Wizard Builds for FTP Newbie

[bookmarked]

Looking through the wizard builds, everything seems like it's Pale this or Necro that. Bah I say! Undead should be destroyed, not made into pets!

There've been a few other newbies who've also asked for non-Pale Master FTP wizards, but they've all seem to have asked for "pure" builds. Honestly, if the Archmage tree wasn't so weak/outdated then that's probably what I'd want to try, but I'll skip that until they update it. Inquisitive, which is also often recommended for wizards, is also out since I need it FTP. Shiradi is out, too.

Considering how things are right now, what I'd like to see is 1) a first life 28 point FTP Eldritch Knight build - pure or multiclass (with some melee class?), and 2) a first life 28 point FTP wizard - multi-class is fine - that doesn't focus on melee like the ED. Both of them need to be able to solo much of the time and I don't want to do any of the undead Pale Master stuff. There are a few enhancements on the Pale Master tree that don't appear to depend on Pale Shroud and the other undead enhancements so anything like that is fine. I've no idea if I'll ever make it to the Epic/reincarnation/end game stuff.

Can anyone point me to builds like this?

If advantageous, I do have the Dragonborn race since I bought the Starter Bundle, but I'd probably go with one of the free races unless it makes a real difference.

Thanks!

[Enderoc]

wizard as a first life ftp is going to be difficult without palemaster or warforged. 2nd is better if you craft concordant opposition on greensteel.

[cru212]

Two easy options:
1 strength based melee character, Eldritch knight.
2 caster archmage evoker spamming various SLAs.

[magaiti]

TYWA Eldritch Knight
Dwarf, Single Weapon Fighting with Dwarven War Axe
Stats (28pt): 19 con, 16 Int, 13 dex (for Precision)
Class: 20 Wizard
AP: 18 racial for TYWA (CON to damage), 41 EK (Int to-hit), 21 Palemaster

[cru121]

TYWA Eldritch Knight
Dwarf, Single Weapon Fighting with Dwarven War Axe
Stats (28pt): 19 con, 16 Int, 13 dex (for Precision)
Class: 20 Wizard
AP: 18 racial for TYWA (CON to damage), 41 EK (Int to-hit), 21 Palemaster

Fun. A bit late bloomer, has to rely on eldritch dice for damage until you get Con to damage.

[bookmarked]

Two easy options:
1 strength based melee character, Eldritch knight.
2 caster archmage evoker spamming various SLAs.

Can you point me to any builds like these? I'm a newbie so I need a little more to go on.

[cru121]

Here's a THF newbie-friendly melee wizard: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...or-New-Players

As for the evoker, that's pretty easy to build:
-Max Int, then max con, then whatever.
-You will be using Spell-Like Abilities (SLAs) for most of the damage. Big thing about SLAs is that you can apply metamagic feats to them for free, without costing extra spell points. Wizards can grab a lot of SLAs from Archmage and Pale Master.
-So as for the feats, start with Maximize, Empower, Quicken, Heighten. SF:Evo.

Your blue bar is not unlimited, so start conservative with SLAs, but later start adding spells to your rotation.
Sonic Blast is a great spell from level 1, due to its AoE nature, no save vs damage, potential short CC effect, plus it breaks boxes.

You can run as a living person with hireling for healing; but later consider also undead forms from Pale Master, where you can heal over time with (Lesser) Death Aura and Negative Energy Burst. If so, grab also Extend Spell to make your auras last longer.

[bookmarked]

Here's a THF newbie-friendly melee wizard: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...or-New-Players

As for the evoker, that's pretty easy to build:
-Max Int, then max con, then whatever.
-You will be using Spell-Like Abilities (SLAs) for most of the damage. Big thing about SLAs is that you can apply metamagic feats to them for free, without costing extra spell points. Wizards can grab a lot of SLAs from Archmage and Pale Master.
-So as for the feats, start with Maximize, Empower, Quicken, Heighten. SF:Evo.

Your blue bar is not unlimited, so start conservative with SLAs, but later start adding spells to your rotation.
Sonic Blast is a great spell from level 1, due to its AoE nature, no save vs damage, potential short CC effect, plus it breaks boxes.

You can run as a living person with hireling for healing; but later consider also undead forms from Pale Master, where you can heal over time with (Lesser) Death Aura and Negative Energy Burst. If so, grab also Extend Spell to make your auras last longer.

I looked at that one, but it has all of that Pale Master undead stuff that I want to avoid:

Palemaster

3 - Dark Reaping.

4 - Deathless Vigor 1, Negative Energy Conduit 2.

5 - Pale Shroud - Shroud of the Lich, Negative Energy Conduit 3, Deathless Vigor 2.

6 - Deathless Vigor 3, Undead Augmentation I: Deathly Touch.

I'll see what I can do with the evoker.

Thanks!

[Fefnir_2011]

Self-Healing
As others have said, you're putting a painful restriction on yourself if you're not going Pale Master or Warforged. Self-healing makes soloing a lot easier. Pure FTP also means no splashing Artificer or being Aasimar, which would also grant self-healing. There's also nothing in Eldritch Knight to grant +int to damage, so you're going to be multiple attribute dependent either way.

Multiclassing
Rogue for trap skills or Fighter for Kensei/Stalwart enhancements would make the most sense.

Fighting Styles
Go for Two-Handed or Single Weapon Fighting. You don't have the build points for Two-Weapon, and it's already a tough sell even on optimized builds right now.

Race
Human for the healing amp and the action boosts, or Halfling for the Dragonmark of Healing. You're going to need it.

Feats
Take your combat style feats, Extend, and Quicken. with only 28 points, it's going to be hard to get decent DCs on your spells for harder difficulties so focus on doing melee damage and staying alive. Power Attack is pretty good if you're going THF, Precision if SWF.

Builds
15 Wizard / 5 Fighter Human
Go for two-handers. Pick up the full THF line and a big sword and start swinging. I don't know if the EK cleaves share a cooldown with the cleave feats, but if they don't take both. For leveling progression, start as wizard then take fighter at level 2 for martial and armor proficiency. You can then do wizard until you get haste (character level 6) and finish out fighter levels by level 10 while melee is still strong. Stat distribution: 15 Strength, 16 Constitution, 16 Intelligence. +2 tome will be needed for Strength to get all your THF feats, or put 2 level up points there. Put level ups in Intelligence otherwise. Alternatively, accept that your spells are only for buffs and start with 16 Str, 16 Con, and 12 Int (you will need an intelligence item to cast higher level spells) and put all levelups into strength.

18 Wizard / 2 Rogue Halfling
Go Single-Weapon Fighting and start with 17 Dex, 16 Con, 16 Int. Have Bull's Strength ready to go so your fragile Halfling back doesn't give out lugging all your loot. Stick with finessable weapons like rapiers. Put lots of points into search and disable so you can get all the bonuses. Wear light armor, keep blur and displacement up constantly, and try to stay as mobile as possible. Take Precision.

Looking through the wizard builds, everything seems like it's Pale this or Necro that. Bah I say! Undead should be destroyed, not made into pets!

There've been a few other newbies who've also asked for non-Pale Master FTP wizards, but they've all seem to have asked for "pure" builds. Honestly, if the Archmage tree wasn't so weak/outdated then that's probably what I'd want to try, but I'll skip that until they update it. Inquisitive, which is also often recommended for wizards, is also out since I need it FTP. Shiradi is out, too.

Considering how things are right now, what I'd like to see is 1) a first life 28 point FTP Eldritch Knight build - pure or multiclass (with some melee class?), and 2) a first life 28 point FTP wizard - multi-class is fine - that doesn't focus on melee like the ED. Both of them need to be able to solo much of the time and I don't want to do any of the undead Pale Master stuff. There are a few enhancements on the Pale Master tree that don't appear to depend on Pale Shroud and the other undead enhancements so anything like that is fine. I've no idea if I'll ever make it to the Epic/reincarnation/end game stuff.

Can anyone point me to builds like this?

If advantageous, I do have the Dragonborn race since I bought the Starter Bundle, but I'd probably go with one of the free races unless it makes a real difference.

Thanks!

[bookmarked]

Self-Healing
As others have said, you're putting a painful restriction on yourself if you're not going Pale Master or Warforged. Self-healing makes soloing a lot easier. Pure FTP also means no splashing Artificer or being Aasimar, which would also grant self-healing. There's also nothing in Eldritch Knight to grant +int to damage, so you're going to be multiple attribute dependent either way.

Multiclassing
Rogue for trap skills or Fighter for Kensei/Stalwart enhancements would make the most sense.

Fighting Styles
Go for Two-Handed or Single Weapon Fighting. You don't have the build points for Two-Weapon, and it's already a tough sell even on optimized builds right now.

Race
Human for the healing amp and the action boosts, or Halfling for the Dragonmark of Healing. You're going to need it.

Feats
Take your combat style feats, Extend, and Quicken. with only 28 points, it's going to be hard to get decent DCs on your spells for harder difficulties so focus on doing melee damage and staying alive. Power Attack is pretty good if you're going THF, Precision if SWF.

Builds
15 Wizard / 5 Fighter Human
Go for two-handers. Pick up the full THF line and a big sword and start swinging. I don't know if the EK cleaves share a cooldown with the cleave feats, but if they don't take both. For leveling progression, start as wizard then take fighter at level 2 for martial and armor proficiency. You can then do wizard until you get haste (character level 6) and finish out fighter levels by level 10 while melee is still strong. Stat distribution: 15 Strength, 16 Constitution, 16 Intelligence. +2 tome will be needed for Strength to get all your THF feats, or put 2 level up points there. Put level ups in Intelligence otherwise. Alternatively, accept that your spells are only for buffs and start with 16 Str, 16 Con, and 12 Int (you will need an intelligence item to cast higher level spells) and put all levelups into strength.

18 Wizard / 2 Rogue Halfling
Go Single-Weapon Fighting and start with 17 Dex, 16 Con, 16 Int. Have Bull's Strength ready to go so your fragile Halfling back doesn't give out lugging all your loot. Stick with finessable weapons like rapiers. Put lots of points into search and disable so you can get all the bonuses. Wear light armor, keep blur and displacement up constantly, and try to stay as mobile as possible. Take Precision.

If I'm going to multiclass anyway, would it make sense for the 15 Wizard / 5 Fighter Human to add 1 rogue level for traps? Low DEX would hurt Open Lock, but the already high INT would be good for Search & Disable Device. Or is that trying to do too much?

[unbongwah]

15 Wizard / 5 Fighter Human

Not sure I understand the point of this split. With fighter 5, you can't take Strike with No Thought for +1 critical multiplier, so you would need tier-5 Eldritch Knight. But if you're not taking tier-5 in a fighter tree, ftr 5 gets you nothing besides +1 BAB. Might as well do wiz 15 / ftr 4 / barb 1 for the +10% runspeed or wiz 15 / ftr 4 / rog 1 for trap skills. Or do wiz 15 / barb 5 with tier-5 Frenzied Berserker for +2 crit multiplier and extra Strikethrough, while keeping level 8 spells (I presume that's a goal here).

[Careall]

The "problem" is that Pale Master with so many immunities and lots of self-healing is right there in front of you for a minimum of 6 AP. If you can resist the long-term temptation to pick up that candy, then you're a dedicated roleplayer.

If you'd consider a premium race, Warforged is a good alternative to PM in terms of healing and immunity mechanics. Next on the list of races, a Halfling might be a good idea. You can take the Mark of Healing Dragonmark for some self-healing.

If you'd consider running a sorcerer instead of wizard - with nearly the same playstyle, there's this build (modified from a 32 point I made for HC):

Con: 16, Chr: 16, Str: 12, Int: 12
If you're running on a regular server, level up Chr. Otherwise, on HC, level up Con.

Critical skill: Spellcraft (if you're an Air Savant, Perform & if you run a WF, Repair)

Trees: EK and Earth Savant if you're trying to push the build hard by running elite or reaper. Otherwise, choose any of the Savant trees you prefer.
Why Earth? You get the Acid Arrow SLA that has no Saving Throw and no Spell Resistance. You don't need to worry about your Chr being a bit low.

Get yourself into Medium Armor with a Shield (EK tree). Pick up Eldritch Accuracy for Chr to hit. Also, you'll want Offhand Defense - Shield for some renewing temp HP. Your damage isn't coming from Str, it's coming from Spell Power for spells and Spellsword elemental damage.

Feats: The obvious choices are Empower, Maximize, and Heighten. Consider Toughness for tankier survivability.

Playstyle: For the most part, you're a ranged caster despite feeling like a front-line tank fighter. The cool thing is that those few mobs that happen to survive your barrage of spells get to face your Eldritch Strike and Eldritch Tempest (12) attacks. You can also hunker down and block with a large shield while you continue to nuke with spells. If you're solo, you can kite mobs. However, the nice thing about this build is its ability to stand ground for a bit and let the tank get in a hit or two and Intimidate to grab aggro back. I hate it when I'm running a tank chasing a mob chasing a kiter. With sufficient HP and damage reduction (resist, protections, PRR, MRR, etc.), the build can survive quick encounters with traps (just don't stand in them). On Normal or Hard settings, this build can easily make it past most traps without needing a rogue.

You can swap the Sorcerer and Savant out for Wizard and Archmage: Go 16 Con and 16 Int. Pick up the Evocation school for Magic Missile, Chain Missile, and Cyclonic Blast. The build is going to drop noticeably in raw power, but should still be viable, particularly in a party where the flexibility of a Wizard can be regularly useful.

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

wizard as a first life ftp is going to be difficult without palemaster or warforged.

The "problem" is that Pale Master with so many immunities and lots of self-healing is right there in front of you for a minimum of 6 AP.

In my opinion, Pale Master is too strong and should be nerved. There - I said it ! - But it would very surely evoke a storm.

[Careall]

In my opinion, Pale Master is too strong and should be nerved. There - I said it ! - But it would very surely evoke a storm.

No storm from me. I agree PMs are OP and need to be nerfed or otherwise balanced. Light spells used to be insta-death from many champ casters, but it seems the light spells were "fixed" and now my PMs remain cautious, but are far less afraid of light damage. Another change, which allowed PMs to be healed by Positive energy, might have been "needed," but was all benefit. Also, PM's now have an unconscious range instead of instantly dying when at zero HP. With those changes, the scales were tipped considerably with very little to counterbalance. PMs were strong before those changes.

[Varr]

As a PM for years, why I argued so long and hard on the forums about the Positive healing changes.

Reguardless.........This will not make alot of sense to the OP, but if I was your buddy, I'd instead suggest you play a Druid.

[bookmarked]

The "problem" is that Pale Master with so many immunities and lots of self-healing is right there in front of you for a minimum of 6 AP. If you can resist the long-term temptation to pick up that candy, then you're a dedicated roleplayer.

If you'd consider a premium race, Warforged is a good alternative to PM in terms of healing and immunity mechanics. Next on the list of races, a Halfling might be a good idea. You can take the Mark of Healing Dragonmark for some self-healing.

If you'd consider running a sorcerer instead of wizard - with nearly the same playstyle, there's this build (modified from a 32 point I made for HC):

Con: 16, Chr: 16, Str: 12, Int: 12
If you're running on a regular server, level up Chr. Otherwise, on HC, level up Con.

Critical skill: Spellcraft (if you're an Air Savant, Perform & if you run a WF, Repair)

Trees: EK and Earth Savant if you're trying to push the build hard by running elite or reaper. Otherwise, choose any of the Savant trees you prefer.
Why Earth? You get the Acid Arrow SLA that has no Saving Throw and no Spell Resistance. You don't need to worry about your Chr being a bit low.

Get yourself into Medium Armor with a Shield (EK tree). Pick up Eldritch Accuracy for Chr to hit. Also, you'll want Offhand Defense - Shield for some renewing temp HP. Your damage isn't coming from Str, it's coming from Spell Power for spells and Spellsword elemental damage.

Feats: The obvious choices are Empower, Maximize, and Heighten. Consider Toughness for tankier survivability.

Playstyle: For the most part, you're a ranged caster despite feeling like a front-line tank fighter. The cool thing is that those few mobs that happen to survive your barrage of spells get to face your Eldritch Strike and Eldritch Tempest (12) attacks. You can also hunker down and block with a large shield while you continue to nuke with spells. If you're solo, you can kite mobs. However, the nice thing about this build is its ability to stand ground for a bit and let the tank get in a hit or two and Intimidate to grab aggro back. I hate it when I'm running a tank chasing a mob chasing a kiter. With sufficient HP and damage reduction (resist, protections, PRR, MRR, etc.), the build can survive quick encounters with traps (just don't stand in them). On Normal or Hard settings, this build can easily make it past most traps without needing a rogue.

You can swap the Sorcerer and Savant out for Wizard and Archmage: Go 16 Con and 16 Int. Pick up the Evocation school for Magic Missile, Chain Missile, and Cyclonic Blast. The build is going to drop noticeably in raw power, but should still be viable, particularly in a party where the flexibility of a Wizard can be regularly useful.

The sorcerer looks like it might be fun, but I have a DB Sorcerer I found here that I've just started, since Dragonborn is one of the few P2P things I do have.

I'm trying to resist the impulse to run out and create every interesting looking build I run across, only somewhat successfully.

Thanks!

[unbongwah]

Considering how things are right now, what I'd like to see is 1) a first life 28 point FTP Eldritch Knight build - pure or multiclass (with some melee class?), and 2) a first life 28 point FTP wizard - multi-class is fine - that doesn't focus on melee like the ED. Both of them need to be able to solo much of the time and I don't want to do any of the undead Pale Master stuff.

So you're stacking the deck against yourself in several ways:

• The easiest options for self-healing on a wizard are (A) Warforged using Repair spells or (B) Pale Master undead form of your choice + Negative Energy spells (i.e., Death Auras + Negative Energy Burst). But Warforged are a P2P race and you've ruled out undead forms.
• Eldritch Knight provides INT to hit but not to damage. You either need access to Harper tree (another P2P or Favor-unlock feature) or do a Swashbuckler / wizard hybrid (which waters down your spellcasting) to get INT to damage.
• Wizards are significantly worse as DPS casters than sorcerers. Archmage vs any duo-Savant build is no contest. The equalizer is Pale Master since undead forms contribute both caster DPS and survivability to a squishy mage. But again, you just said you don't want to play an undead.

No offense, but you should probably shelve this idea until either you overcome your aversion to undead form or you save up enough Store Points for Warforged race + Harper tree. [If you're lucky, they'll go on sale next month.] Then you can play a cool magic robot with a giant sword.

[bookmarked]

So you're stacking the deck against yourself in several ways:

• The easiest options for self-healing on a wizard are (A) Warforged using Repair spells or (B) Pale Master undead form of your choice + Negative Energy spells (i.e., Death Auras + Negative Energy Burst). But Warforged are a P2P race and you've ruled out undead forms.
• Eldritch Knight provides INT to hit but not to damage. You either need access to Harper tree (another P2P or Favor-unlock feature) or do a Swashbuckler / wizard hybrid (which waters down your spellcasting) to get INT to damage.
• Wizards are significantly worse as DPS casters than sorcerers. Archmage vs any duo-Savant build is no contest. The equalizer is Pale Master since undead forms contribute both caster DPS and survivability to a squishy mage. But again, you just said you don't want to play an undead.

No offense, but you should probably shelve this idea until either you overcome your aversion to undead form or you save up enough Store Points for Warforged race + Harper tree. [If you're lucky, they'll go on sale next month.] Then you can play a cool magic robot with a giant sword.

Sigh, I was afraid of that. I like the wizard's broad options when it comes to spells and wanted to try one out without the necro stuff.

The "cool magic robot with a giant sword" looks like fun, so I'll add Warforged race + Harper tree to the "on sale shopping list".

In the meantime, there are a few builds in the thread that look like they might be fun to play with for a while even if they're too squishy in the long run.

Thanks!

[KoobTheProud]

Looking through the wizard builds, everything seems like it's Pale this or Necro that. Bah I say! Undead should be destroyed, not made into pets!

There've been a few other newbies who've also asked for non-Pale Master FTP wizards, but they've all seem to have asked for "pure" builds. Honestly, if the Archmage tree wasn't so weak/outdated then that's probably what I'd want to try, but I'll skip that until they update it. Inquisitive, which is also often recommended for wizards, is also out since I need it FTP. Shiradi is out, too.

Considering how things are right now, what I'd like to see is 1) a first life 28 point FTP Eldritch Knight build - pure or multiclass (with some melee class?), and 2) a first life 28 point FTP wizard - multi-class is fine - that doesn't focus on melee like the ED. Both of them need to be able to solo much of the time and I don't want to do any of the undead Pale Master stuff. There are a few enhancements on the Pale Master tree that don't appear to depend on Pale Shroud and the other undead enhancements so anything like that is fine. I've no idea if I'll ever make it to the Epic/reincarnation/end game stuff.

Can anyone point me to builds like this?

If advantageous, I do have the Dragonborn race since I bought the Starter Bundle, but I'd probably go with one of the free races unless it makes a real difference.

Thanks!

As a new player you face a bunch of existential DDO questions.

1. Should I play the build I like and joined DDO to play and get repeatedly steamrolled in the process?

2. Will I find similar players to group with along the way so I can see the content in the way it was meant to be enjoyed?

3. Should I follow the storylines in Korthos, the Harbor, the Marketplace, etc. or should I pick the quests that seem easiest to complete and do them first?

4. What modules (content packs) should I buy early on and what other store content will help me as I begin the journey in DDO?

5. What are the hidden elements in the game system that I'll wish I knew when I started but will only discover after months of tripping over them?

My answers to these questions are:

1. Only play a pre-conceived build if you have a lot of patience for playing at low levels. Most builds are pure trash early against the game system DDO has evolved into.

Pure Fighters, Rogues and Rangers take real gear to play well at low levels. If you have to play a melee then play a Barbarian or a Paladin. These classes have more sustainability and are less likely to limp through dungeons constantly dying along the way. Ideally play a class that has both DPS and healing, with enhancement trees that allow for growth along a wide spectrum of capabilities as you progress through the game.

DDO gets a lot harder at specific levels. Basically level 7 is about 2x harder than level 5, level 10 is 2x as hard as level 7 and it gets worse from there. The reasons for the difficulty jumps are that mobs abilities evolve in a set pattern as they get access to various spells and abilities. Instant death abilities and spells, disintegrate, enervation, etc. If your character is growing along only one or two power axes the odds are pretty good you are becoming obsolete on the others as you level. Your first group of Thaarak Hounds or Beholder is going to be an insurmountable obstacle that prevents you from completing those quests.

So what am I trying to say with the above?

Do what the system requires and you will prosper. Do what you want to do instead and you will likely fail after investing a lot of time in the process.

DDO has evolved into a game that heavily favors very high melee DPS, casters that can do sustained high AoE damage and characters with self-sustainability built-in. This is particularly true for a newer player early on in the game. A character that lacks the necessary elements, like a pure caster non-PM Wizard, is likely to be handicapped early on and then find the handicaps growing as they level into the tougher mobs.

Oh, and don't hold me accountable for Kobold Shamans. There are exceptions to every rule.

2. Unless you join with a group of friends you are unlikely to find boon companions willing to slog through the quests with you at flower-sniffing speed so that you can see all the game has to offer.

You will find people who are happy to carry you through dungeons but they will play at a speed that makes your head spin and will often be done with the quest and out of the dungeon before you have reached the second junction in the quest. If they shared quests with you beforehand you will have an Easter egg hunt to find the rewards afterwards not to mention rarely getting to loot chests in the dungeon unless you want to completely miss out on the next quest. Quest completion time is listed at 15-20 mins for a lot of quests and 30 mins plus for a few. The player base does these quests in 5-7 mins these days. The DDO system rewards veterans for playing as fast as they can to speed up the TR process. Not surprisingly that is what they do.

3. Follow the storyline in Korthos until the last quest. Then go do some of the easier Harbor quests. Ideally you are level 4 before you set foot in Misery's Peak. This is the first quest in the game that has dangerous packs of mobs and it has performance issues also on lower end systems. Do it after you have gotten a bit of gear and a few enhancement points to play with. If you're doing it on a Fighter, Rogue, Ranger, caster Wizard, well it likely will be your first experience with a miserable slog.

After Korthos take it on a quest by quest basis, not necessarily following the storylines. Low level slayer areas, like Korthos, Keep on the Borderlands and the Cerulean Hills are worth playing out until you are either finished with them or bored to tears. They're usually easier than dungeon content of similar levels.

4. The best purchases very early on are the DDO Starter Pack, acquired for $9.95 via the DDO Marketplace on the website, Keep on the Borderlands, acquired either via 995 DDOPts in the in-game store or by subscribing to the game and The Seal of Shan-to-Kor acquired for 250 DDOPts in the in-game store (do not buy this if you are subscribing because it will also be fee at that point.)

The DDO Starter Pack includes Favored Soul class, Dragonborn race, the Catacombs adventure pack, an XP potion and most importantly a level 3 permanent Cleric hireling who will be of use for years if you keep playing the game (never delete her because you only get her once per server.)

Keep on the Borderlands gives you another explorer area to run around in and farm for XP and items and also a mount that you should be able to farm up fairly quickly. It also has a bunch of low level quests that you can run to avoid repeating other low level quests as you start.

The Seal of Shan-to-Kor is the follow-up to the f2p Waterworks series and it has some wonderful examples of what the later game has to offer in terms of environments, mob challenge and usually a pretty good low level piece of loot at the end. It is a cheap purchase for the fun involved.

5. The primary hidden element in the game is its age and maturity level at this point. There was a time when DDO was designed for parties to move through at moderate speed, adventuring and having fun. That time is long past. DDO is now a rat-race that people plow through at maximum speed on their way to as many past lives and other power boosts as possible.

It is worthwhile to take a look at that meta and to create a character that is at least roughly complementary to it at the moment. This means that if you are making a Wizard you want to make a Wizard designed to fit into the meta. Finger-wiggling types that stand back and launch magic missiles at the foe are not just yesterday's Wizard, they are 2011's Wizard and even back then people weren't particularly happy with the performance.

Secondarily you really want to define what your objectives are and stick to them. It is unlikely that you will be happy trying to earn 100 past lives at this point, even assuming DDO sticks around that long. Figure out what you want to do in the long run and then stick to the plan. That will give you more time to enjoy the play along the way and will give you a better final character when you are done. I strongly recommend playing a couple of characters out to cap before you do even a single TR. The heroic XP penalty for second and third lives plus is truly harsh for a casual player.

[Enderoc]

As a new player you face a bunch of existential DDO questions.

1. Should I play the build I like and joined DDO to play and get repeatedly steamrolled in the process?

2. Will I find similar players to group with along the way so I can see the content in the way it was meant to be enjoyed?

3. Should I follow the storylines in Korthos, the Harbor, the Marketplace, etc. or should I pick the quests that seem easiest to complete and do them first?

4. What modules (content packs) should I buy early on and what other store content will help me as I begin the journey in DDO?

5. What are the hidden elements in the game system that I'll wish I knew when I started but will only discover after months of tripping over them?

My answers to these questions are:

1. Only play a pre-conceived build if you have a lot of patience for playing at low levels. Most builds are pure trash early against the game system DDO has evolved into.

Pure Fighters, Rogues and Rangers take real gear to play well at low levels. If you have to play a melee then play a Barbarian or a Paladin. These classes have more sustainability and are less likely to limp through dungeons constantly dying along the way. Ideally play a class that has both DPS and healing, with enhancement trees that allow for growth along a wide spectrum of capabilities as you progress through the game.

DDO gets a lot harder at specific levels. Basically level 7 is about 2x harder than level 5, level 10 is 2x as hard as level 7 and it gets worse from there. The reasons for the difficulty jumps are that mobs abilities evolve in a set pattern as they get access to various spells and abilities. Instant death abilities and spells, disintegrate, enervation, etc. If your character is growing along only one or two power axes the odds are pretty good you are becoming obsolete on the others as you level. Your first group of Thaarak Hounds or Beholder is going to be an insurmountable obstacle that prevents you from completing those quests.

So what am I trying to say with the above?

Do what the system requires and you will prosper. Do what you want to do instead and you will likely fail after investing a lot of time in the process.

DDO has evolved into a game that heavily favors very high melee DPS, casters that can do sustained high AoE damage and characters with self-sustainability built-in. This is particularly true for a newer player early on in the game. A character that lacks the necessary elements, like a pure caster non-PM Wizard, is likely to be handicapped early on and then find the handicaps growing as they level into the tougher mobs.

Oh, and don't hold me accountable for Kobold Shamans. There are exceptions to every rule.

2. Unless you join with a group of friends you are unlikely to find boon companions willing to slog through the quests with you at flower-sniffing speed so that you can see all the game has to offer.

You will find people who are happy to carry you through dungeons but they will play at a speed that makes your head spin and will often be done with the quest and out of the dungeon before you have reached the second junction in the quest. If they shared quests with you beforehand you will have an Easter egg hunt to find the rewards afterwards not to mention rarely getting to loot chests in the dungeon unless you want to completely miss out on the next quest. Quest completion time is listed at 15-20 mins for a lot of quests and 30 mins plus for a few. The player base does these quests in 5-7 mins these days. The DDO system rewards veterans for playing as fast as they can to speed up the TR process. Not surprisingly that is what they do.

3. Follow the storyline in Korthos until the last quest. Then go do some of the easier Harbor quests. Ideally you are level 4 before you set foot in Misery's Peak. This is the first quest in the game that has dangerous packs of mobs and it has performance issues also on lower end systems. Do it after you have gotten a bit of gear and a few enhancement points to play with. If you're doing it on a Fighter, Rogue, Ranger, caster Wizard, well it likely will be your first experience with a miserable slog.

After Korthos take it on a quest by quest basis, not necessarily following the storylines. Low level slayer areas, like Korthos, Keep on the Borderlands and the Cerulean Hills are worth playing out until you are either finished with them or bored to tears. They're usually easier than dungeon content of similar levels.

4. The best purchases very early on are the DDO Starter Pack, acquired for $9.95 via the DDO Marketplace on the website, Keep on the Borderlands, acquired either via 995 DDOPts in the in-game store or by subscribing to the game and The Seal of Shan-to-Kor acquired for 250 DDOPts in the in-game store (do not buy this if you are subscribing because it will also be fee at that point.)

The DDO Starter Pack includes Favored Soul class, Dragonborn race, the Catacombs adventure pack, an XP potion and most importantly a level 3 permanent Cleric hireling who will be of use for years if you keep playing the game (never delete her because you only get her once per server.)

Keep on the Borderlands gives you another explorer area to run around in and farm for XP and items and also a mount that you should be able to farm up fairly quickly. It also has a bunch of low level quests that you can run to avoid repeating other low level quests as you start.

The Seal of Shan-to-Kor is the follow-up to the f2p Waterworks series and it has some wonderful examples of what the later game has to offer in terms of environments, mob challenge and usually a pretty good low level piece of loot at the end. It is a cheap purchase for the fun involved.

5. The primary hidden element in the game is its age and maturity level at this point. There was a time when DDO was designed for parties to move through at moderate speed, adventuring and having fun. That time is long past. DDO is now a rat-race that people plow through at maximum speed on their way to as many past lives and other power boosts as possible.

It is worthwhile to take a look at that meta and to create a character that is at least roughly complementary to it at the moment. This means that if you are making a Wizard you want to make a Wizard designed to fit into the meta. Finger-wiggling types that stand back and launch magic missiles at the foe are not just yesterday's Wizard, they are 2011's Wizard and even back then people weren't particularly happy with the performance.

Secondarily you really want to define what your objectives are and stick to them. It is unlikely that you will be happy trying to earn 100 past lives at this point, even assuming DDO sticks around that long. Figure out what you want to do in the long run and then stick to the plan. That will give you more time to enjoy the play along the way and will give you a better final character when you are done. I strongly recommend playing a couple of characters out to cap before you do even a single TR. The heroic XP penalty for second and third lives plus is truly harsh for a casual player.

I didn't look to see who suggested it but fighter is a poor choice to MC with wizard as a non undead non warforged. 2 levels of Ranger will give you two weapon fighting even if you lack the dex for it...plus easier access to divine wand use which in coordination with potions will be your go to to self healing.... max use magic device...heal scrolls will be necessary in later content.
And trust me...first life wizards burn spell points like nothing...so shoot your bow until you need to switch to melee in that case...also LOOK ESPECIALLY FOR ARMOR THAT REDUCES ARCANE SPELL FAILURE.
If you want to get in touch with your Ranger side more...invest HEAVILY... In move silently. You never know when you need to turn invisible and escape.
2 paladin is another alternative but my opinion the benefits from Ranger for a first life free to play character outweighs the paladin splash which really needs tomes to shine.
TWF is enough... look for and try to keep equipped one melee weapon with paralyze to escape being cornered and a good universal bow like force with unnatural bane if luck is on your side. Getting to 20 is the goal for first lifers and paralyze works well enough through heroics. I would specialize in two schools, take spell penetration feats to make up for lost levels.
I will also suggest get familiar with crafting. Cannith crafting is what will empower new players. I got items like a cloak with hiding, insightful hiding, and diplomacy with a yellow augment of remove fear I call my security blanket I recently made for future squishies to avoid confrontation without freaking out. I will make a similar item with move silently insightful move silently with undecided extra to coincide but with bluff to pull aggro to face things individually rather than packs. I think I made the cloak level 16...but with both bonuses its plus ten to any item of that level without insightful bonuses...and greater than anything up through legendary to be honest (without both skill and insightful skill)
IF YOU WENT ELF WITH THIS ARCANE ARCHER IS CALLING YOU