Don't Fear LFM Groups

[DoctorOfLiterature]

I have been playing since August 2020 and still consider myself a noob. One thing I would recommend to new players is that it is much easier to get experience and gear and advance your character if you play with others. D&D really is designed to be a team game.

That being said, it can be hard to figure out how find people to play with. On the player screen at left bottom corner is an icon; click on that to see menu. Scroll up menu and you will see something called Social. Click on that. Click on Groups/LFM, which is where people advertise the dungeon they are doing and that they are looking for others to play with. You can click a box so that it only shows LFMs for your character level range. Click on join.

Now the hard part for a Noob (and this is my biggest complaint about the game) is finding the quest! You won't know where to get the quest giver (a non-player character who gives you the quest and allows you to enter the quest) or even where it is located. So frustrating! And I always feel embarrassed that it can take me a long time to find and enter the quest while the others are in there killing monsters.

But you can ask by commenting in the Party chat that you are new to game and can't find it. First you need to know what part of the game world it is located and then figure out how to get there either through the GuildShip if you have a good one, or through a teleporter or by going to Marketplace and then the proper entrance to neighboring area. Now, sometimes the players are in the quest and busy fighting so they may not be able to help you find it; in that case, do a quick wiki search with the name of the quest and you can then find who is quest giver and where they are located.

Once into the proper city or wilderness area, you need to get the quest and find the entrance. If you ask the group to share the quest with you, then that takes care of the flagging. If not, you need to find the quest giver. Go to Adventure Compendium and type in the name of the quest. Look for name of quest giver. Now look for that NPG on the map. After you get the quest, it should light up the quest entrance on your map. If it is a wilderness area though, it can still be hard to move through the wilderness to get to the quest--Gianthold, Orchard of Macabre, Meridia, Eveningstar Prison, Menacturun dessert all give me fits still.

Once you are into the quest instance, tell the group and ask where they are. Sometimes they are near the end and it doesn't make sense to try and go there. You can pike it (stay at the beginning and wait for completion) and get the exp and then join the group after exiting on the next quest; most don't care. If you try to catch up alone, be aware that sometimes there are traps that may not have disabled, don't go into rooms that are not opened as you may get overwhelmed by monsters the group skipped, and be aware of spawning monsters.

Most LFM groups go fast. If you want to take your time and read all the story text and explore every room or cave, you can always do it solo another time. But if you do that in a group you are likely to be left in the dust and will likely die alone by a mob.

So why go to all this trouble?

You can do three or four quests in the time it would take you to do one alone. So you get exp faster and level up faster.
You can do quests on more difficult levels so you will get more exp.
You will get more gear and often older vets who have all the good named gear will ask if someone wants an item and will pass it to you in the chest. So you can get good gear faster.
You can make friends and then when you see them on in the future (look for Friends under Social), you can play with them. You may even find a friend or two who prefer to play your style. To add friends, click on the character name and then click on the icon next to name and then click on Add Friend.

I still find it hard to figure out how to make my own LFM group and configure it properly but I have at times. One time I was soloing Flesh Maker's Laboratory to try and complete a quest item so I could upgrade my Quiver of Alacrity. There is a place where you need to touch five ruins in 20 seconds or you can't move forward to fight the boss. Despite my best efforts with my pet and hireling, I couldn't do it. After almost three hours of trying I created a LFM thinking, who is going to join me alone when they can see I am 187 minutes into the quest? I was embarrassed to say the least, but I didn't want to quit and I really wanted to upgrade my quiver.

Lo and behold two veterans joined and helped me. Neither of them needed to complete the quest or needed the loot. They did it to help me. I don't know them. Thanks by the way!!!! I completed the quest with help and then one of them passed me some of the pieces I needed to get my Black Abbott seal and I now have my upgrade quiver!

Don't be afraid fellow newbies.

[Marshal_Lannes]

Excellent thoughts. The biggest quality of life improvement DDO could make would be automatic teleportation to quests for someone joining an LFM. It is unreasonable, at the speed the most LFMs move at, to expect a new(ish) player to find a quest like Frosty Reception or almost anything in the Cogs.

[DoctorOfLiterature]

Excellent thoughts. The biggest quality of life improvement DDO could make would be automatic teleportation to quests for someone joining an LFM. It is unreasonable, at the speed the most LFMs move at, to expect a new(ish) player to find a quest like Frosty Reception or almost anything in the Cogs.

Yes, it would be a huge quality of life improvement. And to vets, please understand that if we newbies don't show up quickly or let you know we can't find it, it really is hard. Even with a wiki map it can be hard in those areas where the paths are not direct as in the Cogs or Gianthold or Orchard.

And to vets, after the quest, if one of you can pause just thirty seconds to wait for any newbies so they can follow you to the next quest, it is greatly appreciated.

[Wizard1406]

Yes, it would be a huge quality of life improvement. And to vets, please understand that if we newbies don't show up quickly or let you know we can't find it, it really is hard. Even with a wiki map it can be hard in those areas where the paths are not direct as in the Cogs or Gianthold or Orchard.

And to vets, after the quest, if one of you can pause just thirty seconds to wait for any newbies so they can follow you to the next quest, it is greatly appreciated.

I blame timed pots for the uber-rushing veterans. People have suggested to change the pots to bonus xp earned instead (saga wouldn't count towards that limit, just like it takes zero time off your pot now), but no feedback from devs. Personally I'd never buy timed pots, I don't want to feel rushed.

[Valerianus]

I blame timed pots for the uber-rushing veterans. People have suggested to change the pots to bonus xp earned instead (saga wouldn't count towards that limit, just like it takes zero time off your pot now), but no feedback from devs. Personally I'd never buy timed pots, I don't want to feel rushed.

this.

but lack of planning since forever put em in a weird position, they can't come up with a fair number without nerfing the uber-rushing veterans, that is, the best buyers,while super-buffing the other players. both cases are bad business.

[Enoach]

Good thoughts here.

I agree that there is a segment that is more effected by the 'speed' needed to get the most out of XP potions. That group is not as new player friendly as other segments. Sometimes these groups label themselves well enough, such as "TR Train" or "Fast moving", etc.

Just a note, there is no shame for new players to play quests at a lower difficulty to 'learn' a quest. Many quests can be scary first time in on high difficulty, sometimes going back to explore it yourself can help better understand the mechanics and gain confidence as you join other groups.

There is a segment that cut their teeth on normal and learned mechanics that are taken for granted today.

[Hobgoblin]

[Kza]

Excellent thoughts. The biggest quality of life improvement DDO could make would be automatic teleportation to quests for someone joining an LFM. It is unreasonable, at the speed the most LFMs move at, to expect a new(ish) player to find a quest like Frosty Reception or almost anything in the Cogs.

This had been just awesome.

[Son_of_the_South]

I've been playing since 2011 and this post brought back memories of not knowing where the quest was, not knowing the quest itself, not knowing anything really! The OP is correct, most vets want to help and are very generous, dont be shy of acknowledging that you're new.

One point I will make, when you open the social panel go to the "Who" tab and allow the players in the server to load on that panel, this may take a minute. You'll know this is done when the "search" box is no longer greyed out. Doing this will enable you to join LFMs in the "Grouping" tab and see the other players in the various groups/LFM's. This should be done every time you log in with a character.

https://ddowiki.com/page/Social_panel

[Tsutti]

On the player screen at left bottom corner is an icon; click on that to see menu. Scroll up menu and you will see something called Social. Click on that. Click on Groups/LFM, which is where people advertise the dungeon they are doing and that they are looking for others to play with. You can click a box so that it only shows LFMs for your character level range. Click on join.

Maybe you don't want to memorize a bunch of keys, or maybe you messed with key settings, but the 'O' key is the default shortcut to open the social panel.

Also, you can double click an lfm to join but I've stopped doing that because if someone posts an lfm while you're double clicking (had this happen many times), then it can mess up which lfm you click on. Just for information purposes, this is an option, but I recommend clicking the LFM once then clicking join like it sounds like you do

[DoctorOfLiterature]

Maybe you don't want to memorize a bunch of keys, or maybe you messed with key settings, but the 'O' key is the default shortcut to open the social panel.

Also, you can double click an lfm to join but I've stopped doing that because if someone posts an lfm while you're double clicking (had this happen many times), then it can mess up which lfm you click on. Just for information purposes, this is an option, but I recommend clicking the LFM once then clicking join like it sounds like you do

Thanks! I generally don't use key strokes because I can't remember them. But appreciate the suggestion for those newbies who do.