General play strategy and technique: what makes a great player?

[AphexTwin]

Because DDO is so heavily based on calculations and probability most players tend to focus on one of two things: builds and equipment. And most of the forum posts concerning toons center on these two things. How many points should I put into this? What feats should I take? How do I multiclass properly? What are the best pieces of equipment for a given class? And so on.

Of course these are extremely important questions, as the numbers are essential to being able to compete and contribute in a game filled with very skilled and driven players. And we all know that when someone has certain builds and pieces of equipment, you can count on them to pull their weight in a party, if not totally dominate it. But not always.

There are other qualities that make the great players great. They constantly watch their health. They self heal. The know when to run. The know when to shield block. They know that you need to stand in the stinking blade barriers and firewalls. They know that cold spells don’t work on undead. They know that ray of exhaustion only needs to hit once. They know when to use heal scrolls or spells. And a whole lot of other things that I have no idea about. I mainly play a Sorc.

So, I’d like to have a discussion on actual play styles. When do you attack? Who do you attack first? How far back in the party do you stand? Who goes first into the fray? Who do you raise first? Who do you protect first? What are the key spells for your class? How do you conserve manna? What do you expect of other players? And there are loads more.

A lot of these are tacitly understood by the good players and you’ll often here talk or comments about something a particular player is doing. Zerging, for instance, is generally hated, except in certain cases where it makes no difference. Piking is also frowned upon. Healers always hate when people run around corners, run off when they’re trying to pass out buffs. And arcanes feel the same a lot of times.

What are your tips, tricks, and secrets?

I was going to be selfish and make the post about Sorcerers, but let’s hear from everyone.

By the way, let’s keep it positive. If you feel like posting on the things you hate, make a new thread 

[sirdanile]

In general it depends on who I am with... I know I can handle myself fairly well and carry around supplies in case something bad happens but I think i've got a couple specific tips...

1. Bring heal potions, cure potions, lesser restore, remove curse, remove blindness, remove poison, remove disease etc if not wearing an immunity item out right.

2. put at least 1 full rank into tumble, the difference is extremely noticeable between untrained and trained, it also lets you tumble through water faster than walking and without jumping which is pretty slow itself until you get 30+ jump.

3. Let the rookie go in first so he grabs all the aggro and almost dies while you slaughter everything in sight...repeatedly. (Edit: read as let the ones who can take the hits go in first)

4. Kill the enemies in the right order regardless of placement on the map: Caster/Dogs/Melee (while hiding out of bow shot)/Archers

5. Know what you can and cannot do and learn to identify new players who might need help. Knowing what you can do by yourself will prevent you from winding up dead watching as without a strong guiding figure the party flounders with the next encounter and never makes it to a shrine. This scenario usually happens with new players who often cannot take a full encounter by themselves either due to lack of game knowledge or lack of in-game resources.

6. If you play a ranged class, kite in small circles! The enemy should not move very much unless you are running them through a blade barrier, otherwise let them sit in that firewall while you're manyshotting.

7. Mouselook is extremely important to me both for general movement and spell/ranged targeting. I have never had an issue navigating the pit solo, coal chamber, or any other jump/mobility challenge such as the ladders in three barrel cove (prove your worth).

[AdahnX]

I'm still fairly new to DDO, but I've always had a fairly solid strategy for order of attack that has gotten me through PnP D&D, and many other video games, D&D based and otherwise. And so far I've had no problem implementing it in DDO.

First, take care of all the Healers. That makes sure that the enemies you damage/kill, from then on stay damaged/dead.

Then focus on the enemies' leading damage dealers in ascending order of DPS and descending order of defense (HP/AC/Saves). Generally this means Wizards and Sorcs first, then Rogues/Two weapon fighters, and lastly Barbarian/Big F-in Weapon types.

Once that's done you can move on to the Tanks and just pound away on them in relative safety.

I generally leave archers for last as long as they don't fall into the category of Leading DPS, which they don't seem to in DDO, especially if you have some form of DR vs. Piercing or protection from Arrows or anything like that. Archers tend to run away, which can really screw up any tactical party formation or environment/landscape you might be using to your advantage. Especially with DDO's Wall Crawling bug (heh, I made a funny).

Recognizing the different types can be difficult in the heat of battle for someone new to the game, but like just about anything that makes someone a "good player" as opposed to just a good build and good gear, it improves with time and knowledge of the game.

[Otherworld]

1) Use corners to your advantage. If you manage to pull a melee around the corner (where your other party members await when you're in a group), the other long-ranged enemies can't hit you.

2) Bring self-heals

3) When in a dungeon you don't know, let the character with the highest spot go first.

4) Stay together when in a group

[FuzzyDuck81]

my personal "essential adventuring kit" will always have healing, lesser resto, remove curse & remove blindness potions, plus as many of the 10pt acid resistance pots i can scrounge (brilliant for acid arrows & acid fog) plus clickies for Detect Secret Doors, Shield & Remove Fear. 3/rest ones are easy to find in brokers with no minimumm level - they're cheap & very handy to have, even at high levels. once at higher levels, a solid fog clicky is a nice investment too.

Also, immunities are your friend, to save healers SP & turns for DV instead of cleansing as well as your own resources... i will always have a poison immunity item equipped on fleshies (love the BtoA no ML gear from lowbie qs like Sharn), often a disease immunity too (never take it off if mummies are around), and having as high fortification as you can get hold of should be a no-brainer (found a moderate fort ring, rr WF with ML5 a while back.. its approx 30% damaged since i use it on all my WF toons until they get a higher ML one, and its probably my single favourite piece of lowbie kit) & if possible a deathblock item or the flesh render visors (very nice that the gear from there & Co6 chains are BtoA too).

[AphexTwin]

Some good thoughts, and all very helpful, but let's hear some more specific stuff. What are the best tactics you know for a particular toon? During a big battle with loads of mobs, or during an end battle against one enemy, like Harry.

[RobinofSpiritwood]

If your caster has Charmed a mob, good players hit other targets instead of clobbering its aggro first.

If there is a mezzed/Fascinated group of mobs, good casters don't drop an AOE on them and break the mez- they allow the melee guys to pick them off one by one and conserve mana.

Lowlevel spells can enormously increase the effectiveness of another player- Glitterdust and Blind work wonders for helping rogues get faster kills. Hold Person/Monster allows autocrits to fire - great for any meleer. Command is a terrific Cleric Spell, which works better if the fighters take out the ones spared first. Hypnotism can transform a conflict into a cakewalk. Halt Undead is excellent for stopping skelly archers from plinking. Haste is a spell that probably ought to be cast for every fight.

Ranged kiters do way way better if they run the Long way through the firewalls instead of just cutting across.
Kiters can drag mobs past the heavy hitters too.

Anyone with a shield can shield-block for a ranger/caster during a shootout- no special abilities required. If you get into a long range firefight, a Destruction/Improved Destruction bow can really assist the other people who can't shoot/throw well. A ranger with a Cursespewing weapon can help casters get their spells to stick better... the big red blob is a great way to coordinate attacks. Curse is a debuff that works on Undead too, helping the Disruptor folks.

Swapping in a cloak/ring/robe of Acid Resistance is invaluable for a large variety of mobs that throw Melf's or acid based attacks like slimes/rusties/Thraak hounds, and it's a piece of kit everyone can use. Fire Resistance gear is needed for lava environments, and is essential kit for non casters. Buffs can run out when you are alone- and draining mana is a bad thing anyway.