Gave up on reaper mode

[jessman615]

redacted

[Cantor]

Yep. I know. Supposed to be challenging . As a casual player the xp is nice as I have multiple past lives and makes leveling grind a bit quicker. But getting killed in one or two shots one R1, I am done. No I dont really have time or means for grouping as most people. Casual player. Dont need any advice. Equipment is subpar and the RNG absolutely hates me. Usually ransacking chests before I even get a named item most times. So better equipment upgrades are next to Nil. Exp needed is atrocious after 3rd life like always. Cant afford to get xp potions constantly. Just disheartening. Anyways whatever. Have a nice day

Reaper is for those who are bored running through elite at max speed with sprint boost killing anything that looks at you. If that's not where you are, dont worry about it, do what is fun.

[jessman615]

redacted

[Marshal_Lannes]

Most success in Reaper, whether defined by item farming or speed in quest completion vs reaper point accumulation, comes from grouping. If you're unwilling to group, then yes, this mode isn't for you. But that's OK, the game supports a staggering number of difficulty levels.

[TFerguson]

Thats the thing, most times my main, melee btw, just gets owned in elite now after 8 lives, not much I know. It takes a month just to get to 20, if I have time. Damage mitagation is almost impossibe, and TRing is getting to be an issue as my cache is inflated beyond inventory limits now. Its just not fun. Before the update I was easily doing elite, now its almost impossible as my dmg is greatly decreased. Most quest after level 10 just own me and seem pointless as rng is terrible. with loot elixirs now, still not getting anything. complete let down.

Sir, there is nothing wrong with this. We have 14 difficulties for a reason.

If reaper is too spicy, don't run reaper. If it's fun in groups, run it in groups. Eventually when you get there you'll find fun in pushin the difficulty higher.

Play at your own pace and have fun. Happy hunting.

[Oxarhamar]

Most success in Reaper, whether defined by item farming or speed in quest completion vs reaper point accumulation, comes from grouping. If you're unwilling to group, then yes, this mode isn't for you. But that's OK, the game supports a staggering number of difficulty levels.

4 outside of Reaper not quite staggering

[Steeme]

I don't think any of the "recent updates" would have affected your levelling experience in heroics - since the adjustments only affected epic levels. Not to mention it is somewhere like 10 times easier to level in epics now - so if anything it should be a breeze.

For farming gear, get yourself to cap, then take some time to farm low level gear. Saltmarsh gear is good because you can use it at level 3 or you can upgrade it to level 20. Feywild gear is incredible.

Build selection is important - my favourite for farming reaper points in heroics on a newish toon is Warlock. Very survivable right out of the gates and has a nice assortment of tools for soloing.

Finally, quest selection is key. Newer content like Saltmarsh and Gatekeepers are much tougher than other quests at the same level. It takes a bit of experience but you eventually learn what difficulty to choose to suit your needs.



If you're unwilling to group, then yes, this mode isn't for you.

This is nonsense.

[jessman615]

redacted

[Cantor]

Thats the thing, most times my main, melee btw, just gets owned in elite now after 8 lives, not much I know. It takes a month just to get to 20, if I have time. Damage mitagation is almost impossibe, and TRing is getting to be an issue as my cache is inflated beyond inventory limits now. Its just not fun. Before the update I was easily doing elite, now its almost impossible as my dmg is greatly decreased. Most quest after level 10 just own me and seem pointless as rng is terrible. with loot elixirs now, still not getting anything. complete let down.

It's not about gear 9r past lives. It's about build and quest knowledge, currently doing HC and half the quests are max speed, first life random gear.

[WruntJunior]

Thats the thing, most times my main, melee btw, just gets owned in elite now after 8 lives, not much I know. It takes a month just to get to 20, if I have time. Damage mitagation is almost impossibe, and TRing is getting to be an issue as my cache is inflated beyond inventory limits now. Its just not fun. Before the update I was easily doing elite, now its almost impossible as my dmg is greatly decreased. Most quest after level 10 just own me and seem pointless as rng is terrible. with loot elixirs now, still not getting anything. complete let down.

Couple recommendations, I know you said you don't need advice but what you said paints a bit of a different story.

Most of the good tr gear is account bound, so you don't have to inflate your tr cache too much. When I was getting completionist on my sorc, I liked to have my tr cache be around 80 items at most. I would then immediately pull everything for non-epic content out of my TR cache so that it was small and the bank would load quickly. If you have an inflated tr cache, look at items that you pull out of your tr cache just to put them back in without using them and ask yourself why you're holding onto them.

Taking some time at cap to farm tr gear makes life much easier. Feywild makes 5-10 super easy, Ravenloft gear at 10 goes a long way towards making the early tens easy, and sharn gear (+ some epic gear at 20+) makes getting back to 30 easy. Put up a group for heroic elite and list in the lfm what item you're looking for and you're highly likely to get it (this made getting 6 shattered onyx rings (heroic and legendary versions, one for each casting stat) much less horrible, for example).

Don't be afraid to use a hireling to get your self-healing done. This is more true of reaper than elite, but self-healing through potions or scrolls or wands can feel bad. Piloting a hireling takes a bit of practice, but bringing out a hireling with raise and heals makes questing easier, even if you only use them to top off after fights.

I don't understand what you mean about you were doing elite easily before the update, heroics haven't changed in a while; however, DDO is very much a preparation and knowledge game: having the right answers to a quest on your character is generally what makes it easy. Getting good gear makes it easy to bypass some of this knowledge (the preparation part), but having a thorough knowledge of quests is an even stronger advantage (see hardcore, and how fast people can get to 30, for example).

[Logicman69]

Casual player. Dont need any advice.

Honestly, I think you do need some advice. If after 8 lives, you are still getting owned in elite, then there is something off with your build. What build are you running? I have a few characters that are melee and can hold their own in elite, even on first life. So give us the breakdown and let us help.

as far as XP goes, yes it is a grind without pots. No real way around that.

[jessman615]

deleted

[slarden]

Try running 4 levels over the quest level. Your heroic xp still beats elite and you only lose 10% of base rxp which ends up being 2-3% once you factor in all the first-time bonuses.

I was able to solo R1 4 levels over on a first-life free-to-play paladin with no hand-me-down gear, no purchases, no passed plat or other goods - just what I earned in game. I believe you can do it too.

As a paladin unyielding sovereignty is your ticket to bypass plague reaper healing debuff which is tougher during heroic levels.

[droid327]

Your complaints don't comport with the common experience of the game, so that suggests the issues you're having aren't because of the reasons you think. There's no reason you should be struggling on heroic elite, with a decent melee build, even with mediocre or incomplete gear. So continuing to bash your head against the wall is irrational and unnecessary. The standard for elite isn't that high, though the standard for reaper isn't as low as you seem to expect, so yeah that's unsurprising and not anything you need to worry about till you master elite.

Your build is the most likely culprit, but we can't diagnose it without more info. You might be able to improve your gear with cannith crafting, if you're having trouble with named item hunting. If you want to be more successful and enjoy the game more, then let people help you enjoy it. If you just enjoy complaining and don't actually want to fix the problems, then don't expect many sympathetic ears...

[jessman615]

thanks for advice all. Ill get it sorted.

[Annex]

For what it is worth, I play on Normal, Hard, Epic Normal, Epic Hard. At higher difficulties, damage comes in too fast for me to counter and the game becomes extremely stressful. I have pretty good equipment and have asked for advice _many_ times. I have tried quite a few 'Reaper Ready' builds including various Paladins but they do not work for me. So it goes. In the end, your happiness flows from what you can accomplish and enjoy, not from what other people think you can accomplish and enjoy. You are not playing for them. You are playing for you.

[krimsonrane]

Sir, there is nothing wrong with this. We have 14 difficulties for a reason.

If reaper is too spicy, don't run reaper. If it's fun in groups, run it in groups. Eventually when you get there you'll find fun in pushin the difficulty higher.

Play at your own pace and have fun. Happy hunting.

There's not 14 levels of difficulty. There's 10 levels of reaper difficulty and elite. Hard, norm and casual do not even count for veteran players. Some do hard out of necessity because the gap between hard and elite is like the difference between R1 and r6.

[TFerguson]

Some do hard out of necessity because the gap between hard and elite is like the difference between R1 and r6.

In what parallel universe is this true?

[krimsonrane]

In what parallel universe is this true?

Do a search in the forums and you'll see.

[TFerguson]

Do a search in the forums and you'll see.

I actually play the game, this is nonsense regardless what the "forums" say.

[droid327]

Do a search in the forums and you'll see.

This used to be partially true, in Epic, because there was a bigger gap for EE than HE. But the stat squish and new ED system have pretty much put EE on par with HE now. It's fully accessible to even moderately-prepared players and there is no "need" to play down to Hard

[ElrondElfKing]

I have 3 heroic lives behind me and am currently playing my second fighter life. I found I could play R1 quests up until 8 or 9, then started getting owned. It depends on the quest also. Temple of Elemental Evil, a level 7 quest, is very challenging for my L10 fighter on elite, especially the boss fights. I run it at elite to farm rusty gilled mushrooms, but end up running it at hard or even normal to complete the quest. I'm buying stock in roasted boar shank. Seriously though, I would like to see the melee characters get a little more love from the devs.

[Weemadarthur]

Do a search in the forums and you'll see.

This is misleading as most of the complaints will be from before U51. U51 got 1 thing pretty much perfect and that's the reduced difficulty in low epics from elite to R4. It has introduced a new problem with epics being too easy top end but the huge jump we had before going from hard to elite is now a lot less of an issue. In short whatever difficulty you were able to complete on heroics will now pretty much continue into epics. Pre U51 going from heroic elite to epic elite was exactly as you said (if not worse) and that is what pretty much all those forum posts will be complaining about.

[Weemadarthur]

I have 3 heroic lives behind me and am currently playing my second fighter life. I found I could play R1 quests up until 8 or 9, then started getting owned.

You may find you are hitting a problem here it took me a while to work out. At level 10 (base quest level) reapers get a huge buff. This is most noticeable in COT6 where you will find the 1st few quest seem really easy then all of a sudden reapers go from an inconvenience to absolute killing machines. Their hp gets inflated and so does their damage. You will find after a few more levels your increased dps will balance it out again but while you are still gaining the past lives and skills to deal with this don't feel bad dropping the difficulty. By the time you reach level 12-13 you will probably find you will be able to handle reapers again.

[Wizard1406]

This is misleading as most of the complaints will be from before U51. U51 got 1 thing pretty much perfect and that's the reduced difficulty in low epics from elite to R4. It has introduced a new problem with epics being too easy top end but the huge jump we had before going from hard to elite is now a lot less of an issue. In short whatever difficulty you were able to complete on heroics will now pretty much continue into epics.

Yeah Epic Rebalancing was great - it's a lot better now.

I'm find epic elite still a step up from heroic elite. Especially before you get higher in the ED. But at least it's doable solo now without taking forever. There are some outliers where mobs hit very hard.

Epic Reaper is also a step up from heroic. It is too difficult in low epic for me, a bad combination of reaper / red crown champ could be the end. And I have not enough dps to burst down plague reapers. At higher destiny levels it gets better but takes too long to be worth soloing for me.... bosses have a lot of HP.

Reaper is much much better in a group, more so in epic and legendary.

[Annex]

Update 51 made things more difficult for me. Many of the quests I ran became significantly harder because the developers stripped away my defenses from Unyielding Sentinel. I cannot even attempt the Level 30/31/32 quests I ran regularly at Level 21 under the old system. Quests like Devil Assault and The Chamber of Raiyum became significantly harder. Update 51 completely sucked.

[krimsonrane]

This is misleading as most of the complaints will be from before U51. U51 got 1 thing pretty much perfect and that's the reduced difficulty in low epics from elite to R4. It has introduced a new problem with epics being too easy top end but the huge jump we had before going from hard to elite is now a lot less of an issue. In short whatever difficulty you were able to complete on heroics will now pretty much continue into epics. Pre U51 going from heroic elite to epic elite was exactly as you said (if not worse) and that is what pretty much all those forum posts will be complaining about.

I don't know enough about post 51 epic levels to speak on them yet. I just extremely hesitantly ETRd my main and barely at 21.

[Weemadarthur]

I don't know enough about post 51 epic levels to speak on them yet. I just extremely hesitantly ETRd my main and barely at 21.

Apologies in advance as I know this is going to sound very cynical and more than a little negative. The key to success post U51 is build for dps. As long as you are playing a dps toon the game is well balanced now (although a little too easy at top difficulties) and tbh dps is now the only metric that really matters. Yes with enough gear/past lives/reaper points you can just about play a tactics or DC build but it will now pretty much be a flavor build in comparison to the new dps options available.

If you think dps+ post U51 epics will seem pretty easy compared to pre U51.

[Weemadarthur]

Yeah Epic Rebalancing was great - it's a lot better now.

I'm find epic elite still a step up from heroic elite. Especially before you get higher in the ED. But at least it's doable solo now without taking forever. There are some outliers where mobs hit very hard.

Epic Reaper is also a step up from heroic. It is too difficult in low epic for me, a bad combination of reaper / red crown champ could be the end. And I have not enough dps to burst down plague reapers. At higher destiny levels it gets better but takes too long to be worth soloing for me.... bosses have a lot of HP.

Reaper is much much better in a group, more so in epic and legendary.

If you don't mind me asking what are you running? I'm not after build specifics but just a general idea of what your character is. Since U51 I have been playing as both an Alchemist and Barb (both were 1st life when U51 landed but are on the 2nd and 3rd now) and can honestly say with both I have found that there is very little difficulty jump from 19-20.

Just to be clear I'm not trying to disprove your statement but more trying to find what struggles and where as I'm currently writing up a new player guide for post U51 with as many helpful tips as I can cram in. Any info your willing to share could potentially be helpful :P

[Wizard1406]

If you don't mind me asking what are you running? I'm not after build specifics but just a general idea of what your character is. Since U51 I have been playing as both an Alchemist and Barb (both were 1st life when U51 landed but are on the 2nd and 3rd now) and can honestly say with both I have found that there is very little difficulty jump from 19-20.

Just to be clear I'm not trying to disprove your statement but more trying to find what struggles and where as I'm currently writing up a new player guide for post U51 with as many helpful tips as I can cram in. Any info your willing to share could potentially be helpful :P

I'm running a PDK paladin. 45ish KOTC , 31 defender, some points in PDK.
That means I'm restricted to Greatswords (falchions would be better dps unless you have a fantastic Greatsword or Greataxe) and I don't have a good greatsword (ESos for ex.), just the borderlands weapons. I only have one dps tree, KOTC. Not sure if I wanted to lose any defenses either, I get hit hard by carnage and plague reaper and champs so I really need them. My heals heal for very little on even R1 and lay on hands has limited charges. I have low single target dps, ok AOE dps.

I can't get my DCs high enough for reliable stuns, so I'm running fury main, fatesinger for the 2 attacks at low level then switch to for exalted for heal aura and wings, 3rd tree 7 pts sentinel for renewal and 2 cores.

Also even heroic R1 isn't that easy for me yet and some quests are (too) tough for me to solo, like Just Business, Roll Call, Best Laid Plans, Toxic Treatment etc. Just heroic elite is easy now (because heals actually do something and no red crown champs and plague reapers).


Before U51 I was running PDK pally too and fire sorcerer who really sucked solo when epics were tougher. No heal outside of cocoon and I got hit too hard and too many mobs had (and still have from what I hear :-/ ) super high reflex saves and/or evasion and my DCs too low for crowd control.

[Weemadarthur]

I'm running a PDK paladin. 45ish KOTC , 31 defender, some points in PDK.
That means I'm restricted to Greatswords (falchions would be better dps unless you have a fantastic Greatsword or Greataxe) and I don't have a good greatsword (ESos for ex.), just the borderlands weapons. I only have one dps tree, KOTC. Not sure if I wanted to lose any defenses either, I get hit hard by carnage and plague reaper and champs so I really need them. My heals heal for very little on even R1 and lay on hands has limited charges. I have low single target dps, ok AOE dps.

I can't get my DCs high enough for reliable stuns, so I'm running fury main, fatesinger for the 2 attacks at low level then switch to for exalted for heal aura and wings, 3rd tree 7 pts sentinel for renewal and 2 cores.

Also even heroic R1 isn't that easy for me yet and some quests are (too) tough for me to solo, like Just Business, Roll Call, Best Laid Plans, Toxic Treatment etc. Just heroic elite is easy now (because heals actually do something and no red crown champs and plague reapers).


Before U51 I was running PDK pally too and fire sorcerer who really sucked solo when epics were tougher. No heal outside of cocoon and I got hit too hard and too many mobs had (and still have from what I hear :-/ ) super high reflex saves and/or evasion and my DCs too low for crowd control.

OK thx for the feedback. I will be doing a couple of Palli lives next on my current Barb. If I find a good setup will PM you the details (I think I can see a couple of things that may help but would prefer to test 1st rather than theory craft as I find the game can throw a few curve balls occasionally with theory based solutions lol).

[Dmitrythewizzy]

It's pretty tough to get those first reaper points if you don't group. Figure that you need decent gear, a bunch of past lives (for me about 20 but I am no min maxer) and 21 reaper points to make R1 my standard solo run. The good news is that there a bunch of people that run R4 with open groups. If you just ask them if you can join and sort of hang back because you have been desperate to get reaper points, then most people will really help you. Look for someone doing a whole cycle that you know well like "Feywild R4" or "Sharn R1" even. Then just tag along.

Your first points should all go into the defensive/saves enhancements until you live through the adventures easily.

[ElrondElfKing]

You may find you are hitting a problem here it took me a while to work out. At level 10 (base quest level) reapers get a huge buff. This is most noticeable in COT6 where you will find the 1st few quest seem really easy then all of a sudden reapers go from an inconvenience to absolute killing machines. Their hp gets inflated and so does their damage. You will find after a few more levels your increased dps will balance it out again but while you are still gaining the past lives and skills to deal with this don't feel bad dropping the difficulty. By the time you reach level 12-13 you will probably find you will be able to handle reapers again.Ok, that's good news. Thanks for the tip!

[Wizard1406]

It's pretty tough to get those first reaper points if you don't group. Figure that you need decent gear, a bunch of past lives (for me about 20 but I am no min maxer) and 21 reaper points to make R1 my standard solo run. The good news is that there a bunch of people that run R4 with open groups. If you just ask them if you can join and sort of hang back because you have been desperate to get reaper points, then most people will really help you. Look for someone doing a whole cycle that you know well like "Feywild R4" or "Sharn R1" even. Then just tag along.

Your first points should all go into the defensive/saves enhancements until you live through the adventures easily.


This is solid advice. Get to lvl 30 and try to do all the legendary quests (30+) on reaper in a group. Legendary gives the most reaper xp by far and with first time bonus it's even more.
Trying to get a significant amount of reaper xp solo is slow and miserable, especially lower level quests which hardly give any rxp on low reaper.

If you want to contribute more to groups, even at low gear/PL/reaper point levels, play a healer or spellsinger buffer. Otherwise just be careful and hang back, only attack mobs that have been attacked by someone else first or are crowd controlled. It's still hard, especially as melee, and as any role sometimes you'll get oneshot out of the blue (spell by redcrown champ / reaper, cleave by some mobs etc.). Hang in there, it gets better with every point spend in grim barricade. After 21 pts you can branch out in a second reaper tree.