Brand new player, questions about 1st chracter please!

[Gorric]

Hello,

I am brand new to DDO and just signed up for VIP.
I have played many other MMO's as well as pen and paper dnd long ago.

I would like to say hello to everyone.

I need advice on my 1st and 2nd characters to create.
I am looking for what race and class to play that will be the best for me to learn the game with, please everyone give me some feedback on what race and class combo to play etc.

I like all races and classes so to be clear, I am not just looking for 1 idea on race and class combo, for Newbie player that wont be to confusing to play and start out learn the game with.

Please help me out all with your ideas and why that class and race combos etc.

I am dieing to play right now but don't know what race and class to make as newbie for my 1st and 2nd character.

thank you

[Hazelnut]

Hello Gorric,

I'm pretty new too. I've been on a bit over a month. I started with a halfling ranger following the deepwoods sniper. I chose it mostly because I always liked rangers and the halfling is (IMO) a better choice than the elf because of the higher con (elf gets negative to con, halfling gets negative to str).

Having played for a month, my advice is pick what is fun. Read ddowiki.com but be aware that the enhancement system recently got revamped, so the wiki may not be up-to-date.

In general human is good since it doesn't have any negatives. Fighter types are easier to play since you can wear better armor and use bigger weapons. Most people seam to run through the dungeons killing everything in sight. There are some groups that are more cautious but if you are joining pick-up groups (PUGs), expect they will go through it pretty quickly.

Also watch out for groups that are "just for favor" or "bring your own healing". I'm not saying they are bad, but they are probably higher level characters who are going to run the dungeon really fast and expect you to know it already.

From what I can tell (as with PnP) spellcasters are harder to play (especially wizards and sorcerers).

Since you are VIP, you can create several characters (toons) on each server so it's not that hard to try things out.


Hello,

I am brand new to DDO and just signed up for VIP.
I have played many other MMO's as well as pen and paper dnd long ago.

I would like to say hello to everyone.

I need advice on my 1st and 2nd characters to create.
I am looking for what race and class to play that will be the best for me to learn the game with, please everyone give me some feedback on what race and class combo to play etc.

I like all races and classes so to be clear, I am not just looking for 1 idea on race and class combo, for Newbie player that wont be to confusing to play and start out learn the game with.

Please help me out all with your ideas and why that class and race combos etc.

I am dieing to play right now but don't know what race and class to make as newbie for my 1st and 2nd character.

thank you

[droid327]

You want a generally self-sufficient character, that's not too complicated to play...survivable, but with enough damage that quests dont take too long. There's a couple options:

-Elf Ranger...the most versatile combat class. You can use bows, you can use dual-wield melee weapons, you can self-heal a little. I'd recommend this for new players looking to get a "feel" for the game. Elf gets some nice weapon bonuses that help Rangers. Most rangers use Strength to fight, but elves can use Dexterity instead, which also gives them some nice defensive bonuses.

-Warforged Artificer...the most versatile overall class. Ranged damage, spell damage, good self-healing, and the ability to disable traps. The downside is that its a little more complicated than Rangers - you have to balance your crossbow attacks, casting offensive spells, healing, managing your pet, etc. If you're not afraid of very active gameplay, this is what I'd recommend since you're VIP.

-Human/Dwarf Cleric...a more defensive build, but good for group play. Obviously, you'll have great healing ability and great defense, but you give up some offensive capability. Probably the least active of all my suggestions, just involves a lot of 'stand there and swing, hit heal when needed' gameplay. If you like to join groups, though, you'll be really popular as a Cleric. Humans are more versatile, Dwarves are more defensive-minded.

-Half-Elf Monk...I havent actually played a Monk, but I know they also have lots of offense, some self-heal ability, and great defense. The class is a lot more complicated, they have funky stances and combos and finishing moves and their own resource bar to manage, so you'll have to do your homework to make sure you know what you're doing. Half-elf is versatile like Humans, and lets you select from a suite of different bonuses.

-Druid...Druids are versatile like Artificers. Self-healing, offensive casting, and decent melee damage in animal form. Half-orcs give you bonuses to STR, which boosts your damage, and to HP...but really any race will do nicely as a Druid.

There's also many different multiclass builds, but I wont get into those now. Once you get your first character to L20, and you've learned the game a little more, you can do a True Reincarnation, which lets you start your character over at L1 (with some new bonuses), and play through the game again as a different race/class combination.

[EllisDee37]

There are several new player builds linked in my signature you might consider. (Not the challenge farmer, though.)

[Soulfurnace]

There are several new player builds linked in my signature you might consider. (Not the challenge farmer, though.)
Highly recommend his builds. I tested them, they hold up well, even running elite at level. That and they're easy and not extremely gear/tome reliant, which is kinda good for a new player.

[Enguebert]

Hello,

I am brand new to DDO and just signed up for VIP.
I have played many other MMO's as well as pen and paper dnd long ago.

I would like to say hello to everyone.

I need advice on my 1st and 2nd characters to create.
I am looking for what race and class to play that will be the best for me to learn the game with, please everyone give me some feedback on what race and class combo to play etc.

I like all races and classes so to be clear, I am not just looking for 1 idea on race and class combo, for Newbie player that wont be to confusing to play and start out learn the game with.

Please help me out all with your ideas and why that class and race combos etc.

I am dieing to play right now but don't know what race and class to make as newbie for my 1st and 2nd character.

thank you

Best advise : create different characters on differents servers and try to level them until you get 50 or 100 favor
So you grab the free TP for reaching 5, 25 and 50 Favor the first time (it is a first time reward PER SERVER) and the 100 favor reward (this one is PER CHAR)
Doing so, you will be able to test different type of char
You have to find what you enjoy the most : melee, range, magic

Whatever char you will play, you will have to answer those 2 questions
- how will you kill (quickly) monsters
- how will you heal yourself ?

[FuzzyDuck81]

While clerics are good for newbies due to the great self-sufficiency, i'd add the warning that often people will expect you to be a healer, and a couple of experiences of grouping with the kind of idiot that runs off ahead, dies horribly while out of range expecting you to be their nanny-bot & then rages at you for "not doing your job" could end up really putting you off the class. Healing can be somewhat resource-heavy sometimes too, and as a new player that can be difficult.

Overall, as a new player i'd say a few good possibilities:
-Ranger as mentioned above... very versatile, able to hit enemies at range or up close, a nice selection of useful spells as you level up.

-Paladin...people say they've been nerfed & while not as uber on the offensive as other classes, they're very survivable & great for learning the ins & outs of melee while being sufficiently tough to take a decent amount of a beating.

-Wizard..with the recent enhancement pass you can get access to some SLAs (Spell-Like Abilities), which cost far less spellpoints to cast & can have metamagic feats (which make spells stronger) added to them for free, meaning you can use them for some blasting at low to mid levels effectively before you get access to your more powerful spells, whereas before, the prevailing wisdom was "use defensive magic & a big sword". Quite squishy & not as good at self-sufficiency though unless you go warforged (repair spells) or dragonmarked halfling (need to do Lockania's quest in the market once per server to unlock ability to take dragonmarks, its easy though). Sorcerer can work too, but more limited spell selection means more research might be necessary on your part, at least wizards can swap out spells in an inn.

-Druid...a great blend of healing spells, melee capability & offensive spells, plus you get a pet which acts as an extra (albeit somewhat dumb) party member/hireling that doesnt count towards the maximum party members. Versatile & powerful class, lots of fun... much of their healing is heal over time effects though not bulk healing all at once so you'll need to take that into account, especially at low levels.

As for races, again thanks to the new enhancement pass they have somewhat more distinctive flavours now, but generally any race can work for anything so pick whatever you like the look of :) Humans are the standard go-to since they get an extra feat, more skillpoints & no penalties, but halflings (with their healing dragonmarks) can be very newbie-friendly for the extra self-healing on a class that doesn't normally get those abilities, warforged make great arcanes thanks to the repair spells (they suffer a penalty to standard healing effects, though it can be mostly mitigated with a little work) & half elves get an interesting "dilettante" feat & enhancement line that lets them get abilities from a class not their own without actually multiclassing, which can make for some different possibilities.

[EnjoyTheJourney]

Self healing - Don't rely on potions for healing, as a new player. That gets prohibitively expensive quite soon. You can bring along a hireling that heals or opt for a class that provides self healing. You can also take a halfling and fairly soon take the "Least Dragonmark of Healing" feat (it's only for halflings), then take the racial enhancements that give you stronger healing spells from there.

Inventory management - This wasn't in your OP, but still, there are few things cut into your fun like spending lots of time emptying your inventory. So, with each character pick up the free bags for gems (fitz the fence, in harbor), collectables (Baudry, in harbor), and ingredients (Juraselme, maybe by a different spelling, inside the Twelve area, off the stormreach marketplace, main building, near the entrance), so that managing inventory is much less time consuming. Set your bags to "auto-gather" after double clicking on them to open them, as well. Consider buying a medium sized collectables bag in House Phiarlan for about 9K platinum (I forget the vendor) at some point, as well. Finally, get 75 Coin Lord favor soon so that you get an extra inventory slot, with 20 more places to put stuff.

Hopefully this helps, and welcome aboard.

[Bart_D]

Like Enguebert said, try whatever strikes your fancy. There are some good suggestions on this page but at this time I doubt you know what type of character/playstyle you will enjoy in the longer run.

So I'd experiment with 2 characters on each server and see it as bonuses that you get some free TP for adventure packs and get to see what server you prefer to play on. Don't be afraid to delete characters and reroll (just mail money and good gear to the other character on same server) to try something new either.

Edit: Some semi-random suggestions you cound try out, assuming free-to-play (since you mention 2 characters)
- Pale Trapper (EllisDee has link that looks good)
- Dwarf Barbarian (Max Str, good Con, the biggest axe around... there's probably a more detailed build somewhere)
- Tempest Trapper (again EllisDee has link that looks good)
- Healer (any race cleric, focus on healing others)
- Battlecleric (I'd say dwarf or human, 1-2 fighter levels and rest cleric. Focus on hitting things with a big twohander and healing yourself and those around you)
- Pure rogue (halfling or drow if you have earned 500 favor, maybe elf?; int/dex focus)
- Melee bard (use Master's Touch and a big twohander and take melee feats like PA, cleave, THF/ITHF/GTHF; str/con focus, just enough cha for spells)

[thouston]

There are several new player builds linked in my signature you might consider. (Not the challenge farmer, though.)


welcome,

i also recommend his builds

[Istaria1]

For a first character, you have a few things to take into account:

1) You will not be able to do what the TRs do. This includes (and is not a full list):
-- Running Elite difficulty on first go, at level
-- Having access to buffs like Haste (level 5 if you are in a guild, Kundarak guild vendor), heroism (same)
-- Having hand-me-down uber-weapons
-- Having millions of plat to spend (this matters - it's nice that people might say just carry 100 pots, but this is several thousand plat, which you probably will not have - same goes for scrolls)
-- Knowledge of quests - some optionals in certain quests are simply not worth it. As a new player, you'll probably enjoy seeing as much yellow text (Ingenious, Ransack, Conquest, etc) as possible.

2) Do you want to solo? If so, a few things again:
-- You will NEED self-healing of some sort. A divine caster (Cleric, FVS, Ranger, Druid, Pala) will get some healing spells, but more importantly the use of Cure <x> wands - however, this is VERY expensive for a new player. For this reason I recommend you have a very good look at what classes can heal themselves without clickies.
-- You MAY need trapping skills. You also might not. It really depends. If you want to run Hard or Elite content solo, you most certainly will, but this can be achieved more easily than is immediately apparent. 2 levels of Rogue and a reasonable Int (12+ Int on most classes) will allow you to keep your search and trap up to par all the way to cap.
-- You MAY need a hireling or a pet. Pet classes are Druid, Artificer and Wizard (I believe that Pale Masters can control their skeletons these days - have not tested). Hirelings can be used by any class, and can be pretty much any class. If you can't trap, bring a rogue hireling, and if you can't heal bring a Cleric or a Favoured Soul. Bear in mind that Hirelings are a pain in the arse to keep alive sometimes, as their AI is dumber than a sack of coathangers.

3) What do you have access to, or what are you willing to buy?
-- Monks add serious AC and saves, but are harder to play - maybe not a newb class but for sure I had fun without knowing what I was doing til at least level 10. Also, you need to buy them.
-- Artificers are the easiest class to play until about 12. They're almost the Gods of low level content. But again, they can get tricky at higher levels, PLUS you need to buy them.

4) Get guilded. I cannot overstate the importance of this. This can be a happy or an unhappy experience depending, but even so, it is better to be in a guild than not. Why? Guild buffs and vendors. The guild airship will give you stackable bonuses to everything (that they have bought) and will allow you access to the House Kundarak guild vendors.

These are only a few things to consider. Certainly the forum will point out many more, as well as mistakes I may have made.

EDIT: One very important thing for new players: The Blue Bar. It will rule your life without some basic advice. Some really great tips can be found at this thread: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/423695-Newbs-(like-me)-and-the-blue-bar

Welcome to DDO, and while the learning curve can be tough, you'll be at home in no time :)

Aes.