Being new to DDO can be overwhelming to say the least, with the new forums I figured this would be a good Opportunity to try and Compile a list of things that I had to hunt down as a new player all in one place. This post will be Edited quite a bit until I am happy with it =) - I also wanna point out that I am very scatter brained and tend to "jump" around with info and knowledge so as I update this I will try to go back and format the post in sections that make sense instead of being a random manifesto of info.
DDO NEW PLAYER INFO SECTION 1 : Server Selection, Useful links, and Character Creation.
Server Selection - At the time of Writing this Ghallanda is the "Default" server meaning it is the server the Game will put you in as a new player if you don't select something different. The 2 most Popular servers at the time of writing this are Orien and Argonesson. I personally would play on Orien or Argo if you are looking to pug a lot. Any server can be a good home though provided you find a guild or some friends.
DDO wiki - https://ddowiki.com/
DDO youtubers with Guides/Updates on the game - https://www.youtube.com/@Strimtom | https://www.youtube.com/@AxelAlexK | https://www.youtube.com/@vooduspyce | and DDO's official youtube page - https://www.youtube.com/@dungeonsanddragonsonline/videos <- This is a Good place to find Cordovan chatting about upcoming events and updates.
Character Creation - The first rule of Fight club is never pick a Premade build.. Always choose Customize. "But Nroblew I don't even know what class to pick!" Well lucky for you sport DDO is unlike any other MMO on the market, Unlike other games that tout the "Be whatever you wanna be" Slogan in this game you actually can do just that as long as you PLAN for it. For your very First Character I recommend keeping it as simple as possible. As a new player you will start out with 28 points to allocate to your stats such as Strength, Dex, Con, etc. Try to never go below 16 in your Primary stat, Preferably 18. Let's say you make a Half-orc Barbarian that uses a 2handed weapon you could put your strength at 20 then con at 18 and the rest in to dex, OR you could put con at 16 and the rest into dex if you want a higher Reflex save which would help with running through traps and such in dungeons if you are solo or don't have a Trapper friend/hireling.
Heroic levels, Epic levels, and Reaper - Heroic is levels 1-20 followed by Epic levels 20-32. You also have Reaper which is the Hardest difficulty mode in the game Going Reaper 1 all the way to Reaper 10. You unlock the ability to do Epic mode at level 20+ and you will notice people doing things like Epic Elite or even Epic reaper. As a "First life" Reaper can be VERY challenging. If you are starting out with a Static group of friends it can be possible do to Reaper 1 as a first life, But there will be times where Game knowledge factors in heavy on this. Meaning a Veteran player could take the same first life toon as a New player and do Higher Difficulties purely because he knows the dungeons well enough to Avoid traps, Kite mobs, etc.
Speaking of Difficulty modes you have Casual - Normal - Hard - Elite - and as mentioned above, Reaper. If you are a free 2 play member you will NOT be able to chose Hard/Elite/Reaper out the gate. You will have to do the same dungeon 3 times to unlock all difficulty modes or pay for VIP membership which will allow you to pick whichever you want without unlocking them
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NEW PLAYER INFO SECTION 2 : What to buy, When to buy it, and Character Creation Extended
Enhancement Trees - When you first make your toon and get to level 2 you will notice a Icon at either the top left or top right of your screen with a yellow circle and cross in the middle when you hover over it you should have 4 Action points. You get 1 action point every rank every 4 ranks then the 5th rank you level up These are basically mini levels that slowly increase your power. You have Racial Trees that are different depending on which race you pick then each class gets 3 unique trees and with the Archetypes update if you pick say a Sacred fist pally instead of normal pally one of your Enhancement trees will be Different from the Standard class selection. The game also offers Special Enhancement trees that you can either A) Earn with favor if you own the proper content or B) Buy in the DDO store for about 5$ or 495 DDO points. These special Enhancement trees can have a range of unique buffs and benefits but one thing worthy of note is Hit modifiers. Let's say you wanna make a Cleric that's Heavily focused on Melee like 2handed maul or sword. You wouldn't want to spread yourself thin trying to get the max strength for melee when you need wisdom for casting heals as well in theory so you could get the Falconry Enhancement tree which would allow you to get Killer Instinct and use Wisdom as your Hit/Damage Modifiers instead of Strength. Thus allowing you to just take the BARE minimum in strength to get the 2handed fighting feat and improved 2h fighting later on. There is a way to make pretty much any stat your Hit/Damage modifier, Dexterity can be done using Weapon finesse or Racial Enhancement tree as a Tabaxi, Wisdom with the Falconry tree, Charisma with the Illusionist Tree, Intelligence with the Harper Tree.
What Expansions Should I buy? - When you first start the game I wouldn't stress sinking any money beyond VIP monthly fee if you don't mind that type of investment. If you come in around Anniversary time when a Redeem Code that gives away dungeons is going on take full advantage of that as it can provide you with enough content to thoroughly enjoy the game up to level 20 and beyond. Sometimes they even offer Expansions such as Ravenloft, Sharn, Menace of the underdark, and Shadowfell for 99 DDO points in the DDO store. that'd be 4$ vs the usual 80$ or so to get those expansions at the time of writing this. Personally I'd Recommend just going as far as you can with the Bare minimum / just VIP and then when you get to level 20 and beyond you can decide if you want to buy the latest expansion and try to get into the "endgame" crowd that's always doing current content or you can focus on buying content based on things like your build and static group if you are playing with Friends. Expansions like Ravenloft and Sharn are Praised for the Gear the offered at their respective levels. With all of this said.. IF you are just genuinely excited to play a good D&D game and want to spend the $$ and support the game and it's developers You will always get the best bang for your buck buying the ultimate bundles/collectors editions that offer unique rewards, mounts, and Hirelings. P.S ALWAYS WAIT UNTIL EXPANSIONS GO ON SALE DURING TIMES LIKE SUMMER AND CHRISTMAS IF YOU WANNA BUY MULTIPLE EXPANSIONS AT ONCE.
What's worth Buying in the DDO store? - +8 Supreme tomes, Lesser/Greater Heroic and Epic Experience tomes, and Veteran Status if you are an Alt-o-holic. With all of this said a Free to play character can 100% get all stats +8 with tomes FOR FREE it would just take a long amount of time and favor grinding and many past lives. you can get a +8 Supreme tome for 60$ sometimes 40$ with sales / bundles which isn't a bad investment at all. The Heroic and Epic Learning/Experience tomes increase your first time dungeon bonus by 25% and 50% which is pure convivence but really nice when you are multiple TRs in and it takes you double the XP to hit lvl 20 it takes a First life! Veteran Status can allow you to start a toon at level 4 or level 7 depending on which one you buy.
THIS GUIDE IS UNFINISHED. IT WAS STARTED 5/3/2023 WHEN THE NEW FORUMS CAME ONLINE. I WILL UPDATE IT AS MUCH AS I CAN TO CREATE A COMPREHENSIVE UP TO DATE GUIDE FOR ALL NEW & RETURNING PLAYERS!
IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A HOME TO LEARN THE GAME AND HAVE AN ACTIVE COMMUNTIY IN GENERAL DUNGEON RUNNERS INC. ON ORIEN SERVER IS ALWAYS RECRUITING & HELPING FIRST LIFES! Contact Cleptie-1 or Spiritster in game
My / Dungeon Runners Inc. Discord - https://discord.gg/JCdsPbjFUG Please contact me here or message me directly on the forums if you have any Questions you need answer or just wanna see answered In the guide. Or Feel free to post here with anything you feel should be added!
DDO NEW PLAYER INFO SECTION 1 : Server Selection, Useful links, and Character Creation.
Server Selection - At the time of Writing this Ghallanda is the "Default" server meaning it is the server the Game will put you in as a new player if you don't select something different. The 2 most Popular servers at the time of writing this are Orien and Argonesson. I personally would play on Orien or Argo if you are looking to pug a lot. Any server can be a good home though provided you find a guild or some friends.
DDO wiki - https://ddowiki.com/
DDO youtubers with Guides/Updates on the game - https://www.youtube.com/@Strimtom | https://www.youtube.com/@AxelAlexK | https://www.youtube.com/@vooduspyce | and DDO's official youtube page - https://www.youtube.com/@dungeonsanddragonsonline/videos <- This is a Good place to find Cordovan chatting about upcoming events and updates.
Character Creation - The first rule of Fight club is never pick a Premade build.. Always choose Customize. "But Nroblew I don't even know what class to pick!" Well lucky for you sport DDO is unlike any other MMO on the market, Unlike other games that tout the "Be whatever you wanna be" Slogan in this game you actually can do just that as long as you PLAN for it. For your very First Character I recommend keeping it as simple as possible. As a new player you will start out with 28 points to allocate to your stats such as Strength, Dex, Con, etc. Try to never go below 16 in your Primary stat, Preferably 18. Let's say you make a Half-orc Barbarian that uses a 2handed weapon you could put your strength at 20 then con at 18 and the rest in to dex, OR you could put con at 16 and the rest into dex if you want a higher Reflex save which would help with running through traps and such in dungeons if you are solo or don't have a Trapper friend/hireling.
Heroic levels, Epic levels, and Reaper - Heroic is levels 1-20 followed by Epic levels 20-32. You also have Reaper which is the Hardest difficulty mode in the game Going Reaper 1 all the way to Reaper 10. You unlock the ability to do Epic mode at level 20+ and you will notice people doing things like Epic Elite or even Epic reaper. As a "First life" Reaper can be VERY challenging. If you are starting out with a Static group of friends it can be possible do to Reaper 1 as a first life, But there will be times where Game knowledge factors in heavy on this. Meaning a Veteran player could take the same first life toon as a New player and do Higher Difficulties purely because he knows the dungeons well enough to Avoid traps, Kite mobs, etc.
Speaking of Difficulty modes you have Casual - Normal - Hard - Elite - and as mentioned above, Reaper. If you are a free 2 play member you will NOT be able to chose Hard/Elite/Reaper out the gate. You will have to do the same dungeon 3 times to unlock all difficulty modes or pay for VIP membership which will allow you to pick whichever you want without unlocking them
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
NEW PLAYER INFO SECTION 2 : What to buy, When to buy it, and Character Creation Extended
Enhancement Trees - When you first make your toon and get to level 2 you will notice a Icon at either the top left or top right of your screen with a yellow circle and cross in the middle when you hover over it you should have 4 Action points. You get 1 action point every rank every 4 ranks then the 5th rank you level up These are basically mini levels that slowly increase your power. You have Racial Trees that are different depending on which race you pick then each class gets 3 unique trees and with the Archetypes update if you pick say a Sacred fist pally instead of normal pally one of your Enhancement trees will be Different from the Standard class selection. The game also offers Special Enhancement trees that you can either A) Earn with favor if you own the proper content or B) Buy in the DDO store for about 5$ or 495 DDO points. These special Enhancement trees can have a range of unique buffs and benefits but one thing worthy of note is Hit modifiers. Let's say you wanna make a Cleric that's Heavily focused on Melee like 2handed maul or sword. You wouldn't want to spread yourself thin trying to get the max strength for melee when you need wisdom for casting heals as well in theory so you could get the Falconry Enhancement tree which would allow you to get Killer Instinct and use Wisdom as your Hit/Damage Modifiers instead of Strength. Thus allowing you to just take the BARE minimum in strength to get the 2handed fighting feat and improved 2h fighting later on. There is a way to make pretty much any stat your Hit/Damage modifier, Dexterity can be done using Weapon finesse or Racial Enhancement tree as a Tabaxi, Wisdom with the Falconry tree, Charisma with the Illusionist Tree, Intelligence with the Harper Tree.
What Expansions Should I buy? - When you first start the game I wouldn't stress sinking any money beyond VIP monthly fee if you don't mind that type of investment. If you come in around Anniversary time when a Redeem Code that gives away dungeons is going on take full advantage of that as it can provide you with enough content to thoroughly enjoy the game up to level 20 and beyond. Sometimes they even offer Expansions such as Ravenloft, Sharn, Menace of the underdark, and Shadowfell for 99 DDO points in the DDO store. that'd be 4$ vs the usual 80$ or so to get those expansions at the time of writing this. Personally I'd Recommend just going as far as you can with the Bare minimum / just VIP and then when you get to level 20 and beyond you can decide if you want to buy the latest expansion and try to get into the "endgame" crowd that's always doing current content or you can focus on buying content based on things like your build and static group if you are playing with Friends. Expansions like Ravenloft and Sharn are Praised for the Gear the offered at their respective levels. With all of this said.. IF you are just genuinely excited to play a good D&D game and want to spend the $$ and support the game and it's developers You will always get the best bang for your buck buying the ultimate bundles/collectors editions that offer unique rewards, mounts, and Hirelings. P.S ALWAYS WAIT UNTIL EXPANSIONS GO ON SALE DURING TIMES LIKE SUMMER AND CHRISTMAS IF YOU WANNA BUY MULTIPLE EXPANSIONS AT ONCE.
What's worth Buying in the DDO store? - +8 Supreme tomes, Lesser/Greater Heroic and Epic Experience tomes, and Veteran Status if you are an Alt-o-holic. With all of this said a Free to play character can 100% get all stats +8 with tomes FOR FREE it would just take a long amount of time and favor grinding and many past lives. you can get a +8 Supreme tome for 60$ sometimes 40$ with sales / bundles which isn't a bad investment at all. The Heroic and Epic Learning/Experience tomes increase your first time dungeon bonus by 25% and 50% which is pure convivence but really nice when you are multiple TRs in and it takes you double the XP to hit lvl 20 it takes a First life! Veteran Status can allow you to start a toon at level 4 or level 7 depending on which one you buy.
THIS GUIDE IS UNFINISHED. IT WAS STARTED 5/3/2023 WHEN THE NEW FORUMS CAME ONLINE. I WILL UPDATE IT AS MUCH AS I CAN TO CREATE A COMPREHENSIVE UP TO DATE GUIDE FOR ALL NEW & RETURNING PLAYERS!
IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A HOME TO LEARN THE GAME AND HAVE AN ACTIVE COMMUNTIY IN GENERAL DUNGEON RUNNERS INC. ON ORIEN SERVER IS ALWAYS RECRUITING & HELPING FIRST LIFES! Contact Cleptie-1 or Spiritster in game
My / Dungeon Runners Inc. Discord - https://discord.gg/JCdsPbjFUG Please contact me here or message me directly on the forums if you have any Questions you need answer or just wanna see answered In the guide. Or Feel free to post here with anything you feel should be added!
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