How much of this game is soloable?

[Angelus_dead]

If I was a THF Barb instead would that be less hindering? I'm not really interested in playing a pally or cleric

That would be pretty close to the same, maybe a little better because of the knockdown resist.

[Demeron]

1000 reasons...
Updates,
new content,
the ability to group when/if you want,
the freedom to do what quest I want without waiting for a group,
no need to hear people complain I'm going too fast/Too slow,
If I decide to do optionals, I don't have to worry about upsetting someone else,
If I decide I'm going for Ransack/Conquest No whiners,
If I decide Not to go for Ransack/Conquest No whiners,
No worries AFK...

The list goes on and on... but I think you get the point.

Yes did get your Point, was just wondering bc OP did say hes VIP. Spending Cash monthly on an MMO and Solo everything was my point. Just to make sure no complain no rant just wondering...........The Reason i am so Addicted to the Game is to 90% the Guys i run whit ( mainly Guild but nice Pugs too ). And ofc its D&D

[krud]

I think his point was more "why bother with an mmo if your not going to group? The whole point of an mmo is that it is massively MULTI-PLAYER on-line....."

So why your points are all good reasons not to group, why play a game designed for grouping when you could play another game where no grouping is required (Mario, COD, GTA etc etc etc)???

I find myself soloing all new content at least once, before grouping up to do it. It's the only way I can be guaranteed to see everything for the very first time, without spoilers, at my own speed, using my own tactics, and not having some twinked out TR blow thru everything. No need to post an lfm waiting for like minded people either, just go solo. First time quests are much more exciting that way.

I group whenever i need to get the mindless repetion/boring grinds out of the way. Solo is for the challenge/excitement.

[cdemeritt]

Yes did get your Point, was just wondering bc OP did say hes VIP. Spending Cash monthly on an MMO and Solo everything was my point. Just to make sure no complain no rant just wondering...........The Reason i am so Addicted to the Game is to 90% the Guys i run whit ( mainly Guild but nice Pugs too ). And ofc its D&D

So Do you spend money to watch TV? Do you spend money to go to the movies? Do you spend money at a bar?

How someone Spends their cash to enjoy themselves whether in a group or by themselves, it really doesn't matter...


Spending cash on this game is no different then spending cash on a stand alone game, however a stand alone game isn't dynamic, doesn't change, and doesn't give you the option to group should you be interested in grouping.

Oh, and the only reason that really matters: Because I want to.

Now, I'm sorry if this is sounding rude, but I'm tired, and the polite filter is on the fritz....

[English_Warrior]

Evasion, Manyshot, and UMD can also be important.

Sure...but I have 2 out of 3 of those on my TRd THF Fighter.... so by those standards a THF Fighter would be a good solo toon.

But we all know a WF fvs or WF Wiz (for example) would likely be better at soloing most content.

[Angelus_dead]

Sure...but I have 2 out of 3 of those on my TRd THF Fighter.... so by those standards a THF Fighter would be a good solo toon.

It would be inaccurate to describe your character as "a THF Fighter", and you would indeed be more suited to soloing than the one under consideration.

[Losercrew]

cept for the ones where you need multiple people to pull levers and do puzzles?

Solution: DDO points - Buy gold seal hirelings

[Templarion]

This game is fully soloable with hirelings help.

It is con and pro at the same time. :/

[bigolbear]

To the OP:

If you consider soloing to be your self +1 hireling healer then you should be able to solo the vast majority of quests (but not raids) with a decent mele build. (fighter is fine).

Id recomend items/feats to increase your will save, death block when you find it and something to mitigate enervation (silverflame necky and a deathward clicky) in additon to energy (eg fire) resistance items that can be swapped as and when needed.

There are some quests where multiple levers need to be pulled so these must be done in a group.

There are some quests where multiple people must be stood on presure pads - these can be done in groups or you can trip/sap/stun enemies while they are in position (this is hard). You can also find items that will incapacitate enmies such as stone guard that can be used to hold an enemy on a pressure plate.

If you wish to solo quests on elite bear in mind that elite traps can be deadly to both you and your hireling.

[SirAggravator]

I have a guildy who is new to the game and soloing as a fighter and one hireling.
He gets through most quests fine but the stumbling blocks are
- learning as you play- e.g. builds, items, game mechanics, etc.
- quest knowledge
- red named end bosses

Once you get to Gianthold (around level 14) the hireling will start to die more
so my advice later on would be to learn the quests on Casual difficulty first.
Also try to park your hireling in safe spots you can run back to.

Finally even if you plan to solo join a guild for advice and ship buffs.

[phillymiket]

I started this game soloing as well.
I came from the PnP side and had never been much of a video game player and some of my first few groups I was in left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. (some rude zerger types)

Do your solo thing.
You will need a bunch of pots for resist, cures etc to solo much beyond where you are.
You may hit a wall around level 9-12 where the lack of proper buffs makes things very difficult.

You are VIP so that means you can make a bunch of characters.

Park your toon and make another (a variation - barb, ranger, monk or something).
After getting a few chracters up to the place where soloing becomes hard for you make another toon and group with that one.
You will be quite familiar with the low-end content at that point and will find you are a considerably better player than many of the puggers you will play with but they will teach you many new tricks and strategies you had not considered. You'll start to level toons in a fraction of the time your first one took.

At that point you can solo your toons to even higher levels with the new insights or maybe you'll decide grouping is more fun (as I did).

In any case you'll have a little fleet of characters in the mid-range.
Soon your fleet will be high-end then capped.

Definitely try some other classes at some point.
All the classes are fun and as others pointed out a class like a FVS can solo most everything much more easily then a straight melee.

[Therigar]

How does being THF lower my solo ability? I figure so long as my cleric hireling isn't dead, stunned, knocked down etc I should be able to keep my health up.

hmmmmmmm.........just for me i am intrested why play an MMO and solo everything?

@ Demeron

There can be many reasons. Not having a good schedule matching to high volume times, preferring to explore every nook and cranny, the challenge of doing the quest alone, not wanting to put up with griefers, not wanting to put up with zergers, not wanting to deal with different attitudes & play styles.... Honestly, if I see one more LFM for Chronoscope led by L20 characters and claiming that it is great loot I think I may go crazy. Some people like to do most, if not all, of the quests -- hard to do if you are relying on groups or f2p players.

What matters is that it is what the OP prefers. More motive really isn't required.

@ Vexxil

THF in the early game is very powerful. In the mid game it is about equivalent to everything else. At the end game it is definitely second tier. To get best value out of THF means sacrificing almost everything else to boost damage. This makes a THF character a big drain on healing resources.

Best soloing characters are somehow able to self-heal and improve damage output through offensive spells. Warforged wizards & sorcerers with a small melee or rogue splash, favored souls and clerics tend to dominate discussions when people talk about soloing.

It doesn't mean you won't be able to solo, just that it will grow increasingly more difficult.

Good news is that DDO is, mostly, pretty easy once you get the basics down. And, if you are willing to go VIP and sink time and money into the game then you can increase the amount of content available to you along with the options you have in quests.

Hirelings can get you through almost all of the quests that were designed to frustrate soloing. You just need to learn how to use the hirelings efficiently and how to get them to manipulate switches and such on demand.

You may find times when you'll want multiple hirelings and that will mean wise use of Turbine points to purchase from the store.

Contrary to what's been posted, I can't think of any raid flagging quests that absolutely need a party. Could be because they are raids I don't normally run....

Of the raids, only VoN comes to mind as needing a group because there are too many switches that need to be manipulated at the same time. Again, that may be because I don't regularly do some of the other raids. Titan might be another, its been too long since I've run that.

[Shade]

Quests: 100%, some require hirelings and are extremely hard to solo tho. I think Mr. Cow has videos up of him solo'ing around 99% of them, if not 100% by now.

Raids: Most of them. Since you can't take hirelings into raids, some require multiple people. Raids that need multiple people:
Titan (Preraid, since the update - was solo'd in the past tho. Titan Awakes is still soloable I believe, but youd need help getting in there)
Abbot
Vault of the Night (VoN6 has been solo'd in the past, but was changed, VoN5 was never soloable)
Shroud is technically soloable. Not sure if anyone has done it yet tho due to difficulty.

All raids created after shroud are soloable, since that was the point that Turbine decided to dumb down DDO and lost most of it's more hardcore quest/raid designers as they moved on to other projects unfortunately.

[knockcocker]

For the guys who like to solo or who are picky about grouping (or too polite to let others down ):

If you're on Thelanis, give Brotherhood of BYOH a look (see sig). It's directly aimed at folks who struggle with
grouping (for whatever reason)

[picaisfun]

augmented summoning helps with hirelings and soloing. if you can fit it in.

[sweez]

How does being THF lower my solo ability? I figure so long as my cleric hireling isn't dead, stunned, knocked down etc I should be able to keep my health up.

Unless you're unbelievably good at controlling your hirelings, they'll be dead, stunned and knocked down pretty often once you step foot in Amrath. 95% of pre-Amrath content, though, is (somewhat) easily soloable with a hireling.

[Uska]

How does being THF lower my solo ability? I figure so long as my cleric hireling isn't dead, stunned, knocked down etc I should be able to keep my health up.

low selfhealing no self buffing hirlings are stupid and will get themselves and you killed fighters are on the lower end of soloablilty

[Thuriaz]

For my own two cents on this, if I were planning a purely solo character I'd go Ranger Tempest. You get self healing with wands for cheap, good/great TWF, mobility and the option to kite enemies with your bow if it comes down to it, and combat improving spells and self heals.

However given the option of a pure melee character I'd probably go Barb over Fighter simply because you need good, powerful, crowd killing DPS that works from shrine to shrine and you have to kill quick enough that your hirlings little blue bar doesn't run out in one fight while having enough HP to make sure you can soak up some damage.

Mind you both of those are for within the field of "Outside of a Cleric, FVS, or WF-Arcane/Pale Master"

[Zharfie]

Unless you're unbelievably good at controlling your hirelings, they'll be dead, stunned and knocked down pretty often once you step foot in Amrath. 95% of pre-Amrath content, though, is (somewhat) easily soloable with a hireling.

I've used hirelings a lot and it does take some getting used to but I've soloed all but sins of attrition and ToD (obviously) with a hireling in amrath... boss monsters especially tend to aim for the hirelings first, which is annoying and at the same time helpful... in ADQ for example, lailat will just try to attack a hireling parked outside of the room...
but then in bastion of power the marilith will just run straight for any hirelings you might have... hirelings provide an extra challenge to the game

[Uska]

This game is fully soloable with hirelings help.

It is con and pro at the same time. :/

No its not a lot is soloable but game is not fully soloable by any means. even if you count using hirelings as being solo which I dont.