I soloing supposed to get hard at mid-levels?

[Qaliya]

So I've been doing fine mostly soloing with my now 10/1/1 cleric/rogue/fighter, but lately I keep hitting the wall in quest after quest. Today I did Ghola-Fan, spent well over an hour clearing out the whole dungeon only to get nuked by the boss, and then unable to return within the (annoyingly short) 5 minute timer. So, a giant waste of time, though I did at least get an item with a haste clicky.

This is nominally only a level 10 quest as well. I am finding more and more level 9 and 10 quests I cannot do at level 12. This one was especially frustrating not only because of not being able to get back in, but because 99% of the dungeon is easy and then the boss chamber was a complete wipe-out.

As an aside, this "harried" business is beyond annoying.

[Mrmorphling]

Well it really depends on class, equip and quest knowledge; with the right mix 99.5% of this game is soloable.

You are just 1 lvl shy of aquiring the divine "weapon of mass destruction" aka blade barrier that will change your view on quest; no more 1 by 1 slow hammering but run until red, pop BB, kite and self heal, rinse and repeat :).

Plus bring me the head of ghola fan isn't one of the easiest quest for a melee oriented cleric as ogres hurt and wolves trip.

At your level i would suggest either the second part of cult of the six (both quenching the flames and church of fury are nice xp/min) or shadow crypt (better in a party with an arcane); if your sneak is good chamber of rhamat and khorush in menechtarum desert are very quick; if you have it Tomb of the shadow knight is extremely good xp/min aswell as you'll be able to get the huge trap bonus.

About your character always try to have the best +str/wis/con availlable which would likely be +5 (As +6 starts from lvl 13); greater false life; heavy fortification; potency and/or brilliance clicky (cannith crafting). For anything more specific i'd need to know more details about build and current equip.

[Marcus-Hawkeye]

I find soloing to be easy at the beginning of the game, but exponentially difficult as the level of the the quests increase. I tried the soloing, but without a lot of gear and preparation it was difficult. So I tried dual boxing, then triple boxing, now I'm maxed out with quad boxing. I won't go into detail, but this added an incredible amount of challenge for me, but at the same time, made it easier to *solo*. The game is primarily design to be a team game and attempting to solo it all the way through you will need to be overly prepared, or willing to step into multiple shoes as is my case.

[Angelus_dead]

So I've been doing fine mostly soloing with my now 10/1/1 cleric/rogue/fighter, but lately I keep hitting the wall in quest after quest. Today I did Ghola-Fan, spent well over an hour clearing out the whole dungeon only to get nuked by the boss, and then unable to return within the (annoyingly short) 5 minute timer. So, a giant waste of time, though I did at least get an item with a haste clicky.
If the boss kills you, then use Raise Dead and try again.

If you can't cast Raise Dead because you're dead, then have your hireling cast it.

If you didn't have a hireling who can cast it, that is your mistake.

[Arianrhod]

Particularly for first characters (no hand-me-downs to make their lives easier, no steady cash supply from the main), the level 9-12 range can be pretty tough. It's got a lot of really hard quests with crummy rewards, and even the wilderness zones (Ataraxia's, Restless isles) can be brutal. Milking the lower level quests (Stormcleave, Xorian Cipher, Delera's) for as much exp as you can get out of them, then trying to get into groups in Menechtarun or Gianthold helps, but to a large extent it's just a matter of toughing it out till it gets fun again :(

[aennae]

I advice you to follow gunther bovine journal. I could do all he did (with usually 1 level more, but i probably would have done it a the same level as him).

As someone mentionned BB changes things, but it does work well anywhere. Against archers/casters/evasion mobs it's usually a huge mana drain for low results.

I advice you to use a passive hireling, just use him/her as a safety belt and mana regen.

The trick is to ask him to pick your stone then to follow you. You may also set him on active and give hi/her order but usually i prefer to try to do everything by myself.

Don t forget to bind nearby, except for quest like Xorgan cipher or quest with entries in explorers zone
you will usually have time to come back (buy 1 mn mana regen drinks). So release, drink a beer, wait 30 second , heal yourself and rush back.

Note that the only way to have fun is to solo (or duo) since 99% of the groups are Zerk, BYOH, Know your way and so on. I was hoping for more normal group when getting higher but even at 12 i see only xp/loot farming groups. Joining them is simply out of question for a newplayer. I will be a burden for them and i won't have any fun running after and tossing some heals & spells.

[FrozenNova]

Note that the only way to have fun is to solo (or duo) since 99% of the groups are Zerk, BYOH, Know your way and so on. I was hoping for more normal group when getting higher but even at 12 i see only xp/loot farming groups. Joining them is simply out of question for a newplayer. I will be a burden for them and i won't have any fun running after and tossing some heals & spells.

Lead your own groups. As long as you make it known that a) you're unfamiliar with the quest and b) no, you're not demanding a guide, you'll get the sort of people you want.
Leading doesn't take knowledge, though experience does help. It's always a good thing to become familiar with leading - means you'll rarely find yourself lacking a pug.

[Innara]

I know you have probably heard this a bunch of times about how you should 'push towards getting that BB somehow and all will be well once again'...but it is true. It does get hard around the levels just before BB for divine casters, but believe me when I say once you get that spell your solo ability will improve dramatically. So to answer your question, the solo difficulty at mid levels does pick up compared to how easy it is earlier on. But it will once again get easier later on, it won't become harder still as you walk into the high level content (in my own experience).

[Beld]

You will find you end up usually having fun....if you don't know the quest and get a group of the same, it won't take any longer than solo and if you find someone that knows the quest, it might go quicker.

The whole 'there are no groups for me to join' is a tired argument IMO. As a previous poster stated, define what you are/what you are looking for and usually the other 50-75 players that are standing around perusing the LFM panel because they won't start groups either will join up.

Don't be afraid to fail...now that you have an idea on Ghola fan, change your tactics and try again (I once ran the quest on a at level melee pre hireling days and had to run back to the shrine and kill them all there where I could continuously raise myself, took about 20 min and about 8 deaths, but I did finish).

As stated by earlier posters, you may need to run some lower content on hard/elite to milk some exp to get thru these levels if you find the quests are harder than you can handle....or start a group.

As an aside, I would start a group and wait possibly 10 minutes, then head in and change the LFM to IP. I don't like to spend what little gaming time I find lying around just STANDING and WAITING for a group to fill....and if no-one joins and I fail....well, at least I was doing something :p

[FrozenNova]

I know you have probably heard this a bunch of times about how you should 'push towards getting that BB somehow and all will be well once again'...but it is true. It does get hard around the levels just before BB for divine casters, but believe me when I say once you get that spell your solo ability will improve dramatically. So to answer your question, the solo difficulty at mid levels does pick up compared to how easy it is earlier on. But it will once again get easier later on, it won't become harder still as you walk into the high level content (in my own experience).

A cleric without maximum gear walks into sharvarath.
Suddenly, blade barrier is the only spell with a dc worth casting.
It definitely gets harder in higher content.

[Innara]

A cleric without maximum gear walks into sharvarath.
Suddenly, blade barrier is the only spell with a dc worth casting.
It definitely gets harder in higher content.

I meant in reference to bladebarrier. It isn't that hard to do shavrath with BB alone. Perhaps my judgement is a little clouded by the fact I'm very used to playing a divine class and it's second nature to me by this point. Any case, as I stated that was in MY own experience. Experiences definitely vary.

[FrozenNova]

I meant in reference to bladebarrier. It isn't that hard to do shavrath with BB alone. Perhaps my judgement is a little clouded by the fact I'm very used to playing a divine class and it's second nature to me by this point. Any case, as I stated that was in MY own experience. Experiences definitely vary.

By that point I was used to scoring 5-8 kills with implode, picking off everything with destruction and flooring entire rooms with greater command and cometfall. It's always quite a blow to lose them after the levelling thus far.
Blade barrier is still incredibly effective in sharvarath, true - though it did take me a lot of getting used to.

[Qaliya]

Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated.

Unfortunately, I have come to the same conclusion as aennae: grouping is usually just not fun in this game, at least for me anyway. Maybe when I know the quests inside-out like others, but I find very few people willing to be patient with a newcomer. Everyone tends to run in different directions like a herd of cats, and it seems like most people are in the biggest damned hurry, as if they are paying by the hour or something.

Sure, I could lead my own groups, but frankly, that seems like even more work. Grouping in general just seems to be a gigantic pain in the ass, unless you have people you really are on the same wavelength with.

And it's even worse being a cleric. The last group I was in, one guy kept running ahead of me, then complaining that he wasn't being healed. Duh?


If you can't cast Raise Dead because you're dead, then have your hireling cast it.

My hireling got killed very early in the boss fight. I didn't even have a chance to raise him, I had to run away or I would have died in seconds.

Drawing them all back to the shrine is a smart idea.

[djsonar919]

Being in a party was what this game used to be about. However, the lack of quests and the way TRs have to run quests over and over and over doesn't make most veterans want to help folks who want to take their time. Your best bet is to learn the mechanics of solo combat with bladebarrier. Once you have that spell, the rest of the content on this game is easy. However, in order for one to learn how to effectively solo with BB, you will more or less want to group with a cleric that zergs quests.

[Marcus-Hawkeye]

Q, then find a good guild that fits your playstyle. It took me a few months to find one i liked, but now when I group with them I barely notice the monotony of the quest, and just enjoy chatting about all sorts of crazy topics. Don't base your opinion of grouping in this game on pugs only. There are a lot of helpful people out there willing to help, but they are equally frustrated with pugs.

[DakotanSky]

So how the heck to I get people to join my LFM? I tried running necro 3 'Tomb of the Forbidden' with hirelings but I could not get them to function correctly to open the gates after flipping the switches. I am a lvl 12 cleric, posted a LFM for the quest lvl range 9-12 on normal and could not get anyone to join. Maybe I have the plague or something.

[Angelus_dead]

So how the heck to I get people to join my LFM? I tried running necro 3 'Tomb of the Forbidden' with hirelings but I could not get them to function correctly to open the gates after flipping the switches. I am a lvl 12 cleric, posted a LFM for the quest lvl range 9-12 on normal and could not get anyone to join. Maybe I have the plague or something.
It's true that the design of DDO's UI, progression, and monetization make it difficult to get groups from the LFM, especially for a low-profit low-popularity dungeon like Tomb of the Forbidden. There are quite a few things the devs could have done differently to have improved that situation, but that would run into some serious investment, and there are still limits.

In the near term, what you can try instead is forming groups without making an LFM: ask people and then invite them. If you don't know people, meet some It's true that that may involve more effort than you'd like to need to spend preparing to play a game... but that's the situation.


PS. There is a way to do Tomb of the Forbidden with a hireling. Run around to both sides first to unlock the levers with the key, then station the hireling at one of them and run back to the other.

[DakotanSky]

I was able to the the levers unlocked and trigger the hirelings to pull the switch, but it seems like they have to kill all of the mobs that spawn after that to get the individual gates to reopen. They were successful on the first set of levers but 4 tries later at the 2nd set and I gave up. I always got the impression that it was rude to /tell people and see if they wanted to run the quest, thus the LFM.

[EvilI]

If you didn't have a hireling who can cast it, that is your mistake.

I think this is a good illustration of what makes these forums so great.

/sarcasm off

[EvilI]

If you can't cast Raise Dead because you're dead, then have your hireling cast it.

My hireling got killed very early in the boss fight. I didn't even have a chance to raise him, I had to run away or I would have died in seconds.

Drawing them all back to the shrine is a smart idea.

Usually in a situation like that, if you put up an LFM someone will come along and help you by raising you or at least holding the instance open so you can make it back after releasing. That particular set of quests is a bit of a special case though, since getting to the ques is such a pain in the ***. Mind you, if you go back with a group the second time you play it will be a lot faster, and then your time won't have been completely wasted

[stille_nacht]

If the boss kills you, then use Raise Dead and try again.

If you can't cast Raise Dead because you're dead, then have your hireling cast it.

If you didn't have a hireling who can cast it, that is your mistake.

because if the PC is dead, the hireling is DEFINITELY still alive... or can even survive for more than 3 seconds.

[aennae]

You will find you end up usually having fun....if you don't know the quest and get a group of the same, it won't take any longer than solo and if you find someone that knows the quest, it might go quicker.

The whole 'there are no groups for me to join' is a tired argument IMO. As a previous poster stated, define what you are/what you are looking for and usually the other 50-75 players that are standing around perusing the LFM panel because they won't start groups either will join up.

Don't be afraid to fail...now that you have an idea on Ghola fan, change your tactics and try again (I once ran the quest on a at level melee pre hireling days and had to run back to the shrine and kill them all there where I could continuously raise myself, took about 20 min and about 8 deaths, but I did finish).

As stated by earlier posters, you may need to run some lower content on hard/elite to milk some exp to get thru these levels if you find the quests are harder than you can handle....or start a group.

As an aside, I would start a group and wait possibly 10 minutes, then head in and change the LFM to IP. I don't like to spend what little gaming time I find lying around just STANDING and WAITING for a group to fill....and if no-one joins and I fail....well, at least I was doing something :p

Well actually i don't try really hard, so many players are just so unable to think and just able to hold a mouse button that soloing is the only way to be a bit strategic.

Add to the fact that 99% of the people just look at xp/loot per hour. So they prefer to follow afk a zerg group rather than discovering an instance and actually doing it.

Moreover even in case i would find people interested in actually playing, they would need to be on the same step than me, to have the same adventure pack or to be VIP, to be in a 4 level range etc .... Least to say that it's better to solo than to wait 2 hours.

I remember doing the into the deep serie with a friend as 9/10 duo, it was really nice. I did it later with 6 people, it was trivial, annoying , stupid ... but for sure i got xp much faster.

The current design (xp is not divided by the group size) engourage trivial gameplay.

If i was the GM a zerg group would simply get almost .zero xp since they actually did nothing.

[pHo3nix]

If i was the GM a zerg group would simply get almost .zero xp since they actually did nothing.

So you just force your players to kill everything in sight? Fighting is not the only way of doing things nor it should be.

[MartinusWyllt]

because if the PC is dead, the hireling is DEFINITELY still alive... or can even survive for more than 3 seconds.

You've never had a hireling collect you soul stone and get you to a shrine?

Of course this is much easier if your hire was loitering at the entrance.

[GuntherBovine]

So I've been doing fine mostly soloing with my now 10/1/1 cleric/rogue/fighter, but lately I keep hitting the wall in quest after quest. Today I did Ghola-Fan, spent well over an hour clearing out the whole dungeon only to get nuked by the boss, and then unable to return within the (annoyingly short) 5 minute timer. So, a giant waste of time, though I did at least get an item with a haste clicky.

This is nominally only a level 10 quest as well. I am finding more and more level 9 and 10 quests I cannot do at level 12. This one was especially frustrating not only because of not being able to get back in, but because 99% of the dungeon is easy and then the boss chamber was a complete wipe-out.

As an aside, this "harried" business is beyond annoying.
aennae had a similar thread recently here (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=320329) and my take away from it is that you are at the point that Battle Clerics really hit a wall. They can't get their AC up high enough to provide much benefit. Consequently, you are going to be constantly damaged in melee. A two-handed weapon will work better then a one-handed weapon and a shield as the AC boost of the shield isn't as valuable as the DPS boost of the two-handed weapon. aennae had some other comments in that thread that may be of value to you.


I advice you to follow gunther bovine journal. I could do all he did (with usually 1 level more, but i probably would have done it a the same level as him).
It is here (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=320329)


Note that the only way to have fun is to solo (or duo) since 99% of the groups are Zerk, BYOH, Know your way and so on. I was hoping for more normal group when getting higher but even at 12 i see only xp/loot farming groups. Joining them is simply out of question for a newplayer. I will be a burden for them and i won't have any fun running after and tossing some heals & spells.
Interesting. I started full-time soloing because I found the zerging in the low-level quests too annoying to deal with. Then, I got into figuring out how to beat quests solo. I had always assumed that at some point, the zerging would stop and other players would talk more to their party members. I guess was I wrong...

[Angelus_dead]

So I've been doing fine mostly soloing with my now 10/1/1 cleric/rogue/fighter, but lately I keep hitting the wall in quest after quest. Today I did Ghola-Fan, spent well over an hour clearing out the whole dungeon
Fun fact:
Once upon a time, the highest possible level was 10, and there were no Heal scrolls or hirelings or Dungeon Scaling to reduce the monsters to half power. And people soloed Ghola-fan back then.

[Angelus_dead]

because if the PC is dead, the hireling is DEFINITELY still alive... or can even survive for more than 3 seconds.
If you're doing a tough fight and think you might die, the appropriate preparation is to place your Cleric Hireling outside around the corner, so that he's ready to Raise you if something happens.

[somenewnoob]

If you're doing a tough fight and think you might die, the appropriate preparation is to place your Cleric Hireling outside around the corner, so that he's ready to Raise you if something happens.

I prefer to keep him with me so he can heal me and prevent me from dying in the first place!

But I'm wacky like that!

[Mercureal]

Q, then find a good guild that fits your playstyle. It took me a few months to find one i liked, but now when I group with them I barely notice the monotony of the quest, and just enjoy chatting about all sorts of crazy topics. Don't base your opinion of grouping in this game on pugs only. There are a lot of helpful people out there willing to help, but they are equally frustrated with pugs.


This is good advice.

In answer to the OP, yes, soloing generally gets harder at just about the levels you quote - and often the jump in difficulty comes with the end encounters. And yes, a lot of the grouping in the game with people you don't know is a pain in the ass. If you're willing to invest some time, finding a decent guild will likely make the challenge more manageable and the game more enjoyable - but it may take some time to find that guild, to establish yourself in it and to develop the relationships that will make grouping easier.

If all of that sounds like it will take more time and effort before you can get to a point that's more 'fun', well, that may be true. Alternately, you can keep soloing - mid-level quests can be soloed, but it takes time, gear, quest knowledge, and occasionally tactics. Blade Barrier at cleric level 11 changes the dynamic a lot, but not completely, and you'll still almost certainly need to group to run the hardest and most rewarding quests, i.e raids.

That said, there are a number of quests around your level you should be able to solo right now with the right spell selection:

- Purge the Fallen Shrine
- Church and the Cult
- Sorrowdusk (the whole chain of quests)
- Delara's Tomb
- Tharashk Arena
- Tear of Dhakaan
- Fathom the Depths
- Last Stand
- Claw of Vulkoor

[GuntherBovine]

- Purge the Fallen Shrine
Not a quest I would highly recommend as I found it boring. I can't remember how tough the final battle was, but there were a lot of boss mobs in it.


- Church and the Cult
A great quest for a cleric who can cast Searing Light


- Last Stand
I found this a tough one to solo as the guy kept dying. Maybe a Cleric would have better luck.


- Claw of Vulkoor
I found that I needed a Move Silently and Hide of at least 15 to do the quest. Invisibility is also a big help

It depends on what the OP wants to do. If he/she is looking for quests with good loot and xp per minute, I would probably recommend "Desert Caravan" and "From Beyond the Grave". I really enjoyed soloing "The Xorian Cipher" and it has lots of chests and xp. As someone who does lots of soloing, what I want to do is all of the quests at my level or one below. Farming a few quests for xp doesn't appeal to me.

[RangerOne]

I found it harder to solo in the middle levels as well. Actually, I remember my ranger getting beaten up by kobolds in waterworks. And my cleric flat out made me want to cry.

But at others have mentioned, blad barrier will be your friend. Examine your stats. I did a GR on one character (a DEX based AA) and improved him considerably by moving just a couple of points from DEX to StR and CON.

I did a lesser on my cleric to get the Radiant Servant prestige, and suddenly he is far more potent.

So hand in there, take advantage of feat, enhancement respecs and reincarnations and you should be fine.

[SisAmethyst]

I don't know your character nor your equipment, but around level 10 things like Fortification become a major factor. Especially if one is facing a triple hitting ogre. While everybody usually say 'get yourself a Minos Legends' which is a helm that give toughness and heavy fortification (100%) there is the other option of doing the quest 'A Relic of a Sovereign Past (http://ddowiki.com/page/A_Relic_of_a_Sovereign_Past)'. You even not need to finish the Quest but only get the adamantine ore and turn them in for a Nightforge Gorget (http://ddowiki.com/page/Category:A_Relic_of_a_Sovereign_Past_reward_items) .

Anyway level 10 is some kind of breaking point that show you either that you need to gear up (+4 CON/STR/...), improve/modify your play skill (different tack-ticks) or rework your character (e.g. if you dumped CON).

[aennae]

- Blade barrier considerably change the priest gameplay, but has mentioned above it is not a panacea. Against casters and archer it often does not work well, even if play with the line of sight. Against melee type it's just amazing.

- Lot of priests claim to use instant death offensive spells like slay living and so on. When i do that i get OOM way too fast. Symbol may be a cheap way to deal with large amount of opponents but they are hard to use. I have only like 780 mana (with 25 wisdom and absolutely all the mana feats/enhancement, and 830 when i rest with power item).

- Lesser and greater command are quite efficient if your wisdom is high.

- Undead are your friends and radiant servant can crit for 200-400, i advice you to get items providing extra turns and charisma.

- Searing ligth and divine punishment are your best ranged single target damage spells. Try to get radiance & devotion items.


Considering that you can cast a complete heal on your for 40 mana, melee is still a possibility, and don't cast all your bufs on each fight. Sidenote : It's amusing to see that most post about battlepriest assume that Divine power, divine favor, recitation and prayer are always up. Believe me unless you are in a shrine friendly instance you won't cast 4 short duration buf on any trash encounter. When you know the place, casting extended prayer, divine power, divine favor (and may be recitation) and them chain pulling for 4mn is very efficient but don't do that in one of those necro 2 tomb in which you swim 5mn then get a trivial fight and so on. Note also that since many monsters do dispell assuming that our bufs are always on is almost ridiculous.

All this des not mean that i don't use divine power a lot, obvisouly i do,

If you like me have to use a 1 hander you need weapons bypassing monster DR and possibly dealing extra damage. A +3-+5 one is also adviced since your BAB is not that great.

You need :

Fire or Acid for troll/ice mephits.
I have a Good + Fire +5 mace that is o for most monsters.

Frost weapon (fire elemental, fire mephit).

Disruption, Ghost touch (i have those effect on different weapon because ghost touch + disruption simply cost too much).

Muckbane/Muckdoom or everbrigth weapon (ooze, rusty monsters).

Weakening/Sickening weapon -- Currently testing those i m not so convinced, may be a dula wielder of sickening can bring mob constitution down to zero very fast, not me --


Armor :

If you Dex is good try to get a +4 or +5 m
ithral plate and a +4/+5 shield. I was lucky and got a +5 mithral for 7000pp most were on sale for 5 time that price.

I can almost craft natural armor +2 shards (i never saw anything higher than natural armor 1 on sale). Don't buy protection item they won't stack with shield of faith. You may try to find a sword with parrying effect (like the nicked sword from shard syndicate serie) but a Pure good Fireburst +5 parrying +2 weapon (if it exists) would probably sells 200 000pp.

With barkskin potion and shield of faith this may bring you in the 35-40 range.

Try to get Axebane, Spearbane and hammer block items. I don't know if the damage reduction stacks with
the one of an adamantine armor or shield i need to test.


The most important item you may get is a heavy fortification item.
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=284046

You can do it solo on normal. If you want to complete the quest too it will be harder since there are lot of casters in the others areas that are optionnal to get your heavy fort necklace but compulsory for the quest.

There is a wonderfull video on youtube, it's not one of those zerger video with heavy metal music. It's a comprehensive video with ton of good advices. The one who did is really the kind of player i enjoy playing with. A big thanks to him.

I advice you to borrow a fortication (75% or 50%) to do the quest because some dwarfs there have x4 heavy pick weapons.

Once you got that heavy fort item, 200hp + and a deathblock item normal mobs and bosses are not likely to one shoot you.


Last words : i m currently testing a fighter 1 or 2 + cleric. She uses a 2 hander and she is doing what i did much more easilty than i did. You will see lot of posts about cleric monks, and it's certainly a very powerfull combination, but it require lot of gear, tomes etc to work. The fighter cleric is very easy to equip and does not require ton of wisdom and dext to be efficient. With a bit of "free" goodies (fighter free feats, human boost, dwarven axe talents) you can probably double your melee damage -- and indeed due to mob damage reduction the effective damage may increase even more. The only weakness of a fighter 1-2/cleric is certainly the reflex saves. That's why many people take monk 2 for evasion. But believe me monks have many restrictions (good luck finding armor 6 bracers, disruption handwraps and so on ) and need a lot stat points to be effective. The clonk appear to me more like a fun way to lesser reincarnate once you reach level 16+ and 1-2 million of platinium.