Adventure Pack Reviews and Buyer's Guide

[Saekee]

Druid’s Deep

• Cost: 550 TP
• Favor: 75 (7.33 TP/Favor: Terrible) -- The Harpers
• Level: 17
• Content: 4 quests
• Epic: 4 quests
• Gear of Note: Ivy Wraps, Leaves of the Forest
• Crafting: none
• Fun: Medium
• Grade: C-
• Priority: Low

Druid’s Deep has the feel of a rushed-out pack that was released while much of the developer focus was on other things. The one interesting element is that the enemies are mostly plants and animals, which is a bit of a curve ball in terms of melee weapons. Put away those holy swords and find your best neutral beaters!

The first three flagging quests are super short and thrown together. Put it this way: MotU is known for short quests, and the first Druid’s Deep quest re-uses the dungeon from the shortest MotU in-town quest. Not a great introduction to the pack. The second quest is another super short, claustrophobic quest set inside a house. We move from short to medium length with the third quest, but finally the last quest is almost big, albeit underdeveloped. The artwork is pretty nice but the overall design feels like an afterthought.

Soloing is pretty easy because the traps are just the non-threatening bear traps and spike pits and the challenge is fairly low, with the exception of maybe two fights in the whole pack. Grouping may be tough due to this pack being such a low priority and minimal value.

There is some okay gear sprinkled around the chain, any of which will also show up in its "normal" version in the chain reward. The best is Ivy Wraps, but Leaves of the Forest is nice as well. Druid’s Deep also gives you a choice of commendations, any type, in stacks of three as a chain reward, so if you’re trying to finish off a commendation set the chain reward may be the simplest way to go.

The only real value from Druid’s Deep is if you don’t own Menace of the Underdark but want commendation gear. Short of that, it’s an okay pack once you own most other content or if you’re just looking to have as much variety as possible for your for epic xp.


Druid's Deep was introduced after sirgog's reviews.

Hi, thx for this wonderful thread! Thought you might wish to add this to the Druid's Deep pack:
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...a-Spy-Capstone
It is the best non-raid weapon for a TWF armed monk, easily acquired. A specialty build but one that would benefit immensely from the Brush Hooks, so much that they should be the weapon of choice over short swords. They are possibly better even then raid loot, given the crit range and multiplier, enhanced further by Ninja Spy capstone and certain destinies. Obviously one should not buy a pack just for one particular gear, but it is worth mentioning.

[user110000]

bump

[mna]

Well, the only direct experience I have with something like this is when Gianthold went epic in U17. Its price did not change.

There have been many price changes since sirgog's thread. As far as I'm aware, none of them corresponded to changes in the packs themselves. All the prices changes were just "rebalancing," as far as I can tell.

Oh well. Seems that THIS time they are changing the prices:

Ahoy! We wanted to remind players that there will be a price change coming for Three-Barrel Cove to reflect the added level ranges, new content added, and new shiny loot coming in Update 22! The price for Three-Barrel Cove prior to Update 22 is 550 Turbine Points. With the launch of the update, the price for the pack will become 695 Turbine Points. Players who already own the adventure pack will not be required to re-purchase it; you’ll automatically receive the content pack upgrades on patch day. If you don’t currently own it, you are able to purchase the pack ahead of the update at the lower pre-U22 price. Yaaar!

In that thread, someone already calculated that a post-update -20% sale price should end up as 556 TP, so full price now is a bit less than -20% after U22.

I haven't seen anything on the bundle pricing (Landlubber Bundle) yet.

[mna]

Gianthold is the best example, but to add to it, there were also several ebberon packs that gained epic level quests (before epic levels existed) and they did not go up in price either.

Um. Now over in the other thread people seem to be saying that Gianthold did indeed go up in price...?

Right before they epicified Gianthold (and raised the price, understandably), they gave a great sale on it. This time, they just give a heads up that the price is going up. Tolero, I don't presume that you single-handidly makes sales like that, but maybe you could ask someone that can? Please don't misunderstand me, I'm glad for the warning, but a sale would have been good too. (That sale/warning combo was the reason I bought Gianthold, actually)

Did that warning and Gianthold price increase perhaps happen earlier than at the release of Epic Gianthold, or something?

[EllisDee37]

Um. Now over in the other thread people seem to be saying that Gianthold did indeed go up in price...?



Did that warning and Gianthold price increase perhaps happen earlier than at the release of Epic Gianthold, or something?

They re-balanced pack prices. That's when Demon Sands went up in price to match Gianthold, for example, but something like a dozen packs had their prices changed during that re-balancing.

As far as I'm aware, Gianthold's price was not changed. It was 950 TP before the rebalancing and before it was epified, and it's still 950 TP now.

[mna]

As far as I'm aware, Gianthold's price was not changed. It was 950 TP before the rebalancing and before it was epified, and it's still 950 TP now.

Hm.

Actually, from old forum posts in 2009, seems it was 900 TP at one point (possibly during the beta?) and 995 at another. No idea of a timeline there.

Still fairly small changes, compared to going from 550 to 695.

[LuKaSu]

They re-balanced pack prices. That's when Demon Sands went up in price to match Gianthold, for example, but something like a dozen packs had their prices changed during that re-balancing.

As far as I'm aware, Gianthold's price was not changed. It was 950 TP before the rebalancing and before it was epified, and it's still 950 TP now.

Ah, okay. Guess my memory wasn't up to par. I had thought they had a big sale right before several "classic" packs went up in price, but I can't find any evidence that would confirm my apparently-faulty memory. Sorry

[mna]

...someone already calculated that a post-update -20% sale price should end up as 556 TP, so full price now is a bit less than -20% after U22.

I haven't seen anything on the bundle pricing (Landlubber Bundle) yet.

They've announced that the update will happen this week.

Now, I have enough TP to get Landlubber Bundle at list price, the question is whether I should do so before the update...?

(Edit: Oh, now there's even the outage scheduled already... bleh, I'll just get the bundle now, so I can get a peek at a pre-upgrade 3BC.)

[user110000]

Pack sale pls ddo

[kmoustakas]

I don't agree with half of what you write. With that in mind, this is one of the better pieces of work on DDO in general and obviously the best review of adventure packs. The information included is complete.

Thank you very much for the time you spent and I hope you continue your work by addressing changes that occur (like epic 3bc).

Again, sincere thank you

[Gools]

I just found this thread and I'm so happy there is a pack sale on NOW!

I've been an F2P for close to a year and I'm a premium player due to a point purchase some time ago. I'm a level 18 ranger and don't have much content to play at the moment.

I have some stupid questions but I don't see any clear indication of the answers. If I follow this strategy and put the Shadowfell and Menace of the Underdark expansion packs in my cart (when logged in and at the "Market" not the "Store") the checkout asks me for an email and to create a password. Will these expansion packs and their 2000TP be linked (somehow?) to my current account and version of the game or is this a new install?

i.e. I'm not going to lose any progress and have to start over am I?

I just want to make sure I spend my limited budget wisely.

Thank you far all the hard work. This thread is priceless for new/newish players.

[Xiadais]

I just found this thread and I'm so happy there is a pack sale on NOW!

I've been an F2P for close to a year and I'm a premium player due to a point purchase some time ago. I'm a level 18 ranger and don't have much content to play at the moment.

I have some stupid questions but I don't see any clear indication of the answers. If I follow this strategy and put the Shadowfell and Menace of the Underdark expansion packs in my cart (when logged in and at the "Market" not the "Store") the checkout asks me for an email and to create a password. Will these expansion packs and their 2000TP be linked (somehow?) to my current account and version of the game or is this a new install?

i.e. I'm not going to lose any progress and have to start over am I?

I just want to make sure I spend my limited budget wisely.

Thank you far all the hard work. This thread is priceless for new/newish players.

The DDO market's expansion packs are delivered via code in an email--you copy/paste the code into the turbine account website. I believe the instructions are quite clear once you receive the confirmation email, but I don't remember for sure. I didn't get confused trying to use it, though.

[Stoner81]

I just found this thread and I'm so happy there is a pack sale on NOW!

I've been an F2P for close to a year and I'm a premium player due to a point purchase some time ago. I'm a level 18 ranger and don't have much content to play at the moment.

I have some stupid questions but I don't see any clear indication of the answers. If I follow this strategy and put the Shadowfell and Menace of the Underdark expansion packs in my cart (when logged in and at the "Market" not the "Store") the checkout asks me for an email and to create a password. Will these expansion packs and their 2000TP be linked (somehow?) to my current account and version of the game or is this a new install?

i.e. I'm not going to lose any progress and have to start over am I?

I just want to make sure I spend my limited budget wisely.

Thank you far all the hard work. This thread is priceless for new/newish players.

When you buy it you will be a given a code to enter in at https://myaccount.turbine.com/index.php which will simply enable the content for your account. You will not need to install the game again because you already have the content installed it is just not available to you at the moment. Also you will not lose your current progress at all the only difference is that you will have access to new content you didn't have before your purchase.

Once the code is entered the expansion packs will be linked to your account and the 2000TP will automatically be added to your account too next time you log in.

Stoner81.

[Gools]

Ah... I understand now.
Thank you for the answers.
I'm off to spend some cash and open up some new content... woohoo!

[partybasher]

Bump..

So, what's the verdict on the new 3BC? The price is a bit higher- (I'm planning to get necro4 this sale, before the update raises the price) does the update justify it?

[EllisDee37]

Bump..

So, what's the verdict on the new 3BC? The price is a bit higher- (I'm planning to get necro4 this sale, before the update raises the price) does the update justify it?

It's not a bad buy at all. I'd probably put it in the B to B+ range.

I keep meaning to update the thread for 3BC, high road and shadowfell, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

[Lacerated1]

I respectfully disagree about Catacombs gear all being un-noteworthy. It has the Eternal Wand of Cure Minor Wounds, an endlessly recharging source of healing. For an experienced player it's probably a waste of an inventory slot because the rate of healing is too low for those with plenty of knowledge and resources to bother with it. For a newer player, however, an endlessly renewable source of healing (between fights, of course) will lead to many less quest failures and to a better ability to accumulate resources over time.

The Robe of Duality gets superseded soon, of course, but for its level it is also quite nice.

I mostly solo self-sufficient characters (ie: no hireling, they find their own stuff) and Catacombs is the first important AP they do, to get the Eternal Cure wand.

That Eternal Cure Wand has help most of my characters at low levels, that is until I bought the Shadowfell pack and now can roll at lvl15 one three classes Love the WF and CLRC, never been big on the rogue in DDO as much as i was in P&P

[Ancient]

I just want to make sure I spend my limited budget wisely.

Then don't buy the house C challenges. The gear is nice, but you can get all you want with the daily tokens. The XP was nerfed again and again until you get more XP/minute from some quests on full ransack than you get on a non-first run from most of theh challenges.

It is my job to warn everyone how bad a deal this pack is until Turbine someday fixes it.

[kmoustakas]

I have two comments to make. One on three barrel cove and on sharn syndicate.

I just got the opportunity to play sharn syndicate via someone's unwanted guest pass. I found the quests to be blissfully cute and short. Maybe too short but then again I love short quests. I really enjoyed how different they feel compared to almost everything else. The xp is really low but justified considering you can turbocharge these and in general I find that quest xp is heavily dependant on an estimation of how fast someone can complete it while ignoring everything. The rewards, ever since the way minimum levels are calculated are really worse than they were and they weren't that good to begin with. What I really don't understand though is the price: how is this worth 350 while catacombs or san-to-kor are worth 250 while they give a lot better rewards and xp and favour. I decided towards buying it but not before its price is reduced to 250 or it's put on a 75% sale. I can only assume it's one of the worst selling packs?

Three barrel cove. I bought it as part of the landlubber bundle as soon as it was announced that it would be epified. I was really interested in sentinels and loved part1 of lordsmarch, so it was an easy buy for me on the talk like a pirate day discounted price. I ran it overlevel initially and then played it a lot on epic. However, very recently I got to run the heroic bit at level on heroic. Man, I loved it. I really feel like the epic versions of the quests were OVERsimplified. The heroic wilderness is one of the best. Beautiful, lots of mobs, amazing twink loot that makes you want to farm those rares. It's a shame it's up to level 8 and stops at 1500. It could easily go all the way to 3000, considering you would possibly want to farm the rares anyway. The set items are actually bad but the wilderness weapons are awesome and so are treasure map pieces (best idea ever, they really borked not adding those to epic). The quests are very nicely designed. They are meant to be explored and give the feel of a d&d session just like sharn syndicate quests do. After they got the bump in xp, they give almost too much xp, especially if you know them and fast-track them. And then you get the saga bonus to boot! The epic side of it though is generally a bust. The quests are dps checks, the majority (not all, boots and hat are great) of the loot is a miss save the unique blade of jack jibbers (MUST HAVE), the wilderness is an absolute drag with too few mobs spaced too far apart and the fail that is ships (whose mobs don't count as kills). Precious cargo although is a fabulous idea is implemented such that the whole quest is ran basically nothing like what it's supposed to be. Everyone just hides and waits for the ship to blow because fighting ships is implemented just as unimaginativelly as the epic balistas sonar-seeking-nuclear-bombs of storm the beaches. I am tempted to believe if it wasn't for the epic saga, very few people would run this at all.
This whole idea of marks on the ground move or soulstone is a bust in general and it's not surprising at all they removed it from the dragon raid. Not to mention in the actual precious cargo quest they sometimes appear above you or below so you can't see them but you still get hit. I am dragging on but you get the point.

[Saekee]

I have two comments to make. One on three barrel cove and on sharn syndicate.

I just got the opportunity to play sharn syndicate via someone's unwanted guest pass. I found the quests to be blissfully cute and short. Maybe too short but then again I love short quests. I really enjoyed how different they feel compared to almost everything else. The xp is really low but justified considering you can turbocharge these and in general I find that quest xp is heavily dependant on an estimation of how fast someone can complete it while ignoring everything. The rewards, ever since the way minimum levels are calculated are really worse than they were and they weren't that good to begin with. What I really don't understand though is the price: how is this worth 350 while catacombs or san-to-kor are worth 250 while they give a lot better rewards and xp and favour. I decided towards buying it but not before its price is reduced to 250 or it's put on a 75% sale. I can only assume it's one of the worst selling packs?

Three barrel cove. I bought it as part of the landlubber bundle as soon as it was announced that it would be epified. I was really interested in sentinels and loved part1 of lordsmarch, so it was an easy buy for me on the talk like a pirate day discounted price. I ran it overlevel initially and then played it a lot on epic. However, very recently I got to run the heroic bit at level on heroic. Man, I loved it. I really feel like the epic versions of the quests were OVERsimplified. The heroic wilderness is one of the best. Beautiful, lots of mobs, amazing twink loot that makes you want to farm those rares. It's a shame it's up to level 8 and stops at 1500. It could easily go all the way to 3000, considering you would possibly want to farm the rares anyway. The set items are actually bad but the wilderness weapons are awesome and so are treasure map pieces (best idea ever, they really borked not adding those to epic). The quests are very nicely designed. They are meant to be explored and give the feel of a d&d session just like sharn syndicate quests do. After they got the bump in xp, they give almost too much xp, especially if you know them and fast-track them. And then you get the saga bonus to boot! The epic side of it though is generally a bust. The quests are dps checks, the majority (not all, boots and hat are great) of the loot is a miss save the unique blade of jack jibbers (MUST HAVE), the wilderness is an absolute drag with too few mobs spaced too far apart and the fail that is ships (whose mobs don't count as kills). Precious cargo although is a fabulous idea is implemented such that the whole quest is ran basically nothing like what it's supposed to be. Everyone just hides and waits for the ship to blow because fighting ships is implemented just as unimaginativelly as the epic balistas sonar-seeking-nuclear-bombs of storm the beaches. I am tempted to believe if it wasn't for the epic saga, very few people would run this at all.
This whole idea of marks on the ground move or soulstone is a bust in general and it's not surprising at all they removed it from the dragon raid. Not to mention in the actual precious cargo quest they sometimes appear above you or below so you can't see them but you still get hit. I am dragging on but you get the point.

Old Grey Garl is a 6 min run on EH for stealth players. Great xp, easy to do. I hit it as part of my daily grind starting at level 20. EE just requires CC for the end room--GMoF everything is nothing or solid Energy Burst etc multiple times.