Extreme focus or versatility, what do the DDO community prefer?

[Dragavon]

Just curious here.

For myself, I prefer to build characters that have focus in one area, but still have some versatility. I like to keep UMD maxxed on all characters, and prefer to have some other option for selfhealing than chugging potions. I never start a melee character with 18STR, or 20 for an orc, for example.

The only characers where I recommend maxing out a primary stat is wizards and caster focused clerics/fvs.

And I also love multiclassing

What do people think? Are those last 2 stat points worth putting 6 points into STR on every melee build?

[idle1]

I only play characters as versatile as possible 3 of my 5 characters have a lvl of arty so can do traps, umd and some bonus sp. (cleric, druid and wizard.) and 2 monk (god gives so much for two levels! +2 feats,evasion and +3 saves) And either dwarf or half elf (trying to resist that paladin dilly grr...) for the saves boost. that leaves 17 wizard, druid or cleric. Still gets level 9 spells, and I never seem to die unless I'm really unlucky... My levelling mate is a pure barb or rogue, max dps he can all in strength with no care to living, there's been some quests where he made a nice backpack item.

As long as you can do your role decent enough theres no harm in specing for more versatility. All my characters can kill just fine, instant kills or aoe dots its just a little slower but I dont need a healer hireling to keep me alive

I do have 2 pure... a bard and an artificer... eps... dang well just call me jack.

[Scraap]

Adaptability. I'll take a slightly lower number on one end if it means better effects elsewhere every time.

[unbongwah]

I prefer what someone (sigtrent?) dubbed "skirmishers:" melee builds who sacrifice a little DPS (i.e., less than max STR or THF instead of TWF) for added versatility (e.g., trap skills, UMD, buffs) and/or survivability (e.g., Evasion, high saves, more HPs, self-healing).

My favorite builds have been my melee bards, usually following the classic rogue 2 / ftr 2 / bard 16 split. I also have a pure WC bard (currently lvl 21), but I really miss having Evasion and the rogue skills, not to mention the feat shortage.

[redspecter23]

My main is versatile and adaptable. He has a wide range of loot that I don't have the luxury of farming out on my alts. He is my primary toon for most things I do on a regular basis. I use my alts for specialty roles and that is where I tend to either min/max or specialize in one particular role exclusively. I prefer to play my main, but if the group situation really needs a healer or artificer, I can swap into that role with an alt. As I don't use them for multiple purposes, they don't need to do a lot of things well, just a few specific things.

[HastyPudding]

Adaptability is always good. Even a heavily enchantment- crowd control-focused archmage is going to need something to do against enemies immune to their enchantments.

It's the same with 'healers'; healing is all good and fine, but you need to provide semi-decent crowd control (command, greater command, cometfall) and back it up with some form of damage, whether it be melee or some offensive spells. Vice versa, those evoker FVS need to have some ability with healing; you have healing spells, you need to learn when it's necessary to use them.

[HatsuharuZ]

I usually prefer single-classed characters, and I like builds that play to that classes' strengths. I am especially fond of the Artificer, which can do alot of things.

[sirgog]

Almost all of the most impressive achievements in DDO have been done by multifaceted characters with uninterruptable self-healing, some source of slow and steady sustained damage, and some efficient ways to neutralise large packs of monsters.

[fco-karatekid]

I prefer maximum flexibility.

one of the reasons I am liking DDO more now... for a while, it was min-max-or-fail... I really don't like being put into a bubble like that.

[MrCow]

I lean more towards versatility.

[Brennie]

Up until i started playing Druid, i would have been indecisive abotu this question. After having played aroudn with druid a bit, my answer is a solid: Focused.

I've come to realize that being semi-decent at a myriad of things means you can attempt to fill any role that is needed, but you simply won't be very good at it. Having a party made of people who are only "kind of" good DPS means your bos beatdown might take a lot longer, or might fail altogether. Even moreso if you're only "kind of" a good healer - there are definite benchmarks you have to reach to outpace enemy damage to your group, and if you can't hit them, your team loses. And obviously, being "kind of" good at trapping, or CC, or instakills or any other more binary specialties means you will likely fail more than you succeed, and failing at all can spell disaster for a quest.

Most characters in DDO can fully spec for one type of role and still keep some versatility. Divine casters can easily spec to be excellent full-time healers, btu still maintain good caster DPS as necessary. Crowd Control wizards can also bust out some damage, and any damage oriented rogue or arti worth their salt can also handle any traps they come across.

So, for me, Focus. Don't be okay at a few things, pick something useful and be GREAT at it. That doesn't mean you need to sacrifice absolutely everything else. Infact, outside of, say, pure Horc THF raging barbarians, most characters have the ability to build in some flexibility and utility that doesn't diminish their primary role in any way.

[HastyPudding]

And yet, on the other hand, the more I play DDO the more I realize that the multiclass experience penalties were in place for a good reason. All of these exploiter and maximum versatility builds are freakish and unnatural in the spirit of D&D.

[FuzzyDuck81]

My approach isnt to go for totally focussed characters or completely versatile ones.. I usually go for a primary focus or theme, with a secondary ability & some handy tertiary capabilities, eg. my monkcher which is primarily an archer, has some secondary melee capabilities & tertiary backups through cleric dilly for self healing & some handy buffs (seriously, for those who like versatilty half elves were an awesome addition).

[wax_on_wax_off]

Just curious here.

For myself, I prefer to build characters that have focus in one area, but still have some versatility. I like to keep UMD maxxed on all characters, and prefer to have some other option for selfhealing than chugging potions. I never start a melee character with 18STR, or 20 for an orc, for example.

The only characers where I recommend maxing out a primary stat is wizards and caster focused clerics/fvs.

And I also love multiclassing

What do people think? Are those last 2 stat points worth putting 6 points into STR on every melee build?

A man after my own heart. I agree with everything and would say that 17-18 strength is worthwhile if build points allow - but they rarely do except on a THF'ing build without any need for int/cha (so no combat expertise and not paladin). Especially with the changes to AC it's worthwhile on more characters than ever to have ~12-14 starting dexterity for better reflex saves and AC.

[janave]

Focused characters usually best at blaming the healer .

Im 100% for versatility, and adaptability. Onetrickyponies are very low regard on my list. Minmaxing on a Wizard is a very easy to track behavior and often leads to very poor playing style (read: rotation between fod/wob).

[janave]

And yet, on the other hand, the more I play DDO the more I realize that the multiclass experience penalties were in place for a good reason. All of these exploiter and maximum versatility builds are freakish and unnatural in the spirit of D&D.

In DDO there is more than enough to worth going pure, with the enchanment pass, there will be even more, i suspect they wont even out the tier1-3 pre bonuses, i believe t2-t3 will be a good boost to have, not to mention capstone is really nice on many classes.

For me the best feature of DDO is the near endless options for shaping your toons, make your character the way you want it. Not some diabloish/wowish choose a preset and be the very same as the other 99999*99999*99999 characters.

They were very modest when they advertised something like 100 distinct play styles . You can be very very unique in DDO, and thats a huge attraction for me.

Play the way you want, a very rewarding experience imho.

[Xezno]

Personally the thing i like the most about this game is the build flexibility. Forcing people (through too powerful bonuses) to go pure just dumbs down the game and makes it less interesting.

I absolutely hate the capstone enhancements - casters didnt need them because they mostly want to go pure anyway, and the rogue one is too powerful.

[Lonnbeimnech]

Questing in general seems to favor versitile builds. Where raids favor focused builds, or in some cases extremely focused builds for specific raids, such as a hp tank build for doing elob.

So the way I do it, if I'm planning to tr that character again, I go versatile.

If I plan on leaving it at end game, I go focused.

The versatile ones are more fun, none of that 'oh we can't do this one without a trapper' stuff.

[Xezno]

Double post

[SirValentine]

Extreme focus or versatility, what do the DDO community prefer?

Just curious here.

I like quite a bit of focus with moderate versatility.

I avoid both complete focus to the extent that it destroys versatility, and maximum versatility that destroys focus.