The Reaper XP problem

[ChaoticDrivel]

Reaper XP is nice. We all want it. We all need it. And those who have lots of it, want plenty of things to do with it.

But it doesn't come so easy for a fair few folks.

One of the big roadblocks I've noticed - and not just with new players, but with DDO veterans also(vets who lean toward the more...easy going side, shall we say)- is that the bulk of RXP is attained at cap doing Legendary Reapers. But for these players(and there are more than you may realize) - even Legendary Elite is a big jump in difficulty. They find it really tough just to stay alive. So they are stuck trying to obtain Legendary gear that would help them survive, doing Legendary Normal & Hard difficulty. Except...the drop rate sucks doing that. So they struggle to actually get the items they need - never mind any Reaper/Mythic bonus ones. Full sets? Not even close. Or they get bored doing an exorbitant amount of monotonous gear farming. Many of them don't have sentient weapons at all(another grind fest), or some very starved ones if they do; with few filigrees, and far too niche for most builds.

Now of course, well meaning members of the DDO community say(as do I, to a point): put up an LFM, or tag along with others doing mid/high Reapers. And that is... accurate. Sure. But a lot of players just don't like to get carried through dungeons. It kills the enjoyment of the game for them - and at that point, it doesn't matter how much loot or RXP you have. And I get it. I don't find that fun either. Then there are those who do not want to team up with other players whatsoever(bad experiences, or a personal preference). That is their prerogative. I try to help them get over that(if it's the former), but I'd never force them to group if they don't want to.

So while I always offer assistance, when I encounter these situations- I've stopped suggesting the route of always going for RXP at cap by default(for these types of players specifically). They just get very frustrated and would rather TR, than spend several weeks at cap farming for gear in the hopes that they may be able to tackle Legendary Reaper eventually. I've seen it time and again. I don't even blame them. Having fun comes first. Always.

...But I really do feel for them. The difference in RXP- if you do indeed take a little time each life to do some Legendary Reapers- is massive. And it shows. There are people who have played for many years regularly, or semi-regularly, who have yet to cross the 30 Reaper point mark. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that in isolation. Many people play DDO erratically(I do too). Or very casually. That's totally fine. Where it gets me, is the players who are actually striving to make that next step...but struggling to do so. And, of course, you have the problem of new players coming into an old MMO, where their expectations are warped by that of the existing community, as well as the priorities of the devs- which does them no favours.

I'm not sure what can be done to ease them into it a bit better. Maybe better stepping stone gear in late Epics? Making Sentience Toolkits more attainable, is a good start(I've looted very few in several years). Divvying RXP more equally across level ranges, would also help. Then again - it's also nice to have incentives to play at cap. I'm happy to hear any ideas/feedback on this topic.


Some tips I can give, if you do indeed find yourself in that stunted position are:


-Wilderness areas, like the Feywild(and Feytwisted chests)- along with saga rewards - are a pathway to getting some Legendary gear, with little fuss.

-As you're going through Heroics/Epics, with familiar old content - don't be afraid of bumping up the skulls, for a bit more RXP. A good example to consider is stuff like the Sorrowdusk chain. That's really old content and is, comparitively, much easier than newer stuff. So doing it on R2, R3, or R4 is quite feasible. Most of the quests are quick and straight-forward. The only thing you need to watch out for with Sorrowdusk is: the quest levels are staggered, and the penultimate quest in the Cult of the Six chain, is a bit more challenging. So feel free to drop that one back down to R1. Reaper mode & Legendary Reaper gets easier the more Reaper points you've accrued. It will get easier with time. Keep at it.

-Go for something universally good for your first sentient weapon(like a sceptre slotted with Heal Amp to swap to, as an example). If you routinely play the same, or a similar build - then you can start to specialize your sentient weapon earlier.

-Prioritize survivability in gear, enhancement, and past life choices to start off. If you're routinely getting one-shot - that is no fun at all. And there is less opportunity for learning.

-Be open about learning from other players, and community resources - as much as you can comfortably digest. But don't compromise your own enthusiasm or creativity. Exploring, experimenting, and making mistakes are all part of the process.

-Don't be too shy about putting up LFMs for gear/token farming(just be polite). Many players already have the pieces they need, and would gladly pass them. They'd happily take the XP in the process too!

-Sometimes, it's okay to TR instead of farming RXP. Like if you're not enjoying your build at all, or if you are itching to try a new class, race etc. For new players - starting over(after reincarnating) means more build points to work with. But if you can handle Legendary Reapers(some quests are easier than others) - do try spending at least a little time hitting them up. It's also fun to test your build at its "final stage".

-It's a game, at the end of the day. So play it your way. If you want nothing at all to do with Reaper mode(or Legendary Reapers initially), that's cool too. If you're having fun - you've won



Feel free to share your own tips for making Legendary Reaper, or RXP, more accessible.

 

[dur]

Reaper XP is nice. We all want it. We all need it. []

We don't .. I don't feel like I need RXP unless I'm focused on TR

 

[ChaoticDrivel]

We don't .. I don't feel like I need RXP unless I'm focused on TR

That opening was more poetic license than anything

You're correct, and I do acknowledge later that it's not mandatory for everyone.

 

[droid327]

I think I'm in that veteran casual soloist category mostly...but I disagree that LE is such a huge bump that it becomes a barrier to progress, or a "you must have LE gear to get LE gear" situation

You may need stepping stone gear to run LE, you may need a build that's not too underpowered at endgame, but LE is perfectly accessible with moderate Epic-tier gear: Heroic Sharn, epic Keep, Sands, Saltmarsh etc. are all perfectly serviceable in LE. You can also grind a dino bone weapon and level up a sentient jewel for it without ever needing to step into LE, and that's a huge boost to your endgame efficacy. You can get L32 Augments for Rems to cover your core stats. You can also tweak your Destiny spec to help - EA mantle is still great for self-healing solo...even though its not passive anymore, its basically a full heal every 5 seconds (especially in LE with no Reaper reduction).

If you try to start with a Legendary Sharn set and then fill in everything else afterwards...then yeah that might be difficult

Once you're equipped, though, LR1 is not that big an issue. I have an endgame alt, only third life, who I routinely run in R3-4 solo.

 

[DBZ]

I don't care 1 iota

You want it pick 1 stupid itr build u can stand and grind it

If you build specifically for it your not being carried like pick inquis build max range dps then post a group

Or a wizard instakiller crowd controller or a fvs instakiller raid healer

 

[Ptalon]

Most LFMs are for R1.
Yes it takes a lot, but you can get it.

Best to focus on one toon.
Most of mine have only 2 or 3 points if that.

My highest only has 68 Reaper points.

 

[axel15810]

One thing that would help grouping a lot is if players were not penalized for playing lower skulls first. The first time bonus working as it does means you get a massive RXP penalty if you play low reaper first. This means the game incentivizes players not to group with you if they are R10 level players and you are R1 level player.

The bonus should get the same treatment as old bravery bonus did and let players earn the rest of their first time reaper XP bonus on successive runs instead of it being completely wasted if their first run isn't their highest skull run.

 

[Baahb3]

What would help is if the community as a whole did not push Reaper as the default difficulty setting. I cannot scream enough how bad that is for players, from long time casuals to new ones. Reaper is/was/should be for those that have established builds. Know the ins and outs of them and are ready to push the difficulty level. Not something you feel expected to run.

IMO Reaper is both one of the best and worst things ever in DDO. It brought something great to the game. A place for those great players out there to test their mettle. But it was corrupted with trees to make it easier, the higher XP reward and most importantly the forms pushing it as "you must play reaper or you are a noob" type of posts.

I have been playing this game since 2006. I have close to 30 characters, 20 of them with at least 1 past life of some variety, a couple with over a 50 and one with over a 80. I have less than 50 reaper points across all of them. We need to stop pushing Reaper as the only place to be. And instead promote it as a place to visit once you have that character operating well in Elite content.

 

[saekee]

There are lots of ways to contribute to a high skull endgame group or even raids. One of the easiest ways is to be a rogue trapper with careful aggro management. You can do this as ranged or assassin; either is fine.

I posted a cheapo assassin cap gearset that is not too tough to assemble. Then one can transition slowly. This is an example—do an easy one with good defenses (like Saltmarsh, super easy, or the Lordsmarch set) then transition out of it. Raid gear will make a huge difference as will having a lot of sentient xp.

The sentient xp, like reaper xp and gear, all grows with the ride. As you work towards one thing like reaper xp, you get better gear, sentient xp, rare filigree etc. Then you start learning smeagol tricksies like I do to easily farm rare filigree, dino mats, sentient xp etc. That is fun in itself. Maybe I should post a guide for rogues.

For trapping, thankfully it is not hard to get max trapping on even a dex rogue.

 

[Ying]

Feel free to share your own tips for making Legendary Reaper, or RXP, more accessible.

1. Learn the quests so you know what works vs each mob, and more importantly, what doesn't work.

2. Play an effective build. Go deep and narrow with a build to be the best you can with it, rather than a jack-of-all-trades. Newer content is much less forgiving when it comes to monster saves. So your DCs for abilities need to be a focus, not an afterthought. If you're melee, you need to be breaking DR.

3. Farm out the gear you need, ideally before you play it. DDO provides excellent gear with set bonuses that doesn't require raiding. You can solo if you chose, but that leads to the next tip. Cannith Crafted gear is ok for leveling, but it's not going to hold up in mid-high reaper skulls.

4. Bring a full group. The game is infinitely easier with more people in the group: Mobs die faster, which means there's a smaller window for them to do damage which in turns you're minimizing the chance that you're going to die. More people also means more hands in the chest to pull named items.

Past lives are not required for reaper XP. Hardcore proves that season after season, where folks run R4 Legendary quests with first life characters.

You don't need to run R10 to accumulate reaper points. I soloed my way to wings on one character just running R1 while leveling and R3 Legendary content each life -- because of #1, #2, and #3 above.

 

[Fizban]

Reaper XP is nice. We all want it. We all need it. And those who have lots of it, want plenty of things to do with it.

But it doesn't come so easy for a fair few folks.

Your entire OP is based on an untrue premise "But it doesn't come so easy for a fair few folks". RXP is obtained by ALL players veterans or otherwise through heroic, epic, and legendary. Whether a player's RXP is capped or not we all started with 0 RXP and just took the dive. While it may have been painful (many deaths & fails) at first, we pushed through that to gain more successes.

The beauty of the game is that players can choose whatever difficulty they want to play at. I know many players that choose to only ever run on normal or hard and that is fine for them.

I don't see a need to change anything with how RXP is accumulated at all.

 

[Kimbere]

Tips for getting rxp?

tl;dr version - Put the time in. Knowledge of the game mechanics, systems, abilities, etc. is the key.

Not willing to put the time in? Adjust your expectations accordingly.

DDO is a mature, overly complicated game. Learning the ins and outs of it takes time and a focused effort.

Running a good build is the second most important thing. In-depth knowledge of the game mechanics and systems makes identifying good builds much easier.

Gear, RXP and past lives are tertiary. They help but those come easily once you have a proficient working knowledge of the game.

Last but not least, make some friends. Everything's better and easier with friends.

 

[T.O.]

What would help is if the community as a whole did not push Reaper as the default difficulty setting. I cannot scream enough how bad that is for players, from long time casuals to new ones. Reaper is/was/should be for those that have established builds. Know the ins and outs of them and are ready to push the difficulty level. Not something you feel expected to run.

IMO Reaper is both one of the best and worst things ever in DDO. It brought something great to the game. A place for those great players out there to test their mettle. But it was corrupted with trees to make it easier, the higher XP reward and most importantly the forms pushing it as "you must play reaper or you are a noob" type of posts.

I have been playing this game since 2006. I have close to 30 characters, 20 of them with at least 1 past life of some variety, a couple with over a 50 and one with over a 80. I have less than 50 reaper points across all of them. We need to stop pushing Reaper as the only place to be. And instead promote it as a place to visit once you have that character operating well in Elite content.

So veterans need to gatekeep players that want to play and learn but aren't established enough. Got it. No more all are welcome lfms for R8+. I don't want to force anyone to join.

 

[Baahb3]

So veterans need to gatekeep players that want to play and learn but aren't established enough. Got it. No more all are welcome lfms for R8+. I don't want to force anyone to join.

I said nothing of the sort. If people want to join those LFMs, fine, whatever. But the idea put forth that Reaper is the default difficulty by many on the forms push people to join those LFMs before they are ready.

 

[The Narc]

Tips for getting rxp?

tl;dr version - Put the time in. Knowledge of the game mechanics, systems, abilities, etc. is the key.

Not willing to put the time in? Adjust your expectations accordingly.

DDO is a mature, overly complicated game. Learning the ins and outs of it takes time and a focused effort.

Running a good build is the second most important thing. In-depth knowledge of the game mechanics and systems makes identifying good builds much easier.

Gear, RXP and past lives are tertiary. They help but those come easily once you have a proficient working knowledge of the game.

Last but not least, make some friends. Everything's better and easier with friends.

This pretty much nails it on the head!

Finding a good (strong and survivable) build you enjoy is also a great starting point, use it to either power out iconic TR(these grant heroic live too) or at the very least Racial TR(every race that completes 3 TRs is going to grant a +1 stat and an extra racial enhancement point), a good strong build with a hireling should be able to power thru 80% of the quests up to level 15/16 sharn quests with little to no problem on R1 or R2 with low lives and minimal gear.

The permadeath guild I am in has vets and some average players, but all are refining and/or learining to play reaper more effectively, we play without ship buffs, house p buffs, no hirelings, first life toons running quests at an equivalent or harder quest level than hardcore, find what you get gear with no loot farming and run plenty on R1/R2, and even have some groups running R4(more synergy involved here)

If you want to get better at running reaper look us up and give us a try, we are on argo server, guild name is;

EXTREME MORTAL VOYAGE PERMADEATH

Just go to the who tab and search by guild to find one of our team or pm me here and we can organize a time to meet up.

Have fun and happy hunting!

 

[T.O.]

I said nothing of the sort. If people want to join those LFMs, fine, whatever. But the idea put forth that Reaper is the default difficulty by many on the forms push people to join those LFMs before they are ready.

Got to jump in the fire at some point. Come on in it is warm.

 

[rabidfox]

But the idea put forth that Reaper is the default difficulty by many on the forms push people to join those LFMs before they are ready.

I routinely point out that there's entire groups of long time players that never run reapers and that newbies should play for fun, flowersniff, explore, and experiment with builds on whatever difficulties then enjoy/can handle. The players that run normal/hard(and to some extent elite) likely never need to touch the forums looking for builds nor gearing advice; flavor builds with random gear will pull them thru those difficulties. So their forum presence will be softer as there is little reason for them to actively speak up. It may make the forums give a skewed view towards reaper being the only game in town, but that's the nature of harder difficulties bringing out those who will post builds and talk about what works/doesn't work on those settings.

 

[ChaoticDrivel]

I think I'm in that veteran casual soloist category mostly...but I disagree that LE is such a huge bump that it becomes a barrier to progress, or a "you must have LE gear to get LE gear" situation

Well, you are a solid player droid327. I know you can math it out with the best of them, and have a tolerance for farming that far exceeds mine. Heck, I don't even like repeating the same quests two lives in a row!

These players I'm referring to, are probably several rungs lower on the(bugged) ladder of laid-backness. Going from LH to LE is a big deal to them. I've witnessed it over and over. A smattering of Epic gear only goes so far for them. As we all know - there's more to it than that.

Thanks for bringing up the dino weapon, and augments. Those are definitely things people don't take enough advantage of.

There are lots of ways to contribute to a high skull endgame group or even raids. One of the easiest ways is to be a rogue trapper with careful aggro management. You can do this as ranged or assassin; either is fine.

I posted a cheapo assassin cap gearset that is not too tough to assemble. Then one can transition slowly. This is an example—do an easy one with good defenses (like Saltmarsh, super easy, or the Lordsmarch set) then transition out of it. Raid gear will make a huge difference as will having a lot of sentient xp.

The sentient xp, like reaper xp and gear, all grows with the ride. As you work towards one thing like reaper xp, you get better gear, sentient xp, rare filigree etc. Then you start learning smeagol tricksies like I do to easily farm rare filigree, dino mats, sentient xp etc. That is fun in itself. Maybe I should post a guide for rogues.

For trapping, thankfully it is not hard to get max trapping on even a dex rogue.

Good tips. Aggro management is something a lot of us could be better with(myself included). I try very hard to ensure no one in the group dies, so when it happens - I feel awful.

In addition to being a trapper - playing a Cleric/FvS/Bard is also an easy way to assist one's party members. But I'm hesitant to insist on that as a pathway for folks to break into Reaper groups - only because I've noticed that some people don't react well to "being told" to play a certain build, or a certain way, just so that they can be deemed to be of use. I prefer to let people play whatever takes their fancy, and help them make it work. For those who don't have hang ups about that, or are wanting to quickly integrate into a group of friends who do Reapers - going for a support option, like the aforementioned ones, are a great point of entry.

And if someone is thinking about doing so on a ranged build - that can work too. But something you will want to do is: wait for your beefier party members to grab the aggro, before you release that arrow/bolt

It's funny you mentioned an assassin...I once encountered a party that I had the pleasure of grouping with a few times, that consisted of a husband, wife and their kid (trying to do Reaper mode with kids in tow is an art, in and of itself). The young'un was playing an assassin type character, and we would let him scurry forward and take out a mob or two, before collapsing on the rest. It was an amusing time, but it did highlight how someone can contribute- and feel good doing so- without necessarily playing a healbot, or needing to be decked out in gear. I enjoy a lot about Reaper mode, but I despise how it ruined stealth play to the degree it did.

I always enjoy your posts, so if you do indeed post a guide for Rogues - I will be sure to check it out

One thing that would help grouping a lot is if players were not penalized for playing lower skulls first. The first time bonus working as it does means you get a massive RXP penalty if you play low reaper first. This means the game incentivizes players not to group with you if they are R10 level players and you are R1 level player.

The bonus should get the same treatment as old bravery bonus did and let players earn the rest of their first time reaper XP bonus on successive runs instead of it being completely wasted if their first run isn't their highest skull run.

This is a big deal, with a seemingly straight-forward solution. Thank you for bringing it up.

The permadeath guild I am in has vets and some average players, but all are refining and/or learining to play reaper more effectively, we play without ship buffs, house p buffs, no hirelings, first life toons running quests at an equivalent or harder quest level than hardcore, find what you get gear with no loot farming and run plenty on R1/R2, and even have some groups running R4(more synergy involved here)

If you want to get better at running reaper look us up and give us a try, we are on argo server, guild name is;

EXTREME MORTAL VOYAGE PERMADEATH

Just go to the who tab and search by guild to find one of our team or pm me here and we can organize a time to meet up.

Have fun and happy hunting!

Love this.

 

[ChaoticDrivel]

I said nothing of the sort. If people want to join those LFMs, fine, whatever. But the idea put forth that Reaper is the default difficulty by many on the forms push people to join those LFMs before they are ready.

When the devs decided to make Reaper mode give more power, and the most XP - they made it the default difficulty.

I agree it has had unfortunate consequences, but alas...here we are.

 

[Sarlona Raiding]

From my perspective having one or more characters permanently at cap (even first lifers) to farm gear and or run raids will help alot. Although you can't pass raid gear the rune system allows you to gear a character up without running raids on that specific character. There are a number of first-life end game builds that will work in reaper and can solo content. They are the builds people play on hardcore which changes frequently as nerfs/changes happen.