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Let me preface this by saying I am 55 years old and have NEVER played a MMO. I signed up for LOTRO, but have never actually used my account to do anything. Until recently I didn't have a computer that could adequately support the graphics.
I've been entertaining thoughts of giving one a try, and DDO seems more like my style as I've been playing D&D for more than 20 years and Eberron is one of my favorite settings.
I'm considering solo play, since to be honest I'm afraid of being treated rudely by people much younger than me who have already been playing MMOs for years. I don't really think I would make a good party member anyway. Scheduling would be difficult, as would catching up with all the slang and paying attention to what everyone else is doing.
What I want to know is, can I enjoy an experience that feels like D&D? Can I solo without dying every five minutes? If I like playing wizards, will I die even more frequently? I'm not really interested in getting all the best gear or reaching astronomical character levels; in console RPGs I tend never to finish the main quests. I just want to have some fun, maybe something to do while my husband is hogging the Xbox.
Anyone have any tips, advice, experiences to recount? I know there are DDO forums and sub-reddits, but I don't really want to spend hours searching them and I have no desire to join Reddit anyway.
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I have played a ranger up to level 20 for free on DDO, and had a blast doing it. Having a pay account allows you access to more material, but it's very, very solo-able. I haven't played in a while, but I had joined a wonderful guild who didn't expect me to drop everything and play. Most of my guildmates were very close to my age (43). The game is mostly based on 3.5 D&D.
Hope this helps.
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I havent played in sometime but id be willing to answer any questions about the game. All the quests are instanced so you will hardly run into others if you dont want to. Also, even when you do they cant attack you unless you go into a pvp pit. Many/most quests have a solo setting. Also, once you start collecting gold you can buy hirelings to tag along and help.
Its free so really nothing to lose.
Oh p.s. warforged wizards can heal themselves via repair spells :)
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I played back in the late 2000s, if memory serves. Current computer's got some glitch that won't let me download it, or I'd still be playing, honestly. It's a pretty rich game for both single and multiplayer, though I think there's some gatekeeping quests that you need to do in groups (back then you could always find such groups within a day or two). My favorite part was the graphics and weather (coming from Runescape, I had pretty low expectations). When I played I was barely 13 so I also felt kinda excluded from most groups, and confounded by the slang - but it's kind of a fun experience to follow a group of experienced players through a dungeon, watching how rapid the game gets at high skill levels. Soloing was fun when I just wanted to relax and painstakingly explore every inch of a dungeon, though. Rogues are good for that - expect quite a few traps.
I'm interested to hear that they now have hirelings! That definitely makes things more soloable. Did they ever implement druids (and animal companions)?
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I have played a lot of DDO by soloing with a hireling. I normally use only the vendor hirelings that you can buy with in game gold. I have an injury that hampers my reaction speed so I prefer to solo so people do not get upset when I fail to move. Yes, you can definitely solo in DDO.
I would recommend a 2 rogue / 18 wizard for your first trip through the game. You get to play a wizard and can still disable traps & evade by yourself. You can take the augment summoning feat to make your hirelings, summons, and skellie (if desired) stronger as well. this gives you a few agro magnets while you rain death and destruction from a distance.
To answer the question above, yes there are druids in DDO now. You get an animal companion plus you can still summon nature's ally as well.
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Thanks to all the responders.
I would recommend a 2 rogue / 18 wizard for your first trip through the game. You get to play a wizard and can still disable traps & evade by yourself. You can take the augment summoning feat to make your hirelings, summons, and skellie (if desired) stronger as well. this gives you a few agro magnets while you rain death and destruction from a distance.
It's interesting that you give that recommendation. I did a little online reading, and saw several forum posts where people recommended the same multiclass split. But other people strongly recommended against multiclassing for solo play. Are there not spells available that could substitute for having rogue levels? Or traps that you can bypass by going around them?
Other questions, if anyone is willing to answer:
1. What happens when your character dies? Do you return to a particular starting spot? Do you lose all your equipment?
2. Are there places where you just can't progress any further if you don't complete a particular quest?
3. Are there lots of puzzles? (I hate puzzles)
4. Do wizards have familiars?
5. If you have a hireling, do you have any control over their behavior or are they entirely controlled by the game AI?
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Thanks to all the responders.
You're welcome.
1. What happens when your character dies? Do you return to a particular starting spot? Do you lose all your equipment?
You become a "soul stone". If memory serves correct, you can resurrect at a resting shrine (quests usually have at least one and often more) or you are ejected from your quest and respawn in the last tavern you visited. (Taverns are quite numerous in DDO)
As for equipment, you do not lose anything. Your equipment can and will get damaged and you will occasionally have to repair it.
2. Are there places where you just can't progress any further if you don't complete a particular quest?
Not really no. XP is XP in DDO. If you don't unlock or buy packages, however, you may find yourself running the same quests over and over. You will need to either grind DDO points or pay to bypass walls to gain access to more quests and crafting. Either way, I'd take care when spending hard earned points or cash you put into the game. If you like, ask about purchases here before hand and ill be happy to give my opinion.
3. Are there lots of puzzles? (I hate puzzles)
There are a few, but I wouldn't say they are common. If you ever run into one and get frustrated i'm sure a quick Google search will provide you the answers.
4. Do wizards have familiars?
Not that I recall, but it has been several years since I have played.
5. If you have a hireling, do you have any control over their behavior or are they entirely controlled by the game AI?
Both. You have a control menu that can give orders to the hireling. Also, its built in AI to act on their own in the heat of battle. You can choose for them to be aggressive or passive before hand to give an idea of what their in game behavior will be in those moments.
Cheers.
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Thanks to all the responders.
I would recommend a 2 rogue / 18 wizard for your first trip through the game. You get to play a wizard and can still disable traps & evade by yourself. You can take the augment summoning feat to make your hirelings, summons, and skellie (if desired) stronger as well. this gives you a few agro magnets while you rain death and destruction from a distance.
It's interesting that you give that recommendation. I did a little online reading, and saw several forum posts where people recommended the same multiclass split. But other people strongly recommended against multiclassing for solo play. Are there not spells available that could substitute for having rogue levels? Or traps that you can bypass by going around them?
Other questions, if anyone is willing to answer:
1. What happens when your character dies? Do you return to a particular starting spot? Do you lose all your equipment?
2. Are there places where you just can't progress any further if you don't complete a particular quest?
3. Are there lots of puzzles? (I hate puzzles)
4. Do wizards have familiars?
5. If you have a hireling, do you have any control over their behavior or are they entirely controlled by the game AI?
Traps in DDO are very deadly. Yes, you can bypass many of them if you know exactly what to do and have the exact abilities. This is not reasonable to expect of a new player. The 2 rogue also gives evasion along with Insightful reflexes adds you Intelligence bonus to saves.
1. If you die solo, you release and respawn in town and have to heal up in an inn by eating / drinking. You get less credit if you do not reset the dungeon before reentering.
2. There are attunement chains so to enter certain dungeons, before entering said dungeon you must have completed certain other dungeons. In certain quests, you must complete certain events before others will occur.
3. Most dungeons do not have puzzles, but many do. Most are simple puzzles thou. You usually just need to find a person or object.
4. Wizards can get a nice permanent pet (ie skellie) if as well as summoned creatures / hirelings but no "familiar".
5. You can issue a variety of commands to your hireling but sometimes they seem to have a mind of their own.
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Just got done playing my by-weekly session with my wife and 3 others last night. We have a pretty good time of it, in level 13 now. I've been playing for years, same as 2 others. My wife and the last guy are new and enjoying it too though. I find it's mostly older folks, 30+ (well, older compared to "git rekt noob! lol L2P" kids).
Solo play will be a bit harder, as the game is obviously designed with group play in mind, with group sizes up to 6 (or 12 for raids). The solo difficulty setting and hirelings do help, but it's hard to say since I'm one of those "always on elite" guys for difficulty setting, which all but requires at least 4 competent players working together. If you can find even 1 other person you can play with regular it makes a big difference.
I've got almost 100 characters at various levels; I just keep trying out new builds and ideas. Some work well solo, some with 1 other, some need a whole group. Some dungeons require a certain body count (ex. 4 players required, hirelings may not suffice). This is usually some mechanic to force a party split or a puzzle of some sort. Like Pan said, most puzzles that do come up are quite simple, and you can always google an answer.
Same as Pan, let me know if there are any specific questions you have. My epic (20+) experience isn't that deep, only 1 character that high, but most other aspects of the game I'm pretty familiar with. I'm especially well versed with the different classes since making new builds is one of my favorite parts of DDO.
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I was an Argonessen guy. Strolling down memory lane I think my favorite characters were;
Pan Halfling Bard Spell singer 20(resurrected at least once)
Betsy Ross Halfling Paladin Undead Hunter 20
Aynn Bonny Halfling Rogue 2/Ranger 6/ Barbarian 12
Dadde Warbuxxx Halfling monk 2/cleric 18
Calculon Warforged wizard 20
Clearly, I love halflings :)
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The important thing to remember is dungeons in DDO scale to the number of players in the dungeon up to 4. Hirelings cause some scaling but at a lower amount. I can reliably do elite dungeons that I know solo or with a hireling because the scaling at one player is not bad. I would not necessarily recommend doing the quest on elite first time through solo thou.
For pressure plates and other obstacles where you need to be in two places at once, you can just have your hireling stand on or operate the device. I have the little level 3 permanent gold seal cleric just for this purpose.
I switched over to Neverwinter Nights because I remain an Forgotten Realms fan and 4th edition actually works quite nicely in an MMORG venue.
I played a Halfling Sorcerer to level 13. That was fun. If you play a Arcane caster be prepared to be asked for Haste all the time in groups Hah!