When does Reaper become important (and other questions)?

[Lazuli]

A pack of ghouls that includes a champ or two can take down my Fighter pretty easily without a hire present. The biggest challenge in that kind of encounter is protecting the hireling so they can heal properly. Sometimes the global cool down on Second Wind is enough to drop the Fighter.

The point is that when I am DPS casting those ghouls all die before they get a swing in.

Reaper has exposed the flaws in the games systems much more than earlier difficulties did.

With all due respect, I think you need to improve your melee play. It's not a playstyle problem, it's your problem. The hire is to heal between fights. A good melee doesn't need constant babysitting.

 

[Stoner81]

I'm still trying to understand reaper, so bear with me please.

NO! Keep up slow poke! Just kidding! Welcome to the game, great to have you here!

I've just started my second life (yay!) and didn't try reaper difficulty in my first life. What I've noticed from the LFM board, is that R1 difficulty is generally typical.

Reaper has become the norm for levelling because it gives the most XP. This "becomes" more important on a 3rd life character since they require 3.8 million XP to reach level 20. Now, having said that "becomes" is in quotes because there is now so much heroic XP in the game that I'm not convinced it matters to much but people (myself included) like to level quickly to get on with whatever they are doing.

I'm getting the impression that reaper is more important at end game. I'm thinking it was probably introduced to challenge the players who were DDO experts with amazing builds.

It's huge at level cap (currently 32) since there are multipliers which give huge boosts to Reaper XP gained while there. Add in XP potions and other boosts and you can rack up points in not a lot of time by running R6 and upwards.

Should I bother with trying reaper in my second life?

It's YOUR game! You play HOW YOU WANT TO PLAY! With that said though I would say sure try it! Why not? You can always come out and reset the dungeon if it's to hard for you to do and choose a different difficulty

Or should I wait until I have more lives under my belt?

See previous answer.

Is it possible to enjoy the game without ever doing reaper?

Absolutely! Like I said, it's YOUR game! Play it HOW YOU WANT TO PLAY IT!

Do you find it fun?

Fun for me is gaining power through past lives and making my character complete. As a result I run Reapers because it makes that process faster.

Stoner81.

 

[Grimstad]

Reaper content was invented by SSG for those players that were so advanced that Elite was too easy and boring. If you're a new player however, you don't want to get in the ring with Mike Tyson. There's no shame in playing at Normal or Hard. The point is to enjoy the game and move your character forward, little by little. Learn the quests until you have them memorized. If you're getting killed in every game trying to play reaper, you will get frustrated and leave the game. This is what happened to me. I've been with DDO for years, but always got frustrated trying to overplay my character. Setting ego aside, I now play at the level that is challenging for my toon, but allows me to TR quicker without spending time at a tavern eating Enchanted Ghallanda Rations and losing xp by re-entering the quest many times after dying. Some of the more advanced players claim they can TR a character in 2 days. It used to take me 2 months, now takes me 2 weeks. I still only reaper at the lowest levels, and then not often. My goal is to reach a level where I can reaper comfortably. Who knows how long that will take? TR over and over with Completionist as your first goal.

Are you playing a melee character? Get a few barbarian and fighter lives under your belt. You can later use those lives toward triple completionist if you care to.

DDO is a game that is easy to play, but complex to play well. It takes years of game play to reach a level of excellence. This forum has been very helpful to me. The guys are very willing to help a beginner.

The easiest way for a beginner to level used to be to join groups, but that is difficult now, because most of the pickup groups reaper. So, plug away at solo, have fun, and don't stress reaper content.

 

[DBZ]

For completionist iconic trs are easier and faster you have more power starting at 14 then 1

 

[The Nameless One]

Just play a EZ mode caster and start doing R1's. I found starting at Hard or normal is just plain counter-intuitive for this game. The lowest setting in DDO is R1.

 

[DBZ]

You mean EZ mode DRAGONLORDS

 

[The Nameless One]

You mean EZ mode DRAGONLORDS

Man......Dlords are gonna get nerfed so hard.

This is such a bad way to introduce a new class, not to mention it puts a bad taste in the mouth of players.

Anyway, I don't understand why it's their policy to introduce something that is relatively OP just to nerf it and make people super upset later on.

I mean, am I missing something?

 

[Lazuli]

The easiest way for a beginner to level used to be to join groups, but that is difficult now, because most of the pickup groups reaper. So, plug away at solo, have fun, and don't stress reaper content.

No, don't be afraid to group up in R1 with the veterans, even if you feel that your characters are fragile. We have all had fragile characters at the beginning. Very few veterans will care about that, on the contrary, if you say you are new they will probably pass you named loot and help you with some advice, and explain to you what you don't understand.

Grouping is always beneficial, because it will speed up your learning (and yes, it is a complicated spell, but that is part of its charm) and will help you get the first reaper points more easily.

 

[Lazuli]

For completionist iconic trs are easier and faster you have more power starting at 14 then 1

I agree, but for new players is better to learn the game since low levels.

For a new player, speed is not as important as learning how your build and the game in general works. And learning how to handle a build at level 14 can be daunting. It is better to learn from level 1, because only then do you really end up understanding it.

I recently made completionist on one of my alts via the iconic route. It's faster and for me more fun. I don't recommend it to a new player, however. A new player won't fully understand a build at an advanced stage, it's better to start when the build is simple.

 

[DBZ]

1 single carnage in harbors without any cc on any new player is almost a death sentance idk what level dls get cc or if it works on reapers

 

[Br4d]

Man......Dlords are gonna get nerfed so hard.

This is such a bad way to introduce a new class, not to mention it puts a bad taste in the mouth of players.

Anyway, I don't understand why it's their policy to introduce something that is relatively OP just to nerf it and make people super upset later on.

I mean, am I missing something?

Things are made OP so that people will play them. They're nerfed down the road so the next OP thing will get played enough to justify the development cost.

 

[The Nameless One]

Things are made OP so that people will play them. They're nerfed down the road so the next OP thing will get played enough to justify the development cost.

Stop the cycle of madness!

 

[Br4d]

Stop the cycle of madness!

At this point in time most of DDO is that cycle. You can't really stop the only reason the game is alive and well.

 

[Br4d]

Dragonlord has roarrs try them

Park hires never use them in combat get umd and scroll heal yourself if u must

I have never had the ability to scroll heal in heroics on a Fighter. Just not built that way.

 

[DBZ]

UMD skill and a cha umd gear item swap you can reliably self heal without useless hires

Best skill in the game and or fvs splash for mm immunity works

 

[Lazuli]

At this point in time most of DDO is that cycle. You can't really stop the only reason the game is alive and well.

No, the cycle of op things followed by overnerfs is killing the game, not keeping it alive. Many people have quit the game or are on the verge of quitting. Displeasing customers is not a good way to retain them.

 

[DDO Gaming]

I'm still trying to understand reaper, so bear with me please. I've just started my second life (yay!) and didn't try reaper difficulty in my first life. What I've noticed from the LFM board, is that R1 difficulty is generally typical. I'm getting the impression that reaper is more important at end game.

Its a test of skills etc and you choose your skill mode (ie normal, hard, elite etc) based on the meetingpoint between
1. your personal skill-level
2. "I can't handle this anymore" stresslevel

 

[Oliphant]

Kensei fighter is a tad trickier for people new to it, Dragonlord just works if you invest in the tree, but is DL really that OP compared to Kensei built right?