Wondering about 4th Life

[Drekisen]

I'm currently on my 3rd life PM...all thre lives have been PM btw......what I was originally shooting for was to do 4 lives to have the max stacking past life feats......but I am really starting to second guess that.

I have absolutely no intentions at all of playing other classes to get other past life feats and completionist does not appeal to me AT ALL.

My main question is there seems to be somewhat of an appropriate cap for what you really need regarding Spell Pen.......I know for non-Drow it's 30'ish and I an not even worried about getting spell pen high enough to take on Drow as my PM will remain a Drow and not become and elf.

So that being said I have come up with

Spell Pen.

20 levels
4 past life feats
2 spell pen feat
3 enhancements

That is 29 right there...I am looking at a min. 30 Spell Pen with the ship buff, 31 for level 7 and lower, and 32 for level 6 and lower.

If I ever actually Epic my Torc then 30 for level 9 and below and 32 for everything else.

Is this doable...I am really not wanting to go thru another TR but I know that 2 spell pen could make a big difference.

[varusso]

I'm currently on my 3rd life PM...all thre lives have been PM btw......what I was originally shooting for was to do 4 lives to have the max stacking past life feats......but I am really starting to second guess that.

I have absolutely no intentions at all of playing other classes to get other past life feats and completionist does not appeal to me AT ALL.

My main question is there seems to be somewhat of an appropriate cap for what you really need regarding Spell Pen.......I know for non-Drow it's 30'ish and I an not even worried about getting spell pen high enough to take on Drow as my PM will remain a Drow and not become and elf.

So that being said I have come up with

Spell Pen.

20 levels
4 past life feats
2 spell pen feat
3 enhancements

That is 29 right there...I am looking at a min. 30 Spell Pen with the ship buff, 31 for level 7 and lower, and 32 for level 6 and lower.

If I ever actually Epic my Torc then 30 for level 9 and below and 32 for everything else.

Is this doable...I am really not wanting to go thru another TR but I know that 2 spell pen could make a big difference.

See heres the thing: Additional past lives free up feats/enhancements, or they allow you to improve beyond the norm if you take those feats/enhancements as well as your PPLs. For example, a wiz PL is equivalent to one spell pen feat, as are 2 FVS PLs. The extra PLs allow you to swap a spell pen feat for something else you want -- or to NOT be human for the extra feat, if you want to play a different race. Or you can take the feats in addition to your PPLs for even higher Spell Pen.

As for your target number -- as high as you can possibly squeeze it. What is "acceptable" today may very well be obsolete tomorrow. For example, the x-pack will be flooded with drow -- mobs which are known to have very high SR. Only having to deal with a couple quests with drow today will become dealing with them routinely tomorrow -- perhaps even at much lower levels than the current game. So while dealing with a lower spell pen today may not have much of an impact, tomorrow you could find yourself unable to land a single spell in ALOT of quests.

Its worth the extra effort to grind out those other PLs, assuming you want to be top-notch in your final build. I personally have no desire to go for completionist either, yet my current build plan calls for 21 past lives -- which is far more past lives than if i were actually going for completionist.

[RabidApathy]

I have to agree with varusso. +2 spell pen would allow you to drop a feat or two enhancements while staying at the same level. Are you telling me that you don't have a use for 10 more heroic AP? Another spell focus feat? And it allows you to refocus in spell pen at a significantly higher bonus should you ever choose to.

[Drekisen]

I don't agree with grinding out that many lives.......there is no other game in the market that requires you to keep beating the same dead horse to be a top notch player........I think it's kind of silly...if I can't get by on a max 4 wiz lives I'll probably just leave this game.


There would have to be a massive amount of leveling quests added more than you could do in a life for me to TR that many times.

[varusso]

Actually pretty much every single MMO is based on the idea that you will grind *ALOT*. Some have a remort system (reincarnation here), some do not. Those that do not generally either take forever to get to cap, or they keep adding expansions that increase the cap, or give you more things to do once you reach cap -- but they all still end up being a grind to get cool item/ability X.

No, you dont have to grind out the extra lives if you are satisfied with not being the best you can be. You do if you want to be top tier, which your question about a benchmark spell pen seems to indicate. You certainly dont have to grind out the 21 lives I am doing -- thats for other things that will benefit my specific toon in its final build. At the very least, though, I would do 3 wiz/3 sorc/3 fvs before going to your final wizzie build. If you dont want to invest the time in doing that, then youll just be sitting at cap anyway doing whatever it is thats entertaining you (or working on alts -- which when you think about it is just a "beginner's version" of TRing).

TRing (esp multi-TRing) is definitely not for everyone. But there is plenty of content in the game to keep you occupied on each life, esp when you are doing different classes. And theres always some new shiny being added to work on while you are heading back up to cap.

[Drekisen]

The problem with this system tho is your playing the same game over and over and over.

I would rather grind out something that is at least new that may take a while than just reliving the same experience repeatedly.

I wasn't really looking for top tier for spell pen......I have no doubt I can do very well with just wizard past life feats.

With the Stone of Experience I probably will now do the 4th life.

The really bugger is I have been playing this game already 5+ years....if this whole system had been around from the beginning I would have a godmode toon by now....or if I had started playing a year or two ago it would be appealing.......but quite simply....it's just not....it's old for me now.

I already capped a bunch of classes just not on the same character......it's just played out for me now.....it's kind of like starting over after I already did all the work...no thanks.

[wax_on_wax_off]

I don't think 30 is enough, it's more a bare minimum. I'm aiming for 32-34.

[Faent]

It sounds to me like you should level your wizard to 8, quickly boost to 16, and then finish your final wizard life before calling it quits. I have all three wizard past lives (no FvS past lives and no Spell Penetration Feats), and sit at a Spell Pen of 31. This is currently adequate, if not ideal. You'll see a few, but not many, blue shields in hard ToD. You'll see a few more, but still not many, blue shields in Elite Monastery. I haven't tried 31 Spell Pen in Elite ToD yet. I do know that I was not happy when I was sitting at 29 Spell Pen, and I am so far perfectly happy sitting at 31. At some point in the future I will take this to 34 with FvS past lives, but I'd prefer to get back to the epic game and raid grind for awhile before doing that.

[Drekisen]

Actually I am at level 13 now on my third life holding 14 and almost at 15...so I'll level to 16...get the stone...cap...and then TR and use the stone at 8th on my 4th life

[varusso]

The problem with this system tho is your playing the same game over and over and over.

I would rather grind out something that is at least new that may take a while than just reliving the same experience repeatedly.

I wasn't really looking for top tier for spell pen......I have no doubt I can do very well with just wizard past life feats.

With the Stone of Experience I probably will now do the 4th life.

The really bugger is I have been playing this game already 5+ years....if this whole system had been around from the beginning I would have a godmode toon by now....or if I had started playing a year or two ago it would be appealing.......but quite simply....it's just not....it's old for me now.

I already capped a bunch of classes just not on the same character......it's just played out for me now.....it's kind of like starting over after I already did all the work...no thanks.

Yes it can be tedious sometimes going through essentially the same content. But I find plenty of variety each life, personally. Pugging certainly brings alot of "unique" experiences -- for better or worse Playing through with different classes for their PLs makes a big difference too. Running up to cap on a rogue is far different than doing it on a barb, or an arcane. Not to mention the new content constantly being added. For example, the last 2 lives I explored the challenges instead of just grinding through the same power-XP quests (I hit those too, but the challenges broke up the monotony alot).

I still find new things to play around with each time I go through -- and I have ALOT of alts. Theres still content I havent touched, or have only played minimally.

The alternative is to reach cap and stay there --- and do what? Grind/farm the same thing over and over till you get the shiny you want, then --- what? At least when you constantly TR, you have the feeling of accomplishing something moving forward, rather than treading water at cap. Once you cap, you are playing the same game over and over --- with even fewer things to choose from to do.

[Drekisen]

The alternative is to reach cap and stay there --- and do what? Grind/farm the same thing over and over till you get the shiny you want, then --- what? At least when you constantly TR, you have the feeling of accomplishing something moving forward, rather than treading water at cap. Once you cap, you are playing the same game over and over --- with even fewer things to choose from to do.

Play a new game and move on.....I don't multi-toon anymore I multi-game.....if it comes to it I will probably take a long break from DDO and come back when it feels fresh again