Let's Run.... (other stuff!)

[Ryft]

Ok, so I routinely play with Desdemonte and some of the other similar level characters. I've had lots of fun with the half-dozen WW runs that I've had with Vyral in-guild.

Time to be moving on, I'm thinking?

I'm a F2P player, and I know some of the rest of you likely are, but there are some quality modules that I have, and that I know some of the rest of you also have, that are both highly fun and provide some useful loot at low levels. While not wanting to exclude people who might not have these quest packs, I highly recommend all of them, and they are all at a level appropriate to what Vyral can lead these days.

For those concerned about prices, because all of these quests are low level, if you get them when on sale none of them cost that many Turbine Points, with maybe the exception of Tangleroot Gorge, which I got on the 50% off XMas sale.

If you are considering getting one of these packs, but think you can only afford one of them:

***

Sharn Syndicate: All quests are level 4, I think there are six of them. The first three are very easy, but enjoyable (though the first one suffers some pacing issues). The last three quests are more difficult, but all of them are unique and fun. The quests all grant Coin Lord favor, and the last quest includes these rewards called Nicked Weapons, which are amazing weapons for first time players. You will likely see 3+ nicked weapons in the rewards options to choose from, from among Shortsword, Kama, Longsword, Scimitar, Longbow, Greatsword, Heavy Mace, and I'm pretty sure some kind of Axe. Every one of these is a +1 weapon with a +1d6 energy damage of some kind, and a useful minor ability. I'm fairly new to this game, and I'm still using the heavy mace as an alternate weapon for my main, who is level 11.

Shan-to-Kor: 4 quests, levels 3-5 I think, plus a very short explorer area. One quest stands alone, the other three are a quest chain with a few solid quest rewards, and a pretty epic final battle. The last quest gives you a solid shot at a constant effect feather fall ring in the final chest that you will probably want to keep, but that will fetch upwards of a million gold on auction.

Tangleroot Gorge: This is a large explorer area, with a long series of quests (8 of them, I think?) in a chain that can take you straight to level 8 if you do them a few times on the three difficulties. It's difficult to do the entire chain straight through multiple times, because the level spread on the quests is awkward (I think they go from levels 3-8 or some such). What I generally end up doing is running them on normal until they get too hard for my level, and then going back and doing previous quests again on hard difficulty even though I'm "in the wrong chapter", because I still get XP, chest loot, and increased favor, and I'm not really missing out on quest rewards because you only get one at the very end of the entire chain, anyway.

The chain's end reward choices are pretty solid, basically on par with Waterworks or Shan-to-Kor, and the main draw here is the cool explorer area and the big XP you get. My only gripe about this quest pack is that there are only two dungeons, with the entrance to the second being in the back of the first... subsequent quests have you penetrating deeper into the same two dungeon complexes. That said, the quests are still a ton of fun, with some interesting encounters (but mostly a LOT of hobgoblins), it's just that I felt the designers might have been getting lazy.

Tangleroot also has House P favor going for it, and if you do Tangleroot on elite and follow it up with some House P are quests on elite, you can easily qualify for TWO House P favor rewards, the second of which is very nice.

***

So anyways, if you have any of these quest packs and are starting to outgrow the harbor and lower level market quests, feel free to ask me for help if you need it.

Hope to see you in game!

[JoeBlow]

You've convinced at least one Noob...gotta have them!

[Ryft]

LOL. The Sharn Syndicate is great for the weapons, STK for the FF ring, and Tangleroot for the XP.

There's also a nice relationship among low level quests: the favor mill.

Since when on sale these quest packs only cost maybe 200 or 250 TP, and since they increase the elite favor that you have access to across several alternate characters that you might play, they help you grind out more TP from favor very quickly. Basically what I'm saying is that, TP wise, they very nearly pay for a large portion of themselves.

I'm F2P, and I've spent $5 on the lowest end points package (when THAT was on sale, even!) to attain premium status. That's all I've spent on the game so far, and I have three quest packs and monk unlocked. Not too bad.

It helps to have a character on the other servers, and grind out 100 favor with each of them. You get some solid "first time favor" bonuses for your first toon on each server, which is why you will see a list of alts in my signature on other servers. None of these characters are very high level, and I sort of go back to some of them. Less so these days, with being rooted in Thelanis because of C.L.A.W.

Once you get experienced at the game, though, it pays to solo through early game content on another server when there is no one to play with, for the points if not the practice.

I'm told that if you delete all your toons from a server, the first time TP bonus resets and you get it again. I've seen posts in the DDO forums dedicated to using this system to grind TP fairly quickly, and Deathboon and I even had a brief discussion on the subject the other day.

[Desdemonte]

As always, I'M IN!!!!

After I go back to work tomorrow though, play time is going to be almost always weekends and monday afternoon plus the occasional week night for 1.5 hrs.....

[Ryft]

I've noted that Vyral's level is starting to outstrip the people I'm playing with. That's a problem. Fortunately, Tangleroot provides a solution!

Elestria needs her elite favor, so Vyral is actually running Tangleroot on elite right now for the first time, with Ele as the opener. Because she's five levels higher than him, he's not getting XP on his first time runthrough for elite. This means that I can both get my elite favor out of the way, have elite unlocked for other people I'm running with, AND not level up quite so fast when I run Tangleroot with Desdemonte or someone (though I'm still going to get a first time bonus on hard or normal, and yeah... that's still a LOT of XP).

Might sound like I'm shooting myself in the foot, but trust me... all for a good cause!

On the alternate questing update: ran some Sharn Syndicate with Desdemonte and Melysta. Lots of fun. Had some trouble with Dirty Laundry, of all random easy quests, but lots of fun all the same. Was hoping for the constant effect featherfall boots from Bookbinder, and even ran it twice, but no cigar. Might need to farm that one a bit if I get my elite run on it and still haven't gotten them. Much easier than trying to "farm" a FF ring from STK, at any rate.

[Poka]

To add some more options...

Catacombs is normally 250 tp.
You can get some useful stuff here, including a eternal wand of cure minor wounds.

You don't really have to grind an area for xp at this level though, there are other free quests ranging from insanely simple to reedonkulously hard.

There's the level 3 rescue the captives, and in the hills on the way you can find 'where there's smoke'.

There are 4 depths series up in House Deneith. For a level 4-5 party on normal this will give some decent xp and loot.

'vile apothecary' though will eat all those potions you've been gathering. Think this is the hardest level 4 dungeon.

As Ryft mentioned somewhere, Irestone Inlet is a great place to test a party. It is tough the first time. you need a full party and use tactics.


Rest for the Restless ( not soloable without a partner or hireling ) a level 4 quest

[Shoefly]

I just went VIP so I'm up for anything!

[Deathboon]

I'm beginning to notice a slight improvement to the AI in alot of these dungeons aswell, for example today i had an ogre in tangleroot stop just outside of Elestria's Bladebarrier and start shooting me with his bow, i had to turn around and charge him to get him to switch back to melee and step into it. Also in Sharn w/Mel i noticed the quickfoot casters buffing with blur spells, something they've never done before. So be wary! No major changes, but if you're expecting them to behave the same they can catch you off guard and spoil a perfectly good encounter.

[Ryft]

I think the ogre thing was just because you were too far away from him, so he switched to ranged.

BTW, I read something in the DDO cleric forums about not letting your blade barriers overlap, because it creates a region where the goons won't take damage. Just an FYI.

The Depth's series was a good suggestion for a F2P alternative to the other quest packs mentioned. Depths gets hard on quests 3 & 4, though... it wouldn't be uncommon to have to switch difficulties partway through if you started them on elite.

[Bova]

I will go !

[Random]

I would love to do tangleroot Level 8 favored soul should be somewhat useful.

[Desdemonte]

Bova- See ya tonight 9 EST!

We have 3 clerics and a sorc- any tank or rogue wanna join us???

[Zizzle]

Originally Posted by Desdemonte

Bova- See ya tonight 9 EST!

We have 3 clerics and a sorc- any tank or rogue wanna join us???

If I am not too badly snow-bound and outside shoveling white stuff, I would love to drag Zlingerdark in there! If you see me, holler!

[Desdemonte]

You BETCHA!!!!

[Ryft]

Excellent run through Sharn Syndicate on elite tonight. Things got a little bit hairy on the last quest, but we managed to get completion.

Random, I'll look for you the next time I'm playing Vyral. I went through Tangleroot on elite with a higher level guild member, so I have everything unlocked to whatever difficulty we might want to run.

[Zizzle]

Originally Posted by Ryft

Excellent run through Sharn Syndicate on elite tonight. Things got a little bit hairy on the last quest, but we managed to get completion.

Random, I'll look for you the next time I'm playing Vyral. I went through Tangleroot on elite with a higher level guild member, so I have everything unlocked to whatever difficulty we might want to run.

Aye it was a good run! The end there was kind of well not as good as the rest was! But good times to be had! At least next time I will be able to use my shock/seeker bow I ended up getting as a reward to really work the end crowd better.

[Desdemonte]

Good Times..