When does Reaper become important (and other questions)?
- Thread starter Oolou
- Start date
Ring from Feywild Combatting Corruption!! Lifechanger! Universal option, min level 5! Excellent item that makes the reaper difficulty far less punishing.
Fast quest to do, people like doing it and help with getting said item too.
As to whether you should do reaper or not... If you like it, do it. If you don't, don't. R1 is most efficient experience/time if you can complete if you care about that, a lot of people don't. Fun is not entirely derived out of numbers going up and fun in general is entirely subjective.
Regardless of any numeral reward system or efficiency or whatever, I find reaper most efficient fun/time regardless if I complete or not because I enjoy the process of bumping up difficulty, failing, thinking about what to do better and going again. That is not for everyone, and that is perfectly a-ok. I could never go back to what feels uneventful in non-reaper compared to an "unlucky" encounter in Reaper requiring you to stop, think and react differently from what you normally do.
If that sounds like something you might enjoy, then I would highly recommend tackling reaper quests! Maybe pick quests you know well at first and can manage well to see exactly how reaper changes things for you.
Mornyngstar
Well-known member
"Should I bother with trying reaper in my second life?"
Yes you should try reaper. The xp is more and as you gain Reaper XP then reaper running gets easier.
"Or should I wait until I have more lives under my belt?"
All my toons run reaper and a majority of them are first lifers, some with Epic Lives tacked on . Caelol is a first lifer cleric no past lives at all and she is currently sitting at 29 Reaper Points. (Got dragged thru so many R10 quests since people knew I would do a good job at healing.) I could hit anything to kill it except by accident but I did contribute in my own way.
"Is it possible to enjoy the game without ever doing reaper?"
All depends on your play style. I have commented for many years that I need to make a guild call Hero Support (not side kicks), since my play style can compliment the groups that way.
"Do you find it fun?"
DDO is always fun (until you lose the lv 20 epic armor in the sea of 46 toons and after 7 hours of looking still haven't found it and already leveled Iaewen, the toon you needed it for back up to lv 32 but need it for the next toon you are Epic TRing, which is Caelol).
I personally like running R1-R4 but there are times when the person joining your group wants higher, so you inform them what levels you are comfortable with and that they will have to carry the load for the higher reaper levels and then adjust the playstyle according to the level and what you are capable of.
Yes you should try reaper. The xp is more and as you gain Reaper XP then reaper running gets easier.
"Or should I wait until I have more lives under my belt?"
All my toons run reaper and a majority of them are first lifers, some with Epic Lives tacked on . Caelol is a first lifer cleric no past lives at all and she is currently sitting at 29 Reaper Points. (Got dragged thru so many R10 quests since people knew I would do a good job at healing.) I could hit anything to kill it except by accident but I did contribute in my own way.
"Is it possible to enjoy the game without ever doing reaper?"
All depends on your play style. I have commented for many years that I need to make a guild call Hero Support (not side kicks), since my play style can compliment the groups that way.
"Do you find it fun?"
DDO is always fun (until you lose the lv 20 epic armor in the sea of 46 toons and after 7 hours of looking still haven't found it and already leveled Iaewen, the toon you needed it for back up to lv 32 but need it for the next toon you are Epic TRing, which is Caelol).
I personally like running R1-R4 but there are times when the person joining your group wants higher, so you inform them what levels you are comfortable with and that they will have to carry the load for the higher reaper levels and then adjust the playstyle according to the level and what you are capable of.
Nimvind
Dirgesinger Bard of Sarlona
I been playing DDO for 13 years, and most those years Reaper Mode wasnt even a thing and I had tons of fun, just doing Elites.
That being said, I believe reaper mode is more about gear and dungeon knowledge with a lil bit of rng luck. Go ahead and start reaper when youre comfortable. It helps to have friends. It's not needed but all the reaper core enhancements past the first one benefits you outside of Reaper Mode too!
Oolou
Member
I don't have Saltmarsh or Feywild yet, but the wiki said there's a trinket in Housekeeping - Book of Spirits - which has ethereal on it that I could try for. I may look into investing in some of these expansion packs. I haven't so far as I wanted to see what the game was like - money is tight right now and I need to be able to justify the purchase in my head. I'm currently saving up the points I get from favor to unlock the shared bank.
Lazuli
Well-known member
that trinket is fine.
Another option is Mabar's ruby of ghostbane. Probably many people on your server would be willing to give you one.
In 13 days SSG will give an xpack for free. I recommend taking IoD.
FVSHasBeenEvenMoreGutted
Well-known member
another person falls for the trap that elite is never easier than reaper mode with a few points...
Oliphant
Well-known member
Grouping is a big factor to consider when thinking about diffs and its subjective to your server and playtime and preferences. One reason to consider R1 leveling is the numbers and types of players your lfm's will attract - R1 still seems popular. The biggest awkwardness will be at the beginning when you have no points, making it a tad harder to lead or join groups. My advice would be jump in and don't worry during the times when it feels like you can't contribute as much as you think you should, especially for just joining lfms. Its an old, deep progression game so its natural sometimes you will be in groups with a bunch of Gandalfs while you're still just a humble burglar - its fine and few people will bother you about it. Getting a leg up on reaper points by posting at cap for a bit can really help, but consider actually farming out a gearset and using a serious endgame (level 32) build as the content and difficulty will lowkey demand it. Vibewise, on Orien during peak hours for USA, it seems like if you are running in R6 or below, people won't expect that everyone is running an old, developed character - R6 and below at cap nowadays seems like a democratic difficulty for vets that want to chill and newer toons that want to get a leg up.
Mordenkainen
Please SSG, no more nerfs. Thank you!
Also don't get doscouraged when you pop into a Reaper and you feel like your character is doing nothing.Thanks for all the responses - it's good to hear the different perspectives. As I'm not VIP I am running on hard difficulty (second life) as I level and it's giving me sufficient xp so far. But if I see a R1 group on the LFM board, I may try joining in
I am having fun. Definitely.
Those dudes doing Reapers have full Reaper boards and ALL the past lives and ALL the best gear, they are literally 4 of you in a single character.
This game has a giant chasm between the old school vets and new players such as yourself, the power differences are crazy.
rabidfox
The People's Champion
It's the person behind the keyboard that's the biggest difference. Game knowledge is huge; new players don't know what mobs to focus fire on, what CC works with their build, etc. Knowing how to build and what gear choices to make is massive. I've been actively out zerging and out killing people with my no-tomes 1st lifer in meh gear the past few days (I was going to say no reaper points, but I've gotten a few so far while leveling). One needs the stats/setup to function in the difficulty chosen, but that's about all. And there's other players I know that'll put me to shame with what they can do; always a bigger fish out there that can do more with less.
Mordenkainen
Please SSG, no more nerfs. Thank you!
Which is why we should do variations of Hardcore where you have "no named gear", "no past lives", "no reaper abilities", and "no buffs" etc.
I would REALLY want to see the leaderboards in that HC season.
rabidfox
The People's Champion
Outside no-named gear, we already do all that on HC. If you know the game and know how to build/gear then one can rock things. Lag death, a bad champ 1 shotting someone, or just playing sloppy will end that character for the season. "No named gear" would just make gearing even more RNG heavy (and slow/grindy) but isn't going to close the gap for players ability to function. I'm guessing you don't do HC.