first life, tr, and epics/legendary

[Scrag]

I am on my first life for my DA, and I am about to tr, but I was told if I can make it to 30 on my first life, it will push me to 32, and that bonus carries through every tr after that. Is that the case? Should I really drive to 30, even though I don't think I will play there much? (Too much altitis historically).

Thank you!

[C-Dog]

I am on my first life for my DA, and I am about to tr, but I was told if I can make it to 30 on my first life, it will push me to 32...

Okay, slow down there Red Rider! Several things going on...

First, what level are you, currently?

Any time after you hit 20, you can simply do a Heroic TR (or Racial R, same outcome for purpose of this discussion), and you get 3 things:

• 1) New life (next start at 1 (Heroic) or 15 (Iconic), your choice, same as when you started this life)
• 2) 34 point build (or 30 if Drow)
• 3) A PL bonus (varies depending whether you go HTR or RR)

...it will push me to 32...

Um, 32... 32 what? 32 Build Points? No, that's Total Favor, see below (and your 2nd life will be 34 pts). Level 32? No, you earn that via XP.

...that bonus carries through every tr after that. Is that the case? Should I really drive to 30, even though I don't think I will play there much?

If you push to 30, then you can do an ER, which takes you back to 20 (and you can then do your HTR/RR, as before). The ER gets you an Epic Destiny PL bonus, which is nice.

o https://ddowiki.com/page/Epic_Past_L...ast_Life_Feats

And, yes, once you earn any PL bonus, that stays with the character forever, thru any and all future reincarnations.

But the process of getting to 30 earns you other stuff along the way:

• Total Favor (You want at least 1,750, and 2,500 or 3,000 are easy options. 5,000 is a longer road but doable, and 7,500 is probably not realistic for 1st life.)
• Earn Universal Enhancement Trees (specific Favor - you have to have access to the right quest packs, but earning "now" for later builds is SO much easier!)
• The ability to crush lower quests while farming for gear (and "gear" is a good thing, esp. for next life)

So... which to do?

If you are in early Epics, and already finding the quests tough, then it may not be worth it to push all the way to 30. It only gets tougher, and can be a long slog if you do not have the gear, build, AND game experience. And any "learning" gets confusing, since every area is new, every quest is unfamiliar, and every additional Epic ability makes everything that much more complex. (AND you won't see it again for a looong time, so are less likely to remember it! )

You could do some farming (of gear, of favor) right now, and then TR, and ignore 30, and start a new (and better!) life. That totally works.

Sometimes it's better to cover "the basics" (1-20) again, THEN go to 30. But ymmv, just sayin'.

[ahpook]

...
Um, 32... 32 what? 32 Build Points? No, that's Total Favor, see below (and your 2nd life will be 34 pts). Level 32? No, you earn that via XP.

I would guess that Scrag meant Level 32, so just to clarify for him: If you get to level 30 you can now run legendary content (level 30 base or greater) to get legendary XP. Eventually you get enough Legendary XP you will get to level 32. What is probably being referenced by "you get 32 as soon as you get 30" comment is that legendary XP is permanent. Once you have earned your way to 32 (or 31 or 30.5) you keep that XP through any kind of reincarnation. Then next time you get back to 30 you will immediately have the XP for 32 (or 31 or 30.5). But you do have to earn it once. It does mean that you could get a couple of ED points after 30 and then come back in a future life and get a couple more and slowly climb to 32 over several lives.

[Scrag]

I would guess that Scrag meant Level 32, so just to clarify for him: If you get to level 30 you can now run legendary content (level 30 base or greater) to get legendary XP. Eventually you get enough Legendary XP you will get to level 32. What is probably being referenced by "you get 32 as soon as you get 30" comment is that legendary XP is permanent. Once you have earned your way to 32 (or 31 or 30.5) you keep that XP through any kind of reincarnation. Then next time you get back to 30 you will immediately have the XP for 32 (or 31 or 30.5). But you do have to earn it once. It does mean that you could get a couple of ED points after 30 and then come back in a future life and get a couple more and slowly climb to 32 over several lives.

Yep ahpook got it right on the money!

Okay, slow down there Red Rider! Several things going on...

First, what level are you, currently?

If you push to 30, then you can do an ER, which takes you back to 20 (and you can then do your HTR/RR, as before). The ER gets you an Epic Destiny PL bonus, which is nice.

So... which to do?

If you are in early Epics, and already finding the quests tough, then it may not be worth it to push all the way to 30. It only gets tougher, and can be a long slog if you do not have the gear, build, AND game experience. And any "learning" gets confusing, since every area is new, every quest is unfamiliar, and every additional Epic ability makes everything that much more complex. (AND you won't see it again for a looong time, so are less likely to remember it! )

You could do some farming (of gear, of favor) right now, and then TR, and ignore 30, and start a new (and better!) life. That totally works.

Sometimes it's better to cover "the basics" (1-20) again, THEN go to 30. But ymmv, just sayin'.

I am almost 20 on both chars I am playing. I have saved all my saga exp so far (apparently people burn it as soon as you turn 20?). I like my dark apostate a lot and was having a lot of fun, but the last quest I ran blew me apart with a ton of magic overwhelming.

My goal is to have fun, and I am not interested in a slog. I did some epics waaaaaaaaaaay back and I recall it being kind of fun, but all the talk of reaper this and zerging makes me wonder how tweeked I would have to be to solo this.

My big thing is dinosaur crafting! I SO want to do dinosaur crafting, but that is some 13 levels away from where I am now. I don't think I would have any problem just doing the heroic tr treadmill for fun, but I am at least somewhat curious to play with the epics.

Would you recommend using 1 character for epics/legendary, and the other a heroic fun only character?

[C-Dog]

Would you recommend using 1 character for epics/legendary, and the other a heroic fun only character?

I like alts - after 12 years playing, I am only in the last year or so slooowly shifting to a "main" (and kicking and screaming the whole way! ) So I have an idea where you're coming from.

That said, there is no denying that the current game heavily favors 1 main character, to make them stronger, and to explore the more complex builds via Premium trees, gear, Past Lives, etc etc.

So... it depends what you want.

If you want to quest where you want to quest when you want to quest there, then I'd suggest several characters, all different levels, and cycle them through TR'ing at 20 and then start again. And another toon (or two) living in Epics.

If, otoh, you want to (finally) get one character stronger, so they can, indeed, solo R1 and run with the pack, then pick one and stick with it. Things speed up as you go; it gets better. The stronger you get, the less "slog" there is, each time around. So, yeah, maybe go to 30 once you're tougher.

(And if you're not VIP and you haven't TR'd twice, being able to open Elite for yourself is, quite literally, a game changer. You DEF want to do that first! )

And you could split the diff - park 1 strong character at 20 (for farming), and have several others similarly "parked" for when you need them there, but run your Main. whatever works.

[Scrag]

I like alts - after 12 years playing, I am only in the last year or so slooowly shifting to a "main" (and kicking and screaming the whole way! ) So I have an idea where you're coming from.

...

(And if you're not VIP and you haven't TR'd twice, being able to open Elite for yourself is, quite literally, a game changer. You DEF want to do that first! )

And you could split the diff - park 1 strong character at 20 (for farming), and have several others similarly "parked" for when you need them there, but run your Main. whatever works.

My two "mains" both have supreme 8 tomes because I just didnt want to be oh, i wish i had more con or str or whatever and now i cant get my feat!!

I have been running vip and open on elite if I think I can handle it and have been endlessly farming for, cough, level 5, 7, and 10, and am moving upwards. I actually farmed for gear in my next life already! Really looking forward to a 34 point build next life.

I would like to play alts, but you are right, the game really doesn't reward having a ton of characters, its all in on past lives and tomes and permanent unlocks. :/

I will hit a few epic levels, see which of my two chars is better suited, and heroic tr the other. Lots and lots of ideas what could be fun to play, and locking up a char with one "career" path for a long time I feel would suck. :/

Thank you both for detailed responses, it has given me a lot to think about!