DDO: Khyber Roll Call

I added all the names listed as P&P officers in the OP to my friends list (and a smattering of other GWJers) and never saw anyone online Fri-Sun. Are people still playing? Who from P&P can invite that is on a lot?

My main is Khorem, dwarf cleric 2/fighter 1. Been soloing mostly, ran Kobold brothers 3 times this weekend hoping for a Muckbane. Curse you, Muck! I'm 0-3. I'm tired of breaking my slime-bashing weapons.

I'm also considering a Clogue, mostly because I am tired of missing all the goodies that only rogues can access. I should probably just group up more.

Khoram wrote:

I added all the names listed as P&P officers in the OP to my friends list (and a smattering of other GWJers) and never saw anyone online Fri-Sun. Are people still playing? Who from P&P can invite that is on a lot?

My main is Khorem, dwarf cleric 2/fighter 1. Been soloing mostly, ran Kobold brothers 3 times this weekend hoping for a Muckbane. Curse you, Muck! I'm 0-3. I'm tired of breaking my slime-bashing weapons.

I'm also considering a Clogue, mostly because I am tired of missing all the goodies that only rogues can access. I should probably just group up more.

I was on a good bit this weekend. Generally there's about 2-6 people online. I know Erastus (Wes) officered up a bunch more people to make it easier for invites to happen. Make sure you add 'Saen' to your FL also, if I'm leaving someone AFK it will usually be him and I'll check tells every once in a while.

I just got around to installing it today, so I'll be on later today trying it out.

O.K.
I played a bit (untill rank 4) as a Dwarf Cleric WarPriest (or something like that) and I've enjoyed it quite a bit.
Name is Jyord McQuaid.

How do I get in contact with you guys that still play in-game, the whole adding each person and all of their characters to in-game friends list is not my idea of a good time... in fact it sounds awful...

I have a lvl 2 fighter/ lvl 6 rogue that is up for grouping. Haven't posted before because I kept rerolling over and over. I'm going to try and stick with this one and see how much favor I can get. I'm so close to unlocking the drow race. Stuck at 344 favor.

Anyway Dervi is the name in game.

Most of us who play regularly are in Punch and Pie, so you could add the officers to your friend's list and ask nicely to join when one comes on. Otherwise you're stuck with manual addition. There's also been an addition of many new officers to make it easier to add new members. These include:

Feldorn
Fialla
Jaydegrey
Khun
Mothra
Natalack
Raspinoff
Ronat
Sarpin
Scarletdawn

Ok, the list is fricken huge. I'm not really adding people to it. I might even drop it. I have updated the officers list.

I can say that I play every other night or so, for a couple hours. If you see me on steam, just ask and I will even log in, if I can, and get you a guild invite.

I already got one from ScarletDawn. Thanks AnimeJ for directing me there.

It would also be a lot less confusing if you could just friend accounts.

FedoraMcQuaid wrote:

It would also be a lot less confusing if you could just friend accounts.

Or search by guild.

1) Hit 'o'
2) Click "Who"
3) Click the "guild" column header
4) Scroll to 'punch'
5) Send tell to *anybody* on that's in P&P and ask them to find out who can invite.

Yes, it's a pain in the ass that DDO doesn't have a better way to find people.

Same here. One character I definitely want to create is a pure caster. That would mean cleric, sorc or wizard. I'm currently favouring wizard for the versatility. Cleric seems fairly fun as well.

Can someone give me a simplified breakdown of the in's and out's of caster classes? I've been wanting to start a Sorcerer, Wizard, or Bard (leaning bard, probably), but damned if the whole thing isn't a bit intimidating. As a Wizard, I was asked to pick 7 spells, but couldn't figure out how to get them on an action bar or anything once in the game. Also, spell components? I just really don't get it, being new to this game and DnD on the whole.

Well, I'm sure Frolic could give a better breakdown, or the official forums, but here it is as I understand it.

Sorcerers are the most straight forward. They get way more mana than other casters and can cast faster. They get very few spells however. Two to start, and about one every level from then on. Swapping spells can be done, but is expensive and can only be done once every few days. I have one, and "glass cannon" would be a very good description. Since they are CHA based, they aren't so good at dungeoneering.

Wizards are extremely versatile. These guys are basically swiss-army knives. They learn lots of spells as they level, and can learn any spell they find as a scroll by inscribing it. Inscribing is relatively costly, but you can find the materials in dungeons. Since they are INT based, they get a ton of skill points when they level, and are useful with dungeon puzzles. They can't use all their spells at once, but have to prepare a specific selection from the ones they've learned. These can be swapped out in taverns, or at rest shrines.

Clerics is to Favored One as Wizard is to Sorcerer. Except Clerics learn divine spells instead of arcane, and get to wear full plate.

As for components, they're very straight forward, it's just like buying arrows for a ranger. A lot, but not all, spells consume some components every time they are cast. Level 1 arcane spells use level 1 arcane components (Which is sand). Level 2 spells use level 2 components. You just buy tons of whatever you need for your type of caster at a vendor and never really think about it again.

If you want to try out a "pure" caster and value high survivability, I heartily endorse cleric. They can heal and buff themselves, they can wear heavy armor, with enhancements or a splash of fighter they can wield some martial weapons, and at higher levels I believe they have very powerful offensive magic. Oh and they can summon temp pets. They are really powerful, some might say overpowered (not just in DDO but in D&D 3.x in general). About the only thing they can't do well, by themselves, is traps/locks/etc. Of course, there's the Clogue build for that....

DanyBoy wrote:

Well, I'm sure Frolic could give a better breakdown, or the official forums, but here it is as I understand it.
[INSERT A BUNCH OF STUFF DANY SAID]

You pretty much nailed it. Sorc is considered one of the best soloers, esp. a warforged sorc if you don't have a fat bank account for potions. Wiz is great too but at lower levels the mana difference is large. Later on that difference is squashed by your total spell point pool.

Sorcs also cast MUCH faster and cooldown MUCH faster. I'm not sure what the numerical difference is, but at least twice as fast. Its jarring to go from a sorc who fires junk as soon as you hit the hotkey to a wizard where there's this long plodding casting animation.

Whichever you choose, for a first build try to keep your CON up at 12, 10 at the very very least. And, maximize your casting stat, i.e. 18 INT for wizzies or CHA for sorcs...more if you have racial bonuses.

Major downside to Sorc is that there are really only a handful of spells that people use and alot of "trash" spells. Without having played an arcane, you need to either troll the forums or ask in-game so you don't get your spell selection wrong. Swapping is expensive like DanyBoy said...and gets more expensive every time. Only a handful of swaps and you're up to 100,000 gold very fast.

With a wizard you get to try everything and be creative and there are tons of spells to try. Major downside there is it takes money to buy scrolls and inscribe them.

People who are "caster junkies" in games will enjoy the wizard. Sorc plays fast and agressive and is almost like playing an FPS.

Levels 1-5ish will go much easier if you have a partner or if you just join PUGs for fast xp then dungeon crawl alone after you've kinda seen the layout with a full group. Conserving mana requires knowledge of the dungeon: where shrines are, and how the encounters are laid out. Once you know the place you can be smart about running it.

Plenty of threads go into spells so I won't do that here. Things you need to know to make your guy even partially effective:

1. You need a Potency weapon. These have names like "Superior Potency I Sceptre". They are generally clubs. In this game Superior means +50% dmg to all spells. The 'I' means it applies to spells level 1 or below. A "Greater Potency II" would be +40% to 2nd level spells and below. You need to get a potency item as soon as you can, it essentially adds 40%-50% to killing power and makes stuff die in one shot alot more often. As you level up you'll keep replacing your potency item with higher ones, up to Superior Potency VII. Spell levels 8 and 9 require different damage amplification approaches, usually from raid gear.

2. You need the following metamagic feats at higher level. Make sure you plan enough slots for them (and I'd probably take them in this order): Extend, Maximize, Empower, Heighten. Toughness will help you survive and is a good choice for a sorc at creation. Sorc doesn't get metamagic bonus feats like Wizards do. So, out of the 8 feats you'll get over your life, 4 must be those meta-magics. Spell penetration is highly valued as well, but only once you begin to encounter high level content.

3. Make sure you spec your +dmg% enhancements. Go either the fire/cold or acid/electric route. Most people go fire/cold, and it is definitely the way to go at lower level (new spells from last mod may balance it out, not sure). At high level, there are good arguments for either.

The way a caster does massive dmg in this game is having maximize (+100%), empower (+50%), potency items (+50%) and enhancements (+40%) with a chance to crit (crit chance get up to 18%, 9% from enhancements and 9% from lore gear) for another 50% dmg or more.

Stacking on maximize and empower won't make mana sense at low levels unless you are at the final fight. Thats when you get to stack it all up and blow half your mana on one spell and insta-kill it.

When you get more spell points most people run aroudn with maximize, empower, extend, and heighten always on.

Anyway, lots of learn about arcanes in the game, they are cool classes but a blast to play.

Thanks to Wizkid for taking me through catacombs last night, didn't get any exp, but got rep and a new shield that adds 2 to ac, and new armor that added 1 to ac!

Haven't played lately, but I've been messing around with the Monk class. Damned if it isn't a lot harder than the Paladin I initially rolled. Still, if DDO is anything like NWN or table-top play, hopefully my monk will get significantly more bad-ass as time goes on. I just wish I could strike from a block.

Sounds cool. I really want to experience all of the spells so Wizard and or cleric seems the way to go.

What about bards?

I signed on but I'm just tooling around. I made a pally and a ranger. I'd really like to make a bard despite them being marked challenging on the soloing side.

I've been thinking of making a bard too. I figured I would make one character for each type of gameplay. I have a rogue, because no other class is remotely similar. I also have a Wizard. Sorc looked fun but I didn't like the limited spells. Perhaps I will also make a Cleric someday. Favoured soul is meh, also expensive. I'd like to make a bard but I'm concerned playing one will get boring after a while, but they rock for parties.

Apart from those I also want to make a warforged melee character. So far I'm thinking fighter (with lots of combat feats like trip) or monk. Ranger is just dual wield fighter, without the feats. Barbarian is kind of boring. But monk looks quite fun. Do warforged make good monks?

Warchanter bards with two weapon fighting are incredibly good solo builds. Really every class is good solo with the right build concept.

Only bard build that doesnt work in end game is crowd control, bards are usually spellsinger/buffers or warchanter/buffer/dps.

Sounds cool. All I really want is a good haggler that plays well in parties. Do bards need STR or DEX more?

Tonight was fun, though I was running a bit over my head and kept dieing for it. In one area (The Haunted library? Or the one before) me and another sorcerer died to the hands of zombies in the first skirmish. No sign of a shrine, so I leave, eat, drink, and run back. I get back in thinking "Alright, guys, now I'm ready to go!" only to make it ten feet in and die to a sonic trap. I just had to laugh. The rest went better, thank god, and now I'm well on my way to level 7.

I haven't been able to see anyone from P&P online so far - probably down to being in Europe and some ten hours off most people's timezone. If you're in Europe and playing on the US F2P servers, please friend me up.

I'm on Khyber and Sarlona. Player name mcmuumio.
Characters on Khyber: Janstina Pegason (ranger 3), Mumien Amastacia (rogue 2)
Characters on Sarlona: Mumienne Sotasisar (paladin 2)

Tamren wrote:

Sounds cool. All I really want is a good haggler that plays well in parties. Do bards need STR or DEX more?

I'm no expert on bard builds, need to hit forums for some build ideas. However, I will say a two-weapon non-fighter build generally goes DEX (you will need 17 base for improved two weapon fighting). You will need to plan on the weapon finesse feat which substitues your DEX bonus for your STR bonus for to-hit rolls.

You'll also need enough CHA for spell points and for songs. And you'll need enough INT for whatever skill profile you are going for. And of course CON of 12 would be ideal. Its hard to get it all in, so best to go with an established build or at least work it on in detail in the character planner.

Don't forget you will get stat points at 4,8,12,16 and 20, and can probably assume you'll have whatever +1 tomes you need by the time you are higher level.

My Dwarf Cleric is pretty Female Doggoin'.
Seriously, great in combat and can heal/buff.

Hey fedora, wanna bring some of that my way next time your on? I'd love ya for it.

Sure, I'll friend add you a bit later.
If you use Steam often I could add you there as well, I usually load up the game through it.

Edit: Oh, you're level 7? I probably wont be much help then at lvl2

Started messing around with this late last week. Ended up with a L2 Elf Rogue. Still in the snowy harbor area, but I went outside the town once or twice. Solo only so far.

Hi everybody. I played for a while on a different server, but recently started a halfling rogue named Doogiemac on Khyber... and by "recently" I mean, "created the character and picked up my first weapon" :-p

I should be getting him out of the starting zone sometime this weekend. Can someone invite me to the GWJ guild?