Best Solo-Friendly Classes for New Players

[Drachmor]

Pick whatever class and race looks like fun to you.

Seriously, don't mind us grumpy old veterans, just make whatever you want. Don't get too attached to your first toon, and make peace with the idea that you WILL make mistakes.

You won't have great gear, any extra points to spend on utility stuff, and that's okay. Find a difficulty setting that's enjoyable, bring a healer hireling, and start exploring. Join public groups whenever you have a chance, and whenever they're nice people, ask for advice, help and maybe a guild membership.

Oh and browse through Strimtom's guides for newbies on Youtube. They're great.

Thing about all of the above is: your first life and first character is just to learn the basics and figure stuff out. Don't overthink it and don't feel pressured to learn everything all at once.

Comparison is the killer of joy.
Rule of fun applies to every aspect of the game.

Hear hear! Rule of fun applies to every aspect of the game.

Also - before I knew that Shuri leveling was terrible, I leveled a shuri thrower... and I still enjoyed myself imagine my surprise when my power suddenly blimped up in the Epic levels (old Epic Destiny system). Granted, it sounds like Shuri meta is going strong again in the new system, if not stronger.

 

[Azasmokey]

New players. Play solo die die die again. Don't listen to anything. Yes, DOO is free.
Imagine you just bought a $50-100 game. Get frustrated or angry > you've just totally wasted money.
DDO , you've paid zero. Now look at the forums and ddowiki.
Try to group. die die die again ARRGGH.
I did. Then met a few tolerant and helpful players . Joined a guild. They gave me advice and " dragged " me along.
Suddenly DDO gets a lot more fun. Solo a bit group a bit.
DDO is very complicated that is why it is still going for nearly 20 years.
If you want to spend money. ASK 1st . spend later.
You must play DDO the same as if you just paid $50-100.
Then after 3 months without spending $0. You'll find friends . and realise how GREAT DDO really is

 

[marinerfan]

18 bard/2 rogue is probably my favorite solo build. Call him the "charismatic explorer" if you will...The main drawback is that you'll be a little squishy, but that's really the only weak spot to the build. Main stat is charisma, then constitution, then intelligence. You can dump wisdom and dexterity without too much issue. I usually put a couple points in strength so I can carry stuff and not instantly be debilitated by strength-sapping debuffs.

2 Rogue gives evasion and trap skills. On a first life that doesn't know the game well yet, I'd dump dexterity get a decently high intelligence score and take the feat that bases your reflex save on intelligence (insightful reflexes?)
18 Bard gives you a few options. Last time I did this build I did straight spellsinger, took empower, maximize, quicken and flung mostly the SLA spells. I think if you went stormsinger you'd have a little bit more juice so that's probably what I'd recommend nowadays. With bard song and buffs, you should have very high trapping skills, good self-healing (some automatic with the healing song), good DPS with the metamagic and SLA combo.

 

[DaFalk]

Blight druid.
Solid defense with all the temp hitpoints and great offense that works on almost anything.

Seconded, I did a lot of my early lives using force(thorns) Blightcaster switching to acid at lvl 17 when getting acid well spell.

Early levels using Spike Growth (only on groups) with the enhancements from bc tree and getting temp HP from Deatheater made bc a very comfortable levelling experience for early lives.

 

[Rage]

It’s DragonLord. The answer is always DragonLord.

 

[Grimstad]

Paladin, Alchemist, Warlock.

Also, Lamannia preview server should be on later this week. You may take the opportunity and look at the different classes there.

Speaking from my own relatively new standpoint, Alchemist for a beginner is okay to run in groups,but soloing he's going to get killed a lot. That's been my experience anyway fwiw.

I'm a new completionist starting my racial reincarnations and I get whacked on a regular basis even in groups on 1 skull reapers. I think it takes a lot of experience to know how to begin ddo with casters. Hardcore players know the game, how to maximize their first lifer, and how to move and cast. It takes a lot of practice.

Paladin is a good choice. You have a few casting moves, some healing, and you can play defense with sword and board or dps/offense with THF. Starting out, I'd a recommend a defensive character. It's better to stay alive and go slowly than start whacking away and getting killed a lot.

If the OP is truly a beginner, without a dedicated mentor, he should start out simple, learnt the quests, and build experience.

 

[Solarpower]

Alchemist for a beginner is okay to run in groups,but soloing he's going to get killed a lot.

Lower the difficulty (as a new player you don't need to run in R10. And even on R1, or Elite) or/and get a better gear.
Alchemist caster is easy.
Alchemist get Curative Admixture: Inflict Serious Wounds AOE as SLA right on the 1st level and it can literally obliterate everything (except undeads, of course) that that had the unprecedented stupidity to come within throwing distance of the Alchemist. And in the future, its power will only increase.

Evasion, access to more or less universal acid attacks, immunity penetration, stuns, and buffs for almost every situation. You can even pass dialogue checks without any charisma points thanks to special buffs, though this is rarely necessary. The only thing is, it doesn't remove traps.

If the OP is truly a beginner, without a dedicated mentor, he should start out simple, learnt the quests, and build experience.

Guess, he is not a beginner already. After all, the topic is almost year old.
Well, looks like, after the latest nerfs, all of the DDO's Necromancers instead of the game now play on forum resurrecting old threads.

 

[Igognito]

For pure f2p:
First, Paladin (almost all races should do fine)
Second, I would suggest Barbarian or Dark hunter based on your game style.
Third would be Druid (either wolf or bear).
Each class had is pros and cons but all should get you to 20 solo with no problems.
If you have artificer, go for it. Imho it is the most flexible class and it will allow you to play the 100% of the game solo. If you also got warforged it is a really fun game style.
I play almost all my new alts like that. You really enjoy the game and you never get a fomo feeling. Even when multiple toons are needed you can easily reach to have a 4 person party.
You, your pet, a normal hire and a gold hires (Elieri) allowing you to solo quests like the cipher at house J