Thinking of returning and looking for builds and advice

[Flack]

So it's been about a year and a half since I played and I've been thinking about coming back to the game, at least for a little while, maybe more. But after a 1.5 year break I feel I need guidance. I will probably TR one of three characters to see if I can get back into the DDO groove. Running lowbie stuff helps me get back the feel of the game. Hopping onto a capped toon and running into new content will just frustrate me. So here's what I'm looking at...

Half-Orc monk (34 Pt/fighter first life)
This was a class I kind of enjoyed but never really mastered. A full build would be appreciated. I went light the first time through. Is it worth going light again, especially if I may be soloing a lot? Worth going dark after reaching a certain level for DPS? Before I left the game there was a big change coming to stuns and holds so is it still worth pumping up Wis for stunning fist (I think) and other Wis based abilities, or is STR based the way to go? I remember this class being a delicate balancing act with ability scores. A good versatile self sufficient build is what I'm looking for.

32Pt WF Wiz/rogue -> TR to Pure WF Wiz AM. I have a PM drow so I'm sticking with AM for this character. Looking for more of an enhancement guideline than anything. What SLA's are worth taking? and what not. And what elemental lines are worth taking since the nerf to Firewalls (or was it not so bad after all?). And if someone can sum up the "Spell Power" surge and change to crits that would be much appreciated.

32 Pt cleric -> Tr to FS
Evoker looks like my build of choice, but is it still valid? It's been around since before my break, but are there any changes you would make? And what kind of armor do you use on a FVS? I have the 3 piece Lorriks ? healing set on this character that was nice for RAID healing but it's on full plate. Do most FVS go with robes or light armor?

Things to keep in mind,
•I was never into epic runs. The only epic gear I have is from the cove and the Halloween event. I hated the blanket immunities that epic mobs had.
•I'm also looking for twink gear for leveling. Anything worth mentioning for leveling that made it into the game in the past year and a half for the above classes?
•I noticed some raid gear got a boost (Reaver for example). Do the upgrade mats drop regularly and does upgrading an item affect the ML of the item? Are the BTC or BTA?
• Please tell me the Torc drops more frequently (I can hope can't I ) or is this no longer an "essential" for a caster type?

Thanks in advance,

-Flack.

[HastyPudding]

So it's been about a year and a half since I played and I've been thinking about coming back to the game, at least for a little while, maybe more. But after a 1.5 year break I feel I need guidance. I will probably TR one of three characters to see if I can get back into the DDO groove. Running lowbie stuff helps me get back the feel of the game. Hopping onto a capped toon and running into new content will just frustrate me. So here's what I'm looking at...

Half-Orc monk (34 Pt/fighter first life)
This was a class I kind of enjoyed but never really mastered. A full build would be appreciated. I went light the first time through. Is it worth going light again, especially if I may be soloing a lot? Worth going dark after reaching a certain level for DPS? Before I left the game there was a big change coming to stuns and holds so is it still worth pumping up Wis for stunning fist (I think) and other Wis based abilities, or is STR based the way to go? I remember this class being a delicate balancing act with ability scores. A good versatile self sufficient build is what I'm looking for.

32Pt WF Wiz/rogue -> TR to Pure WF Wiz AM. I have a PM drow so I'm sticking with AM for this character. Looking for more of an enhancement guideline than anything. What SLA's are worth taking? and what not. And what elemental lines are worth taking since the nerf to Firewalls (or was it not so bad after all?). And if someone can sum up the "Spell Power" surge and change to crits that would be much appreciated.

32 Pt cleric -> Tr to FS
Evoker looks like my build of choice, but is it still valid? It's been around since before my break, but are there any changes you would make? And what kind of armor do you use on a FVS? I have the 3 piece Lorriks ? healing set on this character that was nice for RAID healing but it's on full plate. Do most FVS go with robes or light armor?

Things to keep in mind,
•I was never into epic runs. The only epic gear I have is from the cove and the Halloween event. I hated the blanket immunities that epic mobs had.
•I'm also looking for twink gear for leveling. Anything worth mentioning for leveling that made it into the game in the past year and a half for the above classes?
•I noticed some raid gear got a boost (Reaver for example). Do the upgrade mats drop regularly and does upgrading an item affect the ML of the item? Are the BTC or BTA?
• Please tell me the Torc drops more frequently (I can hope can't I ) or is this no longer an "essential" for a caster type?

Thanks in advance,

-Flack.


1. As for monks, the light vs dark debate is just as hot as the warforged vs human for casters. Light monks are very capable soloers and more useful in groups. Dark monks are obviously more dps. If you're looking for self sufficiency, a human or half-elf light monk is the way to go. Lots of monks go light early on then change to dark later in the game, but I prefer light monk all the way; with good healing amp, you can be very self-sufficient. As to stats, WIS monks are quite common for stunning fist and AC, just as common as STR monks, I'd wager.

2. AM SLA's are also the subject of debate. I love enchantment spec AM's. Personally, I think a 6 SP hold person is amazing. Others say to not get it, just to get the hypnotism SLA then go for conjuration secondary focus for the 3 SP web SLA. I say go for both if you wish, the low SP cost of them outweighs the SP needed to get them, and it's absurdly easy to get upwards of 3k+ SP at end-game now as a wizard.

Enhancements-wise, fire and acid are the top persistent AoE elements, acid being the best with acid rain. The nerf to firewall was over-hyped, but you can't use extend on offensive spells anymore, so its duration is halved and it now has a reflex save on the first tick but none if a mob stays inside it. Ice now gets absurdly high single target damage, and air, if you have the evocation DC's for it, is about spamming AoE spells to kill things very quickly.

As to spellpower, it's simple. Spellpower acts as a 'magic damage' stat in most other MMORPGs. The more spellpower you have of a certain type (like electric, or acid, or healing) the stronger those particular spells are. Spellpower of the same type doesn't stack, obviously. Caster enhancements have also changed to give spellpower instead of % damage to their respective spells.

Spellpower starts at 0, which means you're dealing 100% standard damage with spells of that type; now you add 50 to it from an item and you're dealing 150% damage, etc, etc. The empower metamagic feat now adds 75 spellpower, maximize adds 150 spellpower, and empower healing adds 75.

3. Evoker is the most common type of FVS and you can't go wrong with it. As to armor, just use anything you find, but with the recent changes to AC, wearing mithral heavy armor is rather nice, but endgame raid healing really doesn't matter what you wear so long as you can heal. There's no real need for FVS to go all-out on healing (although clerics are still the best healers because they can get away with a pure healing spec). Keep your devotion item updated and you can heal anything.

- Epics are now much easier, and mobs no longer have immunity to just about everything. Epics now have different difficulties like all other quests. Epic casual is far easier than heroic elite, epic normal is very easy, and epic hard is the standard for running quests. Epic elite, however, becomes very difficult, especially in the expansion quests.

- Dragon scales from Gianthold Tor are guaranteed to drop, now. Normal difficulty will always give 1, hard gives 1 sometimes 2, and I've seen elite give up to 3. As to epic materials dropping, it does seem more frequent, but non-raid epics no longer have a timer, so compared to before, they're dropping like hotcakes.

- Torc is still as elusive as ever, and it certainly helps, but I wouldn't say it's 100% necessary anymore. It is very easy to get high SP with the new epic destinies, now; there are sorc/fvs walking around with 4-4.5k SP and clerics/wizard/druids with 3-3.5k SP. Even spellsinger bards are getting upwards of 2k.

[Mellkor]

Just do not look in this section for build ideas because the way they are organized SUCKS ever since they changed it. The moron who reorganized this section from what it was should be keel-hauled. :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

[Flack]

Thanks for the replies and info. I checked my 3 characters and I'm too close to 20 or 40 completions on a couple Raids for my Cleric/FVS TR so I'll eliminate that one for now.

For the Wiz and Monk I'll just have to sit down with a planner and work it out. Since it'd easy enough to respec enhancements I'll just have to try out all the spells again and see what I like. But I probably would have just dismissed acid/air so thank you for that.

Thank you again. +repped, and yes the new forum layout is horrific.

-Flack.

[Inouk]

Thanks for the replies and info. I checked my 3 characters and I'm too close to 20 or 40 completions on a couple Raids for my Cleric/FVS TR so I'll eliminate that one for now.

For the Wiz and Monk I'll just have to sit down with a planner and work it out. Since it'd easy enough to respec enhancements I'll just have to try out all the spells again and see what I like. But I probably would have just dismissed acid/air so thank you for that.

Thank you again. +repped, and yes the new forum layout is horrific.

-Flack.

I few notes, but some of this is hearsay. I hear an evocation/conjuration specced WF AM is the premier damage dealer in the game now because of the synergy it has with the Shiradi epic destiny. I can't confirm this and honestly find it hard to imagine given how much damage Draconic Sorcs put out (AoE hits for over 15000 damage), but it's the talk on the forums.

Most people will tell you that ice is the preferred element now. in Shroud/Amrath fire is next to useless and in MotU Lightning has problems, though each works well in the other. Ice and acid are good all around.

FvS evoker is still a great build, it'll struggle a bit in the low levels then come into it's own at 12th.

As mentioned epics got adjusted, EE is very very hard, but everything below that is very manageable with EH being more or less a standard.