Completionist Order

[Semual]

It certainly seems like some Past Lives are better than others, so is there a preferred order? This is a bit relevant since I solo almost exclusively, and certain classes are just a tad better at that than others. Artificer seems like it'd help with Rogue, and Sorc might help with low-SP classes like Ranger and Paladin. Any thoughts?

[thegreatneil]

It certainly seems like some Past Lives are better than others, so is there a preferred order? This is a bit relevant since I solo almost exclusively, and certain classes are just a tad better at that than others. Artificer seems like it'd help with Rogue, and Sorc might help with low-SP classes like Ranger and Paladin. Any thoughts?

Easy, barb:
it's simple.
most peopel hate it, so you get it out of the way first.
10, everyone loves hp's.

[Munkenmo]

it would depend on the type of toon you want to play your way to completionist to.

are you planning on mostly pure each class?
do you prefer melee or casting?
are you using xp stones?
are you using +x hearts to get your past life?

[Semual]

it would depend on the type of toon you want to play your way to completionist to.

are you planning on mostly pure each class?
do you prefer melee or casting?
are you using xp stones?
are you using +x hearts to get your past life?

Probably mostly pure with occasional dips, except for Fighter, Rogue, and Barbarian which I might mix up a bit more.

Honestly, I like both melee and casting. No preference there. The only thing is that I vastly prefer soloing whenever possible.

I have a Greater Experience Tome, but I'm unlikely to get much other boosts besides freely available stuff like Voice of the Master.

I'm not quite at the point of doing it yet. If I can get a heart in loot, or beg one off a guildy (my guild is very generous), then yes. But I plan on spending a minimum of TP on this.

[Munkenmo]

anyway, personally i prefer playing melee, specifically monks, and the two classes i've found hardest to level so far are barb, and bard.

My order and builds if i were to start over (i'm happy to deep splash, prefer playing melee, but won't use +x hearts to buy a past life)

barb (1rogue, 7barb, 1rogue, barb to cap) helf, monk dilly - yes i'd waste the build points.
bard (1rogue, 1fighter, 7bard, 1rogue, fighter, bard to cap) human
paladin (1arti, 9monk, 10paladin) human
monk (1arti, 12monk, 2arti, monk to cap) helf, rogue dil
rogue (1rogue, 1ranger, 9monk, 9rogue) human
ranger (1ranger, 1monk, 1ranger, 1arti, 8monk, ranger to cap) human
fighter (1rogue, 3pally, 6fighter, 1rogue, 6fighter, 3pally) human
sorc (1 ranger, 6sorc, 2pally, 12sorc) warforged
wizard (1 barb, 19wiz) warforged archmage
druid (pure) half orc
favored soul (1barb, 19fvs) half orc
cleric (1barb, 19cleric) half orc
artificer (pure) warforged (if you really want evasion, don't splash monk till after you pick up blade barrier)

My reasoning:

barb and bard both were both hard to level solo, so i wanted to get them over and done with whilst i had lower xp requirements.

I also figured caster past lives don't really help melee, but melee past lives could be of assistance to casters at the really low levels.

The melee lives are in the order i felt the past lives would be the most useful further on.

With the caster lives, given i went for a semi melee sorc, i decided the + 1 evo dc would help my wiz more than vice versa.

Went with druid before the cleric / fvs, as I made both builds primarily wisdom based, using the druid pastlife and flame blade for decent melee damage till i got holy smite, and blade barrier.

the monk based builds are all dark monks, built around unarmed 2wf with touch of death. (i like monks)
the artificer splashes are for umd, i value their boosts to scrolls more than the sneak attack offered by rogue.

[jskinner937]

I have almost just finished completionist with only arty life yet to do, and if I can make some suggestions....

First of all completionist is a grind, can be a very boring grind if you play the same type of character through all the lives. What I did was play a different build that I have not tried before through every life. This really broke the monatany and actually gave me more build information than I would have ever recieved from the forums honestly.
As far as order goes I would go something like this so that you dont get bored with quickly with melee or caster:

Barbarian
Paladin
Sorc
Cleric
Monk
Bard
Druid
Ranger
Arty
Fighter
FVS
Wizzy
Rogue

It took me 3 years to get this far, but it was fun playing all the classes. And like I said I played a build I never played each time and sometimes that was a pure class if I never played, but each were researched and selected based on my play style and soloability. For me Bard was easy, Barb sucked at level 11 quests and beyond, Rogue (I went INT based assasin) was terrible until finally done with undead then I lead kill counts even over casters. It has been more of an enjoyable journey rather than a grind and I understand the game much better in the process.

[hit_fido]

Barbarian first, Fighter second. By far the two most punishing classes to solo, probably to pug as well, both with 2 rogue splash so you can handle traps in quests solo much easier. 10 hit points help every life, and +1 tactics dc will help all of your monk and monk splashed melee lives.

Monk next, because you'll learn to play monk and because you'll probably want to monk splash your remaining melee lives. +1 damage is a modest boost for those lives as well.

Rogue (if you liked monk style then multiclass into monk) next, because IMO you'll want to continue to do a rogue splash for most remaining lives, and +2 trap saves is another modest but nice boost for solo play.

Then Wizard with 2 rogue splash, so you can (solo) farm your Torc, Bauble, and unsuppress your vibrant purple that you'll want to have handy for all the remaining classes with blue bars. Of course the +2 spell pen as well.

Ranger and Paladin in whatever order, if you liked monk style then multiclass heavy into monk, you'll probably still want 1/2 rogue splash here too.

Favored Soul to get you +1 more spell pen for your remaining caster focused lives

Cleric, Sorcerer, Druid in whatever order - don't think it makes a big difference.

Artificer - waited til now to take most advantage of many past lives: monk/ranger damage, sorcerer +1 evocation for your blade barriers/sprays/detonations, extra spell points from fvs/sorc, buffed pet from druid past life, etc etc

Bard last, with some rogue splash - most past lives leading up to this all help in small ways, while the bard (passive) past life itself does essentially nothing for any other class. By now you've learned all quests very well and while many feel bard is weak, you'll have the benefit of extensive metagaming knowledge to ease this last life.

[Dendrix]

Melee's first, then casters, then divines, then bard last.

Pretty much all other lives help bards, but bard's don't help anything else.

Bards are far and away the weakest class in DDO - almost everything they do except for fascinating can be done with potions or clickies - and the help from all the other lives is really significant for them.

[jskinner937]

+2 to saves vs enchantments is pretty handy on any toon

[78mackson]

I often get the feeling that people hate Bard and Paladin...

I find them by far easiest to level up of the melee classes.

Bard gets insane to-hit, haste, displacement, self heal, and dmg while leveling, and when grouping even mediocre pugs turns decent. 1fi, 8bard, 5 more fig, rest bard... easy peasy..

Paladin gets immunities towards all those pesky undead freeing up some gear choices and gets about 10 instant killing smites/ rest. LOH is pretty decent and 2-3 of them is all you need for healing in 99% of the quests.... what's not to like? (while leveling up a PL that is)

Bard PL is kinda meh, Paladin PL is top notch.

[Asmodeus451]

Barbarian first, Fighter second. By far the two most punishing classes to solo, probably to pug as well, both with 2 rogue splash so you can handle traps in quests solo much easier. 10 hit points help every life, and +1 tactics dc will help all of your monk and monk splashed melee lives.

Monk next, because you'll learn to play monk and because you'll probably want to monk splash your remaining melee lives. +1 damage is a modest boost for those lives as well.

Rogue (if you liked monk style then multiclass into monk) next, because IMO you'll want to continue to do a rogue splash for most remaining lives, and +2 trap saves is another modest but nice boost for solo play.

Then Wizard with 2 rogue splash, so you can (solo) farm your Torc, Bauble, and unsuppress your vibrant purple that you'll want to have handy for all the remaining classes with blue bars. Of course the +2 spell pen as well.

Ranger and Paladin in whatever order, if you liked monk style then multiclass heavy into monk, you'll probably still want 1/2 rogue splash here too.

Favored Soul to get you +1 more spell pen for your remaining caster focused lives

Cleric, Sorcerer, Druid in whatever order - don't think it makes a big difference.

Artificer - waited til now to take most advantage of many past lives: monk/ranger damage, sorcerer +1 evocation for your blade barriers/sprays/detonations, extra spell points from fvs/sorc, buffed pet from druid past life, etc etc

Bard last, with some rogue splash - most past lives leading up to this all help in small ways, while the bard (passive) past life itself does essentially nothing for any other class. By now you've learned all quests very well and while many feel bard is weak, you'll have the benefit of extensive metagaming knowledge to ease this last life.

this is close to how i'd do it

[sgz]

A lot of the above posters have already given some good suggestions, but I guess a good question to ask before you start is how you're planning your TR experience, keeping in mind the gear you have and play style you enjoy.

I first decided on doing my completionist with the first character I got to L20 (Wiz20). It was a play style I enjoyed so I followed it up with another Wiz life, Sorc, Sorc, FVS, Monk. It was at the monk life that I felt frustrated because I couldn't really get ahold of why I was doing melee lives in order to finish up my "caster" character. The play style had drastically changed from what I was enjoying on my "caster" character up to this point. (I have a LVL21 monk alt which I enjoy playing so go figure...).

Basically it was at this point that I decided to turn around my completionist plan for this character and go ahead and make him just caster focused (Wizx3,Sorcx3, FVSx2).

Now, I went back to another alt I enjoyed thoroughly (Artificer20) and looked at how I can get him to completionist and enjoy it rather than get burned out on it. Keeping play style in mind, first thing I had to decide was whether or not I was gonna go with a TR specific build or try out each class (like I did the first time). Remembering how that went, I decided to go ahead with a TR build that I can use to carry through all the different classes. This will help out tremendously because the gear stays the same (i can essentially sell off everything I pick up each life) and more importantly, the play style stays the same so I i'll never feel like I wasn't playing my artificer. ( I play my other alts whenever I wanted a change of pace or style).

Here's how my artificer TR is going now:

Artificer 6 / Rogue 6 / Class xxxxx 7-8
TR0 Artificer20
TR1 Art6/Rog6/Ranger8
TR2 Art6/Rog6/Sorc8
TR3 Art6/Rog6/Fighter8
TR4 Art6/Rog6/Barb8
TR5 Art6/Rog6/xxx

Because I was doing a completionist Artificer, the Ranger/Sorcerer/Fighter past lives would be the most helpful. Keeping in mind my prior experience, going Ranger/Sorc first would not only improve the following TRs, but just in case I get burnt out, I could always stop and re-level Artificer back up and end up with a better Artificer than I started with (no past-lives unused or wasted).

The fighter (+1 hit/dc), barb (+10hp) ranger (+2 range dmg) would help out no matter what other classes followed. So thinking ahead of how you will play, will really help ease out your TR experience and make it more enjoyable.

[Sojourner]

1) Paladin
2) Bard
3) Barbarian
4) Monk
5) Fighter
6) Ranger
7) Artificer
8) Rogue
9) Wizard
10) FVS
11) Sorc
12) Cleric
13) Druid


The first two are to help the third. Run Barbarian in your 3rd life with a bonus to Healing Amp and saves vs. enchantments -- two of the barbarians traditional weaknesses. You then will have +healing, +saves, +hp for the rest of your lives, something every life can use.

Monk and Fighter next for the +1 damage and +1 to-hit that can be used by the remaining lives (although most of them mainly while low level).

Ranger before artificer for the ranged damage bonus the Artificer can make use of if using a repeater. The Artificer after that so that the bonus to INT skills can help the rogue life.

And the rogue life before the cleric life, because clerics need all the help they can get when it comes to running through traps.

But, before the cleric - the Wizard comes before all the casters because of their bonus to spell penetration.

Then Favored Soul and Sorc for their Spell Pen and extra spell points.

Cleric to finish the main casters, and should be an easy run with all the previous lives bonuses.

Druid is last because it can make use of the previous lives, but offers just about nothing in return.

After that, one last TR into whichever you had the most fun with, and you win DDO!

[Munkenmo]

Druid is last because it can make use of the previous lives, but offers just about nothing in return.

The druid passive past life is a steaming pile of fail, true.

A lot of people seem to underestimate how useful flameblade is at low levels on a wisdom specced divine. True I swap the feat later on, but flameblade goes a long way to making those pre blade barrier levels more palatable.

[Trowa88]

The druid passive past life is a steaming pile of fail, true.

A lot of people seem to underestimate how useful flameblade is at low levels on a wisdom specced divine. True I swap the feat later on, but flameblade goes a long way to making those pre blade barrier levels more palatable.

Been thinking of making use of this on my upcoming Cleric life, with full points in wisdom is the non proficiency ever an issue?

[Munkenmo]

Been thinking of making use of this on my upcoming Cleric life, with full points in wisdom is the non proficiency ever an issue?

wouldn't know, i always splash a barb level for sprint boost.

[gphysalis]

I was told it is often a good idea to alternate caster / melee for variety while tring.

Or you could challenge yourself and do it alphabetically.

[Jasparion]

We are doing it as a group, so our choices are sort of our own, but also we need to take turns healing and trapping. So we try not to double up in any life in case we have neither right at the end.

However, next life we are all going Druid, because we think it will be fun having so many pets and summons.

[Munkenmo]

We are doing it as a group, so our choices are sort of our own, but also we need to take turns healing and trapping. So we try not to double up in any life in case we have neither right at the end.

However, next life we are all going Druid, because we think it will be fun having so many pets and summons.

Might pay to have one person go arti in that group

and then vice versa for the Arti group.

[JustMe_ca]

Usually the best thing is to get the classes you don't like out of the way first.... but if you are like me - you are already in your 3rd life when you decide to go for it so it doesn't really matter. I tried to group like classes together so i could dump gear that I wouldn't likely use. I also tried to do classes that would be useful for a future life first (i.e. ranger before artificer) but my order was very flexible

I also left the classes i was looking forward to the most to the end)

Now that I have completionist - and am still doing more lives I just do the life i feel like. I also am playing with "interesting" builds - especially in classes that are painful to level pure.

If I can splash 9monk/1artificer, I do - it works well for pally, ranger, fighter, etc.

If it isn't too crazy (ok, even it if is crazy i will do it) - I will add 1 artificer to do traps - works for cleric, ... - It makes it much easier to find or build groups if you know traps are taken care of (also makes soloing easy). Artificer gives you spell points it fits a bit better than rogue in divine classes and the little anklebiter is cute

I am right now experimenting with the "drunk barbarian" build - 12 barbarian/7druid/1rogue - only level 7 right now but it seems a fun way to level a barbarian - at low levels the druid abilities shine - will have to see if it works well at upper levels. It also has trap abilities for convenience.