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[Sirus]

Bodyfeeder enchant seems amazing right now, especially for my paladin. He rarely gets hit (except by magic, but I just make magic users top priority), doesn't take much damage when he does get hit, and crits often enough that on the rare occasions that he does take a decent amount of damage, the enchant kicks in again and he's back to above full health. I soloed the last quest on the starting island and took more actual HP damage from falling than I ever did against the hordes of zombies, ghouls, ice spiders, and cultists.

[Duuvian]

Remember to bring a hireling along unless you really don't like to use them. Free to play people can use them too. Level ones are available on Korthos, 1-3 in Harbor, and 1-20 in Market. They can carry your soulstone to a rez shrine after you die, if you order them to interact with the stone. Once you enter the quest you can summon them at the entrance by double clicking the contract in your inventory.

I'm not sure where I would recommend for farming loot. As you level up you'll earn more for your loot so I'm not sure if it's a better idea farming for loot as much as it is for experience.

For experience you could start on casual and work your way up from there. A better way for the long term though would be be to find groups doing hard or elite for your first time on a quest. This will give you what's called a bravery bonus. It quickly adds up to a substantial percentage increase to exp granted on finishing. A bad thing about it is that when you do a quest of the correct level without having done it before you can lose your bonus if you don't do it at hard or elite.

[Frumple]

So... wait. Doublecheck this for me. The most XP efficient way to go about it is to do all the quests at X level on normal once, then swing through the gauntlet on hard and then elite? Or would you do it in multi-level swaths, i.e. at character level three, you do every quest from level one to, say, five, on normal, and the sweep through the lot of them on sequential difficulty levels? If you were trying to be silly, I mean

That doing one on normal resets the bravery thing does explain why I wasn't getting any of the buggers despite having chewed through all the first level quests on elite. Do you actually have to be grouped, or is solo fine? E: Wait, wait, wait. You have to actually go into the quest the first time on hard or elite? So grouping is requisite?

That said, I was hoping to farm a bit to get a better bodyfeeder weapon than that +0 scimitar. Checking the auction seems to suggest I'm not going to find bodyfeeder enchanted weapons until level six at the least, though. Sad. Though checking the wiki says maybe otherwise. Hrm... I think level four would be the minimum for a +1 bodyfeeder. Have to keep an eye out, anyway...

In other news, kobold assault. That is a fairly notable amount of kobolds. Normal wasn't too bad, at least for my two-weapon dude and a third level cleric hireling, just somewhat time consuming. I shudder to think about hard or elite, though... my saves aren't that high, and even on normal the shamans were getting through fears and suchlike. The kobold brothers quest had th'buggers nailing me with hold person and crap on elite (which I tried once, got one-shot by the flame trap ), which... is worrisome in relation to the kobold assault. So many shamans >_<

Anywaay. Dhoorm's up to level four, now, and I'm turning in for the morning. All the first level quests done to elite, starting to get the normal difficulty runs on the level two stuff. Thinking about ditching the sorcerer for something with lockpicking, though. Fighter keeps getting annoyed by not being able to unlock stuff and pass search checks, bleh. E2: Also, very much aware I've got like four pieces of equipment that aren't actually doing anything. I know how D&D stacking works, I just haven't managed to get usable stuff for some slots yet

[Seriyu]

I finally logged back on, where do I find that guild invite? Didn't see any popups.

[Metalax]

It will be in the mailbox when you reach Stormreach. You only get a popup if the person inviting is on at the same time as you and trys sending you an invite via direct invitation.

[Seriyu]

Ahah, I see. Okay, thanks!

[palsch]

So... wait. Doublecheck this for me. The most XP efficient way to go about it is to do all the quests at X level on normal once, then swing through the gauntlet on hard and then elite? Or would you do it in multi-level swaths, i.e. at character level three, you do every quest from level one to, say, five, on normal, and the sweep through the lot of them on sequential difficulty levels? If you were trying to be silly, I mean

You get an XP bonus from each first time on any given difficulty, so it's usually worth running once on each. Running first on elite gives you the bravery bonus, so if you can get someone to open (and can complete) that's best. You just have to have someone in the party who has that quest available on elite so you can even just add a level 20 who is hanging out crafting or something.

I usually prefer to run while under the quest's level when possible, remembering that hard is worth +1 level and elite +2*. The guild renown is far better. I ran Kobold's Assault on hard at level 3 (so only one level under the recommended) and was getting a few hundred renown from the kills alone, plus big chunks in the end chest and end rewards. Combine that with a run through the waterworks and a few other quests and I think I turned out about 6k renown last night. Loot tends to be more useful as well. If you hold levels you can milk the quests for a while.

[*Note that this is for the effective level of the quest and does not translate into how the difficulty actually scales. Some quests could be slept through on normal at any difficulty but will be a nightmare on elite even if you bring an epic geared level 25.]

As for quest order, usually just go with what I feel like. Forcing yourself to run a quest because it's 'next' in the list is a good way to burn out. If I enjoy something or feel like getting extra XP/favour, I'll go for that.

The most efficient way of doing things is to find a quest that offers good xp/min and farm the hell out of it. But that's not really fun after the fourth or fifth run. Only really needed for TRed characters who need a crapload more xp than first lifers.

E2: Also, very much aware I've got like four pieces of equipment that aren't actually doing anything. I know how D&D stacking works, I just haven't managed to get usable stuff for some slots yet

Feel free to hit me up for some crafted gear. I'm a little short on essences right now because I did some levelling and high level items yesterday, but the offers here still stand.


One other thing; two weapon fighting is a very risky idea at low levels. Even with the TWF feat you are fighting a -4 to hit penalty and only have a 40% chance of your off-hand attack hitting. Even on a TWF character it's usually advised to go for a two-hander until you get at least Improved Two Weapon Fighting (usually around level 11 or so) for the 60% off-hand chance. Going two weapons early forces you to get enchantment bonuses to increase your to-hit, while going for prefix/suffix combinations tends to create far more damaging weapons of the same level. A Holy weapon of X Bane does 4d6 + 2base damage (although only against evil X enemies), while being the same level as a +4 weapon that only does +4base.

Oh, and on trading the sorcerer for a rogue, you can get the knock spell fairly easily. You can also get a detect secret doors clicky or even a true seeing item, although that's not available at low levels.

Remember to bring a hireling along unless you really don't like to use them. Free to play people can use them too. Level ones are available on Korthos, 1-3 in Harbor, and 1-20 in Market. They can carry your soulstone to a rez shrine after you die, if you order them to interact with the stone. Once you enter the quest you can summon them at the entrance by double clicking the contract in your inventory.

I wouldn't recommend any of those. If you go to House K there are a group of guild vendors. This is where you should do most of your shopping once in a guild. The hirelings here (levels 1-20 in most classes) tend to be superior to the others and everything is discounted.


EDIT: For those who are interested, I've finally reworked my weapon calculator spreadsheet for google docs. Check it out here.

[Duuvian]

Haha me and Necrocide just suffered through the best/worst pickup group, I screenshotted it for posterity. I'll upload and it should tell it's own story. I might have lost Necro's respect from this due to being the leader and pulling him into it.

[RAM]

Actually it was Mycraa, and I have a lot more respect for someone willing to stick aroudn and finish a difficult quest then I do for someone who expects everyone to perform perfectly when engaged in a recreational activity...

[Duuvian]

Yeah, I just call you Necrocide because that's your most badass character in my mind as it's the first one I grouped with. Thanks to the people that stuck it out with us; which was surprisingly everyone I think but the wizard I had with me when I invited RAM. I'm not sure if he was there at the end or not.

Spoiler: Warning Signs; also they were forcing me to type while the group was fighting so I didn't have as much patience as usual (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: What I was sending to guild chat hoping RAM thought it was funny, it's pretty much true (click to show/hide)

Edit: argh Photobucket is being a less than useful free service with it's ads and stuff slowing me down

Also the kid was competent for a really young kid I guess; and I had a good time since I ignored or couldn't hear the mic spam for the most part; it's just the difference between nighttime groups and daytime groups in the summer is like, well, night and day. Keep in mind this is a level 15+ quest so in comparison with the low level stuff this one is quite hard.

Also the kid organized a nice dance party on the rest shrine's fire for a while after a team wipe, which was pretty cool.

Also when I said I apologize to the child genius in my mind in that one screenshot, I meant: I apologize to this seemingly DDO-genius child I'm grouped with who is way better at DDO than I was at their age since it wouldn't have existed yet; and doing so in my mind as doing so in public for my underestimating them might insult them on accident and result in a torrent of mic spammed insults upon myself possibly and for no benefit.

Also I was nice to the kid to reassure readers and it was pretty funny when they clicked the rez shrine a hundred times while standing in the hostile blade barrier.

To win, the Druid did some cool stuff and rezzed people until they ran out of spell points. Various people dragged the boss all over the level and we tried rezzing and using ranged against him as he summons a firewall and blade barrier on himself and we kept dieing as the healers were out of power. Thus we stripped naked and kept resurrecting to try to  use ranged weapons on him. This didn't work as he also has ranged attacks. Someone brought him away from the trap that killed him to past the rest shrine in between (which he paused at to cast blade barrier which resulted in about 250 deaths). Then I brought him back through the rest shrine area for the second time and another short pause filled with a happy child laughing for another 250 deaths, then after a few more rezzes brought the boss to the trap room where I released. Either he was still on the traps or someone else led him to a comfortable position over the repeating upright spike trap. The boss died and I entered the quest again and summoned a hireling to teleport to myself to rez me once I waded through the lethal traps on the upper level so I could get to the sweet loot at the end.

[Frumple]

Ye' gods, the gods apparently don't want me partying. First try at it, irestone inlet on hard... about a minute and a half into it, both my hireling and myself are dead and lightning knocks out the internet long enough to cause me to disconnect. Zeus is apparently displeased by hobgoblin on dwarf gangbang.

E: In other news, Irestone tears me a new one. Any suggestions besides "Come back with better gear and/or at a higher level"?

[Duuvian]

Ye' gods, the gods apparently don't want me partying. First try at it, irestone inlet on hard... about a minute and a half into it, both my hireling and myself are dead and lightning knocks out the internet long enough to cause me to disconnect. Zeus is apparently displeased by hobgoblin on dwarf gangbang.

E: In other news, Irestone tears me a new one. Any suggestions besides "Come back with better gear and/or at a higher level"?

I'd recommend using the social panel to set up your group options and what classes you are looking for more while you prepare beforehand. For soloing though you'll want to be either a wizard or a rogue. Wizards can knock and carry an item to detect secret doors; rogues can disarm traps in addition to what wizards do minus spells. Rogues are much harder as solo combatants though unless your hireling can take some agro; in which case they are pretty good. I recommend a favoured soul hireling that has melee ai. Either way though you'll want to send your hireling to charge ahead so you can get some sneak attacks.

[Frumple]

Guess so... I just hopped into a public one. Pick-up group, I guess you'd call it? Wasn't exactly a planned thing, and preparation was... well. Wasn't

Will have to try again eventually, preferably without the disconnect to see how it goes.

[Duuvian]

I'll get back on in a little bit, I should do some things first. I'd be down to group then if you want.

[palsch]

Finally completed an elite Shroud. I got down to 14 HP at one point when rage ran out during the final fight, and we lost healers a couple of times (including the full SP reserve after round one of part four), but other than that it was pretty smooth.