I’ve just started playing DDO and I’m enjoying it. It’s comparable to WOW without having to invest so much time and energy into it.
I have a level 3 fighter (Whirlwind) and I want to form a gameplan for leveling. I always liked dual-class characters when I played pencil and paper D+D but my memory of the specifics are rusty anymore. What good options do I have for combo classes as I level up. I like the idea of two handed combat without a sheild, so I want to stay with that. I will probably be soloing, for the most part. Exotic weapons seems like a neat option, but I don’t know much about that yet. Should I go cleric? Monk? a three way combo? Is it pointless to go ranger, or will my fighter levels be a bonus for HP later on if I go that way?
Also, I love the fact that I can hire hirelings. As a fighter, would I be better off with a healer or a magic user when soloing?
Sorry to get your hopes up, because I haven’t played, but could you expand a little about what the gameplay’s like? Like if I’m a lapsed and terrible WoW player, how does this compare?
Things are a little different since I last played… so take my advice with a grain of salt.
The main thing you need to know for multiclassing are breakpoints. Points where classes get defining feats & enhancements. You should (almost)always try to take class levels up to a breakpoint. For example levels 2, 6, and 10 are the levels where you get stat increase enhancements and make good breakpoints on most classes. But since the Prestige Class enhancements were added the main breakpoints are 6, 12 and 18.
The best combo classes might depend on your stats/race. Ranger and Paladins can be good. Either will give you the ability to use any healing wands on yourself or others which is great early on but even the strongest wands aren’t very good later.
Some of the most important ranger breakpoints are:
1: wand use, bow strength
2: rapid shot, two weapon fighting
6: improved two weapon fighting, manyshot, tempest enhancement
9: evasion
11: greater two weapon fighting, improved precise shot
12: tempest enhancement II
18: tempest enhancement III
Paladins are more front loaded. Their most important breakpoints:
1: wands, aura
2: divine grace(add your charisma to all your saving throws, a lot of people take paladin for this skill alone. Though it would probably be useless to you as I doubt you’d have much cha)
3: fear and disease immunity. Very nice, there aren’t many ways to get fear immunity.
6, 12 and 18 presumably have PREs now but I know little about them as they weren’t yet in the game when I played
Monks can be a good choice but are a bit tricky. Unless you are going unarmoured and using monk weapons they don’t really have many breakpoints. They’re pretty much just good for two levels(or pure/near pure). Which grant you two bonus feats(from a limited selection, though different then the fighter’s selection. You can get toughness from them which is great and various saving throw feats), 3 to all saving throws, and evasion(only does anything if you wear light or no armour, but is spectacular if you can use it)
As for Exotic weapons, khopeshs are the best weapons in the game. They are, however, rather rare and expensive to trade for. Still a great choice.
I would suggest something like Fighter 12, Ranger 6, Monk 2.
Fighter 12 gives you 7 bonus feats, including the fighter only feats Weapon Specialization and Greater Weapon Specialization. Which gives +4 damager per hit. And Fighter Kensai I & II with Khopeshs for more damage and a +3strength enhancement. Ranger 6 would give some nice saving throw bonuses, the tempest enhancement and the first 2 two weapon fighting feats(you’ve probably already got the first but you can respec out of it when you’ve got the free ranger version) as well as some proficiency with ranged weapons which is nice even if it’s not your focus and +2dex enhancement, two favoured enemies, and some little spell casting, though not enough to be of real use it can be fun to have. And the two monk levels gives you evasion(just make sure to wear light armour), 3 to all saves, and two more bonus feats which I would suggest spending at least one of them on toughness.
That’s what I would have recommended before looking at the compendiumanyway. After looking at that Fighter 20 looks like it might be a better choice for these:
Kensai Khopesh Mastery III req fighter lvl 18
Your critical threat range is increased by 1 when using a Khopesh.
Fighter Weapon Alacrity req fighter lvl20
Your mastery with weapons is such that you are able to attack faster than normal. Grants a 10% Competence bonus to attack speed with all weapons in all combat styles.
The multiclass would be a better survivor and soloer the pure would be a better grouper and damager. Make sure you get a 17 base(before enhancements and items) dex as it’s required for the highest two weapon fighting feat. If your an elf, halfling, or drow you should already be set. Else you’ll want to put one of your stat points in it.
The hirelings are typically utter dreck. Do not rely on them extensively. They’re useful in some circumstances but for the most part you’ll want to be able to get along with out them.
If you want to solo a lot you’ll need to build a very good and versatile character and know the game mechanics very well. The game was not built with soloing in mind. It’s possible to do but you need to really know your stuff. On the other hand they’ve added a dungeon scaling feature where the enemies have less HP the less players that are in them, if I’m not mistaken, that should make soloing much easier then it was back when I played.
I’ve not played since it went free to play(partially because I hate micro pay partially because I have other things to do and it’s too addictive), but it’s my favourite MMO by far. The combat and character customizability are the main reasons. Unlike most MMOs you can actually dodge attacks. That alone puts it above most MMOs. It always drove me nutz in WoW how if I tried to side step an incoming arrow it would turn in mid flight into me. Or if i tried to jump in front of a fireball to protect the priest the fireball would go right through me to it’s target. In DDO neither of those happen. The fireball would smack into me and the arrow would go careening past me.
There is crafting but it’s not like WoW. It’s generally tied to specific quests. For example the first big use of crafting in the game is the Shroud quest line, for levels 14-16ish, where you get 5 quests and then a raid where you can collect crafting materials and then craft & customize an item.
The dragon shards have uses in crafting and in reselecting feats. For example the Khyber shards can be used to bind and attune items which makes it so they can’t take permanent damage and can be given one further enhancement but can’t be traded away. The shards are also used as an arcane spell component. Though only for one spell(Soul Trap or Trap the Soul or something like that) that almost no one uses due to being pointlessly awkward to use.
Here’s some good info on crafting. It covers the first two methods of crafting you are likely to encounter(the Shroud stuff and the Khyber Shard stuff). There was one more major use of crafting when I last played and one was supposed to be added in the mod that also made the game micropay.
The Alchemical Armor Eldritch Ritual (+1ac to your armour) is probably the crafting recipe you’ll be able to do first.
I wouldn’t trust the ddowiki too much. Some of it is incredibly out of date. Like years out of date. The compendiumon the official DDO page was turned into a wiki several months back and has generally had much better info since. Although some info is still wrong, and uneditable, like the base attack bonuses. The compendium can be a bit tougher to navigate though, unfortunately.