A newbie's guide to what to keep & what to sell

[Arianrhod]

Experienced players ignore this, you know all this already :D

New players have very limited pack space, so they need to make a lot of choices about what to sell & what to hold onto. This guide only covers potions & wands (since those are the sort of thing people might hang onto indefinitely, thinking they might need them someday); maybe other folks will chime in later with other categories of stuff.

Potions to keep (you or someone else will need them eventually):
Cure Light/Moderate/Serious Wounds
Repair Light/Moderate Serious Damage (if you are or know a warforged)
Lesser Restoration
Remove Paralysis
Remove Curse
Resist Fire (other resist elements potions are good too, but you tend to go through resist fire the fastest)
Possibly Shield of Faith, but only if you remember to use them regularly
Mage Armor only if you don't have anything else giving an equivalent or higher armor bonus
Might also include Barkskin, Heroism, Remove Blindness & Remove Fear, but I don't see these drop - they may have to be purchased.

You can generally do without potions of tumble, jump, protection from evil & mage armor, so might as well sell those if you find you're collecting them faster than you're using them.

Wands - if you're not a spellcaster, keep any cure wands you get to give to your friendly neighborhood cleric; trust me, the goodwill is worth more than whatever you'd get from a vendor.

If you are a spellcaster, or know one to give wands to, buffing & healing wands are worth holding onto (and repair, if you run with warforged), and some use can be made of wands like charm person, detect secret doors & ray of enfeeblement. Other low-level wands like hold person & slow are generally not worth bothering with, might as well just sell them. Fireball & lightning bolt can be handy, as can melf's acid arrow, but most other offensive wands will be resisted too often to be worth taking the time to equip.

Scrolls: Most (if not all) scrolls you find in the harbor are vendor trash. If you have the room and plan to use it yourself it might be worthwhile to hold onto a stack of cure light/moderate scrolls, but scrolls, even more than wands, take so much time to equip & use that they're rarely worth botherig with until you get to higher levels and can carry a stack of something useful (like heal scrolls), and use the stack much like you would a wand.

[issiana]

Just to add a litle bit to why your'd keep this potion as it seems a little weird at first glance.

To start with you cant drink this if you are paralysed so it seems a waste.

However...

if you get hit by a slow spell then drinking this potion will restore you to full speed again.

The same with getting effected with trog stench. (and that can happen lots for you low fort saveing characters.) drinking a remove paralysis pot will remove the stench slowing effect. its worth while having a few as a just in case messure.

[Arianrhod]

Just to add a litle bit to why your'd keep this potion as it seems a little weird at first glance.

To start with you cant drink this if you are paralysed so it seems a waste.

However...

if you get hit by a slow spell then drinking this potion will restore you to full speed again.

The same with getting effected with trog stench. (and that can happen lots for you low fort saveing characters.) drinking a remove paralysis pot will remove the stench slowing effect. its worth while having a few as a just in case messure.

Actually, one of the main reasons for keeping remove paralysis potions is to use it on other party members who are held/paralyzed. Remove paralysis, lesser restoration & maybe some others have "funnels" which allow you to use them on others (have to have the potion in a quickslot & the affected character targeted to use them this way).

[issiana]

true, but normally by the time you go to use it the persons made there save.
either way its good solid advice to carry some. it always pays to be self sufficent.
nice post highlighting the need of pots for new ppl :)

[MrWizard]

Just to add a litle bit to why your'd keep this potion as it seems a little weird at first glance.

To start with you cant drink this if you are paralysed so it seems a waste.

However...

if you get hit by a slow spell then drinking this potion will restore you to full speed again.

The same with getting effected with trog stench. (and that can happen lots for you low fort saveing characters.) drinking a remove paralysis pot will remove the stench slowing effect. its worth while having a few as a just in case messure.

great for slow..

can be used as a clickie to 'unhold' somone....one of the most powerful potions out there...can save a wipe....yet no one ever carries themm.......should always carry them

[Aranticus]

OP, mage armor pots are not useful if you are not wearing armor. wraiths (and all incorpreal creatures) and oozes disregard physical armors with their attacks (incorpreal creatures bypass armor, oozes use a touch attack). mage armor pots thus give a +4 ac bonus vs these monsters and thus offer much more protection compared to a +5 full plate

[Mad_Bombardier]

OP, mage armor pots are not useful if you are not wearing armor. wraiths (and all incorpreal creatures) and oozes disregard physical armors with their attacks (incorpreal creatures bypass armor, oozes use a touch attack). mage armor pots thus give a +4 ac bonus vs these monsters and thus offer much more protection compared to a +5 full plateNot in DDO. There are no touch attacks in DDO. So Mage Armor is just +4 armor bonus; better than +1 Leather, worse than masterwork Full Plate.

[Arianrhod]

Not in DDO. There are no touch attacks in DDO. So Mage Armor is just +4 armor bonus; better than +1 Leather, worse than masterwork Full Plate.

Unfortunately true. In DDO, incorporeal creatures were just given a very high attack bonus to sort of simulate the ability to bypass armor. So mage armor doesn't help any more than it does against any other attack :(

[Aranticus]

Unfortunately true. In DDO, incorporeal creatures were just given a very high attack bonus to sort of simulate the ability to bypass armor. So mage armor doesn't help any more than it does against any other attack :(

bah! cheated. where are the witches? burn em!!!!

[issiana]

bah! cheated. where are the witches? burn em!!!!

hey! i resent being hounded and rounded up to be burnt. go burn yourself for once :p

p.s SWEU (Stormreach Witches and other Evil alignments United) meetings are held every 2nd week to organise our resistance to the prolific "burn the witch" movements, your donations to this worthwhile cause are greatly appreciated :)

[Arianrhod]

Part II - Collectibles

Collectibles are another thing that can take up a lot of inventory space, so here's a quick summary of what you get for various ones, and which are likely to be first to go when you have to start desroying stuff to make room for more real loot (caveat - This only includes basic harbor/market/house collectibles. I'm not familiar enough with the weird stuff like ruddy fungus & the like to comment on those)

In general - remember to use the collectible bag often. The (free) small one can only hold 12 different types of collectible, but up to 99 of each of those 12 types. Good place to keep the more common ones like prayer beads & funerary tokens.

Harbor collectibles:

One of the best harbor collectibles to hold onto are Icons of Khyber (drop from kobolds & troglodytes), which can give arrows or bolts of reptilian bane, or weapons of lesser reptilian bane - can be nice weapons for low level characters in the harbor, who find themselves fighting kobolds almost all the time. The other really worthwile harbor collectible is Khyber Prayer Pamphlets, because they have a decent chance of giving wands of Cure Light Wounds. We can always use more wands of cure light wounds ;) Sweet Whitecaps are fairly nice to collect as well, since they give potions of cure light wounds or oils of light repair (random, unfortunately)

Other harbor collectibles mostly give stuff you're going to end up selling, so it's a question of whether you feel like bothering to collect prayer beads, amber vials, or even the rares. Prayer beads give masterwork ammunition, small wooden idols give +1 ammunition, amber vials & pages from a research notebook give level 1 scrolls, vials of pure water & khyber prayer pamphlets give level 1 wands (but only the pamphlets ever give cure wands), deadly feverblanches give either feverblanch salves (remove disease - have yet to find any use for that before the Necropolis quests) or level 1 potions (depending on who you give them to - there are 2 mushroom collectors in the harbor), Vials of Contagion give level 1 robes, Pale Creepers give level 1 potions or masterwork armor, and Tomes:Prophecies of Khyber give +1 skill items.

[Arianrhod]

Collectibles, cont.

Market Collectibles

Best market collectibles are Necromantic Gems (give undead bane ammo/lesser undead bane weapons), Shamanic Totems (give goblinoid bane ammo/lesser goblinoid bane weapons), and Wavecrasher Cargo Manifests (give cure moderate wounds wands). Cryptmoss Worm Larvae & Withered Cryptmoss can be worthwhile too, for cure moderate wounds potions & cryptmoss silk sutures (also cure moderate wounds). Powdered Blood & glittering or sparkling dust (forget which - the one you need 2 of) can be worth holding onto for casters, since they give arcane wands, but many of those will end up getting sold too, due to low save DCs. Either Cryptmoss Queens or Lush Cryptmoss give +1 armor, but most people will have better by the time they get any of those to turn in.

The rest of the market collectibles are fairly disappointing. Can occasionally get +1 returning throwing weapons for Marks of the Keeper, and a variety of ammo you might be able to use if you're an archer for those & Signets of the Devourer. Otherwise it's second level scrolls for glittering (or is it sparkling?) dust, skull fragments & phoenix tavern purchase orders, +1 ammo for blades of the dark six & funerary tokens, cryptmoss infusions (bears endurance) for cryptmoss, 1st level robes (again!) for luminescent dust & intact fingerbones, & +1 skill items (again!) for Tomes:Stormreach Imports & Exports. Giles Goodman of the Market gives much the same stuff as Kipling Vranch, minus the cure moderate wands.

[transtemporal]

Theres also a definitive guide to collectibles here...

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=58000&highlight=definitive+collectibles

Since the collectible bags were added, its much easier to collect the collectibles without clogging up your inventory. Personally, I have all my toons collect the collectibles and send them to my designated runner toon w 25% striders, who then goes around and cashes them in. Some useful lowbie items and good 2nd 3rd level wands. Particularly like the deneith collectibles. :)

[Arianrhod]

Collectibles, cont.

House Collectibles

The best house collectibles are House Sealed Letters, which give wands of cure serious wounds. Duskbrood Trumpeters give either cure serious wounds potions or Oils of repair serious damage (random). Bruised Spore Pods give Spore Saps (cure serious wounds). Glass Phials give fireball wands, which can be handy in spite of the low save DC. Executioner Beetles give +2 armor, which, again, by the time you get one of these to turn in, you probably already have better. Amulets of the Archbishop give giant bane ammo/lesser giant bane weapons; the ammo is useful for an archer, but the lesser giant bane weapons aren't as useful once you're fighting anything tougher than ogres. The ammunition you get for the amulet type you need 2 of (forget which that is just now) has just as much chance of being useful, as it includes a variety of +2 elemental, anarchic, axiomatic, etc. arrows & bolts.
The elemental essence collector in House Deneith gives the same variety of weapons/ammo, with elemental bane substituted for giant bane.

The rest of the house collectibles are more likely to result in stuff to sell - scrolls/wands & either robes or +3 skill items from Seld the Gray Sister, Bowdlin the Soarwood collector, Kayla Moonwhisper, Husk, Chor Blasthorn & Giles Goodman of House Kundarak, Arrowmint leaves (eagles splendor) for headsmans beetles, and spicy fungal gumbo (bulls strength) for ... um, I forget. One of those things you turn in to the guy in House Jorasco who wants Flowering Hellscaps & Fragrant Drowshoods.

[Tequila]

Actually, one of the main reasons for keeping remove paralysis potions is to use it on other party members who are held/paralyzed. Remove paralysis, lesser restoration & maybe some others have "funnels" which allow you to use them on others (have to have the potion in a quickslot & the affected character targeted to use them this way).

Great, I've played this game since last year and didn't know that you could do this with some potions, use a funnel so to speak, I only thought potions could be used individually or traded to another player. knew there was a reason I read the forums. Now I know :D thanks for the info.

I don't guess anyone cares to elaborate on which ones can be used this way or post a place you can get this info.

Thanks,
Tequila

[arminius]

Jump potions can be very useful, in a number of situations. They are also very, very cheap, so you don't gain that much from selling them. All my characters bought a stack of 100 each--the backpack slot is more valuable than the pennies it takes to maintain them.

And the "Mage Armor not affecting incorpreal attacks" issue has never been confirmed either way by any representative of Turbine. (If anyone would like to prove otherwise, please be sure to provide a link!) Until it is confirmed, all we have are a bunch of forum rumors and the spell description itself, which says it does affect them. Since Mage Armor potions and the House P 30 min buffs for Mage Armor are also both very cheap, it really doesn't hurt to play it safe and assume that it is working properly.

_

[tihocan]

all we have are a bunch of forum rumors
In this situation rumors = detailed experiment with associated results being reported. Just fyi.

[Jeannie]

A word of warning to new players about trading/selling weapons - be careful! I was running with a low level group in Dirk's and pulled a muckbane. The party leader tried to get me trade it him for something like a +1 or +2 mace. I don't know whether he was really that clueless or if he was hoping I was and that he could take advantage of someone who didn't know the value of a muckbane. I think the latter....

Anyway, be careful about trading or vendor trashing anything with a name!

[transtemporal]

Actually, one of the main reasons for keeping remove paralysis potions is to use it on other party members who are held/paralyzed. Remove paralysis, lesser restoration & maybe some others have "funnels" which allow you to use them on others (have to have the potion in a quickslot & the affected character targeted to use them this way).

Is there something tricky you have to do to get this to work Arianrhod? I tried this on a held party member with remove paralysis pot, selected them, then clicked on the pot in the hotbar and my toon drank it, rather than giving it to the held party member. Same with lesser restore. Selected them, clicked on the pot icon - my toon drank it.

[GuitarHero]

A word of warning to new players about trading/selling weapons - be careful! I was running with a low level group in Dirk's and pulled a muckbane. The party leader tried to get me trade it him for something like a +1 or +2 mace. I don't know whether he was really that clueless or if he was hoping I was and that he could take advantage of someone who didn't know the value of a muckbane. I think the latter....

Anyway, be careful about trading or vendor trashing anything with a name!

Aye, anytime someone offers you a deal thats "too good to be true," most times, it is. If you are unsure, tell them you are going to consider it, and write down there name. Then come here and ask, (just don't mention their name) and we'll let you know if its on the up and up, or if they're trying to cheat you. If its on the up and up, you can send them an in game message saying sure, you'll trade, and if not, you know not to play with that person again.



Is there something tricky you have to do to get this to work Arianrhod? I tried this on a held party member with remove paralysis pot, selected them, then clicked on the pot in the hotbar and my toon drank it, rather than giving it to the held party member. Same with lesser restore. Selected them, clicked on the pot icon - my toon drank it.


gotta be pretty close to get it to work, i believe.

[transtemporal]

gotta be pretty close to get it to work, i believe.

Thanks GH, I'll try it out again. I just have to get one of the tanks held... "OMG, someone save me from this hobgoblin cleric quick!" Heh heh