If I Only Knew Then What I Know Now

[Frostwhisperer]

I would actually prefer it if you remove the blatant lie when you roll a caster. Y'know. They say you might want to put points in dex and take dodge as a feat. Guess who rerolled his caster later.
Heck I even met a elven sorcerer once that had 20 base dex and 6 con. He claimed that he didn't need ho cause he would dodge everything.

now for tips:
CON is not a dumpstat
AC won't matter at lvl10 and up if you aren't build for it
An optimized party is not necessary for every quest(no we don't need another wizard. We already have one)

[Swedishchef]

1# If i knew that post opinions in the forum was a bannable offense i wouldn´t have.

2# If i knew that let someone know that they are a jerk was a bannable offense i still would have, especially narcissistic persons with to large egos for their own good.

3# CON IS NOT A DUMP STAT.

Awaits the ban hammer.

[joneb1999]

1. Potency items work for clerics to improve both their healing and their damage spells.


I think many newish healers dont realise how the potency item works so I would like to highlight this for those who want to be offensive casters and healers. No need to keep swapping items to improve damage or healing on different spell types.

[Luxx0r]

Based on my HUGE (lol) experience of 3 months playing this game, I only have 1 recommendation...

FORGET ALL YOU KNOW OF D&D PnP: Your 20 year experience playing the PnP is not worth a bit here. This is a completelly different game and most things work in the opposite way that you remember. You have to learn all of it again.

This would have made me a lot of good to know 3 months ago XD

[alcmaeon]

Pick a toon and go. If you get to 5th level and decided you need to reroll but its the 8th time you have done so- you have rerollitis. Get one toon, any toon, any race, any class to 20th. It will give you enough experience to have 1/2 a clue for your next toon, and the real money can be made farming high level quests. Tired of being poor? That’s your answer. Nerfed your build? Lesser or greater reincarnation FTW. Yeah it costs TP but what’s your time worth?



On DPS toons- max balance and jump (but jump caps so if you are hitting the 40’s in jump don’t bother putting more in,) and I like just enough in spot to see the vague outline of a stealthy mob on elite. If you are only going to get 3 skill points per level forget Intimidate- unless you are making a build TO intimidate, don’t bother. My maxed FB3 barbs can take the aggro away from any but a maxed out intim toon just by popping big fat crits.

Same with the heal skill, you don't get enough skill pts on a dumb-A DPS toon to justify heal skill. Use a rage clicky. It will get them up and able to take a pot.

Also I like to put a few points into tumble, just enough so I can do it in heavy armor when I am bored and want to entertain myself by tumbling in circles while I wait for a quest to get going…

[der_kluge]

DDO is a game of CON and Critical Hits.
The ONLY Stats that matter are STR, INT and CON

DDO is NOT DnD! Leave everything you know about DnD at the Login page

Dude. Go play a cleric to 20th level, and then come back and revise your post to not be so incorrect.

Thanks.

[Vellrad]

Also I like to put a few points into tumble, just enough so I can do it in heavy armor when I am bored and want to entertain myself by tumbling in circles while I wait for a quest to get going…

Tumble is also usefull for shield blocking guys, because it lets you go faster while blocking or using stalward defender. Unfortunately, shield and defensive builds are worthless, DPS is the only important thing, and HP is new AC. But this is quite different story :|

[AyumiAmakusa]

As a cleric, if your teamates are doing stupid things to get themselves killed such as running head first into traps by not waiting for the rogue to disable the traps, by running away from the group by themselves, by getting every monster in the dungeon in a 20m radius to attack him, etc then it is NOT your responsibility to heal/raise/ressurect them because they are a LIABILITY to the party and will only cause you to fail the quest.

The solution? Simple REFUSE to heal/raise/ressurect them and if the party hates you for this, add them ALL to your /squelch list (or friends list) because I can assure you, these are not people you want to run with.

[Ciaran]

This may have been mentioned already, but True Chaos/True Law of Pure Good can be used by Chaotic Neutral/Lawful Neutral characters without a UMD check.

For whatever reason the True Chaos/Law part "overwrites" the Pure Good requirement so if you meet the alignment restriction for Chaos/Law on a weapon that also has Pure Good, you can use it even if you aren't good aligned and have insufficient or no UMD.

This is very helpful at lower levels for UMD characters who go CN/LN.

The same is not true for Anarchic/Axiomatic of Pure Good since anybody can wield those, but opposing alignments suffer a negative level. If they have PG on them you must be Good aligned or have the appropriate UMD (in most cases 20).

[rest]

Don't buy items from the DDO store. More often than not the descriptions are misleading and you'll buy something that turns out to not work as advertised and you'll have wasted your Turbine Points.
As a healer (cleric/fvs/healing bard/whatever) you're not obligated to keep everyone alive at all costs. Some people bring more to the group as a soulstone that isn't sucking down your mana.
As an arcane caster (sorcs expecially) don't neglect crowd control. A 25sp web can do a whole lot more good for the party than four 30sp fireballs that just manage to **** everything off.

[FreudoBaggins]

1) communication: communication = coordination, and communication helps set reasonable expectations.
-- if you are a new player, or new to the quest (done it less than 4 or 5 times), tell the party (or at least /tell the leader). This goes double for raids.
-- if you are new to a quest, and would like to experience the new stuff, ask the leader politely if he/she will let you do this. Do not expect a "yes" from groups advertising speed runs, experience only, or zerging.
-- if you are new to a raid, do not touch any lever, puzzle, door, valve, enter a new area, open a chest etc. unless specifically instructed (by the leader or an experienced member)
-- if you are not using sound, TELL THE PARTY. Type it in party chat to make certain.
-- if you are not fluent in English, TELL THE PARTY, please! Type it in party chat, to make certain. :)

2) taking point in a dungeon:
if your rogue (or a scout) is on point
-- do not run past your rogue if he/she stops! :D
-- do stay back 3 body lengths or more if he/she is sneaking!

if you are new to the quest (see above), do not take point (unless you are all new, or you are supposed to be scouting).

If the whole party is new to a quest, go slow, don't run ahead. If you get in trouble, run back, not ahead, and let the party know if you are bringing "friends" :eek:

BTW, the collorary to "I am your rogue. Don't run past me if I stop" is "I am your cleric. if I run away, try to keep up." :rolleyes:

3) keep your eyes and ears open, and learn the (good) DDO culture.
-- Use LFMs to find groups, not general chat. :mad:
-- Be polite, even if others aren't. Give an excuse and drop group if it is no longer any fun for you; find another, kinder group.
-- Don't be afraid to group with strangers (see #1 above), you can meet really great people that way, learn a lot, and accomplish things you can't do solo.
-- Don't be afraid to try new things with other new players. Some of our most memorable experiences have been failures, wipes, mistakes, or disasters. :p
-- A lot of advice on builds, feats, tactics and such is situational to things like class, playstyle, or experience, but is often presented as generally applicable.
-- Don't try to convert players with strongly held opinions; you can't, and the only thing worse than an obnoxious troll is a pointless flamewar.
--Acknowledge your mistakes and apologize, even if it seemed fatal to the quest. :o We all have made mistakes at one time or another, some of them quite funny (now). Taking responsibility is more worthy than hiding.

Remember, it's a game. Make sure you are having fun at least most of the time!

[az4a3l]

When u reach the bank for the first time: Double Click doesnt store the items, (specially potions).

When u reach harbor if u get killed always repair ur inventory.

In korthos a more clear explanation of "Snowy Korthos" and "Sunny Korthos".

Some sort of tell about the enemies when chosing elite difficulty, by that if it can be added as warning that the enemies will have much more hp, ac class and spells abilites.

[Antheia]

Few things i didnt know when starting , and 1 or 2 i observed and didnt like ;)

1. For party leaders - ask before quest if there is a player who doesnt know the quest.
Give him some tips - like "we have to kill dragon and giant at the same time" This may
save you from wipe sometimes.

2. Tomes - "eating" Tome +1 and Tome +2 doesnt result in +3 growth of stat.

3. Weapon use. Use proper weapons - Wooden for Oozes and rust monsters
(also Everbright for Rust Monsters) Disruption for undead, using banishers
may allow you to solo half of Vale easily.

4. Even small dps is better than 0 dps - Mobs out of reach or for casters only ? Dont just stay
and watch - grab a bow or other dist weapon and add some small dps to the party total.

5. No melee expert ? - use support weapons - destruction, cursespawning, weakening or paralyzing

6. Dont shout "Yes - we rule" - after you finish quest in which you died 10 times or more.

7. Dont delete your high level first char - even if its gimped and 28 points only - For some
TP you can completely rebuild it - reinvesting all skills, feats and enhnancemets (i know it costs much
- but if you char is e.g lvl 14 - it may be worth the TP to buy greater heart of wood)

[Imitating]

Don't quit game when it seems to be stuck at loading screen :)

[Dunfalach]

2) taking point in a dungeon:
if your rogue (or a scout) is on point
-- do not run past your rogue if he/she stops! :D
-- do stay back 3 body lengths or more if he/she is sneaking!

-snip-

BTW, the collorary to "I am your rogue. Don't run past me if I stop" is "I am your cleric. if I run away, try to keep up." :rolleyes:


Both excellent categories to be aware of. When playing my rogue, I will warn of traps. If that warning is ignored once, I'll nicely remind that this is why I said wait. If it's ignored twice, I will nicely pike along behind you letting you enjoy your trapfinding skills and disabling the traps after you helpfully identify them by running through. :D

Another similar one is: if your bard starts to play music, stay close to him until you see the little buff icon appear at top right. Songs take a couple of seconds to take effect. This goes double if the party's "healing-capable class" is staying by the bard waiting for the buff. By running off before the song finishes, you are not only not getting the buff, you are also distancing yourself from your potential healing support. I have been the only one out of five players to be buffed by the bard before.

[treestone]

AA - Imbue force or force burst arrows negates the incorpreal miss chance of ethereal creatures.

[Vindicatus]

1) DO NOT beg for handouts. Begging is a fast track to being blacklisted. Quest, smash crates and loot chests. That's how the well-to-do characters became established.

2) There are times when a healer just won't be able to save a character's life. Death happens, especially when players work hard to encourage it. All classes should carry emergency healing (or repair for warforged) potions. Divine classes (i.e. bard, cleric, favored soul, paladin and ranger) should carry cure wands as well. Staying alive is everyone's responsibility, not just the healer's. Yes, potions and wands can be expensive. Death is more expensive in loss of time, experience bonus and coin. Try keeping yourself alive with emergency healing and then you can begin to appreciate the expenses that wand toting out-of-mana healers, bards and UMD rogues incur by trying to hold a party together just long enough to finish a quest.

3) If you pull aggro from the tank and you are not kiting a monster through a damage effect, switch to a shield and block so that melee can either pull the monsters off of you or kill them quicker unless you have a very good reason to run (e.g. enraged ogre). Running away forces melee to chase the monsters pursuing you and incurs a to-hit penalty for most classes.

[RJBsComputer]

1. The most important description of a weapon is the TO-HIT number. If you can't hit it, then it doesn't really matter what the damage range is, what the critical hit range is or what magical affect the weapon has.

2. ALL classes can use a shield. What is the best thing for a caster that doesn't have spell points? Low on Hit Points and waiting to be healed or saved? You need a shield to hide behind. You don't need to have shield proficiency to use a shield to hide behind.

3. A rogue can be balanced between being a trapsmith and DPS. But that doesn't compare to a rogue's ability to UMD. It is the rogue's UMD ability that makes the rogue the "Jack of All Trades". UMD lets you use 99% of the weapons, race restricted gear, cleric scrolls, arcane scrolls, and all wands. Your UMD roll is based on your UMD skill points + UMD gear + UMD buffs + d20 roll.

[IronClan]

A lot of advice in this game is given by people who heard/read it second hand and is exaggarated or is very narrowly focused on specific parts of the game, I know when I first came here I was under the false impression that I HAD to use XXXX or my character would be "gimp" for such and such. These tropes take on near "meme" status they are so widely spread. Some are very true, a lot are very exaggerated, and a shocking number of them are only true in narrow circumstances that very few people even bother playing (Epic)

Some advice that is new player counter productive (first couple weeks anyway):
AC is useless... AC is useful to new players with characters below 12-14th level... It's still useful after that, with the caveat that you will need to grind some serious gear to keep it useful.

Sword and Board is useless: at lower levels S&B allows very good defense with good enough offense...

You have to plan your build: exaggerated if not multiclassing, your first couple toons will get rerolled or abandoned almost no matter what you do because you will not enjoy some aspect of them, or have fun with some aspect that could be made better. Get a feel for whats fun by doodling with a character and playing it some and trying to provide usefulness to your groups.

Leveling is very RPG like and not very MMO grind like, don't be afraid to reroll a 5th or 6th level character, you will find getting back to mid levels (even 10th or higher) to be a smooth fairly painless even enjoyable process. Unlike many MMO's where leveling to cap can take a year or even a couple years. This is DDO's strongest point,... sense of progress is far better... Couple with the fact that gaining a level in D&D based games always feels like you got significantly more powerful unlike most MMO based RPG's where a level is often a trivial step up in power that is almost imperceptible in terms of "feel" within the game.

[Uska]

1. Con isnt a dump stat for any class

2. Turn undead is basicly useless

3. Carry pots, healing, restoration etc.......

[LightBear]

Go ahead and spend all your cash on that +2 weapon/armor. There is no need to save up on cash as you'll make plenty grinding to the next level. You might get a really good deal of the auction house, it pays off to go bargain shopping there.

If you want some nice gear do the quest chains, even the free to play have really nice end rewards. In fact you might wanna do the same quest chain more then once.

[zex95966]

I wish I knew that items with the same benefits don't stack.

I wish I knew that this game is not friendly towards the solo player - many things simply cannot be done without someone else.

I wish I knew that you need mountains of clickies no matter what you play

[NeutronStar]

Pretty sure no one has said "CON is NOT a dump stat" yet. :D

[protokon]

In our continuing effort to help new players with DDO, we'd like to put together a list of useful general gameplay information. And we figured we'd hit up our greatest resource - the community - for help!

What three things that you know now would have been helpful to know as a new player?

We'd like to hear from veterans and new players alike, so give us what you've got!

the 3 most important things I would like to make sure all new players are given:

1. use forums.ddo.com / ddowiki / google for help. A little research goes a LONG way.

2. DR and how it affects damage is a hard concept for newer players to swallow right away. I believe some of the beginner quests are designed to give a spoonful of this (heyton's rest comes to my mind) but the Idea needs to be reinforced and stressed much more as this is an important factor end-game.

3. The importance of fortification and hitpoints - and how to get them. Toughness, toughness enhancements, con item, base con (rule of thumb typically putting points into con until they cost double (2 or more points) at minimum). Possibly where to find fortification for defense (extremely lacking in fortification options until level 7+ with claw bracers).

[DrowsworD]

Things I wish I knew when I started or that new players should know:

1) A level X quest is only level X on Normal. On Hard it could be level X+2 or more, on Elite it could be level X+4 or more. If you and your party are at or near level X, the Elite difficulty will wipe you.

2) Removing your weapon, shield and armor will improve your swimming ability. You can die very fast underwater. You also cannot cast spells of use potions/clickies if you are in water.

3) Stay behind the rogue, stay in sight of the healer, stay between the threat and the mage/sorcerer/healer, especially if you are not one of them.

4) in all mob melee, at least some of the mob will try to get past the tanks to the squishies. Stop them if you can.

[apacheizm23]

Have fun,thats the ultimate goal.

[Asketes]

Pretty sure no one has said "CON is NOT a dump stat" yet. :D

try the very first post :p

[MaXimillionZero]

Do not retake a quest when you finish it until you are ready to go into it.

Do not acept a share quest offer unless you are sure it is the quest you are about to enter.

Never, ever, ever, retake any quest in the Necropolis. (or Red Fens as the devs still haven't figured out how to make a quest chain that everyone can play together.)

Could someone explain these a little bit?

[learst]

Could someone explain these a little bit?

1. Do not retake a quest when you finish it until you are ready to go into it.
No idea. Not sure what Talon means by this.

2. Do not acept a share quest offer unless you are sure it is the quest you are about to enter.
3. Never, ever, ever, retake any quest in the Necropolis. (or Red Fens as the devs still haven't figured out how to make a quest chain that everyone can play together.)

2 and 3 are quite similar. The flagging mechanism for some quest chains are erm, not that well-designed. An example is the Necropolis quest.

The first 3 Necro pack (I, II, III) has 5 quests each. You need to be flagged for the fifth/final quest, i.e. that quest can only be entered/completed if you have completed the first 4 quests (the order of the first 4 quests is random). Before you enter the fifth quest, you need to speak to each of the 4 quest givers earlier and "turn in" the quest, then speak to the quest giver for the final quest.

If anytime before you enter the fifth/final quest you took a share or reset any of the 4 earlier quests, the whole chain is reset. Now you will need to rerun each of the 4 earlier quests again and turn them in before you can enter the final quest.

Short version: Do not accept any share quests for any chained quests, for there is a possibility of resetting the whole chain and you will need to run it all over again. That's why most folks don't like to share quests for chain quests like Necro, Threnal etc.

[Antheal]

2. ALL classes can use a shield. What is the best thing for a caster that doesn't have spell points? Low on Hit Points and waiting to be healed or saved? You need a shield to hide behind. You don't need to have shield proficiency to use a shield to hide behind.

Still, it's best to pretend that Monks can't, even if they can.

[pharky]

1. if you are an arcane caster, do all aspects of arcane casting.

2. if you are a divine caster, do all aspects of divine casting.

3. if you are melee or range build, make sure you got all your weapon, pots, armor ready. (trying to shoot a lich,zombie with DR/bludgeoning or DR/Slashing even if you are AA or repeater build isnt a very good choice. Dont tell me you want to pretend to be doing dmg while watching others do the work for you)

Summary: Know your role.

[societal]

1) Con is not a dump stat. My drow rogue with 8 con had a painful life. Minimum of 14 con on every character.
2) Hirelings are cheap. They may not seem like it at first, but they are.
3) The barkeep sells potions that heal you and fill your mana very quickly.
4) Rogues are gimped. You may think it's cool to do traps until you realize people with a couple of levels can do almost everything you can (and that wizards and clickies can find all hidden doors). Pick assassin as your pre if you are playing a rogue.
5) Full healers are needed on raids, not much else.

[tikwid]

Heal/reapair useless...

umd best skill in game (imo)

[protokon]

Look at prestige classes when making your class choice, before you start your toon. Make sure you have planned feats to meet prereqs. That is the number 1 mistake I have made when creating toons of a class I am unfamiliar with, and regretting it later on in my toon's life. enhancements can be reset, but feats are much more difficult and time-consuming to respec.

[Quarterling]

1. CON is a dump stat. You should dump enough points in it to at least hit 14 with no items/buffs at level 1.
2. Get heavy fort as soon as possible.
3. Always carry heal pots/wands/scrolls with you.

[Gnorbert]

1. That which does the most damage is not always the best tactic. There IS more than one way to complete most objectives.

2. Not being proficient with a weapon, shield or armor type does not mean you cannot use the item. It simply means you will suffer a penalty when doing so. Make sure you understand what that penalty is before you rule something out, many of them can be worked around. For instance, a character which never swings a weapon does not actually care about an attack bonus penalty from wearing heavier armor or carrying a tower shield... but watch out for arcane spell failure that may result.

3. Don't throw your character plans away based on the feedback of a couple people. Unconventional builds can still be fun and as long as you are having fun then you are winning.

[Gramh]

1. don't spend any real money to get turbine points. when the content gets old, you'll regret the $300 you spent.
2. don't make a toon that could be considered flavor, nobody will like you for not being a min/max wf elitist
3. after you get to lvl 20, stop playing entirely. the game becomes a loot n' grind fest afterward, with end game content catering mostly to the "serious" players.

[phillymiket]

1) Join a group! Be confident enough to join, honest enough to admit you're new and cautious enough to not charge ahead or pull an unfamiliar lever. You will learn and advance much faster in parties then solo.

2) Be careful with your platinum. Potions (cure, poison neutralization, resist etc) are some of your best spent money. Buy them, restock them and use them when needed (and don't when not needed). Don't buy from the AH without careful consideration.

3) Don't be discouraged. You will die. You will run into some rude people. Your party will wipe. These things will happen. You will also live. You will run into great people. You're party will succeed. These things will happen far more often. The more you play and gain experience the more you will succeed.

4) Read the forums. Read wiki. Ask advice. Get multiple opinions. The advice channel in-game often has horrid advice - sometimes purposefully so, given by trolls. Take advice with a grain of salt but take advice.

Edit -

5) Don't necro threads! People like me are far too daft to realize a thread is many months old and the moderator who was gathering the info has probably moved on to different projects. :D

[Talon_Moonshadow]

Could someone explain these a little bit?

Many quest chains can be messed up if you retake a quest that is part of a chain.

I may have said my advice to strongly, but it can be very frustrating to messs up a chain and miss out on an end reward.

So IMO, it is better t only retake a quest when you are prety sure you are going into that quest and will be completing it.

The Necropolis ones come to mind of course. If you retake one of the prereq quests, you cannot take the fifth quest in the series..if you do not have all four of the prereqs listed as completed in you rquest log.

Same with Red Fens (the first time)

And probably some others.

The chain Grey Moon has to be listed as completed in you rquest log to get the chain for CO6. And CO 6 has noce end rewards. So I almost never retake Grey Moon. I may do it a second time, but I just go along for the xp, but I want to make sure I can retake CO6 if needed.

Threnal series is another one.

Use to be a problem getting the quest after Haunted Library (forget name) if you retook the Haunted Library quest.

Delera's chain...do not retake the first chain after prt 3...you'll mess up your chance to just do prt 4 and get the nice end reward.

There are many, many issues with quests chains and retaking quests....or accepting share quest...etc.

So my advice is once you do a quest once. Do not retake it until you know you are going to finish it. Cause you may need it to be completed in your quest log to be on the right part of a chain.

once you learn which quest work how, you can decide for yourself how to handle it. But until you are sure, be very careful about retaking a quest you have already completed.

[BrightAsh]

- Don't read all 15 pages of this topic.. The time it takes to read is about the same amount of time it will take to learn all this stuff by experience in game

Taking the above in consideration, the only usefull bit of info found in this topic is as follows:


Quit now before you're addicted.
It is true _0_

[Mondri]

Now that I am a lvl 20 I am learning what I should have found out in the begining.

1. There's a DDO Wiki that is a great reference. Much, much better than the nearly useless DDO Compendium.

2. Hirelings can help survival even at level 1. (As a newbi I was a little afraid of other players. :-)

3. Get a mentor or several! There are many higher level players willing to guide a new player who wants to learn, listens, and loves the game.

4. Experience is capped at level 20! What a disappointment that was!

Nice topic! Thanks.

[Tom318]

After the first time, do not retake the quest before you get the reward from Harbormaster Zin. Doing so will flag him, and then you will not ever get the reward.

(why don't they use the same fix on him that they did with Mari?)

[FaSo]

I don't think its been said enough :), con is not a dump stat.
Ddo wiki(bing it, yep I said bing :P) this will have almost every thing(if not everything) you will need to know about Ddo.
Finally + stat items normaly don't stack, and when they do its only with exceptional items at end game.(so this means that your +1 wisdom hat will not stack with your +1 wisdom ring, and so on for the other stats)

[PestWulf]

There's a little down arrow on loot in a chest that lets you give it to other folks even if it's bind to character/account...I never freaking knew that until I was about lvl 15.

Trying to gain wealth at low levels is a waste of time. Push on to level 6 or 8 and adventure in the Fens or Sands, the loot from rare chests will be worth more than an entire dungeon's worth of loot in the 1 to 5 ranges.

If you must have money at low levels, farm stone of change ingredients while you are leveling. Sell them at auction or /trade.

There's a memorial and module narrated by the late Gary Gygax. If you care about the genre it's worth it to do it at least once to listen to one of the men that helped pioneer it.

Paladin's have an Exalted Smite. You'd never know this if you read the Official Compendium. Go read the ddowiki instead. If there is a conflict in information, trust the wiki, not the official compendium...it's horribly true :(

When you take a dungeon on hard or elite, the traps scale on a whoooooollleee different level than the mobs. Make sure you have a way to counter them.

Often the best way to increase your damage is not +damage gear, but more +hit gear. doing 100 damage once every 5 swings is not nearly as damaging as doing 40 damage four times out of every 5 swings.

[Emili]

If you diplo, grovel ,beg, disrobe and dance upon the chest it will have no effect when you loot the chest however, if I diplo, grovel ,beg, disrobe and dance upon the chest when you loot it may look the same ... yet be very special. ;)

[BrightAsh]

There's a memorial and module narrated by the late Gary Gygax. If you care about the genre it's worth it to do it at least once to listen to one of the men that helped pioneer it.


Ooorrrr... if he's somewhat of a hero to you... skip the entire pack, coz his verbal story telling abilities are not so great compared to his creative brain...

[Rasczak]

Ooorrrr... if he's somewhat of a hero to you... skip the entire pack, coz his verbal story telling abilities are not so great compared to his creative brain...

Maybe not, but he was creative and passionate enough to still create a game where you can combine storytelling with your imagination and for a limited time be the story. I don't judge GM's on their storytelling though, I judge them based on how colourful the story is allowing me to tell my own story.

Storyteller, maybe not.
Legend, most definitely....

[Plantman81]

It would have been nice to about prestige classes when I was new so I could have better chosen some prereq's. This is my 1st MMO. Had I known, I would've done a little forum research b4 rolling. If I play any other MMO's I will definitely do that. Maybe a reference to the prestige classes in the character creation process would help. At least new players would know they exist and make their decisions w/ that info in hand.
As for other bits:
1. Like bonus types do not stack.
2. Do some pc build research. These forums are full of info.
3. Don't be afraid to re-roll a toon. It's free to do.
4. Use the forums as a resource.
5. Do some ongoing character research in the forums.
6. Do some research in the forums. (Did I mention that?) :)

[SilkofDrasnia]

rogue's are actually ROGUE'S not ROUGES as thats old womans face paint!

oh and maybe a nicer comprehensive list of builds (by reputable 4 or 5 star in forum builders) put in a nice sticky for each class

doing research only does so much, you actually have to have a decent build to start with and then PLAY it to see OHHHH thats why ... i see now ...

[winsom]

1. Only put points into skills with trap-finding or combat applications. Do not train: Heal, Listen, Repair, Swim. You will eventually earn plenty of money with zero investment in the Haggle skill, but training it doesn't hurt if you have the points to spare.

2. Plan on creating a good-aligned and single-classed character with at least a 12 in Constitution until you have learned enough about DDO to make different choices.

3. Do not expect to deal useful amounts of damage at higher levels as a primarily ranged weapon-using character. Ranged weapons are best for utility uses and for a fun change of pace, but melee weapon and spell damage is how DDO adventures get done.

What's the chance that Turbine will pass on this advice to newer players? :-)

[Doxmaster]

Any situation can be diffused by a well picked, well timed song.
Wipe a group with a Kor-belt?
*Just lose it, Eminem
^best lyric: "I'm gonna make you dance, it's your chance, ya boy shake that..."

Out of healing items in a BYOH?
*Personal Jesus
^: "Someone to hear your prayers. Someone who cares""Someone to hear your prayers. Someone who's there..."

Haven't talked to someone in over a year?
*Starry eye surprise
^: *Kor dance them first* "Once again, I find myself with my friends. dancing the night away, its like the party never ends!"

Guild disbanding?
*(Techno)In the hall of the mountain king
^: "This club is closed! FOREVER!" *(distant tiny voice)*"F--- YA!!!"


The list goes on an on.

[xman26]

In our continuing effort to help new players with DDO, we'd like to put together a list of useful general gameplay information. And we figured we'd hit up our greatest resource - the community - for help!

What three things that you know now would have been helpful to know as a new player?

We'd like to hear from veterans and new players alike, so give us what you've got!

This game is not WOW, please stop turning into it.
Have lots of CON
A +1 bow and +2 arrow should stack. The more well crafted the bow, the better your aim, the better crafted arrow makes for a more true flight to your target.
The new system SUCKS! The old system was better!
Drop rates for anything in this game meaningfull suck
Titan has the worst named loot drop rate of any quest
Turbine stil has yet to fix bugs since release(falling thru bridges, ladder shimies to name 2)
DISRUPTION SHOULD HAVE BEEN LEFT ALONE!!!!
Extend should be returned to DoT spells

If I ever win the big one, I'm buying controlling interest in Turbine and FIRING the DEV team and having everything revert to pre 9 status and with drop rate changes and the MODS of this forum will HAVE NEW rules to govern the forum by. Outing players would be allowed. Giving your opion, however offended someone might get, would be allowed. Afterall, the US Constition does not gauruntee you to NOT BE offended.

[ProdigalGuru]

1. Checking the "Show Unavailable" box can answer a lot of questions.

2. If you are having trouble logging in, try the compact mode of the Launcher.

3. There are Forums, and they have a ton of useful information.

[winsom]

Nice thread ressurrection, so I'm adding 3 more.

1. Know your merchants!

Every character type can buy and use potions to solve most magical afflictions. Scrolls will solve the rest. Travel with a spell-caster that can use them.

Almost all monsters are fooled by Invisibility magic. If you can use scrolls of Invisibility you should never leave the Marketplace without them. Many monsters can be fooled by Stealth even if you have very little skill at it and you try to stay behind them and keep your distance.


2. Know your enemies!

Almost all monsters use non-magical weapons, therefore "of Invulnerability" on armor or robes is a great way to save your character 5 points of damage. At higher levels you will increasingly run into monster types that use magic weapons.

Trolls, Ogres, and Duergar (dark dwarves) can hit your character very hard with critical hits, especially the duergar. These creatures can land crits on you more often than 1 in 20. Avoid being face-to-face with these creatures for more than a second or two unless your character is very well-protected, such as Moderate or Heavy Fortification.


3. Know your role !

The DDO game allows for some character classes to perform exceptionally well at certain tasks and conversely not so well when trying the roles of different classes. It takes an exceptional amount of in-game knowledge, character planning, and often magical item collecting as well, before you can perform very well outside of your character's defined role.

For instance, you might think you are a very dexterous rogue. You should be able to fight off a couple of "clumsy" ogres better than other members of your adventuring party, so why not rush in first to fight them? In truth (DDO style) those Ogres are strong enough to overcome your agility, and rogues only have 1d6 per level hit points, and probably no shield. The warrior in your group probably has good armor and shield and 1d10 per level hit points. Besides, if you let the warrior (or anyone else) attack the ogres before you do, you can deal even more damage with your sneak attack ability. If you wait a few seconds before attacking there is a good chance the wizard or cleric in your group will have some magic to make fighting the ogres a lot easier, so give them time to cast the spells before you rush in.

[Kalari]

1. Speaking up and saying your new is far less painful then staying quiet and getting loss or touching things.

2. Your enjoyment is not funded by any other player, remember that when someones giving you their criticisms against your play style/ character choices/ class role.

3. There are plenty of ways of getting items in game without breaking yourself. Talk to npcs learn what things you can turn in specially those collectibles which gather up in your packs.

Probably more but i'll think of them when im not running on fumes :)

[suszterpatt]

Didn't read the thread, so these were probably brought up before:

1. You can target people by right clicking the mouse while highlighting them. I had to waste a couple Lay On Hands uses on my very first pally before figuring this one out.

2. Splash rogues can be just as good at traps as pure rogues.

3. Luck, Dodge, and Circumstance bonuses stack.

4. There is such a thing as Max Dex bonus to AC. It'd be nice to know this during character creation, so people don't roll up 8 STR Finesse pallies.

[Gunga]

More Con.

[suszterpatt]

Oh, and:

The power of the Q button. Apart from the slightly exploitative uses (finding chests behind doors, the journals in Sleeping Dust, etc), just picking up something from under a pile of corpses is infinitely easier by locking onto it first.

[nirnel]

When I first tried to heal an ally, I didn't know that I had to make him my target right clicking him and just left clicked him healing myself.

[Anarkius]

1) CON is not a dump stat....duh!!!

2) Don't get too attached to anything (enhancements, feats, spells, gear...ANYTHING) - it will change or get nerfed in the next update.

3) This IS NOT D&D - still love the game (been around for a while) but the expectations I first had with it carrying the Dungeons & Dragons title left an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach.

:o

Oh, and here is one more for good measure...

Don't multiclass without planning it out before character creation. Although those 2 levels of rogue may seem handy at level 6 and 7, you are only hurting yourself in the long run.

[pie2655]

1.) Cleric and Wizard dont mix well.
2.) CON IS NOT A DUMP STAT!
3.) OTWF doesnt let you dual-wield greataxes.
4.) People dislike blind/ninja invites.

[wez]

don't know if its been said yet but spells can't be cast underwater
but pots can be drunk underwater
played a year before finding that out.

[UnderwearModel]

1. Feather Fall Item, you have to have one

2. Turn Undead is mostly useless at level or a little above level

3. Using a bow is a bad idea because you will immediately get aggro and have to go hand to hand anyway.

3. Fearsome armor is cool when you are soloing, but very aggravating when you are with others

3. If it works really good, it will get nerfed

3. Try to hook up with a veteran player that will explain the complications of the game

3. The Heal Skill and Repair Skill are useless if you really want an effective character. If your goal is to visit the shrine a lot and stand there, go for it.

3. Heal kits and Repair kits are vendor trash

3. +2 or less weapons are really not worth more than what a broker will pay you for them.

3. I can't count

[Cyprine]

post u9 comments:

1. Patience:
Gathering gold, equipment and xp takes time. In turn, you will have plenty, later on.
Patience is also needed when dealing with other players.

2. Craft:
Crafting does take a lot of 1. Patience. But in turn you will be able to create the perfect twink equipment for your new characters (or TRs) once the crafting becomes Bound to Account (instead of Bound to Character in the beta phase) [Twink: using the best ressource available at level].
Craft those useless shards, loads, to level up your crafting skills.
Craft on those Race Required item, they lower the Minimum Level requirement (ML) of whatever you're crafting.

3. Pick a prestige:
With u9, every class has now access to at least one prestige class (enhancement). There is (almost) no reason not to pick one.

[altrocks]

1) If you plan on making it to 20, then build your character for level 20. Things that are useful or seem neat early on in the game often lose their novelty around level 9 or 10 (I'm looking at you, Extend Spell). And things that aren't very useful early on tend to be needed after level 9 or 10 (I'm looking at you Maximize Spell).

2) Raids are only scary the first couple times. Once you learn them, they're like any other quest... just with more backup.

3) Having fun with the toons you play is more important than being Max DPS/DC/SP/etc. Some people have fun being at the top of one thing, some people like to multitask. Everyone can have fun and still be useful. One person with an odd multi-class combination will not ruin a quest or raid if they follow the plan like everyone else.

[Ungood]

Others have given great advice, and I would suggest many new players follow it.

The only advice I can give, any new player is not in build, but in character.

Hold this as true:
1) You will make mistakes,
2) you will screw things up and you will do it wrong.
3) Everyone has to do it a first time.

As you play, Watch Others, pay attention and learn. I have learned more about playing my arcane, cleric, and pretty much every class I have, by watching what the others who play that class do (As I run around behind them trying to keep up of course). Remember, everyone can teach you something, even if it is a lesson in what not to do.

and most of all, if you did just screw up (and perhaps get everyone killed), fess up to it. The only way we can learn, is if we realize where we made our mistakes.

[arch0njw]

I read all this "stuff" about perfect builds, TR'ing, PUGs, ****s, jerks, nerfs, nerds, etc.

I read so little about actually having fun.

#1: Have fun.

#2: Everything else.

So, if you have fun with perfect builds, cool. If you have fun just playing a game and making a strange halfling barbarian rogue... knock yourself out!!

[arch0njw]

I read all this "stuff" about perfect builds, TR'ing, PUGs, ****s, jerks, nerfs, nerds, etc.

I read so little about actually having fun.

#1: Have fun.

#2: Everything else.

So, if you have fun with perfect builds, cool. If you have fun just playing a game and making a strange halfling barbarian rogue... knock yourself out!!

Seriously? They censored the "P" word for the results of a #2?

[MrChipinator]

There is no such thing as shame in not knowing. If you don't know something, ask! If you have questions about gear, ask! This wonderful Forum is made for asking questions, and getting answers. Most of the people here are eager to help inform the lowbies about the in and outs, all you have to do is swallow some pride, and ask.

[Lorad]

1. The best level 1 arcane spell is Masters Touch (lets you melee for a while)
2. Like stat items do not stack (mostly) so you can't wear two +1 str rings and get +2
3. If you are on "snowy" Khorthos, you can go to the Harbor and come back and be in "sunny" and still do all the quests.

These are the 3 things that would have made my first character (wiz) a lot more enjoyable. I could not group with half the people forming groups (see #3) I wasted spots with the same + stat when I finally figured out #3, and #1 would have made those first few encounters a little better, and let me choose a better weapon after the tutorial

[garlor]

if it's the first time you run a quest/raid, let it be known before starting the quest, not after dying several times and maybe causing chaos/wipe for the rest of the party

your personal renown is pretty important, some players have become like a pest that everyone else avoids because they have earned a bad renown, this is a social game, you can do whatever you want, that means that others can choose not to play with you ever again if you sistematically make things go wrong

[fazed]

Are you talking about a character's reputation or is there a viewable 'renown' that other's can view?

[bigolbear]

three thing to know as a complete noob coming from another mmo.

1. the social panel, this is how you make freinds and find people to party with - blind invites are considered rude
2. a big guild is not necesarily a good guild, smaller guilds tend to be much closer knit.
3. ddo wiki.

three things I learnt in my early days.

1. your first character is going to be a gimp, you will realise this late in his career.
2. much can be acheived with FPS skills and twich fighting, ddo is part mmo, part FPS - so much so i caried my first gimp up to cap (12) and never realised till some one sat me down and had me explain how my multiclass mess worked, and i found out it shouldnt... which brings me to...
3. DDO is not pen and paper, many rules we use in pen and paper simply dont apply here - bab works diferently, sneak attack works diferently, many skills and spells work diferently - DDO looks like pen and paper, smells like pen and paper but tastes of hot sauce and big numbers traveling at full speed.

three vet tips.
1. dont bother GM's over something you can fix your self - if it takes 30 mins to re run a bugged quest then that will probably be a quicker option than waiting on a gm.
2. people have different loot policies, the best way to avoid the enevitable grief is to ask when joining a group.
3. Turbine seem to hate powergamers and love roleplayers, casual gamers, family gamers and people who look into things deeply. There are a great deal of hidden traits to find in DDO Turbine is the DM and they dont give you all the info, this seems to be deliberate example: Warforge seem to draw more agro, halfling less agro. some skills seem to have a passive component (move silent), cary capacity is race dependant. Im waiting for some one to work this one out - greensteel is mind boglingly overpowered, there is almost certainly a down side to it we havent spotted, especialy for paladins that use their holy swords.

[Beld]

1. Always have a plan (complete build in character planner) BEFORE even starting a multi-class character.
2. Always get the best Fortification you can find/afford/have the ML for.
3. The less HP you have (Con and Toughness) the better player you have to be to survive consistently.

4. Don't get caught up in ROLES so much, this is not a typical MMO in which only a certain class can perform certain functions (except for Disable Device, you must have at least one level of rogue to have this skill).

5. Find people that like to play the way you like to play, if you zerg, and you group with flower sniffers, neither of you will have a good time :)

[ceiswyn]

1. Casters really do need Strength. If only to lug their scrolls and spell components around.
2. Never create a character who can do only one thing. If a quest or group doesn't need that one thing, you're going to have a boring time.
3. Evasion is awesome in awesome sauce. As long as you've got the Dex for it.

[lwar]

1. Dex base rangers are noobs even if you are with bow!!! (Bow str feat not without reason free feat for ranger m8)


Could someone please explain this one? I have a Ranger, level 3 that I made... 2 years ago? I was a noob then and still am as I recently came back. Thanks.

[zex95966]

Undead.
Freaking everywhere.

[butcheredspirit]

Perhaps some advise for us who have been here awhile, is to not use abbreviations when talking to new people.

Or at least if used, say what they mean at the end of a post.

Some abbreviations can have more than one meaning.

[cyadra]

1. If your looking for that 6th man for your group and you have a choice of classes to take, ALWAYS take the Bard.
2. If a PUG group has been looking for a healer for more than 15 minutes, ask yourself why.
3. Exp. Ret. is a great spell or clickie, especially for melees....use it.
4. The single best piece of low level gear is the +10 hp necklace with no level restrictions.
5. Once you think you made the perfect toon...forget it, I have started and stopped about 1000 toons since launch.

Con is a dump stat....not!

[Barashkukor]

1. enjoy the game's content at your own pace. don't listen to anyone telling you anything.
2. as you accumulate knowledge about classes, builds and dungeons; don't be afraid to reroll and put your new knowledge into practice.
3. your first character was NOT useless, it taught you many things about a not-so-newbie-friendly game.


bonus: this mmo is an extremely enjoyable ride, if you survive the rerolling veterans and the learning curve ;)

[mondo]

We really dont have much choice but to pump con into every toon we make

something to do with butterflys flip-flapping there wings...

Lets go kill some butterflys

[crazycaren]

Could someone please explain this one? I have a Ranger, level 3 that I made... 2 years ago? I was a noob then and still am as I recently came back. Thanks.

I think the post was about dex based rangers. I had one, then learned that she did almost no damage at high levels because damage is always strength based. The weapon finesse feat is only "to hit" not "damage". You need both to be useful in this game.

:)

[Dagolar]

Stacking rules. Those of us coming from pnp have an advantage here, but newcomers can find stacking rules confusing and frustrating. And since DR doesn't stack as per pnp, that's confusing to all new players regardless of background. As a more minor matter, entreating new players from the get-go not to blind invite is to be appreciated.

[DeafeningWhisper]

Con is not a dump stat, Evasion/DR/AC will only get you so far, I play caster/support classes only and all my toons will have 400+ hp (500+ hp on my Cleric) at cap. No matter how good your saves/skills are no one is safe for rolling a one or lag spikes. Your end game stats need to be even numbers, after gear/lvl ups/enhancements...

Be as self sufficient as possible without harming your build, bring pots for everything you are not immune to and have a way to heal yourself and others if only just a little (keep that cure light wounds cloak from Korthos, if only to wake incapacitated party members), don't assume the healer can/will keep you alive at all the time.

Assume no one but yourself knows what to do in each quest, meaning read in DDO wiki what to do every time you do a new quest so you can tell if someone is doing something wrong. Nothing worse then healing a boss by using the wrong element or screwing the party by doing things out of order of activating a trap.

And the most important thing to remember: the more fun the guys in the group the better, I've completed Epics with no deaths, incredibly fast and with nice loot but with elitist jerks. I'll never group with those guys again.

Have failed horribly at simple quests with a bunch of funny guys while burning tons of resources and laughing my ass off as I died horribly for the tenth time. Those guys will always be in my friends list.

[PumpkinSpiced]

1. Push to talk is one of the GREATEST features of the game! Use it! No one wants to hear your children screaming or you breathing.
2. Potions are available both in the DDO store and various shops in game. Buy them. Be somewhat self-sufficient, it really does help the party.
3. Hit points are essential for everyone, no matter the class, race, or play style.

[der_kluge]

Read this thread:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=332211

[BOgre]

the only classes worth playing are casters. melees have been so terribly underpowered as to now be irrelevant.

[gingie]

Great idea for a thread

1. In order to use the weapon sets you need to drag the set from the inventory screen to your hotbar

.

Oh man my 1st toon was level 8 before anyone explained how to use a hotbar and set weapons up for it. It took forever to open inventory and drag new weapons in.

Would definetely add do not follow any of the paths. Roll all toons as custom and give it your best shot. You will probably still mess the 1st one up, but you will learn alot more doing it.

You cannot have too many healing pots/wands/scrolls.

Healers cannot heal through walls, doors, pillars, and long distances. Stay close until you learn the quests.

Did anyone mention CON not being a dumpstat yet?

[Urjak]

Honestly didn't read through all 17 pages ... but here are my tipps (i think i can skip con is not a dump stat since sooo many have posted it already ;) ):

1.) DEX is only usefull for ranged builds, as a prerequisite for TWF feats (and in case u want to create an AC tank ... but as a newby you dont want to do that ;) )

2.) In contrast to pnp, metamagic feats (even though they cost a lot of sp) are MANDATORY for every type of caster. As a cleric you NEED at least EMPOWER HEAL (and probably QUICKEN), as a sorcerer you NEED at least EXTEND, HEIGHTEN, MAXIMIZE and EMPOWER, as a wizard you NEED the same as a sorcerer plus QUICKEN, don't have any experience on playing favoured souls, but i guess they will NEED either MAXIMIZE or EMPOWER HEAL.

3.) If for whatever reason you have activated voice chat, but are not able to actually hear it (listening to music, having turned off sound, being deaf, ...) let the party leader now that! And in this case don't apply to any abbot lfm unless you already know how that raid works.

4.) (Seems A LOT of players don't know that, even on very high level content -.-) Most fire spells (i think the only exception is firewall) destroy webs. Not only the ones mobs cast, also the ones your friendly wiz/sorc throws for crowd control purposes. So please think twice before summoning that annoying fire elemental or eladrin. Air elementals dispel ALL lingering area effects! So while they are very nice if you don't have a caster in your group, most casters will hate you for summoning one, because the air elemental will dispell all webs, firewalls, acid rains, ice storms, ...

*EDIT: some additional very important stuff:

5.) Most newbies want to have some defense, when you tell them AC is worthless, they'll want to know what else they can do to increase their defenses. Here a list (from the most important/best way to the lesser ones):
.) Fortification: While imo light fortification doesn't actually help much, try to get moderate and later heavy fortification as soon as possible!
.) HP: Try to get as much as possible without gimping yourself of that (for example everyone can fit in one Toughness feat, and at the very least 14 con (12 for elf))
.) Saves: Oh yes saves can reduce incomming damage A LOT! Nothing worse than standing helplessly in the middle of a bunch of mobs
.) DR: Damage reduction is awesome!
.) Evasion/Improved Evasion: Theese feats reduce incomming spell damage by a real lot! Even with a low starting dex this really helps a lot! For example my 17 wiz/2 rogue with a starting dex of 9 and no dex item/no insightfull reflexes (except for litany lol) evades more than 50% of incomming spells even on elite! (Okay in traps it doesn't help a lot this way, but reducing incomming spell damage is already a very nice feature ;) )
.) Deathblock/Deathward: Cool buffs making you immune to instakill spells, deathblock is available as permanent (undispellable) buff on items
.) Blurr/Displacement: While displacement is not so easy to get on most toons, there are lots of items which give a permanent blurr! (very handy ;) )
.) Stoneskin: Well this somehow part of DR, getting clickies/guards or even wands if you have a high enough UMD makes life easier as well
.) Protection from evil/Freedom of movement: Nice buffs which are also available on items
.) Blindness/Fear immunity: While blindness can be cured with pots, being feared can be a death sentence in some cases.
.) Spell absorption: While this is actually really usefull i listed it last, because spell absorbing items are either very limited (Mantle of the Worldshaper - max 5 spells) or insanely hard to acquire (ion stone)
.) If you actually managed to cover all of the above ... you might think about AC now ;p (just joking ... forget AC ;) )

[destiny4405]

when you make your own lfms, don't exclude classes because that's something you didn't see them do. in DDO almost every class can do almost everything. i.e.:

don't allow only barbs/fighters when your lfm says 'need dps'

don't allow only barbs/fighters/pallys when your lfm says 'need a tank'

don't allow only WF when you need a sully tank

don't exclude classes, just because you already got one in your party.

[winsom]

Understand that Maximizing one aspect of your character frequently comes at the cost of crippling another part of your character. Be aware of character weaknesses then build in additional strengths to help cover these weaknesses.

For instance, the recommended building option is to start with an 18 or 20 in your primary ability score. It costs a lot of points to do that. You character is going to have lower saves or hit points as a result .

Understand this result and build in extra features to minimize the effect of this lower survivability. Consider playing:

1. a class or multi-class that has inherently good saving throws. i.e. monk, paladin (and others)

2. a race that has bonuses to saving throws or constitution

3. a race and class that can spend action points in enhancements that increase your character's survivability.

4. a class that can self-heal. Healing others is great. Self-healing is super.

5. a class that has evasion. Taking reduced area effect damage in DDO is huge.

6. a character that can solo well-enough (with the help of a hireling) so you can earn gold by farming quests and explorer areas. You want to be able to buy lots of potions and scrolls and other resources to protect your character. Have a rich friend!

7. a character that can slay monsters while being beyond the reach of monster melee attacks.

You do not need to have a character that does ALL of the above in order to succeed in DDO.

Teamwork, game knowledge, and smart play is more important to success than character building. Practiced arcade-reflexes help a lot too.

[Tizian]

1) Grazing hits are not Glancing blows. Grazing hits are weapon base damage only without bonuses (but with penalties, if any).
2) You need a very high AC for enemies to do grazing hits on you. Having mediocre AC means the enemies just hit you normally instead. The chance for enemies to grazing hit you increases with quest difficulty (as does their chance to hit you normally). AC only protects against normal hits.
3) Damage Reduction protects you from grazing hits really well. Shields also reduce incoming grazing blow damage by a percentage (10% light shield, 25% heavy shield, 50% tower shield).


I hope that's all still up to date at least. Never read any sort of clue about that ingame..

4) Glancing blows are the area of effect part of twohanded weapons. They have a separate to-hit roll and are also applied against your main target (so even if you're fighting a single creature, glancing blows happen). Glancing blows deal a percentage of your weapon damage with bonuses. Weapon effects (such as flaming, paralyzing) are only rarely applied (the chance can be improved with feats and half-orcs get enhancements for same purpose as well) on glancing blows.

[strath]

1) Dwarves are an often under rated race, and the extra bump to health and fortitude saves makes them a solid choice for new players of most classes. Humans play every class well. Half-Elves can enjoy some of the advantages of multi-classing even in a pure class character. Every other race is worthwhile but may require a bit more planning to match them with the classes that take advantage of their unique abilities.

2) Get to know spells, it is easier to play a caster that can swap spells until you learn what spells you most enjoy. I would always suggest playing a wizard before rolling up your first sorcerer and I would suggest playing a cleric before trying Favored Soul.

3) DDO has some of the most robust character options I have seen in any MMO, plan your character in advance to take advantage of prestige abilities.

4) /a will talk to the advice channel in chat, this is a fantastic place to ask questions about quests or equipment.

5) A single small one time purchase of turbine points gives your account premium status, and enjoys quite a few advantages over someone who has only been free to play. (Is this still true? I couldn't find the benefits of premium listed on the site but I thought it was worth a few perks like more character slots.)

[Nahual]

1) When multiclassing class splits are very important a 10/10 split is not really worth it.
Again Multiclassing is tricky.

2) Do not True Reincarnate until you have aquired good enough gear to help you threw all the lvls of the game. Not just when you've hit 20 for the first time.

3) Game is free to play. It just requires much more time for you to be able to get everything.

4) Not all builds are viable threw out the whole game.*

5) When you know your build, the quests, and aquire the better gear almost every quest is soloable.

6) Aces over Kings will hit the altar at the end of shroud.

7) Have fun

8) Gear trumps stat points except in extreme cases.

*Discalimer unless its a Build from Star's current life he can run anything he wants.

[RedDragonScale]

Wow, 344 responses huh?

I don't suppose any of them said, "CON is not a dump stat!"?

:D

[Bogenbroom]

mmmmmm.... necro-tastic.

[RedDragonScale]

mmmmmm.... necro-tastic.

Not really.

[MadDruid]

1: Chucking in precise shot feat just in case you need to use a ranged weapon is a waste

2: Drow are not as cool as claimed

3: Waiting for druids to be implemented is a hobby best abandoned.

4: Con at the expense of your prime requisite will gimp your toon regardless how many hps he ends up with

5: Heavy Fort item should not be in a regularly swopped out location, You will forget to rewear it normally just before boss fight.

6: Cannith Crafting is a all or nothing affair, you get nothing decent for mid lvls so unless your willing to grind your way to high lvls of skill dont even bother starting your better off with the plat to buy items off those that have got high lvl.

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

A simply Newbie's advice (from myself, I still consider myself as a Newbie) :

Keep in mind what you read in the character creation screen ! Especially keep in mind what the character creation screens say about needed stats for the character !

And a very personal und very subjective advice from me : Health is always a good thing. The more health, the more likely you are going to survive. THerefore, I regard con as being needed.

But - nothing will save you if you put too much in con and too few points into other fields your character just *needs* to be effective (like cha or wiz or int for characters which are primarily magic users). Because no matter how much health you have - you WILL have to fight, too ...

[DustTheWind]

Ways to avoid damage are:

If you can sufficiently get your AC high enough will reduce physical hits but don't expect to do this with out applying all types of AC you can possibly have at your level, Armor, Insight, Resistance, Natural armor, wisdom bonuses or shields, Dex bonus, Dodge bonuses.

If you cant get your AC high enough reflex saves and evasion is also very important.

Other ways of avoiding damage are, blurr or displacement, concealment (solid fog, blind ect), and incaporeality. The only 2 ways I know of getting incaporeality misses are monk dark, and necro pale masters. Nothing works except incaporeality on bosses that have true seeing. Not all bosses have true seeing. Not sure if any end bosses have ghost touch.

Another great way of avoiding damage is running speed and kiting (staying just out of their attack range). Some people talk this down but it can save you a ton of damage.

Damage resistance from the elements in the form of ranger past lives, ranger resistances or rogue resistances, monk monky path, and ship buffs/resistance and protection spells can save you a ton of damage as well.

Invunerability items early on in the game is especcially usefull. Make use of them. DR in other forms are nice to have but don't always stack. DR of a proper type can save you a ton of damage in the long run.

You can get elemental and damage dr if you get the right items.

The equipment your character wears and his enhancement choices makes a large part of how your character will perform. This however takes time but the game is doable with basic available gear.

AH can be your friend if you are patient and know a good deal when you see one. Same for selling stuff compared to dumping it at the bar tender. But remember the Auction House will take 30% of the value of any items you sell. So selling in trade you can offer at lower prices and get the same deal.

A few venders in certain houses will buy items from you for more than most venders.

A charisma item and a hagling item can be well worth their cost if you remember to swap to them when you sell stuff.

[FengXian]

1) Almost any low level toon (1-6) should go THF, especially casters (master's touch and just a few points in str will do the trick)

2) Don't rush, don't pull levelrs, don't open stuff in quests you don't know when in a party. Rely on your allies' experience for that, and learn. Actually common sense but still worth saying I guess. I see a lot of newbies dying in very stupid ways, nothing to do with them being new to the game, more about the player behind the toon. Some will even get mad at you if you point out how idiotic their demise was...crazy world XD

3) Potions indeed are helpful. So are wands (cure moderate) if you can use them. They give you emergency heals when you need them, and they are NOT too expensive, you'll have a lot of plat later on.

[Gawdzilla]

I did not read the entire thread and from what I saw every thing I could think of was covered already except one thing. Running out of components for an important spell mid quest is terrible, but most have had it happen at some point. Place a hot bar somewhere out of the way on your monitor and place your components on it that way it is always visible to you making them easier to see so you can get them refilled before it happens at the worst possible time.

[winsom]

I Place a hot bar somewhere out of the way on your monitor and place your components on it that way it is always visible to you making them easier to see so you can get them refilled before it happens at the worst possible time.

That is a nice tip.

Several times I have ran out of 3rd and 4th level components. They get used up very fast.

It is really bad when I am expecting a Haste, Displacement or Wall of Fire and I get nothing...

I have twice witnessed clerics that could not raise dead because they were out of components and scrolls.

[Monkeytoe]

If only I knew then that the large ingredients I gave to my friends and guildies 'cos I didn't want to craft anything at the time ...were gone forever!

or for that matter, that they were gonna be used to make constitution-enhancing weapons, I mean, that's adding insult to injury, isn't it?

[kingfisher]

there is no pause button

[somenewnoob]

The number of crafting systems in the game will eventually make your head explode.

[thwart]

When on the forums, always look at the date on the original post so that you make sure you aren't responding to some thread that is nearly two years old. D'oh!

[JOTMON]

1. CON is not a Dump Stat.

2. If someone runs ahead and dies it is their fault, dont rush in to save them, you are not a lemming.

3. Expect to be self sufficient and visit potion vendors..stock up on cure,poison removal, disease,curse pots

4. hirlings are as helpful as 4 year olds.. don't let them do anything on their own.

5. loot everything that is not bound from the chest, check the auction house and compare values.
If it is Named and you don't know what to do with it, keep it and get advice from more than 1 person.
Many a poor soul has sold or given a named item like a Ioun Stone or bloodstone for less than its realized value.

6. When you get your bags from Mari, open the bag and check the collect automatically checkbox.
Get every collectible and bag that drops, collect them all... eventually you will know what to do with them.

7. There is a lock icon for all the items in your inventory, remember to lock everything you want to keep.

8. When you level remeber to upgrade your enhancements but first on your stats page open the enhancements tab
and check "show unavailable" and look at all your future poteontial options and what you need to unlock them.
Until the tree system comes out you will want to see what you need to get to open up what you want.

9. WWW.DDOWIKI.com is your friend and a useful tool, use it often.

10. If it looks like a trap or a ambush it probably is.

11. Don't randomly interact with yellow named mobs in a quest or open doors if someone else is leading the group
and you don't know the quest, there is probably a reason that hasn't been done yet. ask first. It usually leads
to bad things.

11. Take everything from the forums like you take advice from a drunk neighbor, some of it is usefull and some is ....


Many posters have opinions, but your choices are your own, build what you want how you want, it is a game and we play to have fun... and really, whats the worst that can happen..ding...The best experiences come from failure.

[Viciouspika]

Though DPS(Damage per second) is the name of the game, skills can save your character as well as potions and scrolls. Bluff to allow rogue sneak attack, Diplomacy to get mobs to stop attacking you, and UMD for scrolls, wands, and specialty weapons use( alignment, racial, caster restrictions). Use the highest plus haggle item you find to increase the sale of items to vendors and pawnshops.

Always carry healing(repair) pots, curative pots like restoration, blindness removal, neutralize poison, paralysis, rage, and haste pots.

[Todkaninchen]

1. While anyone with a splash of rogue can get many of the locks, traps, etc. in the game, unless they are a Monk or some other class with Evasion and a high reflex save, there are some traps they aren't going to get. This is because rogues get to save versus traps with all sorts of trap save bonuses and pack on Evasion (later Improved Evasion) so, by level 10 or so, a rogue can literally stand in the trap and disarm it without getting interrupted. Additionally, he/she can boost her skills to find and disable by several levels...

2. While rogues are often DPS, another use is the use/abuse of sneaking and bluff skills to let you take on those enemies one-at-a-time at a location of your choosing instead of general melee where you're mobbed. Takes patience and zergers never have it, but a rogue and a hireling can often solo areas with large groups of enemies this way.

3. Ranged does lose power compared to melee. However, a rogue mechanic's Evasion, sneak attack damage, and an INT mod damage boost to light repeaters does wonders at taking out enemy casters that often don't have that many hit points. Evasion and a high reflex save, plus the bonuses you often have in WIS-gear (for spotting) usually mean, if you do get the caster's aggro, you often don't hold it for long... As long as a rogue mech is in sneak attack range, they still get sneak attack damage with crossbows. Rogues often make great caster killers.

4. Listen--while of less use than Spot most of the time--has a side benefit of working around corners and through "concealment" from terrain. It pops the enemy into your viewing orb which lets you target and kill it anyway. It also lets you detect enemies that Spot misses and vice versa. Consider its use if you have the skill points.

5. Rogues--like wizards--are adaptive characters if built well. They can solo, they can trap, they can do damage, they can backstop other types with UMD in some situations depending on the situation and the build. At the very least, be able to manage the traps in your level...

6. To go with #3, if your party lets you, consider sneaking past the first mobs before an attack and parking next to the enemy casters. Once you get a lock on them, it give you the chance to sneak attack the casters as the melee's attack, often while the enemy casters are trying to self-buff. A ranged rogue can be farther away, an assassin needs to be closer. Either way, dead casters makes life easier for the tank and healers...

[Shanzookie]

1) Dispite PPls LOVE in WF, it's not nessasary for a Wizard. Can make a good build as a human. (I.E. Mine) (34 pnt build Human Palemaster 639hp>789 full buffs 44 Necro DC 43 Enchantment DC)
2) If you "NEED" Guild Ship buffs, your gimmped
3) Con is not a dump stat, But with most builds 3rd in imporatance.
4) Always use a chrater buikder BEFORE you do a build, Saves you time and effort when actually building it in-game.
5) Download the DDO Interactive Guide - It's the swiss army knife for DDO and containts 98% of everythng you need to look for, know, and keep track of.



6) Remeber it's just a game, not a life choice! RL comes first!

[msdesign]

Hello new players, here are my tips:

1. With so many people recommending Warforged as an optimal class, I must disagree. Yes they have good constitution, they don't need to breath underwater, imune to poison, etc.. BUT, we are recommending new players what we know, and we do know that warforged is a race we can only obtain after play. A lot. Or be VIP and buy the access to the race. So, I say you pick your class and race you want. Nevermind what others say, if you like your character the way you created it, its all that matters.

2. Some say you don't need to know a quest when creating a group for it. I do recommend you do know the quest. Saves you a lot of bad criticism on not-so-party players. Or, if you don't know a quest and want to make a party for it, make everybody know that writing in the group details "I need a guide for this quest". That should shut up all of the pesky ones that always look for a thing to argue with.

3. This is only a game. Some people spend their entire life in here, doing reincarnations every week or so (TRing = True Reincarnating a character, its going back to lvl 1 when you reach lvl 20, to get an improved and stronger character from the start). There are some TR players who think they are all better than the whole world. Screw them ;) Everybody must start from somewhere. Not all of course, I know of a few good and party players who have done reincarnations and are not bad for that. Just don't let veterans put you down just because you are fresh.

Cya all ;)

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

3. This is only a game.


6) Remeber it's just a game, not a life choice! RL comes first!

Very well put !

[Gorbadoc]

DPS (damage per second) is essential. Even if you sneak past most of the monsters in a quest (which, most of the time, you won't), you still need to kill the boss faster than he kills you.
Hit points are essential. You can't help beat the quest when you're dead, and more hit points reduce the chances that you'll die when something goes wrong. Spec your build to have hit points, and get some means of self-healing between fights.
Crowd control, upgraded healing magic, stealth, armor class-- these things let you get more mileage out of your damage and hit points (and I mean a LOT more mileage), but they don't actually replace items 1 and 2.
My first character was a bard focused almost entirely on support (buffing, crowd control, healing). Her DPS was lousy, and her hit points were so-so. I played her well, so I had no trouble getting into groups, but there was something frustrating about her total reliance on the rest of the team to do all the actual killing.

I later built a melee-specced bard. It had most of the same support abilities, but many build points were diverted to hit points and melee DPS. Finally, I understood the point of all those support abilities I carried: buffs, crowd control, and healing helped me on the front line, but they could never replace DPS or raw hit points that they augmented.

[toapat]

1: Con is not a dump stat
2: Con IS NOT a dump stat.
3: If the Rogue says stop, you do so.
4: Only one tank at a time.
5: One pull at a time
6: No Heavy Fort, no Healing.
7: Raids will take as long as they need to, no more, no less.
8: If this is your first time in Shroud, you must Click the 5th Portal.

[DynaBonk]

OK, I give... what does "CON is not a dump stat" mean?

[Missing_Minds]

OK, I give... what does "CON is not a dump stat" mean?

It means you don't neglect it. Get con gear and put points into it.

Back in tabletop/pen and paper you could make viable character with a 6 or 8 con. Due to hit point and damage inflation of this game, doing so makes you a waste of space (as it were) as you won't be able to live long enough to make a difference in long fights.

Most advise a starting constitution value of 12.

[DynaBonk]

Got it. Thanks. My lvl 8 Wizard has con 17 and I just picked up a +3 con belt. So I should be good.

[toapat]

Most advise a starting constitution value of 12.

Elves are advised to start with a 12, everyone else is advised to start with a 14, except WF/dorfs, who start with a 16

[Mennion]

Been playing 6 months and just realised that my bonus's from items and buffs dont always stack. Check your items against your skills and statistics people!

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

Been playing 6 months and just realised that my bonus's from items and buffs dont always stack. Check your items against your skills and statistics people!

Yes. Plus, the new blueish information in the chat window is *great* help for resolving that !

It's imho one of the best ideas the devs had since i know the game !

[DynaBonk]

When playing a wizard, take the eternal wand (of whatever) as a reward when first offered. It will serve you for many levels to come and allow you to save spell points for the bosses/critical points.

Actually, it will even let you complete many quests without using a single spell point if used carefully.

[Kaledor]

-healing potions, cure poison, cure disease, lesser restore, remove curse pots are not optional, carrying them will help conserve the party/raid healers' sps.
-Con is not a dump stat
-Heavy Fort is not optional equipment
-If your going to wear Madstone Boots, better have guild remove curse pots from House K.
-If you don't have guild remove curse pots, take off the Madstone Boots.

[AMADHA]

Been playing for a few months and I gotta say the new manual that comes with this beta is a TON better than the one I got several months ago to get a new player started.

However, it would be nice if it also listed "premium" races and classes as well. This would help a lot when deciding if its worth buying a drow or artificer for example. Also, some key information about DPS and saving throws would be great since the manual on online chatter references them but never says why having a high fortitude save would be good or what a high DPS does. It would also be nice if there was some instruction for wizards on how to inscribe a scroll. (I still haven't been able to get it to work. I found instructions online, but I seem to be missing a step or something.)

Finally, although some may question this... some general game play advice for those going solo vs finding and playing in a party would help. I've found that a lot of players seem clueless on how to act in a party and when going solo what are good strategies and quests to avoid (Still working on the strategies but so far getting killed a bunch = not for solo, puzzles that require more than you and a well trained hireling = not for solo... Having a "requires 3 or more players" on the quest start screen would help a lot. But I digress.) When playing in a party with a mage type toon it might be better to let the rogue/ranger scan for traps and lead the charge than you, even if you have find secret doors and disarm trap spells. Got killed on elite a few times because some speed demon looking for XP triggered two or three mobs by rushing ahead too quickly.

[AMADHA]

If only I knew what the heck those little icons that show up in the right hand corner of my screen meant, some have countdown timers some don't but what do they mean to me? Are they important?

What does it mean when I hear a thumpish sound when some monster hits me?

How can you get a hireling to do stuff... like stand still or to get the heck out of the acid pool! or heal themselves or better yet me (sometimes they just watch you die and other times they don't, its a mystery).

[AMADHA]

How to use more than one shortcut bar effectively would have been great when I started (CTRL-1 or 4, then 5...) weapons on one feats on another, etc.; only found out about this by watching a walk-through... the person had at least 10 bars on the screen! Once I saw that I had an epiphany and have had two or three on my screen ever since.

[gphysalis]

I learned this after TRing, when I didn't instantly become better than 1st life artificers :(

Also, The newest class is typically the best
(monk & fvs are good, artificer is better)

[Jonathrint]

-How to bind multiple hotbars to keyboard (1, alt1, ctrl 1, etc)
-Multiclassing is not recommended on your first character
-If your HP is going to be less than 200 at level 15, people probably won't group with you.
-Guild airships are something that anyone in a party can be invited to, and they contain a large number of very useful buffs, including some elemental resistances that will make a difference between life and death when facing down a lighting-using Kobold Shaman at levels 3-5.

My first characters (got one up to level 11-12) a year or so ago had no clue what an airship was. I think that's probably why they died so much...

[fco-karatekid]

Elves are advised to start with a 12, everyone else is advised to start with a 14, except WF/dorfs, who start with a 16

Since this thread may be viewed by brand new players - add two to the numbers in the above post... 14 or better. 12 cuts it too close on a brand newbie.

[parvo]

1 -- If it's not bugged it will be
2 -- If it was bugged it will be again
3 -- It will be bugged worse than last time

[Merlin-ator]

Never start with less than 16 CON on a melee character
Weapon Finesse gives your to-hit to DEX, if you dump STR you will do ineffectual damage
On a melee char, take Power Attack, but never turn it on. Your loss of to-hit will result in a loss of DPS. Taking Power Attack allows you to take other feats that don't suck.
Play with the UI options. You will need to rapidly change hotbars at some point.
Never use Drow for melee
Never use Elves for melee
Never use Elves
Never multiclass unless you built your char to multiclass.
Never max out any stat scores unless this is a multilife character or you're building a Wizard
Just because INT is not a class ability doesn't mean you shouldn't take a point or two in it. INT determines the number of stat points you get per level.
Your first quest pack should be Devil Assault. Run Chronoscope often, even if it gives no XP.
Always sell the Vials of Pure Water. Never give them to Wash.
Do Wizard before Sorceror.
Always use Drow for Wizard.
If you have the Greater Dragonmark of Finding (human feat only), let your party know. It takes time to buff the chests, and you will never buff it unless they know to wait for you to tell them it's ready.
Marching order is important. Remember, you can walk backwards through your party members, but not enemies.
You can solo Korthos, Harbor, and Marketplace quests. Don't think you can solo level 16 quests.
Never shortman a raid, even if you're all level 19 and you're running low-level raids on normal.
Never solo a raid, even a low-level raid on normal with a level 20 tank.

[Xynot2]

#1 how to read the map ( a quest to get to the mailbox would be a good one)
#2 how to set up spells
#3 examples of things that need to be hot barred to activate
#4 hot to scribe scrolls
#5 AH limits for free vs VIP
#6 plat max structure
#7 Where to buy spell items or add low level ones to a shop near where they come into the harbor from Korthos
#8 Bilboards for shops. IE *Come to (shopname) for all your (class items) needs. Located (directions to the shop)



I could go on forever with a TON of stuff but to make it simple... have a GM stationed in the harbor for a month and watch the questions that get asked by new players and asked and asked. And while a month isnt really all that long and not nearly long enough, you will get a good idea. Then take some of those placards you have around that advertize quests and make them readable explaining all of the things people ask about ALOT. End the Korthos split up of players (sunny/snowy) and just make it so they can all party together if they have done the flagging quests like the rest of DDO. It would really help the older players group with the newer players to give them an idea of what's going on.

[DarkForte]

-> How to set up my hotbars;
-> That bonus feats limit you in what you can choose;
-> That scrolls are awesome;
-> Where to buy my scrolls;

[PopeJual]

1 -- If it's not bugged it will be
2 -- If it was bugged it will be again
3 -- It will be bugged worse than last time

Bugs that help players will be fixed quickly(ish). Bugs that hurt players will not.

Parvo's #2 does apply to bugs that help players, however. Keep a list...

[altrocks]

Bugs that help players will be fixed quickly(ish). Bugs that hurt players will not.

Parvo's #2 does apply to bugs that help players, however. Keep a list...

Indeed. I'm waiting for the day the unlimited Manyshot bug returns. That was an amazing time on my AA.

[Mastikator]

1) It is better to be good at one thing than bad at many things, especially if that one thing is "killing stuff".
2) Use magic device is the best skill in the game, consider it before you put points into haggle.
3) There's no such thing as a dex based build. Two weapon fighters use strength as their main stat.
4) Don't underestimate the value of combat control and tactical attacks.
5) Carry jump and haste pots in case you need to jump over a trap. They cost 5 and 75pp a pop, a lot cheaper than death.

[eden2760]

While depending largely on play-style and what you spend it on... I'd say the true value of items and plat.

I can't count the number of times I see things like +1 masterwork bow being spammed for an hour on the trade channel with a ridiculous price of even half what it's "base value" is.

This obviously comes with experience in the game too... but I myself spent a lot of time trying to sell my trash loot (that I thought was worth anything other than vendor trash) where that time could had been spent on learning more of the finer points of the game, and just having fun in general, rather than getting frustrated over why someone isn't taking advantage of a good thing.

[altrocks]

While depending largely on play-style and what you spend it on... I'd say the true value of items and plat.

I can't count the number of times I see things like +1 masterwork bow being spammed for an hour on the trade channel with a ridiculous price of even half what it's "base value" is.

This obviously comes with experience in the game too... but I myself spent a lot of time trying to sell my trash loot (that I thought was worth anything other than vendor trash) where that time could had been spent on learning more of the finer points of the game, and just having fun in general, rather than getting frustrated over why someone isn't taking advantage of a good thing.

TL;DR version: The "base value" line on most objects is a lie. The most valuable items almost always list their "base value" at something like 10 GP, or have no "base value" listed at all.

That's a lesson that it can take a long time to learn because so many people do list stupid weapons and armors on the AH at low levels for ridiculous amounts of cash. Brokers are a good place to get equipped on your first life if you have no one helping you out while you learn the game.

[ZeebaNeighba]

Grinding 100 favor on each server gets you like a dollar an hour. Just throw 20 bucks into the game, save your time and you'll have a few nifty premium bonuses too.

Don't kite stuff on a ranged character, this only annoys your party. If you grab aggro when you shouldn't, take it to the tank and hold shift and hope for the best.

If you've never done a quest, say it up front. If you don't and screw us up, we will be much more annoyed, and we'll be fine warning you of anything special going on in a quest.

Lots of women play this game (although lots of men play female characters, don't mix them up), it's not that surprising to see one, and keep your d*ck in your pants when you do.

Also, no con isn't a dump stat, but unless your character only uses 2 stats, only put in 6 build points. The rest aren't worth it. Put it in the other stuff your class needs.

[xaerr]

put creative restraints on your game play to improve your finesse and tactics in game.
like a Drow monk with 6 con who uses wind stance (effectively 4 con), no toughness feats, dont increase con.

[SiliconScout]

After having a couple of discussions with some newbies in the last week the following probably needs to be said.

This is NOT Dungeons and Dragons. I say again this is NOT Dungeons and Dragons.

This is a Fantasy MMORPG set in the D&D universe but it largely uses it's own rules.

Think of is as a campaign where the homebrew rules come in a 3 volume set and they have torn about 40 pages from the "official" rules and added it as an addendum to the end of that 3rd volume.

Most of the multiclassing you are used to using just isn't going to work out for you here, it really really just isn't. That Cleric 10/Rogue 6/ Ftr 4 isn't going to be anyone's friend here I am affraid.

Most of the stat splits you are used to making probably isn't going to work out here. Mainly CON is not a dump stat. This really can't be said enough.

DPS is king and unless you bring it or support it (Hjeals, Buffs, and/or Crowd Control) you will quickly find that you aren't having a heck of a lot of fun as you can't solo well unless you are on casual and maybe normal and you aren't really contributing much of anything in a group.

[noinfo]

Never start with less than 16 CON on a melee character
Weapon Finesse gives your to-hit to DEX, if you dump STR you will do ineffectual damage
On a melee char, take Power Attack, but never turn it on. Your loss of to-hit will result in a loss of DPS. Taking Power Attack allows you to take other feats that don't suck.
Play with the UI options. You will need to rapidly change hotbars at some point.
Never use Drow for melee
Never use Elves for melee
Never use Elves
Never multiclass unless you built your char to multiclass.
Never max out any stat scores unless this is a multilife character or you're building a Wizard
Just because INT is not a class ability doesn't mean you shouldn't take a point or two in it. INT determines the number of stat points you get per level.
Your first quest pack should be Devil Assault. Run Chronoscope often, even if it gives no XP.
Always sell the Vials of Pure Water. Never give them to Wash.
Do Wizard before Sorceror.
Always use Drow for Wizard.
If you have the Greater Dragonmark of Finding (human feat only), let your party know. It takes time to buff the chests, and you will never buff it unless they know to wait for you to tell them it's ready.
Marching order is important. Remember, you can walk backwards through your party members, but not enemies.
You can solo Korthos, Harbor, and Marketplace quests. Don't think you can solo level 16 quests.
Never shortman a raid, even if you're all level 19 and you're running low-level raids on normal.
Never solo a raid, even a low-level raid on normal with a level 20 tank.

How to solo a raid on a level 20 elf/drow melee.

[Ayyelos]

k, got to about page 8, decided I wanted to go play the game instead of making sure this wasn't mentioned, but:

1) The difference between resist elements and protection from elements.
2) The ability to separate stacks of items, or to buy more than one thing at a time.
3) How to use the LFM panel, including creating your own LFM

oh yeah, and something about con... and heavy fort...

[ZeebaNeighba]

How to right click on a spell and select its metamagics.

[susiedupfer]

You need at least 400hp to survive the level 18 and higher raids. This requires Con and Toughness. Know them, love them.

Have the highest fortification available for your level.

There are real females playing. Treat us like you want your mother/sister/wife/daughter treated, and you won't go far wrong.

Don't multiclass any toon until you have played both classes to level 20. You need that experience playing a pure toon first. You also need to know what you are giving up in terms of capstones.

Divines are capable of far more than standing at the back and healing. You are responsible for staying where you can be healed without being chased. You are also responsible for removing your own blindness, curses, poisons, diseases, stat damages. Keep a full line of potions. Including cure potions.

[jcoffey]

I would have saved my $65 and waited till DDO went free.

[smkalinowski]

As a newbie (in particular a soloing newbie) I wish I had known:

#1 - The usefulness of UMD
#2 - How to use hot bars/what needs a hot bar
#3 - How to use the environment to my advantage in a fight
#4 - How to use bluff to pull one monster out of a mob
#5 - The uselessness of TWF until you are at higher levels and have ITWF
#6 - A cleric hireling is cheaper (and more effective) than a bunch of healing potions
#7 - You don't need to Elite everything. Do the quest at the highest level can complete. Yes Elite is more XP, but if you wipe out you don't get any XP at all. Come back and try to Elite it again when you are a higher level.
#8 - Dying isn't the end of the world (in-game anyway). It happens. Rest at a tavern, repair your stuff, and try again.