In which order should I buy Epic Packs if I don't own the expansion?

[Nayus]

I feel I'm seriously lacking content at Epic Level... I currently only have Gianthold, Thunderholme and Red Fens.
Looking for good loot and fun quests, I was personally thinking about Secrets of the Artificers, to unlock Arty, 2 raids, Alchemical Crafting and those awesome looking quests but it only has 2 Epics and they seem both underplayed, even though they're raids.

Server is Thelanis, if it matters for sake of population or effort to find a group.

[EllisDee37]

Vault of Night first.

[Circon]

I feel I'm seriously lacking content at Epic Level... I currently only have Gianthold, Thunderholme and Red Fens.
Looking for good loot and fun quests, I was personally thinking about Secrets of the Artificers, to unlock Arty, 2 raids, Alchemical Crafting and those awesome looking quests but it only has 2 Epics and they seem both underplayed, even though they're raids.

Server is Thelanis, if it matters for sake of population or effort to find a group.

Vault of Night, Demon Sands, High Road would be my high-priority suggestions.

Secrets of the Artificers is meh, I'd just buy the artificer class.

[Sisma]

Wait... maybe I'm missing something... but... you HAVE Epic Destinies, do you?

[axel15810]

First of all, definitely buy MoTU from the marketplace if you don't have it. It's a good deal, tons of content and EDs. You have to have epic destinies or your epic toon will be horribly gimp.

Next I'd say Thunderholme/Haunted Halls packs.

I actually really enjoy High Road but it doesn't seem to be very popular

Shadowfell is OK, but can be skipped. Stormhorns is a nice area/quests. Wheloon is so-so.

Druids deep you can skip.

[arkonas]

I feel I'm seriously lacking content at Epic Level... I currently only have Gianthold, Thunderholme and Red Fens.
Looking for good loot and fun quests, I was personally thinking about Secrets of the Artificers, to unlock Arty, 2 raids, Alchemical Crafting and those awesome looking quests but it only has 2 Epics and they seem both underplayed, even though they're raids.

Server is Thelanis, if it matters for sake of population or effort to find a group.

i like high road, carnival, menace of the underdark, vault of night aka von.


there is a deal right now on the market that say you buy shadowfell base for 30. you can add the collectors edition menace of underdark for 1/2 price. so about $48 or so. not sure how long that deal is good for but its pretty nice.

[Chaimberland]

First of all, definitely buy MoTU from the marketplace if you don't have it. It's a good deal, tons of content and EDs. You have to have epic destinies or your epic toon will be horribly gimp.

Next I'd say Thunderholme/Haunted Halls packs.

I actually really enjoy High Road but it doesn't seem to be very popular

Shadowfell is OK, but can be skipped. Stormhorns is a nice area/quests. Wheloon is so-so.

Druids deep you can skip.

I agree with all of this except skipping Druid's Deep. You get 3 commodations of either cleric, villager, PDK, war wizards.....you get the idea, everytime you complete the chain. You can run it first time on highest difficulty for the xp then repeat on casual to quickly farm any commodations you need. The sets you can trade for are good for levels 20-24.

[Cardtrick]

I agree with all of this except skipping Druid's Deep. You get 3 commodations of either cleric, villager, PDK, war wizards.....you get the idea, everytime you complete the chain. You can run it first time on highest difficulty for the xp then repeat on casual to quickly farm any commodations you need. The sets you can trade for are good for levels 20-24.

The problem is that you quite quickly get to the point where commendations are of almost no use to you whatsoever, unless you're running a lot of alts up to epic levels. For one or two characters on a TR/eTR grind or just staying at cap, commendations are pointless.

[Chaimberland]

The problem is that you quite quickly get to the point where commendations are of almost no use to you whatsoever, unless you're running a lot of alts up to epic levels. For one or two characters on a TR/eTR grind or just staying at cap, commendations are pointless.

I guess it depends on the situation then. I do have a lot of alts I'm running up to epic levels. I have know idea what the OP's position is but there seems to be a lot of good suggestions in this thread that could fit many needs & situations.

[Thalone]

Here are the epic packs you don't have (minus Haunted Halls, which I haven't got myself, so I can't comment intelligently).

Sands--Raid yields some sought-after items for caster TRs (Torc, Belt Buckle). A source of Greater Tokens if you need them (you don't currently have a pack that grants them), for converting VoM/Mantle to an augment or for augments at the Twelve. Side quests are very common for heroic levelling. Wiz King is run often at epic for XP/loot. The raid is not so common anymore on Thelanis, but can be soloed on normal so long as you have ranged abilities.
VoN--Most quests in the pack are run often at heroic and epic levels. A source of Greater Tokens.
DA--Chrono raid for Greater Tokens, run sometimes. DA is typically a regular token farm (someone solos quest and invites five people in to pass their tokens on completion). Not really a pack run at heroic.
Sentinels--Spies in the House: one of the highest XP/min quests currently, though Pit-like in its navigation. Source of some useful epic items like Vertigo +15 armour, assassin kukri. However, epic parts have a depressing drop rate. I don't see too many LFMs for this pack, but they're not too hard if you have to solo them. Chain rewards give BtA gear if you're a crafter.
Carnival--Fairly easy pack, again, not run too often. Source of the Epic Antique Greataxe, the all-purpose melee DR breaker. Drop rates are again depressing. Chain rewards give BtA gear if you're a crafter.
Artificer--Greater Tokens in the raids and crafting options. Quests are heroic only. The raids are run quite rarely; I only see a couple of people PUGging them and it seems to take very long to fill.
MotU--No tokens. I find the Eveningstar and Demonweb chains have annoying explorer zones to get to the quests. One of the forest quests literally takes longer to run to than running the quest itself, and the Demonweb zone is semirandomised. The raid is not run often nowadays due to the free boxes and horrid commendation drop rates.
Druid--No tokens. I don't see LFMs up for these often.
High Road--No tokens. I see LFMs up for these regularly.
Shadowfell--No tokens. I see LFMs up for these regularly. The Wheloon quests are in an explorer which can red alert very quickly, but the quests are fairly easy to get to. The Stormhorns area is gigantic, and I haven't run through it much yet. Many people have complained about the Shadowfell visual effect, some to the point where they get physically dizzy.


So I would suggest either VoN or Sands so you have a source of Greater Tokens and an XP farm quest; choose depending on the raid loot you would prefer. Then fill with whatever reasons you prefer: XP, loot, favour, etc.

[axel15810]

If you're looking for the most commonly played epic content, that would probably be -

1) Vault of Night. Von 5/6 is still ran a lot and Von 3 is by far the #1 most played epic quest because of it's XP. All quests are easy to get to and have good or amazing XP.

2) Gianthold - Ran quite often. Good XP/CoV drop rate. People need the relics for epic augments. Fall of Truth is still ran somewhat often for heroic commendations to upgrade CiTW gear or purchase augments. Quests are fairly easy to get to.

3) Web of Chaos Chain - free to play but thought I'd mention. Easy to get to, good XP.

4) Thunderholme/Haunted Halls. Brand New and currently has the best weapons and armor in the game.

5) Sands - Solely Wiz King because of the XP. Demon Queen is rarely run anymore. Other sands epic quests are rarely to never run.

6) Wheloon/Druid's Deep/High Road - XP is so-so for Druid's Deep/HIgh Road. Wheloon XP is good. All quests are easy to get to however. Wheloon can be a pain to run because of the Shadowfell effect making it hard to see.

7) MoTU - Run ocassionally, but many quests are a pain to get to which is probably why they are run much less than others. Caught in the Web is not run often because it's long/laggy and raider's boxes nulled its loot's appeal.

8)Stormhorns - fairly new, Good XP/CoV but the quests are difficult and/or very long and many are hard to get to. Because of that they are not run that often.

Everything else in my experience is hardly ever run. This is my experience from Thelanis. Other servers could be different.

[EllisDee37]

The problem is that you quite quickly get to the point where commendations are of almost no use to you whatsoever, unless you're running a lot of alts up to epic levels. For one or two characters on a TR/eTR grind or just staying at cap, commendations are pointless.The deathward potions are nice, and are unbound.

[PermaBanned]

I keep seeing Stormhorns & Wheloon talked about separately, but I thought they were only purchasable jointly under the Shadowfell *ahem* "expansion," am I mistaken? Can I purchase just the Stormhorns quests (and if so, is it markedly cheaper vs basic Shadow Xpac?) if that's all I'm interested in? If it matters, I am asking stricly about the DDO store (using points) not the cash marketplace. Won't be able to log in and check for myself for another 4ish hours, so thought I'ld ask...

[Thalone]

No, they are part and parcel of the same "pack." One Shadowfell pack in the in-game store contains three arcs (Disciples/Wheloon/Stormhorns) plus PDK, while the more expensive one also includes Sun Elf and Shadar-Kai.

[PermaBanned]

No, they are part and parcel of the same "pack." One Shadowfell pack in the in-game store contains three arcs (Disciples/Wheloon/Stormhorns) plus PDK, while the more expensive one also includes Sun Elf and Shadar-Kai.

Ah, as I thought then (darn!). Thanx for clarifying :)

[HungarianRhapsody]

The problem is that you quite quickly get to the point where commendations are of almost no use to you whatsoever, unless you're running a lot of alts up to epic levels. For one or two characters on a TR/eTR grind or just staying at cap, commendations are pointless.

Turbine has said that they're going to be expanding the number of things that CoV are used for. Even if you're going to sit at cap for a while, it may still be worth grabbing the CoV instead of vendor loot. As CoV become used for more and more things, it would be nice to have plenty in the bank waiting for you.

Besides, what else are you going to pick up with your end rewards? Vendor trash?

[arkonas]

I keep seeing Stormhorns & Wheloon talked about separately, but I thought they were only purchasable jointly under the Shadowfell *ahem* "expansion," am I mistaken? Can I purchase just the Stormhorns quests (and if so, is it markedly cheaper vs basic Shadow Xpac?) if that's all I'm interested in? If it matters, I am asking stricly about the DDO store (using points) not the cash marketplace. Won't be able to log in and check for myself for another 4ish hours, so thought I'ld ask...

ah ok i only mentioned the ddo market because when you really do the math on the points spent. you get a better deal through the ddo market then ddo store. i guess if you have the points and just want the content i guess that is ok.

so say you didnt have the points for the standard shadowfell. its 2495. so if you needed a lot of points you would need to spend $35. ddo market $30
ddo store shadowfell collectors 4495 point price if you needed points either $19.99 and the $34.99. alternative of course $59.99 ddo market collectors $50

so that is just point comparison with prices if you might lack points. so imo buying in the ddo market is the cheaper way to go. yet again just me.