Is there any way for an f2p to get to level 20???

[Omnibus9]

Is there any way you think its possible for an f2p player to get to level 20 without buying packs and such?

[Rumbaar]

Not really, but the favor you'l earn leveling will allow you to buy packs that will help you get to L20

[Arwitch]

I know of a few f2p players that farmed favour to buy Vale... that got them to 20

[knightgf]

The good news is it is entirely possible to get to level 20 without having to actually 'buy' points online. The bad news is you will need to buy at least one pack via turbine points in order to complete your march to level 20. The good news yet again is that, if you grind to 100 favor on every server, the bonus Turbine Points will add up, and you should be able to buy the vale of twilight content pack, although id try getting it when its on sale for best results.

[Letrii]

Can probably do it without any packs, but might require grinding quests at bottomed out xp rates.

[Bodic]

So what would the purpose be to get to 20 if you dont want to spend TP earned by favor to play the top end content?

[Letrii]

So what would the purpose be to get to 20 if you dont want to spend TP earned by favor to play the top end content?

Saving for shared bank?

[gloopygloop]

Echoing what other people have said here - you will have to buy adventure packs if you want to hit 20 without going completely insane with repeated quests (and with the XP penalty that comes from repeating quests).

Fortunately, you don't have to buy any Turbine Points with cash/credit cards. You can use the free TP that you get with favor to buy the packs you need.

I strongly reccomend getting Vale of Twilight first because that can take you from level 15 or 16 all the way up to 20. In order to get to level 15 or 16, you might want to pick up one more adventure pack - probably Gianthold since that will take you from level 12 to level 16.

You can get from level 1 to level 12 without any adventure packs at all. Do not buy any adventure packs below level 10-ish until you have enough high level adventure packs to get to 20 if hitting 20 is your goal.


Also, if you do decide to buy a bundle of points eventually, some of the annoying limitations on your account will go away. The limit of 1 item in the Auction House at a time and the level-based limit of plat that your character can carry will both go away. While you are Free to Play, try to trade gear for other gear instead of trading it for plat if you happen to get something really exciting because your plat limit will keep you from accumulating any significant pile of money.

[Afyndax]

You only need to ´buy´ one adventure pack to get to level 20. (Vale of Twilight).

It is fairly easy to buy this adventure pack just with the TP you get for free by questing. The real secret to free DDO is to play a few different characters on different servers. You get 25 TP for every 100 favor you earn on every character... but you also get huge ´bonuses´ the first time you reach milestones on a server. There are 7 servers and Vale of Twilight costs 850.. here is the math

Character at level 4ish ( 100ish favor soloing normal modes )

5 Favor server bonus = 50 TP
25 Favor server bonus = 25 TP
50 Favor server bonus = 25 TP
100 Favor character bonus = 25 TP

That is 125 TP earned on a level 4 character.
There are 7 servers you can do this on 7 x 125 = 975 TP
More than enough to but a Lvl 17 adventure pack, only by having 7 level 4 characters (on different servers).

I have a Wiz-rogue , Fighter, Cleric, Sorc, Barb, Ranger-rogue, Bard.... each on a different server. They all play fairly differently, so even though I am doing the same quests, they feel very different.

So as you can see above, it is VERY easy to get the only adventure pack needed without spending real money. With that said. I love the game, so instead of buying that high level adventure pack.. I bought catacombs and Tangleroot... and I will continue to buy low level adventure packs with my TP as I level up my army of 7 haha. I did the math all the way up.. and I can buy almost every adventure pack up to level 10 using just free TP I am earning as I level.. At lvl 6 I will have to buy one pack (3 barrel cove) and at lvl 10 I will have to buy one pack with real money... but otherwise, I should be able to get to lvl 12 or so just by solo questing on 7 different servers and have every adventure pack.

Just to point out.. the poster above me is correct.. if your intent is to never pay real money, then just buy VoT and maybe Gianthold. After a few months playing DDO, I decided if I am playing past lvl 12, I will have no problem spending real money. I already bought 600 TP during the special a few weeks ago that I am just saving. As the poster above said.. it unlocks a lot of features including the plat limit and AH limit. It also allows me more room to play with alts (I now have 4 character slots per server). I will probably re-roll some of my characters soon because I gimped two of them and I will also want to add some drow characters when I hit 400 favor.

[gloopygloop]

And don't get tricked into buying any items or character boosting stuff from the DDO store. Everything that you actually need can be found in-game.

Don't buy Drow, Veteran Status, or 32 point characters. You'll get all of those on your primary server soon enough as favor rewards.

The only account options that are actually worth buying (if you decide to pay for Turbine Points eventually) are the Account Bank, pay-to-play classes and races other than Drow (i.e. Warforged, Half Orc or the abomination called Half Elf). None of those account options are needed to have fun in DDO, however.

[bigolbear]

yes.

it involves a fair bit of favour grind, to unlock packs but yes this game can definately be played completely for free.

[thakorian]

Best bet on the way to lvl 20 is vale of twilight. I'd suggest that as your first priority concerning adventure packs.

[Gremmlynn]

Technically, one could get to 20 without ever leaving Khorthos (explorer zone rares still give 2xp/kill at 19). Wouldn't want to try it though without a lot of hotpockets.

[GotSomeQuestions]

Technically, one could get to 20 without ever leaving Khorthos (explorer zone rares still give 2xp/kill at 19). Wouldn't want to try it though without a lot of hotpockets.
Searing Heights and Ataraxia's Haven are also free explorer areas, you could get your xp a bit faster hitting up those rares. It'd be painfully slow, but it is technically possible to hit 20 without buying any packs. You'd want to run In the Demon's Den a ton at level 18/19 though.

[Letrii]

Korthos xp doesn't go to 0 when a certain level above quest? I think I had a 67% penalty at lvl 5 or 6.

[Gremmlynn]

Searing Heights and Ataraxia's Haven are also free explorer areas, you could get your xp a bit faster hitting up those rares. It'd be painfully slow, but it is technically possible to hit 20 without buying any packs. You'd want to run In the Demon's Den a ton at level 18/19 though.Yes, but then you would have to leave Khorthos.

That said, I hit 20 with the highest paid content I had being Gianthold, with Sands to delay needing that and it was quite a grind, including getting all 18k kills for those two explorer zones. With no packs I wouldn't even want to think about it, but thankfully that's not necessary even for us froobs.

[Gremmlynn]

Korthos xp doesn't go to 0 when a certain level above quest? I think I had a 67% penalty at lvl 5 or 6.No, -95% I think was the penalty when I jumped into the explorer at 19, repeat rare kills still gave 2 xp at that penalty.

[Ovrad]

No, -95% I think was the penalty when I jumped into the explorer at 19, repeat rare kills still gave 2 xp at that penalty.

Sweet, just do it 950 000 times and you're level 20! :D

[Letrii]

Waterworks is much preferred for me. Much easier to navigate and a level higher for slightly more per rare.

[voodoogroves]

I'll look for a thread but somewhere on here is someone reporting that they were F2P, favor farmed and not only have they capped, etc. but they've also unlocked all content and options using Turbine Points gained in game (shared bank, extra slots, restricted races, etc.)

You can definitely get to 20 as F2P. With time, you can get (essentially) the entire game.

[alexthegood]

I know of a few f2p players that farmed favour to buy Vale... that got them to 20

thats me just have vale :)

[svinja]

I bought GH, Vale, Amrath, and one or two more (can't remember which) packs with the free TP from favor. I farmed 100 favor on one character on each server. I also got 1000 on 2 servers, and I think 500 on one or two more, this wasn't even to farm favor but because of the 2 characters per server limit which means you need to play on different servers if you want to play various classes.

However, it sucked, and if I had to do it again I would quit the game, I just wasn't able to find a payment method that worked for me at the time. When my VIP ran out recently and I wasn't able to renew it for a few days, the game seemed not worth playing. :D

[Omnibus9]

thanks for everyone's insight on this matter :)
it does look like its possible but lots of work.
I have purchased my VALE pack a while back from my other toon in another server, and it does help a lot seriously. its just that no one really wants to play with me as much since am f2p and most lfms are not
it is hard to find a group willing to play as much in quests that are not p2p at this level (16) so i have been spending lots of time in this level now... :)

but any case I love playing ddo...so playing a lot is not a problem it just takes time.

any more packs that are useful after the vale..?
I wish to purchase another pack with my points soon...something really useful for my toon now at 16 leveling up and as well as for my other toons in other servers

[delsoboss]

It's possible to get to 20 only with f2p quests, but you will risk going insane.
With my 2 buddies we farmed all explorer areas, and done all quests above level 10 something like 8 or 9 times each, we ended up repeating In the Demon's Den at level 19 before buying the vale pack.
We weren't very clever in using the explorer areas to their max effect (that's running them at the last usefull level to avoid xp penalty), started banking xp around level 14 (too late, so we had to repeat quests with overlevel penalties), and there weren't Lordsmarch Plaza f2p quests around.
So now you can definitely grind your way to 20 just being f2p, but you must be more carefull than a multi TR past level 12.

[jwdaniels]

thanks for everyone's insight on this matter :)
it does look like its possible but lots of work.
I have purchased my VALE pack a while back from my other toon in another server, and it does help a lot seriously. its just that no one really wants to play with me as much since am f2p and most lfms are not
it is hard to find a group willing to play as much in quests that are not p2p at this level (16) so i have been spending lots of time in this level now... :)

but any case I love playing ddo...so playing a lot is not a problem it just takes time.

any more packs that are useful after the vale..?
I wish to purchase another pack with my points soon...something really useful for my toon now at 16 leveling up and as well as for my other toons in other servers

Delirium and Acid Whit are two quests you should definitely look into. Also, the first Lordsmarch chain is p2p and there are usually groups. It's a little under-level, but most people running it aren't too concerned about that as they're looking to get the loot anyway.