DDO: Khyber Roll Call

Wizards and Sorcs are meant to complement each other. Wizards for utility and Sorcs for raw power and endurance when it counts.

Mynril wrote:

from what i hear. they make great wizards. I personally hate how they look. and look nothing like a caster should look.. If visuals aren't a problem.. then they are a great race for almost any class.

Well I'm imagining there could be problems if your tank is warforged and the healer can't heal him effectively, no?

Khoram wrote:
Mynril wrote:

from what i hear. they make great wizards. I personally hate how they look. and look nothing like a caster should look.. If visuals aren't a problem.. then they are a great race for almost any class.

Well I'm imagining there could be problems if your tank is warforged and the healer can't heal him effectively, no?

Almost every Warforged build that isn't a solo-only speciality build will have all the healer's friend enhancments to allow them to be healed effectively.

Frolic wrote:

Almost every Warforged build that isn't a solo-only speciality build will have all the healer's friend enhancments to allow them to be healed effectively.

This

Plus you can hand some repair wands or reconstruct scrolls to arcane casters for some extra healing in a pinch.

Hey guys...

Is there much to differentiate DDO from WoW and its many clones? I've long been sick of what is becoming the MMO pattern, but still have the itch to play one. Tried LOTRO, Warhammer, and Conan demos, which all feel too similar to WoW.

FFXI was my favorite MMO, if that means anything to anyone. Chronicles of the Spellborn was really neat, despite being a pretty huge failure.

Obviously there will be similar features between WoW and DDO. They are third person. They have similar features in the interface.

But, there are quite a few differences that, I think, stem from DDO's design to try and emulate dungeon crawls and more action based combat. It's free (as in beer) to play, so why not try it?

DDO is far, far more about the journey than the destination, IMO.
WoW right now is all about the game at 80 it seems. DDO is about the quests/adventures, at least to me.

Also, the community, even with the recent influx of "WoW tourists", seems far more helpful and community-like.
Fear not the official forums. Seriously.

I can't think of a major western fantasy MMO that feels less like WoW than DDO. A lot of people loved the way DDO played when it launched, in terms of feel, but were hesitant to pay $15 a month for it when it was so obviously best experienced with a tight group of people, plus lack of content. Three years of content and tweaks later, plus free to play, it is hard to think of a reason not to try it.

I absolutely HATED DDO at launch.
Now I think it is one of the best games out there for that fantasy, roleplaying(or rollplaying for min/maxers), dungeon-crawling, questing, grouping (or soloing).

It does a better job of capturing that old 70s-80s D&D feeling than even NWN could.
And it couldn't be farther away from WoW if its servers were hosted on the International Space Station. In a good way.

If you decide to multiclass with rogue, take rogue at level 1.

Okay then, I'll give it a try.

I always have a hard time picking a class, though. I have equal <3 for Paladin-Heavy Cleric types, Rangers, and slightly less for some mages. To further complicate things, a new author I've been reading has me attracted to roguish sorts now.

Edit: Any of those in particular demand? I have a strong affection for group play.

Clerics will naturally have more appeal when trying to join a group, but really, DDO doesn't have the same reliance on the holy trinity that games like WoW and EQ do. Plus there's hirelings for when the group really wants to have a healer along but no clerics around.

You will reroll. Trust me. Just pick something that sounds fun/cool/interesting and try it out.

duckilama wrote:

You will reroll. Trust me. Just pick something that sounds fun/cool/interesting and try it out.

Haha, ok. One more burning question. Is there a preferred tank class? I figure Fighters and Paladins are both viable, but if there's a stigma against either I'd like to know it going in. Thanks for your help.

DDO doesn't have "tanking" in the WoW sense. There are some builds for Wiz/Sorc tanks, Cleric tanks, etc.
Paladins are *really* easy to solo at lower levels and can be viable DPS or tanks at end game(from what I read).
Fighters can do both as well, though will be more dependent on potions than paladins, especially for soloing.

There are so many ways to craft characters in DDO, with all the skills, feats, enhancements, and multi-classing, that you really should just make whatever sounds like fun.

When you say tank, do you mean aggro-magnet/damage sponge, or do you just mean heavily armored melee fighter? If you want to maintain aggro, you will need the Intimidate skill. Theoretically you could make a tank out of fighter, paladin, or barbarian.

If you're just starting out, just roll up a high str/high con barb or fighter and run around smacking the hell out of things. Personally, I am having a lot of fun with my low level battlecleric (dwarf cleric x/fighter 1). But I've got several alts I'm constantly trying out as well. Elven dex-based two weapon fighter is fun, as is the big hulking human barbarian I started last night.... Rogue can be fun just because there's not much in the dungeon environments you'll miss - all the locked doors, traps, and secrets are gravy for you. The only thing I haven't found too rewarding is ranged combat (ie, archery type of rangers) so if that is your primary love you may be disappointed.

New patch today:

DDO Release Notes: Launch Patch 2

Welcome to the Release Notes for Dungeons & Dragons Online! These release notes were posted Thursday, October 1st 2009.
Of Special Note:

* Level 20 warforged monks can now be the target of repair spells.

UI Improvements

* Micah d'Jorasco and Siendra d'Jorasco's quest chalices now correctly indicate that they give quests inside the premium Delera's Tomb Adventure Pack.
* The default minimum/maximum levels for creating a party using the social panel have been changed. The first time the create-a-party panel is opened up (per session), the default level range will be -2 levels for the min level, and +2 levels for the max (capping at 1 and 20, respectively).
* Mouselook Mode
o When you temporarily suspend mouselook by holding down a steer button, your cursor will warp to the center of the screen. This will allow you to click interact/steer buttons and select things beneath the reticle. The mouse will NOT be warped upon exiting mouselook or using dialogs (yay!).
o You can now enable/disable the “cursor activation in mouselook” feature in the UI options of the menu panel. We recommend users who enjoy mouselook mode playing with the Classic keymapping option set the cursor activation feature to disabled.
* To better assist new players with understanding leveling and ranks, all players should now see their level and rank displayed in the standard "Level X (Rank Y) - current XP / next level XP".
* Quest complete chalices will now have the check mark symbol on them appear in green to make them more noticeable. These chalices will once again appear properly for players who are still downloading parts of the game with TDM.

Combat

* Modifications have been made to combat attack sequences. Attacks should be significantly faster than before with a much smaller increase in attack speed as your BAB increases.
o All BAB-based speed increases have been moved to +1, +5, +10, +15, and +20 BAB.
o Greater Two Weapon Fighting now grants only an extra off-hand attack on the first attack animation instead of the first and fourth. This affects both unarmed monks and two weapon fighting characters.
o Since the base attack speed of players was significantly increased, Haste and Reconstruction effects were lowered to compensate. Haste and Reconstruction have been changed to grant a 15% increase to attack speed instead of 25%. However, Hasted attack speed should be equivalent to pre-Patch 1 Haste attack speed at high levels. No other attack speed modification abilities have been changed.
* Combat logs should no longer be affected by the profanity filter.

Quests & Adventure Areas

* Low level monks may find dungeon scaling a little more forgiving.

Items

* The following wands now have higher caster levels (and thus have had their damage increased):
o Eternal Wand of Finger of Fire
o Eternal Wand of Spark of Light
o Eternal Wand of Acid

Known Issues

* Known Issues are now available, click here

Hey, I'm going to be trying this soon (DLing now) so if anybody would like to help me get started (besides just linking me to the guide, maybe some in-game help) I'd appreciate it.

Also, is there a Vent channel for this? I don't see one in the GWJ vent server.

DDO has built-in voice chat for parties that is on by default.

I would not be opposed to using vent. Sometimes chatting before partying up is cool.

Also, the in-game chat is very quiet. To make it usable, I turned down all sound but in-game voice, then turn my speakers up.

Ergh... I haven't tried the in-game chat, but if it's that quiet, why not use Vent?

Rubb Ed wrote:

Ergh... I haven't tried the in-game chat, but if it's that quiet, why not use Vent?

Cause there's not a vent channel pre-made, and I'm lazy.

Once your in, make sure you post your character info, or friend up the people already in the list so you can group up.

I made a alt the other day, since I noticed my main was pulling ahead of the other Goodjers and I finally got my favor reward. Her name's Pursua Talem, a drow sorceress.

Stengah wrote:

Also, the in-game chat is very quiet. To make it usable, I turned down all sound but in-game voice, then turn my speakers up.

Just chiming in with the consensus has been, as this has been an issue since release:

In Options > Audio, turn the first four sliders (all the game sound) to 0.1-0.2. This will be only about 10% up on the slider.

In Options > Audio, scroll down and turn Voice Volume up to 1.00

You will be able to hear almost everyone very comfortably over combat and DM messages.

Also, since DDO does not offer us individual squelch or level control, be up front if someone's mic is overdriving or scratchy or if you can hear Spongebob or love making in the background. Most people are happy to know since they are usually blissfully unaware they may have a mic problem.

And oh yeah, use push-to-talk please. I'm so tired of hearing people eating Cheetos.

I played a pretty lengthy (for me) two hour session tonight, and I can say for sure that I haven't been this engaged by an MMO since FFXI.

I've been playing on a rogue, but I don't really know what I'm supposed to do in combat outside of swinging my sword constantly. I've been hiding and trying to sneak attack stuff, but I don't know if that actually works or if it's a skill you learn later. Either way, it's fun.

I'm not at all sure what kind of character I want to play, so I'm gonna tinker around with some other classes later. I did make a Barbarian and he hacked his way through a couple dungeons on hard with little problem, other than a bit of user error.

Blind_Evil wrote:

I played a pretty lengthy (for me) two hour session tonight, and I can say for sure that I haven't been this engaged by an MMO since FFXI.

I've been playing on a rogue, but I don't really know what I'm supposed to do in combat outside of swinging my sword constantly. I've been hiding and trying to sneak attack stuff, but I don't know if that actually works or if it's a skill you learn later. Either way, it's fun.

I'm not at all sure what kind of character I want to play, so I'm gonna tinker around with some other classes later. I did make a Barbarian and he hacked his way through a couple dungeons on hard with little problem, other than a bit of user error.

Just an FYI, you get to sneak attack as long as the enemy is "focused" on you. So if you're in a group, and the mobs are all trying to hit someone else, every attack you make is considered a sneak attack. When I've run solo, I've had a pretty hard time truely sneaking up on enemies, as they are uncanny at hearing me.

I am on Khyber now, finally getting going with DDO, Jutul Younghammer, is my paladins name, still trying to get used to the game, been a while since I played an MMO. Been out of WoW since like early fall of last year if I remember right.

So I've played this for the past three days now, getting a human ranger up to level three and then running an elven rogue with my wife's dwarven cleric up to level two. Soloing the ranger got old pretty fast, as the adventures start to require 2+ people to get through - maybe I could get by with someone who could heal themselves, but not with a ranger.

It does seem easy to find a random group though. I've been very much positively surprised by the amount of help I've got - every single time I've had a problem, there have been at least two guys ready to help, going as far as grouping up and doing a dungeon with me if I can't figure out something.

I really like the combat, as it requires you to think and adapt, avoid being surrounded and look for an advantage, assessing who's the biggest threat and so on. Even a group of kobolds can be dangerous if you let them surround you or bombard you with missiles and magic.

Going through the dungeons with my wife really feels like D&D, and I mean that in a very good sense. It's cool encountering all these classic monsters and using abilities I know from the pen and paper original. I kind of wish the combat was a bit slower so you'd have more options and time to think, but it still has plenty of depth.

If we keep playing for longer than a couple of levels and it looks like we might, I'll make sure to join P&P for some even better company than the surprisingly good guys I've run into so far.

jlaakso wrote:

If we keep playing for longer than a couple of levels and it looks like we might, I'll make sure to join P&P for some even better company than the surprisingly good guys I've run into so far.

Bleh go ahead and join. Most people are in the 2-6 level range so there'd be folks to group with. I've never solo'd in this game since close to release other than going back and doing favor runs, I can't imagine I'd enjoy it nearly as much.

Combat is fast and only gets faster, you need to have more of an FPS mindset once the battle starts, you can plot and explore and strategize between the fights, but during the fights its always hectic. I like it that way, since it means the player has to make alot of spontaneous decisions instead of just hitting the right macro at the right time.

I've got my first character nailed down. Human Rogue 2 atm, gonna switch to Fighter for the rest of his career at next level. Name's Aericke. Hoping he'll quench all my armored hitty smacky needs.

I definitely want to dabble in a Wizard or Sorc at some point, and probably a Ranger/Rogue hybrid with a focus on ranged combat.

Frolic wrote:

I've never solo'd in this game since close to release other than going back and doing favor runs, I can't imagine I'd enjoy it nearly as much.

I think the exploration of outdoor areas, assuming it is similar to the Korthos wilderness, would be less fun if I was with someone else. It has a good sense of the unknown that I find other games in the genre lacking.

That said, I would really like to see how grouping works out with more than two people.