Epic Tokens

[cyghost]

It has been going swell. I have had wipes, I have had awesome parties and mediocre ones and shocking ones and they are actually all fun. I can't get angry when I myself am still a newbie and sometimes n00b. And all that happens at the worst of times is I have to return to the bar where I am bound with no loot or completion. The very worst. How is that bad?

I have made mistakes, huge ones and small ones and I have learned tons. And for the most part people are kind and fun. And I am still having an absolute ball. This game rocks.

For the record whisperghost has completed Shroud and Reaver and Demon Queen many times, and have done a few ToD and VoD's and HoX twice - **** HoX Seems to be the only one where I fail more often than not. I have even made a gimp GS item :P

Now I need Epic Tokens and I'd like to know the best way to achieve these. I stepped into Wiz King on Epic and promptly got swatted down by a CR 32 gnoll .... just when you think you are uber eh? I tried it again with a hireling and she kept me alive and I almost killed that first gnoll... but nope. It just ain't gonna happen.

I stepped into an Epic challenge with free challenge tokens and killed two tieflings. Just as I were feeling proud of having killed epic trash, two epic scorpions ate me for breakfast. Disconcerting to say the least.

I think I have to ask to join a Guild and prove to them my dedication and ability, meager as it may be.

Is there some assistance anyone can give me on either joining the right guild or how to farm epic tokens and stuff the right way?

I (almost) never see LFM's for epics and the one I did ask to join didn't want to take a gimp and I forgive them. But surely there must be another way to get these going?

Thanks in advance

[thx.janus]

Your toon might be part of that problem. Though wizards can be very powerful, epics are a world of their own. The mobs have very high hp and saves. Thats not an issue on a melee, as long as there is a healer for you. But a wizard cannot dps those high mob HPs down without running out of mana. Thats why wizards have to rely on other methods. One is crowd controlling, so the mobs are beaten down by the melees without being able to attack themselfs. The other one is instant kills. Both require high DCs which aren't easy to get. I don't know anything about your wizard, but that might be whats going on. If you have a melee toon, I'd try to get the epics done with this guy. Epic tokens, shards, seals and scrolls are not bound to character, so you can give them to your other toons via shared bank.

And take a look at the red fens, phiarlan carnival and senitnels epics. Those are on the easier side and perfect to learn how to run epics. And please, tell your party that you are still learning. Most will be glad to teach you.

[Phemt81]

And take a look at the red fens

I would avoid getting into the deep

[Uma-Quixote]

My character history is thus: First big toon was an ok rogue...hit 20, sorted out a bit of greensteel...thought ok, ready for epic..Nooooooo.... big mistake, couldn't get the traps, was a combat liabilty. Stopped running epics.
Second toon to hit 20 was a FvS - better build, got geared..ready to heal epics....ran TTT ...glugged about 8 pots ...party wiped about half way through. Not sure if it was me or it was a cruddy party (suspect poor CC). Anyhow, stopped epics on that toon.
Have now Tr'd rogue to fighter...good Kensai build, happy with her. Started running "baby" epics with her (Hse P, Hse D) Ran about 20 now in the last month. Really good...Having good experiences, often head the kill count..life is good.
I'm now thinking I'll be happy to run hse p and hse D epics on the same FvS again, having got a good feel for them, I'm confident I can heal them.
I think epics are (like a lot of other qsts and raids in DDO) often a question of confidence...and one way of building that confidence is to run it as a melee, which is usually easier than as a caster or specialist.

[monsoon22]

Actually would disagree strongly with the caster is hard thing. Granted I have been playing far to long, but my pale master in particular can pretty much do as he pleases in epics. And it is not a matter of gear, he is really not that well geared, but more a case of the state of the game and the build. I generally won't take my caster in with melee unless I know the players as they usually try to compete with you and usually just muck things up frequently leading to having to drink mana pots or just letting them die and clean up the mess more efficiently. Not being nasty, but casters and fvs rule currently, that's just the way it is.

If you have maxed out your hide and move silent, wraith form and invis make going through Epic Claw childs play once you figure out the patterns for the roamers. Check for guides and youtubes, but better yet just go in on lower settings to get the basics. Expect to fail a couple of times on epic when you get in there, but stick with it. Each time you should get further. As for killing the fire giant just stand back with your aura running and keep biting cold ramped up and just arcone bolt and blast him down, he can't kill you if you keep your aura and displacement up in wraith form. For the next two power word one and repeat above for the other, your DC's are irrelevant doing it this way. If your DC is good though just finger the other. From there invis and sneak through the rest of the quest. Whole thing should take about 15 minutes and although fragments, is farmable as it comes off timer and they accumulate.

Other easy solos although harder than Claw and take more practice, are BoB and Partycrashers. For those it is adviseable to take hirelings as it is easy to mistime the traps in PC and the DV's in BoB come in handy and heals when you switch out of undead mode as the necrotics take away your hitpoints but with the healing you have virtually unlimitted ability to do damage that competes with pretty much any melee. Just use stealth and selective power words to get past all the trash. Of the two PC is the most solo friendly imho if you have diplo/intim skills.

Much will depend on your build though, and even epic level challenges can be done solo and traded in for tokens. Especially kobold island, the lava caves, and Rushmore's Picture Portals. Once you get used to them farming there is about as exciting as watching paint dry but I am getting about 2 tokens per hour in them which is roughly the rate from epic Devils Assault with a good group but without having to wait for an LFM to fill. Again go in at level 15 to get a feal of how they work and then ramp up from there.

Generally speaking none of this can be done solo on a melee with the exception of the claw.

Hope this helps.

[TheDearLeader]

Challenges are currently the way to get Epic Tokens. Sometimes, even solo CR21, or duo CR21.

But, I'm going to be frank, on a couple of fronts. Please don't take this to be me insulting your toon or you, I just want to help identify causes for your difficulties.

You gave your toon name, so I played the MyDDO game. Two things stood out to me:

• You are a Dex-based, first life monk. My casters have more Strength. This means while your to-hit may be high, your damage output is not. And, sadly, those Epic mobs could care less about your AC, which isn't really that high anyway despite the high Dex/Wis. That's the state of Epics - AC below 90? Not even the trashiest trash mobs care.
• Your gear is whack. I'm not trying to down on you - but it mainly looks like a lot of ML 11-13 items that almost look like they're on your character because you had nothing else to fit in those locations. I would suggest taking some time to play around a little more pre-epic to locate some better items. If I may take the liberty, I would be happy to look at what you have, and see if I can give some recommendations as to how to better use your gear slots.

Also, Light or Dark Monk? I know the Madstones block a lot of Light Finishers. I can see you've got Way of the Clever Monkey IV. Also, VIP, or Premium with only certain packs? Edit : Also, what's on the Pirate Hat currently?

Either way, let me know, and I'll see if I can get some actionable feedback, with more targeted goals and objectives than what was given above. I really think we can improve your current gear layout without stepping foot into Epics.

[cdr]

The fastest way to farm epic tokens is definitely from challenges - only requires solo or duo, quick, full token no fragments, no surprises, no timers.

There's also that exploit that Turbine decided not to fix, but we won't talk about that.

[TheDearLeader]

CURRENT - 
Helm - Pirate Hat with ???
Neck - Nightforge Gorget (Heavy Fortification)
Trinket - Giantcraft Siberys Compass (Search +13, Resistance +2, Will Save +4)
Cloak - Charismatic +6 Cloak of junk skill +3
Belt - Knost's (Con +6, GFL)
Gloves - Level 12 Brawling Gloves (What Tier?)
Boots - Madstone (Striding +20%, Dex +4, Madstone Proc) (Upgradeable version, or old version?)
Bracers - Armor +? of junk skill +3
Armor - Icy Raiment (Dodge +4, Prot +4, Resist +3)
Goggles - Intricate Field Optics (Spot +13, Secret Door Detection, Wisdom +2)
Ring 1 - Ring of Balance (Balance +13, Stability, Natural Armor +2)
Ring 2 - Ring of the Buccaneer (What Tier and Level?)

UPDATED - (Or at least a list of possible suggestions)
Helm - Minos Legens (Toughness +20 HP, Heavy Fortification)
Neck - Alchemist's Pendant (Alchemical Conservation, +20 Shroud HP)
Trinket - Luck +2 Cannith Crafted?
Cloak - ???
Belt - Knost's (Con +6, GFL)
Gloves - Fabricator's Gauntlets (Strength +6, Resist +5, Melee Alacrity 10%)
Boots - Madstone (If Dark?)
Bracers - Epic Bracers of Wind, Tier 1 (Blurry, Dodge Bonus +3, Air Guard)
Armor - Epic Frozen Tunic, Tier 1 (Armor Bonus +7, Freezing Ice, Fire Shield (Cold), Enhanced Ki +1)
Goggles - Blindness Immunity of Attack Bonus +2 Goggles, Cannith Crafted.
Ring 1 - Epic Ring of the Stalker, (Exceptional Sneak Attack +2, Seeker +4, Manslayer, Ethereal)
Ring 2 - Wisdom +6 (random drop or Cannith?)

Thoughts - Better Soloability. More HP (40 more?), Higher Saves, More Strength, Higher un-hasted attack speed, higher ki generation, higher to-hit, 10% Concealment, a knockdown/haste guard, an autocrit on-hit proc, a vorpal proc...
All on gear that is pretty easily obtainable. I can Unbound Craft everything I listed Cannith-Wise, and the rest... well, it's easy, too, and doesn't require stepping into Epic Quests or challenges. The only "cost" here is possibly lower AC, but we've already established your AC wasn't high enough to matter for the moment.

As for the Cloak slot.. I don't know. You could cannith-craft Feather-Falling of Resist Fire/Acid/Electric/Sonic/Cold 30, and Hot-Swap them as appropriate. Could wear the Tier 1 Epic Cloak of Flames (Heightened Awareness IV, Fire Absorption - 20%, Fire Shield (Hot)). You could wear a Prot +5 Cloak in content where you feel AC matters. If you have a level 12 Cloak of Night or higher laying around, I suggest grabbing that.

Also, the Bracers *could* be Hot-Swapped for Fabricator's Bracers (Cannith Combat Infusion, Incite +20%, Balance +10, Enhanced Balance +5), and you could unlock the Set Bonus for the Bracers + Gloves, which is +2 untyped bonus to both to-hit and damage. This could be swapped out in Party situations where you already have Blur, and you're less concerned about guard-based CC.

This is just a generic, first-blush gearset popped together that involves fast, targeted, pre-epic grinding to make your character all-around more capable in Soloing/Epic/Raid/Questing. This is by no means the "perfect" gearset, nor a final gearset. This is just to prep you for that next level - and indeed, you'll even find Shroud/VoD/that sort of thing to be easier.

I already have some other ideas, and will continue to think about them. Would love some input back from you though, OP, so we can work more on this!

[cyghost]

Thank you everybody and thank you specifically TheDearLEader. That was most awesome!!!

It is going to take me some time to work though all of that ~ but that definitely gives me something to work with!

The hat is Int+6 Con +13 :P (wanted to change that to Seeker at next cove)
Light Monk ~ only recently got the madstone boots and haven't noticed any blocking to light abilities but in the heat of things I am sure I miss a lot.

I went Dex build because getting to hit and AC higher at the same time seemed optimal - this is my first life and it has been a learning experience of note.

I felt I had to have a + to every stat somewhere and currently have:

str ~ hands
dex ~ ring
con ~ belt
wis ~ changed my necklace to heavy fort as I recently took icy raiment for AC with no more heavy fort; hoping for ToD ring soon. (I have two; both charisma :\)
int ~ head
cha ~ cloak (I think)

I have only the following packs: STK; Sharn Sindicate; Gianthold; Vale of Twilight; The Demon Sands; The Devils of Shavarath and Attack on Stormreach.

With 2200 TP in the bank and needing a shared bank and craving warforged and still need VoN :\ If I can get rid of some waggro I may invest in more TP's but the $ is expensive these days

So no real crafting packs (except maybe GS and ToD rings)

Thank you for taking the time to help a bloke out and I am going to give your item list a high priority ~ with two obvious problems, one it looks like a lot comes from the challenges - which I have done a few free ones on now; they are fun and two I don't really like the crafting other than with the barter UI which is straightforward.

[TheDearLeader]

Thank you everybody and thank you specifically TheDearLEader. That was most awesome!!!

It is going to take me some time to work though all of that ~ but that definitely gives me something to work with!

The hat is Int+6 Con +13 :P (wanted to change that to Seeker at next cove)
Light Monk ~ only recently got the madstone boots and haven't noticed any blocking to light abilities but in the heat of things I am sure I miss a lot.

I went Dex build because getting to hit and AC higher at the same time seemed optimal - this is my first life and it has been a learning experience of note.

I felt I had to have a + to every stat somewhere and currently have:

str ~ hands
dex ~ ring
con ~ belt
wis ~ changed my necklace to heavy fort as I recently took icy raiment for AC with no more heavy fort; hoping for ToD ring soon. (I have two; both charisma :\)
int ~ head
cha ~ cloak (I think)

I have only the following packs: STK; Sharn Sindicate; Gianthold; Vale of Twilight; The Demon Sands; The Devils of Shavarath and Attack on Stormreach.

With 2200 TP in the bank and needing a shared bank and craving warforged and still need VoN :\ If I can get rid of some waggro I may invest in more TP's but the $ is expensive these days

So no real crafting packs (except maybe GS and ToD rings)

Thank you for taking the time to help a bloke out and I am going to give your item list a high priority ~ with two obvious problems, one it looks like a lot comes from the challenges - which I have done a few free ones on now; they are fun and two I don't really like the crafting other than with the barter UI which is straightforward.

Roger - Now that I know what packs you own, I'll try to think and limit things to just those packs.

Quick thing while I'm thinking about it - Regarding Int and Charisma - they benefit you very little as a Human Monk, especially one that doesn't seem to have any UMD concerns.

I'll keep thinking more about it. Still would like to know:

What Level/Tier Ring of the Buccaneer?
What Tier on the Level 12 Gloves?
Would you be willing to consider a different animal path?

Thanks in advance - I'll keep thinking on it!

[cyghost]

Quick thing while I'm thinking about it - Regarding Int and Charisma - they benefit you very little as a Human Monk, especially one that doesn't seem to have any UMD concerns.

Never really thought about it like that... but I can see that :P (I have had epic failure trying to knock chests with scrolls :P )

What Level/Tier Ring of the Buccaneer?

Tier 3

What Tier on the Level 12 Gloves?

Tier 2

Would you be willing to consider a different animal path?

I'm already dropping char and int so I would

Thanks in advance - I'll keep thinking on it!

No man, thank you!! A thousand thank you's

[ArcaneMelee]

I highly recommend joining the Defense channel - Tobril and crew are great at teaching people who want to learn. You'll be swimming in tokens in no time...

Not sure if there's a password on it or not.

[Vordax]

Roger - Now that I know what packs you own, I'll try to think and limit things to just those packs.

Quick thing while I'm thinking about it - Regarding Int and Charisma - they benefit you very little as a Human Monk, especially one that doesn't seem to have any UMD concerns.

I'll keep thinking more about it. Still would like to know:

What Level/Tier Ring of the Buccaneer?
What Tier on the Level 12 Gloves?
Would you be willing to consider a different animal path?

Thanks in advance - I'll keep thinking on it!

The cove should be coming back in a little over a month, so upgrading the gloves to level 20 tier 3 and upgrading the ring to level 20 and tier 3 would be one thing that could be done. Drop the Int off of the hat and add something else, could do seeker+6, but would be tempted to do sneak attack +5, this will give you a +5 to hit (+8 damage) when you don't have aggro, good for epics in a group.

Could farm VoD for goggles too, stormsinger cloak from the lordsmarch chain would be a better option than the cha+6 cloak (can always swap the cha cloak in when needed) or craft a tier 2 HP cloak, with the thought of eventually getting it to tier 3 (maybe min 2 cloak, +45hp, +5 prot, heavy fortification).

Vordax

[cyghost]

ArcaneMelee, I saw Tobril's wonderful posts and would have joined up if the times were not completely mashed I'd never be able to work and my wife would kill me, its like 04:00 in the morning!

Vordax, upgrading those babies are the very thing I was waiting on and thx for the heads up on the head gear ~ I'll look at that. Thx for the tips!

btw I do have the following

Gloves of the Falcon
Spectral Gloves
Maenya's Fists
Katra's Wit
Teraza's Sight
Dusk Heart
Fragment of the Silver Flame
Globe of Imperial Blood
Nyoko's Necklace
Oremi's Necklace
Shintao Cord
Smedgar's Ring
Enlightened Vestments
Garments of Equilibrium

I know a lot of it can be upgraded which is why I started looking at epics (that and I want to TR a couple of times) and it seems I was a little too hasty.

[TheDearLeader]

Round 3!
Helm - Minos Legens (Toughness +20 HP, Heavy Fortification)
Neck - Shintao Cord (Con +6, Concentration +15, Shintao Set Bonus)
Trinket - Trinket of Melee Alacrity 10% (Cannith-Crafted)
Cloak - ???
Belt - Knost's (Con +6, GFL)
Gloves - Spectral Gloves (Dex +5, Attack Bonus +2, Ethereal)
Boots - Madstone (Breaks some finishers?)
Bracers - Levik's Bracers (Str +6, 20% Healing Amp)
Armor - Icy Raiment (Dodge +4, Prot +4, Resist +3)
Goggles - Future GS HP Item?
Ring 1 - Kyosho's Ring (Wis +6, ExStr +1, Shintao Set Bonus) 
Ring 2 - Another ToD Ring?

Round 4!
Helm - Tezaras Perfect Sight (Wisdom +6, True Seeing, Wrath of Sora Kell)
Neck - Jorgundals Collar (10% Melee Alacrity)
Trinket - Shimmering Pendant (Attack Bonus +2, Seeker +4)
Cloak - Stormsinger Cloak (Resistance +4, Sonic Guard)
Belt - Knosts (Con +6, GFL)
Gloves - Maenyas Iron Fists (Strength +6, Intim +13, Wrath of Sora Kell)
Boots - ???
Bracers - Tharnes Bracers (Dex +6, set bonus)
Armor - Garments of Equilibrium - (Heavy Fortification, Concentration +13, Reinforced Fists: +1 Die Step)
Goggles - Tharnes Goggles (SA +5 to-hit, +8 to-damage, set bonus)
Ring 1 - Kyoshos Ring (Wis +6, ExStr +1, Shintao Set Bonus) 
Ring 2 - Katras Razor Wit (Cha +6, Diplo +13, Wrath of Sora Kell)

Okay. All the things in there are either in content packs you own, or Cannith-craft-able by an unbound crafter, except for the Minos. For that, you'd need to buy tapestries, and get guest-passed in.

I won't say the above are "perfect". But either gearset *should* be an upgrade to what you currently have.

Also, I'm being told by a little light monk wannabe in the background that Kukan-Do's save is Charisma based. Same person's telling me Patient Tortoise and the extra HP + Concentration it entails would be preferential to doing it Monkey-style.

For Round 4, you could put Boots of the Innocent in Boots slot for Resistance Bonus to Saves, and use your Cloak slot for a GS HP item - perhaps Smoke II for the Blur Bonus?

The cove should be coming back in a little over a month, so upgrading the gloves to level 20 tier 3 and upgrading the ring to level 20 and tier 3 would be one thing that could be done. Drop the Int off of the hat and add something else, could do seeker+6, but would be tempted to do sneak attack +5, this will give you a +5 to hit (+8 damage) when you don't have aggro, good for epics in a group.
Vordax

Regarding the Crystal Cove:

I don't think it will be back this year until September. Don't count on it being back for DDO's 7th Birthday - I expect a new event in it's place.

[MsEricka]

Here's a possible list to work towards for the future. It's not an awesome list of gear, it uses a lot of what you have and some things that would really help you.

Head Pirate Hat with SFL/Concentration 15
Necklace Oremi's Necklace (Con +6, Henshin Mystic Set)
Trinket Bloodstone
Cloak Min II Cloak
Belt Epic Spare Hand (Colorless/Blue) Charisma +6/Toughness
Ring Oremi's Ring Wis +6, Exc Con +1, Holy Burst
Gloves Spectral Gloves
Boots Striding 30
Ring +6 Dexterity Ring of Resistance (crafted)
Bracers +6 Strength
Robes Garments of Equilibrium
Goggles Tharne's Goggles?

Before you ask, Why Oremi's? For the extra Ki and the fire damage. It does help.

[Vordax]

Regarding the Crystal Cove:

I don't think it will be back this year until September. Don't count on it being back for DDO's 7th Birthday - I expect a new event in it's place.

Yeah that is possible but if it does show up, the upgraded items would fit in his build fairly well.

Vordax

[cyghost]

Aw heck, thanks everybody, that is a lot of information that is only going to be helping me. I truly appreciate it.

I'll give tortoise a whirl next time I am on.

Very sad Crystal may be delayed, I had hopes of completing those two items and also waiting on mabar to complete my wraps and cloak.

What does minII en litII mean please?

I have probably enough mats to start a green steel cloak or boots and take it to at least tier 2 - but even with that wonderful program from sanadil et al, I struggle with the green steel stuff. (I made a GS shuriken pos pos pos out of sheer desperation, just to be part of it and while it is probably gbr (gimp beyond recognition) I am quite proud of it :P (I'll just not show it around much he he)

But it ain't very helpful at end level stuff - will be on a next life for sure. (had hopes of hitting the DQ at least but nah, should have been cold iron good eh? live and learn)

So if someone can point me to a thread that explain that (GS) for complete dummies, I'd appreciate that as well.

By the way, the game rocks and the community here rocks as well!

[TheDearLeader]

What does minII en litII mean please?

Min II is Mineral II, and is a Dual-Shard Formula that has Aspects of both Positive and Earth. It gives Heavy Fortification and Protection +5 on Accessories, and on Weapons...well, you're a monk so it doesn't matter. XD

Lit II is Lightning II, and is a Dual-Shard Formula that has both Aspects of Positive and Air. It gives Lightning Strike on Weapons, and Lightning Strike Guard on Accessories.

http://perfectweb.org/ddo/crafting/base_crafting.php
The above is an "okay" crafting planner for the web.

http://perfectweb.org/ddo/crafting/b...&altC=0&type=i
Is an example of how to make a Mineral II Helm focusing on HP.

The wiki has multiple pages on green steel crafting. This page has all the possible Tier III combinations that produce a special effect, about halfway down.

[cyghost]

Thanks a bunch. It seems one needs a degree in crafting tbh Will be glancing at that later.

I made some changes to my gear if you have a free second and it isn't too much trouble.

obviously I now need to farm those marks more intensely to get the sora kall set up to scratch - hell I might just buy some astral diamonds :P


Any way, off to play tennis as to pretend to have a semblance of a balanced lifestyle...


oh, just had an epic picture portals run where we wiped a quarter of the way in. Good times and I have four tokens left for that one

later everyone