Difficulty, Exprience & Levels

[bookmarked]

So, as a newbie with a non-VIP account, I can only solo quests on Normal or lower difficulty the first time. Is it a good or bad idea to re-run the same quests on Hard or Elite?

At first, I was thinking that re-running at higher levels is good because it gives more experience, possibly better loot, and more favor. Now it occurs to me that by gaining experience more quickly, I may eventually start out-leveling content I haven't even run yet.

What's the right way to approach this? Should I save Hard and Elite for second and third lives?

Thanks!

[mikarddo]

So, as a newbie with a non-VIP account, I can only solo quests on Normal or lower difficulty the first time. Is it a good or bad idea to re-run the same quests on Hard or Elite?

At first, I was thinking that re-running at higher levels is good because it gives more experience, possibly better loot, and more favor. Now it occurs to me that by gaining experience more quickly, I may eventually start out-leveling content I haven't even run yet.

What's the right way to approach this? Should I save Hard and Elite for second and third lives?

Thanks!

Basically, have fun and dont worry about it. Try different ways to see what works well for you. You definitely should not aim at playing every quest during the first life - just play and enjoy and experience other quests next life.

[archest]

depends on the quest.
try and group with elite level as reaper until you get reaper defense you will be dying all the time on 1st life especially if your new and dont understand diversion and incite.
Hard Core trick is to do quests at 2 levels below yours on elite.
post to lfm need opener in the comments section of the creations template, when creating a group for the quest you want to run.
if no-one opens or you wait for a few and none joins then run it normal and then hard and then elite if you have the patience as the rewards will help in leveling your toon with better equipment.

[Alisonique]

Basically, have fun and dont worry about it. Try different ways to see what works well for you. You definitely should not aim at playing every quest during the first life - just play and enjoy and experience other quests next life.

Listen to Mikarddo..........you know it makes sense!
Play it how you want, join reapers if you want, or play N,H,E if thats your thing, or play as many different quests as possible so you get the full experience.
My 2d

[Saekee]

Just to add—length of quest may influence your decisions.

Another option is to think about what long-term gear you would like for your toon and then repeating a quest a few times becomes an effort to farm out some piece or two. Repeating some quests will also give you quest knowledge which goes far.

I emphasize with Mikkado et al to have fun—individual character power in this game is nigh-limitless so either burnout on the rocket pad or enjoy the view shooting up.

Some quests do not need to be run in elite to reap the benefitd of gearing, like the Threnal chain (I think), Sorrowdusk and Red Fens, maybe even Attack on Stormreach too—the gear is in the end reward list that shouldn’t be too affected by difficulty level. So cruise those if alone and get some good gear, maybe repeat some of the quests that you really liked too.

[axel15810]

Basically, have fun and dont worry about it. Try different ways to see what works well for you. You definitely should not aim at playing every quest during the first life - just play and enjoy and experience other quests next life.

This.

Especially as a first life character, which have lower XP requirements to level, you're not going to have to worry about trying to hit every quest even on normal. Just run what you want. Did you get the free questing coupon? If so you'll especially have oodles of content to choose from. DDO has tons of content. If you want to rerun on higher difficulties you can but you can level to cap on just normal just fine if you want.

And yeah if you rerun everything 3x to get to elite you'll definitely be out leveling content before you can hit it all.

[Nebless]

So, as a newbie with a non-VIP account, I can only solo quests on Normal or lower difficulty the first time. Is it a good or bad idea to re-run the same quests on Hard or Elite?

At first, I was thinking that re-running at higher levels is good because it gives more experience, possibly better loot, and more favor. Now it occurs to me that by gaining experience more quickly, I may eventually start out-leveling content I haven't even run yet.

What's the right way to approach this? Should I save Hard and Elite for second and third lives?

Thanks!

You will out level yes, BUT from your statement "I can only solo quests on Normal or lower difficulty" I'm taking it that you're finding dungeons to be too difficult at Hard and Elite settings? If that's the case and all you'll be doing is soloing than over-leveling will be the way to go so you can do dungeons on higher difficulty levels, which means more Favor which is the name of the game really since favor = free store points and server unlocks.

I generally do a set of dungeons (like on Korthos) all at the normal setting and once that's done will come back and make the rotation on Hard, repeat for Elite. Once in the Harbor than I just work through the dungeons by level, do all the lvl 2's on normal, then hard, then elite. That helps to keep the over-leveling in check.
Granted I did hit lvl 7 on the Hardcore server and was just into the The Catacombs quest pack (lvl 3 and 4), but you don't stop getting XP until you're 6? levels over so as long as you stay within the window you'll get xp and with the optionals, first time bonus etc.... you still do OK on the xp side.

If you didn't get the all quests coupon, than you only have 75 lvl 1 to 10 quests and another 25 lvl 11 to 20 quests to play free so you might as well milk them for all they're worth.

[bookmarked]

Sorry I wasn't more clear. I did use the DDOQUESTS2021 coupon, so I have lots of questing ahead of me. It's not so much that I'm finding Hard or Elite too difficult, it's the fact that since I'm not on a VIP account, Hard is locked until I run Normal, and Elite is locked until I run Hard. I'm mostly soloing because of health and technical problems, but also because I'm not an experienced gamer and I'm still working everything out.

I guess from reading through the wiki and forum, everything seems to stress running quests on elite or reaper. Even the wiki article on Difficulty (https://ddowiki.com/page/Difficulty#Unlocking_higher_difficulties) says "Most players want to do elite on their first run." Add in the Guide to Free to Play (https://ddowiki.com/page/Guide_to_Free_to_Play) and Free to Play DDO Point walkthrough (https://ddowiki.com/page/Free_to_Play_DDO_Point_walkthrough) and the benefits of earning favor to get DP to buy more content, classes, races, etc. Running quests on Elite seemed like what I should be doing. Having to first run them on Normal and again on Hard was just the price I paid for not paying for VIP status. I made my original post when I realized that if I ran everything on Normal, Hard, and Elite that experience might level me out of a lot of quests. I was just trying to confirm that to see if I needed to change my approach.


I generally do a set of dungeons (like on Korthos) all at the normal setting and once that's done will come back and make the rotation on Hard, repeat for Elite. Once in the Harbor than I just work through the dungeons by level, do all the lvl 2's on normal, then hard, then elite. That helps to keep the over-leveling in check.

See, this is what I was thinking I should be doing, but I'm getting the impression from most that I should just run through on Normal, unless I need to farm gear or something and save Hard and Elite for later lives, right?

[Nebless]

I guess from reading through the wiki and forum, everything seems to stress running quests on elite or reaper. Even the wiki article on Difficulty (https://ddowiki.com/page/Difficulty#Unlocking_higher_difficulties) says "Most players want to do elite on their first run." Add in the Guide to Free to Play (https://ddowiki.com/page/Guide_to_Free_to_Play) and Free to Play DDO Point walkthrough (https://ddowiki.com/page/Free_to_Play_DDO_Point_walkthrough) and the benefits of earning favor to get DP to buy more content, classes, races, etc. Running quests on Elite seemed like what I should be doing. Having to first run them on Normal and again on Hard was just the price I paid for not paying for VIP status. I made my original post when I realized that if I ran everything on Normal, Hard, and Elite that experience might level me out of a lot of quests. I was just trying to confirm that to see if I needed to change my approach.

See, this is what I was thinking I should be doing, but I'm getting the impression from most that I should just run through on Normal, unless I need to farm gear or something and save Hard and Elite for later lives, right?

Well I don't agree with "Most players want to do elite on their first run." Generally the one's that want to play that way are on the TR hamster wheel and are trying to blow through the content the fastest way possible. You say you're running solo because you're not an experienced gamer and still working everything out. Well one thing that will help you is running the dungeons on each level of difficulty. I'm been here since 2009 and have maybe grouped for dungeons a half dozen times and most of those were with my youngest son who I carried through them.

Yes if you use my method, you'll over-level, but not to the point of out leveling dungeons where you get NO XP at all. You'd still get favor points as those aren't based on your level, just no XP.

As to just doing Normal this life, then Hard the next etc.... It's all up to you and how you want to play your game, me; I have no interest in ever TRing nor in running Reaper. I'm just here to run the dungeons on all the difficulty levels to test myself and have some fun.

[SkyJ89]

Sorry I wasn't more clear. I did use the DDOQUESTS2021 coupon, so I have lots of questing ahead of me. It's not so much that I'm finding Hard or Elite too difficult, it's the fact that since I'm not on a VIP account, Hard is locked until I run Normal, and Elite is locked until I run Hard. I'm mostly soloing because of health and technical problems, but also because I'm not an experienced gamer and I'm still working everything out.

I guess from reading through the wiki and forum, everything seems to stress running quests on elite or reaper. Even the wiki article on Difficulty (https://ddowiki.com/page/Difficulty#Unlocking_higher_difficulties) says "Most players want to do elite on their first run." Add in the Guide to Free to Play (https://ddowiki.com/page/Guide_to_Free_to_Play) and Free to Play DDO Point walkthrough (https://ddowiki.com/page/Free_to_Play_DDO_Point_walkthrough) and the benefits of earning favor to get DP to buy more content, classes, races, etc. Running quests on Elite seemed like what I should be doing. Having to first run them on Normal and again on Hard was just the price I paid for not paying for VIP status. I made my original post when I realized that if I ran everything on Normal, Hard, and Elite that experience might level me out of a lot of quests. I was just trying to confirm that to see if I needed to change my approach.



See, this is what I was thinking I should be doing, but I'm getting the impression from most that I should just run through on Normal, unless I need to farm gear or something and save Hard and Elite for later lives, right?

I'm a non vip player. From my past experience as a first lifer, I usually join group whenever I get the chance. Since I can't open elite, I usually solo on normal while observing the grouping panel for elite or reaper group. If there is a group going on, I'll join and usually follow where people goes and observe their action. Tbh I don't complain much about my death since I'm a new player, its pretty much expected. I'm not worry that I'm not contributing in a group either. The important thing is to learn how people run the dungeon. If I'm still not clear about a dungeon, I usually go solo on normal and explore it myself. And If I ever get stuck, there are always youtube guide that could guide me through.

Pretty much what wiki say if u are non vip. Favor is very important to us. It let us unlock content. But I wouldn't expect u to solo on elite or reaper till u get couple of lives in. The time will come when u are able to solo reaper. So join a group. Its the best way to play for non vip. It help u get max favor and u get to see how people play the game. Make friends in between too.

[SlowDM]

1st. Relax and enjoy the game. Players now concentrate on 1 or 2 characters. You should do that too. Try joining some groups. But they will run the quest fast. It can be difficult to keep up . Don’t worry about killing much . Remember to say I’m new and want to see how to do quests.
Important . In fast groups just try to keep up with the players, let them do the work for you. Try not to die is the best . Doing quests on normal is fine, maybe do easy 1s on hard or elite.
If you are sensible and don’t annoy the Uber players, they will help and give you magic items .

[KoobTheProud]

What @SlowDM said. Play the game the way that is giving you the most enjoyment.

If I was starting out now I'd see every quest once before I started to run repetitively on higher difficulties. There is so much content available at this point if you used one of the quest coupons that you cannot possibly see all of it before capping out at 20 in heroics.

The logical thing to do is to run everything you can and pay attention to where Sagas are available because you definitely want to run each Saga as it becomes available. You'll figure out what to do with the Saga rewards as you progress.

Pay attention to the LFG's in the Social Panel. There are some very good quests that are very hard for a new player to complete. The Pit comes to mind here but there are some quests that actually cannot be completed alone due to a requirement of multiple exclusive levers to progress or similar effect.

Don't tag along with a zerg group unless leveling is your primary objective. Zerg groups are very good at leveling but tend to be very bad at walking new players through instances. This means that to keep up you will frequently have to abandon chests and it can be difficult to find quest givers to collect rewards as well. For a particular quest, like the Pit, the XP is so good that it's probably worth bobbing in a vet groups wake. Most quests you are better figuring it out on your own and getting all the loots in the process.