several things, the most important being raising favor. Favor is crucial because you get several benefits that way, mostly increased inventory, cheaper items and other similar things. If you're playing F2P (or Premium F2P), it's also the only way to unlock more about the game (by means of the 1/server bonus points and the 25 points per 100 favor points, which IMO is far too little to unlock anything, even if the intention is to make it cost-effective to actually spend some bucks on it instead of playing like a maniac on 14+ characters just to unlock more stuff.

[ghost_warlock]

Redoing quests is good for several things, the most important being raising favor. Favor is crucial because you get several benefits that way, mostly increased inventory, cheaper items and other similar things. If you're playing F2P (or Premium F2P), it's also the only way to unlock more about the game (by means of the 1/server bonus points and the 25 points per 100 favor points, which IMO is far too little to unlock anything, even if the intention is to make it cost-effective to actually spend some bucks on it instead of playing like a maniac on 14+ characters just to unlock more stuff.

Yeah, I like that I can redo quests; great for getting additional items, in case there's a couple quest rewards that I'm having difficulty choosing between.

I've only played one character so far, although I've created another on the server.

I really don't want to pay for anything, although knowing me I'll get irritated and spend money at some point if something I want is pay-only. First priority, there, though will probably be to get more RAM, since I'm playing on my netbook and it's certainly not constructed for gaming. :smalltongue:

[Qwertystop]

When does the guild get an airship?

[T.G. Oskar]

When does the guild get an airship?

Getting an airship will take some time, specially because of the guild's level. You can attempt to get one at guild level 25 or something (not very sure), but you need to buy the airship afterwards. And they're quite costly, though I'm not sure if everyone can provide money towards the cost of the airship.

Also, only the GP-costing airships may be bought, unless someone insists on providing Astral Diamonds for the more expensive ones (which can only be gained after guild level 40 or so).

So, for the time being...not in the present future, unless we start getting a lot of renown.

[Qwertystop]

Getting an airship will take some time, specially because of the guild's level. You can attempt to get one at guild level 25 or something (not very sure), but you need to buy the airship afterwards. And they're quite costly, though I'm not sure if everyone can provide money towards the cost of the airship.

Also, only the GP-costing airships may be bought, unless someone insists on providing Astral Diamonds for the more expensive ones (which can only be gained after guild level 40 or so).

So, for the time being...not in the present future, unless we start getting a lot of renown.

If we get a GP airship, can we get an Astral Diamond one when we unlock it?

I suggest that anyone who gets a quest reward and has an item that gives guild renown points as an option, and anything else on the list they would just take to sell, they should get the guild points. It's long-term profit! :smallbiggrin:

[Lorn]

If we get a GP airship, can we get an Astral Diamond one when we unlock it?

I suggest that anyone who gets a quest reward and has an item that gives guild renown points as an option, and anything else on the list they would just take to sell, they should get the guild points. It's long-term profit! :smallbiggrin:
Depending on the renown, it's what I do. Try running Tear of Dhakaan and just getting favour - easily about 2500 with the small guild bonus.

Also: I'm now in uni halls, and as such I will be very surprised if I can actually play for the next... probably nine months :( Definitely not for the next month or so. So, yeah. Sorry. Won't be able to join people much.

[Cheesegear]

So, there's this Dwarf Cleric called Thorilander on Thelanis. He's looking for a guild. He's played by Cheesegear. And I heard Cheesegear is pretty cool. You should invite him. :smallwink:

[king.com]

So, there's this Dwarf Cleric called Thorilander on Thelanis. He's looking for a guild. He's played by Cheesegear. And I heard Cheesegear is pretty cool. You should invite him. :smallwink:

I dont know man, ive heard some wierd rumours about that guy.

[Dusk Eclipse]

newbie (as in I only have 1 hour pf playtime under my belt) reporting in! can someone explain me exactly how do guilds work?

[Qwertystop]

I just made another character on thelanis, as the first one didn't turn out too well.
Charcter Name: Waand T'Ra'Pir
Wizard, going to do a bit of rogue. How many levels in rogue do I need for Trapmaking?

[T.G. Oskar]

newbie (as in I only have 1 hour pf playtime under my belt) reporting in! can someone explain me exactly how do guilds work?

When you join a guild, you get some benefits that you wouldn't have otherwise. For example, some items that require a minimum guild level (such as items that have slots for Augment Crystals) can be equipped based on the Guild level. Another is the access to exclusive items, such as Augment Crystals, and yet another is the cheaper access to things you can already get (such as reagents or hirelings); all of those are in the House Kundarak Enclave (from Harbor, go to the top until you find the Marketplace, enter, then go to the upper-right area of the map in one of the nifty gated areas, the one with a pyramid and a coin in the top).

Another is the purchase and use of a guild airship, which allows you to travel to some areas without much effort, and also to get unique bonuses depending on what services you hire (such as artifact bonuses to ability scores, spells cast on your behalf, and others).

The most important would be to get a group of like-minded people for the end-game raids, where you need a large and coordinated group; you can get a guild chat to communicate with the guildies whenever you need help as well.


I just made another character on thelanis, as the first one didn't turn out too well.
Charcter Name: Waand T'Ra'Pir
Wizard, going to do a bit of rogue. How many levels in rogue do I need for Trapmaking?

4 levels of Rogue. You can get it as a regular feat, but you need to get the prereqs for it. Make sure that you start as a Rogue first, getting the 8+Int skill points, and delve into Wizard slowly. Once you get all four levels of Rogue (and stuff like UMD, Disable Device, Tumble, perhaps Jump, Diplomacy and Haggle), you can go full Wizard. Just remember that 4 levels of Rogue disables you from getting the 18th level Wizard-specific Prestige Enhancements, and that traps are based on your Disable Device level (so you'll have to spend on Disable Device quite a lot, not to mention on UMD as well). If you didn't start as a Rogue, you can just devote the rest of the points on Disable Device and UMD until you get the max, and then spend the rest on the other skills.

[Qwertystop]

Also, can you invite me? Again: Waand T'Ra'Pir.

[T.G. Oskar]

Alright, sent invites to Thorilander and Waand. You should check up on your mailboxes soon enough.

So, speaking of guild acts...any one up for the newbie party delves? Say, Gladepost or Archer Point? I've done those already on Normal with my Cleric but not with my Paladin; with my Cleric I also did Gwylan's and the Jorasco-based one.

So...if by any means at least 5 people reunite and have at least level 6 (or you plan to), tell whenever you may want to and plan for passing those big quests.

...Hmm, I almost forgot about the real newbie big quests (Irestone and Kobold Assault).

[Qwertystop]

When do people in this guild usually go on? I've been on quite a lot and never yet found anyone else on at the same time. I usually go on sometime between 3:00-6:00 PM (Eastern US Time Zone) weekdays, any time on weekends.

[JadedDM]

Hey, I stop playing for two months, and what happens when I come back? Everyone is a half-orc!

Ooh, but they upgraded the summon spells, too. Nice.

Anyway, my character's name is Heylo Riverwalker, and he's a level 4 halfling cleric.

[T.G. Oskar]

Hey, I stop playing for two months, and what happens when I come back? Everyone is a half-orc!

Ooh, but they upgraded the summon spells, too. Nice.

Anyway, my character's name is Heylo Riverwalker, and he's a level 4 halfling cleric.

Ohh, you can't imagine! ...The Summon Monster spells, I mean.

At least now I can use SM a bit more. I've taken to summon one or two Air Mephits to help with the hate generation, and still waiting for level 9 to get SM V and Augment Summoning on my feat list.

Also: you might wanna check your enhancement list if you already got Cleric Heal II: with the unification of skill lists, they're a bit more cheaper but you may end up with an extra action point because of the reduction. In fact...that applies to everyone, so...

I still hate that Pallies don't get a skill reset so that they can take advantage of Intimidate...

As for playing time: I hadn't had much time to play until today (where I got another rank and reset my enhancements to get Divine Vitality II and Cleric Wisdom II, although I'll have to wait for Cleric Energy of the Templar I which was an enhancement I forgot to re-add), mostly because of preparations for a game I'm currently DMing. I still have to finish the first campaign log, anyways. I...usually play around this hour (7:00 PM - 3:00 AM, GMT -4, not constantly), in any case.

[Thiyr]

So is there a cap on characters one can have in the guild? I have two currently, (though one's for playing with a friend, and one's for whatever), and if both can join, that means less decision-making for me. And less decisions is always good.

[T.G. Oskar]

So is there a cap on characters one can have in the guild? I have two currently, (though one's for playing with a friend, and one's for whatever), and if both can join, that means less decision-making for me. And less decisions is always good.

Uh...not that I know of. I have both my characters in the guild (my Paladin and my Cleric); only one of them's a Officer (actually, the Leader :P) and the other is just a Member.

There are several people in here whom have two characters on the guild (aside from me, there's about three or four people having two characters each), so there's no cap as far as I can recall.

[Thiyr]

In that case, would you mind inviting Merun and Alexara to the guild?

[T.G. Oskar]

In that case, would you mind inviting Merun and Alexara to the guild?

Sent already. Whenever possible, check the mail to see if they reached you correctly. Both weren't returned immediately, so I presume they must have reached.

I think I've already spent a gold coin in postage sending guild sigils already... Like how the recruitment system works here, though I presume it must be similar elsewhere.

[Lorn]

I think I've already spent a gold coin in postage sending guild sigils already... Like how the recruitment system works here, though I presume it must be similar elsewhere.
From what I remember, it's about one pewter to send one, so unless you've invited 100 members.. :p

Also: Good news, everyone! Splitbark or Larann may be making an appearance in the next week or so when I visit home, assuming I manage to install DDO on the family laptop. Not for long, for other things demand my attention (like eating properly) but hey...

[Mushroom Ninja]

Just started playing DDO recently. I've got a level 2 sorcerer named Buckminster Khan.

[JadedDM]

By the way, I still am using my level 4 halfling cleric, Heylo Riverwalker, if you want to send me an invite.

[Qwertystop]

How is everyone doing on the Halloween event (in the graveyard)? If anyone has got all the special items they want, and still has spare motes, I would appreciate them. Please send to Waand.

On another note, when are the people in the guild usually on? I have not seen anyone, and I would have expected people to be on at least this week for the event.

[T.G. Oskar]

How is everyone doing on the Halloween event (in the graveyard)? If anyone has got all the special items they want, and still has spare motes, I would appreciate them. Please send to Waand.

On another note, when are the people in the guild usually on? I have not seen anyone, and I would have expected people to be on at least this week for the event.

I already got an Eternal Wand of Nimbus of Light and a Cloak of Night with my Cleric. I'm planning to increase the power of both to at least level 8 or 12 if possible, mostly because otherwise they'd be a tad weak.

As for time...well, it seems to be lousy timing of our own. I've connected a few times myself, but each time, I've seen no one either. Well, at least between us; I've seen a real lack of the rest, actually...


By the way, I still am using my level 4 halfling cleric, Heylo Riverwalker, if you want to send me an invite.

How. Could. I. EVER. Forget. That.

I had the distinct impression I had sent an invitation to you early on; I could swear you were already on the guild. NVM then, invite's on the mail in case you were wondering.

[Qwertystop]

How about we put something on the first post saying when people are usually on, in various time zones (so put a few ones that are common to a lot of the guild, and then GMT for everyone else).
I am usually on with Waand at 4:00 PM (US Eastern, GMT -5:00) (9:00 PM by GMT) or so on weekdays, any time weekends.

Also, why are people paying so much for Motes of Night (10 pp each, whn the base price is 10 gp)? And will we be able to use them for anything after the event ends?

EDIT: I just found out that I am suddenly a guild officer. How did this happen, and what does this entail? (not that I'm complaining)

[T.G. Oskar]

I just found out that I am suddenly a guild officer. How did this happen, and what does this entail? (not that I'm complaining)

It is one of the boons of autocracy!

...Actually, I did it since you're one of the most active players around, aside from master256. Since I've seen you constantly, and since if I were to be absent the guild would be officer-less, I decided to splat you on the officer list. That means you can recruit people by means of mail or speech, and...oh, if we manage to get the airship, you can ask for one. I think.

In any case: by the time I write this, the Mabar Festival may be over (it didn't end at 12 MN EST, that's for sure). Tried twice to get a Spectral Dragon Scale, but failed at both times (I was mostly dealing with the levers, but apparently the problem was with the altars). However, I managed to get all characters with Cloaks of Night (and in the case of my cleric, I got it up to level 8, so that means Invisibility Guard AND Dusk, or in other terms, 10 secs. of invisibility and 10% concealment). Sadly, while my Cleric can equip it without problems, my Rogue (whom would get the most benefit out of it) can't equip it as of late (even if it's the basic level 4 item), considering he would make the most use out of it (Invisibility then Hide, or Invisibility and 10 secs. of Sneak Attack). Oh, and the cleric also got a Lv. 3 Wand of Nimbus of Light.

So...anyone else got anything? I know I saw Waand and Merun (and alts; basically we all went with main + alt to the Festival).

[Thiyr]

I got myself a cloak upgraded to level 8 (sweet, sweet 10% miss chance). Did two dragons, managed to kill it once. Even though my lever partner decided that keeping the level flipped the whole time would be fun. Interesting note: he was right. Constantly under attack by gargoyles, but we weren't in real risk due to his hireling, and it got us a few more collectibles to turn in. Sadly, I didn't have the motes to make use of the scale, but it was still a good time. Didn't get anything else though, sadly, considering I didn't get on for the fest till two days before it ended. I blame my senior thesis.

As far as times that I'm on, I'm on Merun sometime after 4-5pm-ish US Central on weekends, whenever on weekends, though sporadically due to thesising. I'm on Alexara whenever I'm partying with a friend on her, as I made the character to play with her.

[Qwertystop]

It is one of the boons of autocracy!

...Actually, I did it since you're one of the most active players around, aside from master256. Since I've seen you constantly, and since if I were to be absent the guild would be officer-less, I decided to splat you on the officer list. That means you can recruit people by means of mail or speech, and...oh, if we manage to get the airship, you can ask for one. I think.


So...anyone else got anything? I know I saw Waand and Merun (and alts; basically we all went with main + alt to the Festival).

"aside from master256"? I am master256! Also, there are actually 3 or 4 officers.

I got the level 4 cloak of night, but only had three-ninety-something when I had to log off on the last day, so I had to sell them to someone for 8000 total. If I hadn't sold the 200 from the first preview, and had entered on the second preview I might have been able to get the level 8 cloak, and definetly the wand of disrupt undead if I couldn't get the cloak. Sure is annoying that you can't trade scales or fangs for motes, as I killed a vampire by mistake (I hit it instead of the zombie next to it, and ran backward spamming Eternal Wand of Acid Splash (sure is good that wands don't suffer miss chance while moving like weapons do). Same goes for the keys, someone would probably have bought them if they were unbound.

[T.G. Oskar]

"aside from master256"? I am master256! Also, there are actually 3 or 4 officers.

Well, it doesn't help that I haven't updated the arch-famous list. Silly, silly leader. *self-bonks on head*

Otherwise, I'd been certain of who's in the guild and who's not, but has a character in Thelanis, as well as who's who.


I got the level 4 cloak of night, but only had three-ninety-something when I had to log off on the last day, so I had to sell them to someone for 8000 total. If I hadn't sold the 200 from the first preview, and had entered on the second preview I might have been able to get the level 8 cloak, and definetly the wand of disrupt undead if I couldn't get the cloak. Sure is annoying that you can't trade scales or fangs for motes, as I killed a vampire by mistake (I hit it instead of the zombie next to it, and ran backward spamming Eternal Wand of Acid Splash (sure is good that wands don't suffer miss chance while moving like weapons do). Same goes for the keys, someone would probably have bought them if they were unbound.

I'm keeping all the motes. This is expected to be a yearly event (the devs have unofficially stated so as they have explained that they'll fix the 9999 mote limit blunder on "further events"), so there will be more chances to get motes. Too bad that it wasn't like Festivult, where you could get motes from playing on the Risia Ice Games, or by killing Elementals (I couldn't even reach the part where Elementals could be killed, so I was out of luck; I managed to get a few motes of winter and a recipe, tho).

As for the lack of trade, that's another blunder which was meant to prevent people from becoming rich by selling scales or keys. Motes were pretty hard to find, but keys were oddly easy to get, given that you kept them instead of exchanging them for motes or prizes. The fangs, on the other hand, may later on become valuable as further events happen.

All I hope is that next year's Endless Night Festival has the same prizes; I recall hearing that this year's Festivult was not the same as the old one, and that the prizes were a bit sucky (given the main Festival Coins only gave cookies and candy canes).

That makes me wonder: what will they give on Thanksgiving, or Christmas in any case?

@Jaded: if you're still around; got the invite? Remember it has an expiration date.

[JadedDM]

Jaded: if you're still around; got the invite? Remember it has an expiration date.

I got it, thanks.

[abadguy]

Is the guild only on Thelanis server?

[lord_khaine]

Well, i made a char on the server now, his name is Elementium, and he would like to join the rest of you.

[abadguy]

Yes, please add Tereblitz too!

[Qwertystop]

I don't delete characters very often, but Waand just wasn't a good idea (I was going rogue 4/ wizard the rest of the levels). Please remove him from the list, and add the below character:
Stabarcher Ineedabettername

EDIT: His name is actually Goodarcher Ineedabettername. I realised that I was naming him Stabarcher, but not actually stabbing, so I rebuilt him as he was only Rank 3.

[T.G. Oskar]

Alright; sent the invites to Elementium, Tereblitz and Goodarcher. Check your mail when ready. Please post if I somehow forgot someone, and remember all invites have an expiration date, so please log in between the next days. I tend to have unopened invites because of this.

[jvluso]

I would appreciate it if you could invite me, I am Xaviorn.

[Thiyr]

Not unlike Waand, I realized that I just didn't like the way being a rangerroguefighterthing was working out for me, so I created a new personguy. Merun is no more, Long live Kausaya, cleric of facestabbing.

[Qwertystop]

I just got Premium from buying Veteran Status and Shared Bank, so I now have 2 or 3 spare character slots. What are the top 4 (so I see some options) roles that the guild does not have consistent players for? This way I the guild will have someone who logs on often who can take almost any empty spot in any group, since I will try to put my characters in positions that the Guild has few consistent players for.

[Qwertystop]

Since our guild is nearly level 15, there is an important question I need to ask: Should we pay Stash (near the Auctioneer in the Harbor) 200 astral diamonds to get a Windspyre Sparrow 5 guild levels early? I can supply 25 of them, or 50 if I get enough favor to have 1500 TP instead of my current 1085. Also, if we do, is there any other penalty beyond the higher price?

[T.G. Oskar]

Since our guild is nearly level 15, there is an important question I need to ask: Should we pay Stash (near the Auctioneer in the Harbor) 200 astral diamonds to get a Windspyre Sparrow 5 guild levels early? I can supply 25 of them, or 50 if I get enough favor to have 1500 TP instead of my current 1085. Also, if we do, is there any other penalty beyond the higher price?

I have no idea. Though, I'm not sure whether there'll be enough Astral Diamonds; the Airship would be mostly bought by you unless someone else in here goes VIP or gets a card as a gift.

Me, I'm waiting for Friday because Monks will be half-price, and I decided I would spend some of the points I got as a birthday gift for the first thing that went part-price (though I bought Sentinels of Stormreach for the Deneith gifts, what with my Pally already getting a Tarnished Deneith Chain and probably getting the Chipped Sword for Chimera's Fang (that way, I'll have a cool armor and an awesome bastard sword, hopefully ready for Epic).

I'd personally wait for level 25 (if everyone cooperates we may do this early on) so that we can get a legit Airship, even if only a Sparrow, so that most of us can cooperate while at it. It's a steep cost but it's spent on platinum points which allows everyone to have a sort of "guild tax" for the stuff.

Though, if you wish to offer and spend all the Astral Diamonds...you might be spared of spending the money for commodities. That reminds me; I gotta boost up the Pally a bit, at least he already got the first rank set, only one more for Pally Charisma II and then two more for level 8 (and Resist Energy, so I can sell all those wands and pots of Resist Energy). Though, it seems it'll be a steep ride there...

[Qwertystop]

I have no idea. Though, I'm not sure whether there'll be enough Astral Diamonds; the Airship would be mostly bought by you unless someone else in here goes VIP or gets a card as a gift.
By the time I get enough favor to afford 50 AD instead of 25, we'd probably be GL 20 anyway, since I got the points as a birthday present and will not be able to get more. I think we should wait till the guild can afford 200 AD before we buy any, because I doubt we would get a refund from this guy if we end up not buying it from him.


I'd personally wait for level 25 (if everyone cooperates we may do this early on) so that we can get a legit Airship, even if only a Sparrow, so that most of us can cooperate while at it. It's a steep cost but it's spent on platinum points which allows everyone to have a sort of "guild tax" for the stuff.
Actually, the Sparrow needs guild level 20 when bought from an "official vendor".


Though, if you wish to offer and spend all the Astral Diamonds...you might be spared of spending the money for commodities.
Also, I just remembered that the commodities and people you can hire are:
A) Rented, not bought, so you need to keep the payments up.
B) Guild-Level-Limited, so only a few are available at Guild Level 15.

[Qwertystop]

Just ran into someone on ddo who says he reads OOTS and comes to the site a lot. He doesn't have an account on these forums, but says he wants to join the guild and the forums soon. Can I invite him ahead of time, or do I need to wait?

[T.G. Oskar]

Just ran into someone on ddo who says he reads OOTS and comes to the site a lot. He doesn't have an account on these forums, but says he wants to join the guild and the forums soon. Can I invite him ahead of time, or do I need to wait?

I'd say wait, but I incline towards "no". Thing is, while people may read OOTS, they may not usually post in the forums (or at least post on one part of the forums; I recall only once or twice collaborating on another site that's not the Roleplaying forums). The idea of the guild was to reunite all people that post and participate in the forum, so it'd be a bit counter-intuitive to allow someone to the ranks, considering most of the plans and stuff are done here (there's no Order of the Playground guild forum on the DDO forums for several reasons, most of them being that few have a forum account there).

I've seen other people that actually use similar names and titles on their guilds, so that would imply that other people could enter. So I really have to incline towards "no" on those grounds. The only other option would be for that person to open an account in this forum, but I'm normally a person that doesn't like to enter a forum just to gain access to something, so I don't want to push someone to join the forums if it doesn't want to.

However, if someone else wants to, we can vote to decide whether to lift that or not. But based on the intention of the guild (to reunite the Playgrounders, not necessarily the fans of OotS albeit the two coalesce at times), I'm afraid I must say no.

P.S.: ...but if the person wishes to join the forums, tell to make a post in here and I'll consider it. In that case, wait is preferable.

[abadguy]

Oh you mean members can invite others? Even our alts?

[T.G. Oskar]

Oh you mean members can invite others? Even our alts?

Only Officers can invite people. master's character is an Officer, hence he can invite people. And so do I, but I only have one character who can recruit (another is a Member only).

I'm also planning to prune the guild a bit, since it's kinda big and I see too many people with one or two months of inactivity, though I see a few that appear every now and then. So I might decide to prune people with three months of inactivity out of the ranks, and maybe shift some people between officers and members (which I've partly done already).

[abadguy]

Cool :) Btw, can new characters earn guild renown? Thinking of rolling up a rogue toon ... so many secret doors around, no rogue hirelings :( Waterworks is sad for my pally.

[T.G. Oskar]

Cool :) Btw, can new characters earn guild renown? Thinking of rolling up a rogue toon ... so many secret doors around, no rogue hirelings :( Waterworks is sad for my pally.

Well, as far as I know, as long as you belong to a guild you earn guild renown with any Member or Officer character (and Leader, too, but that's redundant).

As for secret doors: try going on the AH for items that give Detect Secret Doors. They're normally cheap, and far more useful than using the Search check. Then again, only one of the secret doors takes you to a place where there's a chance a Rare Encounter may be; the others are not so hard to find (though you need some Wis for Crumble and some Int for the troll RE; the others aren't so hard to get and the Gnashtooth shaman in the Tunnelworm area is pretty easy to find, since the Search check for that one is very, very low (and it's on the shrine area anyways).

Also, the devs are testing Rogue hirelings on Lammania. They aren't that strong compared to a full Rogue, anyways. Then again, with my Rogue character on Cannith, I've failed only once on my Disable Device check, what with having a +15 with high Int, full ranks and Troubleshooter set (and Improved Disable Device; going for Mechanic).

[abadguy]

Thanks for the tips! Yeah I got looted a wand of Detect Secret Doors but I didn't pump UMD so meh! :( (wish there was a way to retrain skill ranks. UMD is insanely useful)

Int/Wis Rune, I guess my cleric or wiz hireling can open them. As for AH items, will check it out.

Rogue hirelings will probably spell the end of pure classed rogues. Are they any good outside of trap disabling and door searching? they don't seem to be a good raid class.

[T.G. Oskar]

Thanks for the tips! Yeah I got looted a wand of Detect Secret Doors but I didn't pump UMD so meh! :( (wish there was a way to retrain skill ranks. UMD is insanely useful)

Int/Wis Rune, I guess my cleric or wiz hireling can open them. As for AH items, will check it out.

Rogue hirelings will probably spell the end of pure classed rogues. Are they any good outside of trap disabling and door searching? they don't seem to be a good raid class.

Might wanna read this if you can (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=285695).

Long story short: they're mostly ineffective in most of the places where you really want a Rogue, and they are built in ways that are mostly ineffective. A Rogue hireling is mostly a patch, sorta like having a Cleric hireling, except that you can still play a Cleric and you'll still be looked at because of your potentially better healing abilities. Same with Rogue; you'll be looked at because of your potentially better Search, Disable Device and Open Lock abilities, as well as your combat potential (whether you're a TWF Assassin or a Repeater Mechanic).

The good point is that they seek flanking opportunities with you, so generally they'll deal quite a good amount of damage; much more if you're going as a Paladin or Fighter (or really, anyone who does good tanking) because you'll attract all the attention to yourself while the Rogue does most of the killing.

If that axiom was true, though, there would be little Clerics. You can see that Clerics are as popular as ever, if only because they don't get all of the spells; in the same way, Rogues are not merely "skill-monkeys" or "pure DPS, low Defense" types.

[Qwertystop]

Just rechecked, the person I ran into has the DDO name of Kaho.

Edit: Just updated the Message of the Day for the Festivult event, same as I did for the Delera's event on halloween.

[abadguy]

arghhh i missed out on the adventure pack sale thanks to frakkin food poisoning.

Oh yes Goodarcher, hello this is Tereblitz. Toon is Paladin who gave you a bunch of arrows and bows couple weeks back

[T.G. Oskar]

Well, I announced it earlier, and it has happened: winter clean-up has happened in the Order.

At least four members with 3 months or more have been booted out. There's another officer whom also has 3 months (Ailora), who's in danger of booting as well.

How to solve this? If you wish to remain, at least appear once to restart the timer, or notify that you wish to rejoin the guild (though, make sure you participate every now and then). Lorn is excused since he explained the reasons for his long departures, but since he logged recently, he's in no danger.

Also: ideas on whom should be ascended to Officer? BTW, I also have Beyvin on the guild, so don't suggest that toon because I have no need for two officers.

[Althrun83]

was thinking of rolling a toon in here for the guild, any class suggestions? (no TP yet for new classes)

[Mc. Lovin']

Hey guys, could you add my character to the guild? It's a barbarian called Agrron :smallsmile:

[abadguy]

Looking forward to finally taking some leave!

What do guild officers do besides recruitment in OotP?

[Qwertystop]

The same thing all the other members do: Earn Favor (preferably in large quantities)!

[T.G. Oskar]

Looking forward to finally taking some leave!

What do guild officers do besides recruitment in OotP?

Aside from recruiting, I believe they can also remove people from the guild, and only Officers can either deliver down payments on airships or buy an actual airship (if the latter is true, all members can deliver payments towards the purchase of an airship). Paying for an airship can be done right now, even though you can't buy the airship at the moment; might be wrong, but there's already a payment for the "get the Order of the Playground an airship" fund, so might as well check if you as an officer or member can collaborate?

[abadguy]

In that case maybe an active paid member might serve better as officer. I believe they get some discounts on ADs?

[Necroticplague]

How do you join a guild? I have a sorcerer named Insepid Burnrazer.

[Qwertystop]

How do you join a guild? I have a sorcerer named Insepid Burnrazer.

You get an invite. If he is on Thelanis, I'm adding him right now. If not, sorry, this guild is on Thelanis.

[Mc. Lovin']

Ooh could my Barbarian get an invite? Named Agrron Rust

[Qwertystop]

Ooh could my Barbarian get an invite? Named Agrron Rust

ok, inviting now

[J-H]

Ok, so I saw this thread, and you got me back into DDO, at least for a bit.
Not sure how much I'll be around.

Looks like there are no arcane casters in the guild, so I'm going to go sorc... blaster with at least an attempt at having a few crowd-control spells.

Jonafly
*edit*
also, Jonathor (cleric)

[Qwertystop]

MC Lovin (As Agrron) and I (as Goodarcher) came up with a good idea today:
How about we schedule a time for everyone (possibly in smaller groups to adjust for timezones) to meet and do a few quests, maybe a favor run to adjust for level differences, to get the guild to be something more than just a bunch of people sharing guild benefits and never seeing each other.

[Lorn]

MC Lovin (As Agrron) and I (as Goodarcher) came up with a good idea today:
How about we schedule a time for everyone (possibly in smaller groups to adjust for timezones) to meet and do a few quests, maybe a favor run to adjust for level differences, to get the guild to be something more than just a bunch of people sharing guild benefits and never seeing each other.
WOuld be up for it as long as it's F2P and not at about 3AM GMT or something like that.

What kind of level quest? Higher echelons of the guild are about 9ish...

[Qwertystop]

I was thinking a favor run through as much as possible, if there's too much level difference.

If not, figure something out.

[abadguy]

Great idea. I'm at GMT+8, lemme know what time I'll adjust accordingly

[Qwertystop]

Everyone should post the time they can usually play on a weekend, along with the timezone. We'll time the groups so the maximum amount of people can join.

[Lorn]

In GMT:

I can play literally anytime at the moment, though would prefer to avoid the hours of 11PM-10AM to allow sleep to happen.

However, I will not be able to play come the 6th January onwards, for I will be very close to returning to uni at this point if not actively leaving the house for the station. If I miss things, I miss things, I'm not hugely fussed :p

(Basically, can't play at uni. Firewall blocks it. I have investigated ways around, but these are ineffective.)

[Mc. Lovin']

I won't be able to play much at all until January 20th now, lot of coursework for uni due in for the beginning of Jan </3

[J-H]

I still haven't gotten guild invites for Jonathor or Jonafly, and thus have been unable to locate any other guild members.

[Lorn]

I still haven't gotten guild invites for Jonathor or Jonafly, and thus have been unable to locate any other guild members.
Check your mailbox, just sent an invite to both.

[T.G. Oskar]

GMT -4, but I play very erratically. More often than not, I'll be playing after midnight, but then again I could be playing earlier (good spots would be 3 PM or 7 PM). So I can't be sure of which moments I might be playing.

Also: darn, I have really bad luck. I was bidding for a True Law Warhammer of Undead Bane (because I want a skelly-whacker) and got out-bid. The problem was that the bid was the lowest I had, and basically the secondary option; after a tough battle I was also outbid from a very nice Holy Warhammer of Pure Good, which was unusually cheap early on but later it rose to nearly all of my money (and if I had gotten it, I would have had a VERY nice weapon). Right now bidding on a True Law Warhammer of Pure Good (I believe it's that) and I have to check if I don't get outbid...again.

Oddly enough, I'm quite lucky with Scimitars, which are usually some of the most sought-after weapons. But Warhammers, which are sorta rarer to find, are notoriously harder for me to win.

Oh, and we're at around the 6000 PP range (last I checked) for the airship. Just...about 94,000 PP more? We're at guild level 17; only three more levels for the first choice of airship.

And one more thing: amongst you guys, whom I should ascend to Officer? Since Lorn will be absent with leave, that'd leave master and me as the remaining officers. I look for people who might cover odd hours and with some activity on the guild. I might open...about 2 spots, so make your choice. Also, please no duplicates for officers; you can have duplicates as members, but let your main be the officer, alright?

[J-H]

Got it, thanks.

[Mc. Lovin']

I'll volunteer to be an officer if need be, I'm on more than i thought i would be able to, and i can cover usual GMT times

[abadguy]

I'll volunteer too to cover the Asian timings.

[J-H]

I found my cleric boring and re-made Jonathor as a Paladin...re-guild invite?

I have yet to see another guild member on... usually on on weekends, and evenings (central US time).

[T.G. Oskar]

I found my cleric boring and re-made Jonathor as a Paladin...re-guild invite

Hmm...boring? How come?

I have both a Cleric and a Paladin (Beyvin and Alkarn), and they are both interesting to play. Ironically, since the first character I made was the Cleric (an inversion of what I usually do, which is going straight to the character choice that leads into Paladinhood), the Cleric has the highest level amongst my characters. He's also quite fun to play once you get AoO spells (Sound Burst is the first, then Holy Smite and Flame Strike), since you can do pretty much anything you want. But that's when you get around level 7-9 when you can start doing that, so it might seem boring at the first few levels (and not in terms of doing really well, since I have Radiant Servant and usually buff myself and I still find some complex quests, even though the Cleric has the highest survival rate amongst my characters).

Still: any idea on how you wish to build your Pally?

[J-H]

Low damage even with a +1d6 electric daamge mace, low SP, wimpy spells...just boring.

Greatsword Paladin... lots of damage output, and since Lay on Hands seems to be bugged, he's a better healer than a cleric. LoH seems to do Chascore x level in healing, since my Cha is around 18 and I'm doing around 50 hp of healing at level 3 (18x3=54). If it performed as labelled it'd only be doing 12hp of healing.

[T.G. Oskar]

Low damage even with a +1d6 electric daamge mace, low SP, wimpy spells...just boring.

Hmm...my Cleric has Wis over 20 without any buffs (save a +1 Wis bauble) just through stats and enhancements (starting with 16 IIRC, might be 17 actually), plus with Mental Toughness he's pumping around 600 SP at level 9. If you take Extend Spell, while the first few spells might be even more expensive, the latter spells will be at a discount (since you won't need to refresh your buff-list later on).

The first few spells are kinda wimpy, true. Usually, you want Bless, CLW (which you have by default), Summon Monster I and your choice of other spell. Nimbus of Light is so-so, but not a potent hitter (unless you get a wand of it, which is slightly better); Divine Favor is a nice combat buff you can add right there to your list.

2nd level spells are slightly better; Bull's Strength should be a priority, along with CMW. By there, you should have CLW and CMW close enough for burst healing. Resist Energy is a MUST; reducing 10-30 points of damage per attack is crucial. 2nd level spells are even harder to work with, but not difficult; you really want the buff spells anyways. Oh, and Sound Burst; you really want that, since while it deals little damage it has a chance of stunning (12 + Wis modifier), so it's a good AoE spell (better if you get an item that increases 2nd level or higher sonic spell damage).

3rd level spells are a bit better: you get Searing Light, Summon Monster III has hellhounds and monstrous spiders (so you can get free webs)... However, most of your power will ironically be within your 1st and 2nd level spells (Shield of Faith becomes a must for higher AC, Nightshield blocks magic missiles and similar spells, Divine Favor gets a boost at CL 6th...), so expect those levels to be boring indeed (probably it's that level where you get spells that might be boring for you). Oh, and get Mass Aid and Prayer; even if you're alone, you can use them to get some bonuses (and in the case of Prayer, drop a debuff while at it).

4th and onwards are your key spells. 4th level brings Holy Smite/Chaos Hammer/Order's Wrath, with which you can work a strong AoE damage/debuffing combo (Sound Burst may stun enemies, while Holy Smite blinds them, Order's Wrath dazes them and Chaos Hammer slows them, so they get mild to serious damage AND two status effects while at it) whenever a bunch of enemies comes around. Divine Power is still a strong and useful buff (+6 Str, full BAB and temp. HP) which works better if Extended. Later on, you can mix and match your spells to work between parties and solo runs; either Mass Shield of Faith and Recitation, or Death Ward and Freedom of Movement.

Also: by the time you get to 5th or 6th level you should get a weapon that deals two different kinds of damage. I have a sickle that deals Shocking and Pure Good damage, and recently got a Longsword that deals Vicious and Pure Good damage (but I seldom use it because of the kicking damage; only when necessary and alone, and with Champion of Dol Dorn). Also, you should invest on Lesser [Elemental] Guards when possible; 1d4 when getting hit might not seem much, but since you can heal, it's much better.

Really, Clerics are slow but effective. Once you get to Radiant Servant, you get quite a load of healing potential, and there's really no reason why not to take it (other than when the other two PrEs come, and I feel Radiant Servant will STILL be good because of the Turn Undead regeneration effect).


Greatsword Paladin... lots of damage output, and since Lay on Hands seems to be bugged, he's a better healer than a cleric. LoH seems to do Chascore x level in healing, since my Cha is around 18 and I'm doing around 50 hp of healing at level 3 (18x3=54). If it performed as labelled it'd only be doing 12hp of healing.

Actually...Lay on Hands is doing OK healing. You're probably healing 52 points of damage ((10 + Paladin level) x Cha modifier = 13 x 4 = 52), and that's all right since LoH is far more powerful in DDO. However, considering you can only use it ONCE, it's not enough compared to a Cleric with Life Magic and Empower Healing Spell enabled. Heck, it's rare not to see a Cleric with Life Magic II and Empower Healing, which should do somewhere around...20 points of healing on average, and that's without Prayer of Life/Prayer of Incredible Life which increases that even further (6% chance of critical healing, for twice that amount). It may not seem like much, but that's around 1/3rd of your Lay on Hands, and it's not a very strong effort for a Cleric. Furthermore, that's roughly at level 3, and that's without adding the kicker of CL; with CL you add somewhere around 5 points of damage, which gets modified even further at level 4, then CSW at level 5 which starts to outclass your LoH, and finally up to CCW with full Life Magic and Empower Healing enhancements (not without mentioning Heal which just beats LoH into the ground).

Still, Lay on Hands is just REALLY good because it's really fast, but also REALLY limited on execution. You can't use it to heal it unless you're at 25% or less (and roughly at 1 hit to be dropped), while a Cleric can reliably heal to keep a character between 35%~80% of maximum Hit Points with one spell, which should be enough to save SP and maximize healing efficiency. You'll want a Cleric CLW/CMW rather than a Paladin's LoH most of the times, while most people will want you to save your LoH to yourself in order to keep the Cleric focused on the other guys. And once the Cleric gets Mass CLW, the competition is over.

As for greatsword Pallies: get Power Attack ASAP, and Divine Might along with Exalted Smite. Probably go into Knight of the Chalice as that's the extraofficial Paladin DPS route, and get the best weapon you can get (up to Sword of Shadows, as people claim that's the best greatsword you can pull off; you need Vault of Night unlocked to get it tho). If you can, exchange the greatsword for a Falchion, as the 18-20 threat range is just too good to pass up.

[J-H]

My cleric was only up to about level 4.
I've only ever gotten 1 char (my sorc) up to 7. Beyond that it's hard to find groups, and all the quests seem to get a lot longer.

[Lorn]

I've only ever gotten 1 char (my sorc) up to 7. Beyond that it's hard to find groups, and all the quests seem to get a lot longer.
Sure?

I've always found Korthos to be the hardest to find groups for, followed by level 12+ (not that hard anymore, Diplomatic Impunity chain and similar is awesome, but arg P2P content), followed by Harbour stuff and then with level 6-12 quests being the easiest to get groups for. People are always up for Stormcleave Outpost/Tempest's Spine, from my experience...

[abadguy]

Maybe thats why Pally is more "fun". Its easy to solo Korthos and Harbour as a Pally. Thats what I've been doing pretty much. Delaying my levelling to 5 so I can finish up Waterworks with max XP (^_^)

[T.G. Oskar]

Sure?

I've always found Korthos to be the hardest to find groups for, followed by level 12+ (not that hard anymore, Diplomatic Impunity chain and similar is awesome, but arg P2P content), followed by Harbour stuff and then with level 6-12 quests being the easiest to get groups for. People are always up for Stormcleave Outpost/Tempest's Spine, from my experience...

Tempest Spine and Stormcleave Outpost (and by definition, Archer Point Defense and to a lesser extent Gladewatch Outpost) are usually popular because you couldn't complete them otherwise without a group. Kobold Assault is also popular, along with Gwylan's Stand and Irestone Inlet (though Irestone can be soloed reliably).

Mostly, Kobold and Irestone can be soloed reliably, but only if your DPS and HP are up to the task (a Barbarian can pretty much one-shot Kobolds, and if it has good AC it can last for minutes there). Archer Point relies on a group that knows the layout of the place (since hobgoblins and orcs there are pretty harsh-hitting); Gladewatch Outpost relies on a large and carefully placed group (only did it once on Normal, and after a few tries). Gwylan's Stand is near-impossible without a group (traps! Minotaurs!), and the latter two...well, can't say much.

Mostly, if the quest delivers unique loot (and good/required one, at that) and needs a party to succeed, you'll have good chances of making a decent PUG. Just...beware of zergs.

[J-H]

Paladin is now 6, nearly 7. He very rarely dies, and often tops the killcount.
I played through Proof in the Poison last night, and was the only one standing for the last couple of minutes until we reached the shrine... and got over 1/2 the total kills and breakables. I burned a lot of wand charges healing the rest of the party, but we made it.
Loot in PitP is really lame though. I keep failing to remember to avoid that quest.

I have discovered the $$$ source that is selling Feverblanches in the Auction house.

Still need a guild re-invite for Jonathor. Haven't seen anyone else on.

[Mc. Lovin']

How did you build your paladin? I'm introducing a lot of friends to the game soon, and since they'll all be newbies i'd like to be able to help carry the team along, not die, etc. Sounds like your pally'd be useful for that

[T.G. Oskar]

Paladin is now 6, nearly 7. He very rarely dies, and often tops the killcount.
I played through Proof in the Poison last night, and was the only one standing for the last couple of minutes until we reached the shrine... and got over 1/2 the total kills and breakables. I burned a lot of wand charges healing the rest of the party, but we made it.
Loot in PitP is really lame though. I keep failing to remember to avoid that quest.

I have discovered the $$$ source that is selling Feverblanches in the Auction house.

Still need a guild re-invite for Jonathor. Haven't seen anyone else on.

Pshaw! You don't go for the loot, you go for the XP anyways. The base XP is over 2,500 XP anyways for a 4th level quest, which is the highest amount of XP you'll get for it (the closest you'll get is under 2000 XP), plus you get a fair share of optionals which give an equal fair share. I'd say that the place needs a few more shrines, because it's basically a death trap, but if you have a reliable source of Resist Energy: Acid, then you shouldn't worry so much. Elite is a problem, though, because the amount of XP you get doesn't compare to the increased difficulty. It's better to ignore it if you have a better source of XP lying around, such as Seal of Shan-to-Kor. Also: Nightshield is great here because of its ability to null Magic Missiles, which with the combined ability to ignore Acid Arrow damage, you can neuter Quickfoot Casters with little problem. The most difficult part are the acid pools, which are unfortunately hard to dodge.

Also: I'll see when I'll have the chance to log into Alkarn; I have been leveling my Ranger a bit.

[J-H]

Yeah, I was wishing for Nightshield. The casters were my main problem.

My build:

Not that I'm an expert or anything, but it's worked ok.
Human
Standard 28pt buy
2-handed damage-dealer

Starting stats & reasons
STR 16 hit and damage are key
DEX 8 -2 to AC vs 12 dex in full plate. Fixable with gear. Paladin, good saves.
CON 12 hitpoints
INT 10 Skill points for UMD, and a bit of Conc/Balance/Jump
WIS 10 +1 wis item available by the time I can cast
CHA 16 Saves, Smites, Turn Undead, and other Paladin abilities.

Feats taken as of level 6:
-Power attack (take this early, the AB/Dmg exchange is capped at your level, so at level 3 you trade 3 to-hit for 6 damage)... I was hitting for 2d6+20 damage at level 4 or 5 with Power Attack on
-Toughness
-don't recall what else, probably a Two-Handed fighting feat

Enhancements:
-Human Stat boosts-Str
-Paladin Cha boosts
-Extra Lay on Hands
-Extra Smite
-Exalted Smite I
-Divine Might (burn 1 turn undead for +2 damage for 1 minute)
-Energy of the Templar I (since I initially had 2 SP at level 4...this bumped me to 22)
-1-AP HP feats (class & racial)
-Basic Aura enhancements (Armor, Saves, and 1 Concentration enhancement as a prereq for something else)

Gear:
-AC is never going to be great. Adamantine full plate from the Auction House is available early and helps mitigate this with 3/ damage reduction on all physical damage. That also opens up the possibility of selling Furor's Cloak for some really good money if you get it.
-Cha/Str gear is important... +2 con/+2 dex gear is helpful. You don't need +Wis gear until you have spellpoints
-I prefer greatsword because it crits more often... a +1 Keen Greatsword crits ~20% of the time (assuming you make your confirmation roll) early in game. At level 4, check the AH for other, cheaper, options that have elemental damage (Maul of Force, etc)

Lay on Hands does (as mentioned before) Level x (10+Cha modifier) healing. At level 1, that's 30hp with this build. It's a near full heal for most of the early game, and with Extra LoH, you can do it twice to emergency heal yourself or someone else. Pick up some wands of cure X and you can heal party members who are near death multiple times... and buff yourself with Bull Str, etc.

The main focus is just on killing stuff before it has a chance to do a lot of damage. Lots of basic attacks, plus smiting (they recharge, don't hoard your smites), some trip attempts, and Divine Might (currently a total of 7 minutes worth of +2 damage between rests).

[T.G. Oskar]

Personally, for a 28-point buy, I find Str 14, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 16 to be a good build. Humans get two skill points they can work with (Intimidate and either Concentration or UMD), while non-humans might handle getting just Intimidate. Your build is quite similar to mine in terms of ability scores (Str 15, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 16), and I find the Con to be a bit of a problem (even if I have Toughness). Still, since you're going for a 2-hander build, Strength is decent (heck, you could go for Dex 8 and use Human Adaptability: Strength to get your Strength to 16, then with Bull's Strength or a Str-boosting item you can get it to 18 pretty quickly).

Feats are standard for 2H Pally. Power Attack is great early on (and even later on), and since you're going the Exalted Smite path your smites are gonna hit like a truck on high speed. Two-Handed Fighting is something you can ignore to a point, since glancing blows get better once you get better weapons; then again, it's hard to define what else to get (maybe Stunning/Slicing Blow for the added oomph).

Enhancements are pretty standard as well: Exalted Smite, Divine Might, so I presume you'll be going for Knight of the Chalice (still need Extra Smite Evil II, unless you already have it). Don't see Divine Sacrifice (also great for melee damage, since you sacrifice daily uses of Turn Undead for increased damage at the expense of some of your HP.

Falchion > Greatsword. You get an average of 2 points extra damage with a greatsword and 4 maximum, but you get 5% more chances of pulling a crit, and since both have the same critical multiplier, you only add 2 points of total damage when weighing against crits. The chance of pulling more crits, crit-depending abilities and Exalted Smite applying equally to both sides causes the Falchion to edge out slightly ahead from the Greatsword. With Improved Crit, the advantage of the Greatsword disappears almost entirely; you get only 1 extra point of damage, but a 10% increase in the chances of dealing critical hits, so the Falchion edges out. And heck, gaining 2 points of damage isn't that much to gloat about. Aside from that, it's still a strong combat method, so there's no problem on using a Greatsword while looking for an equally suitable Falchion.

All in all, it's a pretty cookie-cutter build. That doesn't mean it's bad or ineffective; quite the contrary, it's pretty simple. Whack the enemy until it stops moving, smite when doubtful, and buff with Divine Might when you need extra damage output. Certainly different from a sword-and-board build (though you should start investing a bit in Lesser Elemental Guard armor for a slight increase in damage).

[J-H]

Right, forgot about the human extra skill point. That means I do have Int 8 and Con 14.

[J-H]

Oh, and can I get a guild invite for Jonathor (the Paladin)?

For some reason I had the idea that Falchions were exotic. They aren't. I'll pick one up next time I do a weapon upgrade. Level 7 is a big bump for armor/stat-booster gear upgrades, so that's the next priority.

[J-H]

I don't want to be a pain, but who do I contact to get Jonathor into the guild? I bought gear assuming I'd be back in the guild by level 7, and I can't use it until I am in (guild augment slot).

[abadguy]

How does this "tiny guild augment" slot thing work?

finally leveled myself to 5 after finishing waterworks on normal. anyone gonna be on over the next couple of days and if so about what time? (do state GMT too)

[T.G. Oskar]

Tiny guild augments (and actually, any other augments you get aside from Epic Augments) are basically slots where you can add augment crystals, which you can find in House Kundarak (on the big first pyramid, where you see a lot of people with "Guild _______" under their names. One sells Tiny augment crystals, one sells Small, one sells Medium and one sells Large. This is relevant to the bonus provided: a Tiny Augment crystal grants a +1 bonus, a Small crystal a +2 bonus, a Medium Crystal a +3 bonus and a Large crystal a +5 bonus. Each bonus granted lasts for about 3 hours, and requires placing the item and the crystal on a Stone of Change, in which the item gets imbued with the temporary crystal. Some bonuses aren't so important (skill bonuses mostly, aside from Haggle which is wonderful if you can get it so that you get even greater bonuses on buying and selling), some bonuses might be good (bonuses on saves vs. specific abilities), and some are great (HP crystal bonuses, the new augment crystals that enhance damage). All have a similar cost, and all usually are of limited duration, so it's mostly for stuff you know that's crucial (such as first runs on most endgame content if you have Large crystal items that you constantly use), but later on they stop being important.

[J-H]

I have a drow rogue Jonatar who could use an invite. I bought extra character slots 2 days before they went on sale :(

I have only seen 1 guild member on one time, and that was only for about 5 minutes...

[Mc. Lovin']

Is this guild still running?

[Mc. Lovin']

Sorry for the double post, but if it isn't I have a guild up and running which I'd be happy to invite people into, it's only level 10 at the moment but we already have enough pp to buy a guildship as soon as we hit 20, and (although there are only two members currently) we are on most nights (gmt). The guild is called RAINBOW RUMPUS PARTYTOWN in honour of Homestuck (www.mspaintadventures.com)

[Qwertystop]

Sorry for the double post, but if it isn't I have a guild up and running which I'd be happy to invite people into, it's only level 10 at the moment but we already have enough pp to buy a guildship as soon as we hit 20, and (although there are only two members currently) we are on most nights (gmt). The guild is called RAINBOW RUMPUS PARTYTOWN in honour of Homestuck (www.mspaintadventures.com)

We have a GitP guild, on Thelanis, level 18 last I checked, called Order of the Playground.

[Mc. Lovin']

Okay sorry, I assumed the answer to my question was no, since noone answered me.

[abadguy]

Would you prefer to join into the Order of the Playground? Guildship is definitely in the works esp if you guys have the AD for it.

[T.G. Oskar]

Hmm...must have booted you during Winter Cleaning... Took away most of the people with over 3 months inactivity (after a cursory check, I recalled you had Agrron on the guild). Not really sure, since I was currently dealing with the non-guild characters after pumping my Pally to level 7.

So...in case I really booted you, still want a re-invite (or have another character invited)? Unless the Guild's on another server...

Again: if I noticed you had over 3 months inactivity, I did a no questions asked booting (aside from Lorn, because Internet on his college doesn't allow him to play, so he gets a leave of absence), so if you want to reclaim your spot, just tell me or pester that chum called master258 (or insist on telling who should be an officer, which IIRC both Mc Lovin' and abadguy offered).

[J-H]

Jonatar (my level 4 rogue) needs invite.
My Paladin is up to level 10!

[J-H]

I have some gear with guild crystal slots that Jonatar cannot use until invited. Is there a way to do this in-game rather than waiting for the message to be seen?

[Lorn]

I have some gear with guild crystal slots that Jonatar cannot use until invited. Is there a way to do this in-game rather than waiting for the message to be seen?
I have sent Jonatar an invite.

Check your mailbox for something from Splitbark.

If there are any other guys you would like invited, please give me a list on here or ingame.

[T.G. Oskar]

Hmm, does anyone will get into DDO for the Birthday Party event? I know it's a bit silly to enter just for the hats, but there's apparently a lot of other stuff alongside the hats. I've seen some of the stuff offered and, at least for Epic characters, it's just far too abusive. Bit of more complex crafting, in any case.

Speaking of crafting...will the devs release the Item Creation feats? People might go mad with that, even if only mages will be capable of forging those items (and have a huge hole in their pockets, even though most of the item cost is done in GP). Maybe it'll be like Trapmaking, where you can take the feat and then you collect items to create your own weapons, maybe?

[Qwertystop]

Hmm, does anyone will get into DDO for the Birthday Party event? I know it's a bit silly to enter just for the hats, but there's apparently a lot of other stuff alongside the hats. I've seen some of the stuff offered and, at least for Epic characters, it's just far too abusive. Bit of more complex crafting, in any case.

Speaking of crafting...will the devs release the Item Creation feats? People might go mad with that, even if only mages will be capable of forging those items (and have a huge hole in their pockets, even though most of the item cost is done in GP). Maybe it'll be like Trapmaking, where you can take the feat and then you collect items to create your own weapons, maybe?

What birthday event?

[T.G. Oskar]

It's been almost a month since, but business is business:

First, I'm proud to announce that, due to all of the Guild's efforts, we're level 20. That means we can get the Windspyre airship at any moment. Now, more than ever, we'll need all of you people to donate to the cause, so we can get our airship ASAP. I know that we have around 6k-7k PP for the fund, so thanks to all of the people who make their donations, but we need a bit more.

Second: what amenities you want for the Airship? So far, once we get to the Airship we'll get only a few amenities, but as we reach higher levels, we'll get more benefits to add. So, for all of you people who are already on other guilds on other servers, and have experienced going into Airships, can you tell which should be the priority in amenities, even if we don't have any access to them yet?

Third: I'll extend the deadline on absent people up to 4 months, but another spring cleaning is coming. If you have at least 5 minutes to log in (and I know there's a few that can't connect until a few months, but those who get connections every now and then), do it at least once a month to retain your space in the guild.

I believe that'll be all, aside from requesting at least one or two more officers.

[Lorn]

First, I'm proud to announce that, due to all of the Guild's efforts, we're level 20. That means we can get the Windspyre airship at any moment. Now, more than ever, we'll need all of you people to donate to the cause, so we can get our airship ASAP. I know that we have around 6k-7k PP for the fund, so thanks to all of the people who make their donations, but we need a bit more.
Awesome.

I can probably donate a fair amount when I next visit the North, can't say when or how much though. If Drannik was on Thelanis, it'd be in the region of 10-20Kpp... but he's not, so probably a fair bit less depending on what I have these days :p What's the target?


Second: what amenities you want for the Airship? So far, once we get to the Airship we'll get only a few amenities, but as we reach higher levels, we'll get more benefits to add. So, for all of you people who are already on other guilds on other servers, and have experienced going into Airships, can you tell which should be the priority in amenities, even if we don't have any access to them yet?
Things that give +1 stat increases are, in my opinion, seriously overrated - skill bonuses, to hit bonuses etc are more useful. Not sure on what's available, been a little while since last login.

Note, not had access to an airship previously, don't take my words as gospel.

[Qwertystop]

Second: what amenities you want for the Airship? So far, once we get to the Airship we'll get only a few amenities, but as we reach higher levels, we'll get more benefits to add. So, for all of you people who are already on other guilds on other servers, and have experienced going into Airships, can you tell which should be the priority in amenities, even if we don't have any access to them yet?

Well, I like the XP boosting ones and the to-hit bonuses.

[T.G. Oskar]

Awesome.

I can probably donate a fair amount when I next visit the North, can't say when or how much though. If Drannik was on Thelanis, it'd be in the region of 10-20Kpp... but he's not, so probably a fair bit less depending on what I have these days :p What's the target?

At least 10kpp, but no rush really. I'd say that if everybody donated at least 500 pp per week, we could reach that amount in less than a month, so... Considering March is closing up, we could place up to the end of Spring Break to give the necessary push to the airship, plus a few for the amenities. But again; no rush, everybody gets to get the ship benefits, and right now the only thing I think we can get is the Mailbox and the Silver Flame priest, IIRC. Actually, only one amenity is available, but with more guild XP we might get to level 22-23 which opens a few more amenities (unless someone's willing to cash Turbine Points for the DDO-based amenities).

[Qwertystop]

At least 10kpp, but no rush really. I'd say that if everybody donated at least 500 pp per week, we could reach that amount in less than a month, so... Considering March is closing up, we could place up to the end of Spring Break to give the necessary push to the airship, plus a few for the amenities. But again; no rush, everybody gets to get the ship benefits, and right now the only thing I think we can get is the Mailbox and the Silver Flame priest, IIRC. Actually, only one amenity is available, but with more guild XP we might get to level 22-23 which opens a few more amenities (unless someone's willing to cash Turbine Points for the DDO-based amenities).

No mailbox, we can get to it easily and for free by flying to the Harbor, the Market, or any Enclave. Also, isn't the minimum level for the mailbox 24, and any other amenity at least 25? Or are we Gold Seal, in which case we can get the Small Chest instead of the Mailbox?

I certainly don't want to pay for anything we can get for free. If we must, leave the hookpoint empty for a little while, but I'm not putting money toward saving a few seconds on getting mail.

[abadguy]

How do I donate? Send the pp to someone?

[Lemonus]

Hey! I play DDO, mainly on Cannith, although I have characters on very server. I'd love to join the guild, once I get around to logging on and figuring out what character I have on Thelanis. He'll only be level 1-2, is that okay?

[Qwertystop]

How do I donate? Send the pp to someone?

Go to the airship shop, next to the harbor's airship entrance. Talk to the Windspyre vendor and make the donation. I donated more than 30,000 plat today between my 2 characters, I think, though I'm not completely sure how much.

[T.G. Oskar]

Hey! I play DDO, mainly on Cannith, although I have characters on very server. I'd love to join the guild, once I get around to logging on and figuring out what character I have on Thelanis. He'll only be level 1-2, is that okay?

Yeah, it's alright; just tell us whenever you reach the Harbor (unless you wish to skip the Korthos storyline), and we'll send the invite.

On terms of the airship: now that I checked, it's 50,000 pp to purchase the Sparrow, but with master's donations we're already at half the necessary amount (27,000 pp). This should do well, if everyone at least donates 500 pp a week. Since I had to do it quick, tho, I couldn't check the first amenity we actually can purchase.

[Qwertystop]

Yeah, it's alright; just tell us whenever you reach the Harbor (unless you wish to skip the Korthos storyline), and we'll send the invite.

On terms of the airship: now that I checked, it's 50,000 pp to purchase the Sparrow, but with master's donations we're already at half the necessary amount (27,000 pp). This should do well, if everyone at least donates 500 pp a week. Since I had to do it quick, tho, I couldn't check the first amenity we actually can purchase.

Yeah... as far as the donations go, I just want it known that nobody is expected to put as much as I did in at once. I essentially drained two characters for that donation, as well as selling a lot of loot that I had kept just-in-case (mostly potions).
You should, however, put in that 500/week.

[Fri]

Oh, so that's how you donate. Huh, I'll try it later. By the way, do guilds have common storage? Like, if you have more ammo/potion/whatever than you use?

[T.G. Oskar]

Oh, so that's how you donate. Huh, I'll try it later. By the way, do guilds have common storage? Like, if you have more ammo/potion/whatever than you use?

IIRC, there's a guild chest which serves like a bank for all guildmates, but not sure if it's a purchasable amenity or it comes with the airship. It allows certain items to be exchanged. However, I can't back off on that, not until we get an airship of course.

[Qwertystop]

IIRC, there's a guild chest which serves like a bank for all guildmates, but not sure if it's a purchasable amenity or it comes with the airship. It allows certain items to be exchanged. However, I can't back off on that, not until we get an airship of course.

it's an amenity and it's ML 24 if we buy it for plat.

[Qwertystop]

OK, with my rogue's latest 500 plat donation, we have hit 30,000 plat in the Airship fund. 3/5 of the way there, people! Keep those donations coming, I don't think it's changed much since last time I checked. :smallwink:


EDIT: Is anyone interested in starting a Guild Tax, 500 plat/month, to ensure that we have a steady supply of money for amneties and/or ship upgrades?

[T.G. Oskar]

Well...it's hard to institute a Guild Tax, since there's no way to enforce it. It's mostly a recommendation, given that most of us play on other servers (or play sparingly) and might not have the time to log on and generate enough money for the taxing.

In my case, I contributed with 2,500 PP, so that would cover about 5 weeks. That makes it (up until I checked) 36,500 PP for the Airship fund.

Also, to J-H: your Rogue (Jonatar?) is now an Officer (random congrats!). Use that benefit wisely. If you wish me to change the toon to be an Officer, just tell me and I'll do whenever I have the time. That leaves one spot that could be filled by anyone who has enough time playing and that has enough time to play with.

[Qwertystop]

Well...it's hard to institute a Guild Tax, since there's no way to enforce it. It's mostly a recommendation, given that most of us play on other servers (or play sparingly) and might not have the time to log on and generate enough money for the taxing.

In my case, I contributed with 2,500 PP, so that would cover about 5 weeks. That makes it (up until I checked) 36,500 PP for the Airship fund.


Good pint. I donated a few thousand from my Rogue in the last few days.

Do amneties have a monthly cost, or does one payment last until you change it?

[Fri]

My bard in Thelanis, Riett Sparrowhawk, had finally reached level 3 and Stormhold. Could she be invited to the guild, if someone have some free time?

[Qwertystop]

My bard in Thelanis, Riett Sparrowhawk, had finally reached level 3 and Stormhold. Could she be invited to the guild, if someone have some free time?

OK, will invite in a minute

EDIT: I just made a bard, Songaster, and invited him, if anyone's wondering who the new guy on the member list is.
EDIT: Never mind, i deleted him. I suck at bards...

[Element Zero]

Dragnan Brightaxe, Dwarf Paladin, would very much love to join the Order of the Playground. I'm still in Korthos, but I should be out and in Stormreach within the next day or so.

[Element Zero]

So, I'm in Stormreach now and I would very much like an invite...though the forum hasn't updated in four days or so...

Dragnan is my Paladin's name.

[Thanatos 51-50]

I tried this out on my brother's computer, and I have to say:
Disappoint.

Apparantly, the Dev team didn't think like I did and figure that Improved Shield Bash would be great with TWF. I cannot find a way to TWF with a shield. This upsets me.

[T.G. Oskar]

I tried this out on my brother's computer, and I have to say:
Disappoint.

Apparantly, the Dev team didn't think like I did and figure that Improved Shield Bash would be great with TWF. I cannot find a way to TWF with a shield. This upsets me.

It's probably because of the way Shield Bash works in-game, and how TWF works in general.

However, I find that forcing TWF into shields isn't the best way, if only because it forces you to have high Dexterity, which usually goes counter to people using shields (specifically Tower Shields). If they only had Agile Shield Fighting, in which you can get a chance to attack with shields in the off-hand, it would be nice; however, that's not the case. Well, maybe now that Improved Shield Bash will work somehow like that. Still, a specific sword&board chain that allows increased use of shield bash with melee attacks without too much Dex would be better, since that way you could make low Dex characters and gain the benefit of shields.

I'd also say they should replace uses of Remove Disease on Paladins for extra feats and at least something else, but I'm no developer to work that out.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Can't Bash with a tower shield anyway in Tabletop. Interface-wise, if they added a checkbox or an ability like defensive fighting that you could click on that said "TWF with shield" or even a Shield Spikes weapon (Or modified it if they have it in-game), they could add it.
And it would be nice if the tutorial offered to give you a (Spiked) shield instead of Ye Aulde Grande List of Weapons.

[T.G. Oskar]

Can't Bash with a tower shield anyway in Tabletop.

Remember DDO ~/= D&D. You can bash with tower shields in the game. They also deal higher damage (tower shields in DDO look like huge shields, not the rectangular shields shown in Roman movies).


Interface-wise, if they added a checkbox or an ability like defensive fighting that you could click on that said "TWF with shield" or even a Shield Spikes weapon (Or modified it if they have it in-game), they could add it.
And it would be nice if the tutorial offered to give you a (Spiked) shield instead of Ye Aulde Grande List of Weapons.


Shield fighting is already discouraged in-game. For starters, you attack REALLY slow with shields (generally it's melee, then ranged, then speed, then 0-level Eternal Wands, then Sorcerer spells, then spells in terms of animation speed). Second, you deal little damage with them (because you can't enchant the shields to do any damage). Third, and as I said before; TWF works differently in-game. TWF mostly adds a chance to make an off-hand attack with a main attack, essentially doubling your attacks. Because shield bash is treated as a different action and not part of the attack action, the devs don't treat shield bash as part of TWF. Hence, why the need for a different set of feats (such as Agile Shield Fighting) to make this work. In fact, there's a sure-fire way to get shield bashes to count as a sort-of TWF, but they're limited to one (http://ddowiki.com/page/Swashbuckler_%28Level_16%29%28Tier_1%29) shield (and it's really in response to an attack, not as part of your attack action). Swashbuckler is really that good because it offers both Riposte AND Doublestrike AND Guardbreaking, which are nice to provide a shield user with options.

On the other hand, Agile Shield Fighting might work as intended; a clicky you can toggle to allow using a TWF with shields, interspersing shield bash attacks with melee attacks (at a 20% rate). However, knowing the devs, they may tie ASF with TWF for greater ratio, making TWF all but a necessity to shield users (which isn't really the idea behind it), and thus forcing high Dex on shield-using builds. While a Fighter can live with it, that pretty much murders Paladins with their lousy Dex AND their feat starving. Bashing already exists in-game, but as a suffix (X shield of bashing, for example), so tying Agile Shield Fighting with Shield Bash makes Bashing Shields all the more useful, and IIRC there ARE a few shields with shield spikes; the problem is that shields are treated as one item, while a spiked shield has to be treated like two items (one as a weapon, another as an armor) which really defeats the point of spiked shields (to deal damage with the shield while wielding a weapon).

But that's mostly the problem with attack options: ranged and sword & board are ineffective compared to TWF and THF, since you can't really kill an enemy from afar and AC becomes less and less important as the game progresses because most people can reach upwards of 90 AC without flinching (by stacking different AC options).

[Moonshadow]

So, could I get an invite into the GitP Guild on Thelanis? :O

Pretty please? XD

My characters name is Elyissa Vaernae, and she's a Monk. I'm currently running around killing enough monsters to finish the Korthos slayer quest thing.

[T.G. Oskar]

Wow, it's...been quite a while since I had something of importance to post, but we've got good news:

Habemus Aeronave. That's Canis Latinus for "we've got an Airship".

For starters, the guild airship is quite small; compared to other ships (such as, let's say, the ship in "The Black Loch" for all of those who've played the Sentinels of Stormreach pack, or the main boat in the Crystal Cove event), the airship is easily 1/8th the size. I think it's as small as some of the boats in the Harbor.

The second thing is that the amenities are PRETTY EXPENSIVE. The three amenities we have access are rather cheap (125 plat for 3 days or an extension of a week), but the nice amenities cost around 8,000 platinum (for 3 days, likewise, or a weekly extension) and the Small Guild Chest (which we might have access to after 3 more levels) costs a whopping 11k PP. The good news is that they're sold at-cost, so haggle makes them cost even cheaper than usual.

The problem lies in that the expenditure of money to finally buy the airship has bled me dry. I've recovered a bit, but I'm trying to save for a Small Ingredients Bag (I already have a Medium Collectibles Bag), so I'll be unable to provide amenities for the guild. Luckily, that's another way you can contribute!

So, would you mind shelling the cost for the amenities? We can access the Silver Flame Priest (a long lasting Protection from Evil buff that applies between adventures), a Deneith Defender (+1 natural armor bonus and DR 1/-) and a Jorasco Healer (+10% incoming healing bonus).

[Qwertystop]

Wow, it's...been quite a while since I had something of importance to post, but we've got good news:

Habemus Aeronave. That's Canis Latinus for "we've got an Airship".

For starters, the guild airship is quite small; compared to other ships (such as, let's say, the ship in "The Black Loch" for all of those who've played the Sentinels of Stormreach pack, or the main boat in the Crystal Cove event), the airship is easily 1/8th the size. I think it's as small as some of the boats in the Harbor.

The second thing is that the amenities are PRETTY EXPENSIVE. The three amenities we have access are rather cheap (125 plat for 3 days or an extension of a week), but the nice amenities cost around 8,000 platinum (for 3 days, likewise, or a weekly extension) and the Small Guild Chest (which we might have access to after 3 more levels) costs a whopping 11k PP. The good news is that they're sold at-cost, so haggle makes them cost even cheaper than usual.

The problem lies in that the expenditure of money to finally buy the airship has bled me dry. I've recovered a bit, but I'm trying to save for a Small Ingredients Bag (I already have a Medium Collectibles Bag), so I'll be unable to provide amenities for the guild. Luckily, that's another way you can contribute!

So, would you mind shelling the cost for the amenities? We can access the Silver Flame Priest (a long lasting Protection from Evil buff that applies between adventures), a Deneith Defender (+1 natural armor bonus and DR 1/-) and a Jorasco Healer (+10% incoming healing bonus).

Firstly, you can get an Ingredient Bag for free from The 12. Secondly, lets save money by not getting the Silver Flame Preist, since AFAIK Protection from Evil is only an AC boost, while both the DR and the healing boost are better. Also, Protection from Evil can be gotten in potion form the few times it is really important.

Finally, lets see who in the guild has the most Haggle, and have them make the actual purchases.

[NeoVid]

I just might start having enough free time to play to run characters on more than one server soon. If I can, I'll be joining the Order ASAP.

[Qwertystop]

I just bought us 2 weeks and a day of Deneith Protector contract.

[The Shadowmind]

Just redownloaded the game, and now at Sor 2.
Character name: Belleani
On the server the guild is.

[Blue Bandit]

I just downloaded this game as well and kindly request a guild invite. I'm currently a lvl 2 Halfling rouge on the same server as guild.

Character name: Dakshaar

[Rising Phoenix]

Downloading installation as we speak. We'll let you know on character name and what not soon :)

[T.G. Oskar]

So as long as everyone is on the right server (Thelanis), I've sent invites to Elyissa, Belleani and Dakshaar. Check your mail when you have time (likely when you finish the Korthos storyline).

[Moonshadow]

Can you please invite my Ranger, Zaraed Nal'Dar? I'm currently level 4 and just going through the Stormreach Quests and stuff. Going to build into Tempest.

[Turalisj]

Well, I guess I'll join in.

Just made a half-orc fighter under the name of Thugrush, send invite via mail?

[T.G. Oskar]

Thugrush's invite should be on the mail.

On the other hand, I tried three times to send the invite to Zaraed (one with only the first name, the last one with both names) to no avail. All three times there was a message saying that there was no one with the name. Mind checking me that one? Also, noticed everyone but Elyissa got in, so that worries me a bit.

[Moonshadow]

:smallredface: My bad, I spelt it wrong and didn't realise. It's actually Zeraed Nal'Dar.

And that's weird, because I got the invite and joined with Elyissa already >> Though, I'm probably gonna remake her now that I have 32 point build anyways.

[Blue Bandit]

I have a question.

The guild message of the day asks for contributions toward airship amenities but I'm unsure on how to do so. I found the guy inside the airship showroom that lets you donate toward buying a new airship, but I can't figure out how to donate toward amenities.

[T.G. Oskar]

I have a question.

The guild message of the day asks for contributions toward airship amenities but I'm unsure on how to do so. I found the guy inside the airship showroom that lets you donate toward buying a new airship, but I can't figure out how to donate toward amenities.

Get into the airship, then find the kobold guy. He should activate the slots where the amenities are. From there, go to any of the shining spots and buy any of the things that are available for buying (which should be only three things).

[slaydemons]

I recently joined the server the guild is on mind if I get in as soon as I am done with the kothos quests, tuncecine is my name and I am a cleric

edit: due to recent talks in game I want to mention I am not a party buffer or a healer I am a melee cleric buffing my self and If I see people's hp low and I have enough sp to heal them I will

[Dissolve]

Long time reader of the comic, been playing DDO a little while (r. mechanic to level 10 with a couple friends doing wiz & favored soul) on another server, and interested in the GITP guild. Would any particular role be helpful right now? I am subscribed & have 32 point builds available.

[The Succubus]

Chalk up another interested party here. Thinking of rolling a sorc or monk or barb.

[T.G. Oskar]

Well, the guild is mostly dead, aside from my two characters whom log in every once in a while. Still stuck in level 23, in any case.

Given that DDO has released a new incentive to Build your Guild (http://www.ddo.com/buildyourguild), I'm asking everyone if you want to reconsider entering the guild in Thelanis, in case you wish to get at least the 10% XP and +1 Loot bonus (which I can't have, because I've been pretty much keeping the guild alive with my meager contributions). The Large Bounties are nice, what with having 25k guild XP (enough for at least one level, what with the Guild bonus), which should be enough for the Small Guild Chest.

I'll still keep the guild open in any case, but I'm thinking about opening it to the general population, rather than keep it mostly within the forum members. That might serve as a way to lure people into the forums (if not already), as a free service to the Giant (if I get to do it anyways).

[Turalisj]

I lost my DDO password and the email I used to create my account is no longer active (and there's no way for me to get the email back), so I'm pretty much done with DDO and LOTRO.