Need some first-time advice about which quests to avoid

[Sebastrd]

Which quests to folks usually skip or run on lower difficulty due to excessive difficulty or danger?

[C-Dog]

Are you aiming for 1,750 or 5,000?

There was an identical thread on this last season - maybe someone has a link?

[Sebastrd]

Are you aiming for 1,750 or 5,000?

There was an identical thread on this last season - maybe someone has a link?

Thanks. I'll take a look.

[C-Dog]

To get you started, if you're only going to 1,750 you can skip any that have ever given you a hard time. 1,750 is pretty hard to avoid by L20.

If to 5,000, things get a little tighter, but you can still run on Hard or even Normal and get ~some~ Favor.

Off the top of my head, the lowbie killers (or just headaches) are...

o Proof is in the Poison (long, lots of acid, lots of stealthy casters)
o Irestone - needs a full, strong party
o Freshen the Air - needs distance attacks (either ranged or casters)
o Tomb of the Burning Heart (splitting the party; solved w/ pets/hires)
o misc. Necro quests (ymmv due to traps, other headaches)
o Partycrashers (the illusionary spike-trap room)

o Any with unforgiving traps (and that's quite a few!), if your party doesn't include a competent trapper.

And probably a couple others that I'm forgetting.


Other than that, avoiding optionals (or just running H/N) usually gets you past any troublespots.

[Amorais]

Anything with a regular beholder in it!

Jungle of Khyber, Invaders etc.

Blockade Runner, middle ship. The hold is almost completely filled with mobs. Take extra care to fight near the door so you can bug out quick if you get swarmed. Also I think the gnoll captain has some pretty nasty spells

Invitation to Dinner, those shadow things at the first encounter will rip you to pieces without constant remove curse spam. I never do that above Normal (hard if am with a decent grp)

Drow Wizard in Beyond the Rift has disintegrate be sure to keep moving

Deathblock will not block disintegrate.

Anything with lava in it needs extra care. Lag plus deep lava= crispy

[marinersfan]

Stealthy Repossession (ran it on hard this time, skipped it completely last time)
STK part 3 - nasty traps. Pretty easy as long as you have a good trapper
TOEE part 1 - doable with a good group. I've only ever run it twice (this hcl and last hcl) - as long as a couple of folks in the group know it well it isn't bad
TOEE part 2 - said good groups above wouldn't even entertain running part 2. I've never run it, but I guess the end fight is absurd.
Slavers chain - need good trapper. Same thing here, end fight can be tough
The Pit(?) - I don't think it's a bad quest, but many skip it
Taming the Flames - fire trap/chest room is a little scary for whoever makes the run
In the Flesh(? I think that's it's name) - tough end fight
Titan chain - annoying flagging/wilderness area

[Amorais]

I find ToEE and slavers both take way too long to be worthwhile.

Also ToEE is one of the longest, most boring quests ever.

If your doing Sentinels, never let the hobgobs flank you. They have a triple attack, like ogres and trolls that, if flanking you do unmitigated sneak attack damage. Champs can very easily 1 shot you if your not careful

[C-Dog]

TOEE part 1 - doable with a good group. I've only ever run it twice (this hcl and last hcl) - as long as a couple of folks in the group know it well it isn't bad
TOEE part 2 - said good groups above wouldn't even entertain running part 2. I've never run it, but I guess the end fight is absurd.

Yeah, ToEE 1 has some really tough mobs, in large numbers, and a LOT of groups of them. ToEE 2... just smile and say "no", and back away slowly until you can turn and run.

[Seph1roth5]

Here's a writeup I did of last hc season where I got to 5k, and which quests I skipped/why. This was before feywild so there's another 120ish favor out there.

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...h-can-you-skip

[Careall]

I've been soloing, and expect I can run daily (most days), the following quests on elite for folks to step in and get favor and some XP. My alts that are running these quests are listed - look for those LFMs.

Stealthy Repossession - Somebunny
The Proof is in the Poison - Cerberus
Devil Assault - Piketrain (I usually get someone to admin the lfm for DA)

I might occasionally run other quests in those level ranges, such as Freshen the Air, Party Crashers, and the Slave Lords chain. In most cases, I run the quest solo and open the LFM just before completion, so don't expect to loot.

[Thrudh]

Here's what I skipped last hard-core

I skipped the following on the way to level 19:

• Devil Assault (level 6)
• TOEE - Part 2 (level 7)
• Twilight Forge (level 11)
• The Titan Awakes (level 12)
• The Reaver's Fate (level 14)

I did on hard on the way to level 19:

• Price of Freedom (level 6)
• Slavers - Part 3 (level 8)

Challenges on the way to level 19:

• Three 4-15 Challenges (0 out of 15) - forgot to even try these - I think you have to do them at level 8 or below
• Four 8-20 Challenges (8 out of 20)
• One 12-20 Challenge (4 out of 5)
• One 14-20 Challenge (4 out of 5)
• Three 15-20 Challenges (12 out of 18)
• Total - 28 out of 63

Once I hit 19, I didn't do any other challenges

I did all the 15-19 quests on elite except for the following (skipped all these):

• Litany of the Dead (level 15)
• Through a Mirror Darkly (level 15) - had to drop group - never finished that chain
• Mask of Deception (level 16)
• The Underlane Assignment, Members Only, The Offshore Account, Soul Survivor (level 17)
• Prey, Monastery, Enter the Kobold, Stealer of Souls (level 17)
• The Shroud, Ascension Chamber (level 17 raids)
• Lord of Eyes (level 17)
• Acute Delirium (level 17)
• Terminal Delirium, Fashion Madness (level 18)
• In the Demon's Den (level 18)
• Hound and VoD (level 18 raids)
• What Goes Up (level 19) - had to drop group here too after doing the first 4 stormhorns
• Wrath of Flame, Weapons Shipment, Sins, New Invasion (level 19)
• The Riddle (level 19)
• Master Artificer (level 19 raid)
• Raiding the Giants Vault (level 19 solo)

Feywild didn't exist so there's another 100+ favor one can get now

[Mindos]

I've been soloing, and expect I can run daily (most days), the following quests on elite for folks to step in and get favor and some XP. My alts that are running these quests are listed - look for those LFMs.

Stealthy Repossession - Somebunny
The Proof is in the Poison - Cerberus
Devil Assault - Piketrain (I usually get someone to admin the lfm for DA)

You are doing Elite Devil Assault on a level 10 toon? Wow!

Challenges on the way to level 19:

• Three 4-15 Challenges (0 out of 15) - forgot to even try these - I think you have to do them at level 8 or below
• Four 8-20 Challenges (8 out of 20)
• One 12-20 Challenge (4 out of 5)
• One 14-20 Challenge (4 out of 5)
• Three 15-20 Challenges (12 out of 18)
• Total - 28 out of 63

I *think* challanges have a max level of 6 plus the lower number listed, so level 10 for the three 4-15 range ones, etc.

[C-Dog]

You are doing Elite Devil Assault on a level 10 toon? Wow!

That would be a good trick, considering that since DA is a L 18 quest on Elite, it's not even possible to do it with anything less than a L 14 character.

o https://ddowiki.com/page/Devil_Assault_(quest)

[Careall]

That would be a good trick, considering that since DA is a L 18 quest on Elite, it's not even possible to do it with anything less than a L 14 character.

o https://ddowiki.com/page/Devil_Assault_(quest)

As a wizard, tricks are my profession.

[deuxanes]

...

o Irestone - needs a full, strong party

You should mention why this quest mostly goes south.

There are several camps of pirates with hobgoblin witch doctors (some nasty ranged fire spells), ogres (hit hard), wolves (trip) and ranged and melee hobgoblins. Additionally there are stealthed patrols wandering the map.

Chances are high that when you attack a camp a patrol joins in from behind or the sides. Then you suddenly have to deal with additional archers, spell casters and/ or fighters.

It does help having party members with decent spot/ listen skills (melee as well as ranged). The ranged party members should also take care and regularly check their backs. Make sure there are no surprises when attacking a camp (i.e. be careful when running around or fleeing towards a shrine). If you see or hear them first the first strike may be yours.

Besides that energy resists and protection (mostly fire) will help a lot. Either use wands/ scrolls/ spells/ house buffs/ guild buffs / potions / items. On lower difficulties (solo/ normal/ hard) there is hardly an issue. On higher difficulties (elite/ reaper) small errors and recklesness are fatal.

[KoobTheProud]

Invitation to Dinner solution is have somebody with dimension door, cast it before activating fight then port back to entrance to avoid shadows. If you need too you can hire the L11 fighter hireling who has DDoor and use him to get out of the way of the shadows.

Any quest with environmental effects in small areas can be problematic.

I do Prison of the Planes but not the Risia and Fernia rooms because it is too easy to take massive elemental damage from a champ at the same time I am getting hit by environmental damage and have it blow through my protections. This makes it wise to have a Lawful character in the group so you can do the Daanvi room. The beholder room also can suck.

Any boss who shackles me or immobilizes me is a no-go. This includes Baktor in Epic Devil Assault and Barnzidu in A New Invasion.

[Seph1roth5]

That would be a good trick, considering that since DA is a L 18 quest on Elite, it's not even possible to do it with anything less than a L 14 character.

o https://ddowiki.com/page/Devil_Assault_(quest)

Since DA is a base lv 6 quest, you CAN'T get in once you take level 11, regardless of what difficulty you run on. That's why I only ever do it on Hard. On elite at 10....oof, maybe with a really really good team. MAYBE.

[Careall]

Since DA is a base lv 6 quest, you CAN'T get in once you take level 11, regardless of what difficulty you run on. That's why I only ever do it on Hard. On elite at 10....oof, maybe with a really really good team. MAYBE.

Yeah. They said it couldn't be done and the darn fool went and did it anyway. PikeTrain has soloed it about 7 times this season, helping about 35 toons get that elusive elite favor for DA. It is an intense run, so I can only do one or two a day. It's getting easier, but still nerve-wracking. For example, yesterday I was talking to the party members and I forgot to buff up after shrining. I was wondering why I was getting hit so hard, so I looked for a champ. I have maximized spells loaded for champs. I almost bailed until I realized what I had done. I finished it, but whew that was closer than I would have liked.

[Mindos]

I *think* challanges have a max level of 6 plus the lower number listed, so level 10 for the three 4-15 range ones, etc.

then again buying time challenge lists a level of 16 in the lfm, so what do i know

[marinersfan]

I *think* challanges have a max level of 6 plus the lower number listed, so level 10 for the three 4-15 range ones, etc.

This is correct. I'm running the lowest level challenges right now on a lvl 10

Also, I'm one of the lucky 35ish who piked elite DA in piketrain's groups, thanks for that!