weird builds...all that bad?

[firea]

are weird builds all that bad?

today just did some pvp with a guildie lv 5 human barb his build was seriously messed up, taking whatever kind of feats and not maxing out str but he did well, took me by surprise lv 8 palemaster lost to him(a most embarrassing moment) then we did against a lv 11 yeah we got trashed but he did well using a combination of trips and all that was quite fun for all of us.

another time went with a dwarf pm(seriously) on stormcleave outpost also quite well done he didnt die even though most of the party got wiped and then got nearly the most kill counts (the barb beat him) and did decent buffing as well. also got a lot of fun from that

my point: so many threads about how ppl have weird builds and wont do well but sometimes they can excel. depends on the players' skills. oh and with those type of weird builds it kind of makes more variety and quests less tedious. also a lot of fun for everyone

[thegreatneil]

Ah builds...so many

*Cookie cutter builds:.....you know em, love em, know they work. (exploiter build, 18/2 WF wiz/rogue)

*Builds with a twist: Dwarf PM, sure. perhaps ALL there toons are dwarf, as they might like em that much. (i hate dwarfs and warforged, as will never make one)

*flavor builds:Usually builds that may or may not be optimal, but can work, or required tomes gear and tact to play effectively. (not sure if the Tukaw build would count for this area) i personally have some of these type of builds (see The solo artist)

*Not so good builds: Just because you can build a half elf Assassin I, warchanter I, Kensai I Arcane archer doesn't mean is a good idea.

*bad builds: The 10 FVS 10 sorc build attempting high DC's, Pure rogue tank. The WF with 7 Improved Damage Reductions, or just plain bad stat placement. (8 CHA paladin perhaps?) (6 CON anything)

[jwdaniels]

At level 5, there's not a whole lot of difference between a good build and a bad build, or a barbarian and a wizard for that matter. The sub-par decisions will become more and more of a liability in terms of optimization the more levels the character gets.

Also, the game isn't balanced for PvP, so what works in PvE may not translate well.

[Aranticus]

the barb is at present L5. when he continues getting strange feats and is not able to qualify for PrCs. it could be wrecked. the gap between low level and high level is a very different. note, a ranger with manyshot would easily kill your barb friend, does that mean the ranger is better?

note that in this game skills counts for a lot. a good player with a bad build can still bring a lot out of the toon. a bad player on a bad build is a disaster waiting to happen

ps: i know tukaw. that is definately not a favor build

[Canopenner]

one thing no one ever accounts for in this game is player ability.

If you know how to drag 2 guys behind a piller while the rest of the mob casts and ranges on you it(and hits the pillar) really helps, keep your back to a wall so they dont get flanking. Know when to hit your clickies. target arcanes first when you HAVE to wade through a mob. Run backwards with mob chasing you, getting free hits on frontrunners...

there are ways...more than I mentioned...

Most people just run up on monsters and make themselves into hostile MP magnets and pincushions.

[oldkraft]

I would always go for the weird build : H-Orcs on my account are all rogues ....no kidding.

On Ghallanda I still got the very strange char 'Tumblin Dice' - havent played him for some years, as my mains are on Cannith - he is at level 5, taken the dice-based game to its extreme :

All his stats,
feat 'choices',
spell 'choices',
whatever goes into 'char-building',
are rolled by dices with equal chances for any available

He used to plague parties with constant throwing of glitterdust, his only pride....
He is my halfling bard coz thats the last thing I can identify with.
This way I can lol. Nice with an official clown. And he will never be deleted.

[RJBsComputer]

There is a difference between a bad build and a weird build.

A Bad Build is a build by someone that is either new to the game or new to the class. They have an idea of what they are doing because of DnD, but DDO is not DnD and the difference can be killer. When I first started to play the Rogue Class (rouge is a make-up) I went through 5 build sytles before I found the sweet spot for HOW I PLAYED and the class. Just because somoeone plays well with one type of build style doesn't mean it well work for you and how you play. And that sentence is a great lead-in to my next point.

A weird build is not a bad build based on the knowledge of the game of the person that made the build and KNOWS how to play it. Here, knowledge is the key.

[leadhead]

It isnt so black and white. A touted great cookie cutter build is a bad build if it is not suited for what you want to do. Most builds here by the vets are designed for end game raiding. I play casually in small groups. I usually look over the builds here and either take what I like and go a different direction, or tweak a cookie cutter build to make it more versatile and less dps powerful because most build on here are not survivable without a group healer or without bard buffs etc...

[Kalari]

Honestly your never going to get a concrete answer because too many different views and personalities play this game.

You have your min maxers who have fun when a quest is beaten down with the best dps, tactics and less time used.

You have people who build for flavor or rp they wont mind spending hours in one quest or dying a few times for the sake of their fun.

You even have people who are in the middle they like to build what they like but like to be effective and get threw raids with little hiccups.

All I can say that for me flavor or unusual builds are not bad Id take a weird build of a fun person to be around over the more efficient tool but thats just how I roll. I found a laid back group of people like me who like to raid and do it our own way. So its easy for me to make my elves and ignore those who think they are not optimal for anything.

But as I said before its a big game and a lot of people have opinions on what is the best way to play ddo. I say go with what you like and see where it gets ya weird or no its all meant to be fun right?

[yawumpus]

Remember, DDO is a team game. Unless you are comparing solo builds for a particular quest[s], you can't claim that one build is better than another (except perhaps even split casters). A party of top DPS builds isn't likely to be as strong as a balanced party (especially one with a healer and/or bard for longer quests, let alone trying to get by traps in elite without a trapsmith*).

As mentioned above, there is always the question of why you made the build. Korthos builds are famously sneered at. Pump up dex for AC, dump con, and kill those sarhaguin. If you made this build for long term use, you will be in for a rude surprise. If you made it for a 100 favor run, you are likely to be happy with it. Probably my favorite build of this class is Aelvar the wizard. This build maxes strength, then sets INT and CON to 14 (level ups go to INT). Aelvar was built solely to zerg to 400 favor to open up drow. The idea is to quickly level up similar to the way a twinked wizard does (swinging a greataxe like a barbarian), only without needing all the gear. Once he got to level 7, he ran back and grabbed as much favor as possible (mostly by firewalling everything in sight). I don't plan on leveling him past 8 (which he got while grabbing favor), but he did unlock drow.

I try to steer newbies to cookie-cutter builds (not always raiding favorites, but at least solid builds). Once you know what is coming and what you need, you should be able to figure out what type of build will work for you.

[Daggertooth]

You'd be surprised how little the 'experts' actually know in this game. Forum Hysteria comprises alot of what is considered 'bad'. As someone who implemented his own strategies and ideas of what 'works' independently of the 'opinons' that accumulated on the forums over the years, I can just say that I laugh quite a bit.

The real joke is when a new player starts 'advising' you...

Sure, some things work, some don't. I don't judge any builds though... worst that can happen is the run actually becomes interesting, and if you get enough people who don't know what they are doing, the scaling can actually make things challenging.