Comming back - overwhelmed...

[Himkano]

I've been thinking about giving DDO another look. I logged in yesterday, and was overwhelmed with all the equipment and everything I had to sort through, so I was thinking about starting a new character. On the other hand, I have a 14 pal/2 rogue that has been on since early release, and was gimped pretty badly when I stopped playing (he was awesome when the level cap was much lower, but didn't age well after that).

I have two questions - should I try to limp him to 20 and TR (although I think he has all my faction) or make a new character?

If a new character, what are current suggestions for good classes - assume the following - I am very familiar with levels 1-10, moderately familiar with 12-14, vaguely familiar with 15-16 (but no vale).

I have all VIP perks

I have "decent" gear, but no raid, epic, or greensteel

I have access to tomes (and, since I kept my account active, I can afford up to +4 tomes)

I do have the underdark (bought it yesterday) - and the xp tome that came with it

Thanks for any advise / input.

[psteen1]

I've been thinking about giving DDO another look. I logged in yesterday, and was overwhelmed with all the equipment and everything I had to sort through, so I was thinking about starting a new character. On the other hand, I have a 14 pal/2 rogue that has been on since early release, and was gimped pretty badly when I stopped playing (he was awesome when the level cap was much lower, but didn't age well after that).

I have two questions - should I try to limp him to 20 and TR (although I think he has all my faction) or make a new character?

If a new character, what are current suggestions for good classes - assume the following - I am very familiar with levels 1-10, moderately familiar with 12-14, vaguely familiar with 15-16 (but no vale).

I have all VIP perks

I have "decent" gear, but no raid, epic, or greensteel

I have access to tomes (and, since I kept my account active, I can afford up to +4 tomes)

I do have the underdark (bought it yesterday) - and the xp tome that came with it

Thanks for any advise / input.

personally, I would start over but not delete my old character. Maybe it would be fun to give him a go again once you've readjusted to the way the game plays. It's just my preference- don't like to jump halfway into a game if I can't remember how to play the character.

[Doomcrew]

You probably have a free lesser re-incarnation from House J
from when the expansion came. So, if you are willing to do
a bit of research you could get your "Batman" shaped up quickly
to ease the plat and BTA gear for new characters.

Cheers, wb.

[Spoonwelder]

Personally I would limp to 20......the XP required isnt bad at all and you it would give you a 34pt build to redo as a pally (if that is your desire) which will be MUCH better than any 28pt bulid you may have started with.

In TRing....you could do anything as that 10% heal amp from Pally will help all of your builds (but melee more).....The batman build is fairly defunct nowadays but Palonks (18/2 or 12/8 Pally/Monk or 12/6/2 with fighter levels for even more tactics feats) are popular.

No matter what though the 6-10 hours it will take you to cap him will pay off massively on running up to cap again on a second life. Just tell groups you are in that your back to the game and may need some quest pointers. You'll get the occasional moron but most will happily have you come along.

[count_spicoli]

Just curious. What made you quit and what brought you back? Ses like we have huge influx of players coming nack who havent played for a very long time. As for what to.do about your toon definately run vale and shroud and craft yourself some nice greensteel.for tring. Really come in handy with min lvl11 and 12. While you are grinding shroud you can head out to FR and begin get your destinies worked on.

[Himkano]

I quit the first time when the majority of my guild quit playing. Then I came back last year to try out new stuff, I don't remember why I quit playing - probably tired of playing by self, but hard to group because of family.

Why back now - I don't know, partly the underdark, partly because I really like the game, I just eventually get bored playing by myself, and, like I said, afraid that I can't really contribute to guild or static group, because I don't want my real life slowing them down.

Spoon - I was looking at McCow's guide, it looks like, even running optimally (which I'm not since I don't know higher level instances, level 19-20 alone takes 15 hours - is there a new, more current guide?

[Himkano]

... does anyone have a reference of where to look for numbers? I like to make my own builds (my pally/rogue predates the batman, but didn't have rogue skills, I just wanted a warrior with healing, evasion, and UMD), but I know that things change a lot in this game, especially as the levels increase.

I'm not asking for someone to list all of the changes, but is there a consolidated place that has things like - by this level you should have X hp, or Tohit X, or - if your armor class isn't this at this level, don't bother.. etc?

(I realize that these are subjective, but some guidelines, sans gear, would be helpful)

[Spoonwelder]

I quit the first time when the majority of my guild quit playing. Then I came back last year to try out new stuff, I don't remember why I quit playing - probably tired of playing by self, but hard to group because of family.

Why back now - I don't know, partly the underdark, partly because I really like the game, I just eventually get bored playing by myself, and, like I said, afraid that I can't really contribute to guild or static group, because I don't want my real life slowing them down.

Spoon - I was looking at McCow's guide, it looks like, even running optimally (which I'm not since I don't know higher level instances, level 19-20 alone takes 15 hours - is there a new, more current guide?

I just go by the fact that its about 700k on a first life from 16-20 and you should be able to go at abit more than a 1k/min rate if you get in some decent groups....so about 10hrs - my initial estimate may have been a bit low but with people out there capping TR2s (4.2M XP) in 24 hours - I figure you can get 700k in 10.

Cows numbers are old(ish) mostly from before the newish bravery bonus - I would check his more recent diaries (say druid) and see. AND those numbers are for running every quest once on normal (IIRC). Thus in a good group with hitting high XP/Min quests and running a bravery bonus (even just hard) it will be much lower.

[Spoonwelder]

... does anyone have a reference of where to look for numbers? I like to make my own builds (my pally/rogue predates the batman, but didn't have rogue skills, I just wanted a warrior with healing, evasion, and UMD), but I know that things change a lot in this game, especially as the levels increase.

I'm not asking for someone to list all of the changes, but is there a consolidated place that has things like - by this level you should have X hp, or Tohit X, or - if your armor class isn't this at this level, don't bother.. etc?

(I realize that these are subjective, but some guidelines, sans gear, would be helpful)

There isn't really a good solid overall guide for all the numbers - but at heroic levels my rules of thumb would be

For Melee's my rules of thumb

• HP = 20 x Level more as you can (GS HP items, toughness feat and enhance, GFL and Con items)
• Tohit = 2to3x Level very much an 'ish' but to hit shouldn't really be an issue for any melee
• AC = as much as you can get - AC changed alot recently and now has some impact at for almost everyone - .......really this is a much longer topic that you should look into separataly. Main issue for you is to keep evasion you need light armour on...read up on it.
• Str - aim for mid to upper 30s (first life forum folks don't freak out)
• Con - high 20s to low 30s (see str comment)

One last note - Zeal - Level 4 spell for Pally Use this spell all the time (not sure if this will be new to you) - also use smite/divine sacrifice as much as you can.

[Doomcrew]

There isn't really a good solid overall guide for all the numbers - but at heroic levels my rules of thumb would be

For Melee's my rules of thumb

• HP = 20 x Level more as you can (GS HP items, toughness feat and enhance, GFL and Con items)
• Tohit = 2to3x Level very much an 'ish' but to hit shouldn't really be an issue for any melee
• AC = as much as you can get - AC changed alot recently and now has some impact at for almost everyone - .......really this is a much longer topic that you should look into separataly. Main issue for you is to keep evasion you need light armour on...read up on it.
• Str - aim for mid to upper 30s (first life forum folks don't freak out)
• Con - high 20s to low 30s (see str comment)

One last note - Zeal - Level 4 spell for Pally Use this spell all the time (not sure if this will be new to you) - also use smite/divine sacrifice as much as you can.

Good advice.


Remember, you are playing to have fun. Also remember if you are grouping, other folk are also playing to have "their"fun.
Co-exist for mutual fun and everything will work out. And by that I mean carry your weight, or at least inform the others you are a returning player and may not be "optimal". most will accept this and help.

Cheers

[gphysalis]

Use your free lesser reincarnation

This can help a lot

All you need to do is talk to Kruz in house J

Then get to 20, and once you have an epic destiny to lvl 5, you'll be fine.

[ferrite]

Welcome back to DDO.

So much has changed, it will be like a new game for you.

Yea I'd start over, but keep the gimp as a bank storage mule for now, to store BTA stuff and whatnot. You'll wind up making multiple toons anyway if you get into the game, so you might as well do it now.

Consider this additional toon as your new 'test' character, feel free to gimp it at your leisure as you meander your way through all the new content. Once you get to a point where you feel comfortable with all the new concepts and rules, the roles reverse.. you switch back to your original, now with a better idea of where you're going with it. At that point it will be much easier to get to a point where you can TR.

Multiple test characters are always a good thing, since they are always useful as bank mules when you're not playing them.