Are past lives overrated?

Are past lives overrated?​

As with many things in DDO, the answer is complicated, and depending on the day you will get two very different answers on the forums.

From many people who have gathered all of the past lives, you will hear that they are overrated and that player skill (both in how exactly you're running around the map/quest and in having the right feats and enhancements for that specific build) and gear are the main factors of being highly dangerous/useful in high reaper content.
From people who have gathered a few and felt that their game has gotten easier, you will usually hear that past lives contribute a ton.

In my experience of having played since '09 and having gotten all the completionist feats so far, is that it depends on what content are you running. Anything below level 20 I feel like a demi-god if I am running R1 or less, but after level 20 I have to pick and choose my gear carefully, or else I become mortal again. I have a first-life character sitting at level 32 and 'fully' geared it IS less powerful than my main when doing the same thing with the same gear but not by a lot. At cap, my gear gives me most of what makes my character dangerous or useful and my experience playing DDO is what lets me know that this specific combination of things from gear/feats/enhancements either stacks or doesn't stack or is useful or not all that useful based on my play style.

At the end of the day I just have to say that if all you want to do is run through lower-level content blowing it away with little effort, you can do that either by having a bunch of past lives or by lowering the difficulty. If you want to be useful at level cap, you mainly need a solid build and to spend the time to get the right/perfect gear for you. If you find that you want to ek out those final small bits of power at cap, then you have a long road ahead of you.

If you are a newer player, I advise that you just find out what you enjoy in DDO and do that. Too many people focus on past lives and turn DDO into a job/chore, then burn out and are never seen again.

 

[Dogbreath68]

If you want to run higher reaper, and/or lead in kill counts then past lives are absolutely essential. Let's take a quick look at a bow using character. Having 3 Ranger, 3 Monk, 3 Razorclaw, and 3 Epic Destiny Enchanted Weapon past lives gives you an extra 15 points of damage per hit. Having full Primal past lives basically nets a ton of toughness feats for free. Once you get into Epics, the difference between 2000 HPs and 1200 HPs on a ranged character is huge.

Now, none of this is needed to enjoy the game. You can play to your heart's content on Elite or R1 or raid on Epic Hard and never worry about a past life. Modern gear and set bonuses will give you a perfectly functioning character. Ultimately, past lives are like anything you collect, once you start you'll want more. And while it may seem daunting, you don't need to have every past life. Selective targeting on which lives will enhance the strengths and fill out the weaknesses of your build will pay huge dividends without burying you in the grind.

For me , leading in kills was never a thing for me. I will get the same amount of xp for the quest as the leader in kills. To care so much about that to me is really pointless. It is like reaper wings, if you have enough rxp to get them, what does it matter if I have them? It is all for others to see. That is the only benefit for them, bragging rights. It is a shame that so many players put so much emphasis on things that really don't matter. So my advice, really not worth anything to be honest, is to have fun, play at your pace. There are plenty of players out there that play that way, don't feel excluded or left out because you don't lead in kills or have 200 past lives. Play your game and have fun with the money YOU spend on YOUR game, not what others want you to be or play like.

 

[Rockers]

36 point builds are a good reason to get at least 3 Heroic PL, but dont rush just enjoy the game

 

[Bjond]

If you want to run higher reaper, and/or lead in kill counts then past lives are absolutely essential

Those things are nice and helpful, but very far from essential. I've done all of those with minimal PLs & RXP, once even zero with a 1st-life R10 tank. The rest of your post is great.

The absolutely essential piece is knowledge in the form of experience. DDO takes D&D's archaic and squirrelly rules and feeds them mutagens and steroids until they have great big large pointy .. things .. just aching to bite newbies in their innocent ignorance.

Without knowledge DDO becomes much harder. You're stuck because you don't know how to build or even how to judge other builds. Don't know which gear is worth getting or how hard it might be to fill out a posted gear set (or if you can skip and fill with CC gear). Etc..

Some, I'm sure, will say this is normal for MMOs. But, it's not -- not to the degree it matters in DDO. For most MMOs today, your "build" and gear is on rails. For action MMOs, it's usually twitch-practice that makes you better; gear and build are homogenized. Such a dependence on game-knowledge isn't necessarily a bad thing and might even be a boon to player retention. Action is short fun. I usually get tired of keeping my twitch twitchy and punt that style after 6M or so.

 

[Oliphant]

Another way to frame this: You notice your optimized build is not holding up next to some others doing a similar role. You know they have all the PLs and you don't. Are those PLs rather minimal, and thus you feel encouraged to keep working and working and working to better optimize because you should end up basically the same anyway. NO! Someone with all the PLs is not comparable and it would be unfair to compare.

 

[h46av8r]

I recently posted a list of what you get as an uber completionist here: https://forums-old.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/538469-Total-Past-Life-Benefits. Others then added what if you have +8 tomes, all reaper points, etc.

 

[erdrickthegreat]

IDK. I mean I'm reading everyone's reasoning and I just don't see how past lives are worth it. The cons are absolutely MASSIVE. I think the cons vastly outweigh any of the benefits. I mean this game is ridiculously absurdly long to begin with. That's not a complaint. I enjoy the vast world. However... to get to level 20 all class/race times 3x over to completeness. Would basically take me until the rest of my life for one character. And that's devoting a lion share of my life to the game. No... I'm not doing that. I could see maybe doing it once. Arguably. But nobody should ever do it twice or more. It's completely unreasonable. And that 50% exp penalty is absolutely insane. That in it's own right is a deal breaker. I can already complete most quests on elite with a first gen character. So I'm going to have to level grind. Frankly I'd rather smash my head into a wall every 3 seconds for the next 3 months. There are some levels of this game that have very limited content and getting through them under normal conditions is excruciatingly painful. Make it take 50% longer sounds like torture to me.

All for what??? 1 extra Strength pt? Just buy a freaking tome. I cannot tell the difference of a +1 of anything at any level. I mean sure. I don't doubt my average dam is up. Or that 1 dex point got me one step closer to the 3 or whatever I need for a +1 AC which does practically nothing. Or the +1 skill point that again.. hardly does anything. When I can get a piece of equipment at level 4 that does vastly better than your past life.
The idea behind past lives is interesting. But I think the EXP penalty needs to drop substantially. Or one past life needs to give a far greater bonus. I just don't think the reward and cost balance is even remotely in-line. It's like some of the character enhancements. 3 AP for +3 damage reduction. A whopping .000008% damage reduction (sarcasm). whoo-hoo!!. There's just some things in this game that have too heavy of a cost. And I think past lives is one of them.

 

[DBZ]

Like most things you just need a plan and a system know your role know your objective

For Pls just grind them and tweak them on they fly every life will get faster as you get everything slimmed down for maximum efficiency

27 epls x3 day timers can be done roughly 3 months, 26 ipls + 26 hpls for 52 pls is roughly 3 months, 21 racials 7 build points - 3 months

Dragon lord or Inquisitor for all your pls so 1 year is doable

 

[Solarpower]

However... to get to level 20 all class/race times 3x over to completeness. Would basically take me until the rest of my life for one character. And that's devoting a lion share of my life to the game. No... I'm not doing that.

Then you will simply have nothing to do in the game.
The whole game is about replaying all the content over and over again. There is literally nothing beyond that.
The Past Lives Feats act as a small reward so that reincarnation is not completely meaningless.

 

[Mokune]

What build can take most of advantage of having every 3x every PL?

What I notice most is the defensive benefits from EPLs. Those make the most noticeable difference between playing different characters.

 

[FVSHasBeenEvenMoreGutted]

What build can take most of advantage of having every 3x every PL?

What I notice most is the defensive benefits from EPLs. Those make the most noticeable difference between playing different characters.

tanks need almost all the PL as most give a defensive buff
hybrids need many past lives as they need both the DCs to land and the melee damage to not suck

 

[Shear-buckler]

However... to get to level 20 all class/race times 3x over to completeness. Would basically take me until the rest of my life for one character. And that's devoting a lion share of my life to the game.

Wow you must really suck at leveling.

 

[Frieling Slyhand]

In my experience, early on reaper points have more impact for the time they take. You can earn them fast at end game. Once you have 100 or so, the benefit dimishes.

Of pls, Epic have the most impact. Racials take a long time but the AP do give you a lot of build flexibility. The impact of racial tree varies a lot by race and some races have more synergy with certain classes. Class lives are generally minimal but certain ones have big impact for specific builds and single class completion is pretty fast. Iconic are minimally impactful.

Does it matter? Yes. Do experience, gear and build count for more? Yes. I’ve done R10 on first life and R1 raids, but it’s much easier if you have lots of the pls.

 

[Dielzen]

If you want to run higher reaper, and/or lead in kill counts then past lives are absolutely essential. Let's take a quick look at a bow using character. Having 3 Ranger, 3 Monk, 3 Razorclaw, and 3 Epic Destiny Enchanted Weapon past lives gives you an extra 15 points of damage per hit. Having full Primal past lives basically nets a ton of toughness feats for free. Once you get into Epics, the difference between 2000 HPs and 1200 HPs on a ranged character is huge.

Now, none of this is needed to enjoy the game. You can play to your heart's content on Elite or R1 or raid on Epic Hard and never worry about a past life. Modern gear and set bonuses will give you a perfectly functioning character. Ultimately, past lives are like anything you collect, once you start you'll want more. And while it may seem daunting, you don't need to have every past life. Selective targeting on which lives will enhance the strengths and fill out the weaknesses of your build will pay huge dividends without burying you in the grind.

Razorclaw gives bow damage?

 

[Teh_Troll]

Nobody needs pastlives anymore.

Just use crossbows, it's what the devs want.

 

[danzig138]

IDK. I mean I'm reading everyone's reasoning and I just don't see how past lives are worth it.

Ok. So don't work on getting them.

 

[Fisto Mk I]

Just use crossbows, it's what the devs want.

And you wanna Pineapple Nuclear Bomb instead, right?

Sorry, no funs for you...

 

[Ahser]

Well, speaking for myself, past lives is exactly what I enjoy in DDO. In every MMO, in every RPG even I can only play one character. I never can force myself to play another. But in DDO I can do that and at the same time try new classes, new builds and have fun.

Also, I've been got. Good one, Necromancer.

 

[Rusty_helmet]

Nobody needs pastlives anymore.

Just use crossbows, it's what the devs want.

This is extremely true. Every terrible player I see now is using them...

 

[Positive thinking]

IDK. I mean I'm reading everyone's reasoning and I just don't see how past lives are worth it. The cons are absolutely MASSIVE. I think the cons vastly outweigh any of the benefits. I mean this game is ridiculously absurdly long to begin with. That's not a complaint. I enjoy the vast world. However... to get to level 20 all class/race times 3x over to completeness. Would basically take me until the rest of my life for one character. And that's devoting a lion share of my life to the game. No... I'm not doing that. I could see maybe doing it once. Arguably. But nobody should ever do it twice or more. It's completely unreasonable. And that 50% exp penalty is absolutely insane. That in it's own right is a deal breaker. I can already complete most quests on elite with a first gen character. So I'm going to have to level grind. Frankly I'd rather smash my head into a wall every 3 seconds for the next 3 months. There are some levels of this game that have very limited content and getting through them under normal conditions is excruciatingly painful. Make it take 50% longer sounds like torture to me.

All for what??? 1 extra Strength pt? Just buy a freaking tome. I cannot tell the difference of a +1 of anything at any level. I mean sure. I don't doubt my average dam is up. Or that 1 dex point got me one step closer to the 3 or whatever I need for a +1 AC which does practically nothing. Or the +1 skill point that again.. hardly does anything. When I can get a piece of equipment at level 4 that does vastly better than your past life.
The idea behind past lives is interesting. But I think the EXP penalty needs to drop substantially. Or one past life needs to give a far greater bonus. I just don't think the reward and cost balance is even remotely in-line. It's like some of the character enhancements. 3 AP for +3 damage reduction. A whopping .000008% damage reduction (sarcasm). whoo-hoo!!. There's just some things in this game that have too heavy of a cost. And I think past lives is one of them.

If you want enjoy the world without the concerns of past lives, feel free to reach out and contact me. We play Permadeath and everyone is a first life toon with nothing but what you washed up on the shore with.

Guild is called EXTREME Mortal Voyage Permadeath, we are on argonessen server.

Happy gaming.

 

[Ptalon]

I have a first-life character that I am very happy with.

I have a character with most past lives that I am much more happy with.