Boris' DDO blog thread.

Quick update: Ranger made level 7 last night. I am looking into the silver bow.

Well, fun times for sure.

following the discussion about the silver bow, I decided I would start trying for it. Who knows, I might get lucky first time, right, so I check out this temple of Vol with my shiny new level 7 ranger, with additional wazzy double anarchic sword attack. Level 9. Better try it on casual first time, I mean, how hard can it be?

Answer? Not very hard, to be fair. Fair amount of undead, but I have a cool anti-undead double weapon set, and they are a favoured enemy, so I tend to mince everything...well, everything I have met so far. No-one to remove the myriad traps, but I walk through them, and get healed. That's what hirelings are for. So, I rip my way through the place until I stand in front of the last door, take a deep breath, and....

I looked him up later. Effectively, I never stood a chance. Gotta have something to dispel him with, need to get plenty of melee on the mofo, and some spellslingers too, to keep him off balance. Obviously, and, I am proud to say eventually...I did knock some HP off him, but not enough to give me any hope, I got vaped.

So, anyone wanna get a posse together? I owe that dude a kicking. Maybe when I go up a level or two.

to make myself better, I pick up the Phiarlan Carnival pack. Good for level 5s it says. My baby wiz is level 5, so I start out with her. It's the Hill giant one, and I do OK, until I start onto jumping across gaps in rocks to get to the sky altar. Frankly, I can't stand that Tomb Raider crap. If i liked it, I'd be playing fecking Tomb Raider, and not a brain game. She fell off, died, and I ran it again with Polly.

It was Okay, I suppose. I could see the thought going into it, but I really don't like having to make precision jumps. I probably have vertigo. I don't know for sure, because I avoid high buildings like...well, like Tomb Raider, but just playing that sequence gave me a funny feeling in my knees, a bit like some of the other height stuff i have done in the game, but a lot worse. I suppose that means it is a good game, if it generates that kind of feeling, but I found it unpleasant. Maybe when I run it again, it will not be so bad. The 4.5k experience was certainly welcome, and the loot was passable.

So, onto level 2, the partycrashers. Shit, what a good module. Okay, it does not look like a solo is possible, but very atmospheric. Lots of depth, and the final encounter looked brutal. I didn't really have the time to explore it properly, but I could sense the scale of the thing. And they say for level 5? Well, Optimistic I think, certainly for a solo. Polly got truly wiped in the boss encounter, but not so badly i could see no hope. I'll be going back when I have more time, and give it another go. Can't wait to see what the other two are like.

To round off hte evening, i went back to Tangleroot, farming for xp and items, and ended u running a leg on hard with Mika. the words Mika and Hard always went together, somehow, and I had a blast. Hi Mika.

More again soon, in the meantime, any spare silver bows, or offers to party up, I'm listening.

~B~

dude we'll find you a silver bow, i'll keep my eye out for ya.

Nice piece!

Okaay, so shoot me, I find playing the game more fun than writing my blog. Who wouldn’t, really, especially with such a limited amount of free time. I like to wring the maximum enjoyment from those precious few hours, and that means twatting gribblies, the more the merrier. I’m getting good at the soloing now, particularly with the wiz. Passing level 7 and getting access to level 4 spells has made a big difference. The strategy I use now is dependent upon a favoured soul hireling. Stand at a door, open the door, send in the hireling, cast Ice Storm, go stand in ice storm, watch anything attacking you die. Anything that doesn’t die quickly enough gets an acid ball in the kisser. It hasn’t let me down yet, and I find I can fill my spell roster with the quirkier spells that might come in useful, rather than the barrage of offensive pyrotechnics more suitable to the sorceror. Wizard. Good choice. For me at least.
Spent a little time on the Ranger, who sits at level 7 (Rheeta, the Wiz, is level 8 now, and closing in on level 5 spells, muahahahaha), but frankly I find the solo play less interesting than with the wiz, because my brain doesn’t need to work as much. She works with a FS too, although in a less offensive way.

Had a bash with Dwarf Barbarian last night, and hit level 6 with little difficulty. No subtlety at all. Bit Boring, but scarily effective. I suppose that is why they are called Tanks.

Bringing up the rear on my four slots, at the moment, is Alarnis the Cleric, and I really must put in some effort there. Still sitting at 5, and showing me nothing much in the way of entertainment, perhaps Clerics get more interesting at later levels. Who knows? I shall try her with the final 2 Tangleroot scenarios tonight. Maybe that will wake me up to her a bit more.

The big decision I have made is to go VIP in the new year. Mostly for scenario access, but I would like to put together a top-notch solo character. I am thinking Half-elf FS, with the 32 point build. I need secret door-finding, trap-disabling, and lock opening, and I think I can get these as bonus feats with that combo. Anyone know? Also, opinions on a build for such a character would be welcome. I am sick of walking through traps. I want to knock them out, but I can’t get into the idea of a rogue. Also, I want to try Drow, and Warforged characters, but I am not going down that route until I have my Wiz to the point where she can work in parties without being embarrassing.

Anyway, enough blogging and back to the game.

For the best solo character (if you want to get the traps), I'd suggest a WF wizard/rogue. Just 2 levels of rogue is enough because your intelligence will be high (that helps search and disable a lot) and it gives you evasion! You won't need to put many points into open lock either because you'll have the knock spell. I'd suggest taking the rogue levels at level 1 (lots and lots of skill points) and then again at level 9 (after getting Firewall). With high intel you should get lots of skill points to play with each level, I'd suggest maxing concentration and trap skills and also max UMD on the 2 rogue levels, and then keeping on adding UMD after the 2nd rogue level!

As a WF Wizard, you can heal yourself with repair spells and still dish out the pain with offensive casting! I loved playing Trappbot in his first life, and he even cut it at the end game!

First, thanks Zog for the advice. Thanks also to whoever left the silver bow for me to find. It really does the job.

Greetings to you all for the holiday season, and I truly hope it has brought you all joy and happiness. I look forward to meeting you all in Stormreach in the new year, when time resets itself to it's default setting. I'll be a VIP then, so I hope to group more, and polish up my somewhat lacking co-operation skills.

A little effort will see Rheeta at level 9, and Polly at 8-9 as well. Slab and Alarnis languish at 6 and 7 respectively, although Slab will make an excellent tank, and Alarnis has her good points when soloing.

We all wish you a happy new year.