Why do beginners give up the game? Why so few players?

[Owlbear]

Well the reason a lot of beginners give up is because they aren't used to this kind of game anymore. New generation of gamers are used to games that are easy to pick up and gaming standards of today. DDO is an old game and from before this time. It doesn't ease in new players but it throws a lot of options at them without explaining much of them. DDO needs a lot of investment to get to know the game and it's mechanics. We've all been there playing a caster and run out of mana all the time and getting annoyed... There are a lot of good tips already posted here and the DDO Wiki is a new players best friend.

Important things for more spell points:
- Make sure your caster ability score is high (for Wizard this is Intelligence)
- Have Echoes of Power so you regen some spellpoints when you run empty (A lot of classes like Wizards and Sorcerers get this at level 1)
- When you loot chests try find loot that give you more spellpoints (Wizardry prefix) or spellpower (Potency) so your spells do more damage and you need to cast them less often.
- Use the spells you get from your Enhancement tree. You can use Metamagic feats on them without the extra SP cost and often make them better with more Enhancement Points)
- Metamagic Feats don't have to be always on. You can right-click each spell icon on your action bar and set the Metamagic Feat you want be active on it
- Use Rest Shrines to get Spellpoints back
- Level up to get stronger and more spellpoints.
- Group with other players so you don't have to kill everything yourself.

 

[Mindos]

Bard used to be awesome for that and then they nerf'd sonic blast; it was one the nicest early heroic casters around for a while before that AoE nerf.

Did they ever give a reason? Just that the Deus/Devs/Gods were angry?

 

[Mindos]

Metamagic Feats don't have to be always on. You can right-click each spell icon on your action bar and set the Metamagic Feat you want be active on it

Also you can drag as many copies of the spell that you want down to the hotbar. Put metamagics on one, leave off on another, or any combo you want, etc.

 

[The_Apocalypse]

Low level wiz soloing Heroic content = skeleton pet.

 

[Xgya]

Did they ever give a reason? Just that the Deus/Devs/Gods were angry?

You can easily see the difference between Burning Hands and old Sonic Blast (both level 1 AoE spells). Sonic Blast has the better MCL, the better range and the larger AoE, while they both deal the same damage per CL.
I do think that not giving back anything feels very ham-fisted (as now it's worse in almost every single way compared to the elemental bolts).

Introducing a caster that could capitalize on the spell at a lower level probably made them realize the spell itself was too good for its level.

It's the same reason we saw the nerf to Ratcatcher. Before anyone could properly use the crossbow, it wasn't seen anywhere, so it wasn't a problem.

 

[Solarpower]

An RPG where the Wizard is always out of mana and has no way to buy mana potions, nor is there any way to even drain mana, is not an RPG.

In the source a Wizard must rest for 8 hours to replenish his spells. And that source is the very first RPG game created. ?
So, you know, according to this, it's other games are not RPGs. ?

(Also, I've played WoW... A Wizard there can be out of mana in seconds.)

If this game requires a Wizard to act like a Gandalf, swinging swords to save mana

Nope. This game requires full 6 people group to run the dungeon. If you're out of mana - step aside and let other 5 party members do the job.
Well, the more you play, the less you would need to group till one day you can solo everything.

Mana potions, developers...mana potions...

If all you need are mana potions, you can buy them in the in-game store... But you don't really need them.
Low levels might be tough. So what ? Swing that sword for a little bit. You can even get melee support in one of the Wizard's enhancements trees and reroll points into caster later.

---

Caster Druid is super thirsty for mana at low level even when you know what you're doing and have gear.

Caster Druid play is best as a melee till Call Lightning SLA. ?

 

[Bolseiro do Condado]

Elf is my favorite for a first life caster. You can gain back spell points with Fey Energy Tap 5 times before resting. I use it when i first enter a dungeon and then as often as i can as there is a 2 min cooldown.

Fey Energy Tap: Activate: A drop of blood lets you tap into the endless energy of the realm of the fey, giving yourself or an ally temporary spell points, 10% incorporeality, and a -2 penalty to Will saving throws while they last. This ability can be used one/three/five times per rest. (Activation Cost: 1 HP. Cooldown: 2 minutes) (24 Spell points +6 per level) Note: Restores an initial amount of spell points (100sp?), after which every spell subsequently cast will grant the temp spell points (24 SP +6 Per Level) on top of the initial '100sp'.

This goes well with the cleric hirelings that have the spell Divine Vitality:

List of Hirelings
level 2 Belest Relethwyn
level 3 Elieri Thistledown
level 4 Maloren
level 5 Kendra Estleton
level 6 Arias Oreth
level 6 Mareth Lorestryn
level 7 Laerathor
level 9 Marissa Lorle
level 11 Arkyn Shahrud
level 12 Miranda Kelven
level 14 Tempys Lorben
level 15 Jatrina Sartosa
level 16 Natasha Thorston
level 17 Ayron Staliya

Spell point management is a very annoying part of DDO that causes me to turn the game off sometimes.

Casting buffs is another annoying part of DDO spell casting but you can set macros to make it more tolerable lol.

While playing Elf for Fey Energy Tap and using hirelings with Divine Vitality help alleviate the SP issue you must also learn to manage your usage as others have suggested here.

I really wanted to thank you for all the advice and tips, especially this one, even though regeneration is slow, I found this idea extremely useful.

I really appreciate everyone's education and patience. In fact, all these tips were great. I really liked it, thank you!

Today at level 7, Wizard 5, Rogue 1, Bard 1, it took me 1 hour to finish the quest Irestone Inlet, because I used the tactic of committing suicide when the mana ran out, and then I would send my Hireling or my skeleton to get my soulstone and we would go walking to the nearest sanctuary, without leaving the phase, and with that I was resurrected with almost maximum mana.

I also have the habit of, instead of using attack spells, I started using defense spells, which last 5 minutes each, and I always carry wands and resistance potions in my inventory to allow me to attack with the very good meelee weapons I have. Or with ranged weapons, since I have the benefits of the halfling race.

But even though I do all this to save spell points, the mana still runs out very quickly, especially when I have to heal my own cleric (believe me), or heal my skeleton so that neither of them dies. I play a very laborious position game, ordering the cleric to stand still at a safe distance, and then call him, but I have to do all this very quickly, and it doesn't always work out. Then I have to run like crazy, position myself better and summon the two allies away from the monsters. All these things make the missions very time-consuming, but electrifying and fun...but it's too painful.

That other tip about positioning myself better to do area damage was really great. In fact, I was already starting to plan to do this, as I only had one area damage spell. And it's difficult to know which others have this effect. Today I found a second spell that does this, and it's sound. But the mana expenditure if I use two spells will be sad. However, the tip to stop casting magic on a single target was useful. I confess that I was doing this a lot in moments of desperation

I really appreciate all the tips, thank you!

 

[Aelastiar]

For a new player? Thanks Captain Obvious.

Well done on helping a new player out as well.

I guess you like DDO becoming more and more cliquey every year as more and more people leave.

The guy is experienced at rpgs and hes coming to the forums with a problem and just complaining about it all the while dictating what needs to change in the game, concerning an almost non-issue mind, rather than coming to the forums with a problem and asking for a solution. There's no helping him tbh.

 

[Indyanna]

I've been playing for 5 weeks and, honestly, like most of those who come to know this game, I've given up playing.

An RPG where the Wizard is always out of mana and has no way to buy mana potions, nor is there any way to even drain mana, is not an RPG.

Every RPG I've ever played has never had problems with mana. And in every RPG I've ever played, I only play Wizard.

If this game requires a Wizard to act like a Gandalf, swinging swords to save mana for the final boss of each stage, then make the Wizard as strong as a Gandalf. And even if they did this, it still wouldn't be an RPG Wizard, but at least this would be helpful.

This game has no wizards. Real wizards use mana, but if this game doesn't have easily accessible mana potions, then this is not an RPG, but rather a slot game, where we have to pay real money to at least have the basics to do the basics, which is that the Wizard has mana!

Can someone please tell the developers that Wizard needs mana?

I'm not even going to list the other thousand defects of this game so as not to run out of mana.

This explains why games like Tibia have had 32 thousand players online for two decades, while this one, if it has 1,600, is a lot. And look, Tibia didn't even have sound until two years ago...

Mana potions, developers...mana potions...

Ok so first of all it’s not just an rpg.. it’s an MMOrpg you could (I know this might seem a little wild) but you COULD group with other people to take some of the burden of the dungeon to help conserve mana.

Then you could shrine through the quest to assist you and get your mana back, then you have also pigeon holed yourself to wizard for your first ever character (idk if it’s a wise choice as a first class in DDO tbh).

You could also use SLA’s, to reduce mana usage/metamagics.

Then.. I’m not sure if you know this.. you can BUY mana pots. Yep you can buy your very own pots.. from the store. Or sometimes you might get them from chests/dice rolls etc

You can also farm out rings of spell storing from the sands wilderness and then you can get some mana back any time.. you can make an epic and a legendary one too. So once you get up in levels you’ll have more mana you can give yourself from those rings.

A mysterious bauble can help too

I know the items may not be useful/usable til later levels but they exist and that’s the main point.

There are numerous ways to help with this.. just ask all of those who have played this game for years

 

[Titus Ovid]

Another possible source for saving spell points is the use of scrolls, especially for buffs. Even low lvl scrolls have a duration of about 5 min for most. And I do carry potions of lesser resto or remove poison/curse with me, as well.

Wizard needs a skill for resource management, that is true. And since this is based on D&D where you feel especially useless in low levels as a wizard it is a good adaptation, imo. You can overcome this obstacle with knowledge and experience.


Cheers,
Titus

 

[Eliendra]

Another thing to keep in mind is that usually, you don't have to kill every monster (or even most monsters). Run past one pack, circle the next pack as the first pack catches up, jump-cast Burning Hands to drop most of them, and keep running onward. The stragglers might catch up for the next cast deeper into the quest. A single cast of invisibility can sometimes save you a lot of SP too.

If you're having to heal your Cleric hireling, it might be worth considering if they're really adding value currently?
Hireling personality matters a lot. One Cleric might be very aggressive and dump all their SP on damage spells, while some Bard might actually be a careful buffer and healer. And a beefy fighter might kill monsters so fast that they save you a lot of SP. The description on the contract usually describes them well.
How you use them matters a lot too. You can have them act at-will, and basically hope that that's good enough (which can be the case if their personality suits that). But usually (for healer / buffer hirelings), having them stand ground passively, way out of combat, and just calling them to you and using their abilities manually between every few fights, is most efficient.

You mentioned being a 5 Wizard / 1 Rogue / 1 Bard. Multiclassing can be very useful, but it's important to be aware of what you're getting, and what you're giving up. For example, unless you're building towards some kind of swashbuckling Eldritch Knight, the Bard level is probably not giving you anything significant that couldn't be had with some extra platinum (which might seem tight early on, but becomes plentiful pretty soon) and/or some points towards Use Magic Device. But it's costing you a whole level of Wizard spell and Core Enhancement progression (and extra SP, and extra duration on your buffs etc ).

 

[Archest]

Learning to multitask to conserve mana. maybe use spells that use less Mana and dont spam the heavy Mana spells.
rays work long range and use less Mana than aoe spells. they can be more powerful if used with lore and spell power items.
setup for some close range defensive melee in medium armor ( EK)
use enhancement tree spells they use less spell points as well.
watch which spells you heighten .

 

[Quartis]

oh multiclass wizard, that gimps down your spells impact and your spell point pool, but allows to have various none wizard things instead. With 2 none wizard levels you are 1 grade behind (while leveling to 20).

I once leveled a pure wizard and a wizard with 2 rouge levels for trapping, the multiclass wizard needed to be creative to be effective in elite+.

 

[Archest]

oh multiclass wizard, that gimps down your spells impact and your spell point pool, but allows to have various none wizard things instead. With 2 none wizard levels you are always 1 grade behind.

I once leveled a pure wizard and a wizard with 2 rouge levels for trapping, the multiclass wizard needed to be creative to be effective in elite+.

you can compensate for castor levels lost from multiclassing. but you can't get the top tier spells from levels 19 and 20.

 

[Nervnerd Dwyne]

some tips for a new first life wizard:

play human and take the feats maximize and mental toughness.

next if you have access to keep on the borderlands: go kill all the rares on loop till you've killed them all for some easy starter xp and gotten enough tokens for a basic mount and can purchase a caster spellpower stick.
that stick will last you for a long while honestly till ravenloft if you have that.

while not as useful at max level, while leveling in heroics: grab 1 point into the skelly minion from pale master tree. he is okay damage wise, can
carry your soul stone if you die and are near a rest shrine, and can flip most strenght switchs/levers.

try to bring along a follower/hireling that has either summon monster or divine vitality. summon monsters are okay even in higher teirs of play
so long as you pay attention to them but in lower stuff like hard or such, they are perfectly okay.

speaking of summon monsters, try to use stuff that lasts for a longer time to make the most of your spell points. some of the lower level summon monster spells are okay yourself to use: summon monster 1 with the celestial dog for example is okay into lv 3 ish quests(base three not higher) and can add some okay added bodies.

try and grab the following spell-like abilities:
greater color spray: feydark illusionist core 3 requires lv6. you'll need access to this tree but this is a solid ability for cc with low cost

shadowblade: feydark illusionist again. this is like a single magic missile blast with okay force damage. you will probably grow out of it but its okay starting out.

magic missile: core 1 archmage. 1 point magic missile as the actual spell. scales with you as normal but costs 2 spell points regardless of metamagics attached. has a 6 second recharge before you can cast again, but you can throw this out at the harder targets and chunk them faster while you do other things and let your minions work for you.

pick up mage armor and the shield spell from eldritch knight. eldritch knight should be your primary focus after picking up skelly and magic missle honestly till you have arcane barrier( https://ddowiki.com/page/Arcane_Barrier ). this will boost your survival alot and add alot of hp to you as well.

do not pick up an undead form from pale master until you can cast the spell level 4 death aura. potions are fairly good enough plus having a cleric hireling should cover you well enough honestly.


like real table top also carry scrolls if you can afford them as well as many many potions.

some decent lowbie scrolls to aim for from just the vendor in the market place you can obtain:
summon monster 1: same duration as if you cast the spell and options for summon. saves a slot.
expeditious retreat: only 5 minute duration but still helpful if you are lacking it as a clicky item or other run speed source.
false life: some extra hp okay for starting out, quickly stop caring about it.
gust of wind: useful for clearing fog effects and such. you probably want these forever tbh just for that niche use.
invisibility: just set your minions to wait in a spot and cast this on you and then when you get to where you need to fight, click their recall and go.
command undead: can be useful for low levels with a bunch of undead.


a decent and helpful lowbie potion you can purchase in the market place from the merchant jalin kalabrey: aid(lv5). okay temp hp and you can chug them like diet cokes.


this stuff can help you out alot if you wanna be a wizard caster starting out and avoid doing stuff like master touch swinging great axes.

just note: as a new character you will be weaker in elites then most 3rd life+ characters who have massive amounts of gear from previous lives. do not let that discourage you. while running the quests learn where rest shrines are and do not be afraid of running back to ones earlier you didnt use. try to learn how to stage uses of shrines so you only use the ones you have to use at that moment and run back to earlier shrines you didnt use first to leave the newer ones up closer where you are working in the quest active there so you can emergency run to those to recover should you die or what have you.
once you get to around level 11 you can got to the sands area and work on farming out a ring of spellstoring and that can be a super helpful mana recovery item you can have. gives you back a bit of mana when used and its a permenate item that recharges on rest shrine use.

anyway good luck have fun

 

[Br4d]

you can compensate for castor levels lost from multiclassing. but you can't get the top tier spells from levels 19 and 20.

You lose a few spell slots however I believe that level 17 gives Wizards the top rank of spells. You may also lose some DPS from spells where caster level goes above 18. This does not apply to some SLA's that use character level instead of caster level.

You will lose the level 20 capstone in EK, PM or AM and that is a significant loss for a focused build, not so much for a generalist.

Some spells require a spell resistance check and you will be -2 vs a pure caster for those checks.

18/2 is a trade-off for a Wizard. Intelligence and skill points will usually allow a Pale Trapper to trap almost as well as a pure Rogue, the difference being in enhancements and epic destinies that a Rogue will take and a Pale Trapper might not. In my experience at R1 and below there is no difference in the trapping capabilities between a Pale Trapper and a dedicated Rogue or Artificer.

 

[Spook]

And that's the problem. One can swing a weapon or use pet/hires to offset stuff, but it's not always the experience someone wants in the game. Some people just want to cast out of the gate. Bard used to be awesome for that and then they nerf'd sonic blast; it was one the nicest early heroic casters around for a while before that AoE nerf.

You're not supposed to have fun

 

[ACJ97F]

Many things scare off new players in DDO, I suppose running out of Wizard spell gas isn't one I'd thought made the list. Most notice the
huge gap and insane TR mechanic with no unlocks, and just laugh as they uninstall. DDO's as friendly as a rabid wolverine for new players.

 

[Refutor]

have you tried warlock (can't remember if it's a FTP class or not). you can nuke right out of the gate

 

[RangerOne]

OP, do you perhaps have a meta magic permanently on? That will increase mana costs. I am on a wizard life right now and only in a couple of instances have run out of spell points. Used a crossbow for additional damage and now use Return to Sender. The arcane lines are cheap, the skeleton knight keeps 'em busy. Hang in there, it gets better.