What to do when very new

[Ddealti]

I have several alts that use a 1-level Wizard splash - none pretend that those can be offensive spell slots, even at the lowest Heroic levels.

You take Wizard for the free Metamagic Feat, that's the main reason (and possibly the only "convincing" one, realistically). Maximize for Halfing DM of Healing, Extend for Elf Displacement, possibly Quicken for Human panic-button Dimension Door (altho' that would be more a HC thing). The spell slots are gravy on top of that (and a 1 AP Invisibility is handy at times, depending).

Even if you start w 20 Int, you typically have no Enhancements buffing them, no Spellpower/DC gear or Feats, no nuthin' that allows a real "Caster" to land those reliably. Those are utility spells: +10 Jump, Shield, and Expeditious Retreat (swapped for Swim later when gear covers +25%+ speed). Summon Animal 1 can be amazingly useful as a distraction, and I can see Sonic Blast for box-breaking. Master's Touch for certain builds that rely on it (esp 2-weapon fighting that can't scroll it!) Possibly Detect Secret Doors for lowbie-heroic insta-search, a nice QoL bump, but that won't be useful for long. Few others are realistic.

These are great suggestions. I especially love using summoned creatures as a distraction. I will learn from this and hopefully other do too.

[C-Dog]

These are great suggestions. I especially love using summoned creatures as a distraction.

Summoning a dog and then* going Invis (1 AP in Archmage Core 1) allows you to approach nearish to a mob and let the dog go charge it and grab aggro. Sometimes, even in Epics, a high-level mob will continue to beat on a dead dog for 10 seconds or more after 1-shotting it, allowing you ample time to pass by unbothered while the dead dog holds its attention.

(* the act of summoning an animal breaks Invis)

Play around with it, GL!

[Kryxal]

Of note here, multiple expansions went on sale in the DDO store for very cheap ... I think you get some DDO points for VIP per month, and it's probably going to cover it. It will make your life easier, some of the best gear is in Sharn/RL (Sharn is part, Ravenloft uncertain).

[KoobTheProud]

You get 500DDOP just for subscribing for a month. That's enough to buy all the 99DDOP packages available right now.