Hitting level 20

[pyntsized]

Hello there forums.

I've played ddo for about 2 years now, and have been unable to reach level 20 due to severe altoholism. I have reached 11 twice, but was unable to get higher.

Any altoholics or others have advice? Do I just need more packs than (edit>) *devils assault* fens, sentinels and sharn?(getting VoT soon)



P.S. Altoholism (to me) is when a player can't commit to one toon and makes alts to try new playing styles.

[ainmosni]

Hello there forums.

I've played ddo for about 2 years now, and have been unable to reach level 20 due to severe altoholism. I have reached 11 twice, but was unable to get higher.

Any altoholics or others have advice? Do I just need more packs than fens, sentinels and sharn?(getting VoT soon)



P.S. Altoholism (to me) is when a player can't commit to one toon and makes alts to try new playing styles.

pick something simple and go with it, warforged arcane or human divine and dont try anything fancy.

you COULD flavor a toon to 20, but you wouldnt be here if you could do that easily, now would you?

what server are you on?

[Zonixx]

Make a WF sorc (max con, max cha) level it fire spec'd and ul want to get to lvl 20 asap because of how much power you have while leveling :D

[mrtreats]

you need allot more then them 3 low lvl packs i have 15 toons and most are capped you just need to play the one that is the most fun for you

[axel15810]

Play a cleric...incredibly easy to level because you'll be auto-accepted into any party you want. Of course if you don't have a cleric it might add to your altoholism :)

I'm p2p and you can definitely get to lvl 20 by having only Vale pack. Buying one more makes it easier (I have vale and reavers) but vale is all you really need if your only goal is getting to lvl 20.

[hecate355]

Arent you wondering whats out there at higher levels, i can understand coolness of trying all those countless choices ddo character building offers, but arent you curious? Shouldnt that curiosity alone motivate you? All these builds you rolled to >=11 act somewhat differently at higher levels, so you are basically cutting yourself out from something you obviously have fun with. Character progression doesent end at 11.

Dont expect to like everything that is at higher levels tho, i still remember my struggle with whole vale stuff. It was dull, tedious, hard, unreliable. I clearly remember how i told friend that i will never make any greensteel, simply because i dont care. Truth is i did make gs, lots and lots of it. Also i dont hate any vale quests at all anymore, yes, not even coal chamber.

I used to fear and avoid epics, it was whole other world, i didnt fit in. People expected everyone to know all those exploits. You sat on this lever, that ledge, climbed on that mushroom= profit. Whole thing was very underwhelming. Was befor revamp of epics, whole epics were about those stupid little exploits, since it was only reasonable way to do em.
I dont fear most epics anymore. At times i still avoid em, but more because of sheer dullness involved. After running a quest so many times for epic item pieces, at some point i really dont care about it anymore. Will it take another year to get my epic sos? Im not even sure it has been year, maybe considerably more, since its all buried in past.

The most prominent problem with epics and generally harder quests is, that even if YOU personally know how to do said quest and how to play this specific character in there, there is dozens of other factors that are beyond your control. I mean by definition, challenge is when you make an effort and get the rewarded. Currently it may translate into 'you did everything right, yet some1 else didnt, despite all the explaining.' No matter how good you are, odds will be that half a times something WILL go wrong, leaving you with nothing. And when those 'nothings' pile up, at some point you may just drop whole thing.

Its gambling, not a challenge.

Oh and amrath was big no no :D it was too hard, couldnt really understand how people can do it. Well now i solo some of those at elite...

Point is, ddo changes, you change, your chars change, but if you dont make that step forward, you will never know and nothing will change.

EDIT: Better get more mid/high level packs, even if you theoretically could get to 20 without using p2p content, it would be very dull journey. Even if you'd get to 20, it would have somewhat empty feeling, seeing as you dont have much to do there.

[HunkyDane]

I suffered from the same afflication (altohism) what worked for me was finding a friend(s) to play with. Following friends through the levels soon gave me level 20 chars a plenty.

[axel15810]

I agree the game does change a lot at higher levels...once I got to about level 15 it seemed like the skill of parties I was in got way better. And a lot of the higher raids like hound of xoriat just can't be done unless the party is well organized.

[Dandonk]

Well, I haven't gotten rid of my altoholism yet. On 24 chars atm, and thinking about more...

What worked for me as far as getting to high levels was playing long enough ;)

[My2Cents]

I say do whatever you like.

If you -want- to build one to 20, great! But please don't feel pressured. DDO has a lot of variations and I can see how it could be a heck of a lot of fun to try out all the abilities and enhancements and feats.

There is no rule that says you must CAP a character (unless the new expansion will require it?) and there's no law that says you MUST TR 5 times. It's whatever you want to do that matters.

[Pank]

I say do whatever you like.

If you -want- to build one to 20, great! But please don't feel pressured. DDO has a lot of variations and I can see how it could be a heck of a lot of fun to try out all the abilities and enhancements and feats.

There is no rule that says you must CAP a character (unless the new expansion will require it?) and there's no law that says you MUST TR 5 times. It's whatever you want to do that matters.

^^ This ^^ for sure, always.

If you are an altoholic and enjoy it, why change? If you start not to enjoy it, then yes try something different, but in no way it is an obligation to level to 20, do it only if you feel you'll have more fun.

[SirValentine]

Any altoholics or others have advice? Do I just need more packs than fens, sentinels and sharn?(getting VoT soon)


You can get to level, say, 15 or 16, just on F2P stuff without too much difficulty. If you have Vale of Twilight as well, you'll have plenty of XP available to get any non-TR to cap. It should not be lack of packs that is holding you back.

[Sleepsalot]

Well I am ViP But it took me ages to settle to my current top toon. Which is my level 17 FvS I do however have several level 4-5 toons and 1 level 10. So I kinda still rotate through the Classes. Is Bad to have AADD I get bored very easy so have to swap up...

Sleeps :D :) :D

[anttoni11]

Hope this help, u repeat same boredom with diffrent toons or 1 toon, only diffrence is that u save lot of plat that u dont always get new gear via tr.

[Chauncey1]

I have 3 lvl 20's, one lvl 18, a lvl 16 monk who will soon be the 4th lvl 20, a lvl 11, lvl 9.
And that's just on the one server.
I have two more on Argo.
Already planning for more.

[JOTMON]

Hello there forums.

I've played ddo for about 2 years now, and have been unable to reach level 20 due to severe altoholism. I have reached 11 twice, but was unable to get higher.

Any altoholics or others have advice? Do I just need more packs than fens, sentinels and sharn?(getting VoT soon)



P.S. Altoholism (to me) is when a player can't commit to one toon and makes alts to try new playing styles.

I was the same way, would roll up toons, then.. meh,.. delete start over..

I now have 20+ toons on Argo some capped some TR'd some level parked and more than a few mules.

I found I was typically out of sync with friends/guildies when playing my toons so I started scattering toons at different levels so I could switch to something at a similar level when I felt like running with them.

The trick is to keep adding alts and not deleting them, then you will have alts at several different levels and different classes.. try and keep them spread out and eventually some will get capped.

You will have a collection of pack mules to carry your extra stuff because they are currently boring or don't play well but may be workable at higher levels or with better gear.

Then when friends or you feel like playing something else or different levels you have variety to choose from or see a quest/raid you want to run can switch to a toon to fit what is still needed.

You will get to the point where you will start favouring a class or two and really focus on them.




I would also pickup Tangleroot and STK at low level when you get a chance or if they come around on sale.

For higher level packs (Vale is a must in my opinion.)
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?p=4316204#post4316204

~ my post... pasted from the link..~
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adventure Pack______TP_____Levels

The Vault of Night_____750_____08 to 10 .Must Have-Nice items good epics House K Bank space Favour
Demon Sands_________850_____10 to 12 .Optional-Nice items good epics good xp
Ruins of Gianthold______950_____13 to 14 .Must have.
The Vale of Twilight
(with Subterrane)______850_____16 to 17 .Must Have
Vaults of the Artificers_1495_____04 to 25 .Optional-New stuff is worthwhile
The Devils of Shavarath_650_____19 to 20. Must Have

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Aelonwy]

Hello there forums.

I've played ddo for about 2 years now, and have been unable to reach level 20 due to severe altoholism. I have reached 11 twice, but was unable to get higher.

Any altoholics or others have advice? Do I just need more packs than fens, sentinels and sharn?(getting VoT soon)



P.S. Altoholism (to me) is when a player can't commit to one toon and makes alts to try new playing styles.

Hi my name is Aelonwy, I'm an altaholic. I get bored/frustrated around level 12 and must buy a new character slot and roll a new character. I have alts on 4 different servers. My main server is Thelanis and I have actually managed my altaholism well enough to cap my main there. *waits for a little clapping* It only took about 2yrs. Maybe a little less.

A couple of things that helped me:
1) Going VIP for a set amount of time (for me one year) allowed me to preview alot of the content and determine what I enjoyed. This enabled me to make better decisions about what packs, classes, races to purchase and in what order.
2) A questing buddy. (In this case my hubby) A questing buddy offers encouragement, enthusiasim and amusement when one might otherwise be gettig bored or frustrated. I suggest finding at least a couple friends that are on at relatively the same times as you to regularly adventure with and learn the game together.
3)Learning the game together... let me expand on that... some people enjoy being led, corraled or otherwise carried through the content because their fun is derived from a different source... usually leveling or powering-up or gearing up their character, some people derive their fun from experiencing the content themselves on their own, some people like to have a mentor teach them (not carry them) through content so that they can contribute and make mistakes without fear. Most altaholics I've met (YMMV) like to explore and pick up everything and generally are distracted by a new door or switch they have yet to pull/open/see whats beyond it; in the same way that we like to build new alts to experience the variations of race/class/pre combinations. So a questing buddy that is just as new as you and wants to see whats behind that door as much as you do, or what happens when this lever is pulled versus that one... well it helps to learn/experience the game together.
4) Having played every class (except arty so far) to at least 6th if not 12th lvl has made me reasonably sure of those classes I do not enjoy playing and improved my character building skills so that while my alts may not be min/maxed they are none the less sufficiently playable and capable of most content. I have no desire to rush into epic so I'm ok with this and feel my altaholism has not been time wasted.

Hope this helps.

[FeralKittie]

/waves to pyntsized

Speaking as one altoholic to another (over 20 characters on my home server and a few on other servers too, with no character I could name as a main), my best advice is play what you like to play. This is a game, not work; the only way to do it wrong is if you're not having fun (or are spoiling someone elses' fun IMO). You don't HAVE TO have a stable of capped characters.

The first character I got to 20 was my HOrc warchanter, she was just so easy and versatile for me to play that it seemed to happen all by itself. My other 20s have just been around long enough and I had continued to play them. I actually find hitting 20 a little sad. No more xp, /sigh (for now!). I'm not currently all that interested in playing my capped characters. Yet. However, I know that will change eventually as how I play and what I play continues to develop over time naturally, without my pushing it. My gameplay's been evolving since I started and I've been enjoying myself the whole way.

Having more packs will help (though you don't need them necessarily to cap a first life character but they add variety and fun) and there are plenty of review and recommendation threads for you to check out. Having friends/guildies to run with will also help. And playing around with a horde of different characters is fine too. You may just find that build that seems to cap itself for you. The bottom line is to have fun!

[pyntsized]

Hi my name is Aelonwy, I'm an altaholic. I get bored/frustrated around level 12 and must buy a new character slot and roll a new character. I have alts on 4 different servers. My main server is Thelanis and I have actually managed my altaholism well enough to cap my main there. *waits for a little clapping* It only took about 2yrs. Maybe a little less.

A couple of things that helped me:
1) Going VIP for a set amount of time (for me one year) allowed me to preview alot of the content and determine what I enjoyed. This enabled me to make better decisions about what packs, classes, races to purchase and in what order.
2) A questing buddy. (In this case my hubby) A questing buddy offers encouragement, enthusiasim and amusement when one might otherwise be gettig bored or frustrated. I suggest finding at least a couple friends that are on at relatively the same times as you to regularly adventure with and learn the game together.
3)Learning the game together... let me expand on that... some people enjoy being led, corraled or otherwise carried through the content because their fun is derived from a different source... usually leveling or powering-up or gearing up their character, some people derive their fun from experiencing the content themselves on their own, some people like to have a mentor teach them (not carry them) through content so that they can contribute and make mistakes without fear. Most altaholics I've met (YMMV) like to explore and pick up everything and generally are distracted by a new door or switch they have yet to pull/open/see whats beyond it; in the same way that we like to build new alts to experience the variations of race/class/pre combinations. So a questing buddy that is just as new as you and wants to see whats behind that door as much as you do, or what happens when this lever is pulled versus that one... well it helps to learn/experience the game together.
4) Having played every class (except arty so far) to at least 6th if not 12th lvl has made me reasonably sure of those classes I do not enjoy playing and improved my character building skills so that while my alts may not be min/maxed they are none the less sufficiently playable and capable of most content. I have no desire to rush into epic so I'm ok with this and feel my altaholism has not been time wasted.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for all the insight guys. I chose to respond to this because it relates most to my problem.
I agree, being someone who rushes to 20 in three days(congrats to the guys on thelanis who did it). However, I find it frustrating that I havent gotten to higher than lvl 11 yet. Currently, I have four toons to choose from to be my main: a 7 fighter, an 8 artificer (cannith) an 11 monk, and a 7 cleric. The monk I have played on the most (his gear reflects it, only 2 non named items!).

Besides being distracted by altoholism, I think that not knowing anyone IRL who plays, besides my dad who's playing style is vastly different from mine, and playing in PuG's hurts my chances.

Also, having no source of income (damned school) won't allow me to get a pack from 11 to 15 range along with VoT.

Advice on who to stick with for the climb to 20?
Advice on a better way to lvl than using PuG's?
:D -Pyntsized

[dunklezhan]

Also, having no source of income (damned school) won't allow me to get a pack from 11 to 15 range along with VoT.

Advice on who to stick with for the climb to 20?
Advice on a better way to lvl than using PuG's?
:D -Pyntsized

I feel your pain. I have managed to cap 2 characters in 2.5 years. I have five characters at 11-13, a L17 who's been there maybe 6 months, and a half-score of L4-6.

There's a hump in the 10-13 range where the difficulty ramps up a fair bit and whereas up to that point you can happily solo, around then you need skillz or gear to continue to pull that off in those quests. Not completely though, there are a few quests around there that I find pretty ok to solo, and at about L13, unless you're trying to elite streak, you can start doing the first droam chain (F2P), which, while they aren't necessarily easy can certainly be soloed with enough healing pots or a hireling.

Having said all that - that's also where there isn't really that much in the way of F2P quests. Ataraxia, I think some House J quests, Tempest Spine, Droam chain... that's about it I think without buying some packs (tricky for me to remember exactly, I've been subbing for the last year).

I think the links in my sig are still good, though how up to date they are I'm really not sure.

In terms of who to stick with - if you just want to make it to 20, with the game in its current configuration, roll a pure self healing caster. So, if you have Warforged, roll an arcane, otherwise roll a divine. They're both solo beasts, and both get into groups easily. Alternatively, just stick with whatever is most fun. I don't know what your favorite playstyle is.

Better ways of levelling other than PuGs - find a casual guild. Seriously, that's the very best advice I can give you. Casual guild love people with lots of alts at different levels, because it means you can almost always swap to something to hook up with another player wanting to do something, and likewise if you say 'I really want to level up x to 13' there's often a few players in the same situation with lots of alts who'll swap over for you. Made all the difference to me anyway.

Also, don't forget slayers. It can be dull, but if you're having difficulty getting that next rank an hour bimbling around an exploerer area, especially somewhere like Ataraxia with it's large groups of mobs, can be a lifesaver. Its particularly easy to rack up some decent XP while getting the first 400 kills, because you're also getting the Rares and Explorer points too. I usually stop bothering with explorers after all the Rare/Explorers are done and I have 400 kills, exceptions being where in the process of running to quests and such that kill count pushes towards 650... at which point I'll spend the time for 100 more kills and get my 750 reward. Plus explorer areas can all be soloed fairly easily for the most part, and the parts where they are tough (the wildman mage rare in the cave in Ataraxia is a nightmare if you aren't prepared for him), you can experiment on your own until you figure it out without delaying groups etc, which helps improve your playskills anyway.

I do think you're going to need more packs though. If you're casual, I would suggest once you have Vale and Necro 4*, then Attack on Stormreach and the Madness chain are good choices due to a: fun, and b: loot & XP. That should get you through the low to high teens at least, and you can play Vale right up to cap - and getting a group is never a problem, people are always running vale quests for ingredients.

*I personally hate necro quests. All of them. But the explorer area for Necro 4 is huge, great XP, and a source of Tapestries which a: you can trade in for a minos helm which is practically a must have item, and b: sell very well if you can't be bothered to grind 20 of them.

Good luck. if you're on Argo, look up The Thivees Guild, we are pretty casual, yet, inexplicably considering I'm in the guild pulling the averages down, strangely competent for the most part. Plus I have a whole buttload of L12/13 characters that I really do want to level...

[pyntsized]

hey again. Just wanted to update you guys on my altoholism. I capped my monk, TR'ed him and I'm about to cap his second life. I guess the thing that helped the most was finding a small, active guild to play with (Impure Element for life!). And to whoever said playing on capped toons was boring, I disagree because epics, even tho my monk epically failed :D, were insanely fun (plus they were how I got my druidic heart :))

thanks for the advice and comments

[thwart]

Hello there forums.

I've played ddo for about 2 years now, and have been unable to reach level 20 due to severe altoholism. I have reached 11 twice, but was unable to get higher.

Any altoholics or others have advice? Do I just need more packs than (edit>) *devils assault* fens, sentinels and sharn?(getting VoT soon)



P.S. Altoholism (to me) is when a player can't commit to one toon and makes alts to try new playing styles.

I too am an altoholic. I played for about three years and never got past 10th level. I decided to post here on the forums and let interested forumites vote on which character I would level to 20th. They voted for my WF wizard. I leveled him to about 12 and got bored.

Edited to add: Nevermind, I didn't notice this post was from February. Congrats on capping your character!

At that point, I decided to level an acrobat type build. I rolled up the character, and leveled him all the way to 20! It took time, but I did it. Now I have true rezzed him into a ranger (rarrrr!) and he is at 8th level.

The fun thing about hitting 20 is seeing stuff you haven't seen yet. There are a lot of cool things that you are missing and you will have a blast.

Good luck, I know you can do it.