How to Free mium Dungeons & Dragons Online (2021 DDO Play Guide)
The Freemium model was released in 2009, in the subsequent 14 years there have been numerous pay to play expansions that include quests as well as level cap increases from 20-32. If you want to dive straight into the modern game it can be expensive. Whether there is still some fun to be had with Freemium depends on perspective.
At the time of writing (June 2021) there are two options for playing DDO, a recurring monthly VIP subscription, or to play as a Freemium player.
If you have (or plan to buy) a recurring VIP subscription then this guide is not for you. This guide is intended for players who wish to try the Freemium option.
I will discuss two options for Freemium play, a short term plan and a long term plan.
The short term plan
First you need to choose your mission:
A trip to Demon Sands, or
A trip to Gianthold
(choose one trip and accept the mission to earn 950 DDO points)
The best way to complete your mission is to create one character on each server, for a total of eight characters, then earn 100 favor on each character. You will receive a first time server bonus of 100 DDO points plus 25 DDO points for each character reaching 100 favor. 8 characters x 125 DDO points = 1000 DDO points.
Choosing a race:
Human is a good choice.
Dwarf is good for anything but Paladin, Cleric (Dwarf has -2 charisma).
Take care when choosing an Elf or a Halfling, you really need a minimum of 14 constitution and 12 strength. Constitution increases a characters hit points. Strength is required to carry inventory items without becoming encumbered, and low strength will make you vunerable to ray of enfeeblement. Random loot drops will commonly include items with a strength or constitution bonus. It is possible to put 10 build points into strength then use a +2 item to get to the recommended minimum. (A good guild can get you +2 STR from a ship buff.)
Choosing a class:
Stick to the classes with good solo ability, Barbarian, Cleric, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger.
If you are a new character with just 28 build points and no gear, it is better to avoid the more challenging classes if you hope to complete your mission in good time.
A good place to start can be Dwarf Barbarian (number 1 on the list)
or maybe an Elf Ranger
or a Human Paladin.
Each class has it's own skill set but there are three essential skills you will need for quest completion, jump, swim, and search (for a hidden door). You do not have to spend points in these three skills, you can use a jump potion/spell, a potion/spell of waterbreathing, and an item with a search skill boost.
There are also three essential gear items you will need to carry. A speed item (typically 15% speed to begin with) or expeditious retreat spell/clicky. A feather falling item, and a deathblock item.
Recommended potions to keep with you are remove curse, remove disease, and remove blindness, and grab a hireling to help you.
Edit October 2022: As of the 16th Anniversary update, the number of races and classes included in Freemium has increased.
Producer's Letter - February 2022
The addition of Druid and Warlock classes adds a couple of great spellcasting builds for new characters.
So you have eight characters on eight different servers!
Really you are only planning to play one of those eight characters beyond the initial points grab. This is an opportunity to choose a server to play on. Try to find a guild, you can ask in general chat or in trade chat, or you can use the social grouping page to ask for a guild invite. See how busy the server is at the time of day you choose to play, and check out your options for grouping.
Once you have found your home server and earned the 100 favor per character, it is advisable to delete the seven other characters. It is better/faster to play one single character through multiple lives (reincarnations) than to play a lot of different first life characters, because a character will get stronger the more you play them.
If you are interested in server population then try the DDO Audit site.
Grouping
There is a power-leveling penalty for anyone more than 3 levels lower than the highest-level character in the party. Typically you'll see LFM notices for base quest level +3. So if there's a level 5 quest you want to run on elite, you can post an LFM for levels 5-8. You can use the social grouping page to ask for an opener, this will give you access to elite difficulty quests that you cannot currently open on that difficulty setting and will speed things up considerably when earning favor. Experienced players will often play for maximum xp, that means first-time difficulty bonus and bravery bonus. You'll see LFM notices for r1 at base quest level +2. So a level 5 quest on reaper, posted for levels 5-7.
Bank xp
If you want to keep your options open for posting an LFM then you can play an elite quest at base +3 and as a new character it is advisable to do this. So you will be playing level 12 quests on elite at character level 15. You can also bank up to two character levels of xp and because of the limited quest selection for Freemium it is often useful to bank xp when you have plenty of quests available, to cover you for times when there maybe less questing options at your current character level.
You can see a list of all the Freemium quests here.
Defense
Defense falls into two broad categorys, hit/miss chance and damage reduction. The chance that an opponent hits or misses can be controlled by either armor class (AC) for builds like barbarian, fighter, paladin. Or by concealment, incorporeal, dodge for classes that do not stack AC. Damage reduction comes primarily from PRR, MRR and elemental resistance (Acid, Electric, Fire, Sonic, Cold). If you want your build to be able to take a hit then you have to stack some PRR and MRR and some elemental resistance. It helps to know what damage types your opponents are using, and you can swap out elemental resistance items accordingly. Always wear a fortification item to protect from critical hits.
If you are melee, carry a spare weapon, there are monsters that will eat your sword! and make sure to carry a ranged weapon (a crossbow or a throwing weapon) even if only for flipping switches.
Bags
When you leave Korthos and arrive in the harbor, it is advisable to collect the first four bags in the following list. The last two bags are purchasable with platinum so you will likely have to wait before buying them.
Baudry Cartamon (Small Collectibles), Fitzpat the Fence (Small Gem), Felix d'Cannith (Tiny Ingredients), Jeanselme in The Twelve (Small Ingredients), Erstwhile Emporium in House Phiarlan (Medium Collectables and Medium Gem).
Puzzle Wheels
Several quests contain puzzle wheels. The solution to the puzzle wheels is always given within the quest. Sometimes the symbols are written next to the door that they open, sometimes the symbols are written on pillars close by. Other times the symbols are written on the walls or ceilings of the room and you have to hunt around to find them. Learning to name the symbols can be helpful. I tend to use the following names:
Scorpion, H, Elephant, Alien Hat, Backwards F, E.
Circle, Triangle, Square, Diamond, Star, X.
The long term plan
The current veridct: there is no long term plan for playing Freemium.
Freemium is great for VIP subscribers. VIP subscribers have access to all the quests (not expansions), can open quests on elite difficulty, and receive 500 DDO points every month. The ability to earn DDO points from favor while you play the game is an additional VIP perk that can (together with the monthly allowance) create a nice slush fund of DDO points. These points can be used to buy expansions and other goodies from the in-game store. Freemium can make a nice retirement home for ex-VIP's who have accumulated too many DDO points.
There are also players that play Freemium based on previous offers or expired coupon codes. There was a free questing coupon offered from June-August 2020.
At the time of writing I cannot present a realistic or achieveable method for obtaining a workable Freemium account.
I will however post what I see as the essential ingredients for a workable Freemium account, and calculate the cost.
- Make a one time (real money) purchase, while logged into your account, from the in-game store. (this gets you +2 character slots and removes the character platinum cap)
- One character with access to elite difficulty questing. (one character with a minimum two heroic or racial past lives)
- 2000 zergable favor to get you from level 1-20.
- Access to Tokens of the Twelve (TT) for a heroic or racial TR.
- Some shared storage and a couple of bank toons.
The cost in DDO points (and with high priority at the top, low proirity at the bottom):
| Ruins of Gianthold |
950 |
| The Vault of Night (TT) |
750 |
| Crafting Storage |
795 |
| Three-Barrel Cove |
695 |
| Sentinels of Stormreach (TT) |
450 |
| Shared Bank (30 Slots) |
1495 |
| Demon Sands (TT) |
950 |
| * The Catacombs |
250 |
| * Tangleroot Gorge |
550 |
| * Phiarlan Carnival (TT) |
450 |
| Total Cost |
7335 DDO Points |
The * quests are based on favor per DDO point and preference. Maybe adjust the quest list based on play style and personal preferences to include something like The Vale of Twilight.
When epic levelling a lot of old timers will skip the majority of quests and do a few high xp quests that can be run daily. The given list includes enough epic questing to get to lvl 30 for an epic reincarntion.
I cannot provide a realistic plan to obtain 7335 DDO Points within a reasonable time frame and at low cost. My initial consideration was a three month VIP subscription, but the associated three months of hard grind would be unachievable. The quantity of free favor in the game as a proportion of total favor has dwindled with the addition of large high cost adventure packs. There are no starter packs aimed at Freemium players. Since Freemium was released fourteen years ago, the goal posts have moved considerably, but Freemium has remained largly unchanged. So if you meet other players in game that say they play Freemium or read that you can play for free, think carefully about whether you really want to spend your time asking for someone else to open a quest for you, and trying to grind out eight character lives of every freemium quest for a copy of Masterminds of Sharn!
With The Isle of Dread rolling in at a crazy 3,995 DDO Points, that's equivalent to a $59.99 DDO Point purchase, or 10 character lives of every Freemium quest in game. (Note that it is always cheaper to buy from the DDO Market than to buy with DDO Points). It is entirely unrealistic to expect a new player to earn modern content. This relegates Freemium to a free trial of the games most dated content, which can be a big turn off to any new players.
December 2021 update
For two consecutive years (2020 and 2021) the game has run a hardcore season and a coupon code simultaneously. If you want to get the most bang for your buck, then here is how I created my Freemium account in December 2021.
Use the coupon code
In June-August 2020 the offer was DDOfreequests
In October-December 2021 the offer was DDOQUESTS2021, that gave all the basic quests, but not the expansions. There were also three expansions put on limited time release in the DDO Store, each for 99 DDO points.
Favor Farm on Hardcore for the 300 DDO points
Hardcore server is the busiest server in game and offers the maximum number of grouping opportunities. Create a character, run through the introduction quest to arrive in Korthos. Open the Social panel, look for an LFM on the grouping page, and join the group. Aim to earn 600 favor on one character, for the 300 DDO points needed to buy the three limited time release expansions. Delete the characters when you have finished favor farming.
Choose a server to play on and create one character
The first thing you will need is access to elite difficulty questing, and this is achieved by reincarcating a character twice. So create one main character on one server and play for XP. Aim to lvl to 20, heroic or racial reincarnate, then lvl to 20 a second time and reincarnate a second time. This gives your character access to elite difficulty questing.
Use the anniversary coupon code
Every year DDO releases an anniversary coupon code, in December 2021 it was HAPPY15DDO. You could choose any reward, but I choose to take the XP to lvl my character more quickly. Be warned that the XP is applied immediately so make sure your character is at a high enough level to use all of the applied XP.
Make the minimum one time purchase
The best offer available on DDO points is the "Double Bonus Points" offer. The minimum purchase was $7.99.
What did I get for the minimum purchase:
- Two additional character slots.
- 750 DDO Points.
- Volume I of the Monster Manuals.
- AFK timer increased from 5 minutes to 15 minutes.
- Can post up to 50 items on the auction house.
- There is no character platinum cap.
Other considerations
Ignore any and all crafting systems, and associated ingredients. There is simply not enough bag space to collect these items, and the best gear will be named loot from expansions like Ravenloft and Sharn. Additionally do not farm for gear, basic green (non-named) gear is fine to use. I find that my inventory is full after my first life, if I plan on reincarnating into a different class then I will be using entirely different gear. Inventory management can be a massive time sink. I do not even take loot from chests unless I am going to immediately equip the item.
If you intend to start storing items then for every one character played, you will have to use the other four character slots as bank toons. If you can earn all the desired The Coin Lords and House Kundarak favor then a bank toon will give you 160 slots, and the 30 shared storage is just a transer mechanism to pass items to bank toons.
