Th3ThirdFall3n
11-05-2013, 08:34 PM
It's not for everyone. It might not even be for you. If you're a flower-sniffer(collectable picker) then you might as well close this thread because we're getting straight to the point. DDO is Mario Kart, and your job is to try and be as Yoshi as possible with it. That means XP/minute so fast your head might pop. That means that if the chest is behind a door you don't need to open, you'll probably be ignoring it(more so if it doesn't even have named loot). THAT MEANS that above all else, we've got a few things to take into consideration.
Know your toon:
1. Know how much you heal for, for starters. You only need so much healing power, because during heroic levels healing for 1k is pretty pointless. If you can spare yourself feeling bad about that, then use those enhancements to try and up your DPS, whether that be through spells or melee/range, or both. And besides, playing "How low can you go" with your HP isn't always a bad idea, assuming your a caster most times. It teaches you about SP conservation and who knows, you may even like the little thrill it gives you xD **Disclaimer: lack of proper care with this last idea may lead to death. Avoid Korthos walk of shame, if possible** If you don't have spells to heal, and rely on pots/scrolls only, playing "How low can you go" is not recommended.
2. Know what your toon can do and make the most of it. If your toon runs around only failing saving throws on a 1, you should volunteer for trapped lever pulling or things of that nature, or take it upon yourself to do it without question. Be something more than just another body in the party. Pull your weight.
3. Know what your toon CAN'T do and attempt to minimize this as much as possible. Depending on the person, some zergers might even be ok with letting you pike a quest or two if you can outright acknowledge(for whatever your reasons, maybe your toon is useless until cap, or are a first life with no gear, or forgot to get pots, etc.) that you that you're just a walking -10% xp debuff waiting to happen.
4. Know how to acclimatize to the situation at hand. If you don't have saves, shoot up your hit points. If you don't have HP, shoot up your saves. If you have both, you're doing it right. If you're a zerger, a REAL zerger, and you RUN with other real zergers, then you are effectively a one man army in a party of one man armies. If for whatever reason someone slacks, or people die, be that person to save the day. It's not about ego really, it's about getting the job done, because no one likes to have to recall/restart. In most cases an effective zerger can make up for the XP lost by completing the quest as fast as possible despite the death than the entire party can do by re-attempting a quest. Just, no.
Have a base-knowledge of the game:
1. Feats/Enhancements/Skills: Know which are best to have during Heroic levels, and which are pointless, because spec'ing for end-game can wait for when you hit level cap. If you're a caster, HAVE YOUR METAMAGICS! Enlarge isn't really a thing, Eschew > LoL, extend, meh, maybe and only really in extreme cases. Toughness is pretty much a must for any class. And again, anything that can maximize your toons efficiency and minimize it's faults as far as enhancements goes. Skills. UMDDDDDDD. Can't say that enough.
2. Know your quests: Start building your knowledge of which quests give the most XP, and how to blaze through them as fast as possible. If you're going after an optional, whether it be for a chest with no named loot or less than 1k XP, you're probably doing it wrong. If you're out in wilderness areas trying to max your S/R/E's, you're most definitely doing it wrong. If you went drow because 1 DC is better than hit point/healing amp enhancements... yea, you get where this is going.
3. Know what you need and where: Pots are a staple, and you can never have too many. RemCurse/Disease/Poison/Blind, along with resto/cure/repair pots are indispensable. Carry at LEAST 100 at all times, 2-300 would be ideal so as to not have to hit the vendor so often.
With the above stated, obviously enough:
1. Know what's worth trading for and what's worth keeping! It's apparent you'll need at least some small bank of plat stored around if you want to be a zerger, and really it all pays for itself. I don't typically use more than 100 of each of those pots through 1 life if they're not the ones that give me HP back, so you can run through multi lives without having to worry about that, and most chests looted at near TR cap can pay for a small batch of pots on their own. Considering you'll be opening at least end chests, you'll be fine with even just that. I mean, assuming you're fast enough to get to the end chest before the quest is done, because once XP is alloted...
2. Get out! It's really not about you. Really, but come on, XP is XP. AND WE NEEDS IT. If you get into a quest JUST as it finishes. Recall or head back out through the door you came in. Most times a quest is played by a zerger it's because it's good XP, and if that's the case it's probably farmable too. Unless it was purely for favor. Case in point, you don't wanna be the guy who gets yelled at because he got in late and decided to run to the end for vendor-trash. Please, don't be THAT guy. And on the plus side, if it's being farmed, a real zerger will appreciate that you got out and grabbed the window for them/the party.
A few pointers to keep in mind:
1. Packs. You don't have to have all the content to reach 20(assuming this Zerg implies lots of XP for the purpose of multi-TR'ing, which it does, though exceptions exist). Just the ones that give good XP. TBC can be avoided. But it's nice to have the necros(3 not so much), Delera's, GH, Vale, Sands, etc.
2. Gear. If you're planning on trying the real zerg out, because in all this I was never alluding to that one guy who decides to run into a group of mobs and ask for heals because he's not self-sufficient; nor was I referring to that one guy who ran into a room filled with dragon-eating fiendish dire rabbits, you might want to gear up before hand. Sands is a good one here, for Torc and Bramblecasters, as well as Vale for Greensteel, and Delera's is indispensable for it's Voice of the Master Trinket(+5% xp, NOMNOMNOM).
3. Groups. You might find that as you zerg along in your quest to become Yoshi, you may begin to feel like a bit of a recluse. This isn't unnatural, and in fact you may want to take note that it isn't inclusive of your guildies, if you have any. This is because grouping with like-minded people when it comes to the zerg is extremely profitable over both the short and long runs. Partying up with people who don't share the ideology becomes unappealing, but don't let that get you down. I still run with pugs, and though "Kobold hate you" for dying, it's always a fun experience to chat with people from time to time.
This has all been incredibly abridged, of course, as every aspect of the Zerg is pretty calculated when done effectively. What quest/quest chains to run at what levels, when to bank/take levels, etc. But in the end, all that can wait for the questions, if any, that are soon to follow.
I'm nowhere near the Zerger I would like to be. I still run up to mobs that don't need killing just to smack them around for a bit. I still die because I forgot that there was a trap around an awkward corner. But all in all DDO is meant to be a fun experience, as is any game, and this was simply a way of separating the fast from the slow. (For those who might comment on that last sentence, I'm not trying to imply any one is better than the other. Some simply prefer to take their time. Others prefer to hate waiting for the timer to go away so they can TR again ^^)
Know your toon:
1. Know how much you heal for, for starters. You only need so much healing power, because during heroic levels healing for 1k is pretty pointless. If you can spare yourself feeling bad about that, then use those enhancements to try and up your DPS, whether that be through spells or melee/range, or both. And besides, playing "How low can you go" with your HP isn't always a bad idea, assuming your a caster most times. It teaches you about SP conservation and who knows, you may even like the little thrill it gives you xD **Disclaimer: lack of proper care with this last idea may lead to death. Avoid Korthos walk of shame, if possible** If you don't have spells to heal, and rely on pots/scrolls only, playing "How low can you go" is not recommended.
2. Know what your toon can do and make the most of it. If your toon runs around only failing saving throws on a 1, you should volunteer for trapped lever pulling or things of that nature, or take it upon yourself to do it without question. Be something more than just another body in the party. Pull your weight.
3. Know what your toon CAN'T do and attempt to minimize this as much as possible. Depending on the person, some zergers might even be ok with letting you pike a quest or two if you can outright acknowledge(for whatever your reasons, maybe your toon is useless until cap, or are a first life with no gear, or forgot to get pots, etc.) that you that you're just a walking -10% xp debuff waiting to happen.
4. Know how to acclimatize to the situation at hand. If you don't have saves, shoot up your hit points. If you don't have HP, shoot up your saves. If you have both, you're doing it right. If you're a zerger, a REAL zerger, and you RUN with other real zergers, then you are effectively a one man army in a party of one man armies. If for whatever reason someone slacks, or people die, be that person to save the day. It's not about ego really, it's about getting the job done, because no one likes to have to recall/restart. In most cases an effective zerger can make up for the XP lost by completing the quest as fast as possible despite the death than the entire party can do by re-attempting a quest. Just, no.
Have a base-knowledge of the game:
1. Feats/Enhancements/Skills: Know which are best to have during Heroic levels, and which are pointless, because spec'ing for end-game can wait for when you hit level cap. If you're a caster, HAVE YOUR METAMAGICS! Enlarge isn't really a thing, Eschew > LoL, extend, meh, maybe and only really in extreme cases. Toughness is pretty much a must for any class. And again, anything that can maximize your toons efficiency and minimize it's faults as far as enhancements goes. Skills. UMDDDDDDD. Can't say that enough.
2. Know your quests: Start building your knowledge of which quests give the most XP, and how to blaze through them as fast as possible. If you're going after an optional, whether it be for a chest with no named loot or less than 1k XP, you're probably doing it wrong. If you're out in wilderness areas trying to max your S/R/E's, you're most definitely doing it wrong. If you went drow because 1 DC is better than hit point/healing amp enhancements... yea, you get where this is going.
3. Know what you need and where: Pots are a staple, and you can never have too many. RemCurse/Disease/Poison/Blind, along with resto/cure/repair pots are indispensable. Carry at LEAST 100 at all times, 2-300 would be ideal so as to not have to hit the vendor so often.
With the above stated, obviously enough:
1. Know what's worth trading for and what's worth keeping! It's apparent you'll need at least some small bank of plat stored around if you want to be a zerger, and really it all pays for itself. I don't typically use more than 100 of each of those pots through 1 life if they're not the ones that give me HP back, so you can run through multi lives without having to worry about that, and most chests looted at near TR cap can pay for a small batch of pots on their own. Considering you'll be opening at least end chests, you'll be fine with even just that. I mean, assuming you're fast enough to get to the end chest before the quest is done, because once XP is alloted...
2. Get out! It's really not about you. Really, but come on, XP is XP. AND WE NEEDS IT. If you get into a quest JUST as it finishes. Recall or head back out through the door you came in. Most times a quest is played by a zerger it's because it's good XP, and if that's the case it's probably farmable too. Unless it was purely for favor. Case in point, you don't wanna be the guy who gets yelled at because he got in late and decided to run to the end for vendor-trash. Please, don't be THAT guy. And on the plus side, if it's being farmed, a real zerger will appreciate that you got out and grabbed the window for them/the party.
A few pointers to keep in mind:
1. Packs. You don't have to have all the content to reach 20(assuming this Zerg implies lots of XP for the purpose of multi-TR'ing, which it does, though exceptions exist). Just the ones that give good XP. TBC can be avoided. But it's nice to have the necros(3 not so much), Delera's, GH, Vale, Sands, etc.
2. Gear. If you're planning on trying the real zerg out, because in all this I was never alluding to that one guy who decides to run into a group of mobs and ask for heals because he's not self-sufficient; nor was I referring to that one guy who ran into a room filled with dragon-eating fiendish dire rabbits, you might want to gear up before hand. Sands is a good one here, for Torc and Bramblecasters, as well as Vale for Greensteel, and Delera's is indispensable for it's Voice of the Master Trinket(+5% xp, NOMNOMNOM).
3. Groups. You might find that as you zerg along in your quest to become Yoshi, you may begin to feel like a bit of a recluse. This isn't unnatural, and in fact you may want to take note that it isn't inclusive of your guildies, if you have any. This is because grouping with like-minded people when it comes to the zerg is extremely profitable over both the short and long runs. Partying up with people who don't share the ideology becomes unappealing, but don't let that get you down. I still run with pugs, and though "Kobold hate you" for dying, it's always a fun experience to chat with people from time to time.
This has all been incredibly abridged, of course, as every aspect of the Zerg is pretty calculated when done effectively. What quest/quest chains to run at what levels, when to bank/take levels, etc. But in the end, all that can wait for the questions, if any, that are soon to follow.
I'm nowhere near the Zerger I would like to be. I still run up to mobs that don't need killing just to smack them around for a bit. I still die because I forgot that there was a trap around an awkward corner. But all in all DDO is meant to be a fun experience, as is any game, and this was simply a way of separating the fast from the slow. (For those who might comment on that last sentence, I'm not trying to imply any one is better than the other. Some simply prefer to take their time. Others prefer to hate waiting for the timer to go away so they can TR again ^^)