A few newbie questions related to soloing with Arties

[My2Cents]

I've a few quick newbie artificer questions. I mostly solo (often with hirelings) and:

- Human vs. WF : I hear everyone say how nice it is to have self-healing, but when I play I often tend to forget to heal myself in the heat of battle, and with other toons have needed a cleric hireling anyway.

So is WF really worth it or am I gonna still need those cleric hirelings as much, if not for my healing for other hirelings? Also, I'd have to heal those other hirelings if no cleric. Will my hirelings do the job as well as they did with my other non-WF toons? (Assuming I take relevant healrs' friend type feats, etc.)

- Crafting: Everyone tells me I should take a Human for the extra 10 levels beyond the extra 10 the WF get, but honestly, since it takes me so very long to level anyway I'm not sure it will matter as I want to start levelling my crafter now. Maybe I should make the crafter a 3rd toon anyway? Do I want my crafter to be someone I run often or just on its own (inventory space, people bothering me to craft, etc.)

I've started a newbie WF artie and frankly I miss the extra human feats and dragonmakrs.

So, really, given my slow play and hireling based play, is WF really a better pick?

Sign me, trying to break through the ambivalence and get on with DDO life...

[Roguewiz]

Honestly, with the advent of Contruct Essence (which allows you to use repairs on yourself at 50% efficiency, but take a minor hit in normal healing) go fleshy isn't a bad idea. Humans also have an extra feats, skills, etc. Personally, I'd go Halfling or Human, but that's just me.

[Failedlegend]

Also Human Damage Boost + Arty Fusillade = Win especially if you add quickdraw and IPS to that

[Roguewiz]

I thought quick draw only effected the switching of gear, and throwing weapons? The wiki states that it doesn't work with other ranged weapons.

Now, it does say that Quick Draw stacks with Rapid Shot, but since Quick Draw can't be used with other ranged weapons, it shouldn't effect Crossbows/Bows.

Or is the information the wiki has inaccurate?

[Failedlegend]

I thought quick draw only effected the switching of gear, and throwing weapons? The wiki states that it doesn't work with other ranged weapons.

Now, it does say that Quick Draw stacks with Rapid Shot, but since Quick Draw can't be used with other ranged weapons, it shouldn't effect Crossbows/Bows.

Or is the information the wiki has inaccurate?

Unless they stealth nerfed it with U11 It also reduces the activation and cool down times for action boosts...the quick weapon swapping is just a bonus.

[Roguewiz]

It also reduces the activation and cool down times for action boosts...the quick weapon is just a bonus.

Ah ha! That is a nice bonus.

(quickly opens up the ddo character creator to see if he can fit it in)

[EarlofPain]

If you spend most of your time in solo mode play around with it. Explore, try different things, and learn what your play style is. Crafting is nice but for a casual player you are going to level past what you can get very quickly. I still suggest you learn how to make your own bolts. Nothing like a fire crossbow, with an electric rune arm, acid bolts, and an ice energy spell. Artificer are very new and have so much to offer they can be built dozens of ways. The worst that can happen is you'll have some fun getting gear/cash for your next character.

[erei]

I've made an Helf. I don't have the extra feat, but I have human versatility and stuff, plus dilly rogue (3d6 SA)...
With construct essence, and mending clickies (+75% repair), I can self heal without too much problem. And with improved recovery, I only loose 5% from normal healing, which include wands (charge retained and bonuses from art).
So I can heal myself with my spells, wand, and any cleric (hireling or human).

I think it's more a matter of taste in the end.

About crafting : the more you lvlup in craft, the more you need to do, and the more expensive it is. So at the beginning, 10lvl is nothing, but in the end, it's hours for hard work. But using 1-3feat for craft mean you are less effective in a fight, so I suggest to use this only if you want to do a pure crafter.

[DeafeningWhisper]

I've made an Helf. I don't have the extra feat, but I have human versatility and stuff, plus dilly rogue (3d6 SA)...
With construct essence, and mending clickies (+75% repair), I can self heal without too much problem. And with improved recovery, I only loose 5% from normal healing, which include wands (charge retained and bonuses from art).
So I can heal myself with my spells, wand, and any cleric (hireling or human).

I think it's more a matter of taste in the end.

About crafting : the more you lvlup in craft, the more you need to do, and the more expensive it is. So at the beginning, 10lvl is nothing, but in the end, it's hours for hard work. But using 1-3feat for craft mean you are less effective in a fight, so I suggest to use this only if you want to do a pure crafter.

Actually my Marks have saved my bacon a few times, they have zero cool downs so you can use your repair spell and spam all your marks for a nice burst of healing.

[Roguewiz]

I didn't have a chance to use my Dragonmark this weekend, at least in the respect of saving myself. Typcially, I'm pretty good about keeping myself alive with wands, potions, spells, etc.

What I have problems with is when a Kobold Shaman (on elite) fires off a Lightning Bolt that hits me, arcs to my henchman/pet/party member, then arcs back to me.

Pretty much everytime I died this weekend was due to a Lightning Bolt! (of course, we ran every quest we did on elite...40 elites in a row and counting!)

[My2Cents]

Ok so if I go human I can get 50% on my repair spells at -25% from niormal. But what about hireling healers if I am WF? Still need em for other hirelings right?

And it seemed as a WF I didn't get a few of the human feats that were really handy for Xbows...(I can't remember which.)

I am finding my WF arti seems to fire his weapon a lot more slowly than a Human I tried on lammania but that might be my misperception due to level differences.

As for crafting, I would only go crafting either as a diversion or as something to do with my extra look I pick up on other toons or possibly to craft for others. At this point I don't realistically expect to be able to do any greensteel crafting, and I guess the only other thing to do with my extra weapons and essences is to make a crafter or sell for plat.

Do I want an active toon to be a crafter or do I want a stand alone crafter?

Can I get along without the extra 20 level boost if I keep a non human non WF alt as crafter? If its just a matter of hours, that's not a big deal for me.

[Roguewiz]

Keep in mind, if you do crafting on the toon you're playing, you can make bound items; which are cheaper for the components and have a lower required level. If you use another toon, then you will need a higher skill in order to move items around

[andreascott89]

Keep in mind, if you do crafting on the toon you're playing, you can make bound items; which are cheaper for the components and have a lower required level. If you use another toon, then you will need a higher skill in order to move items around

The shards you craft are bound to account, so you can move items around on the same account without much problem.

You only need 1 toon per account to have crafting skill to take advantage of bound crafting.

J

[Roguewiz]

The shards you craft are bound to account, so you can move items around on the same account without much problem.

You only need 1 toon per account to have crafting skill to take advantage of bound crafting.

J

Good to know! I didn't know the bound shards were bound to account.

So the items themselves aren't bound to account, but since the shards are and the combine into the item doesn't have a skill level; swapping shards around makes sense.

Thank you for the info

[Shareeth]

Good to know! I didn't know the bound shards were bound to account.

So the items themselves aren't bound to account, but since the shards are and the combine into the item doesn't have a skill level; swapping shards around makes sense.

Thank you for the info

shards are bound to account, but the item you make w/ a bound shard is bound to the character that used that shard. with unbound shards, the item enhanced is tradeable to anyone, but once that person equips the item, it is then bound to character.

[joeuhuh]

in my opinion crafting to lvl 30 shoudl be deconstruct and usefullshards only for xp saving essences for higher lvl recipes decon to lvl 30 isnt that hard prehaps lvl as a ranger deconing allthe way then tr to arti get the 2 to ranged dmg and then addin the arti free craft lvls

[Kaeper]

I haven't found hirelings to be needed.

Construct essence on a non WF or plain WF both have strong self healing. Human with the Cannith dragonmarks & construct essence gets additional no-mana heals which can be pretty useful in addition to the crafting boost.

Warforged is easiest to combat heal as they get the full bonus.