New to the Game

[ch0215]

Hey everyone i am new to this game and had a few ? ( just came over after 5 years of eq2)

1) What type of server is this is it an east coast or west coast server.

2) whats grouping like?

3) i am not to familiar with ebberon but have played PnP DnD for over 20 years mostly Forgotten Realms

4) How does one join a guild?

5) and last Is it hard to level and reach level cap and how solo friendly is this game?

thanks for any help people can offer

[zorander6]

Hey everyone i am new to this game and had a few ? ( just came over after 5 years of eq2)

1) What type of server is this is it an east coast or west coast server.

2) whats grouping like?

3) i am not to familiar with ebberon but have played PnP DnD for over 20 years mostly Forgotten Realms

4) How does one join a guild?

5) and last Is it hard to level and reach level cap and how solo friendly is this game?

thanks for any help people can offer

1. Almost all the servers have people from across the world, the only server with any concentration of locality is the Ghallandia server which just had an influx of european accounts. You can find groups in the evening pretty much across the board.

2. groups can be fun, they can be grand, or they can be horrible. If you have a sense of humor and find a good group to run with they are great.

3. profit

4. One of two ways, you can create a guild or you can be invited by an officer of a guild. Many recommend running with some of the guild members to see if they are a good fit. Don't join a mass spam guild.

5. Depends on a lot of factors it can be relatively easy for some, I have not reached cap yet but I've also got altitis so I never play one character for a long time. There is a lot of variety. As for soloing almost everything can be soloed or ran with hirelings but it's a lot more fun to run with people usually. Hirelings are very dumb.

[Vellrad]

Hey everyone i am new to this game and had a few ? ( just came over after 5 years of eq2)

1) What type of server is this is it an east coast or west coast server.

I think they're all in the same place. IDK where, however.

2) whats grouping like?

You gather up to 6 players (you included) and solve a quest together. You have special LFG or LFM (other ppl call it differently, Looking for group/Looking for members/Looking for more) where you can find other groups or set your own, stating which quest you want to solve, which classes or spells/skills/whatever you need.

3) i am not to familiar with ebberon but have played PnP DnD for over 20 years mostly Forgotten Realms

This is not important. Sure it may help with basic things, but better forget about details- DDO is extremally different than D&D. And fortunatelly its not FR

4) How does one join a guild?

Officer or Leader must invite you. What to do so they want to invite you is another story...

5) and last Is it hard to level and reach level cap and how solo friendly is this game?

At low levels its easy, becomes little harder at endgame.
If your character got good build, the game is very solo friendly.

thanks for any help people can offer

[Aeolwind]

Hey everyone i am new to this game and had a few ? ( just came over after 5 years of eq2)

1) What type of server is this is it an east coast or west coast server.

2) whats grouping like?

3) i am not to familiar with ebberon but have played PnP DnD for over 20 years mostly Forgotten Realms

4) How does one join a guild?

5) and last Is it hard to level and reach level cap and how solo friendly is this game?

thanks for any help people can offer

Being fairly new as well:

Pretty sure all the servers sit on the east coast. No predisposition to times however, you can almost always find a group.

Grouping is, well, grouping. Sometimes you are the windshield, others the bug. You'll learn some of the better folks to group with around your level & guild names of dope people. Pay attention to this, closely lol.

Aside from the fact it isn't the Forgotten Realms, it's not bad.

Generally, you'll get invited if you are unflagged for a while. Ignore the blind invites & mail invites, don't ask why, just trust me on this one!

Solo, it will be tough on a first life character. Hirelings it is doable, but hirelings are so stupid they sometimes make it harder.

Some good info is available here on the forums with regards to how to make your character. Make sure you keep your gear up as best you can. Give other people the benefit of the doubt if the circumstance warrant it. Otherwise, your first impression is generally gonna be spot on lol. Also, I got taught a hard lesson, a good lesson though. I've played a lot of other games, and in general I had a very bad impression of many Asian guilds. My experiences over the past 2 days of play have really changed my mind on that. Don't base one experience on another.

Welcome to the server

[mws2970]

First, welcome! Sarlona is a great server to start on. I think you will find many friendly and helpful people on here. There are people from all over the world here, so no matter where you're from, you should be able to find people to group with.

I would also suggest looking on the forums to find a build for a character you want to play. Many people will suggest a barbarian or fighter as your first and this isn't a bad way to learn the game at all. Just keep in mind, that not all of what you read here is absolutely the truth! Find a character type you like and play it for a while. If you don't like it, you can always re-roll. The point of the game is to have fun.

[NadgersFishtoaster]

DDO is based on D&D3.5 with a number of variations to suit MMO play.

If you have played pen and paper D&D for 20 years, and became familiar enough with 3.5, then noticing and adjusting to these modifications is quite easty. Being able to read D&D stat blocks and spell descriptions is a real advantage.

Obviously DDO is very distinct from D&D4 but this is really a positive feature, in my books.

Ebberon? If you have previously seen the Spelljammer and/or Dark Sun D&D universes you'll have a better idea of some the ideas contained within Ebberon. It was intended to be distinct from the standard D&D settings, for example.

[Loromir]

In regards to hirelings, yes they can be dumb, but they can be a valuable resource. Roll up a Melee (Fighter or Barb) and get yourself a hireling Cleric, and you can solo just about anything up to lvl 6 or 7.

[Stermlin]

1. Not completely sure on this, but I believe Sarlona has a larger amount of Chinese players than the other servers. You won't normally see them on until late at night by United States timezones. This can make it difficult to find a group if you play late because a lot of the LFMs at that time will be "Guo Ren" or countrymen only, which means Chinese players only.

2. As was answered by someone else, you will have groups that are awesome, groups that fail but still have fun and groups that give you names to add to your Do Not Play list.

3. lol, profit, good answer.

4. How does one NOT join a guild is a better question. You can expect (if you havnt gotten any by now) several blind invites to Guilds.

5. It's not hard to reach cap at all, which is why many people prefer this game to other MMO's. Even a casual player can reach cap within a month or two. But even when you do reach 20 there is still a lot to do in the form of equipping your toon with raid and epic gear to make him/her 1337 and teh ubahzezt. As for soloability, it really depends on your build and equipment (lots of mnemonic pots!!) but the right build can solo just about anything (raids included) in the game.

And lastly, I would just like to say
Hi Welcome
to the game.

[mws2970]

4. How does one NOT join a guild is a better question. You can expect (if you havnt gotten any by now) several blind invites to Guilds.

Adding to this point, I suggest not accepting any blind invite from a guild. Just my opinion. If you find someone you like grouping with and they are in a guild, ask them questions about it. Run more quests with them and others from their guild. If you like their playstyle and it fits yours, you'll find a home with them soon enough.

[Stermlin]

Adding to this point, I suggest not accepting any blind invite from a guild. Just my opinion. If you find someone you like grouping with and they are in a guild, ask them questions about it. Run more quests with them and others from their guild. If you like their playstyle and it fits yours, you'll find a home with them soon enough.

Agreed. When I first started playing I accepted the first blind invite I got and had a miserable experience with that Guild. After that I took my time, got into a DotA Guild run they had PUGd out to fill the last couple spots and had a lot of fun with them. Been with them ever since.

Edit: They are still all a bunch of n00bs and gimps tho :P

[nolaureltree000]

1) most days, peak activity (basing this on most LFMs up and ease of putting together a group) seems to be 5pm - 1 or 2am EST. before or after that, it tends to slow down a bit. there is a fairly large chinese community on this server that plays in the early AM EST hours.

2) 6 members for quests, 12 members for raids. usually comprised of a healer, arcane caster, trap monkey (if there are traps in a quest), then 3 melee dps. but groups in DDO can differ greatly. some groups will run without a healer and rely on self healing, some will run without a caster, etc.

3) D&D P&P and DDO are quite different.

4) play for a bit and get the hang of the game and how to play your class. run quests and find some people that you like running with. see if they invite you to join their guild or ask if their guild is recruiting. you can also make a post in the sarlona guild section. id recommend staying away from any guilds that spam invite you, or invite you just because they see that youre without a guild because theyre looking to farm renown.

5) its not that hard to reach cap. you will need to buy some adventure packs though, as f2p quests will only get you to level 12-14. youll need to get 1 or 2 more packs to get you to cap quickly, or youll have to farm a bunch of xp at reduced rates due to repeating the quests and being overlevel for the quests. if you save up your store points for favor, you should be close to enough to be able to get an end game pack.

DDO is pretty solo friendly, but it depends on the class you roll and how you build your toon. i believe some people have capped their toon running solo the entire time. it will be much harder to do with your first toon though.

[Arysta]

Hey everyone i am new to this game and had a few ? ( just came over after 5 years of eq2)

1) What type of server is this is it an east coast or west coast server.

2) whats grouping like?

3) i am not to familiar with ebberon but have played PnP DnD for over 20 years mostly Forgotten Realms

4) How does one join a guild?

5) and last Is it hard to level and reach level cap and how solo friendly is this game?

thanks for any help people can offer

Everyone has posted some really good replys so far..

First, welcome to DDO.. It a wonderful game!

1 - I think all servers are pretty much worldwide; I've met people from the US to Australia and everywhere in between.

2 - Grouping is.. Well, it can be good, or it can be not so good.. It depends, really, on the people in the group, etc. If you do end up in a bad group, don't be discouraged; honestly there are more good/great groups out there than bad.

3 - There's really no need to be familliar with Eberron in order to enjoy the game. I've played PnP for years, and never played an Eberron campaign setting either. It's kind of fun, really, learning about all the houses and suchlike that I was unfamiliar with.

4 - Try not to join one that randomly invites you - they're usually just guilds that are trying to farm renoun, and really don't care about the people in the guild. Your best bet is to either make your own, or just play with people. You find a group of folks you like to play with, then ask to join or find out if they're recruiting. There are a lot of really good guilds on Sarlona.

5 - It's not that hard to reach cap on your first life. It might be a bit more difficult if you're free to play (as a lot of the packs/areas are pay to play only), but there are a few good resources for leveling and staying free to play here on the forums. Soloing is fairly easy to do as well.. there are a lot of hirelings avaliable for each level (And with the advent of rogue hirelings it makes soloing even easier) which help you complete quests.

Enjoy playing!

[Elucidus]

I played in a few groups some were okay, most were not though. I am not saying it isn't a friendly server, but I gained my last 4 levels soloing. I like groups, but finding a good consistent set is tough. I had started my own guild, but it seems everyone else was already in there own...the good players at least.

Maybe I should drop my guild (All but my wife have disappeared due to real life issues anyway and I dont' know when they will get back on). Try to work my way into a decent guild that is already well established.

[Kronik]

1) What type of server is this is it an east coast or west coast server.

- Its Universal. Players from all over the world on at all times

2) whats grouping like?

- In DDO grouping is a must! Sure you will be able to solo a lot of content, but Raids and Elite quests ultimately will require you to join a group. We call Pick up groups PUGs and they are a great way to meet new people. You will soon see that you will get into PUGS varying from Uber Elite Zergers to Smell the Flowers Slowbees.

3) i am not to familiar with ebberon but have played PnP DnD for over 20 years mostly Forgotten Realms

-I played Dragonlance for many years myself. I’m not sure that I agree with many posts here. I think it is very much like the D&D you know when it comes to character creation and basic D&D rules and lore. Realize that this is a real time MMO, so yea many of the mechanics involved in the fighting had to be changed for balancing the game. I’d say play a little and figure out the finer details of character creation later on, but for now most basic D&D PnP builds and even some of the newer Prestige Classes can be made.

4) How does one join a guild?

-they need to invite you. I would recommend running several PUGs and meeting as many people as you can. Eventually you will find a match.

5) and last Is it hard to level and reach level cap and how solo friendly is this game?

-this all depends on how good a player you are and how fast you learn. Also if you get in a good guild they can help tremendously. The game is solo friendly as most quest can be ran on levels from Solo, Normal, Elite and Epic