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.

 

[Onyxia2016]

That last sentence sums it up perfectly.

Can you run and survive the max level content on a first life character? Yes you can.
Getting completionist should not be a race where one looses sight of the adventure. Enjoy the journey.

 

[Teh_Troll]

Your mileage may vary, but . . . Build/Gear > Reaper Points > Past Lives.

There's some low hanging fruit in all of this that would behoove you to get. Double-strike PLs for melees, spell pen for casters, etc . . . It's good to be hooved.

Try to enjoy the journey and don't be in such a rush.

 

[Anurakh]

As someone who has a character with all past lives and a bunch of alts with very few past lives I have to say no, they are not overrated. The difference in power between one and the others is enormous.

Past lives are not a substitute for knowledge of the game. Gear is very important. But to say that past lives don't matter is misleading, probably because those who say that want even more power and don't want to stop devs from adding more past lives.

 

[Panda]

Some PLs are more equal than others.

 

[Xgya]

I'd say past lives are a LOT more powerful early on, and peter out endgame.
At lower levels, most of the power on my main character comes from my past lives, no doubt about it.
Come epics, this switches around to gear. PLs are still there, present and useful, but a less important of my total character power.

 

[Onyxia2016]

As someone who has a character with all past lives and a bunch of alts with very few past lives I have to say no, they are not overrated. The difference in power between one and the others is enormous.

Past lives are not a substitute for knowledge of the game. The gear is very important. But to say that past lives don't matter is misleading, probably because those who say that want even more power and don't want to stop devs from adding more past lives.

I took the OP's post as more of a, are past lived really needed.
I dont think anyone would argue that the more past lives you have, the more powerful the character.
I think the point is, you don't have to rush to get all the past lives to enjoy Epic/Legendary content.

As for more past lives I am all for it. Anything to continue the adventure. Although I think we are on the archetype wagon now so not much in the way of new races or classes anytime soon.

 

[calouscaine]

I've been playing off and on for over a decade now. Never gotten all my past lives. . .mainly because I'm a bit lazy on that front. But, I can build a new character which isn't dependent on gear that can easily solo r1, at least up through 20 ish. But, I don't devote much time to reaper. . .it just isn't something that's ever appealed to me. Besides, when you switch from reaper back to elite and all that reaper stuff isn't counted you might end up getting stomped if you're only relying on the gear and reaper trees to give you a boost.
My current first life character can't quite literally walk through a level 32 + area/dungeon and everything around her will die in a near instant with how I have her set up, she doesn't even have to use her sword or spells. Now, if she had all of the past lives with those bonuses with them she'd be even nastier. . .might even be able to take out raid bosses solo in less than five min.
My belief is that even one point can help boost you if you use it right.
Though, this does remind me. . .I need to get back to working on my mains and maybe getting them a little further on the reincarnation hamster wheel.

 

[jotmon]

Every point improves your survivability.
It is a time sink but stacking them up is well worth it for the long term play

 

[Anurakh]

I took the OP's post as more of a, are past lived really needed.
I dont think anyone would argue that the more past lives you have, the more powerful the character.
I think the point is, you don't have to rush to get all the past lives to enjoy Epic/Legendary content.

As for more past lives I am all for it. Anything to continue the adventure. Although I think we are on the archetype wagon now so not much in the way of new races or classes anytime soon.

There is nothing in the game that is really necessary. You can play even without gear if you stick to low difficulties. Necessary, no. But that the PLs add a substantial increase in power is beyond doubt. Same as reaper points, they are another huge power up.

Neither do all past lives benefit a given build equally, so you don't need all past lives either. For me one of the worst systems devs have designed is racial lives. The grind is endless, and all lives are necessary since the good is the action point of every third life. Heroic lives are designed in a much more reasonable way.

 

[FuzzyDuck81]

They make an incremental, but noticeable difference. The racial past lives need the most investment to get the most benefit, however getting the extra racial APs can open up entire new build possibilities & they're the ones that really shine.

 

[Xezon]

They make an incremental, but noticeable difference. The racial past lives need the most investment to get the most benefit, however getting the extra racial APs can open up entire new build possibilities & they're the ones that really shine.

This was going to be my input as well. Racial Past lives can up up builds that aren't feasible otherwise. This is especially true for Arcane Archer cross overs.

Are Past Lives the end all be all of power? No. Far from. You can have a powerful character with good gear and no past lives and do just fine. You might just have an easier time if you have both.

 

[Trolldong]

Yes.

 

[Darkwolfer2002]

Past Lives are very powerful as they are cumulative. You won't notice a ton at first but one day you realize your soloing R4s and it feels pretty easy. It is a combination of power from past lives and game knowledge. After running some quests more than a couple hundred times you know where to pull / how to pull, but you also have gear you've earned, and of course the power from all the past lives.

And dude I use my heroic gear (This last life was a combination of Feywild, IoD, and Sharn) all the way to 29. If you doing high reapers gear min/max matter but not for leveling content. At least not much.

 

[Maze]

They make an incremental, but noticeable difference. The racial past lives need the most investment to get the most benefit, however getting the extra racial APs can open up entire new build possibilities & they're the ones that really shine.

Yeah, I'd def agree with this. Getting all those extra racial AP can make a huge difference, especially at level 1.

 

[Drunken.dx]

As someone who got to involved with pl grind i can say that exorcising that "gotta get them all" mentality will improve your DDO enjoyment tenfold (at least).
Yes pls are good to have. But if you're too focused on getting them you lose sight of whats really important.

Having fun in game.

 

[Ying]

Depends on the build and the content you're running.

If you just want to DPS as a melee or ranged, then past lives aren't as big of a deal. Paladin 20 SWF first lifer did just fine during hardcore season 6 obtaining the favor and reaper rewards. I've taken it to R1 raids when back on live with self-farmed gear and it wasn't a burden. Healers also aren't dependent on past lives. I ran a first life Bard healer that solo healed R1 raids.

If your build is reliant on DCs, then every DC-boosting past life matters. DC casters notice the lack of past lives the most. Also, the more recent the content was released, the higher the saves. So the higher your DCs need to be in order to be effective. I have a warlock with all past lives who struggles with DCs in Legendary Lordsmarch with a 108 Conjuration, 112 Evocation, 104 Necromancy, 104 Enchantment (non-boosted/non-debuffed). He's only missing 2 DCs from gear, and 3 DCs from reaper enchants.

 

[Enoach]

The real power of past lives comes with what it allows in options and flexibility. Be it extra HP on a low HP class, access to a feat that consolidates multiple feats.
There are builds today that would not work without some of this flexibility.

I also recommend starting with what you enjoy first, then when you want to get to the optimization of that 1% start looking at the synergy of the past lives and start there first.

 

[HunterRayder93]

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.

No, absolutely not, I can confirm that LP gives a big advantage to character growth... but I think the most important and strongest are class ones, when you've obtained at least one LP of each class in the game if I don't remember you should getting a +2 to all stats and a +2 to all "permanent" skills on your character and stacks up to 3 times means that to have the "Triple Completionist" you must have completed every class in the game 3 times:

DDO Wiky - Completionist
​

Yes, I know dear... and in fact it lasts for this advice (if you want to do it) to do it on at least one character you play the most (your main in practice) and have characters at the cap to be able to make high content at the same time level, another very useful PL are the racial PLs... similar to the heroic ones but they concern the races as for the heroic ones also here you get the same bonuses as for the normal completionist:

DDO Wiky - Racial Completionist
​

However, unlike the heroic PLs, the racials with each completed PL of a specific race you get a 1+ to a skill on the first life you complete, on the second one a 1+ to a stat until you get a "racial point" on the third life. racial points and can be spent on the racial branch of the race you are playing:

DDO Wiky - Racial Past Life Feats​

This gives your character a big edge further by allowing you to spend points in racial branches without having to use up your heroic points, making your character even stronger and your build more powerful.

 

[FuzzyDuck81]

Yeah, I'd def agree with this. Getting all those extra racial AP can make a huge difference, especially at level 1.

It's a big part of why I left halfling until later in the RR train, being a wizard with CLW, CMW & Heal with quicken, maximise & empower at level 3 was great & meant I didn't have to worry about diverting points away from eldritch knight into the racial or pale master tree for a solid self healing option.