If I Only Knew Then What I Know Now

[Tarrant]

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!

[Trillea]

1) CON is *NOT* a dump stat
2) CON is *NOT* a dump stat
3) CON is *NOT* a dump stat
4) Get heavy fort as soon as possible
5) Rogues are DPS first, traps second

[k1dwizard]

1. Plus 2 arrows, and a Plus one bow does not mean you get a plus three bonus

2. improved precise shot is a feat that you need to put on your hot bar to turn it on... been playing for years and just learned this about 2 months ago /face palm

3. Con is not a dump stat

4. Troller on argo is a gimp, and if anything goes wrong it is typically his fault

5. I am Troller

6. Con is not a dump stat

a little extra i know, but does it count towards extra credit?

[redraider]

1. As a caster - you can put a sceptar in each hand - healing lore and potency - fire lore and potency, etc.

2. One level of Rog built well can do nearly every trap in the game until late levels

3. Warforged really is the master race for most builds

;)

[Dark-Star]

1. Despite what anyone advises, make your wizard or sorc a warforged.
2. Learn to be a team player, but have self reliance in your build.
3. Be picky in what guild you join. The guilds that are prevelent in the lower levels are much different than the guilds that excel at the end game. Take your time in choosing one that fits your personality and playstyle. Ultimately the game is about the relationships you build.

[Natulyre]

1. If a chest looks too good to be true, it's trapped.
2. If the rogue stop moving, don't go past him or you'll die a horrible death.
3. Look at the brokers in house Deneith/Marketplace/Ataraxia before heading to the auction house to buy new gear, most of the time you'll find what you need for half the price.

[AZgreentea]

One thing I remember having trouble with before I got up the courage to ask (lots of F2P hate a year ago):

Right click to target your hirelings or specific players/monsters.

That must have taken me about 12 hours of play before I asked. :o A real quick tutorial of the UI and basic commands might help new players.

[darkrune]

1) if I knew how hard the nerf bat was going to hit some greensteel items I wouldn't have wasted so many scales. (still praying daily for deconstruct at some point)

2) if I knew that reincarnate would be an option I wouldn't have retooled so many toons.

3) it is ok to switch guilds and/or start your own. Sometimes the grass actually is greener.

And a bonus one- CON IS NOT A DUMP STAT!!!

Dark

Ps great idea for a topic guys and gals.

[Robi3.0]

In the immortal words of Will Wheaton

"Don't be a male genital"

[Zzevel]

+ Wear the best Constitution item for your level...
( +1 con = Level 1; +2 con = Level 5 ; +3 con = Level 7; +4 con = Level 9; +5 con = Level 11; +6 con = Level 13)

+ Wear the best Fortification item for your level...
(Light Fort = Level 1; Moderate Fort = Level 4; Heavy Fort = Level 8)

+ Wear the best False Life item for your level...
( Lesser False Life (5hp)= Level 1; False Life (10hp) = Level 6; Improved False Life (20hp) = Level 8; Greater False Life (30hp)= Level 10)

All Race Restricted equipment can be worn 2 levels lower than the above stated level, if you find something restricted and it is not your race and you cant use it, you can sell it for a good price on the auction house

++++ The +20hp on the Minos Legens (http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s220/jgould2005/DDO/Items/Lamannia/MinosLegens.jpg) Helm (Necro Pack 4) STACKS with False Life items and has Heavy Fort.. that's why everyone wears it.. it is Level 11

[IronClan]

1. Not everyone runs through quests like a chicken with their head cut off, find a group or guild that plays at a speed you like
2. the game is not as hard as min maxers make it out to be, have fun and find a group or guild that plays the same way you like to.
3. don't be afraid to join an LFM and say "I haven't done this one" much better to say it up front then when your in trouble later... You wont have to say that much if you find a group or... etc.

[Lorien_the_First_One]

CON is not a dump stat - on ANY class.

Rogues are DPS, not traps. Traps is something they do in their spare time between killing things and a well build 1rogue/19 something else can take out 99+% of the traps in the game as well as a pure rogue.

Unlike D&D, DDO requires min/maxing to a large degree that prohibits "balanced characters" that work well in D&D. Said balanced characters will own content from L1-12 and then become useless.

Do not send or accept blind guild or party invites. It's considered rude to do so and anyone who does so tends not to know much about the game. Instead looking for the "LFM" panel (social panel, then grouping tab) to see what groups are forming. Don't be afraid to start your own group if you don't see something you like! You don't need know a quest to start a group.

If you are new and join a group, TELL THEM.

[SamuelTheFree]

1 - Con is not a Dump Stat (I know a bit of a recurring theme but too important to leave out)
2 - All classes can self heal through most quests if prepared (Sure it takes resources, but resources are not that scarce)
3 - Low level casters can melee (sure not as well as a melee class but enough to solo quite a bit)

[TFPAQ]

1. Low levels, pretty much any build is a "Solo" build.
2. Low level soloing is about AC and healing.
3. High level soloing is about dps and healing.
4. Most "solo" builds don't work well at high lvl quests, raids, and in epics - excluding WF Sorc, WF Wiz, WF FvS... (hint, hint...)*

*Just kidding (not really ...)

[petegunn]

1) Build advice/ making good use of these forums.

2) To have enough con for the job at hand.

3) Concentrate on one alt at a time, that way the game will seem more tidy and in your mind, you'll observe your character develop from strength to strength.

[Memnir]

Potions are important, carry them.

[Logic]

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!

I think updating in-game feat, enhancement, and item descriptions would be very useful to new players. There are many feats/enhancements/item descriptions that are lacking information or simply wrong that it makes the game difficult to play without browsing forums to learn how feats/enhancements/items actually function. Add cooldowns as well. This link is a great spot to start http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=179128

[Thelmallen]

1) Rougues have to pick up the rogue-specific skills at character creation (open lock, disable device, search, spot, etc). They are not automatically granted. I've seen I don't know how many new players get into Tangleroot and not know this.

2) You can buy potions for nearly anything you need: remove disease, neutralize poison, lesser restoration are ones everyone should carry. Maybe hand out starter versions of these potions when characters are created.

3) Constitution should never be left at 8. Ever. On any build. Ever. Never. Nunca. A minimum of 12 is required for most builds. Minimum.

[Feylina]

-It's ok to be new to the game, new players don't annoy vets, new players that act like they know what they are doing when they have no clue annoy vets

-listen to the leader, if he/she is actually leading, if you didn't want them to lead you shoulda formed your own party

-potions are your friend

-60hp at level 12 is not funny

-if you don't know the quest, perhaps do it on normal once or twice, don't join that elite group

-learn what weapons are great for what quest, holy + pg is not great for running with the devils (til the end / devil cave)

-learn the d20 system. 40 ac in gianthold is not good, 50 - 60 ac endame isn't either, in both cases you might as well be naked.


that's all for now. There's a wealth of knowledge out there for new players from veterans, to date i've met few new players willing to tap into it.

[Spartus]

1. CON is never a dump stat. No character can avoid getting hit 100% of the time, and without decent CON, you will die.

2. It's perfectly OK to reroll your first character, after learning a bit about the game. In fact, it's pretty much a rite of passage that everyone (I know in the game) has gone through. The various reincarnation options that were recently added can make this less of a chore.

3. The majority of PUG groups worth being in are formed via the LFM panel.

[Rumbaar]

1) Be sure to pick up your small bags from Mari Mosshand in the Harbour and The Twelve patron in the Twelve enclave

2) Do not buy +1 stat items or weapons from the DDO Store

3) You can purchase Medium Bags from the House J vendors, do no pay AH prices. You also get a Large Ingredients Bag for free from the Twelve Patron favor.


) 1d6 = One 6 sided dice, rolled to randomly determine a number.

[BitkaCK2]

1) CON is not a dump stat*
2) If you are in group running a quest or raid you are unfamiliar with listen to the advice of the person that is familiar with it. If no one is familiar with it, stay between the rogue and the healer. ;)
3) If you do not know what a zerg is do not join a 'zerg' group.

bitkaCK2

*For new players: a dump stat is is one that you lower or ignore in order to put points into a main stat.

Edit:
...
-60hp at level 12 is not funny...

I know its not funny but I couldn't help laughing.

[MrCuisinart]

1) Press 'e' to quickly pick up those piles of coins/potions
2) Don't buy armor from the DDO store, it is easily found in the game.
3) Set up and use multiple hotbars. Searching through the inventory screens for that one needed pot is not needed.

[Zadkiele]

1) Stacking - most people coming to DDO are veterans from other games where you pile on multiple +stat items and they stack with each other, and it's not made clear in DDO that they don't. My first character nearly 4 years ago was a Cleric and I ran around with 4 +1 wis items on for ages until I realised the mistake.

2) Anyone can sneak. It wasn't until about 3 months into the game that I learned my cleric could sneak. Badly of course, but I didn't even know it was an option.

3) Adding extra Int does not give retroactive skill points. I took Int as the skill gain on my Cleric at level 4 and 8 and was VERY disappointed when I didn't get an extra 8 skill points to spend.

Zad

[BLAKROC]

it's not my job to keep you alive

weapon finesse is a waste of a feat

its a game, enjoy it for what it is

[SaIamander]

1. most game related questions can be answered here http://compendium.ddo.com
2. opinions on things that #1 does not fully explain are located here http://forums.ddo.com
3. in case u didn't catch it in your perusal of #2 CON is NOT a dump stat

[Zzevel]

+ Purple Bags appear for everyone to pick up, you don't have to leave some lay around for other members of your party.

+ Items that drop from breaking items (barrels, crates, etc) in your play environment are first come first serve
.... Hit the 'Backspace' key followed by the 'U' key to pick things up quickly
.... If someone else broke it, give them at let 2 seconds to pick it up first

+ If your broke, don't beg other players for coins, pick up everything and sell it no matter how little you get for it.

+ If you have a Sorc or Wiz in your party and they cast firewall, stand in the firewall to fight...

+ An 8/6/6 Fighter/Sorc/Cleric is not a good character at any level eve\n if you can "Cast spells on yourself"

+ Being level 20 does not make you a good player.... listening, contributing and self healing sure helps.

+ If you have run a quest (raid especially) less than 5 times, you are inexperienced and should let the party leader know.

+ A name like Uberbattlecleric or Hopedeathgun will not make you friends

[Tyrande]

- If your first character is a healer type character like cleric and your play style or personality do not like/want to waste a lot of resources healing others and expect other people to take care of themselves; then group with known people or guild only.

- Do not expect your non-tome eaten mediocre stat (non-highest DC) caster at level be able to use instant kill spells and succeed at first shot.

- You can turn on combat logs in a separate chat window and see what's affecting your character and come up with strategies to counter the next time you have a similar encounter. You can use filters in your chat windows.

- Heavy fortification, greater false life, +6 constitution, +3 constitution tome, +2 exceptional constitution items are not optional for your characters.

- Do not be afraid to submit bug reports. Developers have not tested every scenario or situations where strange behaviors occur.

[Phidius]

Quit now before you're addicted.

[Imnisc]

Based on our most recent data, character tips for players who have opted in will be available on October 25th.

[der_kluge]

- Don't shout out to general chat looking for groups. Use the LFM panel.

- Wizards can learn every arcane spell in the game. Purchase the appropriate spell inscription materials (by level), click the scroll, and then click your scribe scroll ability in your hotbar (you may need to place it there, first!) to add that spell to your spellbook.

- A 6 strength is really low, and is probably going to frustrate you.

- If you group with a bunch of warforged, true-reincarnated know-it-alls who perseverate on every nuance of their build, and jockey for kill count (and live in their mother's basement), feel free to make a piking heal-focused cleric with con as their dump stat.

[Tobril]

Full list and descriptions of each feat, skill, enhancement, etc. There are several abilities that are vague about their exact function, ala Shield Mastery not listing the exact amount of extra blocking DR applied.

Full list and descriptions for all random loot. (prefixes and suffixes)

Full list and descriptions for named items. (including hidden effects)

Stacking rules for different bonuses, especially DDO-specific things like alacrity. (alacrity doesn’t stack with haste)

Formulas for DDO specific rules, such as shield blocking DR.

Legend of “floating damage” numbers/symbols.

Descriptions of other game mechanics I can’t think of at the moment.


Basically, a continuously updated manual similar to those provided by games such as civilization.

[Psyker]

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

2. How to delete items from your inventory

3. How DR works, and how strong it is, especially at lower levels.

[PurdueDave]

Just one, control click lets you type in a number to buy a lot of potions instead of just clicking again and again...

[Trillea]

Argh - forgot the #1 thing to tell new people!

http://ddowiki.com/

[Admiral_Otto]

1. Don't neglect fortification. I remember debating with myself if I should use a +1 Con and Heavy Fortification item over a +4 Con with Light Fort. Switching to Heavy Fort was one of the best things I did for survivability.

2. Constitution shouldn't be ignored. Figured that one out quickly with a 10 Con Ranger I made once.

3. Dual wielding weapons/using weapons which you're not proficient as a caster is fine, especially if you're not planning on hitting stuff in melee. I foolishly thought the penalty for dual-wielding hurt my wizard in other ways or something.

Bonus choice:

4. Learning how to properly select/target and inspect both enemies and friends alike. Simple enough, but I remember not bothering/thinking to inspect anything for the longest time. Doing so has saved me much time and resources while educating me some and making the game a little more enjoyable.

[voodoogroves]

1. Visit the forums for advice and help. Seriously, too few players do it and it is a great resource.

2. You're going to mess up your first character; that's half the fun. Learn, improve and come back kicking much more hind-quarters!

3. CON is a dump stat for undead druids.

[t0r012]

When you start playing find a static group and play with them exclusively.

Don't ruin the experience playing with power gamers just power leveling their 3rd TR and people that have done the quest a thousand times.
don't rush to get to the end game you will get there, enjoy the "now" game.

start off playing badly and learn from your mistakes and have fun and struggle with your group.

Avoid the Auction House and don't specifically twink your characters. Struggle is the law of growth, learn the game through exploration and not DDOwiki.

[Battlehawke]

#1 Things that are important for survival and enjoyment of the game are: Fortification Items (minimizes crits), Con Items and False Life Items (the way the mana/healing pool is designed in the game, the more HP you have, the more chances/time the cleric has to heal you).

#2 Always respect the group of people that you are questing with. There are a lot of different ways of finishing each quest. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Most people in this game are great and would rather have you ask something than make things difficult/impossible.

#3 Build the toon that you want to build. Most great players are better players because they play with respect and passion, not because their build is a better build (some clearly are though). Don't be afraid to ask questions about your build before you invest too much time. Remember though, as in most MMOs, the Devs are always trying to balance things, so if your toon isn't great today, it might be next week! Try to enjoy the game.

Battlehawke

[Spoonwelder]

1) All new characters should have two hotbars loaded at creation and part of the tutorial should be to force them to drag an item from inventory, a weapon set, a feat and an enhancement (may not be possible unless you do an old sullys grog type thing). to the extra bar.
2) Don't be afraid to ask questions in quest.
3) If you are in a party and one of the other players bars is flashing green it means they are trying to talk to the party - if you can't hear them check you sound setup AND/OR tell them you can't hear them. If you don't speak their language fluently also tell them. Most people will type important instructions IF they know you need them to. They may grumble but they will do it in order to increase the chance of success.
4) If you die in a group - DO NOT hit the release button until the leader says to. It can cause an XP hit that isn't necessary if someone in the group can get you back up or to a Res shrine.


oh and that CON thing too.

[Tholar]

1. Some sick fool a a developer put a trap on a collectible.

2. Some sick fool of a developer put a trap in a shrine.

3. Developers are sick fools, who are just out to try and kill us.

[Bogenbroom]

1) Most any class can be built in a variety of ways. Any number of those builds can be valid as long as they can get along in game.

2) Multi-classing your character is tricky. You want to find synergies in classes to work with. For example, Monks and Clerics both value Wisdom as a stat. On the other hand, Fighter and Wizards are polar opposites in their stat needs, so mixing them will create a character that is a weak fighter and a weak wizard.

3) Multi-classing a caster class will weaken that character as a caster. Not only will he have fewer spell point and fewer spells, but the strength of his spells is directly related to his caster level (not overall level.) In addition, lower caster level means easier saves for enemies and weaker spell penetration.

4) Damage mitigation is extremely important. The easiest and most common way to do this is by maximizing your hit points. This is done by having a good CON. By finding and and wearing False Life items and CON items, and by acquiring certain items / goals (Minos Legens from the Orchard and second Tier Argo favor.) While it is never a good idea to have low HP, Damage Resistance is one other way of mitigating damage.

[Schwarzie]

1) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

2) Clerics are not your slaves! So help him keep you up. Gift him ressources, carry potions.

3) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

4) Same Boni types rearely stack! Dont use multiple Items which grant you an enhancementbonus.

5) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

6) If you charaktersheet says 17+3 does it NOT mean that you abilityscore is 20! You have a
17 wich gives you a +3 Bonus to everything that uses this stat.

7) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

8) Dont invest skillpoints in Heal, Repair or Swim. they are wasted.

9) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

10) Drow arent a cool race. They are squishy and unsuited for most Characters.

11) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

12) Warforged are ugly as hell, but for most builds they are the strongest pick. They can be healed by both arcane and divine casters.

13) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

14) you cant avoid to get hit in higher level Quests. Get a Fortification Item, you healer will thank you!

15) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

16) dont be afraid to SAY or TYPe that you are new. Most people will change their type of normal play and at least give you a short explanation what is expected of you.

17) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

18) Rogues are a High damage dealing class. Yes they can do Traps. But that is NOT the reason why you want one in your group.

19) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

20) Group composition is not that Important. Most Quests in the game can be done without a Cleric or Favoured Soul.

21) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

22) If you die in a Quest, in 99% of the cases its your fault! Just because you have a Cleric of Favoured Soul in your group does not mean that you dont have to look at your red Bar!

23) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

24) If someone gives you advice, he doesnt do that to annoy you but to help you!

25) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

26) Armour class is not of much use once you get into the Gianthold. Only dedicated Ac builds which need an awful amount of Gear have a meaningful AC.

27) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

28) You preferred playstyle is not the preferred playstyle of all other persons. (Yes thats an advice for Vets also)

29) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

30) The predefined builds you can choose while creating your Character are garbadge. If you really want Information how to best build your toon, look into the Forums.

31) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

32) Yes it is entirely possible to build a charakter who is gimped beyond repair. DDO has a relatively open System to build your char. Ask yround before you build it so it doesnt ruin you fun later on. No, there is no real Respec mechanism in the game. Choose wisely.

33) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

34) No, just because you surivded most of the quests up to lv10 does NOT mean that your charakter is still effective later on. in fact the lower level area is much more forgiving then later areas.

35) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

36) Yes, Warforged are really the best race for any Arcane character.

36) No this game dont have any suitable PvP. Yes it has a brawling area. There you can find Players testing New Gear and spells or some people who havent read the first part of Number 36.

37) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

38) "I wont get hit" is NOT a suitable excuse for having only 200hp on your Drow Arcane on lv18+

39) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

40) Yes, it is a grind to get all the shiny stuff those Vets carry.

41) This is a game. You play a game to have fun. Your definition of fun may differ from other peoples Point of View.

42) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.

43) Lesser Restoration. Remove Curse. Remove desease. Cure Serious Wounds. Remove Blindness. Do not forget these names. these are the Potions you have to carry with yourself as soon as possible. Yes i know, they are expensive in the beginning. But they are worth it.


And before i forget it:

45) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters. :D

[Tholar]

1. Guilds are a good thing, if you pick the correct one.

2. This is a game, enjoy it at your own pace and don't let others ruin that.

3. Stay with your party, stay in the healers sight. If you are the healer, get a mirror to aid in this.

[WestportStan]

#1 if you just want to goof around and learn the game mechanics, build your toon any way you please. Ftr/Clr/bard? Sure go for it. But dont fall in love with this toon. You will leave or delete it later. take this time to learn all you can about the game

#2 When you are ready to focus on making a good build, use all your resources to do this: DDO forums, ddo wiki, chats with other players, and server forums.

#3 Be a good team member. There are a number of good players that are horrid team members.

[der_kluge]

some more.

- Do not make a battle cleric. If people see a clerical icon, they're going to expect you to heal them.

- Do not make a rogue who can't disable the traps and/or open the locks. It's going to make people hate you.

- Do not make a generic bard. Such a character would be pretty worthless. Instead, research Spellsinger or War Chanter.

[Rumbaar]

I guess a lot of people can't count :)

[Tap4black]

1) The first 6 points you spend (AT A MINIMUM) MUST go into Con at character generation.

2) Wearing Heavy Fortification and carrying potions will not only make your adventuring life easier, it will endear you to the group you are with.

3) If you are new to a quest, for gods sake SPEAK UP and let the leader know. Nothing annoys group leaders more than having a new player not speak up or worse yet, start talking like they know what is going on when they haven't a clue.

BONUS!) Do not Waste your money in the DDO store for ANY starter gear as you will find more than enough as you adventure in game. +1 Weapons, +1 Armor can be found in almost ANY quest right from the start and it gets easier as you go along.

[Missing_Minds]

1. Concerning spells. There are no ranged attacks you must roll on. Due to the active combat system, it is Line of Sight.

2. Do not expect to be able to roll up a Legolass type character in this game. For balance purposes, you get about 1/3rd the number of attacks that you would in pen and paper.

3. Gold is plentiful, and there is a lot of loot created that players consider "vendor trash". Sell it to them, please.

[Tholar]

1) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
3) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
5) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
7) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
9) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
11) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
13) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
15) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
17) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
19) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
21) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
23) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
25) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
27) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
29) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
31) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
33) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
35) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
37) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
39) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
42) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters.
45) Con is NOT a dumbstat! In Fact it is the second most important stat on most characters. :D


Seriously? You may have had some good points in there, but nobody was going to read through that much spam.

http://www.feministe.us/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/WALL_OF_TEXT.jpg

[DragonKiller]

1) A Marine never said he had too many bullets for a battle, and a DDO player never said they had too many hit points for an encounter. (i.e. Con isn't a dump stat)

2) There is no quest, at any level, any place in DDO that you need a perfect party for. Doing a all (insert class here) quest can be some of the most fun you've ever had. Give it a try.

3) DDO Isn't every other MMO out there, learn to play this one. If every game were the same, why would you want to play it? Enjoy the play styles that DDO offers, and learn your DDO play style.

4) People on the forums, do not know it all. Learn from your fellow party members, guildies and from your own experiences.

[dunklezhan]

1. Read some of the forum build threads.
2. If you aren't sure of what build to go for, ask.
3. In DDO respeccing to correct an early mistake is a srsbzniss, and in large part a Turbine money spinner. It is NOT just an inconvenient necessity every now and again when you feel like a change, as with most if not all other MMOs. Now go re-read 1 &2
4. If by now, you haven't learned that CON is not a dumpstat, read here: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?p=3302297#post3302297

[khaldan]

After reading the thread, I wasn't sure if anyone said this:

Con is not a dump stat.

Neither is greensteel(hp), toughness(feat), or toughness(item) or GFL on a rogue.

2. Rogue are DPS first.

3. It's rogue, not rouge.

[DANTEIL]

1) Try to learn what you can about damage reduction against specific kinds of creatures. Pay attention to the combat log and don't be afraid to experiment with different weapons/spells/tactics in order to find something that works better. Other, more knowledgeable players are good resources for this.

2) Not all weapon effects are equally effective. Some look cool, but really aren't. You can learn some of this through experience, but again, other more knowledgeable players can inform you what effects are worthless/powerful.

3) Knowledge of the quests is half the battle for being more successful in the game. The rest is gear + skill. The first few times through, you will be confused and lost (especially in complicated quests/raids). Don't hesitate to indicate when you are new if grouping with others. Ask questions and read the wiki. Also, take advantage of casual/solo scaling to learn new quests.

[Srozbun]

1. Don't be afraid to admit it's your first time in a quest. Depending on who's group you're in, this can save you a lot of grief later, and make your pugging experience more enjoyable.

2. If you don't have sound and join a group, let them know first thing. It is annoying as hell to be giving out directions and never having them followed, then have to ask in chat and the guy says he has no sound.

3. Some parties are more demanding than others. If you see an LFM that says BYOH, know the quest, IP, and you have no clue what you're doing, do not join it. You will save yourself a lot of grief.

4. Candy canes are not sufficient for BYOH :P

5. DR is awesome

[Orratti]

For a sec there from the title I thought Tarrant was quitting. By the way in case no one mentioned it con is not a dump stat.

[Dilbon]

If you plan to hit stuff with melee weapons, you need strength. Do not make a weapon finesse barbarian with 12 STR.

[MeliCat]

When I got to 20 for the first time, got dragged into my first epic, and didn't have a UWA item, I threaded exactly this topic.

It's really REALLY bad the way new people are just *dumped* into this game and bombarded with information. It's appallingly laid out and fed to you. Really bad. Glad to hear that you are addressing this topic. I have a lot to say on it but can't see the point of getting lost in the masses above.

Let me see if I can find my original thread on this....

And frankly I think I would rather thread my own really detailed thread on *exactly* how I wish the information was fed to me for other people who think and approach things the way I do. Because again I suspect anything I say is going to get lost and ignored.

EDIT: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=224530
haven't started that many threads.... i was in the process of massively rewriting this one... i think i will too. for my own satisfaction even if no one else cares.

[Tholar]

For a sec there from the title I thought Tarrant was quitting. By the way in case no one mentioned it con is not a dump stat.

Tarrant is not allowed to quit.

[Spoonwelder]

1. Some stuff you hear is a myth



ie. 26) Armour class is not of much use once you get into the Gianthold. Only dedicated Ac builds which need an awful amount of Gear have a meaningful AC.



You can get a good enough AC in certain builds with reasonably easy to obtain gear at that level all the way up to the Vale. Also this AC almost invariably comes with DR which is helpful at all times. It may not coincide with high DPS but it does not preclude its use

2. Go Premium - spend 5 bucks get some points - buy some adventure packs (not gear) from the store. The best things you get is 3 more character slots AND unlimitted AH postings versus what you get as a sole P2P type. That alone is enough to justify the $5.

[stoopid_cowboy]

1. Cross classes can be very powerful fun characters to play. However cross classing can also make a character very poor and No fun to play. Do not cross your first character. Play it to 20 and learn the game. You will have more fun!

2. Clerics and Favored Souls may be healing classes, but it is not their job to keep you alive. They were not the one that jumped in the middle of 20 bad guys and got pwned.

3. Heavy Fort. Let me repeat that, HEAVY FORT. Get fortification ASAP! Even the best healer will not be able to keep you alive forever. Legons Minos helm can be used at lvl 11. Heavy fort / toughness (+20hp) at lvl 11.

Oh yeah, and the con thing. There is NO excuse for a lvl20 Rogue to only have 200hp's.

yuda

[todwag]

1) Not many things stack in DDO. And exactly what those rules are.
2) AC is not very important; HPs are the way to go.
3) Ranged combat is a hard way of life and only really works if you have some respectable melee abilities as well.

I've been playing 1 year.

[PNellesen]

Stay behind the rogue
Sword and shield s*cks
Con is not a dump stat

[Wurmheart]

1. Some sick fool a a developer put a trap on a collectible.

2. Some sick fool of a developer put a trap in a shrine.

3. Developers are sick fools, who are just out to try and kill us.

i know >...>


first they tell us to smash crates and boxes for goodies,
few levels later they give us explosive crates....
and even later they use em to lure us into traps ...

more on topic:

1) WF aren't as supreme as they claim to be, after all which other race has termites as a mortal foe?

2) Bring your own healing items/spells and use them!

3) healers need to have you in their line of sight to heal!!!
if you're hiding behind a pillar it's more likely a mob will kill you because you just blocked of your healer.

4) dump all the points you can in con first, then look at other stats

[Vellrad]

If you're not rich (in RL life) and don't got a whole f...in' lot of TPs to spend, buy only adventure packs, races, classes etc. and wait until they're in promo price (almost each week there's at least 1 adventure pack for less price). Don't try to collect all packs, don't try to get cheapest, get those from your lv range.

[Dakotahorn]

1. If a chest looks too good to be true, it's trapped.
2. If the rogue stop moving, don't go past him or you'll die a horrible death.


OMG hahahahaha. Priceless.

Mine:
1) If it sounds to good to be true.... it probably doesn't stack.
2) Spend all TP on adventure packs first - specifically Delera, Gianthold, and Vale of Twilight
3) Learn the vendor's. House of Wizardry in house J sells raise dead scrolls, Vendors in Marketplace sell +6 items. DONT spend 30k pp on medium bags in the AH (go to House P Vendor instead - 8k pp).

[LightInDark]

Have Fun, if you are not having fun you are doing it wrong

[k1dwizard]

Just one, control click lets you type in a number to buy a lot of potions instead of just clicking again and again...

Oh my god this one frustrated me to no end. It took me months to realize this, and a heft builld from my doctor sure to days of cramping.

[justagame]

1. Have an open mind. Classes are not cookie-cutter in DDO -- there are lots of varieties that work. Lots of classes can dps. Lots of classes can heal. There are hardly any quests that require a single "must-have" class. Also, you don't need 6 people for every quest.

2. In the beginning, when you are plat-poor, pick up every potion and collectible you come across. Some, such as resist or cure potions, will be immediately useful, but many others can be auctioned for plat.

3. If you're new to a quest, say so. Most of the time you will be treated with patience, and learn much more than you would by 'faking it'. Just pay attention to the LFM -- if it says "fast run on elite, know the quest", don't join if you've never done it before.

4 (bonus). Communicate. Always have the party chat window open, an dpay attention to it. Even if you don't have a mic, have sound turned on when you can. Many quests fail because someone didn't hear or see an important request or instruction.

5 (another bonus). If your mouse has side buttons, you can map hotbar icons to it. Map your most frequently clicked buttons here.

6 (I'm blatantly disregarding the rules at this point). Spells with multiple casting options (such as teleport or resist energy) can have their individual options mapped to your hotbars. That way you can cast resist fire with a single click.

[ArloOne]

....

1. The forums have a lot of useful information to help new players .Use them...unfortunately, there are to many new players who do not.

2. Explain to people you are playing with that you are new to the game. Most people will be happy to slow down a
bit to guide and help a new player learn game mechanics and basic movement.

3. Do not join a party with the terms " ZERG", "BYOH", "Silly Fast", "Know your way" etc.

4. Do not fear the "CUBE"!

[Glenalth]

Have to think way back on this one...

The repair skill is not used to repair equipment. Luckily figured that one out during beta. It is nice to see a couple repair checks in the new quests for U7.

Intimidate does exactly the opposite of what you would expect during combat. If I'm particularly intimidating, it seems like things should be avoiding me or even running away. It seems to be handled correctly in most dialogs.

[Aranticus]

1. this is no PnP, things that work in PnP doesnt necessarily mean it works in DDO

2. this is DDO, your 10 year experience in UO, RS, EQ, WoW doesnt mean you are an expert here

3. be humble, when people tell you that con is not a dump stat, do not argue that you have no problems. instead ask them, why. apply this to other game mechanics as well

4. adapt, to different players and groups. in a group full of newer players, slow down for them. in a group of vets, keep up with the pace

5. be honest, admit your mistakes or if you are new. sure, you may get some snide remarks from some people but most people will be more willing to show you the ropes if you are upfront

6. do not inflate yourself, getting your first vorpal is a sweet feeling, get to L20 is an achievement but by no means allow your epeen to swell and think that you are uber. you barely scratched the surface

7. read and listen, these are lost skills, either with people who think that the world revolves around them or are actually to proud to admit that there can be others better than them or are just simply too stupid to understand anything. very frequently, not following instructions can lead to a breakdown of tactics and even cause the quest/raid to fail

8. pay it forward, in my time in ddo, many people have helped me and up to this day, i'm still paying back by helping new players. it will make their day better and yours too

9. do not play the vet vs newb card, it just makes you look stupid

[Lithi]

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

2. Wiz/sorc/clr/fvs class ? then max after your base ability, as you can also your con ability !!! (pls dont be a squishy sorcerer by spending abilities points for high dex ... they gonna hit you man either have dex 8 or Dex 22 so better have many hp!!!)

3. Dont forget is just a game !!! So have fun either solo or with others :)

[curiousgis]

Borro's Wiki address, http://ddowiki.com/page/Home
Ron's Character planner http://www.rjcyberware.com/DDO/DDOCharGen.html
Sanadil's Game Guide http://www.inthecore.com/ddo/upload/Vinton/Crafting.zip

[sirgog]

1) Never start a character with less than 14 Constitution unless you are a veteran. Even then, never start under 12.
2) Don't roll an AC-oriented character unless you already have uber hand-me-down gear.

[stormarcher]

1)CON IS NOT A DUMP STAT
2)CON IS NOT A DUMP STAT
3)CON IS NOT A DUMP STAT
4)CON IS NOT A DUMP STAT
5)CON IS NOT A DUMP STAT
6)Get heavy fort as soon as possible
7)Read the forums for build advice

[Mikula]

1: If you die figure out what you could have done different, don't blame the healer, trapper, tank first.

2: This game is all about customization. Just because someone is a tanking class doesn't mean they're a tank. Etc

3: DDO wiki is your friend, use the build guides there for your first toon. After you get a feeling for the game then try and make your own. Prepare for them being gimped though.

[ZeroTakenaka]

1. HP and Fortification is important for EVERYONE including wizards.
2. If you haven't run a quest before, speak up! Someone will be glad to help you.
3. Try to be self-sufficient. That means curse removal potions, blindness removal potions, and others that you may need.

[Alintalkin]

1. Some stuff you hear is a myth



ie. 26) Armour class is not of much use once you get into the Gianthold. Only dedicated Ac builds which need an awful amount of Gear have a meaningful AC.



You can get a good enough AC in certain builds with reasonably easy to obtain gear at that level all the way up to the Vale. Also this AC almost invariably comes with DR which is helpful at all times. It may not coincide with high DPS but it does not preclude its use

2. Go Premium - spend 5 bucks get some points - buy some adventure packs (not gear) from the store. The best things you get is 2 more character slots AND unlimitted AH postings versus what you get as a sole P2P type. That alone is enough to justify the $5.

fixed that for you:p

Now my three...
1. If it hasn't been drilled in every single person's head by now.... wait for it.... CON is not a dumpstat
2. You do not need divine casters for most of the content once you earn enough in game money (around 13+ on a new server) to easily afford potions, which just so happen to cover healing, cure curses, remove blindness, give 20 resistance toward specific elements, cure poison, cure disease, gives rage, gives lesser restoration, and more.
3. Do not neglect UMD on a rogue or bard.

edit: Bonus: Heavy fort is something all chars of at least 12+ (a level 12 f2p quest allows you to farm for a heavy fort item if you can't afford it normally, and new players will be doing it at level 11-13, not 9 which is the Min level of the item)

[ddobard1]

1) A monster attack with a melee weapon is an attack against your Armor Class!
2) Items with Fortification, Blindness Immunity, Disease Immunity, Proof Against Poison are better than Items with False Life, +x Ability or Skill.
3) If you haven't one level of Rogue with maximum Spot, never go ahead!

[7-day_Trial_Monkey]

1. You can CTL-CLICK items in vendor buy lists to get a popup that lets you enter a quantity. It only took me 1 year of madly clicking before I clued into that one.

2. There are teleporters in the houses. Didn't notice them during the 1st year I played.

3. Avoid joining groups for simple quests on normal, where the lfm says "have a mic".

[Marupal]

1. Where quivers and medium storage bags can be purchased. Somebody is making a killing on the auction house by selling this for way more than what the store charges for them (on Khyber anyway).
2. Which collectables to give to the collectors and which ones to place on the auction house or use. I have no idea how much Fragrant Drowshood and Luminescent Dust I gave to collectors. **FACEPALM**
3. The big one: How rare the mnemonic aids are. I was surprised that potions aren’t sold anywhere. Was also caught off guard that the items are even rarer and couldn’t go back and get the one in Korthos. Out of curiousity, are there plans to add any more mnemonic aid items in the expansion packs?

4th: con is not a dumpstat. Oh how I regret that too.

[Aranticus]

1) A monster attack with a melee weapon is an attack against your Armor Class!
2) Items with Fortification, Blindness Immunity, Disease Immunity, Proof Against Poison are better than Items with False Life, +x Ability or Skill.
3) If you haven't one level of Rogue with maximum Spot, never go ahead!

sorry but i disagree with your assessment. to a fighter, a +str ring is better than either of those gear, to a wiz, the +int ring is more important. for blindness and disease, they can be treated with potions. for poison, a poison or spell will render you immune to all effects for a fixed duration. i would take a false life item (+hp) over those items. con is not a dump stat, neither is hp. my sorc at L4 has 80 hp!

[Ybbald]

1. You can CTL-CLICK items in vendor buy lists to get a popup that lets you enter a quantity. It only took me 1 year of madly clicking before I clued into that one.
11 months and just learned this a week ago

1. have hp
2. how stacking bonuses work
3. rogues do dps

[Doomcrew]

Group early, group often

Listen, ask

respect, give unto others.


Cheers

[stoolcannon]

5) Rogues are DPS first, traps second

This would have been good to know since I rolled a pure mechanic and leveled it to 8 in my first week. Sure some of it can be fixed through enhancements but between stats and feats I need an LR.

Such a shame imo.

Certain classes offer very little incentive to play them as their actual class. When you can get a multi-classer with a splash of rogue that can spot, find and disable most traps in the game something is seriously wrong.

[JayDubya]

1. Potency items work for clerics to improve both their healing and their damage spells.
2. If you want to multiclass, you should plan it all out ahead of time
3. There are a lot of people on these forums who are very highly opinionated, and wrong.

Things I know, but other people don't always:

1. Don't build multi-classed spellcasters (arcane or divine) unless you really, really, really know what you're doing.
2. It's Rogue, not Rouge
3. If it's a book you read to improve your stats, they're called Tomes (rhymes with Homes)

[Kindoki]

1. Con is not a dump stat for anyone. ANYONE.
2. Potions are your friend. Carry at least the fixit potions (remove disease/blindness/curse), and a few cures, as soon as you can. Better yet, run Korthos a few times to get clickies. (imbedded bonus: learn how to use clickies - you will use them through endgame)
3. Heavy fort is required. Mod fort before that, and light fort to start. But have the best fortification possible for your level.
Bonus 1: If you are new, and need a hand, just be honest, and ask. Most people will be helpful beyond your expectations. If you get someone who isn't, that's the exception, not the rule.
Bonus 2: Find the good threads on the forums and use them. Here's a great resource to start with - http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?p=2063166#post2063166

[Theolin]

1. You can aim a spell by using mouse look and it will go where the little circle is pointing ... this one got me for over a year
2. CON is NOT something to skimp on & neither is Health or Fortification
3. This is not D&D let me repeat this is NOT D&D it may look like it and sorta be like it but it is NOT

[cyadra]

1. Everyone needs some STR in addition to hp, even mages.
2. The Pit sucks...until you learn how to master it.
3. As a healer, its not your job to run after the stupid Barbarian who wants to Zerg, unless you wish to zerg as well.
4. Every class at levels 1-4 can melee.
5. Toughness is not a dump feat.
6. Always take a bard in your party if you can.
7. Starting at level 5 hire the halfling mage, he is a haste bot.
8. In WW part 2, always take the upper level first, its easier then taking the lower level.
9. Good loot is sometimes hard to find
10 Remember its a game.

[QuantumFX]

Melee - Learn how to hotkey your trip and sunder attacks.
Learn what wands you can use and at what levels.
Save multiclassing for later.

[Pugsley]

AC is useless. Don't even try.

[Dilbon]

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


And Maximize and Empower feats improve healing too, even though the description only mentions damage spells. Bards especially take notice of this, Maximize helps your healing a lot.

[cupajoe]

1. Do not jump when crossing lava. You must make a save on each reentry.
2. Do not jump to attack tall objects (giants and beholders). You don't need to and you take a movement penalty.
3. This is not PnP. A balanced character isn't usually gonna work at higher levels.

[hunh08]

I'm still a newb, so I'm picking up some great tips. Some things that took me a while to figure out:

1. Certain collectables are way more valuable in the auction house than the default NPC turn-in

2. You don't have to destroy your mouse button in combat - you can hold it down to continue attacking

3. You can customize your keyboard for easier play - I programmed a couple of my hot bar buttons to the caps lock and tab keys. This allows me to use certain combat actions without taking my fingers off the navigation keys.

[PopeJual]

You can target other players with the Function keys instead of begging them to stand still for you to target them with healing spells.

[ArkoHighStar]

your favourite pnp character will probably be gimped, infact they will e pretty much guaranteed to be gimp

[WarDestroyer]

1) Don't ignore favor - having 1-2 more bags and bank slots is great to have, and easy to get.
2) Firewall is your friend.
3) AC aren't your best friend. DR and HP are.
4) If anyone in the party say "DON'T BUFF" it means to NOT BUFF. You may find a beholder or die (e.g. Shroud pt 5) and lose buffs
5) You may fear traps more than any moster in the game
6) If you're a melee know how to bypass DR. REALLY,.
7) The only multiclasses that really really worth are 2 levels of monk or rogue, you get evasion which may be the best feat in the game
8) Do not challenge a raid alone
9) Bards are cool
10) Potency, skill, lore, stats, etc., don't stack. Only melee damage do.

[Stormslinger]

Honestly most new people dont make it to the forums.

There should be a requirement to at least log into the forums once to start the game or some derivative.

[Chai]

1. This is a min maxing game. Making a character with 6 average stats will be less effective than making a character with 2 really high stats. Game design takes this into account when DCs and AC are determined.

2. Everyone uses con. There is no such thing as: "I am not the tank therefore I wont play to have aggro so I dont need con, hp, or fortification." Other MMOs have people trained to this mentality, and it will kill you here.

3. Healers can fight. Get used to it. This isnt your mamas MMO where healers wear robes and flee from attacks. Yes I have greater potency, its on the great ax I put the icy burst kit on....

[der_kluge]

11 months and just learned this a week ago

I learned that just now, and I've been playing for a year!! Admittedly, my primary is a cleric, so I'm not out buying pots all the time.

As a corollary, ctrl-click+move items in your inventory allows you to split stacks of things.

[Aeneas]

1. Be prepared (See link in my sig)

2. Know your enemy (Take the time to learn strengths and weaknesses, what kind of DR or immunities a particular monster has and equip yourself accordingly)

3. Try to learn something from every failure. The game is never impossible and with a little thought even a band of poorly built characters can navigate just about anything.

[JustWinBaby]

1. Con is NOT a dump stat

2. Rogues are DPS first NOT traps first

3. If you haven't done the quest before just say so

4. The advice channel is wrong 99% of the time - go to the forums instead :)

[Seliana]

Number 1 tip that every new player should hear:

Buy a headset or speakers, preferably with a microphone.

The main purpose for this is players who know the game well and who you will be playing with, will give out instructions through voice channels first. If a vet doesn't recognize your name he will usually assume your new then begin speaking instructions about the quest, important things to look out for, what order actions will be performed in, and so on. This ensures group cohesion and planned game-play that ultimately results in success and fun for everyone involved.

Vets will automatically assume that you have some form of hearing their voice in game and you want to have the ability to hear them tell you helpful commands like "Don't go in there without Evasion, STOP here, TRAP!, I'm gonna pull these mobs, Everyone Back Up!, Gather for a Haste, Beholder!, AFK a second, Get your Harry Beaters out! Boots on now! Don't attack after I cast invis..."

Also be aware that not all sources of information are correct. The advice channel is the biggest source of misinformation in the game. Don't listen to it. Ask your party leader or preferably someone high level (level15+) instead. If no one you know is around to ask... check ddowiki.

The helpful voice messages from the person with the star in the group are there to save your characters life. The players leading your group aren't mean people, nor are they attempting to grief you as a new player. Your party leader wants you to survive the quest without dying and if you listen to them...you will.

[Dragonhyde]

My advice would be to figure out your play style (do you want to meelee, zerge, support,solo etc) and to not be afraid to create a character build that is different from what everyone else is doing. Learn what you like and dislike from your first character so you can improve until you get a build you are happy with.

[Slink]

When will you guys fix the stuck spot on the first ladder in Euphonia's Challenge and how do I get off Rook's Gambit to the mainland and.....

ummm....nevermind.

;)

[THAC0]

1) When you join a PUG, ask if anyone has done the quest. NORMALLY, the party leader should know the quest...listen to him/her.. it will likely keep you alive. Otherwise, if this is everyone's first time thru, don't rush thru...take your time and explore/enjoy the quest.

2) Get a heavy fort item...or work you way to one as your level allows you to.

3) The quest rewards from Kothos help as clickies. For example, those curative cloaks come in handy for non-healing-casters when your cleric/favored soul/bard is down.

4) UMD is a nice skill... nothing better than rez'ing a cleric when he is down...and you are a Barbarian. :)

5) Be careful as to which alignment you choose when building your character... some items require a Good alignment to use (ie: Pure Good weapons and the Ring of Ancestors (resurection ring).

6) Warforged rule. :)

7) Don't judge a character by their icon. For example... Rangers and Wizards are just as able to pick locks/disable traps as Rogues are at doing DPS.

8) Do the Explorer Areas. Easy XP and once you are on a Guild Ship, a Navigator will take you to any location you have completed the Explorer Area for.

9) Sprint Boost boots are a must. While the skill is nice, I prefer using (or working towards using) the +30% sprint boost boots.

10) The Auction House is WAY over priced. Everyone thinks they are going to hit the lotto selling their 'uber item'. Best to check the in game 'specific' vendors first...in the Marketplace (Jewerly & Clothes), House D (weapons), House K (armor), House J/P (potions & scrolls & components). When you can, check the weapon vendors in Amrath, Reavers Refuge and the Inspired Quarter...great deals there on stuff too.

Enjoy the game and treat others as you wish to be treated....

Thaco
Leader, Blackmoor Defenders
Ghallanda

[Ashurr]

- Always tip your healer.

- CON is not a dump stat.

- Knowing the game world lore vastly improves enjoyment of the game.

- Raids are not to be run at level..solo * cheesy grin*

- Pick up EVERYTHING.

- Instead of turning in, or using them for SoC rituals at low levels, sell Pure Waters, Lightning-Split Soarwoods etc...nice source of plat.

[Musouka]

1. This game is ever evolving, so don't expect to be the best on your first try.

2. The Heal skill does not allow you to heal hitpoints at will, much like other D&D games have allowed.

3. Play as you want to play, and not what or how other people tell you to play.

[Hurak]

Hirelings are cheaper than pots
You will never get a good AC on your first toon
Different weapons can have different effects

[HeavenlyCloud]

When will you guys fix the stuck spot on the first ladder in Euphonia's Challenge and how do I get off Rook's Gambit to the mainland and.....

ummm....nevermind.

;)

/stalk

It's funny my guildy got on his cleric's bio "I solo healed Euphonia's Challenge". :( So sad only old-timers will get that reference.

[JollySwagMan]

1. Check out the user interface and keyboard controls.

2. Try out the various potions and consumables available from in-game vendors. You may notice that spell enhancement potions are only available from vendors.

3. Roll up several characters before investing heavily into one. It's much cheaper to reroll than reincarnate.

[SaneDitto]

1) Please have a minimum of 14 CON; 12 if you are an elf/drow and you really, really can't afford the extra 4 build points. Furthermore, classes who do not have a d10 increase to their maximum HP (and maybe even then) should pack Toughness for the extra hit points and Toughness enhancements. Few things are more irritating than babysitting a level 13 sorcerer glass cannon with, oh, 113 HP, and few things are more irritating than being that sorcerer and dying because a monster looks funny at you.

2) In any given party, it's best to assume that no one is going to heal you--not even your hireling (they can be funny sometimes). Carry potions, wands, and scrolls (if you can use/UMD the latter two) and use them. Wands are less expensive to use per shot and are affected by Wand and Scroll Mastery enhancements, so use those if you can and save potions for absolute emergencies. These also apply to status-removing effects: Pack Remove Curse/Disease/Blindness and (Lesser) Restoration comestibles to make your run-ins with the unexpected easier.

3) If you use ranged weapons, please kite smartly. Don't make the melees chase you all over the room because you're doing the Benny Hill with a monster.

4) When a rogue says "trap", STOP. Would you rather spend ten seconds waiting for the rogue to waste a Thieves' Tool finding and disabling the trap, or ten seconds waiting for the cleric to waste SP refilling depleted health bars?

5) As a rogue-type, if you don't know the lay of the land, trust your gut instincts. Think it's a trap but Spot doesn't show up? Boost your Search, hit Skill Boost, and start looking around. In fights, wait for everyone to go first and get the enemy's attention, then slip right in and, ahem, "contribute". Sneak attacks hurt.

6) As a casting class, consider the best use for your SP. It's more efficient to spend 10 SP Commanding the ogre to lie down than 100 SP healing the party from the ogre's walloping, and 25 SP on an 18-second Wall of Fire than 20 SP on a forgettable Fireball. Stretch that blue bar when you can, and most of all, remember the old yarn: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".

7) All classes should pack Fortification when possible. Early critical hits and sneak attacks may not seem like much off your red bar, but try looking for Moderate by the time you start running into monstrous humanoids (hobgoblins, ogres, trolls), and Heavy as soon as you can (warforged may stick to Moderate due to intrinsic and stackable 25% Fortification). The folks by then hit hard enough without you and the cleric sweating over the inevitable sudden CRITICAL HIT damage spikes.

8) As a Warforged, the Healer's Friend enhancement line is pricey, but oh so worth it. (The same can be applied with Human Improved Recovery to a lesser extent.)

9) As a Warforged, the Improved Fortification feat looks nice-y, but oh so not worth it.

10) Get to know the brokers at Marketplace, House Deneith, and House Kundarak, among other places. They pay more for your vendor trash than barkeeps and general vendors (with certain exceptions), and while it doesn't seem like much for the inconvenience, the platinum can add up. Look for items that boosts your Haggle, directly (items" of Haggling") and indirectly ("Charismatic" items, Greater Heroism from Planar Gird/scrolls).

---

Might edit with more.

[cardmj1]

1. Constitution is not a dump stat

2. Read the forums for newbie friendly builds.

3. Also, to get a better understanding of the game use the DDO Compendium (button on top of page) and www.ddowiki.com (http://www.ddowiki.com) .

4. Learn to use the Social Panel for looking for groups and when trying find players to fill your group. The LFM comments with terms like Zerging, BYOH, Quick Run, Know the Way, Vet's Only, TR's Only, Know the Quest and a few I am sure I am missing mean that there will be no explanations, no hand holding, and you just better keep yourself hasted to keep up with the party kind of runs. I say this not to discourage you but so that you will be prepared when you join.

5. Before accepting advice from a single source, always (and this include my own posts) confirm it with someone you trust, the forums (a little tough to do sometimes but you will at least learn something you didn't expect), or one of the many sites that have already been stated.

6. Learn to use the AH, pawn brokers, and vendors around ALL of Stormreach. You can make some nice plat and if you aren't sure what it's worth... ask! You will quickly get a consesus on what something is worth.

[bigolbear]

ok 3 things that made a big difference to me when i learnt them, been playing since cap was 10 or 12 ish and the memorys not too good so bear with me here. I came from a pen and paper background, 1st 2nd and 3rd ed. at the time of starting ddo i was mostly still playing 2nd ed and starting to get to grips with 3rd.

1. Ray spells do not require ranged touch attacks: infact ddo has no concept of touch ac. as no attack roll is made with ray spells there is no oppertunity to gain sneak attack damage, crits can work on all spells and are determined by enhancements and gear.

2. BAB works diferently to traditional 3.0 or 3.5 rules, the attack bonus for consecutive attacs goes UP rather than down and you only get those consecutive attacks standing still. The net result of this is that lower bab characters - casters and rogues must fight a more stationaly battle to hit their opponent reliably, and warriors with power attack on all the time will have little trouble hiting most of the time, in pen and paper powerattack is situational and generaly used on the charge, while moving or against low ac foes - ddo turns all this on its head. when i started plaing i was at the lvl of understanding that BAB was basicly thac0 in reverse

3. UMD is the single most powerful skill any character can have - it is often not necesary to multiclass to get access to magic.


a sneaky 4th one....

elf is not a class ;) kudos to those geting the reference.

[Darsith]

- This is not pnp, your awesome pnp build will most likely not be effective
- The vets are NOT joking about con NOT being a dump stat
- a 10 in jump will probably save you some frustration

[Morningfrost]

1 - Two weapong fighting feat works for monk unarmed attack
2 - CON is not a dumpstat
3 - Open a Social Panel tutorial just after The Grotto: this was my first MMO, I liked DnD but never played a MMO, so I didn't know it was there :(

[Chazzie]

1) Use and read the DDO Forums

2) Use and read the DDO Wikkie

3) Listen to DDOcast

Read,Read,Listen, & then ask your ? :)

[GlorkTheInvader]

In general, there's one rule I would suggest to any player that I really wish I had known when I was newer: Try to be as self-sufficient as possible. Just because your Fighter can't heal himself doesn't mean that he needs to be taken care of by a "healer" whenever ANY condition befalls him. Your party members won't enjoy spending the extra resources babysitting you, and at times they will be occupied trying to heal/restore themselves or other party members. If you can take care of your own status, do so as often as possible.

Specifically, the following conditions can be addressed by ANY player through potions:
Disease
Poison
Blindness
Slow (Haste or Remove Paralysis pots will both cover this)
Exhaustion/Fatigue (Lesser Restoration pots)
Stat Damage (Lesser Restoration pots)


Try to learn and understand Damage Reduction for as many mobs as possible. Silver for Vampires, Byeshk for Aberrations, Cold Iron for Demons, Bludgeoning for Skeletons, Slashing for Zombies... etc., etc., etc... I remember as a newer player, I didn't know how to bypass DR on a number of mobs, and it certainly made some quests unnecessarily difficult.



Oh, and the ever-important "CON IS NOT A DUMP STAT." Make sure everyone has a bare minimum of 12 starting CON. 14+ is strongly recommended.

[Rasczak]

1) Con is important for any character

2) As a caster having a 'damage' spell does not make you awesome. Tossing a damage spell at every monster you meet will get you killed. Trying to kill every monster will have you run out of spell points way before you're close to a shrine.

3) Weapons aren't 'better' if they are +5. A +1 Holy Longsword of Pure Good is a much better weapon to have than a +5 Longsword.

[DasLurch]

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!

1) How to use the forums. With the amount of information here about all aspects of the gae, I still find it had to believe anyone would not check here first.

2) How to use the LFM panel. Broadcasting in general "Lv3 Rogue looking for a group" isn't the best way to go...

3) How to build a character as a completely new player. I was really only familiar with the old 2.0 D&D rules before I played around here. So I was better off than alot of the players coming in now, but that was still a long ways off from knowing the important stuff.

[boomeranky]

Something not yet mentioned in the thread, but that irked me while lvling my first char:

- When you reach harbour for the first time you get the small collectible and gem bags. I didn't learn about it before I reached vale for the first time though, that I also could have visited the twelve tower to get the small ingredient bag as well at the beginning - it is my first task on any char since then, that I go to the twelve and get this dang thing as it saves at least one slot til the real ingredients start dropping in.

- Also the character path's were not that helpful as you neither learned why certain feats where taken nor had much success playing them, instead of premade paths (or maybe together with them) a system with "Favorite/Specialised" builds selection at character creation would be nice that can be followed easily while leveling up. There are a whole bunch of possibilities how that could be done and where the builds could be gathered from ...

- Instead of shielding away the players from the mathematic side of the action, it would be nice to have some (optional) guides which introduce the new player more deeply into the combat mechanic side of the game. ex: Like how Base Attack Bonus, Strength and Weapon Modifiers work together, how damage reduction works against it and so on.

[smatt]

There's this thing called a map.. It's the little circle thing on your screen.. ...It expands.... Learn to use it.

Know where your cleric is, if you depend on them don't make them come to you.

Communication is key!

[Kahath]

1) CON is not a dump stat.
2) Aggro control is the line between success and death.
3) Little quests require a perfectly balanced party setup.

[Nysrock]

1) Remember, at level 1 Bards, Clerics, Rangers, Favored Souls and Paladins can use Cure Light Wounds wands and should carry some. All other classes should at least carry as many healing pots as they can.

2) At early levels it is not worth spending your gold on new gear that is only +1 better then what you have. At levels 4 and 5 is when you can start getting somewhat decent gear for your level and you should save your gold for then.

3) You can save a lot of time and mana by carrying, and using, as many potions as you can. It will make your dungeon crawling a more enjoyable experience for yourself and your cleric. Being as self reliant for buffs and healing as you can frees up the casters spell points for keeping you alive in the middle of a fight. Some highly recommend potions are Healing, Remove Curse, Lesser Restoration, Remove Blindness, Remove Disease, Neutralize Poison, Resistance (All 5 types), Barkskin and Heroism.

[QuantumEntanglement]

Quit now before you're addicted.

Truer words were never spoken. If you read that and think, "What do you mean? I love this game!", too late. You are now assimilated. Welcome.


Borro's Wiki address, http://ddowiki.com/page/Home
Ron's Character planner http://www.rjcyberware.com/DDO/DDOCharGen.html
Sanadil's Game Guide http://www.inthecore.com/ddo/upload/Vinton/Crafting.zip

So looks like Ron's character planner's been covered. If I could go back in time three years and tell me about one and only one thing, that would be it. Everything you do with it, all enhancements, feats, etc can be looked up in compendium and/or the wiki. Use it to lay out a highly vetted build you wanna try and study the things it has to understand why they work. Trying anything in the planner takes as long as it takes to click a button. Trying the same things in game could take months.

1. Play for fun. It's a game. Don't take death and wipes too seriously. Every one teaches you something if you just pay attention and figure out how and why it happened.

2. This is a social experience too. Those are not a bunch of AI hirelings or console game pixels you're running with to scream at, blame for wipe, whine to wait for you, beg for money/equipment/handouts, keep you alive, etc. They are people too. Reputations can and do get built and attached to that name over your avatar. Never let that scare you into keeping silent about being new. Don't take critique offered in honest attempt to help as a personal attack. Listen. You just might learn something. Remember, the squelch button and the report for harassment buttons for the occasional jerk you meet.

3. Aggro management. Learn this first. Live it. Love it. To truly understand all facets of it, you must learn stealth rules also, but even a non stealth character can learn the mechanics of when, how, and why monsters target you. And what you can do about it. Closely related is the whole self sufficiency thing. Aggro management is the biggest step towards that though, and the one non-build, non-gear, player skill that crosses all classes.

Bonus ones:
- Respect the time limit. That's what's important.
- Run my allies!
- Gnarkill: he is the destroyer of everything.

[r3dl4nce]

CON is not a dump stat
Compendium and DDOWiki are your friends
When in party, listen to other players and try to do teamwork
Learn to be self sufficient and heal yourself

[Minor_Threat]

Tips on LFM's

Maybe more explanation on the 100's of UI options
and info on setting up in-game voice.

[yfront]

1. How to use general chat
/t /r /trade /advice /ctrl+right click etc.

2. How to setup user interface

3. Where to gather information (forums, ddowiki etc)

Edit: 4. When in a quest and you don't know what to do, don't stay quite; ask.
People will help you out and explain how to go about things.

[Vile]

1. Ctrl click an item at a vendor to buy multiples rather then continuous clicking (took me at least a year to figure out >.<).

2. The majority of players use the LFG panel to find groups as opposed to general chat. Players may find themselves filling groups more quickly if they do the same.

[Sinni]

1. CON is not a dump stat. Start with at least 14 con (or 12 on elf/drow) unless you really know what you are doing (but then, you aren't a new player anymore)

2. Don't use the LFG flag you can set for yourself, nobody checks that. Use the LFM panel instead to join a group that is doing a quest you want to do. If there is no such LFM open, don't be afraid to open an LFM yourself.
When you join the party and don't know the quest, tell the party so, they usually will explain during the run what's going on and warn you from dangerous things you'd otherwise be expected to know.
Btw: Seasoned players usually don't read the general chat. So writing there "looking for group" or "group looking for players" doesn't work well to find/fill a group, and the best you can get are players that are new too.

3. Rangers and Paladins (and of course Clerics, FVS and Bards) can use healing wands. They are WAY cheaper than potions. Always bring some healing for yourself, don't only rely on the healer in the group. Often enough you won't even have a "real" healer and that's just fine in DDO for most quests.

[Moltier]

1. Check the forum (http://forums.ddo.com) for good builds, or advices for your own characters, playstyle.

2. Don't neglect Constutition. It's your life. Try to start with 14 at least. Look for CON, false life and fortification items.
These are lifesavers. AC helps at lower levels, but almost pointless later.

3. Don't be afraid saying you are new to the game, or to the quest. Most often you will get help.

And the bonus for devs... :)
4. Make the class paths usefull. I'm sure many newbies choose one of the completly useless paths at character creation, just because the name sounds cool.

[devaneto]

1. bard is real nice addition to the group (some pug group leaders ignore them)
2. rogues are DPS
3. aggro control is everything!
4. cons is not dump stat :-D
5. you own first build is always **** :-P

[Midnightetak]

Wow, so many reponses. I will try and keep it short.

1. The Lingo! - Im sorry i must be one of the few who had never experienced Dungeons and Dragons tabletop. I mean i had heard of it but never experienced it until DDO. Some basic terminology list on MyDDO would have helped the many late night /facepalms i used to get when i asked what "twf" "ww" "dq" "[number]d[number]" "TR" (tangleroot, True Res hadnt been released yet) "GH" etc. meant.

2. How to use the LFM panel.


3. Where to go to get ingredients for spells.

[Kriogen]

1. Prevention is better than cure. Buffs are very important. Equaly important is crowd control.

2. DDO is action, combat oriented game. You fight. Your char is only good if its good for combat.

3. Class icon means nothing.

4. Any class can fight with weapons. Maybe Wizard can't fight as good as Fighter, but he/she can.

5. STR is warriors primary attribute. INT is for Wizards, CHA for Sorcerers/Bards, WIS for Clerics/FvSs.

6. Quests: read quest objective. No, really, read it. Eq: if quest objective is "Slay 200 kobolds", then it means slay 200 kobolds and not "protect doors".

7. Respect others if you want to be respected.

8. In DDO priests can fight almost as good as warriors. Priests don't really need you, so be nice. It helps, trust me.

[Damionic]

1. Wall of Fire is Not! The best spell in the game.
2. Khopesh is Not! The ONLY weapon in the game.
3. Wizards are Not! only CC/Buffs.
4. Sorcerers are Not! only Burst Damage.
5. Con is good..Damage Mitigation is better! (agro management, Crowd Control, blur/displacement, killing from ranged)

Find your own path, play your game.

[ganondalf]

1: CON is the most important universal stat in the game. Every single character you will make or could every possibly come up with will always be better with a higher con. Simply put, you will take damage. It is unavoidable. The best way to maximize your hp and con is by picking either the dwarf or warforged race(although this isn't necessary depending on how you want to play), equipping a CON item such as a +4 health belt or an item with False Life or Toughness(all of which stack), and consuming a Manual of Bodily Health (+1 and +2 are easy to obtain). If having a high con or other hp boosting effects is (somehow) unobtainable you can substitute with healing amplification effects. A popular item from the Vision of Destruction raid called Levik's Bracers grants you +20% healing amplification which boosts the power of all incoming positive healing effects by 20%. All healing amp effects are stackable. Note that not all "squishy" classes need to be squishy. My level 20 warforged wizard has 432 hp with a +23 fort save. When my next greensteel item is complete he will have 477 hp.

2: Str is important. It dictates how much equipment your character can hold before s/he becomes burdened and their to-hit check against enemy armor class (Weapon Finesse applies your DEX mod instead of STR) . A burdened character moves slower, many physical skills such as jump are penalized, and your reflex saves also suffer. Note that halflings can carry only half weight compared to other characters and receive a racial -2 STR. Generally you want your str AT THE VERY LEAST a 10. Anything lower and your character will be encumbered simply carrying his/her essentials(potions, scrolls, weapons, ect).

3: Armor Class and Damage Reduction are two very different things. Armor Class(hereafter referred to as AC) requires an enemy to make a to-hit check against your AC. If the check fails then all physical damage the opponent would have dealt towards you is negated. If the check passes then you take full damage from the attack. If you do not have a high enough AC required to block damage from certain mobs then you might as well have 0. Damage Reduction(hereafter referred to as DR) is a number applied to your character that reduces incoming damage by a certain amount. Some classes, like barbarians, get inherent DR that is displayed like "DR 5/-" meaning that the character receives 5 less points of damage from any attack made against him/her and it cannot be bypassed. Other forms of DR are displayed like "DR 15/Silver" meaning that the creature or character receives 15 less points of damage from all attacks made against it unless the attacker is using a silver weapon or projectile. Note that weapons with the "Metalline" property bypass all alchemical DR (silver, cold iron, byeshk, adamantine, mithril). There are also alignment based DR such as DR/good or DR/chaotic. Currently only the Stormreaver has DR/mithril and there are no mithril weapons in game.

[chaos_master]

If you're going to solo or only play with small static groups and don't have a cleric or if need more healing power, use hirelings! They'll save you tons of money you'll otherwise spend on pots.

Keep the highest haggle item you can and use it when vending. Gold piece by gold piece, you'll save A LOT as time passes by.

Carry featherfall and underwater breathing items.

Think carefully before typing '/death count'. I didn't and the group had a big laugh at my expense :)

[elujin]

1) Con is important for any character

2) As a caster having a 'damage' spell does not make you awesome. Tossing a damage spell at every monster you meet will get you killed. Trying to kill every monster will have you run out of spell points way before you're close to a shrine.

3) Weapons aren't 'better' if they are +5. A +1 Holy Longsword of Pure Good is a much better weapon to have than a +5 Longsword.

that last one kinde depends if you hitting stuff or not on my bard i do like my +5 also +5 could be better then a 1d6 element on most cases especialy on high crit weapons but your genraly right

[Jayfunked]

For Pitys sake do not hand in lightning split soarwoods or silver flame hymnals to the collectors. You will feel sad later. Look at the collectible section in the auction house for full details.

Even though sometimes you will get advice given in a tone and manner that is very patronising and counterintuitive to the intent, the vast majority of payers are actually trying to help you as best they know how. They are butterflies explaining flying to catapillars. You will metamorphasise one day and realise this as you'r telling a new player that AC is all or nothing after level 12 or so and that their gruff half-orc male paladin is better off wearing a dress. Watch out for the odd parasitic wasp.

Don't get to excited when you loot the legendary much saught after bloodstone for the first time. Its probably the worthless gem of the same name. :(

[Nospheratus]

- Most of the times others will be as polite to you as you are to them
- Don't start your wizard with 14 DEX and 10 CON :)
- Don't take the feat Quick Draw!! If you have no clue about what to take, just take (another) Toughness, or you can always ask someone for another opinion
- If you don't know a quest, don't pretend you do by rushing and/or dying. It will be obvious you don't! ;)

[Starchild09]

1 - Casters CAN be built to be both self-healing and DPS (Favored Soul or Bard thrown into your Wizard or Sorcerer is sometimes both essential beneficial).

2 - The Toughness feat IS a good investment (especially if you class has a Toughness line of Enhancements).

3 - Any race or class can be fun...as long as you remember this is a game and that each has benefits AND negatives.

4 - CON is NOT a DUMP STAT.

[Starchild09]

a few more i just thought of...

1- IF you're unsure of how you want to build a character, start with this simple solution: Bring all stats below 10 up to 10 (that way you're not taking negatives in anything), then add points (one per ability) until you are out of points, making sure you at least have a 14 INT (runes are a b*&ch without it).

2- IF you know the build you want to try...don't let others opinions of it make you shy away from it...ultimately it's your character and YOU are the one who has to be happy with how he/she/it plays.

3- NEVER split the party...as soon as you do...death will not be far behind...healers can only heal you if you are close enough to them to be in range.

4- COMMUNICATION...seems to be a forgotten word in the English language, but it is the KEY to any/all successful parties. Even the ones where only 2 or 3 make it through alive...those were the ones communicating effectively! :)

[Nospheratus]

1- IF you're unsure of how you want to build a character, start with this simple solution: Bring all stats below 10 up to 10 (that way you're not taking negatives in anything), then add points (one per ability) until you are out of points, making sure you at least have a 14 INT (runes are a b*&ch without it).

I'm sorry, but this is just really bad advice. The way i see it, no build should start with 14 INT, UNLESS you are a wizard. This one is misleading.

If you are unsure about your character or a character you want to make, posting in the forums is a good place to start because there is a lot of people willing to help and giving good advice. More than the ones giving bad advice!

No offense, but that's just bad advice.

[Munze_Konza]

1. Not all Dwarves get the Dwarven Axe feat...it depends on your class

2. Turn undead is not reliable at higher levels (This may be different now with Radiant Servant. Coming from EU so haven't had access)

3. Most collectibles are junk

[Sinni]

- Don't take the feat Quick Draw!! If you have no clue about what to take, just take (another) Toughness, or you can always ask someone for another opinion


this isn't good advice. especially on a kensai quick draw is really nice. not because you can switch weapons faster (which is useful though) or attack faster with throwing weapons. the good thing about it is the undocumented feature that you can attack earlier again after using a boost (like haste boost or kensai power surge)

[elujin]

1 - Casters CAN be built to be both self-healing and DPS (Favored Soul or Bard thrown into your Wizard or Sorcerer is sometimes both essential beneficial).

2 - The Toughness feat IS a good investment (especially if you class has a Toughness line of Enhancements).

3 - Any race or class can be fun...as long as you remember this is a game and that each has benefits AND negatives.

4 - CON is NOT a DUMP STAT.

one 1. as a caster getting umd shoudn't be mutch of a problem an can get you good healing right there .

2. evry race gets thougnes line som get more then outhers elfs drow get 2 dwarf wf get 4 rest get 3
thougness should be on evr build its that good :)

[phalaeo]

Only Three???!?!??

1. CON. You need it.
2. Heavy Fort. You need this, too.
3. I wish I had understood more about what weapons do what and why.

[Nospheratus]

this isn't good advice. especially on a kensai quick draw is really nice. not because you can switch weapons faster (which is useful though) or attack faster with throwing weapons. the good thing about it is the undocumented feature that you can attack earlier again after using a boost (like haste boost or kensai power surge)

I didn't know about this, but i'm playing a kensai at the moment and it doesn't seem that relevant. How much time do you gain? Half a second from the 1.5 seconds stop? The power surge seems to have an even shorter stop.

Quick draw isn't worth it imo, especially not for the newbies this thread is supposed to have been created for.

[JasonJi72]

I played for a couple of months without knowing you could have multiple quickslots on the screen. It was a pain having to use the arrows switch bars to find what I needed. Kinda embarrassed for admitting that, but maybe somebody else did it too.

People who are insisting on an elite quest near level in a newly formed group are usually the least able to handle it.

Elite quests and doing every optional do not always give the best xp over time.

Never rely on others to keep you alive.

[Ragons]

1- Break those creates. There are many useful potions you can find like Cure Light Potions.

2- Turn your audio on so you can hear party members, you don't really need a mic

[Eizer]

Hello,

1. Don't be Shy, join in group early on. Be social and don't be afraid to ask questions and say that you are new to the game. Be polite and be ready to make a heck ton of mistakes, everyone did that even if they won't admit it.

2. Listen to what people have to say regardless of them being wrong or right. Insults might fly from times on times but advices will come sooner or later. Take nothing personally. Try to keep all of them and Filter that information later on. Most people are right and wrong at the same time, don't believe everyone and make your own idea of what's good and fun for you. Many will disagree with you, but you might end up having more fun than them.

3. Once you'll no longer consider yourself as a newbie, you'll probably end up being that Angry guy trowing insults or the Polite one giving advice to Newbies. Remember that you were once in their shoes. Take a good breath, laugh it off and be ready to help people out.

Ps: Have fun.

Cheers,
-Eizer

[Razcar]

1. The "holy trinity" of Tank - Healer - DPS that is the basis of combat in most MMOs is much more loose in DDO. Often a character can switch roles, and often you can compensate not having a role with having more of another. All classes can be both offensive and defensive in DDO, and all can heal themselves in combat (but with varying effectiveness).

2. If you want to get good at playing a class, you should experience playing the other classes as well. A melee cannot get good without knowing how a cleric or FvS works, or what abilities casters and rogues have, for example.

3. To get good at playing DDO, learn how to play with mouse-look (like in a first-person shooter). Compared to other MMO's, DDO is a very physical game, where you can jump, strafe and take cover to avoid attacks or attack better. And you will have the most exact and quickest control when playing in mouse-look mode.


I didn't know about this, but i'm playing a kensai at the moment and it doesn't seem that relevant. How much time do you gain? Half a second from the 1.5 seconds stop? The power surge seems to have an even shorter stop.

Quick draw isn't worth it imo, especially not for the newbies this thread is supposed to have been created for.
It halves the activation time. On a kensai, who has lots of boosts, that's 3-4% DPS over 5 minutes boss fighting with all boosts used. But I agree it is not a feat for new players to consider really.

[Qaptain]

If I knew then what I know now, I could have saved more money (both gold pieces and US dollars):

1. Pawn brokers may sell items cheaper than the Auction House. The Marketplace features clothing and jewelry brokers, House Deneith features weapon brokers (right next to an Auctioneer and a Mailbox), House Kundarak features armor brokers.

2. You can change instances by selecting the drop-down menu next to your compass, so that you may shop at more than one Marketplace.

3. The DDO Store features items on sale every day. With a little patience, you can get what you want for 20-50% off.

[devaneto]

... when you are at end boss fight (quest or raid) now its time to take off the haggle item and equip your CONS item :-P

in other words .. always check that you are equipped the right items ;)

[uhgungawa]

Put you main spells or actions in your #1 hot bar and use this
http://www.otakku.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/razer_naga_1.jpg
It'll make your life so much easier :D

[Dendrix]

1) Con is your Primary Statistic, no matter what class you are, and primary statistics should be a minimum of 14.

2) Don't die. Carry healing potions/wants

3) Treat other players are you would like to be treated. If you act like an arse you will be treated as if you are one.

[krud]

-Rangers and paladins can start using cure wands at level 1.

-the game becomes completely raid oriented above level 12. Design your characters accordingly.

[mediocresurgeon]

1)You can click on the names of your party members to select them, rather than trying to click on the actual party member.
2)F1-F12 also select party members
3)Heal skill and Repair skill are useless and are a waste of ranks, even if you are a healer/repairbot! (For some reason Heal is still listed as a recommended skill for fighters when you roll up a new character.)

[Vellrad]

1)You can click on the names of your party members to select them, rather than trying to click on the actual party member.
2)F1-F12 also select party members
3)Heal skill and Repair skill are useless and are a waste of ranks, even if you are a healer/repairbot! (For some reason Heal is still listed as a recommended skill for fighters when you roll up a new character.)

I like my heal skill on my wizard, i got about 6 or 7 ranks and i get ~90 HP at resting. But I like it only because wizards got 1,000,000 skill points, and no good skills to choose from ;)

[NecroKovy]

So much has been covered, I apologize in advance for duplicates:

-Take time to hover your pointer over just about anything, especially within your character sheet. You can figure out things like exactly where your stat bonuses are coming from, and what each ability score/save/spell/ability needs and is for.

-There is no shortage of equipment in the game. DON'T buy that Robe +1 from the DDO store. I know, I know...trust me. You'll regret it.

-Veteran players who are willing to take time out and explain things/hellp you with runs can be your greatest allies. Don't worry, nobody is trying to make you join a cult. Some folks are just genuinely helpful if they know you're actually listening.

-Don't forget to take time to reward yourself for advancing. Remember the first time you did Kobold Assault? Go back, even just once, and make those dogs remember who you are! ;)

-CON is not a dump stat (couldn't help myself)

-Examine everything in that little bar on the upper right. Many helpful tables including, but not limited to, a full list of quests you've done, how much favor you've earned for it, and for whom. It's a big help, for things like expanding inventory space and accessing more in the game.

-These two have been invaluable for the more complicated quests, and all of them if you're not sure: Don't leave the group, and if you get lost let someone know IMMEDIATELY.

-When you've managed to score yourself some platinum, carry items that may help others. (Example: My wiz always has a Curse Removal Wand in the pack, even though I've got potions for myself.) **see Dozen Black Rose's reply below for better explanation of this one, I left out some important info**

-Don't go off like a shotgun, and throw every buff you have onto everyone all the time. You may find yourself standing there, or running down an empty hallway while the clock ticks. In tandem with this, figure out which buffs last a long time (half hour) vs the ones that may only give you around 2 minutes or so.

-WOW, that chest is just sitting there in the middle of the room! Look how it shines, there is something GOOD in there!! Guess what, that's NOT a gift from the heavens. Prepare to die if you approach it blindly.

-Don't take the brawling area too seriously. It's just for fun, and if you die...you've learned something, that's all. Ignore or avoid the bullies. Their level 20 megatron beat up on your level 6 you're working so hard on, mercilessly? Over and over? What did you think would happen?

-Think for yourself, but don't ignore good advice. Everyone has a vision of what they want their character to be. You can still pursue this, but maybe there's a way to make what you want more effective. LISTEN AND LEARN, don't follow blindly without paying attention thinking a more powerful toon will always be there to protect you.

-Some quests are absolutely mind blowing, and very long. If you are new and trying to learn, don't touch anything, don't pull levers, climb ladders, or even walk through a door unless you are either told or are prepared for what will happen. Emotions can run high if the party is wiped after 45 minutes of careful adventuring cuz of that chest I spoke about earlier. ;)

-Feather Fall: Do yourself a favor. There ARE ways to die in town...

-Don't make your Guild look bad. You may be alienating some vauable allies, and could very well find yourself standing alone, if not booted from the game (from what I've read). You CAN'T do this entire game alone. It's not gonna happen.

-This is an impossibly large, and complicated endeavor. That's why we like it. People ARE watching you, don't be a jackass.

-I am new, maybe you are too. If you want to smell the roses, of course that's ok! It's NOT ok if you've just joined a group that is specifically zerging the Tempest Spine.

-If you're leading a party, and decide to use voice: Use push to talk at very least (never open mic), and make sure everyone can hear you. Type it too, make sure there is universal communication available.

-Blind invites, and blind tells saying things like, "shr plz', are extremely annoying. It's the best way to either get ignored or fiendishly pranked.

-Learn as much lingo as you can, I'm still working on this one. If you don't know what someone just said to you, ASK.

-When you see yourself making some progress, and learning some of the more advanced mechanics, remember when you had NO idea. Has someone helped you? Maybe even given you something for being a decent student? When the time comes, and you have the ability, pass that good will along. It feels good to help, and it feels good to be helped. Each supports the other.

I guess I could keep thinking of things, but sometimes just jumping into the action and letting things happen is the best way to figure out some things. There are hard lessons, moreso than the easy ones. Nobody expects you to be perfect off the bat, attitude before aptitude!

[Sebastrd]

1) You absolutely MUST do your homework before building a character. You make the most important decisions regarding your character before you ever set foot on Korthos, and no game is more unforgiving of suboptimal character choices than DDO and the 3.5 system it's built on.

2) Experience with PnP 3.5 is no substitute for number 1. Although the systems are similar, they are absolutely NOT the same game.

3) Don't complain about the price of an item on the auction house until you're familiar with the time and effort necessary to acquire it.

[Pimedus]

1. If you want to buy items in big quantities (for example Spell Components) use CTRL+SHIFT+MOUSE1 (left mouse button) to buy them in bulk. This saves time and prevents your fingers falling off due to endless clicking :D

2. Use the built in LFM (Press O->Grouping). Spamming "can anyone help me with this quest?" in General chat is generally considered annoying and isn't nearly as efficient as the LFM is.

3. Do not multiclass unless you have a well-thought-out plan for your character.

4. When you die in a quest you don't have to press the OK button to release your spirit...first check if there are any shrines nearby. If there are, then there is a good chance that you can run far enough from your soulstone to reach the Res shrine. If you are not near a shrine, ask one of your party members to pick up your soulstone and take it (and you) to a Res shrine. This way you don't have to run back to the quest entrance from your Bind point and also avoid losing more quest XP via the Re-entry penalty.

5. If a rogue stops in front of you and starts looking around, do not pass him unless you want to get killed by a nearby trap.

6. Strength is not useless on casters. With higher STR you can carry more and don't have to worry about getting encumbred/overloaded when you are hit with a Ray of Enfeeblement or other spells of that kind.

7. If you are using two one-handed weapons on a rogue, keep in mind that sneak attack bonus on 1 weapon applies to both hands.

8. Every character should eventually take the Toughness feat.

9. Some skills (Swim, Listen, Repair, Heal) are not worth spending skill points on.

10. Most regular +5 Weapons deal less damage than +1 Weapons that have special properties on them (Flaming/Icy/Acid/Shock/Pure Good/True Chaos...etc) as long as you are hitting your targets consistently.

11. New players should avoid using Vicious weapons.

12. On Character creation....if you want to full control over your character and it's development over the levels select the Customize option (under Path).

[Shenay]

1) Have fun. Play TOGETHER! (If you wanna play solo, dot join groops - nobody will think you great if you can't play as a team - and that don't increase any bit with killing rates)

2) An ingame reachable Link to various lists with weapons (and what thy do or not do), to sets (and where to get it), to class or race enhancment lines (and what they are good for), .... would be really helpfull at the beginning. Not everybody is a born fourm-junkie ^^

3) It is a ROLE-play - play the role of your chosen character. A rogue is no tank, a socerer no melee and a tank no dps. Dont try to be everything at once (and arent good in any of it) - the only thing you get is maybe a bit of solo fun and a lot of anoyed groups who wont groupe with you a second time.

4) If you ar a newbie SAY IT. If you do the quest the first time SAY IT. (And if you are a pro gamer SAY IT also (and stick to your kind)). That would make things so much easier.

5) Healers cant heal around corners and through walls.

and ofc. CON is NOT a dump stat :p

[Renegade66]

1. Focus on one thing and do it well. For example, don't try to be a pseudo intim, sword and board with marginal DPS that can open locks and play backup healer by wand whipping. Jack of all trades builds are master of none. If you want to be DPS then drop the shield and focus just on that. Min/Max for that build. Meaning, for a dps, max strength, take care of any prerequisites (e.g. if TWF you need 17 dex including tomes), then put the rest in CON (not a dumpstat, never, ever). Don't get sucked into thinking you need Wisdom for a groovy will save or to cast ranger spells (you have items to get you to 14 wis).

2. Plan your build before you create him/her. Use the character planner, but more importantly, go to the class forum here and search for the best builds that match to your vision of what you want to build. Copy it. You are sure to bork your first build, plus you'll want to get to 32 point builds anyway, so might as well copy somthing you know will do reasonably well.

3. Thicken your skin. DDO has a steep learning curve. Those that cater to your sensibilities are your enemy. Kind of like your mom letting you live in her basement when you're 36. You love her, but she might as well be the anti-Christ for all the good she's doing you. Get into groups that are not shy about leading and explaining their expectations. Listen closely, do what you are told and try your best to keep up. You will fail though, so expect to hear about it. Use the tongue lashing as a means for self improvement and don't get butt-hurt because people are mean. If you get butt-hurt you will tend to group with the weak and never get stronger.

In general, if you're signing up for DDO for the human interaction, Thursday night roleplaying tea parties and other mamby-pamby nonsense then forget everything I said. However, if you're looking to excel, have the best gear, builds and be known at least as a solid player then this is a good place to start.

A helpful hint from your Uncle Ren.

[GunboatDiplomat]

1. You can buy cure light wounds potions in the shop in the harbour dirt cheap.

2. Multiclassing should never be done junless you really, really, really know what you're doing.

3. You can never have too many hit points so take the toughness feat, enhancements, hp gear and as somebody else *may* have mentioned - 'Con is not a dump stat.'

[Nospheratus]

1. If you want to buy items in big quantities (for example Spell Components) use CTRL+SHIFT+MOUSE1 (left mouse button) to buy them in bulk. This saves time and prevents your fingers falling off due to endless clicking :D
Not sure it depends on the keybinding settings, but i only use Ctrl+Click.


10. Most regular +5 Weapons deal less damage than +1 Weapons that have special properties on them (Flaming/Icy/Acid/Shock/Pure Good/True Chaos...etc) as long as you are hitting your targets consistently.

Good advice, but depends. A +1 weapon with shock, for example, deals less damage (in average) than a +5.
+1 shock weapon has an average damage of: 1+3.5 = 4.5
+5 weapon has an average damage of: 5

A +5 weapon also helps your Attack roll more than the +1 (+4 difference) - use it instead if you have trouble hitting something.

I would suggest reading everything a weapon has written on it. You can probably figure this out if you do.

[Zaviticus]

An important lesson I learned:

If you want to be a Two Weapon Fighter, make your starting Dex at least 15. Otherwise, that +2 Tome or +6 item really won't let you take the TWF feat if your base DEX is 12.

That, and +1 and +2 tomes do not stack.

[Daliyn]

1) You absolutely MUST do your homework before building a character. You make the most important decisions regarding your character before you ever set foot on Korthos, and no game is more unforgiving of suboptimal character choices than DDO and the 3.5 system it's built on.

disagree completely. I'd prefer:
On your first char, choose whatever class/stat/race combo you like. Learn the ropes of the game, learn what works and what not, but be prepared to not play him for long. Make your second char based on more knowledge. Oh, and CON is not a dump stat (but apart from that, minmaxing isn't necessary)

My top 3:


Starter Health potions work the same on fleshies and warforged
Get these collectibles and turn them in for free healing wands: Cure Light Wounds: 2 Khyber Prayer Pamphlets, Giles Goodman, Harbor. Cure Medium Wounds: 2 Wavecrasher Cargo Manifests, Kipling Wranch, Marketplace. Cure Serious Wounds: 2 House-Sealed Letters, Seld the Gray Sister, House Phiarlan. If you can't use them yourself, get them anyhow and give them to your healer.
Get the following potions or clickies as soon as possible: remove poison (gives immunity to poison for 8 minutes) or permanent poison immunity, lesser restauration, remove curse, remove disease or perm disease immunity, remove blindness or perm blindness immunity, permanent feather fall, underwater action, various resistances and elemental protections. Potions are purchasable from the apothecary at the Harbor or from the potion vendor in the middle of the market place (more than 5 of each at a time are usually not necessary during the first levels), though on the long run clickies from the brokers are cheaper.

[Dozen_Black_Roses]

So much has been covered, I apologize in advance for duplicates:


-When you've managed to score yourself some platinum, carry items that may help others. (Example: My wiz always has a Curse Removal Wand in the pack, even though I've got potions for myself.)

I thought your post was very helpful, but wanted to correct some slight misinfo in your post (or suggest an alternative that may be cheaper for newer players who do not have the plat for a wand) ....


You do not need to carry wands of remove curse. Yes you can use wands on others but, as long as you are using curse removal potions that you bought from non guild vendors or found in chests, you can use them on others. Wand casting is slow, and in higher level quests/raids it can be a detriment. Just put that stack of remove curse potions on a hotbar and you can use it on any other party member by selecting them. The only exception is the potions you buy from the guild vendor that is available once your guild reaches level 20, as those can only be used on yourself. A benefit of those guild potions is that you can use them when under barbarian or madstone rage, where as regular curse potions you can not.

The only wands I would consider carrying (in thinking of curatives to help myself and party members, not offensive spells) is cure (lihgt, mod, serious depending on class level) wands as you can not use potions of those on others. Rangers, paladins, bards, fav souls and clerics can use those at level one. Other classes can use them with umd skill. I normally keep stacks of potions on my hot bar such as remove curse, remove disease, remove fear, poison neutralization, and lesser restoration, all of these can be used on yourself or other party members, and as a bonus fear acts as a aoe effect and will help anoyone in that aura range. Now as a newer player you will not be able to buy stacks of these but it certainly will help to have them on a hotbar for easy access so you do not die from something while searching for it in your inventory.

[BangsLiekWhoa]

1:
Unlike D&D, DDO requires min/maxing to a large degree that prohibits "balanced characters" that work well in D&D. Said balanced characters will own content from L1-12 and then become useless.
I can not stress this enough! Some can work, but they require careful planning before creation and are much more difficult to pull off.

2: Bonus stacking.
Examples:

enhancement+size=stacks, enhancement+enhancement=DOES NOT STACK
bow bonus+arrow bonus=DOES NOT STACK
etc.


3:A +1 weapon/armor with added effects (pure good, elemental damage, etc.) is usually better than a +2 weapon with no added effects.

[sweez]

1. Use the forums, but don't blindly believe everything you read here until you actually try it out yourself.

2. If someone tells you to do/not do something in a quest, ask them why. If they don't have a proper explanation, it's probably a myth.

3. Expect crashes when zoning into explorer areas. Try not to think about the fact that you're a paying customer (if you are one) while the crashes are happening.

4. When you obtain large amounts of platinum, send them over to me.

[Rameses]

#1) Con is not a dump stat.

#2) Cure Serious Wounds potions are min level 1

#3) Rogue's are DPS.

I am, Rameses!

[kinar]

The best possible thing you can do to help newer players would be to find a way to implement the most popular builds of each class into character creation...either as pre-made paths or as guides to customize...maybe a button that says "here are some current popular builds from the community" which links to a few forum posts...

example: ranger exploiter build
shade's max dps barb
typical clonk build
typical drow sorc
typical wf sorc
typical wiz/rogue build

etc...


Of course, someone at turbine would have to actually follow and keep this updated so it is probably too much to ask for...

[cwfergtx]

1. If multi-classing with a rogue, should take rogue at 1st lvl to max out skill points.
2. Check the Feat and Enhancement pages on your character sheet. There is a box not check that stats unavailable Feat/Enhancement this is good to review. It let's you see what feat or enhancements are required for other feats and enhancements.
3. Ask questions in advice if you need help be as specific as you can. Vague questions do not get much help. Example the other day I had a Ranger as why he had no spells. He asking where his spells were and people were telling him to look on the character sheet tab for spells. After about his 6th spam I pulled up his stats and found he had INT 8, WIS 8 and CHR 10. Then I had to explain to him the he would not have any spells until he raised his stat for spells up to at least an 11 for 1st level spells.
4. Take time to explore Stormreach, visit each house and none quest area to see what they have. Talk to all the vendors in each house to see what they sell.

[darkrhavyn]

1) Dont multiclass your first character unless you have someone who has played DDO for awhile helping you or you dont mind playing copied chracters from the forums

2) Take advice that says "YOU MUST DO THIS....." with a grain of salt....but remember that there is probably a reason someone said that....i.e. there usually a tiny bit of truth to most "you musts"

3) If you want to try something cause it sounds cool or fun...DO IT...just remember why you tried it and dont get down on yourself or someone else who does it if it doesn't turn out as the max dps or bestest uber caster ever

4) Figure out how you want to play...do you like loot, accomplishments, hanging out with friends....maybe its a bit of everything...then do that and let everyone else enjoy doing what they like without thinking there's "one way(ring) to bind them all":D

[brian14]

1. improved precise shot is a feat that you need to put on your hot bar to turn it on... been playing for years and just learned this about 2 months ago /face palm
Yes, serious facepalm!

I only had it for three and a half months... now I know why my shots do not seem to pass through my friends!

[Shamurai]

Hope these aren't covered:

- To get a hireling to rest/ or come back from the dead; highlight the particular shrine and mash the "use" [looks like gears on it] button until they do it.

- If you communicate in a way that differs from your party leader (i.e. you don't mic, or you don't speak the same language, or even if you HATE TYPING (like me cuz I do it all day) please make that known at the very start to avoid misunderstanding or frustration later.

- Be consistent. if you're a compassionate player (Ironforge_Clan, myself) be so, if you're a hard care get stuff down party leader (could insert names here) do so. If you tank, or intim or heal or share loot .. whatever it is you do. be consistent, you will become known for it, and becoming "KNOWN" can totally benefit you when you PUG 99% of the time (like me).

- You are Sooo NOT the end all be all best built toon on the server (no matter how cool your build from the forums says you will be). Know when to step up, and when to Shut Up.

- Use HOT BARS.. many many of them. If you can kill with it, click it, wear it, drink it, enhance it, or cast it... put it on a hot bar.

- HAVE FUN!

[Ciaran]

Contrary to what has been repeated ad nauseum in this thread, CON is, in fact, a dumpstat.






(If by dumpstat you mean "dump as many points as you can get away into it with without hurting your character in other ways")

:D

[brian14]

1) Rougues have to pick up the rogue-specific skills at character creation (open lock, disable device, search, spot, etc). They are not automatically granted. I've seen I don't know how many new players get into Tangleroot and not know this.
Same with bards. My bard limped through level 1 with 0 Perform skill -- which made automatically granted songs unusable.

[The_Phenx]

1) 1d6 = 1 to 6 points of damage, AND CHANGE IT BACK!! :D
2) CON?
3) CON CON CON do not skimp here

[darksol23]

1) Turbine's definition of "soon" may vary greatly from your own.
2) CON is not a dump stat.
2) Never schedule a day off work on a Monday and expect to play all day. (Go look at the maintenance history and you'll see why)

[Dilbon]

If you think your dps is high, it isn't. Unless it really is, but then you're a veteran with amazing gear anyway.

[RaidMR]

Coming from a 3.5 D&D background I thought I was prepared for building and playing a toon... the truth is I was and I wasn't. Sure I knew basics to make a toon and go and beat stuff up in Korthos, but what I didn't know were the build implications of my choices.

So basically for completely new players I'd break it down like this: (and more importantly put it all in one spot!)


Glossary of terms (the basics like class, race, statistics, feats and enhancements)
Brief write ups on each class explaining what they do, what makes them different and the stats to focus on. Maybe Provide links to the build forums and descriptions of the pre-defined paths here too.
Explain the impact of stats on Hit Points, Spell points and skills
Explain the difference between/highlight skills that you must put a skill point into to use, and those that can use your attributes as a base.
Explain feats and I don't mean explain every one of them, just the idea behind them and the feat progression.
Explain enhancements again just the idea behind them, and the action point progression
Provide an explanation of the F2P, Premium and VIP accounts (like here -> http://www.ddo.com/vip ... just reformat that, it looks horrible)
I'd also have a description of picking up quests, completing them, and maybe a map introduction so they know what the symbols mean (which would cover ...hopefully... how to find mailboxes, banks and zone entrances).
Provide a description of item abilities and what stacks and doesn't


There's probably more, but that I think is a decent start.

[dsebutchr]

1. Healing is line of sight. If the healer cannot see you, you will NOT be healed. It is YOUR job to remember this NOT theirs.

2. Con is really not a dump stat. HP are arguably the most important thing on your toon...any toon.

3. You really do not need to do that quest on elite. Do all the quests on hard and HEY! your 20...imagine that.

4. Grab lots of clicky items and put them on your hotbar. Those Bless+Aid bracers from Korthos are awesome. +11 health and bless for 3 minutes a pop, yes please!

5. That +2 to-hit item you get from Korthos you'll keep for a LONG time. Even when I got rid of it, I felt bad getting rid of it.

[FrancisP.Fancypants]

READ THE FORUMS!

There is no instruction manual (for most of us), and as a tutorial/beginner's lounge Korthos will not teach you most of the important nuances of the rest of the game. The forums are a huge resource, so much so that there are tons of threads dedicated to new player advice, tons of threads complaining about things that new players should know but generally don't (!), and tons of threads that compile links to other resources (such as Ollathir's ***Links*** thread, which is the first place I check if I need to know something).


And if you ask a question, you're far less likely to be completely misinformed by a bunch of people in the forums than by asking the same question in general chat.

Also- CON is never, ever a dumpstat.

[Cyprine]

recalling my 1st mistakes:
+ playing around the chat box, destroying, creating tabs... that was - still is - a nightmare.
[suggestion] simplify chat box ui.

+ thinking DDO would be like DnD - but its a video game.
[suggestion] not much turbine can do. New players will learn.

+ Selling to a npc merchant that Sunblade i pulled from Gwyllan, thinking *sure nice but hey, i'll surely pull another soon*
[suggestion] color code rare item or mention it somewhere: *Rare*

+ opening a chest while someone was Dc'd/not in instance - made some ppl in the party angry & i didn't know why.
[suggestion] a newbe alert pop up *not every one in your party is in the instance blabla [Y][N]* (do not show anymore tick box)

[Luacan]

Just one thing. I, like many other players, went in to this game thinking D&D. This game IS NOT D&D. Character builds that may be broken in D&D 3.5 are useless here.

[Alavatar]

Mistakes I see new players make:

1) Using two martial or exotic weapons without TWF feats.
2) Multi-classing without knowing what they are doing, and then complaining later.
3) Not listening to strategic advice from more knowledgeable players.

Common "errors" I see from newer players, but ones that have enough experience to have made it to L20.

1) Making and focusing on one character. Two characters at least are recommended so you can help your guild when one character is on timer as well as offer two character-types (such as a melee and a caster) for guild raiding options.
2) Picking up raid loot that is Bound to Character with the misconception that it is Bound to Account. I've seen this multiple times in VoN6 at level.
3) Not admitting to not knowing a quest / raid. If you don't admit to it, we assume you know it, so when you screw up because you didn't know your fellow players get upset and demoralized. If we had known you didn't know we could have explained it to you.

[WASNTME]

Three things I no know that I wish I knew then.......

1. Building a Rogue to Spot, Search and Disable every trap in the game is alot of fun but pointliess.

2. Multiclass toons are only good if you have done alot of research, and it really really blows when you make it to 10th lvl and its proven.

3. Monks are easy to build, fun to play and can hang with the most complicated builds in the game...


Oh yea..... Out jump this Beioch


Taming the Shrew 18th lvl TR Monk
Guild Leader The Black Knights of Templar

[FlyingTurtle]

1. Do not speak any ill of the great and powerful Turbine on the forums, or you will get an infraction.
2. Do not speak any ill of the great and powerful Turbine's employees, or you will get an infraction.
3. Do not speak about infractions, or... oh ****.

[Talon_Moonshadow]

This is a group game, that is not very solo friendly.

Don't let other players get you down.

Don't believe everything you hear.

There is nothing in that locked chest that is worth taking a lvl of Rogue for.

Other players expect Clerics to heal them.

Rgrs and Pals can use cure wounds wands at lvl one. Which can be bought from the wand vender in the market.

Quivers can be bought from the missile weapon vender in the Harbor.

If you hurt something first, or hurt it more than your friends hurt it, it will chase you. And if you run, if will keep chasing you, and most of your friends lack either ability or knowlege of how to help you. They also really, really, really hate to chase monsters.
Keep this in mind.

Half of the players in this game are idiots.

The other half are mean to anyone they perceive as an idiot.

Everyone else has been playing a lot longer then you. They have no fear of anything. They run through every quest. They have better weapons then you will ever get. They will always do more damage and have more kills then you.
they charge into every fight and swing, swing, swing till everything is dead. This type of playstyle requires a lot of HP/Con. If you try to do the same thing they do, be prepared to take a lot of damage and die often. even if you did not use Con as a dump stat, there is still a good chance that you cannot play as agressively as everyone else and survive.

Read everything carefully.

Read everything carefully.

Use the time between groups to explore, talk to NPCs, and read everything carefully.

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.)

Quests are a lot easier if you have some form of self-healing capability.
(it can even allow you to survive if you used Con as a dump stat.)

This game is not stealth friendly. Most players do not have any success trying to use stealth in this game.

Stealth is very powerful in this game. you just don't know how to use it.

Just because one monster is trying to kill you , does not mean they all are. (yet) Don't give them any help if you are not ready for it.

Read the quest objectives in the upper right of your screen. Especially if it says "Failure"!

Lesser Restore potions can be bought at the potion vendors. These will cure 90% of the nasty things that you woul dlike to have a cleric cure you of. Even if your char is lvl 20.

Being blinded really sucks! (you can buy pots for that too!)

Hey! These vendors sell pots for everything!

Wizards can inscibe spells from scrolls into their spell books. Even spells of higher lvl then they can see in their spell books.

Some scrolls cannot be bought.

Try to research which scrolls of the next lvl cannot be bought, so you can choose those spells as you lvl up.

Firewall scrolls cannot be bought.

As you lvl up to Wizard lvl 7, take the Wall of fire spell.

Evasion is the best feat in the game.

Ranged combat in this game, generally does weak damage.

Anything in this game that you have not invested heavily in, with stats, ranks, feats, enhancments, and items is generally weak in this game.

That includes Turning undead.

The Enhancement system in DDO (that you spend Action Points on) makes this game very different from PnP D&D. It favors pure class chars.

If in doubt about multi-classing your char: don't.

Smart players can use Con as a dump stat and not die all the time.

Many smart players prefer a decent Con on their chars.

Most players are not smart players.

You are probably not smarter than most other players.

Don't believe everything you hear.

[Nospheratus]

Half of the players in this game are idiots.

The other half are mean to anyone they perceive as an idiot.

And the other half are nice people that will take some time to explain things to you, if you need! The only problem is, they might be tired of pugging because of the first two halves :P

[kinar]

The best possible thing you can do to help newer players would be to find a way to implement the most popular builds of each class into character creation...either as pre-made paths or as guides to customize...maybe a button that says "here are some current popular builds from the community" which links to a few forum posts...

example: ranger exploiter build
shade's max dps barb
typical clonk build
typical drow sorc
typical wf sorc
typical wiz/rogue build

etc...


Of course, someone at turbine would have to actually follow and keep this updated so it is probably too much to ask for...
My next suggestion would be to add an introductory information based upon the players background. Players who are comming from other MMOs will need a different guide to get up to speed in ddo than players who are comming from dnd....in fact, players comming from ADnD (2nd ed) will probably need a slightly different guide then those comming from 3.5....

[Hambo]

1). Don't assume, because you've played D&D for years, that you know all about how things work in DDO.

2). Pick a simple melee character as your first. Play it through at least 4 levels to learn basic game mechanics, then re-roll using what you've learned. Rinse and repeat. Leave Casters, Healers and specialist characters until you are comfortable with the basics.

3). DDO is an evolving system. What may be the best possible build today might be woefully inadequate tomorrow. Stay flexible and try new things in builds.

[Dunfalach]

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

1) Absolute biggest one that would have helped me: Items with like bonuses do not stack.

On my very first char I had much puzzlement over how while wearing 3 or 4 haggle items I could not seem to make the prices go down, and wondering how much haggle bonus I needed to finally see them drop. It made a big difference when I overheard someone explaining on chat to someone else this fact, and it's one of the most common questions I see crop up in Harbor in one variation or another.

2) Some more details on using the hotbars effectively and what can be put on them, especially: weapon sets, individual spells from spells such as resist energy, special feats and enhancements such as sneak and monk stances.

3) Where to find spell components.I figured this out myself, by poking around, but I see a lot of questions on this.

Class-specific:

1) For wizards, how to scribe spells. I figured it out myself, but I see that question a lot from new wizards in harbor. Related would be where to find scrolls.

2) Monks could almost use their own tutorial to explain the whole system of stances, ki moves, and special strikes, and how to perform the chain and not do something that loses the special strike, like open a door. There are a lot of questions on the chat about how to do monk special moves.

3) Clerics could use a heads up on using the F1-F6 keys for targeting.

[Azuarc]

I gave you 3 to the 3rd power.

* Armor is important early on. Later, you need to find your survivability through other means.
* Make a conscious decision at character creation as to what weapon style your character will fight with -- either dual wielding or using a two-hander. A shield is not a viable long-term option unless you are a tank.
* Bonuses don't stack. The one notable exception is that there are some kinds of AC bonuses that stack, but you have to read carefully to see what *kind* of bonus they are, since you can't double-dip on any single type.
* Your first character should be a pure character. Don't multi-class unless you have a very clear vision of what you want to do, how you want to do it, and know enough about character creation.
* Never follow the pre-fab character "paths." Most of them make poor decisions for you at some point, either due to outright bad choices or because they aren't the direction you would go naturally.
* A "dump stat" is not a stat that you dump all your points into.
* Read what the bonuses on items -- especially weapons -- do carefully. Some are not as good as they might seem at first, while others may be bland but are still quite solid. Keep in mind that a +3 weapon increases your damage by 3, but also your chance to hit by +3, (which is about 15% more often.)
* You can quickly switch any equipment by dragging it to your hotbar. To do this with a weapon set, drag both items to one of the green boxes on your inventory screen, and put THAT on your hotbar.
* There is one button on your primary toolbar that causes the current set to break away and become its own independent tool bar. One of the buttons on the new toolbar causes it to dock with the main bar, while the other turns it vertical.
* Don't buy anything from the DDO store until you know how hard it is to acquire normally. Purchasing the drow race, for example, is not a terribly good investment of resources.
* After playing for a couple weeks, paying for a single month of premium (and immediately cancelling) will give you a taste of what all those red chalices in the marketplace are, let you auction more than one thing at a time, and let you start quests on hard immediately.
* You can repeat quests. As long as you are running a difficulty you have already done, you will take a slight exp hit, but you will receive full exp on a new difficulty no matter how many times it was completed otherwise.
* Tab targets the nearest enemy. You can configure a key to target all the non-enemy objects in the game. Doing this will let you easily find objects you didn't realize were present, like hidden levers, items on the ground, etc., and also target NPCs.
* Arcane casters can heal warforged. So can normal divine casters, but at a penalty to the effectiveness.
* Clerics should expect to heal other players. However, other players should not expect clerics to heal them.
* Don't listen to everyone that answers questions or makes comments in general chat. A lot of those people are idiots.
* Oozes will munch on your equipment, but not a Muckbane. Muckbane is a special crystal club that can sometimes be found from an optional boss in the harbor quest Durk's Got a Secret. Run that quest until you get a Muckbane. It will also be useful against rust monsters.
* Don't worry about having fancy named equipment early in the game, with the exception of Muckbane,
* Don't hit oozes with piercing damage, including arrows. They split into new oozes.
* Read quest descriptions. If a quest says it recommends a balanced party, that means the difficulty is elevated. If it says X players required, it means that there is some task that forces you to have that many people at the same time, and you will not be able to solo it. (You might do a two-person quest with a hireling.)
* Two weapon fighting makes your dual wield combat directly more effective. Two handed fighting improves the incidental damage you do to other enemies surrounding you.
* Always have a slashing and a blunt weapon early on, for fighting skeletons and zombies.
* Rapiers are piercing weapons.
* Don't feel like you have to explore the entire dungeon in meticulous detail. You do get slight bonuses for breaking most of the crates, killing most of the enemies, etc....but it's not worth going well out of your way to break 300 barrels. Especially with the crate-smashing, just getting the first level is good enough.
* From left to right, the houses go P, D, J, K. (Alpha with P moved to front.) P is the dumpy swamp area, D is the military group that has the weapon vendor, J is the nature-y place with the apothecary, K is the one with the bank and the REALLY annoying free quests.
* Pinches of Bull Dung can be bought from the apothecary in the harbor, or in the center of the marketplace, or in house J.
* Don't bother talking to NPCs about quests that show up in red on the map. Their quest is from an adventure pack you don't have.

[slimkj]

1. Your first self-designed build is likely to be quite bad. Don't worry about it - accept it, learn from your mistakes, ask advice and make build #2 (or 3, or 12) better.
2. Try not to let yourself be nannyed through quests, ask questions and learn because one day you'll probably need to know why the group did what it did.
3. A lot of what reads as important isn't. Read up & research before investing in something you might never need.

[PNellesen]

K is the one with the bank and the REALLY annoying free quests.

Oh wow - yeah - that was a NASTY surprise the first time I tried "Lair of Summoning" at-level, solo, with no previous knowledge of it whatsoever other than it was labeled "Level 5, Solo/Party".

(And I still refuse to discuss my first foray into "Taming the Flames"... :p)

[Killer-Bee]

1. Several feats have a minimum ability score requirement before counting equipment.
2. After completing a raid, you do not start your raid timer and cannot rerun the raid until you get your end reward beginning the timer.
3. Don't rush through the game your first time through. The content will never be new for you again .

[Mister_Peace]

Arcane casters in DDO don't need Dex.

Get a character up to high levels, and use that character to fund your later, better characters.

Find out which collectables are worth money, and hoard or sell them instead of turning them in.

[Chette]

1. When you join a party you can all enter the same quests and wilderness areas together, or you can enter separate ones. *
2. You need to enable voice chat in your settings in order to be able to hear people. Many people do not type in party chat, and won't know that you can't hear them.
3. You can't re-do your stats or skill points without spending turbine points, so do your research before you lcreate your character. Plan it out all the way to level 20 to make sure you get the required stats, skills and feats you will need.

* When I first started playing I had NO idea how groups worked. The first group I ever joined (which wasn't until level 5 or 6, until I started dying a lot I assumed DDO was mostly for solo play) I felt completely lost. I didn't know how to look up where they were and they were noobs too and didn't tell me. I thought they had to "share" a quest (even through I had already picked up all the quests) in order for us to be in the quest together. I didn't know we could just all enter the same instance. There was no tutorial for groups in Korthos as far as I remember. I think it would be nice if the Jeets/Celimas story line included information how to join groups and do quests together.

[Tom318]

From a long history of PUGing :

(1) No one reads through ten pages of advice

(2) A lot of kids play this game. There's a reason why kids aren't allowed to drink, drive or vote. If they're endlessly running and jumping in front of the quest entrance, you only have yourself to blame if you're still in the party and they wipe and you have to pull their stones. If you want to join them make sure you can solo it, that way you can keep saving their butts for the 10th time if you're so inclined. It can be fun in a "throw the ball and let the dog bring it back to you" kind of way.

If you can't solo it you are going to be in for an interesting experience, for which you will only have yourself to blame. You don't need to be a child psychologist to know most (if not all) kids are chaotic evil :)

(3) Anyone who says "(insert class here) is underpowered/weak" doesn't know how to play that class.

(4) Six high-level barbs can probably do most of the quests. The trick is to get them up there in the first place.

(5) "Heisenberg's uncertainty principle states by precise inequalities that certain pairs of physical properties, such as position and momentum, cannot be simultaneously known to arbitrarily high precision." This is why:

(i) creatures can hit you even if it seems that they are not touching you

(ii) you sometimes take damage from falling a foot, and other times can drop a mile without so much as breaking a toenail.

Also see "chaos theory" which wikipedia defines as

"a field of study in mathematics, physics, economics and philosophy studying the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions. This sensitivity is popularly referred to as the butterfly effect. Small differences in initial conditions (such as those due to rounding errors in numerical computation) yield widely diverging outcomes for chaotic systems, rendering long-term prediction impossible in general. This happens even though these systems are deterministic, meaning that their future behavior is fully determined by their initial conditions, with no random elements involved. In other words, the deterministic nature of these systems does not make them predictable. This behavior is known as deterministic chaos, or simply chaos."

Since this is a dynamic system, it's largely a chaotic mess guided somewhat by your stats, and the constants that are part of the particular quest you are in. For instance, it's entirely possible for the first wizard in Cannith Crystal to one-shot it. Just because you can't jump a short distance doesn't mean you can't jump a long distance.

(6) You will need feather fall. And something to make you run faster, because in a PUG everyone runs and jumps. Some of this can be attributed to (2).

(7) Most times you can tell if you have a good group after the first encounter. If they wipe at the first hurdle, it's a good bet that they will not be able to finish it.

(8) It's a game, why are people being so fussy and uptight about it? and yet we are. I don't know why.

(9) Why argue about something the devs can change with a keystroke? it's not like real life. In real life actions can have serious, long-lasting consequences. This used to be the case in DDO (blindness, FtS etc.) but now it's not. So why are we bothering to not make mistakes in a game that makes it really easy to recover from them? and yet we are.

[I_Bob]

1. As has been said, CON is not a dump stat

2. Communication is key. If you can't hear, read, and/or talk, you can't help

3. This is a game. Have fun, play it how you want to, but most of all, HAVE FUN!

[Correlan]

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!

1. Don't be afraid to say you are new to the game. Most vets will help you out, maybe with gear or just good, sound, advice.

2. Take your time, learn the quests, Rome wasn't built in a day.

3. Ask questions, politely. People have a wealth of knowledge and have been playing this game since day one.

Bonus piece of advice. Don't beg.

[cebridges]

There was no tutorial for groups in Korthos as far as I remember. I think it would be nice if the Jeets/Celimas story line included information how to join groups and do quests together.

this, 1, 2 and 3. thanks.

[jortann]

1. A tutorial at the beginning of the game on how to use the hotbars would have been real nice. Something at the beginning of the game that makes you drag an item, enhancement clickies and spells into the bar would be awesome.

2. A tutorial for wizards on how to cast, inscribe, load up spells and drag them to your hotbar would be great. I played my first caster for 2 levels wondering when I would get spells and be shown how to use them - uggghhhh!!!

3. Advice from the trainers when you level up. Stuff like, what equipment you might want to look for at your level. They are trainers afterall - they shoud give advice to help you be better.

4. Maybe a text box after you complete misery's peak that tells you, "You can now leave Korthos and go to Stormreach." I was grouping on Korthos once and I told a guy he needed to go to Stormreach and come back before he could join the group. His response, "You can leave Korthos?"

5. Dwarfs are the best race because CON is not a dump stat :D (yes its actually dwarfs not WF) :D

[RioRussell]

1) Learn how things stack in this game (attribute bonuses, armor, damage, etc...)
2) Ask questions. 99% of the people will never remember when you ask a dumb question. Don't play with the other 1%.
3) Build a character intentionally. What I mean is to understand what you are attempting to have this character do, and excel at that. Don't be afraid to re-roll until you get it right, this makes you a better player.

rio

[yhelm123]

1) Learn how things stack in this game (attribute bonuses, armor, damage, etc...)

1) 100% agree! That was the hardest thing to get in my head when I started, and I had a lot of items that all did the same thing (+2 enchantment bonus to Str, for example).

2) Some guide about who/where the brokers are and how they work.

3) An explanation about respecing in game (the non-heart of wood kind). It's good to know you can experiment with your Enhancements and change them any time WITHOUT having to re-roll.

4) Signs. A " House K -> " when first entering the Market would have made things a bit easier. Also need something explaining what the heck that glowing green thing is in the houses ;)

[Mercureal]

Even though the 'Power Critical' feat has a name that sounds like it should be really good, it isn't. Don't take it. 'Power Attack', on the other hand, *is* good for a character that will see a lot of hand-hand combat.

You may sometimes find the naming of quests and dungeons confusing because the name of a quest is different from the location you need to enter to start the quest. If you're having trouble finding a quest, check your quest page and read the description, it should give you the name of the location.

[Dunfalach]

3. Do not multiclass unless you have a well-thought-out plan for your character.

This. I have more than a few times been asked by a new player "What class goes well with..." or "What class should I take..." kind of questions. This isn't bad in itself, but the answer is not as simple as "Oh, you should just add that one". If you don't have a plan for *why* you're multiclassing, then don't. Read the forums, look at builds others are doing and why, play your character pure for a while, then venture into multiclassing once you begin to understand the reasoning behind the choices.

[Tendare]

Quicken is a casters best friend and better than that +15 concentration item. Quicken prevents you from getting your spell interupted when being hit while casting. Quicken for a cleric will save many lives.

Save all your invisiblility pots, they cannot be purchased anywhere

If you grab agro, can't handle the agro and are going to die, do not run away from your group and make the mellee and healer chase you and the mobs, most mellee take a +4 penalty to hit when they are moving. Run directly to one of your mellee and let them use intimidate to get the agro back, thus saving you in the process. This also helps the cleric heal you and the mellee at the same time without switching targets.
If this is not an option then run tight circles around your group till the mobs are under control. Jump is also your friend.

[Vellrad]

(3) Anyone who says "(insert class here) is underpowered/weak" doesn't know how to play that class.



Well, I think I know how to play my lv20 wizard, and I still say he's weak as hell. But its probably because of my previous experience from another D&D video games, and traditional D&D.

[Zzevel]

a few more i just thought of...

1- IF you're unsure of how you want to build a character, start with this simple solution: Bring all stats below 10 up to 10 (that way you're not taking negatives in anything), then add points (one per ability) until you are out of points, making sure you at least have a 14 INT (runes are a b*&ch without it).

2- IF you know the build you want to try...don't let others opinions of it make you shy away from it...ultimately it's your character and YOU are the one who has to be happy with how he/she/it plays.

3- NEVER split the party...as soon as you do...death will not be far behind...healers can only heal you if you are close enough to them to be in range.

4- COMMUNICATION...seems to be a forgotten word in the English language, but it is the KEY to any/all successful parties. Even the ones where only 2 or 3 make it through alive...those were the ones communicating effectively! :)


............ Not everything you hear in the forum is gospel

[Thalmor]

1. Go Preminum ( it only cost like $5 and you are premium for life. 4 Character slots and unlimited AH listing. and 5 bucks is less than a coffe at Starbucks).

2. Healing Potions, Cure wands, clickies (items with recharagable spells) with heal spells are important.

3. Cleric Hirlings are cheaper then buying potions or wands, use then when you want to solo or don't have a full party.

4. Potions that give protection from something are very important, keep them on a hot bar, and use accordingly.

5. Items with expedious retreat (helpfull for getting around dungons/public areas very quickly) or haste (great for fighting/and moving around quickly) clickable should not be ignored.

6. Use rest Shrines wisely. They can only be used once on Hard/Elite settings.

7. Con is not a dump stat!!!

8. Most important, remember its just a game! Enjoy yourself!

[Imitating]

Playing DDO is mainly about wise use of resources that a group brings into a dungeon (or finds inside). Such resources are: HP, SP, pots, wands, scrolls, prepared spells, shrines, etc. These resources are strictly limited: HP and SP do not regenerate over time by themselves, pots and wands are expensive, shrines are rare. Wasting resourses (e.g. making a cleric restore your full HP bar three times in the first fight) is inefficient and considered bad playstyle. For example, being a tank is not only taking all damage youself, but also mitigating most of that damage.

If you die in a dungeon that does not always mean you have to reenter a quest. When you die you drop a soulstone. Member of your group can take it and bring to a shrine (or you possibly can reach it yourself). You (being a ghost) then use Resurrection Shrine to get back to life.

F1 targets self. F2-F6 targets your teammates.

[relik_arkane]

Disclaimer: This is to me a game, by definition games are supposed to be fun. To me fun is relaxing, laughing and doing things with my friends. This will color my personal opinions and yes I am entitled to them as much as you all are to your own! :P

1) Don't get too attached to your early characters, see them as experiments instead. Try different builds, combinations, spells, etc. until you find one you enjoy more than any prior. Then stick with that one until you become tired of playing it. By then you will have seen several other toons in action that you will want to try for yourself.

2) Don't be afraid to try anything. Just because another player tells you not to do something doesnt mean you have to listen. At one point I was told melee casters dont work and are too gimped. Mine have melee'd most end bosses in the game successfully plus are extremely flexible and fun to play. The worst that can happen is you give up, delete and try another, no real loss.

3) While I dont recommend a CON below 10, it is not nearly as critical as most players preach and believe. Healing is an art best dispensed in regular intervals. (regular heals for 20 is better than occassional heals for 100). This is the easiest form of redbar management. Different healings have different cooldown timers. For example, You can cast cure serious wounds, drink a cure serious wounds potion and use lay on hands as fast as you can select them - all on different timers. ALWAYS carry as many means of healing yourself as you can. Potions, spells, lay on hands, wands, etc. There is no reason you cannot clear up to a certain point in a dungeon, heal up, then continue. Remember, although you cannot use wands, someone in the party shoul/may be able to and most will happily accept them for the greater good of the party.

4) Brand new players: Start with a fighter, once you have that figured out, branch out into other classes. Or add cross class levels in another class if you prefer. Your early characters rarely pan out so dont worry too much about gimping them beyond usefulness... They'll probably already be there but at least you're having fun!

5) If another player tells you that your build is dumb or that you HAVE to do something specific to fix your build... listen to understand what they mean, then mostly ignore them. Its your toon, if its still fun to you - keep playing it and enjoy it as your own creation! Most players with that approach are lacking in creativity and need super build toons to succeed. I still firmly believe its the player that makes the toon and we learn more from our failed attempts than from our successes. :P

6) If you stop having fun, try to figure out why and eradicate the source of it. Leave that dull guild, avoid grouping with those guys that spend more time complaining than questing, kick out the spouse for interrupting your DDO time once too often and so on, lol.

[Cholera]

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!

First: Most long term vets know the game, as it plays, better than the developers so under no circumstance should a new player never trust build advice from the devs (meaning paths).

Second: Most long term vets have well developed personal tastes / biases and will follow them no matter what - so never take their advice either.

Third: The devs will always change things - meaning whatever build is popular today will be gimp tomorrow so never go with the flavor of the month.

Fourth: You WILL make a mistake so catastrophic in your first build that you'll decide, as it is, it is unplayable at end game.

Conclusion: You're going to experience gimpitude at some point. Deal with it.

Final Note: After capping 30+ toons / deleting and rerolling, losing painful amounts of raid gear in the process of fine tuning your build style the devs will add something like reincarnation just to make you feel like an idiot for not waiting the four years it took to impliment. Subsequent Prediction - a mechanic will eventually be added to change bound to character to bound to account - making anyone that ever vendored, deleted or otherwise lost raid gear to that particular property feel like an idiot for not packratting it.

PS: I hate you guys.

PPS: Can I get a forum tag that helps me brag about having been in the beta?

PPPS: I really do hate you guys.

[hunh08]

If you get stuck way back in an explorer area with low health, you don't have to fight your way out. It took me several unfortunate forays into Cerulean Hills before I figured this one out. Hit the recall button up where the Explorer, Slayer, and Rare info is.

If you don't have a healer in party, cleric hirelings are much more effective than potions.

Whatever you do, don't get surrounded by mobs. Keep them in front of you.

[drac317]

con is not a dump stat

ddo is not pnp

ask questions

[Ode1st]

Probably the most useful thing I learned as a newbie to DDO: Use the Q and E keys to select then use something in the environment. It made opening doors and picking up treasure bags so, so much more convenient. Everyone I've gotten to try out the game didn't know this, and continually thanks me for pointing this out to them to this very day.

[ninjaeli]

1) use the search engine provided.
2) don't ask random people for money.
3) ask someone to join you and give reason as to why you want them to join instead of spamming invites.
4) CON ISN'T A DUMP STAT!!!

[Starchild09]

Thought I would share my typical starter character builds with brief explanations (since someone called into question my advice about INT scores earlier):

28 pt starter build-
Str 12; Dex 14; Con 12; Int 14; Wis 12; Cha 12...14 Dex to give you at least a +2 to AC and Dex based skills, 14 Int to give you 2 bonus skills above your base skill points and allow opening of low-level runes.

32 pt starter build-
Same as above with Str 14 and either Wis or Cha 14 UNLESS you're playing a non-caster class, in which case add the remainder to Con

3 personal preferred starter feats-
Toughness (HP are good and never can have too many); Mental Toughness (SP are good as well and again can never have too many); Weapon Focus in the category your favorite weapon falls under (+1 to attack may not seem like much, but at lower levels it can mean the difference between hitting your target and being hit by your target)

Preferred starter skill investments-
Search (hidden doors abound and may be hiding a chest or optional objective); Tumble (reduces damage from falls and if you have a good enough rank may let you roll under some traps); Concentration (essential for spellcasters AND monks); Heal (essential for anyone who has class access, if you're out of mana and have a healer's kit it might mean a teammate's life); Spot & Listen if you have the extra points to spend; Hide & Move Silently if you still have extra points to spend

Preferred starter spells (if you are a caster)-

Wiz/Sor- Magic Missile (unerring damage); Mage Armor (AC bonus when wearing armor is not suggested); Shield (AC bonus AND stops Magic Missile); Shocking Grasp (Decent damage 1st level spell); Niac's Cold Ray (GOOD damage 1st level spell BUT has required components); Burning Hands (good 1st level area spell); Hypnotism (for those pesky dungeons like Stealthy Repossession where there are things you're not supposed to kill)

Clr/FvS- Cure Light Wounds (Cleric's have no choice, but Favored Souls should make this a beginning staple as well); Nimbus Of Light (the only 1st level ranged damage spell); Remove Fear (pesky shamans love the darn Fear spell); Nightshield (save bonus AND stops Magic Missile); Inflict Light Wounds (another decent damage spell); Command (see Hypnotism above)...now you'll notice I didn't include Shield Of Faith, it is a decent spell but I normally use Stability armors/shields which gains no benefit from SoF

Brd- Cure Light Wounds (healing is good); Sonic Blast (the only 1st level damage spell you get); Remove Fear (see above); Nightshield (see above)

For all caster types, a cheap way to get by without a hireling is to make use of the various Summon Monster spells...I don't use them because I personally never do a dungeon until I'm a level or two above it's suggested level...thus usually allowing me to complete it on all difficulties without too much of an issue.

I know this went a bit off the actual topic, but one should never criticize another person's advice (especially a player who has been playing the game since the ORIGINAL beta NOT the free to play beta) without contemplating the reason for the advice. This was supposed to be advice about WE (as the individuals we are) have learned that we wish we knew beforehand, not a critical review of the advice being given without any thought as to the motives or reasons for the advice. It never ceases to amaze me how these kind of topics tend to become a ****ing match to see who can make someone else's advice look bad...whether it's sound advice or not. The majority of us are SUPPOSED to be adults, but I see that there are still a few preschoolers that manage slip into the forums. :)

[ilgriffo]

#1 Read it all
there's no real power without knowledge so read all you can before starting. This is not D&D this is D&DO, mechanics are different!

#2 ask in game or on forum
Do not fear to ask if you do not have something clear in your mind about game mechanics and/or quests or whatever

#3 enjoy the travel
Do not be in hurry to rise up at your first attempt. take your time and enjoy questing, be sure your toon works as intended. take notice of what you want improove. then reroll and be happy

#4 be kind and firm
Be kind toward other players but do not indulge if they are ruining your experience. be polite and reply to question. ear and undestand what other says. If someone tell you how to build your toon, be sure to lissen then decide if he/she have reasons or not.

Those are general rules, now.....let's do it!

#5 con is not a dumb stat
Constitution is important for every class. keep it in mind, it determine your fort saves and your hp. Con is your life in game term.

#6 locate objects and enemy
get used to click DEL and TAB key in order to locate object and enemy into a room.

#7 be self sufficient
try to be self sufficient. this is a party based game ok, but there is no rule you have to be assisted by other party memebers, so be sure to have your own healing capability and variouse potions/wands/scrolls against DE-buffs effects. Potions, Wands, Scrolls, items and Hireling, this game offers a lot of opportunity to be self sufficient against almost all you can meet.

#8 do not run like a Chicken!
Stop running like a fool into a quests. you will poll mobs all around the place and your cleric party memeber can't heal you if you are not in line of sight and into spell range. if you pull mobs agro when you are alone, DO NOT run to the shrine where all your party memebrs are just shring to regain mana/healt, just DIE where you are!

#9 this is party based
this game is party based. even if a lot of quests can be soloed with some knowledge, be sure to comunicate with your comrate, it is key to survive the most difficult quests. every class in your party can give you some benefits, know what they are and politely ask for them (bards songs, specific spells that can't be repalced by pots/scrolls)

#10 restart
if you still have no clue about something you do not have followed rule #1 and #2. try with the "search" button in the forum :)

[Tumarek]

-Con heavy fort....

-YOu can make any class work with any race, some just have a slight advantige with some classes.

-If you don't know anything about D&D 3rd edition or DDO, either pick a build from the forums or stay pure. Dont multiclass as you level up. It will end up terrible.

-Play around with skill and feats... people will say they are worthless, most of the time this is not true! find out for yourself if you can get any use out of them (Diplo sneak cleave bluff and so on....)

-Don't make one main and only play with him. As F2P you got 2 char slots, USE THEM!

-Social pannel is opend with "O" ... join groups here.

-Don't believe anything said in general chat... its a 50-50 chance the guys knows less then you :)

[Nospheratus]

...
You are taking the wrong approach. Just because you prefer certain things, doesn't make those better for everyone! My intention was in NO WAY make you look bad (like i mentioned), but to show my insight on the things you suggested as good.
What is that build you have there, what class and level?

Why shouldn't others criticize things that are wrong? Maybe only in my eyes, but perhaps someone else can give their insight. It's called discussion to improve knowledge on both sides, or at least one...

I have been playing the game for a long time as well, if that really makes you feel better... You gave bad advice and some of the things you wrote in this post are also wrong, namely, INT is not important if you are taking it just because of RUNES. Solution fo runes? Take a wizard hireling if you solo, a pot of foz cunning or just group with others.

What's with the heal skill? It's NOT essencial in any way. 2-3 pots give you enough hps to make up for all the ranks you can spend on that skill.
Search? Clicky of detect secret doors or a wand (it's cheap and it's easy to achieve that UMD) Unless of course you use it for traps, in that case it's important because it's the only way to find traps - but note that only characters with at least 1 rogue level can find traps!

Tumble? You get a cloak of feather fall from the quest rewards in korthos! Tumble is not bad, but it's nowhere near essencial.

Spot and listen? No! Unless you are a rogue - Spot is important in that case, but listen isn't. Unless you have lots of points to spare, don't take it.

Hide and Move silently? It hardly works in this game... Don't prioritize these!

This is how i see it. If a newbie takes Heal, Tumble and Spot for skills, he will be frustrated because he can't even jump, can't stand up when triped, can't use wands/scrolls or equipment that requires other races/alignments...

Ok, this is what i see as important BY CLASS - may not apply to multiclassing or some specific builds and is not limited to these, obviously:
Barbarian:
- Intimidate
- Balance
- Jump

Bard
- Perform
- Concentration
- UMD

Cleric
- Concentration

Favored Soul
- Concentration

Fighter
- Intimidate
- Balance
- UMD
- Jump

Monk
- Concentration
- UMD
- Jump

Paladin
- Intimidate
- UMD
- Balance
- Jump

Ranger
- UMD
- Balance
-Jump

Rogue
- UMD
- Search
- Disable Device
- Spot
- Open Lock
- Balance
- Jump
- Tumble
- Hide
- Move Silently

Sorcerer
- Concentration
- UMD

Wizard
- Concentration
- UMD
- Balance

I'm sure there are specific situations and builds where not all of these may apply, but in general these are important. If this is wrong, please point it out.

I understand it may be your personal preferrence, but it's not good advice in my opinion. BUT, don't take my word for it... Go to the classes section and check what everyone newbies and veterans alike are taking for skills. Or better yet, go ahead and try different combinations!

Sure it can be a matter of preferrence, but it's not good to select almost useless skills in 90% of the situations when you are starting the game because skills are important and if neglected, there's a chance your character will be much worse than it could be!

[Razcar]

28 pt starter build-
Str 12; Dex 14; Con 12; Int 14; Wis 12; Cha 12...14 Dex to give you at least a +2 to AC and Dex based skills, 14 Int to give you 2 bonus skills above your base skill points and allow opening of low-level runes.
The Int runes in Vault of Night 3 can be opened with an Int of 14 - including boosts. You can have 10 Int and drink a Foxes Cunning potion to reach that threshold. The Int runes to get to the treasure room of Chamber of Rayium (Wizard King) are also opened with 14 Int total.

The Int rune to get to an optional chest (and a small amount of XP) in Butcher's Path is 18, which you will reach with a 14 starting Int and a Foxes Cunning pot. But you won't get that anyway since it's guarded by a Str lever requiring an 18 Str, which your proposed build won't reach. And building your character to get one chest in one quest in this game is a bit of a mistake I think.

The optional Int runes in Xorian Cipher need an Int of minimum 20, which your proposed build cannot beat unless you have an +6 Int item which is unlikely at quest level (8). And you don't need to use those runes, and if you manage to do the Int ones will need to do the Cha and Wis ones as well.

And to round the rune-aspect off, if there's an Int rune you really feel you need to have done, and you or your party cannot do it yourselves you can get a Wizard hireling to open it for you.

As for skill points, unfortunately the whole Skill system in DDO is one of the weakest and least developed parts of the game. There are very few useful skills worth taking, and building for extra skill points has a higher cost than return.


I know this went a bit off the actual topic, but one should never criticize another person's advice (especially a player who has been playing the game since the ORIGINAL beta NOT the free to play beta) without contemplating the reason for the advice.
But facts are still facts. If I would have written that I wish I had taken the feat Snake Blooded when I started because it is really useful later in the game, I am of course entitled to that opinion. But people should have refuted me saying that that feat is "useful " - and rightly so - since I'm not only stating an opinion, but an incorrect fact that might lead to new players making bad choices.

[Lordress]

Collectables.
I wish i'd known sooner which are actually valuable to other players and which are just trash to be turned in for more trash. Those pure waters (among other things) that lowbies find every-dang-where can actually be a decent money source for you if you auction them. Plus, even if you don't want to sell them to other players, it would still be nice to know what will be useful to you when you are ready to use them yourself. I really do think there needs to be some in-game info about them. Maybe an NPC standing near the stone of change in the marketplace who will answer a few questions.

I mean, i almost tossed a Silver Flame Hymnal to make inventory space once...(luckily i asked my party about it. *laughs*)

[Feylina]

Read the forums!

Every new game i go to (yes i play more than ddo), the first thing i do is go to the forums and read up on potential classes / builds / current nerfs etc. Sure i don't understand everything at once but it gives me an starting place at least.

[Lord_Legolas]

If your going to play a character that goes against their 'role' in a group, be smart enough to let the party/leader know. IE: A 'rogue' that's only built for DPS shouldn't join a group that's doing a quest on elite in a trap infested dungeon and not tell anyone.

Don't be stingy with your buffs, give them to the whole party!

[Starchild09]

OK...before you call my advice bad, keep in mind that my playstyle is self-sufficiency first and balance second. And as the tone of my post indicated, the advice was more for casters since I mainly play casters.

Search IS a good skill (even for non-Rogues) because if you have a high enough rank it WILL allow you to see where traps are, even if it doesn't allow you to find the box. Thus, giving you a warning in an unfamiliar dungeon before you get hit by said trap.

Heal IS a good skill because after MANY parties as the only healer where the not-so-bright members become mana dumps because "That's why we have a healer, so we don't have to use our potions" attitudes, once mana and wands are exhausted it gives a third option to get someone off the ground and to the nearest shrine (which ironically gives better results if someone near it has a high what....HEAL score).

Concentration is essential for casters and monks. Casters because it determines IF you actually cast that spell while taking damage. Monks because it helps you hold Ki in reserve to fuel special attacks.

Granted, Tumble is a personal preference, but it a world without handrails I prefer taking as little damage as possible from falls...whether my own stupidity or Turbines laggy servers causes it! :)

Spot also aids in avoiding or at least being aware of where traps are...and since I usually play Elves or Drow, I already have a bonus to this and Search, so I'm just expanding my natural senses. Same with Listen, even though IT really is useless in this game.

Hide/Move Silently is due to the fact I usually take the Nimble Hand combo set which gives you a gimped Sneak Attack...if you can sneak up on them, BAM an extra 2 points which is helpful at times.

NOW...there was MAJOR validity to your skill choices by class...however, unless you have tried a build with my proposed scores, how can you TRULY judge my advice as bad without having tested it? Granted, I have a stockpile of +2 tomes to feed my toons as soon as they can use them. USUALLY, with an Elf or Drow, that gives me scores of: Str 16; Dex 18; Con 14; Int 16; Wis 14; Cha 18 without factoring in whatever stat boost gear I may have acquired by 7th level. The 18 for Cha could just as easily be for Wis or Int depending on the caster class or if you're playing a monk or rogue.

You may not see the validity of my builds or advice, but until you've walked 20 levels in it and came out the other side, please don't presume to call it "bad" because it doesn't fit your play style. The above scores are pretty decent for a level 7 character in THIS game (not as impressive in pnp where tomes and magic items have NO minimum level restriction usually), which leads to this final "If I Knew":

If I knew that there were going to be SO many variations from the PnP ruleset (class variations, spell variations, minimum level ahembsahem requirements) then, I would still play the game...I just wouldn't curse Turbine EVERY time I see a MAJOR deviation! :)

The BIG thing to take away from this topic is this:
NO ONE (even the devs who are usually useless when asked for help) knows every inch of this game, no matter how many times you've reached level 20...so explore, have fun, experiment (not in that "Man I got so drunk I slept with another dude/chick" way unless that's your thing) and remember "If this toon stinks, I can always reroll or see if it gets better with gear!" :)

[samthedagger]

Well I already knew Con is not a dump stat when I started playing since I am familiar with D&D, but I think it is a good one to put there, especially since lots of DDO players never played D&D. So let's list that first. However, I will put my own twist on it.

1) Never build a character without a minimum 14 Con (before racial adjustments) and the Toughness feat.
2) Research the forums if you want a truly powerful character.
3) It's never too late to reroll.

[Dunfalach]

Collectables.
I wish i'd known sooner which are actually valuable to other players and which are just trash to be turned in for more trash. Those pure waters (among other things) that lowbies find every-dang-where can actually be a decent money source for you if you auction them. Plus, even if you don't want to sell them to other players, it would still be nice to know what will be useful to you when you are ready to use them yourself. I really do think there needs to be some in-game info about them. Maybe an NPC standing near the stone of change in the marketplace who will answer a few questions.

I mean, i almost tossed a Silver Flame Hymnal to make inventory space once...(luckily i asked my party about it. *laughs*)

Agreed, though if you want an NPC for it the place to have it would be the initial NPC in stormreach harbor that you talk to. She's giving you a collectables bag anyway, so that would be a good time to make the info available. But some information on the craftable collectibles and crafting in general would be nice. A lot of people ask about that. I always begin RPGs with a "don't throw anything away till you know you don't need it" approach, so I did find out about the eldritch recipes before throwing anything away, but not before turning a few valuable ones in to collectors.

On a related not of frequent questions, is there a good place we can tell new players that gems are just for vendoring? That's another one of the most frequent questions in harbor. What do I do with gems.

[Allent]

Ive been playing D&D (paper & pencil) for many years, & DDO for about 2 years. heres what Ive learned.

1) use the auction house to buy and sell items. sell for more, buy for less.

2) dont be afraid to solo.

3) use the voice chat more, its easy and hands free!

[articwarrior]

#1-Shocking Burst and BLAST stack on GS! /facepalm

that is all :D

[Uska]

ac is point less for most builds upper and end game
con isnt a dump stat

pots are your friend.

[CrimsonEagle]

First one has been addressed but is good to know. Had some guildies that did not know this and have just recently learned.

You do not have to click an item you are buying (IE. heal potions) repeatedly. Just control and right click on the item and a window will pop up that will allow you to buy in bulk.

Second one I have not seen but is good to know. Same thing with guildies.

Spells with multiple choices, (IE, resist energy, fireshield) can be hot bared individually. You do not have to click on the resist energy icon and pick (say) fire resist every time.
You can hot bar each resist, target the player and just hit that one resist.

Never realized why it took them so long to pass out resists.

Third is a personal choice. If I were to start over with what I know now, My WF sorc would have been my first character. Can be pretty effective through most of the game with relatively little gear and is a great source of income because or its farming ability.

[samthedagger]

You know what? Nix my previous #3. I'd rather it be:

3) Either go VIP --OR-- spend your Turbine Points on high-level adventure packs. There is plenty of stuff to get you to level 12. After that it gets rather dull if you don't have any adventure packs. (I went VIP and don't regret it. You get lots of other little goodies.)

[jwdaniels]

1. Despite the similarities, DDO does not play like Pen and Paper Dungeons & Dragons.

2. Please include a more in depth tutorial of the game interface, and maybe consider adding a hireling to the introductory quest.

3. An explanation of collectibles and how they can be used for crafting as well as for trading stuff in.

[MrWizard]

basics on building a character.

stacking.. things to look for with a link to an indepth version of it.

stressing not doing multi class for their first character.


what HD, hit dice is, since so many spells and effects use that term but no where else in game mentions one thing about hit dice.



on the whole, beyond any shadow of a doubt, the manual should really be about basics of building a character and why DDO is so different from other games....you can make just about any kind of build.
Help them make a solid first build so they can excel and not feel like a loser getting killed all the time.


a short section on interacting with the world. To coincide with the UI in meaningful ways.
for example - do not just say that book looking thing opens the compendium, show that hovering over a quest tells about the quest giver and may even give information on where that quest giver is.


"UNDERSTANDING THE LFM SYSTEM"...did I put that in caps?

"a brief but detailed listing of the options stuff- sound, graphics, player stuff, key shortcuts."
(this is assuming a newer player to mmos comes in, like I was...completely lost without all those years of other games I never played)

forums, ddowiki, ddocast, and a few other fan sites should be 'STRESSED' to the player base. This is not wow...these information sites actually will help them understand and enjoy the game.


next time you post....actually put a link in the post (on the main page)...All I saw was your post, with no link. Finally after a few days I noticed the title of it was a link.
Go to the home page of the forums and you will see what I mean...

[Uska]

Ive been playing D&D (paper & pencil) for many years, & DDO for about 2 years. heres what Ive learned.

1) use the auction house to buy and sell items. sell for more, buy for less.

2) dont be afraid to solo.

3) use the voice chat more, its easy and hands free!

I hate it when people use hands free voice chat you get to much incidental noise usualy have to drop group or turn off voice chat.

[PsychoBlonde]

1. Some of the Collectibles you find are actually worth more if you DON'T turn them in to the collectors.
2. Much of the stuff that's great in P&P is TOTALLY WORTHLESS in DDO and vice versa. Example du jour: Wall of Fire.
3. If you want to level at a decent pace, do AT-LEVEL quests on NORMAL. Elite quests when you're grinding XP are going to cost you way more money and time than they could possibly be worth. Come back and do them in two levels when they're easy and you actually want the favor for something.

[crazycaren]

OK, I read through most of the previous pages and didn't see these ones:

1. It's way easier to use keys for spells, weapon sets, trip whatever. (I have a keyboard with the number pad on the left that I have mapped to the hotbars.)

2. The lighting on the character generation page is much darker than in game, so your nice tanned avatar becomes sickly pale once you log in.

3. You can make a chat window that is like a guild chat but for whomever you want. It's a better way to maintain connections with friends in other guilds. Just make a new window, set the incoming and outgoing text to UserChat1 and type /joinchannel nameofchat. Tell your friends to do the same thing and there you go.

[BossOfEarth]

1) HOLD PERSON is the answer to the questions: What is that blue ball around me? Why can't I move? Why are all the damage numbers so large in magnitude? Why are the damage numbers so large in font size? What is Freedom of Movement for? Why should I wear house K boots? Why did I die? Why did I die so suddenly? Why should I kill the Kobold Shaman first?

2) select next object, interact with object is the answer to the questions: How does everyone else pick up bags so quickly? Is targeting on this game broken? How can I ask an NPC without axing them?

3) "Jew" is censored is the answer to the questions: Why can't I write "Skyros Jewel" in my bio page? Is there anything dumber than "spell penetration" getting censored?

4) "Rouge" is not censored. X(

More generaly speaking, there's a fantastic nerd-worthy game going on behind all the graphics, but it's difficult to get that information because the combat log is so garbled and the status icons are cluttered. If you've already addressed the combat log in update 7 UI fix pat yourself on the bacon. :)

[dolphins]

con is important, after trial and errors i always put my con to a minimum of 14 for a 32 build and 12 for a 28 build unless u can put more in. dont be afraid to ask someone for help at any point in the game wether ur level 1 or level 20. i have many toons ranging from 4 to 20 and i still ask for help, wether its in party or guild. dont pick the first guild that comes along, take ur time and if u liked playing with them or a person add them to friends.

[Rav'n]

DDO is a game of CON and Critical Hits.
The ONLY Stats that matter are STR, INT and CON
Don't group w/ people 4 or more levels above your level

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

[yawumpus]

First: There are things you need to unlearn from Korthos:

"healing skill is ... important for clerics (and even melees)"

Something every low-level solo melee type learns is that shrines are for restoring hp. Heal skill helps that. Now my main toon is dragging around a whole load of heal skill until I either GR/TR him.

"fortification isn't needed [ok, you learn this falacy in the harbor].

The first fortification item you run across is uglydude's loincloth. Using that means you lose your lesser false life item (one of the korthos items you can keep to level 7 or so) for 25% fort. I'd hate to think how many players did the math (or Gygax help them, equipped it), then ignored fortification until high level.

"you don't really need all that much CON"

There is a reason that "CON isn't a dump stat" takes up about half of these posts. When you make a new character, DDO gives you 20 more hit points beyond any D&D ruleset. This allow newbs to live, but teaches them that grabbing individual hit points isn't productive (learning to grab the lesser false life belt helps this). Learn to put at least 14 points in CON and you might live past the desert.

When you make a new character, "heroic durability" (the 20 pt freebie) makes up from 50-80% of you hit points. Eventually it has to be less than 2-5% [5% only for wizards/sorcs, others will need much more hp] or you will need to cough up turbine points for lesser resurrection.

"all switches must be pulled"

In Korthos, yes. Unlearn this before joining a group in Sentinels. Delera's should also fix this in a more amusing way.

Second (things to unlearn from other MMOs).

1. No matter what the character creation screen says, the only specialty in DDO is DPS (exceptions abound, but please don't try to bring them in PUGs or other non-static or non-guild groups). Note that "standard" DPS almost always implies *tank* (making this a multi-roled toon for someone new to DDO).
2. The tank you want in your group is built for DPS first, and a tank second. Tank abilities come from intimidate (usually on toons with few skills) and hit points. Note that toughness, toughness enhancements, and healing amp are a good idea for everybody, especially melee roles.
3. Everybody else should be able to cover multiple roles. Rogues are DPS first, traps third or so. Note that a wizard with a splash of 1 or 2 levels of rogue could easily find/remove traps better than a rogue (int based skill). Putting extra feats to "keep up" with the wizard could easily gimp the more important DPS role of the rogue. Also rangers with rogue splashes should be able to handle traps just as well, and easily cover that role in a group.
- note: obviously, rogues aren't tanks. Rogues are situational DPS and have to be played carefully to stay alive.
3a. Rogue is a stealthy backstabber that splatters monsters with huge damages per hit. Rouge is a thin red paste on a surface. Choose wisely which you want to be.
4. Clerics (and favored souls) have long lists of spell that don't explicitly heal for a reason. A cleric can typically cover 2 of fighting/healing/and combat casting (combat casting and healing go well together). One of the best lessons a new cleric (and the rest of the party) can learn is that ogres do huge amounts of damage and have low will saves. Using the command spell puts said ogre on the ground and if the ogre isn't walloping players with his greatclub, players don't need healing.

Third:
Things to know about the DDO store (somehow I don't think that Turbine is going to hand this part out, so I just cut and pasted):
1. Buy in $50 quantities. You really want to buy during a super sale when $50 = 6800tp (instead of 5000)
2. If you want an alt (or more) you need a shared bank.
3. If you haven't leveled your character too far, consider buying the 32 point build (and rerolling). Greater resurrection costs the same as unlocking 32pt builds, and goes on sale much more rarely.
4. Buy as many (good) adventure packs as you can. Only buy them at 20% off or better (exceptions can be made when your main hits specific levels and needs the xp/gear from a quest).
5. Monks make good toons and better splashes. Warforged make some of the best barbarians and sorcerers around (and a few other classes). Favored soul will take years to unlock, and Turbine will almost certainly keep it ahead of clerics (note the recent nerf). Better have room for all of them (but don't outright buy them unless the sale is that good or you have to make one). [need to add horc, but expect a nerf in update 9].
6. You will get drow pretty quickly. I suspect they sell these to young Drizzit fans who think a couple of months is forever. Likewise veteran status comes in handy by the time you unlock it, but how much to you want to pay to skip 1/5 of a game you are already paying for?
7. Very, very little of the rest of the store is worthwhile (original post goes into details). Containers are worth their weight in plat (and heartily discussed in this thread), but don't be surprised if you need to delete said toon and lose the turbine points.
8. Additional toon slots are an addiction to some of us. Be thankful if you are not one.
9. Tomes are an interesting case.
9a. Tomes of Supreme Ability allow you to twink 8out your first toon like a veteran. I honestly wouldn't recommend this path to anybody not on the "throwing money at the (lack of power) problem". Try going VIP (for the "open on hard" ) before sinking this kind of cash on your toons.
9b. +1/+2 Tome of Int. These tomes are often eaten at minimum level to help skill points, and the additional skill points are not retroactive. A first toon could easily use a boost in int and grab up the rest at higher levels. Personally, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have a chance of building a toon worth eating a bunch of turbine points before I could buy a +2 int tome off the auction house, but thats just me.

[NinjaCereal]

1. Siberys dragonshards can be found in the game, you do not have to purchase them from the store.

2. The dragonmark of shadow is actually quite nice, and you should trade a feat for it at a low level since you don't have to have a flawless shard at that time.

3. lfms exist, and are a great way to get xp fast. Lest you spend a month at level 5...

[luvirini]

Well, as a D&D player I knew the first myself but the number of people who do not is huge so including it..

1) Same bonuses do no stack. (Most specifically seems to confuse people on stat items)
2) The social system is nice. (How to group and mark self as looking for group and such)
3) How favor works. (The way you get favor for a quest only at the highest difficulty you have done it )

[UltraMonk2]

1) Constitution is a very important ability score
2) The Ranger as in the Ranger class does not mean it is a Ranged Character, it is more akin to being a National Park Ranger.
3) Paladin's, Ranger's etc need a minimum ability score level to cast spells.

These are what I see most new players have problems with.