Opinions and general info please

[Loftus]

I am someone who went VIP after a couple of months and was the first to go VIP with group of old high school buddies that had been playing together. Well after making some store purchases to augment my account I decided to take the plunge and purchase favored soul. Now I have tried a number of builds and some different race combinations and just have not found a favored soul that I like. I am pretty frustrated having bought the class and just not coming up with a decent toon. So please give me any ideas on the favored soul. I am looking for build ideas, general info on the fvs that might help me out. Just an example what does a fvs bring to the table? What level doea a fvs "turn the corner" and become a very strong toon? and things such as that... Thanks ahead of time. Also as an aside I have a sorcerer that I love to play and to me these two classes should have a similar feel to them but do not seem to.

[hcarr]

I think the problem you are having is the expectation of others to play babysitter and then fitting in your offensive casting. That is very different than and arcane offensive caster. The spell selection is not the greatest for offensive casting also on a divine early on. Divine casters dont really hit there stride till lvl 13-14(at least that is what it seems to me).


A caster would have to max wisdom with level ups. Start with a 12 charisma to cover getting to 19 you need for lvl 9 spells. con is also needed and put a couple in str and you are all set.

Would go human for the extra feat and ability to put racial enhancement on wisdom.

Have you tried going melee focus version yet?

[Rumbaar]

It can be a hard slog at pre 12 levels for any casters. Depends on what you want to do. You can go melee with buffs and spells, heal-bot or all out spell caster. I'm currently leveling a TR evoker and I'm enjoying it. Previously he was a little melee focused.

Filter the section by FvS and you'll some good builds.

[BlargneyTheSecond]

Have you tried a WF FvS yet?

[Franke]

There are some great cookie cutter FvS builds on these forums and I agree with the previous posters with regards to struggling a little at lower levels. The real key is blade barrier imo,when you get blades at level 12 your whole playstyle can become much more aggressive.

Here's a very good initial evoker build if you want to kill mobs with offensive casting
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php...ghlight=evoker and it can heal well too,a good multi-role build so you can fill the heal slot in groups or just solo content if that's your wish.

[nicnivyn]

Also as an aside I have a sorcerer that I love to play and to me these two classes should have a similar feel to them but do not seem to.

This to me is the most telling part of your statement. Sorcerers and Favored Souls are similar only in that they get double spell points from items and have limited spell selection. The similarities end there. So if you build a Favored Soul expecting it to play or deal damage like a sorc you are going to be very disappointed.

Get beyond that however, and I think you could enjoy it. First you have to decide if you are looking for strong healer/nuker or a melee/healer combo. You can generally heal acceptably well regardless of what build you choose, but the focus will really determine your play style.

Some perfer WF FvS str/con with minimal cha and no wisdom. Melee/healing and blade barrier are the general focus with melee being primary. I like an alternate version using Half-elf with a fighter dilletant if going melee focus. It's strong early game, with self healing and melee capabilities augmented by spells like Divine Favor and Divine Power.

I personally favor the pure healer/nuker (evoker) build, but that can be trying for more active play styles because you get very few good damage spells before level 12 (and blade barrier), so are often relagated to a healing role. However, once you get the PRE enhancements and spells like Slay Living, Blade Barrier, and Destruction it's all over!

Good luck, and I hope you find something you enjoy.

[Candela90]

If u go a caster, not melee, you will probably play babysitter to 12-13 level. when u get BB and Cometfall, and then Destruction u can have a lot of fun.
Im playing FvS and I almost resigned in my 10 level. But waited for tis 12-13. Now Im 18, and havinag a lot of fun. When Im in good group I can follow up sorcerers in their kills, and its fun. When Im in bad group or in difficult quest, I can protect myself and heal others.
But personally - I love playing FvS.
I edited Evoker build by Impaqt:
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=199266
Did it for elf, and its good too. Maybe one feat less, but im doing good without it. Dont really need Extend or Empower if I have Maximize and on 18 level I give buffs for 18 mins. If boss fight is longer than 18 mins, something had to go wrong

Wanted to try FvS melee, but dont have warforged and im not sure if as an elf i would hit anything in epics.
To sum up - people in my guild were right. FvS is mostly about maximizing. Being in one moment melee and offensive caster sucks, cause in low level its fun. I tried to do character like this, and on lvl 10 i had problems to hit anything with my 16 base str. Dont even thought about epic then. So I deleted toon.
So maximize WIS or STR. And if STR go Warforged. For Wis Human is the better option I think. U have 1 more feat, and 1 bonus skill point.
I personally in Evoker build dumped UMD and invested skill points into Concentration *(max) Balance (max) and some points into Jump to have 15.
And started with 18 wis and 10 str.

I think that caster FvS is more powerfull in end game than melee (probably people who went melee think other way ^^), BUT still its 12 first levels playing babysitter. For melee not. Depends if u have patience or not.

[Loftus]

Just want to thank you all for your advice. I am excited to process all the information to finally be able to end up with a good fvs. Good gaming to you all.