Getting to level 20 as free to play is apparently "easy"

[luvirini]

As shown by a guildie. Apparently Free to play accounts can no longer post even in the free section of the forums so posting for him

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Ok, so I got to level 20 as totally free to play:


It did not seem "very hard" only a bit tedious.

I did some favor runs on the other servers to get warforged, then rolled up a warforged sorcerer and started running quests. I got useful gear from guildies and a lot of useful advice and companionship while running. (Thanks all)

I then bought Vale of twilight(the only pack I thus own) with the earned points on the way, allowing me to cap in shroud today.

Now at twenty, I am looking at the xp needed to get to 25, The extremely low benefits you get for epix levels without destinies and the lack of content past 20 unless you buy the expansion and wonder what to do next.

Not really wanting to go to another server to cap again to get points and miss my guildies, I have been thinking of maybe seeing of it is possible to reach cap again after TRing with the higher XP requirements, by buying some more higher level packs with the points I will get running to 20 again.

Any ideas/suggestions on what to do next?
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He can still read the forums, so he would likely appreciate ideas/comments.

[liltova]

This should probably be in the Achievement section .

And I'd say that you (he) should TR and do it again with the higher exp requirement.

[Fomori]

As shown by a guildie. Apparently Free to play accounts can no longer post even in the free section of the forums so posting for him

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*snip*

It did not seem "very hard" only a bit tedious.

I did some favor runs on the other servers to get warforged, then rolled up a warforged sorcerer and started running quests. I got useful gear from guildies and a lot of useful advice and companionship while running. (Thanks all)

I then bought Vale of twilight(the only pack I thus own) with the earned points on the way, allowing me to cap in shroud today.

Now at twenty, I am looking at the xp needed to get to 25, The extremely low benefits you get for epix levels without destinies and the lack of content past 20 unless you buy the expansion and wonder what to do next.

Not really wanting to go to another server to cap again to get points and miss my guildies, I have been thinking of maybe seeing of it is possible to reach cap again after TRing with the higher XP requirements, by buying some more higher level packs with the points I will get running to 20 again.

Any ideas/suggestions on what to do next?
----

He can still read the forums, so he would likely appreciate ideas/comments.

While that is a good accomplishment I would say the orange part above shows that it is not "easy".

While not trivial, if it was easy it shouldnt be an issue to spend time now and then to run up a character on other servers while still playing mainly with his guildies. The implication is that he would have to dedicate himself to run another server character up to cap. With that implication is that there is serious effort put into the accomplishment and thus not inherently easy to do. Sure, in the effort scheme of things it is probably not hard to do at all, but the standard connotation of easy also does imply little to no effort which I am sure this does not fulfill.

[Matuse]

Trick with TRing as a purely F2P with only the Vale is going to be getting epic tokens. It will be a bit of a slog going with daily challenge tokens and the spinner series.

[Rodomonte]

Any ideas/suggestions on what to do next?
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Save up your allowance and spend some money on the game? You're missing out on a lot of good stuff.

[SardaofChaos]

I got useful gear from guildies

Just want to point out that this little bit makes a huge difference in the perceived difficulty of getting to 20 as F2P, especially if any of that gear came from quests he didn't own.

[Galeria]

Your friend may not realize that his forum login is different than his game login.

And yeah, you can spend your DDO life in F2P only stuff but you miss a lot of the experience. (Ha! Get it? NVM...)

I realize a lot of people just play the game to "beat it" and reach 20/25 but there is a lot of really cool quests in the adventure packs in addition to counting the loot and xp that comes from them.

Being premium gets you a few more perks, like character slots. It's worth $5. Ask your Mom if you can do some work around the house for $5.

[susiedupfer]

I was F2P, it is not easy. It is grindy and boring. What I would suggest now is to grind epic tokens to get TR'd. Then with your other toon, favor farm. With a buddy to open quests, you can get 25 points about every 45 minutes. Delete, rinse, repeat. This will get you enough points to buy the next pack. Get something that has epics. That way you can get more token frags/day. Then once you have Gianthold, Sands, Phiarlan Carnival, Delera's, I would buy another character slot to enable you to have 2 active toons and a favor farming slot. That way you have lots more favor coming in.

Never, ever buy consumables from the DDO store unless you go VIP. Never buy account upgrades like 32 point build that you can earn in-game.

Do consider buying one DDO card from Gamestop or somewhere. The cheapest I have found is $10. That will give you some points, but most importantly, it gives you a premium account. That gives you 2 toon slots, unlimited AH, access to posting on forums, LOTS of goodies. Well worth $10. Think of Christmas or birthday gifts- you could always ask for one.

[luvirini]

A few comments:

From him:
He is logged into forums successfully but it says he does not have rights to post in this forum.

He also thinks that grinding epic tokens should not be all that difficult

From me:
He is over 40 and in a well paying job so no need to talk about mom giving $5..

He is just a "tad stubborn" about things so I think he wanted to see how much of "Free to play" this game was after some experiences with other "free games" that he spent quite a lot of money in. (I Know him in real life and was the one who suggested he give DDO a try and we did suggest often to him to at least buy minimal amount of points to unlock more slots )

He was willing to accept gear, I think I gave him things like a heavy fort item and +6 Cha and Con items and maybe some greater/Improved false life item or such. (I also think someone likely gave him helpful gear at lower levels)

But he did not want to accept any quest passes or such though several of us have such from DDO lotteries. Maybe he will accept such in next life if he goes for TR.

[Glenalth]

Since it sounds like he was already farming the other servers for easy favor, instead level up the 2nd character on the account.

And buy your friend some gift points. Even the smallest one will give him 2 more character slots, remove level based money limits, allow multiple auctions, and turn off some of the in-game chat restrictions.

Then he'll end up with a bit more content and 2 more characters that can earn favor for more packs before TRing.

[MsEricka]

If he's going to TR here's some things he should consider.

1) Make a Green Steel HP or SP item. I would suggest a Mineral II item for 45HP, heavy fort and +6 to CON skills (higher fort save).
2) Run Delera's with a guest pass if you guys have one to give him. That 5% XP bonus adds up. Do it now at lvl20 if you only have a 30 minute pass. If you have a 90 minute or longer pass do it next life as Delera's is good XP on it's own.
3) Bank XP. At some levels you will find it a pain to get the XP you want/need.
4) Turn in challenge ingredients for free 5% XP pots or turn in eberron dragonshard fragments for 10/20% pots.
5) Don't forget about the free giveaway of the week. By saving these up over a few weeks you can get some nifty stuff. In fact on one toon on my son's account he has an entire page of free stuff waiting for him.
6) Wait to TR until October. No seriously, talk like a pirate day is Sept 19 and with that will come the crystal cove. Get multiple pirate hats for different levels to twink the character out. GFL and concentration +10 at level 7? SOLD!
7) Speaking of the crystal cove, while you're there get a cunning trinket for later use.
8) Buy gear now and toss it in the bank for leveling. This gives you time to find the perfect items to use.
9) Consider buying a Vibrant Purple Ioun Stone and using a guest pass to upgrade it. By staying outside the quest others can run it and you just hop in for completion, hop out and swap toons or log out for x minutes so the guest pass doesn't run out. This would get you archmagi at level 5. SOLD!
10) Since you have the Vale of Twilight pack, run A Vision of Destruction to get the Bracers of the Glacier.

A pirate hat with Superior False Life and Concentration +15 is ML12, a Mineral II item is ML 11 and the Vibrant Purple Ioun Stone is ML 5. Bracers of the Glacier are ML 13.

At level 11 you would have your heavy fort, at 12 you would add superior false life, at 13 you would take off the Ioun Stone and put on the bracers which also have archmagi and spell pen and you would also put on the cunning trinket which would give an additional 100SP on a sorc.

This would feel life a HUGE buff over what your friend went through on his first life. At level 13 you would likely have 75 more HP and 500SP more than on the first life with the added benefits of spell pen, higher fort saves and more concentration.

[simo0208]

If he TRs, he should really buy Delera's for the xp and the voice of the master. That 5% xp buff pays for itself pretty darn quick.

[Ranncore]

I think he should be given full access to the forums, at least. This really is an achievement. I've only ever heard of it being possible - I've never actually seen it before.

Of course, rewarding someone to effectively exploit the F2P system might seem backwards, but this is a great advertisement for other F2P players wondering if it's possible.

[Zeklijan]

By undergoing a TR you also get access to more points.. I do it alot too and those add up fairly nice with bravery bonuses on elite, means I get alot of favor.


The tips from above have said it all, I think. I know you are ftp to an extent, but if you play casters I would definitly consider the necropolis 4 pack for the Abbot raid. Lots of incredible TR items comes from that raid.

[Kmnh]

TRing will be painful with no packs. I think leveling a second character would be a better option.

I would buy the smallest tp bundle and get some high level packs if you want to TR. Reaver's reach makes getting from 16 to 20 a lot easier.

[Ungood]

Any ideas/suggestions on what to do next?

If he is bent on not supporting the game he is spending countless hours on, we just lost a F2P Completionst to DiabloIII, he might want to try that.

[Daemoneyes]

A few comments:

From him:
He is logged into forums successfully but it says he does not have rights to post in this forum.

He also thinks that grinding epic tokens should not be all that difficult

From me:
He is over 40 and in a well paying job so no need to talk about mom giving $5..

He is just a "tad stubborn" about things so I think he wanted to see how much of "Free to play" this game was after some experiences with other "free games" that he spent quite a lot of money in. (I Know him in real life and was the one who suggested he give DDO a try and we did suggest often to him to at least buy minimal amount of points to unlock more slots )

He was willing to accept gear, I think I gave him things like a heavy fort item and +6 Cha and Con items and maybe some greater/Improved false life item or such. (I also think someone likely gave him helpful gear at lower levels)

But he did not want to accept any quest passes or such though several of us have such from DDO lotteries. Maybe he will accept such in next life if he goes for TR.

Hey

i am also F2P and also gotten fresh 20
if he needs more TP he should run some Chars on the other servers to 100 favor if he didnt already, 1 char every second day so he can still play with u and gets TP boost for some Packs
Phiarlan for easy Epic tokens, also the items from that one are nice
then TR -> buy more packs -> TR -> packs

its a grind but gets better after some packs
also he should consider running the second char to 20 before TR so he can buy some more highlvl packs.

[goodspeed]

lol if you tr it gets boring real fast. Woo ya lets grind sands out 20 times a piece!! Lets farm von until their is no xp to be had! Lets run delera's again and again and again, and again, and again, and again, and again.

I've run thrall of the necro so much with a competent other party member we could get that down in less then 10 minutes. We're talking like 6 minute runs.

[Fomori]

lol if you tr it gets boring real fast. Woo ya lets grind sands out 20 times a piece!! Lets farm von until their is no xp to be had! Lets run delera's again and again and again, and again, and again, and again, and again.

I've run thrall of the necro so much with a competent other party member we could get that down in less then 10 minutes. We're talking like 6 minute runs.

Not to knock your playstyle but doing so is a CHOICE on your part, not a requirement. The most efficient route is usually also the most boring route.

[EpiKagEMO]

I've have third life+ TR F2p friend. However, he's really skilled. All his toons on Khyber are TRs.