New DDO player, choosing a server/world

[Zweisteine]

I just signed up to play DDO, and have finished downloading the game. The first thing it does is ask what world you'd like to play in. I have a few questions about that:

You can have characters on multiple servers, but can't move characters from server to server, right?

Does it actually make a difference what server I choose initially? (And if it does, can that impact be changed later?)

What server should I join? (It recommends Cannith.)

(If possible, I'd like a quick reply, so I can get started sooner rather than later.) :small wink:

Thanks!

[JadedDM]

You can transfer a character to another server, but it costs Turbine Points (about $25 worth). You can read more about it here (http://support.turbine.com/link/portal/24001/24001/Article/57/DDO-World-Character-Transfer-FAQs).

As for differences in servers, I don't think there really are any. I can't remember, but I think when I played, I was on Cannith, too. I think it's just based on your region, I don't believe there are any real significant differences between them. Just that, if you want to play with friends, make sure you're all on the same server.

[wumpus]

If it is recommending Cannith, that will have more new players than anywhere else (they rotate this every few months). Pretty much anything but Wayland (a failed attempt to make a German speaking server) should be fine. It wouldn't hurt to make a character on each server, then run around and see how many players you see in Stormreach (just tell the sailors you are leaving Korthis and skipping the storyline, you can come back whatever it says). Note that you get a bunch of turbine points (although nothing like LOTRO) the first few quests on a new server.
I've heard that Kyber has always claimed to be the biggest in endgame, although a few Orien guilds have put up a challenge. I've noticed that Orien lagged out if I didn't have DDO on my SSD, while Ghallanda didn't (not sure if that means anything).

More notes:
DON'T DUMP CON. This isn't as bad as it used to be, but you should still always have at least 14 con.
DEX hardly ever matters. Don't put points into dexterity for anything but a ranged character (or to pay a stat tax. You are still likely to put more dex than you want on a ranged character to pay a stat tax). You don't need dex to land spells. This is very much a min/max game.
The "suggested paths" they try to steer you on vary between slightly bad and horribly broken (broken in the you die often sense, not arise as a god), and only get worse as they go on. I'd recommend looking here: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/232660-Revisiting-paths-Builds-for-new-players (horribly out of date, but I don't know of a replacement).
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/422251-New-U19-Builds-for-Characters - These should be current, but don't appear to be new player friendly (a point made in the revisted paths). Respeccing is far easier than before, but expect a cost [it will never be trivial in DDO], and it is easier to get it right the first time.
There is nothing in the DDO store that makes sense to buy before level 5, and probably not before level 8 (and at that point you are likely buying quests and possibly a shared bank. Or maybe VIP). Put your wallet away before you know what you are buying (they have had a tendency to sell vendor trash for real money, only to hand you better gear before finishing the tutorial quest).

There used to be an order of the stick guild on Thelanis, but I think it died years ago.

[Zweisteine]

Thanks for the avice!

I've read a bit on the wiki, and I think I understand the basics, but a lot of the stuff I found relies on the type of knowledge I can only gather by playing. (I can't learn basic game mechanics from a manual very well.)

Is there a way to do a quick character reset (i.e. delete character and make completely new one without any special bonuses)? That would let me make a character to earn the basics, then delete it and make something to actually use.

[Pronounceable]

Depending on how much patience you got for grinding, you can earn a lot of free shop points by repeating tutorial on different servers. You'd get a whole lot of points if you finish tutorial on every single server but it'd take a mind numbingly stupid amount of time. That said, when you're mucking about with classes to see what you like best, always pick a new server so you get a few free points here and there.

[Douglas]

I play on Ghallanda, and I think it has one of the higher server populations.


DEX hardly ever matters. Don't put points into dexterity for anything but a ranged character (or to pay a stat tax. You are still likely to put more dex than you want on a ranged character to pay a stat tax). You don't need dex to land spells. This is very much a min/max game.
There are ways now to apply dexterity to both attack and damage, so this is very much build dependent. Just make sure if you do want to go dex primary that your build will have one of those ways. For example, archers should generally be elves because the elf racial enhancement tree has a dex-to-damage-with-bows ability. For a melee example, rogues have core enhancements that give dex to attack and damage provided you're wielding daggers, kukris, or a quarterstaff.


Respeccing is far easier than before, but expect a cost [it will never be trivial in DDO], and it is easier to get it right the first time.
Every character gets one free respec of everything but class, race, gender, alignment, and name. This is called a Lesser Reincarnation, and requires the Lesser Heart of Wood that each character receives in inventory on creation. Getting more requires purchasing from the DDO store.

Every character also gets one free feat swap, accessed by answering a short quiz about dragonmarks in a "quest" called Hall of the Mark.


Is there a way to do a quick character reset (i.e. delete character and make completely new one without any special bonuses)? That would let me make a character to earn the basics, then delete it and make something to actually use.
You can delete characters on the same screen as you select which one to play, and you can make a new character any time you have less than your maximum number of characters on the server (which is 2 for free accounts).

[Zweisteine]

Depending on how much patience you got for grinding, you can earn a lot of free shop points by repeating tutorial on different servers. You'd get a whole lot of points if you finish tutorial on every single server but it'd take a mind numbingly stupid amount of time. That said, when you're mucking about with classes to see what you like best, always pick a new server so you get a few free points here and there.
I have no patience for grinding, probably... I get pretty bored pretty fast.


I play on Ghallanda, and I think it has one of the higher server populations.
Cool. What kind of character do you play?


There are ways now to apply dexterity to both attack and damage, so this is very much build dependent. Just make sure if you do want to go dex primary that your build will have one of those ways. For example, archers should generally be elves because the elf racial enhancement tree has a dex-to-damage-with-bows ability. For a melee example, rogues have core enhancements that give dex to attack and damage provided you're wielding daggers, kukris, or a quarterstaff.
Is there any more feasibility to Zen Archery than there is to standard archery, besides the fact that Zen archery also probably involves spellcasting?



Every character gets one free respec of everything but class, race, gender, alignment, and name.
So that basically lets you fix any mistakes you made while figuring out how the game works, or change from a default path to one of your own choosing?

Looking at the wiki page (http://ddowiki.com/page/Lesser_Reincarnation) for Lesser Reincarnation, I see mention of a pretty bad-sounding bug. Is that anything to worry about?


You can delete characters on the same screen as you select which one to play, and you can make a new character any time you have less than your maximum number of characters on the server (which is 2 for free accounts).
Okay.

I will now go to an online generator and quickly throw together a build, and post it here. If anyone has the time, could you tell me if it has any problems?

EDIT:

Here it is! (http://www.neurovat.com/ddochargen/home.aspx?build=62941)
And here's the other version (http://www.neurovat.com/ddochargen/home.aspx?build=62942) I'm considering! (This one's a dwarf.)

The things I'm least certain about are the things I have to choose: my human bonus feat, my extra skill, and any additional enhancements.

[Douglas]

I have no patience for grinding, probably... I get pretty bored pretty fast.
Then you will almost certainly have to pay money eventually, even if only to unlock new and high level content. You probably would anyway, it takes a ridiculous amount of time to get enough Turbine Points for meaningful amounts of adventure packs just from favor.


Cool. What kind of character do you play?
Currently, a dwarven fighter, with a shield and dwarven axe. He will at some point True Reincarnate into a monk (I'm thinking human, but haven't finalized the decision), and has already True Reincarnated once (was originally dwarf barbarian).


Is there any more feasibility to Zen Archery than there is to standard archery, besides the fact that Zen archery also probably involves spellcasting?
There is actually an extremely powerful build, known as the monkcher, that uses Zen Archery and some Monk levels, along with various other details I'd have to look up.


So that basically lets you fix any mistakes you made while figuring out how the game works, or change from a default path to one of your own choosing?
Within certain limits, yes. As I listed already, you can't use it to change your race or class, and alignment is also off limits which might matter for some specific pieces of equipment. Anything else, including your ability scores, can be changed with all the freedom available to a new character.


Looking at the wiki page (http://ddowiki.com/page/Lesser_Reincarnation) for Lesser Reincarnation, I see mention of a pretty bad-sounding bug. Is that anything to worry about?
That is outdated, from a time when the free LR was handled by a special separate dialog option. The entire reincarnation system has been overhauled since then, and as part of that change the free one uses exactly the same mechanism as paid ones by the simple expedient of giving you a free Heart.


Here it is! (http://www.neurovat.com/ddochargen/home.aspx?build=62941)
And here's the other version (http://www.neurovat.com/ddochargen/home.aspx?build=62942) I'm considering! (This one's a dwarf.)
I take it you're going for a battle cleric type build, who mixes it up in melee with spells for buffing and healing.

I wouldn't bother with Dragonmark of Sentinel, with your build almost all of it will be either useless or redundant with your cleric spellcasting. Personally I've never found tumble to really be useful. I have no actual experience with it myself, but I'm pretty sure you'll need substantially more charisma if you want to actually be good at Turn Undead. If you don't care about Turn Undead (and I wouldn't, as a battle cleric your stats are already spread too thin to afford it), then dump charisma entirely.


The things I'm least certain about are the things I have to choose: my human bonus feat, my extra skill, and any additional enhancements.
In general, my top feat recommendations for melee are usually Power Attack and Cleave, later followed with Great Cleave. Power Attack works pretty much as in D&D, but Cleave and Great Cleave are instead special attacks you manually activate, that hit everything in front of you at once instead of the normal single target and also do bonus damage, all as quickly as a normal attack and limited only by a 5 second cooldown.

Empower Healing can wait for later, if you ever take it.

I would seriously consider taking jump as a skill, you'd be amazed how much convenience and utility you get out of it throughout the game.

[Zweisteine]

Power Attack seems to have the downside of taking away my entire BAB for quite a few levels, and giving what seems like a very small bonus.

Cleave seems good, though.

I kind of want the dragonmark for flavor reasons (I'm a pretty big fan of Eberron). Perhaps the Mark of Finding or Passage would be more useful?

[NeoVid]

I've played a battle cleric into the high epics, and it's amazingly good, as long as you have a high tolerance for people asking "Can you heal?" because you only have 18 levels of Cleric. If you want to make a melee cleric, you'll need a couple of levels in another class (fighter or paladin are optimal, I believe) to gain proficiency with weapon types that are actually worth using. Since you'll be splitting your focus between casting and melee, remember that will mean you won't have the DCs for offensive casting later. Though you can still shred nearly everything with Blade Barrier, so what does it matter? Even if you're not focusing on casting, you'll almost certainly want Extend Spell so your excellent buffs last even longer. At high levels, Quicken Spell is also necessary, since being knocked out of casting Mass Heal makes your party sad (and dead).


Power Attack seems to have the downside of taking away my entire BAB for quite a few levels, and giving what seems like a very small bonus.

Cleave seems good, though.


A character that does melee will want PA, Cleave+Great Cleave, and at least the first couple of feats supporting their weapon choice. I went with a dwarf for the axe bonuses, but human is always good, same as in tabletop. Running Dragonmarks will also mean you'll eventually be able to use this. (http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Epic_Chimera%27s_Fang)

That said, while just starting out, you don't need to worry about high levels for a while. Planning your build ahead of time in D&D is always a good idea, but there's not much reason to worry about more than that yet. Cleric is really easy to do well with. The thing to focus on early is getting a handle on the game mechanics. Just like in tabletop, there's quite a bit about the game that you might never realize if an experienced player doesn't teach you. Vital tip, especially for a caster: Unlock more inventory space ASAP, and make a lot of hotbars. You can put any item or spell on a hotbar. Convenience can save your life in DDO.

[Zweisteine]

Thanks for all the advice!

Being able to retrain everything once sounds like it'll help a lot.

An some important questions I keep forgetting:
If I delete a character, will the new one have a heart of wood?
If I complete the tutorial quests, will I be able to repeat them with each new character?

So for feats, I'll start out with Cleave and the Mark of Passage, and take Power Attack next.

Teleport will come in handy if I ever get that far, I imagine.

[Douglas]

An some important questions I keep forgetting:
If I delete a character, will the new one have a heart of wood?
Every new character gets his own free heart of wood, independent of all others.


If I complete the tutorial quests, will I be able to repeat them with each new character?
Strictly speaking, only one quest (The Grotto) is really a tutorial. The option to skip The Grotto is optional, and if you choose to use it you will instantly get all of the experience and items that you would have gained from running the quest. Skipping The Grotto will also put you in the "sunny side" of Korthos, which you don't normally get to until completing the Korthos Island story arc (culminating in the quest Misery's Peak). This may be significant because players in the "sunny side" of Korthos cannot be in the same party as players in the "snowy side".


So for feats, I'll start out with Cleave and the Mark of Passage, and take Power Attack next.
Power Attack is a prerequisite of Cleave, you have to take it before Cleave.

As a level 1 cleric with 0 BAB, Power Attack will do literally nothing if you turn it on, positive or negative, until you reach level 2.

You can take the Dragonmark feat at any level, there's no need to take it immediately. Passage is probably the best choice of which one, though.


Teleport will come in handy if I ever get that far, I imagine.
Dimension Door will probably be the most significant spell-like ability from it, actually. Everything it gives you but the balance bonus is convenience, really, but the convenience can sometimes be quite large.

[Zweisteine]

This may be significant because players in the "sunny side" of Korthos cannot be in the same party as players in the "snowy side".
I'm not sure I understand this.


Power Attack is a prerequisite of Cleave, you have to take it before Cleave.
I should've known that... Oops.


As a level 1 cleric with 0 BAB, Power Attack will do literally nothing if you turn it on, positive or negative, until you reach level 2.
Which is why I don't really want to take it... Right, I take both.


You can take the Dragonmark feat at any level, there's no need to take it immediately. Passage is probably the best choice of which one, though.
So level three, then.

So Human Cleric 1
Abilities 14, 10, 16, 8, 16, 6 (I'll move the points from dexterity when I rebuild, presumably before AC becomes irrelevant)
Skills: Concentration 4, Jump 2
Feats: Power Attack, Cleave

[Douglas]

Looks good, though one change to consider is putting the last 2 points in intelligence instead of dexterity for another maxed skill. Heal is the obvious choice, for a 1% per point improvement in your healing spells. You can do that later with your rebuild, though, it probably won't make any difference casting Cure Light Wounds at level 1.

Sunny vs Snowy:
The storyline of the newbie area involves a white dragon causing severe cold weather on Korthos Island. When you come out of The Grotto, you will find yourself in a small town where it is perpetually snowing. After completing Misery's Peak, the dragon leaves and weather returns to normal. You will return to find yourself in exactly the same town, but it's sunny and clear. This is implemented as two separate versions of the town that are technically different areas, and anyone in the snowy area cannot join a party with anyone who is not also in the snowy area. You leave the snowy area when you do any of a) skip The Grotto, b) complete Misery's Peak, or c) take the boat to Stormreach despite the all caps warning that it might not be a good idea. Once you have left the snowy area you can never again return to it - going back to Korthos will send you to the sunny version of it.

[Zweisteine]

I see.

Are you allowed to use dragonmarked house names for characters?

I've been trying to ask some lf these questions on the DDO forums as well, but tere does not seem to be a "post new thread" button anywhere...

[VexingFool]

I believe if your account is FTP you are limited to posting in the Free to Play/Newbie Advice forum. Spending a couple of bucks will upgrade your account to premium and unlock several of the FTP restrictions.

[Douglas]

Are you allowed to use dragonmarked house names for characters?
As in combining an original first name with a surname of "d'Orien" (since Orien is the house with the Mark of Passage)? Sure, why wouldn't you be?

As in using the exact full name of a specific canon character? That, I think, is against the rules, though it's a minor enough violation you might get away with it simply because no one both notices and cares.

[Zweisteine]

Well, the Turbine Naming Policy (http://support.turbine.com/link/portal/24001/24001/Article/694/DDO-Character-Naming-Policy) for DDO basically says no using names associated with DDO.

And I have no "post thread" button even in that subforum. And the lack of a "general questions thread" means I have nowhere to ask questions...

[Douglas]

My reading of that is that it's talking about the latter case I mentioned - making your entire name a match for a specific established individual.

Are you logged in on the ddo forums site? You're talking about this forum (https://www.ddo.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/81-New-Player-Advice-amp-Guidance), right?

[wumpus]

Some [late] notes:

Way back when I started DDO, I made a ton of battleclerics. Newbies seem to be drawn to them. One thing I learned is that taking a level of fighter didn't seem to help much, getting the next level of spells mattered much more than the extra fighting feats. More notes:

If you want to do real melee damage, you will likely need some form of two-handed fighting (takes a feat, included with a level of fighter), power attack, and improved critical [semi-weapon specific], this gets expensive.

Note that by the time you can use all these feats (some time ~12 level) you will also have the blade barrier spell (at cleric level 11) which does even more damage. Personally, I'd forget about optimizing for [melee] battle and crank wisdom as high as it goes and split the rest between strength and constitution. Note that now (especially with a non-human) you will likely want more intelligence so you can have the heal and spellcraft skills maxed, and maybe also jump, balance, and diplomacy (don't expect to be able to afford them all). Keep wisdom at least 16 if you go this route, and put all your level ups there.

If you are planning on using a shield (presumably eventually moving toward a more casting oriented cleric), I'd recommend true neutral. Shields and armors can have the stability power, which requires a nuetral alignment (you aren't likely to get enough Use Magic Device to get around it).

I think the "official path" warpriest still uses a khopesh. Don't do this: you need at least improved critical to make a khopesh do as much damage as a longsword, and likely need the whole TWF path (which is essentially unavailable to you) to have a prayer of catching up to a greataxe. A mace does exactly the same damage as longsword or battleaxe (until level 12 or so, and only if you have the feats). - exception: once your cleric follows the soveriegn host, then longswords make sense (cleric bonuses). They really don't make sense for any other non-divine class. Also not that dwarves get a bit nerfed in they can't follow any specific gods and miss out on these bonuses.

[TL;DR]
Be a pure cleric, and fight mace & board style - pure neutral goes best with mace (or sword/axe) and board.
Crank your wisdom as high as possible (which might well be 16 if you need strength and con of roughly 14, and maybe int upwards of 12). 18 wisdom will make a difference when you need to greater command giants in gianthold, and more so when casting blade barrier on critters with evasion. Put all your level ups into wisdom.
dwarves are a bit nerfed due to no "gods of dwarves" in Ebberon.
Have fun! DDO might be past its peak, but that only means that there is a huge amount of content.

[Zweisteine]

Thanks!

Good information can never come too late.

Well... I gues it can.

I've already started, as a Fighter/Cleric. The fighter was originally meant to be a throwaway, but I went too far and decided to stick with it. I'll eventually rebuild with my heart of wood so I don't have to suffer critically low wisdom, but I've had no problems so far.

Currently, I'm a Fighter 1/Cleric 3. Not bad, and the extra feats are very helpful. The casting is secondary, and I mostly use buffs and healing.

My real troubles are with t second character. I've tried a Sorcerer, a Wizard, a rogue, and a ranger. My guild members have recommended rogue/ranger, but then I run into the issue of cross-class skills, and for the key rogue skills no less (disable device/open lock).

Skill points are something I can always use more of.

[wumpus]

[looks like I left out concentration. Probably at least as important as heal, easily more important than jump and balance. Even if quicken is still required, you will still want concentration.]

Latest ranger/rogue build (for two weapon fighting style rangers)
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/423116-Tempest-Trapmonkey-for-new-players/page5?
WARNING: You will run into a problem with this build at 20th level when you need an epic destiny. I'm sitting on a ranger build (that's 4 years out of date) that will likely include 6 levels of fighter, just to allow the fighter epic destiny.
Another Warning: the big advantage of a ranger is that you can get weapon effects to proc with each hand. This gets expensive and/or requiers a ton of weapons (some people call it a golf bag. Before I made a lit2 khopesh I had 3 full USGA "golf bags"[14 clubs] of melee weapons and 3-4 bows). Consider the horrible grind that is cannith crafting (note that crafting is nearly dead to a less than skilled dev) to stock up on items.

Sorcerer: Great if you have access to warforged, a bit iffy if you don't (actually, the characters seem to sail through early content due to that "robe of the apprentice", but things get iffy until you can reliably get off a heal scroll). I'm grinding away to TR my human sorcerer into a warforged. If you are warforged, just use an axe to get through the first few levels, then keep blasting.
[note: non-WF typically you should be able to get through Korthos with little more than niacs cold ray. If your guild is running on elite, you might need to take "spell focus: conjuration" (but be ready to change this around level 6 to evocation). After level 2 or so, it might help if somebody (or your cleric) could spring for an eagle's splendor wand. Elite may be the quickest way to level, but it kind of assumes you know the dungeons and have some twink gear.]

Rogue: Be warned that turbine never worries if some change will nerf rogues into the ground. Rogues simply aren't seen as something they care to balance. Historically not needed to remove traps (not sure if that changed after enhancments). Rogues are tricky to play, and tend to want to follow tanks around (and nobody wants to play a tank). A great class if you want to play smart. Unfortunately almost nobody in the DDO pug scene wants to play smart.

Wizard: This ones easy: Max intelligence, then push constitution as high as it can go, then finally put the last two points in strength. Like the WF sorc, you will likely keep "master's touch" as an active spell and make heavy use of a two-handed axe. After a few levels, expect to use spells to defeat the mobs, then finish them off with the axe (while they are dazed/sleeping/held/webbed). Be aware that the only effective path for wizards involves necromancy, and you character will effectively become undead (shroud of the zombie/wraith/vampire/lich). This gives you self healing (the most important thing in the game), but may turn off some players.

Wizard/rogue: Historically the best trap finders (search and disable are int based...). The important thing to remember is that rogue skills don't require dexterity and a single feat takes care of the all important (for rogues) reflex save. Since your intelligence starts at 18 (higher with drow) and only goes up (with levelups) you can fill up all those needed skills. Use the stats for a wizard, but start as a rogue (so you get all the extra skills) and take the second level of rogue after you get wall of fire (you will want evasion around then, before then you just need the firepower. Make sure you take insightful reflexes around then so you make those reflex saves as well). As above, its called "pale trapper" for a reason (necromancy based).

build here: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/422622