It's Been Awhile

[Jappy]

I haven't played this game is years but I've been wanting to come back so bad and maybe start over on a new server or almost over, I'm not sure what server would be a good option or what a good class to play for first life would be, I remember some of the basics but man it's been atleast 2 years. Thank you in advance to everyone that replies I've always loved this game and the community.

[adamkatt]

I lost my job at the start of this covid **** so i came back after a 6 year break and its been fun!

[Jappy]

I lost my job at the start of this covid **** so i came back after a 6 year break and its been fun!

yeah i messed up my main characters build but it's the only character I've ever reincarnated and what not so I feel like starting over and doing things differently now that I've experienced the game a bit, not to mention that the meta has changed so much.

[KoobTheProud]

My strong advice to returning players who are not on the TR train already is just to play the best tomed character they have out to cap and then figure out what their goal is.

Purchased tomes and power-creeped gear are the main power multipliers at this point unless you plan to put a *lot* of time or money into PL's. Figure a thousand hours of play or $2000 (roughly) as the expenditure necessary to get your PL's anywhere near the point of making a big impact on character power. This assuming you are focused and directed in your play efforts or Otto's stone usage.

If you haven't bought tomes already you're probably best just playing a few sequential characters out to 30 and then figuring out which you want to tome for endgame.

A few years ago I'd maybe have offered different advice however it's pretty clear at this point that we've seen most of what DDO has to offer. Enjoying the play experience of a few different classes, with those characters remaining available at cap for whatever is next is likely the most fun you will squeeze out of the game.

BTW, I realize that some of this post seems contradictory, however the main point I am making is that the majority of power at endgame comes from 3 sources at this point: Class/Spec, OP gear and store purchased tomes. This is primarily because power-creep is out of control and the incremental nature of past lives has become more and more devalued as the creep has spread and blossomed.

This is *not* a bad thing. It is in fact an inevitable result of SSG needing to make newer players feel as though they have some relevancy in modern DDO. Leaving things static in terms of power levels would have made the methuselahs with maximum past lives impossibly far ahead of late arrivals. So instead power creep in gear and new enhancements have tended to dwarf past lives in terms of effects, with the possible exception of racial past lives.

The methuselah grind for power at this point is in reaper mode and reaper mode is one of those "it's own reward" type ventures where if you don't play reaper few of the benefits are applicable.

As a new player/non-TR train returnee you should be just fine going out to 30, with maybe a few racial TR's along the way to get to 36 build points. After that the class/spec, gear and purchased tomes should be more than enough for you to feel relevant at endgame. If you want to play reaper? Well that's your choice. In that case welcome to being young blood in a meta full of methuselahs.

[Lonnbeimnech]

My strong advice to returning players who are not on the TR train already is just to play the best tomed character they have out to cap and then figure out what their goal is.

Purchased tomes and power-creeped gear are the main power multipliers at this point unless you plan to put a *lot* of time or money into PL's. Figure a thousand hours of play or $2000 (roughly) as the expenditure necessary to get your PL's anywhere near the point of making a big impact on character power. This assuming you are focused and directed in your play efforts or Otto's stone usage.

If you haven't bought tomes already you're probably best just playing a few sequential characters out to 30 and then figuring out which you want to tome for endgame.

A few years ago I'd maybe have offered different advice however it's pretty clear at this point that we've seen most of what DDO has to offer. Enjoying the play experience of a few different classes, with those characters remaining available at cap for whatever is next is likely the most fun you will squeeze out of the game.

BTW, I realize that some of this post seems contradictory, however the main point I am making is that the majority of power at endgame comes from 3 sources at this point: Class/Spec, OP gear and store purchased tomes. This is primarily because power-creep is out of control and the incremental nature of past lives has become more and more devalued as the creep has spread and blossomed.

This is *not* a bad thing. It is in fact an inevitable result of SSG needing to make newer players feel as though they have some relevancy in modern DDO. Leaving things static in terms of power levels would have made the methuselahs with maximum past lives impossibly far ahead of late arrivals. So instead power creep in gear and new enhancements have tended to dwarf past lives in terms of effects, with the possible exception of racial past lives.

The methuselah grind for power at this point is in reaper mode and reaper mode is one of those "it's own reward" type ventures where if you don't play reaper few of the benefits are applicable.

As a new player/non-TR train returnee you should be just fine going out to 30, with maybe a few racial TR's along the way to get to 36 build points. After that the class/spec, gear and purchased tomes should be more than enough for you to feel relevant at endgame. If you want to play reaper? Well that's your choice. In that case welcome to being young blood in a meta full of methuselahs.

re: store bought tomes, they do drop in game as well, I've pulled +7s and one +8
if you are on teh tr train, not much point going past +5s, and those are relatively easy to come by in game

[Oxarhamar]

yeah i messed up my main characters build but it's the only character I've ever reincarnated and what not so I feel like starting over and doing things differently now that I've experienced the game a bit, not to mention that the meta has changed so much.

You can always reincarnation again to fix that build

[adamkatt]

When i came back i went ahead and picked a main and bought that pack that came with a +8 supreme. I forget what it was called.

[fatherpirate]

If you want to give Hardcore Server a try ... might wanna read the particulars on that one first.
just saying

[TitusOvid]

Argo is a great server with nice people, give it another try.

If you are still considering changing servers have a look at this site for population and prime time information and some other goodies: https://www.playeraudit.com/servers

You can make a toon on every server and try it out though it is time intensive.

If you are getting interested in Orien - I know it is small but we have a great community - contact me and I help you out finding the right people and places.

Cheers and welcome back,
Titus.