A Few Questions From A New Player

[midvalley]

First, I must say that I am impressed with the amount of time vets put into helping out new players. I think that lacks in some other MMO's.

I have been using the forums so I have searched already for the questions I have, to no avail.

I'm a bard and I have yet to use a pork rind. I'm guessing they are for daily spells, which I use all the time. I rerolled my first bard because I was trying to get a feel for the game and terribly gimped him, but he used his pork rinds. Am I missing something?

I noticed that the axe bane and spear bane bracers you get in Korthos say the opposite of what their effect should be in the character sheet. Is this just a typo or are their effects actually reversed?

I've been reading up on and trying to follow advice for new players, such as keep your resist potions, wands, etc. Now I have four, 20 slot backpacks, one is filled with potions, one with armor, and one with collectables. I also have the little collectables bag filled with collectables. I'm only level six, it appears I'm going to run out of room. Am I doing something wrong?

[barongt]

Why do you have so much armor in your bags?

Also, you can buy a Medium Gem/Collectible/Ingredients bag in one of the houses...anyone remember which?

[ddaedelus]

First, I must say that I am impressed with the amount of time vets put into helping out new players. I think that lacks in some other MMO's.

I have been using the forums so I have searched already for the questions I have, to no avail.

I'm a bard and I have yet to use a pork rind. I'm guessing they are for daily spells, which I use all the time. I rerolled my first bard because I was trying to get a feel for the game and terribly gimped him, but he used his pork rinds. Am I missing something?

Some spells require using a material component, some do not. You must be using different spells from those you used on your first bard.


I noticed that the axe bane and spear bane bracers you get in Korthos say the opposite of what their effect should be in the character sheet. Is this just a typo or are their effects actually reversed?

This is the very counterintuitive way damage resistance is written.

For instance, "#/piercing," means that it blocks # damage EXCEPT from piercing. Or to put it another way, piercing damage bypasses that resistance.

So Spearbane should say "3/slashing, blunt" indicating that those two damage types ignore the resistance.


I've been reading up on and trying to follow advice for new players, such as keep your resist potions, wands, etc. Now I have four, 20 slot backpacks, one is filled with potions, one with armor, and one with collectables. I also have the little collectables bag filled with collectables. I'm only level six, it appears I'm going to run out of room. Am I doing something wrong?
Nope, this is the way it works. Best thing I ever bought from the DDO store was a Huge Collectibles Bag. You can also buy one in game with plat, but they're heinously expensive for a beginning player.

Sounds like, all in all, you're doing just fine. :)

[Talcyndl]

I noticed that the axe bane and spear bane bracers you get in Korthos say the opposite of what their effect should be in the character sheet. Is this just a typo or are their effects actually reversed?


Damage Reduction (DR) can be a bit confusing on the character sheet. The listing is in the form of X/[the things that bypass the DR]. So 5/Slashing, Blunt means it blocks 5 points of Piercing damage, but any slashing or blunt attack will get through.

The best (non-blocking) DR is a barbarians which will be listed as X/- meaning no physical damage type bypasses it.

[Khimberlhyte]

I think pork rinds are your spell components for a bard (I've only played cleric and wiz, so correct me if I'm wrong). With each level of spells, you need a certain component to cast them. For cleric, L1 spells use Small Candles. L2 spells (which a Level 3 cleric can cast) use bull dung, and so on. Buy the ingredients from a vendor as you level, and ctrl-click on the component in the purchase window so that you can purchase a few hundred at a time.

The harbour should have some L1 and L2 components in the store near Garrison's Missing Pack, vendors in middle of marketplace should have L1 to L3, and higher level vendors should be in the stores in House P and/or House J.

I usually buy 500 or more at a time for each level of spell, and I like to buy the next level of components while I am there, to save a trip later on when I level. It sucks to get a nifty new spell when you level up, go straight into a dungeon, and be unable to cast it. Happened to me a few times now.

Inventory space is an ongoing problem. The first big thing I buy is a medium collectables bag, which you can buy in a store in House P for around 80k gold (likely cheaper for your bard). With both your small and medium bags, you'll have enough space to get to level 9 or 10 before running out of room again, depending on which adventure packs you buy. You can get another bank slot or two with House K favour, and I'll probably buy more turbine points soon for a shared bank.

[midvalley]

Why do you have so much armor in your bags?

I have 5 stacks of CLW wands. I solo a lot and it saves a bunch on mana. 4 slots are dedicated to weapon configurations. 2 slots are dedicated to healer garb I randomly picked up(if I ever have to be the faux healer), sprinting boots, feather fall cloak, UWS ring, DSD bracers, Axe/Spear Bane Bracers, Curative Cloak, paralysis removal ring, and invis goggles.

[kcroxo12]

Welcome to the game - hopefully I can answer your questions:

Only spells that sya they have a material component (see the full spell description) use spell components. If you pick spells that don't need them, then you never need to carry them. If you do need them, best to keep a big stack, you don't want to tun out part of the way through.

The bane items tell you the type of damage that they protect you from within their description, but on your character it gives you your DR, and then the types of damage that you are still vulnerable to. Not sure why these are described in an opposite manner, but the efffect is as the item description.

Backpack space can be an issue, although there will be more oppurtunities to increase the number of spaces. I guess everyone works out how best to cope with this - I make sure that I always swap out collectibles on a regular basis. I only keep the potions and wands that I use regularly. I keep armour sets down to just a couple, and weapons down to about 4 or 5 sets: one with slashing damage, one with blunt, one for oozes (clubs or everbright wpns) and one missile. And if I don't need something until a later level (or specific quest), it goes in the bank.

Hope this helps - keep the questions coming, someone will always try to answer.

kcroxo

[Talon_Sky]

I play a bard as well. Pork Rinds are used for some spells, but not all. For instance, my Summon Monster uses a Pork Rind, but blur and my songs don't. I find, if you need them, just buy a whole bunch and it should tide you over a while. I believe holding Ctrl when you click to buy something will let you type in the amount. I can't remember.

You can buy extra bags in House J (or P, as was said above), I think it was. Or with Turbine points. Medium bags are expensive, but between my Medium and Small bags (1 each) I don't overflow. Make sure you turn in collectibles, but save certain ones like Vials of Pure Water that sell for a lot in the auction house.

[Club'in]

If you look at a spell description, it will tell you which "components" are used in casting the spell. Somatic means that the spell requires hand movements. Verbal requires speaking some sort of phrase or incantation. Material means that the spell requires some sort of material, which is destroyed in the process of casting the spell. There are several others like Focus and Divine Focus. But anyways, if the spell doesn't state "Material" in the component section of its description, then you won't need to have that spell level's component in your possession in order to cast the spell.

In PnP (Pen and Paper) D & D, the somatic might come into play if the character is bound or held. Or the verbal might come into play if the player is gagged or under the spell of silence. Those two situation never arise in DDO.