Returning from a break from 2009..

[Requimatic]

..And boy have things changed, wow! So I logged on to both my long-benched (Human) Fighter and (HOrc) Barb and noticed lots of changes. Not only do I have clicky abilities missing, but there's now enhancement trees! Neat! So this is all somewhat confusing, and I have questions regarding these two classes in particular.

Things to keep in mind when answering my questions:

A. I quit playing before the expansion.
B. I didn't make it to epic content, but I'd done many many Shroud raids (yay laggy shroud runs! Such fun!) and have at least some Greensteel weaponry and DTed armor.
C. I have some important clickies, such as Gloves of Titan's Grip.

Now, to my questions!

1. Both my Fighter and Barb are pure 20. I'm not entirely sure, but I think one or both have been reincarnated at least once. I'll have to check my feats again. But to the question: between the two classes, how do they compare in terms of DPS? Let's assume equal skill, situation, and equipment. I've read that Barbs (still) have the higher critical damage, lower non-crit damage. I assume this still holds true, but so much has changed I really have no idea any more, hah.

I always liked my Fighter a little more as I had to be much more careful how I built him, despite having far more feat choices, the the fast-paced sword slinging was pretty entertaining. It seems now that Fighters get to choose between Kensei or Stalwart, plus racial enhancements. I guess it'd be easier to build now than a Barb? (Also, I apologize for this question, as I'm sure the long-dead horse is tired of being beaten.)

2. Is it even worth it being pure 20 in a class any longer? (Specifically for DPS Fighters & Barbs) When I quit there were class Capstones for being pure 20.. I'm not sure that is still the case.
2b. If being pure 20 is still okay in terms of raw damage compared to multi-class builds (I understand that by being pure 20 I'd lose utility, such as self-healing, saves, etc.), could one link me to builds for such? A google search didn't turn up a whole lot from recent history.

3. Essentially I left off at 20, about to get in to epic content. Where should I start at this point? My account is premium at the moment, with a few things purchased. I understand there are now 8 "epic" levels to gain (and soon to be raised to 10). Is this a VIP-only thing, or would I, as a premium player, be able to gain these levels?

4. Somewhat random, but upon logging in I find I have two Hearts of Wood (a +20 and a normal one) on each character, as well as some "Raider Chest" item that contains some prize. What are the raider things, and what are in these? Should I use them now?


Anyway, I think that sums everything up for now.. I've missed DDO and am glad to be back. Hopefully I'll enjoy the game as much this go around as I did previously, despite the overwhelming amount of changes!

Also, thanks in advance!

[Ganak]

Welcome back!

Returned after a year and the jist I've gotten:

1&2: Pure builds aren't popular, capstones not worth going pure many agree. Ability to self heal and multiclass is the thing. I think the new Enhancement system really drove this.

3. TR and start at 1. Different game than 2009.

4. Heart 20 will allow you to lesser reincarnate, and change 20 levels. Check out ddo wiki for more on this. Raiders box will have different raid weapons from Caught in the Web. Choose wisely!


Random loot from high level chests, bought via the auction house will be better than any gear you have now.

Cheers!

[Mahalko128]

Okay, so slightly disregarding what the fellow above me said... welcome back! Pure builds are entirely still possible and played by many in the community. Capstones are those inherent enhancements you see at the bottom right of each enhancement tree, which indicate the final and best bit of each tree. If you're looking for a good pure fighter build that can switch between dps and tanking and has very good self healing, I have one you might be interested in.

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...lwart-Defender

Within Epic Destinies, you woulthe d use cacoon to self healing, with the Wall of Wood boosting the healing received from that. Works pretty good, using at the moment, let me know what you think!

[Qhualor]

all classes really got more power now. you will have to play around with the enhancements to see whats good for your build, but multi classing is the new popular thing today. 100% power and 0% sacrifice. despite what the forums say, barbs and fighters are very viable as pure and good to play in DDO, but be prepared for self sufficiency and damage mitigation. the healers are all but dead and now its more about taking care of yourself without relying on someone else. epic elite is really the big thing to worry about because the game has been dumbed down to the point you can just grab a hire and go. if I were you, I would TR and experience the game again learning the enhancements and feats. a lot has changed and really too much to list it all. the epic power comes from epic destinies, so you will want to consider buying them. huge difference in character power without these EDs. I don't know if EDs are still bundled with the MOTU package, but I would look into that to get the expansion as well. the +20 heart was given to players when we got the new enhancements so people could make changes to their character if they wanted to. the raiders box has raid items from CITW raid. choose wisely and pick one. they were given to everyone due to a raid completion bug as an apology.

welcome back

[Brunhildha]

I wasn't sure which single weapon to pick from the Raider's Box either, so I collected comments from the forum as below. Note that you can safely click on the box, and it opens up the trade-in screen used for lots of things these days. Only when you actually select your choice and click on the trade button does it become irrevocable. If you close the trade-in screen before then, you have not made a choice and the box is still there.

The ratings are 1 to 10 and assume the weapon fills a role for the toon. Comments from different sources are separated by a slash " / "

Agony - 6 Not bad but some raid weapons are better / no non-raid competition.
Antipode - 7 not best but good set of wraps. Has a red slot, rare on wraps / Good / improvement over grave wraps is minimal.
Balizarde - 10 Best in slot for many 2wf characters / Khopesh like a rapier and has defense boosts
Breach - 6 Not a bad weapon but Cleaver is better / No. Cleaver is better AND it has synergy with LD destiny.
Celestia - 8 Green slot not red, but unique. / Great / Best shortsword, best DR breaker
Cleaver - 10 Best greataxe around. next best to ESoS / Great / Second best after ESOS
Mornh - 6 You can build around this. Not flexible. / best one handed weapon in the game. But... there is nothing else that goes with it.
Needle - 10 Best repeater. / Good / just tears things apart, instead of procs
Nightmare - 5 the nerf hit hard. Useful against very specific mobs /Great before U20, only Good after /
Pinion - 10 Best bow. / Great / Best ranged weapon
Sireth staff - 9 A great unique weapon. Staff builds are better now / Great /
Tinah longsword - 3 1 handed conflux set on a caster? / one bad weapon. NO. / garbage
Twilight staff - 6 Some uses in the level 23 - 25 range / Good / you are going to overlevel it

And where to next? Do understand that Epic Destinies are not more levels. Yes, the cap has moved from 20 to 28, and will be 30, just as it moved from 16 to 20 with similar implications. But in parallel and quite separately, Epic Destinies now provide another set of powers more like Enhancements than levels. A level 20 character in the right E.D. (for that character) is more effective than a level 28 character in the wrong E.D. But, you will find yourself training through many E.D.s, including the "wrong" ones, to cherry pick certain valuable powers.

If you are at all interested in playing the game from 20 to 28, you ought to have Epic Destinies and the MoTU pack is probably the best way to do that.

[Sokól]

I wasn't sure which single weapon to pick from the Raider's Box either, so I collected comments from the forum as below. Note that you can safely click on the box, and it opens up the trade-in screen used for lots of things these days. Only when you actually select your choice and click on the trade button does it become irrevocable. If you close the trade-in screen before then, you have not made a choice and the box is still there.

The ratings are 1 to 10 and assume the weapon fills a role for the toon. Comments from different sources are separated by a slash " / "

Agony - 6 Not bad but some raid weapons are better / no non-raid competition.
Antipode - 7 not best but good set of wraps. Has a red slot, rare on wraps / Good / improvement over grave wraps is minimal.
Balizarde - 10 Best in slot for many 2wf characters / Khopesh like a rapier and has defense boosts
Breach - 6 Not a bad weapon but Cleaver is better / No. Cleaver is better AND it has synergy with LD destiny.
Celestia - 8 Green slot not red, but unique. / Great / Best shortsword, best DR breaker
Cleaver - 10 Best greataxe around. next best to ESoS / Great / Second best after ESOS
Mornh - 6 You can build around this. Not flexible. / best one handed weapon in the game. But... there is nothing else that goes with it.
Needle - 10 Best repeater. / Good / just tears things apart, instead of procs
Nightmare - 5 the nerf hit hard. Useful against very specific mobs /Great before U20, only Good after /
Pinion - 10 Best bow. / Great / Best ranged weapon
Sireth staff - 9 A great unique weapon. Staff builds are better now / Great /
Tinah longsword - 3 1 handed conflux set on a caster? / one bad weapon. NO. / garbage
Twilight staff - 6 Some uses in the level 23 - 25 range / Good / you are going to overlevel it

And where to next? Do understand that Epic Destinies are not more levels. Yes, the cap has moved from 20 to 28, and will be 30, just as it moved from 16 to 20 with similar implications. But in parallel and quite separately, Epic Destinies now provide another set of powers more like Enhancements than levels. A level 20 character in the right E.D. (for that character) is more effective than a level 28 character in the wrong E.D. But, you will find yourself training through many E.D.s, including the "wrong" ones, to cherry pick certain valuable powers.

If you are at all interested in playing the game from 20 to 28, you ought to have Epic Destinies and the MoTU pack is probably the best way to do that.

I would bump Mornh to 8, agree with everything else that I have used.

[Seikojin]

You can put points into all the exposed trees. You can only have one tree with tier 5 abilities though. For your fighter, you can get some decent ac related boosts and use kensai for all your offensive needs.

For your barb, I haven't levelled through on mine yet, so I don't have too much to offer.

Like others said, most of your gear will probably be out of date and power by now. GS is still awesome, but DT is pretty useless at level.

The +20 hearts should allow you to break from pure if you want.

I would suggest getting the latest character planner and poking around to see what feels cool.

[Loromir]

just a quick point of clarification....you left in 2009 but have a half orce character? I think half orc came along in 2010 or 2011.

[Jhaeran]

resurrecting a dead thread

I'm in the same situation, left right before update 11 or as it was coming out.

I have an old blitz character (Human 12Ftr/6brb/2rog THF)- which has utility, but is much too squishy for epics. I've run a few without a healer and I can survive but have to take a break to heal. Gear wasn't the top of the line back then either. I do ok with a hireling solo if I take it slow for lvl 20-22 quests/wildernesses.

Trying to find a good build to LR into, not sure I want to TR again yet.

I did pick up MOTU and destinies - although stupidly picked dreadnought before LR'ing.

Are you still around from coming back in Jan?