Returning Player Build Questions

[Sayntfuu]

Hello all. I was a player from release to sometime in 2011. I am coming back and of course many things have changed.

I have a Halfling Rogue 18 / Fighter 1 build that I loved that I want to update. All of my AP were reset and I have no idea how to assign them now. From my hotkey bars I can see I had assassination skills of some kind. Pretty sure I was into DPS and traps in my group.

I am geared mainly with rapiers/daggers and a few bursting hand axes. I have a green steel rapier in the bank. I have plenty of subsidiary gear as well.

Any suggestions on modern builds to read up on? Are R/F builds even viable any longer?

Thank you very much for your time.

[unbongwah]

Welcome back, OP.

The good news is rogues got buffed a couple of times in the last six years: first when the Update 19 Enhancement revamp came out, then in U25. The sorta-bad news is rogue weapons are more specialized (Assassin -> daggers or kukris); you can deviate from them, but you take a serious DPS hit if you're not taking advantage of Knife Specialization. The other sorta-bad news is the last two Assassin core enhancements are a lot more powerful than they used to be; so again you take a DPS hit from not being pure rogue. Although if you've been gone that long, there should be a +20 LHoW in your inventory you can use to redo your character; or just level to 20 and TR, because that's still a thing we do.

Halfling Assassin: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...x-Assassin-1-0

[Sayntfuu]

Thanks for the reply. I'll have to dig around my inventory/bank and see if I have one of those LHoW.

Now what to do with all these rapiers...

[Sayntfuu]

So I hit 20 today. Turns out I was only level 17 when I first posted. Took a while to figure out what I was doing and what was going on.

So what should I do now? Use my +1 LHoW to ditch my only fighter level? Then keep going to 30 as a pure rogue? I don't have destinies unlocked nor enough DDO points to pick them up yet. From the wiki it sounds like any xp I earn without destinies will not count when I do grab them from the store. Should I just park the character till I get my free 500 VIP points next month? I'm on a pretty tight budget right now and cannot justify spending cash on DDO points.

This is actually my first ever level 20 in this game and I don't quite understand the past lives system. I don't want to gimp myself now that I have finally arrived.

Thanks again for any help.

[zwiebelring]

So I hit 20 today. Turns out I was only level 17 when I first posted. Took a while to figure out what I was doing and what was going on.

So what should I do now? Use my +1 LHoW to ditch my only fighter level? Then keep going to 30 as a pure rogue? I don't have destinies unlocked nor enough DDO points to pick them up yet. From the wiki it sounds like any xp I earn without destinies will not count when I do grab them from the store. Should I just park the character till I get my free 500 VIP points next month? I'm on a pretty tight budget right now and cannot justify spending cash on DDO points.

This is actually my first ever level 20 in this game and I don't quite understand the past lives system. I don't want to gimp myself now that I have finally arrived.

Thanks again for any help.

Definetely get destinies.

My advice:
Do 20 epic quests now, collect 20 epic tokens and get a true heart of wood. Then do a heroic TR and start again. You will earn favor TP again and are busy till your 500 VIP points are available, even grow into the newer changes and features. That way you'll save your LR+1 wood.

Of course, that way you'll need the time to relevel. If you do not have it, use the LR+1 and cosnider Fred toadapt to pure Rog 20. I'd park that toon till you can afford destinies.

[Sayntfuu]

Definetely get destinies.

My advice:
Do 20 epic quests now, collect 20 epic tokens and get a true heart of wood. Then do a heroic TR and start again. You will earn favor TP again and are busy till your 500 VIP points are available, even grow into the newer changes and features. That way you'll save your LR+1 wood.

Of course, that way you'll need the time to relevel. If you do not have it, use the LR+1 and cosnider Fred toadapt to pure Rog 20. I'd park that toon till you can afford destinies.

Thank you for the reply. I have a +1 LHoW already in the bank. I was thinking about using that to get to pure rogue for my assassin capstone. I could then run the 20 epics to get my THoW. I should have plenty of time over the next couple of weeks to level up while I wait on the VIP points. Is that a good plan?

[psykopeta]

Thank you for the reply. I have a +1 LHoW already in the bank. I was thinking about using that to get to pure rogue for my assassin capstone. I could then run the 20 epics to get my THoW. I should have plenty of time over the next couple of weeks to level up while I wait on the VIP points. Is that a good plan?

imho it's a bad idea, if u have no ED there's no point in running to 30, and if you are looking for tokens there's no point in spending any resource like+20 or +1 heart, you could use em when they are really needed

[unbongwah]

So what should I do now? Use my +1 LHoW to ditch my only fighter level? Then keep going to 30 as a pure rogue? I don't have destinies unlocked nor enough DDO points to pick them up yet. From the wiki it sounds like any xp I earn without destinies will not count when I do grab them from the store. Should I just park the character till I get my free 500 VIP points next month? I'm on a pretty tight budget right now and cannot justify spending cash on DDO points.

You are correct that if you do epic levels without EDs unlocked, your XP is "lost" - i.e., doesn't apply to your EDs retroactively if/when you unlock them later. EDs are where the real power of epic builds comes from, so TBH I wouldn't even bother playing an epic toon until you have them. If you don't want to just park this toon until you can afford EDs, you're better off with an HTR or RR; do some past lives and relearn DDO in heroics while you're at it.

BTW, rather than unlocking EDs via the DDO Store with TPs, I recommend purchasing one of the MotU bundles off the DDO Market. Both of them come with MotU and EDs; the SE also unlocks druids, 4 adventure packs, and Eveningstar Challenges, making it the better deal, unless you're a VIP and plan to always be a VIP (in which case you get those extras free anyway). If you're patient, there's usually a couple of sales during the year where the expansion packs are a lot cheaper.

[Sayntfuu]

imho it's a bad idea, if u have no ED there's no point in running to 30, and if you are looking for tokens there's no point in spending any resource like+20 or +1 heart, you could use em when they are really needed

Fair enough. I think I will grind favor for DDO points on other servers till I can afford the destinies.

Thanks for the advice.

[C-Dog]

(Lots to respond to...)

Hello all. I was a player from release to sometime in 2011. I am coming back and of course many things have changed.

As someone who left before the Enhancement Tree implementation and came back a only couple years ago, I feel ya. Been right where you are, only your situation is only more extreme. WB, GL, and don't panic!

Thank you for the reply. I have a +1 LHoW already in the bank. I was thinking about using that to get to pure rogue for my assassin capstone. I could then run the 20 epics to get my THoW. I should have plenty of time over the next couple of weeks to level up while I wait on the VIP points. Is that a good plan?

Yes and no.

While this ~is~ the exactly sort of situation that would call for a +1 HoW, it's also a questionable example of such a situation. The game is not quite so demanding as it once was, so while Rogue 19 will not be optimal, even an "adequate" build will get you through for a Heroic TR. And changing that 1 class may not solve the entire problem - depending on the Feats and starting stats you took, there may be deeper flaws - so "perfection" should not be the goal. None of that will stop you from TR'ing, so that would make using the HoW a bit of a waste. (Better to save it for that mid-level build mistake that waits down the road in the tall grass.)

And while the Epic XP is, indeed "wasted" - 1) there won't be much if you go straight to TR, and 2) it doesn't matter unless you plan to run Epic levels regularly. Plenty of time next life for those decisions, when the build is a known quantity and you have your footing in the new game.

Besides, getting to Level 20 is a lot faster than it used to be. More quests at all levels, more XP to be had and faster (say "Reaper"), and over the years a power creep that now makes older content much easier for all builds.

So - the 2nd half of your plan, 20 quests to TR then get back here and have the Epic Destinies waiting for you - yes, good plan. Using the +1 HoW now... naaah.

... you're better off with an HTR or RR; do some past lives and relearn DDO in heroics while you're at it.

This is actually my first ever level 20 in this game and I don't quite understand the past lives system.

Grats!

The Wiki is good reading on that. In short, "Past Lives" can work in several ways. First, there are (just recently) now 2 versions of Heroic Reincarnation (reincarnating @ Lvl 20 back to Lvl 1). You can do a Class Reincarnation (aka the default "Heroic Reincarnation") with a Heart of Wood, or a (new) "Racial Reincarnation" with a Heart of Blood. Your 1st two reincarnations with either route improve your starting build points to 34 and then 36(the current max).

Racial Reincarnation really wants 2-3 reincarnations of any given race before you see the best benefits (+1 to a specific stat, +1 free Racial Action Point for your Racial Enhancement Tree). Altho', with 10 races, if you can grind through some significant part of the 30 RR's, it starts to become a huge cumulative bonus.

o http://ddowiki.com/page/Racial_Reincarnation

"Heroic" Reincarnation is the old standard. You immediately get a nice bonus based on whatever your past class was.

o http://ddowiki.com/page/Past_Life_Feats#Free_feats

Now, there is also Epic Reincarnation, from Level 30 back to Level 20 - but that takes yet a diff expansion pack, so we'll save that discussion. And that leads us to Iconic Reincarnation - even further removed from your situation. Suffice it to say that ~if~ you could, it would be an option to consider, but only an arguable one for a 1st life character.


The only other thing to consider is: Have I done everything while I am high level, so later I don't do a facepalm when I'm Level 1 and realize "I forgot to...".

o The Great Big TR Checklist

You are correct that if you do epic levels without EDs unlocked, your XP is "lost"... EDs are where the real power of epic builds comes from, so TBH I wouldn't even bother playing an epic toon until you have them...

BTW, rather than unlocking EDs via the DDO Store with TPs, I recommend purchasing one of the MotU bundles off the DDO Market... If you're patient, there's usually a couple of sales during the year where the expansion packs are a lot cheaper.

Sums it up. MotU from the store is pretty generic, but if you can wait for a sale* the "standard" version (over "basic") is SO much better! If you can scrape up less than $20 (which is MUCH less than you'd pay for a good game off the shelves!), there are so many bells and whistles that come with that.

* We've seen 75% off, but I don't think it's unreasonable to hope/plan for 50%, which alone makes the below pack drop to $17.50. "Deep Summer Sales" have been promised, so maybe(???) a lot sooner than later

o $35 "Standard" version ($17.50/less?) (While the Druid Class and Adventure Packs are free to VIP, this also includes 1000 DDO pts* and a massive increased-XP bonus tome, which alone make it more than worthwhile. Cut something out for 1 week, have this for as long as you play the game.)

(* Normally, 1,250 pts cost $20 - you do the math)

o "Basic" version $20 version ($10/less?) (Basic only, your 500 point version, no points, no classes, no nuthin'.)

Any suggestions on modern builds to read up on? Are R/F builds even viable any longer?.

Rogue 20 is pro'ly better these days, tho', depending exactly what sort of character you were looking for, Rogue 20 might not get you where you wanted to end up. Road map has completely changed - which is why the +20 HoW's were handed out.

Good place to start: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...=1#post5759353 (don't miss the 2 additional links at bottom of 1st post!)

As for the Rapiers... Bard is much tougher than it used to be, esp Bard w/ a Fighter multi. Just sayin'.


So - my advice is that you want a Heroic Reincarnation asap, then take your 34 build points and a Rogue Past Life and go from there. You'll be back here at 20 fast enough, with a character built to the modern standards, and will have the answers for yourself to all of the above.

The only question, then, is whether or not to buy the improved MotU expansion (for Epic Destinies) with cash or not. And only you can answer that.

[Tlorrd]

Rogue has had some updates ... Go mechanic to finish your heroic levels. Run high road chain and druids deep chain and you should get to 20.

Mechanic is sweet.

[Sayntfuu]

Wow so much great advice!

I parked the rogue for now as I work on favor to get ED going as something to do. I am also working my way into the crafting thing a bit.

Thanks for all help folks, I appreciate it.

[zwiebelring]

imho it's a bad idea, if u have no ED there's no point in running to 30, and if you are looking for tokens there's no point in spending any resource like+20 or +1 heart, you could use em when they are really needed

Running 20 epic quests won't get you to lvl. 30. Just sayin'... He either had to park his character and wait for some TP and not playing at all with his toon or he just could get 20 tokens, screw the minimal xp he'd earned that way and start over. The loss of xp. from 20 easy epic quests is acceptable considering the power he'll get once he got access to EDs. Imho, of course .

[EllisDee37]

Worth pointing out:

Menace of the Underdark is 50% off if you buy Shadowfell at the same time. If you go to the DDO Market and add the basic $30 shadowfell to your cart, you can then add the full $35 MotU to your cart for $17.50.

This is a pretty decent value for $50, not the least of which because it also comes with 2000 TP.

[Sayntfuu]

I unlocked ED through the store yesterday as well as got great news on the job front. Things are looking up!

Thanks again for all the help folks!