thank you for the correction.

hey very cool - welcome to the game - yes your voice will give you 5% more, so you want to stack that with your ship and xp potion, and you can stack those with any events and the legendary reaper x2 bonus.

@@MaryXTV TYVM for the reply!

DCD = Defensive Cool Down (so, some part of your build that you activate to boost your defenses; HOTs are DCDs etc.)

@@MaryXTVthank you

exactly.

thank you!

I really liked the EA Epic Moment, really cool to be able to turn anything. I agree loss of the heal aura hurts; EA is a very good destiny, I usually do Primal Avatar for my minion enchanter build, but EA is really good too.

that's cool, i havent tried a melee warlock but Ive seen people play them; im hoping to find a cha ring since it looks like any ability will spawn.

50th anniversary of D&D I showcase the roots of the original books by inserting images from the pen & paper to emphasize the rich roots of the video game we have that comes from the 1970 og group created by Gary Gygax.

you have a great idea, yeah, and i actually collect the bigbys, and you're right they do work, but you have to be at the location to drop it; what im looking for is something like a marker that you can drop on the map and then navigate to it before you've been there. the best we can do is highlight a quest entrance and then that shows up on the map as an arrow. Would likely be really simple for them to just add a marker to the map.

Also I have no idea how to open that chest either

seems like it requires a key but I could not find one.

Nice! I like it too - I need a magical AI or maybe just a tea making robot lol

@@MaryXTV my wife has one! Th’is I, the Magical teamaking genie 🧞 sadly she doesnt like tea 🍵… unless I make her boba tea 🧋

I'm enjoying it, though I'm taking it slow; the dragon i fought is in the town, the quest picks up there to go after ettercaps.

thanks - I agree! DDO rules!

thank you!

I think taking the capstone is always a solid idea, usually the best for any build unless you are doing a specific multi-class. I thought that sunder soul was broken and not working correctly because I couldn't get it to proc; and I was doing so much damage anyway that it really didn't matter. I would like to find out if it is broken or functioning, so will ask around.

@@MaryXTV I'll have to play with it again, see if it works any different. I've been using the Ravager capstone with Visage of Terror and that seems decent.

I did experiment with ravager as my off tree for dragon lord and it was strong extra damage; my dragon lord was main stat charisma so the capstone from dragon lord was a better option for me. The great thing about dragon lord are all the options, really fun archetype.

This fall the new 2024 books are releasing, DM guide, player handbook, monster manual, etc - what I read in the article from wizards of the coast is that artificer was dropped from this new players handbook. That doesnt mean its removed from 5e or existing modules or campaigns, obviously any DM can home brew whatever and allow classes/races from any ruleset. I haven't seen the new players handbook, but was surprised by the news because artificer is pretty fun. I think it references what we know from DDO though, that Eberron and the quasi-steam-punk-robot-magic-gun-powder fantasy is way less popular than the traditional quasi-tolkien high fantasy of the Forgotten Realms. Likely there will be more news about these new books and I will cover it.

If you allure the front door, or sneak around the back and do the extra fight, both routes lead you to the exact same hall that you go down - I mention that in the video; if you have the allure you can skip one fight.

Thank you!

Yes, very active community.

@@MaryXTV We are here! We are nerdy! We are closer to eighty than thirty! 🧙‍♂️ 🧙‍♀️

Thanks for watching !

Thank you ! Appreciated. Forum name is Mary; I rechecked the links in my video description my minion build enchant warlock, my dragon lord, my monk star thrower - their links work. the link to my new chaosmancer sorcerer is here: forums.ddo.com/index.php?threads/delina-of-baldurs-gate-mcmxt-build.12820/

@@MaryXTV much obliged sir. I'll check that out while re-watching your video for missed tips/content. Keep up the great work & thank you for the help.

Thanks for watching!

Thank you kindly!

an omnispell dust vendor for vips is a good idea!

It would benefit the game if SSG altered the in-game currencies and made gold relevant again. When the game first launched, plat was not the main currency, gold was - for a new player now (something we see every hardcore season) plat is too hard to get early game when they are new and have no economy up and running. It would be fair too to have all the items on the store for ddo coins available for in game currency. I also think most things should be unbound, allowing players to buy and list items for sale on the plat or shard market. As far as ddo store items, I like PoE as an example of good free game + microtransactions; I think ddo should follow PoE's model, all the game is open and playable for free (except the dlc expansions) then monetization then occurs for packs that include mounts, cosmetics, pets, housing, ships, etc.

I agree, something is off about the stormhorns, i think it feels a bit too normal, but I do like the various orc villages and how vast and the very high mountains. You're so right about the underdark, that should be expanded to x20 - the underdark is a great setting and I think it would be a great place for new quests and zones. I am a huge fan of how BG3 did the underdark, one of the best parts of that game.

@@MaryXTV That is so true. I spent so much time in Underdark in BG3. It could be a whole thing in DDO, just as 'sewers' is like DDO early game :)

thanks magenwright - I appreciate you, I know dungeon helper, I think a lot of multi-boxers use it, it looks good for solving problems; I still feel SSG needs to consider my idea of adding 10000 shared slots for VIPS - it really would make the quality of life amazing.

Hey Zentience, I am working on a video right now that will answer these questions and will be posting it soon, in the meantime, you mean you've never played this game ever, have you played D&D table top b4? Have you played any other MMOs? Did you play baldurs gate 3? You are familiar with the holy trinity tank/dps/heal? In DDO we have a 4th, trapper, they find and remove traps. Traps are everywhere, mechanical and magical, so, if you're new, you want to plan to expect traps - think Raiders of the Lost Ark, Act 1. Now you do not need to make a trapper, you can make a pure dps or healer, but you will have to then figure out ways to deal with the traps, either by queueing up for a group with a pick up group (pug) or by using hirelings (in game npcs you can buy using the plat currency or actual money from the ddo store). There are raids yes, and if you're new and want to raid I would recommend joining a guild on one of the busier servers. Any server is fine, but avoid wayfinder. My home server is Sarlona. So I'm going to tailor my new video to you - first things first after you answered my above questions would be when you watched lord of the rings - what did you like the most? Did you like Legolas and his bow? Gimli and his axe? aragorn and his sword? Gandalf and his magic? Elrond and his healing? Master Samwise and his tenacity? From that you can pick your class - something you like, that you resonate with - your race too, if you like elves make an elf, if you like hobbits make a halfling or gnome - if you are unsure, make a human, they are very good at everything. Please come back here and ask me more because I'll use your questions to shape the new player video im working on! most important is to keep it fun! A good example is in Diablo 4 I made a necromancer because I liked it, they were really bad, but I still had fun because I liked the class. Same for PoE, I made a witch, I like spellcasters. There's probably better classes, but its what I liked. In ddo I usually play a warlock.

@@MaryXTV Thanks for your reply. To succinctly respond, I am very familiar with MMOs. In the past, I played EQ, WOW, etc. I typically heal or play a CASTER dps. If I dps, I would prefer highest raid tier/target dps to min/max damage output, which can correlate to soloability. In MMOs where highest dps doesnt correlate with ability to solo, it usually means you as the dps are nothing more than a glass cannon. Grouping is preferred (since its called a MMO), but when unavailable, or undesired, I prefer classes that can optimally solo for whatever my objective is. I have never played DDO; currently busy with real life and possibly get busier, but, I was looking for something new...as in new to me, but this genre/archetype seems interesting (vs zombie survival, cyberpunk, etc.) That is the reason I'm asking veterans or content creators of this game for input.

hey that's cool - DDO is unique, like POE is unique, ultra complex build system, which can be daunting to new players. The Free to play is better in POE, but manageable in DDO. I think DDO VIP is worth it. Caster DPS have a few very strong options - a warforged elemental sorcerer is very strong with great self heals, warforged also being constructs gain many immunities. Gnome pale masters are very strong - you can min/max your INT to get ultra high DCs to do insta-kills like PK, Finger of Death, and Circle of Death spells, and being undead you gain access to strong negative energy heals and immunities being undead. Another strong option if you use gold seal hirelings, or the hirelings from the collector bundles, a stormsinger minion bard - you can build it so your minions inherit all your buffs and then let them fight for you, your heals on this are pretty good too as your minions will contribute to the group heals. My main is a DPS caster - warlock - I am quasi minion build enchanter, so as a warlock I use enchantment magic to lock down mobs, then my minions attack and I dps with my warlock eldritch attacks. I have my build posted to the ddo forums, links are in my descriptions; I also have many other builds posted that you can check out, or if you wanted help with a specific, I'm happy to create something or point you towards something when you play.

@@MaryXTV Thank you again for the detailed reply. Since I dont know the classes/races...if someone were to ask you what is THE caster dps...which jumps out immediately? Like in EQ, it was Necromancer for long fights (and overall), followed by Wizards for shorter fights....but no one denied necromancers were the top casters in majority of the raids (and fights where their damage over time attacks) could work their full effect. I generally like the wizard or iconic overpowered spell caster theme. Which would be your #1 pick for that? I might consider the self-healing elemental sorcerer or warlock.... I will have to research a bit via your links to see if I can see something I might enjoy. Thank you again for your help.

when you say 'the' caster dps, i interpret that as 'what is the present meta' as in 'overperforming' - what is the best that people are making right now - there certainly is a DDO meta, but is difficult to chase the meta, because SSG regularly patches out overperforming classes and abilities, so you may be left with a dead build meta-chasing; better approach for playing is to chase what you like, so you've mentioned you like caster DPS, now you will probably have fun on any, especially if you take a look at what I suggested; you also may want to make something you liked from another game, such as your eq necromancer. For DDO, there is no DPS plugin for you to parse your dps vs other players, there's no pvp, and the dps checks for most raids are not that high. What does this mean? Because DDO is NOT a parsing game with DPS checks, the barriers that need to be solved are mechanics, not necessary build; meaning you can clear most content with any build if you know the mechanics. This is vastly different than other MMOs like WoW where you need to know mechanics, yes, but there are heal checks, dps checks, tank checks, etc. DDO does not have the specific checks - yes there are certain bosses tanks will need to pass Tank checks to successfully tank; yes there are certain quests and raids where healers will have to output over a certain threshold of heals to succeed, but most of that is augmented by mechanics - do the mechanics and you do the quest. Now for DPS, because there are no specific dps checks, you can pretty much succeed with any dps. Certain casters are really good for endgame raids on R10, those that can do insta-kills, as an example, a necromancer wizard with very high intelligence and gear to max out necromancy DCs and instantly kill mobs with death effects are very effective and always are welcome in top tier raids; elemental sorcerers and druids are the usual go to - for a while Fire sorcerers were meta, but they were nerfed, then ice druids, but they were nerfed, bombadier alchemists, but they were nerfed; right now eladrin chaosmancer dps is very high, as an example of meta, but fire sorcs can still do great dps even though they were nerfed. Fire sorcs may not be the meta anymore but are still viable, as an example. I was a sorc, then druid, now I am a quasi-minion build enchanter warlock, I can charm or stun any monster, even in the most difficult content, and using my warlock dps + minions, burn the mobs down. It is not meta, but it is effective. I will based on our interactions make a video about meta builds and try to talk about what we are talking about here, because in this regard DDO is slightly different than other games like WoW or WoW clones. An example of meta is dragonlord fighters - right now as of U68, summer 2024, dragonlords are probably the best dps in the game but they are melee fighters.

So I spend a few months on this and wound up at a dead end largely because of the spaghetti code made by Turbine - they never planned on anyone wanting to have the entire game narrative exported or interacted with, so many of the text boxes that you open when talking to npcs dont exist anywhere but in that box, and there's no way to tag it; like I say in my video, with enough money it would be possible, but just as a solo project to make a plugin for DDO that would modernize the npc/player voice interactions (which would be awesome) the spaghetti code makes it very difficult because it would have to be gathered and curated by hand. Obviously, this hypothesis is the result of my initial data as I investigated to move forward and stopped because it became clear the scope of the project would be a huge labor of love to make happen. I'm still open to making it happen but it will take some creative thinking; and because the initial database of dialogue was so daunting, I did not get to the 'talking to SSG about interfacing with their client using a plugin' mode - I'm not even sure they'd be open to it; if it was a banger and worked great they might, but since it is similar to a UI editor, we wouldn't alter gameplay just read text, I can't see they're caring, but who knows.

@@MaryXTV That is why I was thinking of something like a screen capture that would use AI to find the text boxes and then have OCR read them. It isn't actually "interacting" with the game in any way. It is just simply reading what is on the screen, just like a human would.

hey nice yeah, i usually dont rescue them, back in the day I did, but now I just try to get in and out - good to know about her heals thanks.

My hope is the zone of myth drannor makes the kings forest and the stormhorns feel small. I would love a huge map with multiple areas - in the lore it was a huge city - the city of 1000 portals.

@@MaryXTV that WOULD be awesome, especially now that even newer players hopefully have a chonkey dragon so it doesn’t take an hour just to get between quests. I don’t know if you could always teleport between taverns and such in barovia, but I didn’t know about it, and spend such a long time just running across the wilderness, trying to find the quests.

Would need to know more about your build, level, past lives, reaper points, etc; also what content you are trying - normal, hard, elite, reaper etc; and if you are using new gear, old gear, etc - what is your caster stick? are you epic using filigrees? Etc. there's so many variables in DDO. I'm happy to help; in my video im on a toon that is just shy of x3 completionist, using the iconic and wild mage SLAs and using the feydark illusionist SLA which is boosted by the wild magic; some hits are big, some small, but overall really good considering the cost of the SLAs is so cheap; and when compared to the other sorcerer SLAs, vastly superior. Many times caster damage comes down to metamagics and hitboxes. Some spells have great hit boxes, some are garbage - were you using the wild magic slas or other spells? the more data we have to work with the easier to find answers - also - not seeing good damage makes me feel like your previous play was on a high damage toon - what were you playing before chaosmancer/wild mage?

Isle of Dread drops a doublestrike augment - I think its 15% - have you seen that one? I agree with you they totally need another Randal Lyric and a lot more augments - the set bonuses for Myth Drannor are tied to augments so you will be able to slot them in other gear with set bonuses to get double set bonuses - as long as the bonus type is different, they will stack

@@MaryXTV I will have to farm Isle of Dread then, I have not picked up any double strike augment so far in game and have been playing quite a while now; I can't apply a three set bonus until I can take off the gear that has the doublestrike, so an augment would help. Thanks for the reply.

Nice! I do put together these videos to entertain and inform, so glad to hear; its something that I think is interesting about very richly detailed videogames like ddo, that a player can play it for years and there are things they don't know about. I learn new stuff all the time, its one of the reasons I decided to stream, to share what I knew, but also to show that even though I've played since beta, I am still learning. This weekend while streaming VON 1 and 2 viewers taught me some ways to do them even faster - which playing on hardcore I usually know how to do little tricks, but I did not know what they taught me. I'll be uploading that video soon so everyone can learn too. I think the level 20 salt gears is some of the Best in Slot (BiS) stuff you can wear till 29 - usually i mix that with my sharn 15 set and some lvl 5 feywild or 7 Isle of Dread. I really think that Ravenloft gear needs a refresh too, when its put up against all the other DLC gear it falls short and not many use it.

I really think they would benefit from making the entire game (minus the expac dlcs) open and free, all quests open on any difficulty for any free player, shared storage, which could be augmented by buying slots; the model that they employ for their ftp is very dated and restrictive and does not encourage players to join and play. PoE has a way way better ftp model, as an example; the game is free, they monetize conveniences and cosmetics.

@@MaryXTV The ladder to help new players is totally broken. Any long term player is going for reaper and many times just solo. I ran Let Sleeping Dust Lie earlier today in a newbie group. Killed two spiders in the main part...new guy threw a big AOE at boss in the end fight. Instant fail. I just did not have the patience to run it again so soloed it a couple of hours later. I am a slow old time player who started up again so can't really keep up with the top players. To make the game really work well, no splashing and traps so bad you need them disabled. Now it is just a zerg fest.

as a mostly solo player myself i completely understand and agree; its something that I think is fundamentally flawed about mmos in general, that the culture outpaces the content always; no matter the game, players will find ways to run quests faster, easier, quicker, zerging - so its not really a ddo issue, so fixing it would be difficult, because pick a game and people do the zergfest thing. I think DDO has an advantage in its D&D archetype of party + dm = adventure, that people who play DDO usually are looking for an experience that is somewhat related to the pen*paper rpg. I think I will make a video about which quests I would not pug, sleeping dust lie is one of those simply because of the no-kill mechanic in that quest. There are many quests I really wouldn't want to run with players I didnt know. usually when I pug its for things i know really well. Good idea, will see if I can spin it into a meaningful video!

@@MaryXTV Zerging is not so so much the issue. It is the fact that most content is easily solo. I solo pretty much everything until Giant Hold. Even there the only real group quests are crucible and Madstone. This life I did not even find a group doing Von 5 and 6, so had to skip it I think the key is to make it so that you must group. Make content like Von 5 that where you can't get hires. Reaper was an attempt, but then they went and gave people reaper enhancement to counter the added difficulty. Keep reaper, get rid of the reaper enhancement tree and maybe the game will become difficult enough to pug. The game was much more fun before guilds when my goal was to find pure good on a weapon.

That game was a game I played but it was a long long time ago; I was younger and dont really remember it.

@@MaryXTV Also… D&D survival game? Like… an ”Ark survival evolved” but with rogues, Magic -users and Clerics?

yes! exactly - its in development right now!

@@MaryXTV why havent I heard about it? Hope its good!!! Even though I might forget to eat and sleep for a while.

🎶Do you Wanna build a city? Throw fireballs down a hall? 🎶

I agree, you are 100% correct; I do that during hardcore league on that new server; on sarlona i just use my old toons and toons that were warped there when they did the server merger way back when. But let's objectively look at what we are talking about: the game design for inventory is so bad, players must cook up ways to mitigate how bad it is; imagine what a great game it would be if you didn't have to make a 'Feywild Gear' Toon, a 'Ravenloft' Gear toon, and 'Isle of Dread' gear toon - imagine if the game just allowed you to manage your stuff easily and quickly - what a concept for an mmo right? DDO just needs to grant VIPs 10000 shard bank slots as a VIP reward. That would solve everything. I really doubt it would add to lag because likely it would reduce it for players deleting duplicates that bloat the server, alt armies that bloat the server, etc.

@MaryXTV ...Oh I wholeheartedly agree. I'm just saying with a smidge more intent you wouldn't need 9+ of each item. Regardless, a 1000 slot shared bank is extremely doable and would eliminate a lot of bloat on each account's data files. I'd take it one step further and let all players access their bank from anywhere, and let VIPs access their shared banks as a perk. This would eliminate the banker NPC from every instance, freeing up server data. For ever better long overdue QOL upgrades I'd make cosmetics exist in a tab just like pets and mounts, and let every character access whatever cosmetics you've found or bought direct from the character menu, though perhaps this could be another VIP perk. Players should also be able to sort and group their gear together under some type of flag or labeling system, so swapping gear at milestone levels can be done with one macro hockey where it just finds that gear on whatever toon on bank it exists in. Each of these are no brainers that should be in the game already.

@@MaryXTV You nailed the point about the Ravenloft gear. I purchased a friends account just because I missed out on the Ultimate package, now I have two account with an alt army of 25 and 45 toons on each? The median age for DDO 30+, so the people our age should have funds to purchase any game material way back to the beginning. They will generate more revenue that way by opening everything up for purchase. Yes, people can pay for a 30th lvl toon right away, but so what? The Ravenloft gear set was the best looking in my opinion thus far from the packages and can't even be accessed any longer...ridiculous.