Soloing, grouping difficulties

[ADamiani]

I'm new to the game, and I'm feeling kind of frustrated.
Despite the "Solo" adventure difficulty, I'm finding that it is extraordinarily difficult to complete missions alone, and when I do, the XP rewards are almost never sufficient to justify the time involved. While I've had a good time in groups, and the integrated voice chat makes the experience much more interactive, there simply aren't any groups of my level available much of the time I'm playing-- and when one DOES manage to wrangle one, they're seldom good for more than one quest (or series, if you're lucky). The intro zone lead me to believe that the game was more solo friendly than it now appears to be-- I've gotten to 3 and 4 and I feel kind of like I've hit a brick wall, and that's WAY too early to hit a wall in the progression.

So: what am I doing wrong? How do other players get the most out of the game?

[DemonMage]

You need to post your build for tips on soloing really. It can make a rather large difference in soloing ability. But one of the biggest things to make soloing go smoothly is prior knowledge of the quest, that is just a huge help with any quest.

As for grouping... I can't say I've ever experienced toooo much difficulty getting groups together during prime time at least. If you're playing in the red-eye times, then you'll definitely have more trouble and likely need to run no-healer self-sufficient parties. Best suggestion there overall is to find yourself an active guild during your playtime and group up with them. Your server forum might be able to suggest a decent fit.

[Arianrhod]

The game wasn't really designed for soloing. There have been efforts made to make it more solo-friendly, but in the end, you'll still most likely feel like one person trying to complete a quest designed for 4 (or more). To make soloing less painful, it's very important to have level-appropriate gear (+3 weapons/armor/shield for a 4th level character can make a surprisingly big difference). "Clickies" are a big help - items that let you cast detect secret doors, remove fear, shield, shield of faith, resist fire...all very handy. Constant effect items are even better - feather falling (not feather fall X times per rest, but "of feather falling") & underwater action tend to top the list of "must haves".

Of course, getting all this stuff takes cash - lots of it if you're low level and have nothing to sell but masterwork/+1 items. To get cash, you may want to run the easier quests (that have chests to loot) several times and sell what you get. Alternatively, look for groups doing profitable quests - at level 3-4 Shan-to Kor & Tangleroot are good choices, as well as the House Deneith Depths quests. Going back to the harbor & rerunning Durk's Got a Secret a few times on solo can be helpful (and keep your Muckbane if you're lucky enough to get one - those can save you a bundle on repair bills if you use them on oozes & don't hit skeletons with them; then again, they fetch a decent price at auction, so if you really need the cash...). Waterworks is another good one to go back to after finishing it the first time. Decent end reward, decent treasure, and good experience. Stay away from Irestone Inlet & Proof in the Poison, though, until you've got access to some good elemental resists. Those casters will tear you up (Irestone does have lots of chests, though).

[Teech]

Hi. Some info might help. What time zone (and time) you play, and on which server.
I'm particularly sensitive to comments on time as I live in a +8GMT timezone, and evenings for me is mornings for most DDO players.
Hence, I find it hard to find groups as well.
I generally think that MMOs are more fun in groups, so if thats what you're looking for, and if you're around my timezone, and playing on Sarlona, just let me know, and I'll see if I can help.

[tihocan]

So: what am I doing wrong? How do other players get the most out of the game?
Either they group (very large majority of the population), or they have good solo builds with twinked gear, or they just enjoy the additional challenge of soloing and don't worry about not gaining much XP/gold.

Edit: or they do easy stuff when no group is around, like explorer areas

[NameisToad]

I'm new to the game, and I'm feeling kind of frustrated.
Despite the "Solo" adventure difficulty, I'm finding that it is extraordinarily difficult to complete missions alone, and when I do, the XP rewards are almost never sufficient to justify the time involved. While I've had a good time in groups, and the integrated voice chat makes the experience much more interactive, there simply aren't any groups of my level available much of the time I'm playing-- and when one DOES manage to wrangle one, they're seldom good for more than one quest (or series, if you're lucky). The intro zone lead me to believe that the game was more solo friendly than it now appears to be-- I've gotten to 3 and 4 and I feel kind of like I've hit a brick wall, and that's WAY too early to hit a wall in the progression.

So: what am I doing wrong? How do other players get the most out of the game?

There are several very important things to keep in mind when soloing. People here mentioned builds, equipment, foreknowledge and patience, but I really think class is the most important thing to remember.

All characters have a race (dwarf, human, elf, etc) and at first level they have one class (wizard, rogue, fighter, etc). Most characters at level 16 only have one class, as the player decided to keep taking levels in that one class all the way to the level cap. One of the Developers stated more than a year ago that it was her opinion that single-class characters were stronger than multi-class characters. In many cases, I heartily agree.

The thing I really haven't seen mentioned in this thread is the fact that Fighters, Barbarians, Paladins and Rangers have a much easier time soloing at low levels (read, any mission level 5 or below) than anyone else. Wizards and Sorcerers have an easier time soloing at high levels (read, any mission level 12 or above by any caster level 14 or above). Please note that not all casters are spec'ced or built with soloing in mind, so many can't and/or won't solo anything.

Rogues have a lot of trouble soloing anything ever. I think there is one quest in the game right now that is intended to be beaten by stealth, and while a level 1 rogue can beat it, it's difficult, and takes player skill at sneaking around the map.

Bards are an incredibly mixed bag. Well-built bards played by players who know the game inside and out can solo almost anything, and I've seen some bards do some truly amazing things. I've also seen bards who were intended to be healers and ended up being pale shadows of heal-bot clerics, incapable of doing anything useful other than healing, and incapable of healing half as well as a cleric of equivalent level.


My point here is that your initial message doesn't mention which class your character is, and without knowing that, we can't tell how difficult your solo experience might really be.

[Impaqt]

First, Just because a quest doenst have a "Solo" Option, doesnt mean it cant be solo'd GO back and do those 1-3 level quiest on Normal/hard or even Elite by yourself...

Second, Very few Pugs last past one quest/Quest chain. Thats just the way it goes... Most people are in guilds and have time to pug out one quest then go harras their guildies.... WOrk on getting into a guild with a similar playstyle to yours...

Its always dificult getting started in a game thats well estabished. Make sure people understand that you are a new player.. Not some twinked out alt, and things generally get much smoother.

[Talon_Moonshadow]

Not much advice to give.

Grouping in the Harbor is not really that difficult....not once you learn to use the LFM page. But it does depend on the time of day.

Many lower quests can be soloed.....

Try to get in a Guild....or add lots of people to your friends list.

Create your own groups! Put up the LFM and people will join....that is the best option. Believe me, people hate to be the leader. Step up, make the quest choices and for the group yourself......if you build it, they will come. :)

[Riddikulus]

The game wasn't really designed for soloing. There have been efforts made to make it more solo-friendly, but in the end, you'll still most likely feel like one person trying to complete a quest designed for 4 (or more).
Let's be blunt. DDO is NOT a soloing game.

Once you know the quests well and are twinked up, you can run an alt and solo reasonably well, but from the beginning? No way.

The handful of solo quests from 1-6 will not get you far, as the OP has found out.


To make soloing less painful, it's very important to have level-appropriate gear (+3 weapons/armor/shield for a 4th level character can make a surprisingly big difference).
The first time through it's extremely difficult to obtain +3 gear by level 4. Aside from running the tangleroot series for the +3 end rewards that stuff just doesn't drop until level 7 or so. At level 4 you're lucky to pull +2. As far as buying it... well, you might get lucky at the auction house and bottomfeed such items for something you can afford due to DDO being quite top-heavy.

If the OP is on Khyber send me a PM with your character name & class... I can send you some gear if you'd like.


"Clickies" are a big help - items that let you cast detect secret doors, remove fear, shield, shield of faith, resist fire...all very handy. Constant effect items are even better - feather falling (not feather fall X times per rest, but "of feather falling") & underwater action tend to top the list of "must haves".

Of course, getting all this stuff takes cash - lots of it if you're low level and have nothing to sell but masterwork/+1 items. To get cash, you may want to run the easier quests (that have chests to loot) several times and sell what you get. Alternatively, look for groups doing profitable quests - at level 3-4 Shan-to Kor & Tangleroot are good choices, as well as the House Deneith Depths quests. Going back to the harbor & rerunning Durk's Got a Secret a few times on solo can be helpful (and keep your Muckbane if you're lucky enough to get one - those can save you a bundle on repair bills if you use them on oozes & don't hit skeletons with them; then again, they fetch a decent price at auction, so if you really need the cash...). Waterworks is another good one to go back to after finishing it the first time. Decent end reward, decent treasure, and good experience. Stay away from Irestone Inlet & Proof in the Poison, though, until you've got access to some good elemental resists. Those casters will tear you up (Irestone does have lots of chests, though).
Good stuff here.