Returning player assistance needed

[Razael76]

I'm returning after 10 years away, and my main when I left was at level 24. Apparently I did an iconic race, so I found out the hard way that its an iconic TR meaning I need to get 6 more levels. My current build is 19 FS/ 1 Fighter. I want to say back 10 years ago I built this to gather up mobs, throw down 2 or 3 blade barriers and watch them melt. Doesn't seem to work as well in the current game. Need some help to figure out what I can do to make a 10 year old build work better to get me to 30 so I can TR. I do have several lesser hearts so if need to re-work the build I can. Looking for something that can solo if needed, looking for a guild too but that is another story.

I've seen what you can get for stats with the newest gear and my stats today are horrid in comparison to 10 years ago.
Purple Dragon Knight
FS 19/FTR 1
5 heroic PL, 1 iconic
STR: 28
DEX: 14
CON: 28
INT: 16
WIS: 39
CHA: 27
HP: 730
Spell Pts: 2645
AC: 18 (I'm currently in a robe for spell points)
FORT: 30
REF: 24
WILL: 35
Fortification: 115
all resistances: 15
PRR: 28
MRR: 24

Armor: War Wizards Robes - Resistance 6, Archmagi, Elemental Absorption 5%
Wrists: Sage's Cuffs - Kinetic Lore 8
Ring 1: CHA 8/Resistance 6
Boots: Cannith Boots of Propulsion - Striding 30, feather falling, Jet propulsion, jump 10, enhanced jump 5
Gloves: Fabricator's Gauntlets - Str 6, Resistance 5, Melee Alacrity 10%
Ring 2: Guardian's Ring - Sheltering 24
Belt: Vorme's Belt - Con 6, Greater False Life, Occult Slayer
Cloak: Supreme Tyrant Green Weave Cloak of Concordant Opposition - Greater Elemental Energy, Exception Con Skills 6, Concordant Opposition, Improved Elemental Energy, Exceptional con skills 4, Wis 6, Diplomacy 10, Haggle 10, Elemental Energy, str skills exceptional 2
Trinket: Holy Symbol of Lolth - Spellcasting implement, Nullification 102, Radiance 102, Impulse 102, exceptional cha 1, exceptional wis 1
Necklace: Torc of Price Raiyum-de II - Spell pen 2, Wizardry 3, transfer kinetic energy
Helm: Sage's Skullcap - Fort 100%, Radiance lore 5, radiance
Goggles: Shadowsight - Ethereal, Wisdom 6, Accuracy 6

I know there is a lot of things that overlap that doesn't stack. I'm honestly wondering if I had other gear that isn't currently equipped, this seems off to me. I know this needs some serious updating. Let me have it....what needs to be updated so I can manage to get to 30? I am VIP, and I have all the DLC before 2016 which is a staggering 2.

If one of the DLC's after I left the game would help, please let me know which ones. Gear that would be good to look for. Changes to make soloing possible. I did buy the Inquisitor because I was curious what all the love was for these builds. I'm open to all builds and if I need to get other DLC's I will look into it providing what the cost is. Any help would be amazing! Thank you in advance

 

[Bliv]

You should be able to get out of this by simply joining groups. No need to do a full rework, as I expect your main problem is gear.

Either jump in groups that are power leveling, or run quests on normal/hard. No need to be fancy and try to run R1+.

Don't hesitate to say you are a returning player, others will (or should) be more than happy to get you to 30.

Once you get to level 30, TR into something more current and focus on getting reaper points and gear.

Inquisitive is very powerful btw, so starting there would be a good idea.

My suggestion would be to grab Chill of Ravenloft. You'll have to farm it a lot for materials, but it's definitely the best pack to get back into things. The crafting system is versatile and will allow you to customize something for just about any build you want to play.

Welcome back to the game, and have fun getting back up to par.

 

[Tumideon]

Welcome back! Coming back after even a few years is pretty rough, let alone 10. My first long break was from Thunderholme to a bit after Sharn had came out, had the same rough landing as you're experiencing.

Gear wise, it's probably not worth farming right now. What server did you transfer to? I'd throw up an LFM saying you're a returning player, list your expansions, and asking for help powering through. You may need to pick up a few packs, but lower Epics now have a ton more experience than they did 10 years ago and the epic scaling issues were fixed - so you're not gonna run into 50K hp trash mobs like it used to be.

Other than that, maybe grab a Major Slayer Boost potion and an experience potion if you have any points in your account and just do slayers or join slayer groups. Can probably get to cap just doing that tbh and a few oddball quests. No need to jump back in Elite.

As a FVS, you should have access to CHA/WIS-to-Hit&Damage - another option is going to Keep on the Borderlands, grabbing an Epic Heavy Crossbow from there and going in as an Inquisitve and War Soul. Taking Divine Inqusition treats crossbows as a favored weapon so you can at least stay the hell away from mobs and you have a ton of buffs/healing from FVS.

That last bit is a bit drastic though, but simpler playstyle than coming in as a nuker/DC caster.

 

[saekee]

what are your feats? I know you have a lesser heart but there maynot be a need to use it

 

[Razael76]

Welcome back! Coming back after even a few years is pretty rough, let alone 10. My first long break was from Thunderholme to a bit after Sharn had came out, had the same rough landing as you're experiencing.

Gear wise, it's probably not worth farming right now. What server did you transfer to? I'd throw up an LFM saying you're a returning player, list your expansions, and asking for help powering through. You may need to pick up a few packs, but lower Epics now have a ton more experience than they did 10 years ago and the epic scaling issues were fixed - so you're not gonna run into 50K hp trash mobs like it used to be.

Other than that, maybe grab a Major Slayer Boost potion and an experience potion if you have any points in your account and just do slayers or join slayer groups. Can probably get to cap just doing that tbh and a few oddball quests. No need to jump back in Elite.

As a FVS, you should have access to CHA/WIS-to-Hit&Damage - another option is going to Keep on the Borderlands, grabbing an Epic Heavy Crossbow from there and going in as an Inquisitve and War Soul. Taking Divine Inqusition treats crossbows as a favored weapon so you can at least stay the hell away from mobs and you have a ton of buffs/healing from FVS.

That last bit is a bit drastic though, but simpler playstyle than coming in as a nuker/DC caster.

Thanks, I'm currently on Shadowdale. I found out my old guild when to one of the other servers. Funny thing I'm seeing is with guilds, it does seem that anyone is questing together. I was thinking the same about explorers, which if I do that I'll probably have to pick up a DLC or two to get the exp needed. I do remember getting up to 30 for TR 10 years ago was a huge time sink and pain to do. I just unlocked epic destinies, I was looking through those for about 3 hours yesterday. It was fun looking and being able to figure out what was what. My biggest issue is not knowing what levels these new DLC's are or where they are located. I'll figure it out eventually. Part of the fun of DnD is you never really forget, just have to knock the rust off. I played for 10 years before I left, give me a few months I might be on here putting up new builds lol

 

[Razael76]

what are your feats? I know you have a lesser heart but there maynot be a need to use it

Feats the fun stuff: Do I get to pick the epic feats or are those automatically granted.

- Arcane Initiate
- 2 FS past lives
- 2 Sorc past lives
- 1 Wizzy past life
- Morninglord for iconic PL
- Inherent Stats it the same for all at 6 acquired
- inherent FAte Point - 2
- single weapon fighting, improved and greater single weapon fighting
- toughness X2
- Says I have a respec token, I'm assuming I have to find Freddie or a trainer for that one.
- Empower
- Extend
- Heighten
- Maximize
- following Amaunator

Epic:
- Greater wisdom
- epic skills: X4 to all skills
- epic power X 4
- epic knowledge X2

 

[Tumideon]

Thanks, I'm currently on Shadowdale. I found out my old guild when to one of the other servers. Funny thing I'm seeing is with guilds, it does seem that anyone is questing together. I was thinking the same about explorers, which if I do that I'll probably have to pick up a DLC or two to get the exp needed. I do remember getting up to 30 for TR 10 years ago was a huge time sink and pain to do. I just unlocked epic destinies, I was looking through those for about 3 hours yesterday. It was fun looking and being able to figure out what was what. My biggest issue is not knowing what levels these new DLC's are or where they are located. I'll figure it out eventually. Part of the fun of DnD is you never really forget, just have to knock the rust off. I played for 10 years before I left, give me a few months I might be on here putting up new builds lol

When I came back from my last break, I had a main in a similar state. Lot's of random Necro 4 Epic gear, some Haunted Halls, and I was playing some weird split and had TForged weapons.

I ended up rolling the most boring "safe" 1st life I could as a 2 ROG/18 Pally to run up to 32 at the time just to relearn all of the content. Ended up just buying all of the Expansions since at the time everyone was running Feywild & Saltmarsh slayers for Nebulas to make Perfected Artifacts. Could be the thing to do in your case, and maybe pick up an Epic Otto Box if they bring em back around Christmas if you didn't want to grind it out.

If you cannot swing the cash for all of them I think for sure picking up Feywild, Chill of Ravenloft, and Terror of Demogorgon is all good to go. Mists of Ravenloft and Masterminds of Sharn if you don't have them already. That'll give you gearing for 5 (Fey), 8 (Chill), 10 (Mists), 11 (Demogorgon), 15 (Sharn), with Fey/Mists/Sharn you getl legendary gear for 29, and Chill and Demogorgon slot up at 33 and 35 IIRC.

Chill of Ravenloft (Lamordia) has a pretty nice system, similar to Isle of Dread, except it's available for heroics too. You can craft up gear that matches exactly what you need and farm the new Sun and Moon Augments to essentially build your own set bonuses.

Hell, could be worth farming that above cap right now for heroics so you have gear sets ready when you TR.

 

[Razael76]

When I came back from my last break, I had a main in a similar state. Lot's of random Necro 4 Epic gear, some Haunted Halls, and I was playing some weird split and had TForged weapons.

I ended up rolling the most boring "safe" 1st life I could as a 2 ROG/18 Pally to run up to 32 at the time just to relearn all of the content. Ended up just buying all of the Expansions since at the time everyone was running Feywild & Saltmarsh slayers for Nebulas to make Perfected Artifacts. Could be the thing to do in your case, and maybe pick up an Epic Otto Box if they bring em back around Christmas if you didn't want to grind it out.

If you cannot swing the cash for all of them I think for sure picking up Feywild, Chill of Ravenloft, and Terror of Demogorgon is all good to go. Mists of Ravenloft and Masterminds of Sharn if you don't have them already. That'll give you gearing for 5 (Fey), 8 (Chill), 10 (Mists), 11 (Demogorgon), 15 (Sharn), with Fey/Mists/Sharn you getl legendary gear for 29, and Chill and Demogorgon slot up at 33 and 35 IIRC.

Chill of Ravenloft (Lamordia) has a pretty nice system, similar to Isle of Dread, except it's available for heroics too. You can craft up gear that matches exactly what you need and farm the new Sun and Moon Augments to essentially build your own set bonuses.

Hell, could be worth farming that above cap right now for heroics so you have gear sets ready when you TR.

I did just pick up Sharn and Saltmarsh, and I wanted Fey and Saltmarsh because I see several 24 lvl characters in Saltmarsh. Right now my plan is hit 30 then probably going to do the 1-20 runs for tr's. that way I can get a feel for what will work for me. I think the next life will be artificer or arcane trickster. I'm also having to get use to using this cyborg 2 keypad controller. I did play around a few levels with an artificer to 5 and an AT Rogue as inquisitor to see how ranged felt. I have to say I do like it. But my favorite character was the pale master, it was my 2nd life. There wasn't much I couldn't do with that character.

I decided to go ahead and pick up mist, chill, and Fey because they are cheaper on the DDO store than the website with the expansion page. I didn't really want any of the extras.

 

[saekee]

hmmn I see you took the SWF line of feats. You can't do dagger as a favored weapon since you are PDK I think, so that makes it trickier--I would have said go dagger and orb, and go full vistani with a goldcursed dagger. You have odd feats there and no improved critical. THere is a caster route there with the metamagics but I don't play them enough to recommend anything.

 

[Igognito]

Welcome back. Assuming you have all adventure packs from the free codes, you wouldn't need to buy something now.
Your target as you said is to reach lvl 30.
Start with Epic/legendary wilderness area that you have access.
For example: the Necro area, wheloon, kings forest, etc. these areas will remind you how to play your toon while give you a decent amount of XP.
Next will be to drink a pot for slayers at some point to accelerate the area XP mining.
About equipment. Run epic keep and get some ml 21 items to bring you up to date for low epics.

Also get a weapon from there and put a sentience jewel and start feeding it. Having an ml20 weapon with sentience is very convenient.
Clearly, join all LFMs you can and follow. Epic destinies should do the heavy carrying for you.

Lately it is easy to do 2 epic life's with the available content just soloing + LFMs for wilderness.

And that is assuming you have all adventure packs and maybe content up to mists of ravenloft.

To comfortably reach level 36 is another story though and I don't think you should target for it yet.

First get to 30 and TR.

 

[Igognito]

When I returned I packed level 20 equipment too. Keep in mind that Demon sand equipment is upgradable to ML20 and the items are pretty good. So perhaps have a look of how to do that.
The combine well with Gem of many facets and with equipment from red fens.
While I wouldn't suggest to focus on farming, but have a look because it is possible you could get a few items from what you already have.

 

[Razael76]

hmmn I see you took the SWF line of feats. You can't do dagger as a favored weapon since you are PDK I think, so that makes it trickier--I would have said go dagger and orb, and go full vistani with a goldcursed dagger. You have odd feats there and no improved critical. THere is a caster route there with the metamagics but I don't play them enough to recommend anything.

Yeah, I know it made sense when I was running it 10 years ago. I think the setup for this was run things through blade barrier and when I run out of spell points use the maces to knock out what is left. But looking at inquisitor might be a good way to go. Hard to say, not even sure if this build be even be a good healer for a group. Not that I could say I'm a good healer even with a great build lol. I have multiple lesser hearts so respecing wouldn't be difficult I would say. It will be interesting to see where it ends up

 

[Razael76]

Welcome back. Assuming you have all adventure packs from the free codes, you wouldn't need to buy something now.
Your target as you said is to reach lvl 30.
Start with Epic/legendary wilderness area that you have access.
For example: the Necro area, wheloon, kings forest, etc. these areas will remind you how to play your toon while give you a decent amount of XP.
Next will be to drink a pot for slayers at some point to accelerate the area XP mining.
About equipment. Run epic keep and get some ml 21 items to bring you up to date for low epics.

Also get a weapon from there and put a sentience jewel and start feeding it. Having an ml20 weapon with sentience is very convenient.
Clearly, join all LFMs you can and follow. Epic destinies should do the heavy carrying for you.

Lately it is easy to do 2 epic life's with the available content just soloing + LFMs for wilderness.

And that is assuming you have all adventure packs and maybe content up to mists of ravenloft.

To comfortably reach level 36 is another story though and I don't think you should target for it yet.

First get to 30 and TR.

I had everything available when I left in 2016. I'm currently a VIP so I know I'll have access to much more than if I stayed Premium. And I purchased a few of the DLC's because I like having options. I have Mist, Chill, Sharn, Fey and Saltmarsh.

Question, what are you referring to when you say epic keep? Is that the Keep on the Borderlands? Or something else? I need to figure out how to get to some of these new places....what am I talking about I need to remember how to get to the old stuff too!

No plans for end game anything....I'm hitting 30 and TR city. I do remember how much of a grind and pain it was to get Exp to get to 30. I'm sure once I get back into the flow of things it might move much quicker. I think if I can get a few gear pieces together, and maybe do some respec I can get a decent build going.

 

[Tumideon]

Is that the Keep on the Borderlands?

Yes. You can get there from the Gatekeeper's Grove in the Harbor, it's by the Lighthouse (or via your Guild ship). It's not a portal, it's a NPC that will teleport you there. You can also get there from Korthos Island if you really wanted to.

You'll need to do a few of the quests to get the Ingots to trade for the weapons. They're easy enough to farm even on R1, all ~5 min quests except the last one which I never do anyway - too much running around.