Just some random newbie-ish questions

[Afyndax]

been playing for a couple months, and have some general questions that are hard to find answers for.

1. Do most players break barrels-boxes for potions and the ramsack exp bonus? I find some potions very valuable at certain points (acid resist potions makes Butcher´s way chest ambush very easy). But I am also finding it greatly slows me down. I have only been soloing so far..and for that, I am undecided on if it is worth it to go slow breaking barrels. Just curious what other players do.

2. My plan is to solo quests one level below me (so still full exp), then do hard modes that are two levels below (so full exp) and then do elites at three levels below (so full exp). So when I am level 7, I would be doing all the 6´s on normal, all the 5´s on hard, and all the 4´s on elite. Is this possible? or will the elites be too difficult? I know vets and TRs have quests that they always skip, but if I do each one 3 times (N,H,E) will that be enough exp to keep my leveling. I am not in a hurry and prefer to see everything and not run the same quest x12 like I have been seeing in some guides. Note that this is on new characters without tomes, 34pt builds or anything extra.

3. Do low level quests get easier as you get higher level? I know there is scaling.. If I am having trouble doing a lvl 1 elite quest when I am lvl 4..... will it be significantly easier when I am lvl 7.. or will the scaling keep the ´difficulty´about the same. (ha, I can´t keep Heyton alive in Redemption on some of my characters)

[Blazer]

My experience. Others will have a different opinion. Hope this helps.

1. Do most players break barrels-boxes for potions and the ramsack exp bonus? I find some potions very valuable at certain points (acid resist potions makes Butcher´s way chest ambush very easy). But I am also finding it greatly slows me down. I have only been soloing so far..and for that, I am undecided on if it is worth it to go slow breaking barrels. Just curious what other players do.

Many players skip breaking barrels/boxes/etc since it does slow them down. That said, these players have been playing for many years and have enough plat to buy the potions they need. When the game first came out, most players did break the stuff to get potions. If you are new and don't have a huge bankroll, break some stuff if you want. At higher levels, you'll get more money out of chests and the ability to buy potions will be far easier.

2. My plan is to solo quests one level below me (so still full exp), then do hard modes that are two levels below (so full exp) and then do elites at three levels below (so full exp). So when I am level 7, I would be doing all the 6´s on normal, all the 5´s on hard, and all the 4´s on elite. Is this possible? or will the elites be too difficult? I know vets and TRs have quests that they always skip, but if I do each one 3 times (N,H,E) will that be enough exp to keep my leveling. I am not in a hurry and prefer to see everything and not run the same quest x12 like I have been seeing in some guides. Note that this is on new characters without tomes, 34pt builds or anything extra.

Your plan is completely possible. The thing to watch will be the elite quests. A lvl four quest on elite isn't like a level six quest on normal. It will show lvl six on the window but the monsters will be harder to kill and will hit you harder than a lvl six quest, the traps will hit you harder and the saves required against monster spells will be harder. I've read some people's posts that feel elite is really more like +4 to the quest level and not a +2. As expected, familiarity with the dungeon and having some decent low level gear will help with these elite dungeons.

3. Do low level quests get easier as you get higher level? I know there is scaling.. If I am having trouble doing a lvl 1 elite quest when I am lvl 4..... will it be significantly easier when I am lvl 7.. or will the scaling keep the ´difficulty´about the same. (ha, I can´t keep Heyton alive in Redemption on some of my characters)

It should be easier at lvl 7, but that will somewhat depend on your class and your familiarity with the dungeon. A lvl 1 quest on elite can be challenging for a lvl 3 or lvl 4 character, less so for a lvl 7 character and will be no challenge for a lvl 20 character. The scaling won't scale up to the level of the character. As tied into your 2nd question, you'll probably find at lvl 7 the lvl 1 quest on elite will be easier than if you were lvl 4, mostly due to better gear for your character, more HP for you, higher damage output, and so on.

[Hambo]

I find, on a brand new Alt, that doing all the optionals is worthwhile. Considering the 25% Conquest bonus to XP for killing all mobs (there's also a 10 or 15% bonus for killing nothing), the 10 or 15% Ransack bonus for breakables, the bonus for spotting all the secret doors and the bonus for disabling all the traps (if you have at least a level of Rogue) you can almost double the XP earned from a quest.

As far as picking things up, that's your call. If your Alt has nothing then it's free plat/pots/ammo that can be used or sold and sometimes returning/throwing weapons drop.

Collectables are also your call. They can be turned in for free rewards, and some are used in the mid-level Cannith crafting, if you get into that.

I usually solo my Alts until they hit level 9 or 10... Your strategy is sound, until you get to know the quests well and can run the harder difficulties at level.

Low level quests are easier with higher level Alts... hence the penalty to XP awarded, until the level is so high you get 0 XP.

[Afyndax]

Thank you guys.

I like to plan things, and just wasn´t sure how hard things scale. From my experience so far, I think there will be plenty of elite quests that I will not be able to do for full exp (no big deal), my fear was that even if I came back to them a few levels later (and eat the exp penalty), the quests would STILL be too difficult to complete solo because they scale.

[puget]

One thing to remember is, on casual, a quest is one level under the quest level, and it is worth a +25% exp bonus for doing it the first time on that difficulty (also the same for normal/hard fort he first time bonus exp, you get it every difficulty, except elite gives a first time difficulty bonus of +50%)

Normal difficulty is at the level of the quest.

Hard is one level higher than the quest level.

Elite will is technically 2 levels above quest level on normal, but the difficulty of the mobs and traps put it realistically at about 4 levels, and after level 10 5 or 6 levels above. (note this is just as far as difficulty goes)

I play solo/hireling myself and have a bit of experience here, lol along with many others.

Crates and barrels do give you exp, in stages of 5%, 10% and 15% bonus I believe it is.

disabling traps can give as high as 15% bonus exp I believe, it may be 20% for debilitation. Not sure, I don't play rogue.

Secret doors will give 5%, 10%, 20% I believe it is. Just don't always expect to get a bonus when you find the only 1 or 2 secret doors in some quests, and I do not know why this is. Some quests give you a 5% bonus for finding the one hidden door, others don't.

and conquest bonus. You get as high as +25% exp bonus for killing enough mobs, and as low as +15% for only getting the bottom rank of it. I think that is right.

The following link IS NOT in anyway a guide that tells a de-facto list of what you have to kill/find/disable/break to get the bonus tiers, but it DOES show a basic outline of the different ranks and how they work.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Template:XP_bonus


All bonus experience changes with the difficulty level of the quest as well.

And finally, you should go to http://ddowiki.com/ and bookmarkn this page. It is the single best resource available for this game. Using the search bar on it will give you every quest/map/build/whatever you want to know about the game. (this is true for roughly 95% of the current game content, there are some things that it does not have, which are easily googled as well, but it IS the best resource for the game and can save you alot of facepalming or elitist making fun of your question before you ask)


I went ahead and cleaned this up for you so you can see the different ranks/bonus exp given, the breakdown is correct as far as what each tier gives for what % bonus exp.


Bonus XP
Insidious Cunning bonus: +10% Bonus.
Devious bonus: +7% Bonus.
Discreet bonus: +5% Bonus. these are for sneaking through a quest.

Aggression bonus: +10% Bonus.
Onslaught bonus: +15% Bonus.
Conquest bonus: +25% Bonus. these are the kill bonuses


Tamper bonus: +8% Bonus.
Neutralization bonus: +10% Bonus.
Ingenious Debilitation bonus: +15% Bonus. these are the disabling trap bonuses.


Observance bonus: +8% Bonus.
Perception bonus: +10% Bonus.
Vigilant Sight bonus: +15% Bonus. these are the secret door bonuses.


Mischief bonus: +8% Bonus.
Vandal bonus: +10% Bonus.
Ransack bonus: +15% Bonus. these are the breakables (barrel/crate/vases/sarcophagus/coffin...etc.)

[jaegarnel]

Breaking barrels is up to you. You can find some extra money and decent pots in those, plus you can get extra xp for breaking them, but ultimately it's up to your preference. Personally, I break stuff when I see other people in the group doing it (so they don't have to do it all on their own and slow the party down), and leave them alone otherwise.

Your plan for levelling sound fine to me, if you're only interested in soloing. Do note that quests get on average harder as you get to higher level if you don't have twink gear. Korthos quests are very easy compared to most quests in the game.
Some quests (the ones marked either Extreme Challenge, or even balanced party advised) are much harder than others, and if you can solo Proof in the Poison elite on a level 7 new toon, I'd be really impressed. Don't count on soloing quest like The Pit without a guide if you don't want to spend 3 hours in there, either.

Those quests are frankly much easier to do in a party since the game is based around cooperative play.
More importantly, many of the low level quests are easy in order to teach you how to play your class in a group, since as you get to higher level you'll find it very hard to solo quests.
I managed to solo my way through most of the quests, joining PUGs when there was an interesting one, until Gianthold on my wizard, where I still soloed a bit but found the quests nearly impossible to solo above normal. In the Vale now, I don't solo anything except the slayer area.

If you leave it until you can't solo any longer before trying to join groups, you'll probably have a harder time learning how to play in a group, because quests and PUGs in GH or the Vale will likely be much less forgiving of mistakes than those in the Waterworks or the Marketplace.

Edit: It's also worth mentioning that there are a few quests that are impossible to solo, and a few others where it's very hard to do so, requiring specific abilities and a hireling (like Xorian Cipher).

[Afyndax]

I am currently running 7 characters on 7 different servers doing this method.. but only just now hiting level 4 with all of them Two of the characters are being built for group play, a bard buffer and a cleric healer. So far they are more than capable of soloing though and actually have an easier time then some of the others. (eternal wands + buffed heals is OP). So I guess what I am reading is that as I get higher level, I will gradually not be able to keep doing epics at lvl+3.

haha, I am very familiar with the wiki. I did all my character builds using it, and check every quest before doing it the first time. I play WOW, so I know how much more efficient your gametime can be if you do a bit of research first.

My biggest mistake so far was taking rogue at 2nd lvl on my ranger and wiz, which are both going to be 19-1s. Lost a lot of skillpoints. They will both be rerolled to drow when I get to 400 favor, so not too worried about it now.

[Seph1roth5]

1. People want ransack most of the time. The only three situations I think people don't bother is
- the quest is **** xp and you're just flagging (like base 780 xp).
- there are so MANY breakables in the quest that it would take a while, such as needing 100+ breakables. Base xp comes up here too, like...would 100 extra XP reaaaally be worth that much time?
- the lfg said it was a zerg/rush quest

That being said, I don't think anyone's going to get mad if you take a couple sec here and there to break stuff, and the potions can definitely help early on, especially on a first character.

2. Really have to know what packs you have. Personally, I skip tons of quests. Some are really not worth the xp for the difficulty, or just **** XP lol. I rarely do elite early on also unless it's for favor.

Solo-ing is fine but deleras chain will go much better in a team usually. Also probably need a team for the pit/tear of dhakaan, which are huge sources of xp for lv 6-8.

3. It definitely gets easier because you'll get stronger. It depends on what class you are, but getting better feats/prestiges make a big difference. Or if you're a caster, new spells.