When to start doing Reapers and what level of Reapers do you do?

[slarden]

I know you said you only solo but if you're looking to accumulate reaper points you're really opting to play the reaper point accumulation game in super hard mode by not grouping. So I'd encourage you to PUG some. It's so much more efficient and you're always going to be able to group a much higher skull than you can solo. Well maybe with the exception of super top players/builds who can solo high skull. But even for them its going to be more efficient to group.

But really the best plan is while leveling, do the highest skull you can do fast without slowing you down much. But the main RXP is at end game. Even after you use up first time bonuses you can really earn a lot by just sitting at cap and pugging mid to high skull endgame quests. The reaper XP at endgame content like Isle of Dread is really juicy even without first time bonuses.

It's really important to push skulls once you get to endgame though or you'll be old and grey before you ever get anywhere. The difference in reaper XP between low skull and higher skulls is huge.

This is solid advice, but I would argue that the difficulty most pugs run on for leveling is no different than what can be solo'd. In 2017 I started out soloing R3 with 0 reaper points on an arti multiclass build and after the first few weeks of learning curve I rarely died. I did go through a few cakes those first few weeks solo. Reaper has been adjusted and is generally easier now so now I would approach it a bit differently - instead of R3 at level (level 3 quests at level 3) I would run:

Level 1-11: R2 (for the simple reason reaper pay-out is so low the goal is to get it done asap and the reward for pushing skulls isn't much. but R2 is hardly different than R1 so why not. On the other hand if you are breezing through R4 there is no reason no to run R4 - as you gain rxp that will just happen at some point, but starting out R2 is a good goal)
Level 12-29: R4 (generally do-able, but some quests you might want to drop down to R1 or R2 or just run elite)
Legendary: R10 or the highest skull you can in a group, even a pug (Legendary is where most reaper points are accumulated, however, if you really don't want to group you can run R4 solo and still accumulate points reasonably fast).

OP is missing the easiest reaper accumulation by tr'ing at 20 instead of 30 although you accumulate lifes much faster that way. Legendary reapers are the easiest way to accumulate rxp since they provide double rxp to begin with, are at a higher level which increases the base significantly compared to pre-20 and it's much easier to find groups running at higher skulls compared to heroic.

In the early days of reaper finding R10 groups was really hard and not worth the wait so I would just solo or shortman R4 with my alts. If you run R2 up to 12, then R4 solo the rest of the way you can get to 75 reaper points reasonably fast. If you instead find a group to run R10s with at level 30 you will cut whatever that time is in half, however, that is only true if it's easy to find a group and they are running content you need first time bonuses on. If this isn't an option you can probably accumulate reaper points just as fast soloing or short-manning R4.

Reaper no longer has a lock-out preventing re-entry, so having a dual box isn't as beneficial as it used to be, but for soloing or short-manning reaper I really like having at least one alt - preferably a buffing bard which boosts skill checks and gives you really good healing with sustaining song - and sustaining song isn't degraded by the overall reaper healing debuff since it's granted by a different character. You can also raise yourself if you die which was more important when re-entry wasn't possible. It took me several years to get the content on my main alt account and I am still working on filling in the final pieces of a few accounts, but it would go much quicker if you are willing to throw money at an alt account.

[axel15810]

This is solid advice, but I would argue that the difficulty most pugs run on for leveling is no different than what can be solo'd.

Most even if they can solo what is normally pugged, can't do it nearly as fast. For experienced players who know the quests well and are on top zergable builds that can clear mobs fast solo'ing can nearly equal group efficiency while leveling though. There are super strong sorcs, alchs and such I've seen that can zerg low skull nearly as fast as they can pug it since they rarely have to stop running and can kill everything with AoE while doing so.

For most players though, they'll be much better off grouping since they'll either be lacking in build power or quest knowledge to complete low skulls nearly as efficiently as it can be pugged.

But yeah I also agree that waiting for a group usually isn't a good idea. Better off just starting immediately solo'ing what you can and throw up an LFM and hope to get joiners along the way.

[slarden]

Most even if they can solo what is normally pugged, can't do it nearly as fast. For experienced players who know the quests well and are on top zergable builds that can clear mobs fast solo'ing can nearly equal group efficiency while leveling though. There are super strong sorcs, alchs and such I've seen that can zerg low skull nearly as fast as they can pug it since they rarely have to stop running and can kill everything with AoE while doing so.

For most players though, they'll be much better off grouping since they'll either be lacking in build power or quest knowledge to complete low skulls nearly as efficiently as it can be pugged.

But yeah I also agree that waiting for a group usually isn't a good idea. Better off just starting immediately solo'ing what you can and throw up an LFM and hope to get joiners along the way.

I definitely don't disagree with the benefits of grouping, especially if you find your build didn't work out as well as you thought it would. However, I think from a learning perspective you will learn how to run reaper better by soloing, especially while leveling, because groups tend to run on a lower skull than needed, zerg it really fast and generally play extremely sloppy as they are beating the dungeon with overwhelming force vs. good play.

There are other options for soloing that are often over-looked. For example, if you run 3 levels over you get the exact same amount of rxp vs 2 levels over, but only get half the bravery bonus for heroic xp. If you run 4 levels over you get a -10% rxp penalty which ends up being something like 390% base rxp vs 400% base rxp - in other words you hardly lose any rxp 4 levels over, but again you only get half the bravery bonus for heroic xp. Instead of running a lower skull they can choose to run 4 levels over vs 2 levels over for some or even all quests to get started with reaper. Caveat, you will not get nearly as many remnants if you do this.

Also, there are alot of things you can do solo that you wouldn't get a chance to do in groups because it's a zerg fest. For example if you see a pack of reapers you can bluff just one plague reaper and kill it before dealing with the mob or repeat that process a few times and clear out all 3 plagues before fighting the mob. Even on R10 you can bluff out vengeance reapers ahead of time, but once R10s became mainstream and players stronger it's always just zerg ahead and win with brute force and overwhelming strength. Bluff and sneak are two really good skills to invest in for solo reaper players, especially if you want to push skulls. If you fail your bluff check you get the mob, but I don't think there is a fail on a 1 option because bluff seems to work for me 100% if I have a high enough skill.

[carsonfball]

Depending on my build, I start running R1 or R2 at level 2 or 3. I mostly solo (especially in heroics) and, if I don't think my build is that survivable, I wait until 3 and start running the level 1 Borderlands quests on reaper. Otherwise, I'll jump to the harbor at level 2 and start running the level 2 quests on reaper (faster levelling and more rxp). I'm on my 40th life and have 38 reaper points though, so that definitely makes a difference.

I'm not sure how many reaper points you have, but when I got to around 8 or 12, running r1 - for most quests - became roughly the same difficulty as running elite.

[carsonfball]

Anyways I see people saying they run like level 7 reaper and some say "im getting ready to do such and such at reaper level 10 if anybody wants to join."

From my experience, a lot of the R10 groups just assume there are going to be a lot of deaths, maybe a couple of wipes (with Jibbers or cakes), and are mostly doing it for the high rxp (rather than xp/min). I've only been in a couple of R10 groups at legendary where quests were quick and mostly painless.

I'm definitely not saying that's a bad practice (I've joined several of these groups in the past), what I'm trying to say is that your expectations on the capabilities of those groups are probably overly optimistic.

[elkorm]

What do you guys run, what level do you start and about what level do you start doing higher reapers? Is it a group thing or solo thing after reaper 1 or 4 or such?

I usually run solo r1-3 right off the bat. I usually don't go above that numbers of skulls for xp/min reasons. If you want to do RXP you'd better, as someone suggested, get to legendary content, chug an xp pot and run R8+. Profit

You might find, looking at the current state of the game, that playing caster in heroics (they are all nukers in heroics!) is faster than other builds.

On a fun note, there's also something you can do if you find a group of masochist friends!

https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showth...=1#post6433647

Cheers
Elk

[PedXing20]

I'll run r1 to cap then run only r10s.

Along the way i'll post LFMs and if someone joins, great, if not, also great.

[carsonfball]

Reaper no longer has a lock-out preventing re-entry

I found that out last night. When did this change? And was there an announcement that I missedm or was it silent "fix"? Also, if there was an announcement, did they give reasons for the change? On the one hand, it definitely makes reaper mode more approachable to new players (or alts) which is good. On the other hand, reaper mode was supposed to be a challenge.

I guess it prevents trolls from joining a short group with the LFM still on, entering, and then leaving thus not allowing anyone else in.

[slarden]

I found that out last night. When did this change? And was there an announcement that I missedm or was it silent "fix"? Also, if there was an announcement, did they give reasons for the change? On the one hand, it definitely makes reaper mode more approachable to new players (or alts) which is good. On the other hand, reaper mode was supposed to be a challenge.

It's been that way for several months - since before the last hardcore league started -I can't remember which update

I guess it prevents trolls from joining a short group with the LFM still on, entering, and then leaving thus not allowing anyone else in.

Devs haven't commented on the change, but presumably are aware and made the change on purpose. If I was to guess this was the reason. It's not even necessary trolls. We had someone rage quit after we wiped in R10 slavers III while we were zoning into the end fight. He assumed we couldn't complete, recalled, ate dinner. We ended up jibbering and completing, but it would have been nice to fill the empty slot. Sometimes people join an lfm, step in and see the skull and recall because it's higher or lower than what they wanted - nobody else could join prior to the change which sucked.

If I had to guess this is the reason for the change. Whatever reason the devs had for putting in the lockout, it's not worth it. Reaper is just another difficulty these days - no need for the lockout.

From my experience, a lot of the R10 groups just assume there are going to be a lot of deaths, maybe a couple of wipes (with Jibbers or cakes), and are mostly doing it for the high rxp (rather than xp/min). I've only been in a couple of R10 groups at legendary where quests were quick and mostly painless.

I'm definitely not saying that's a bad practice (I've joined several of these groups in the past), what I'm trying to say is that your expectations on the capabilities of those groups are probably overly optimistic.

Agree, I don't think people even bother bringing their best character to reaper any more, it's mostly about which character needs the rxp or sometimes even the xp. It's also very easy to get over-confident after a few good runs and get smacked down by being a bit careless. Alot of people bring their deep raiding alts to R10s just to get 21 reaper points for the bonus hp that works outside of reaper.

[Wizard1406]

The change to reaper re-entry is really for the better. It was common knowledge not to quit an ongoing reaper group, but some trolls didn't care and recalled or respawned. (I didn't blame newbies who honestly didn't know that and explained)