Best value for money

[bloodymonarch]

I'm considering spending some money on this game, but I'm at a loss as to which expansion packs or adventure packs etc. are the best to purchase. I'm F2P currently. What are the bare minimums necessary to go from a new character to max level and reincarnate to do it again?

Also, are there any expected sales on the way I should wait for?

[Derpykat5]

"bare minumum" is hard to define.

it all really depends on how much you want to spend.

I have Three Barrel Cove (5-9 LR), Deleras' Tomb (7-11 LR) and Ruins of Gianthold (12-16 LR), and that seems to work out well for me. Of course, always wait for packs to be on sale. I don't know of any sales, but packs go on sale at least once per year (Gianthold was on sale until around 2 weeks ago).

[Soap]

It truly is difficult to figure what is the bare minimum. It really depends on personal factors. Generally though, I would start with this...

Heroic Reincarnation requires lvl 20(can easily get here free). Epic and Iconic Reincarnation require the max level of 30(very difficult to reach free).

Above level 20, having access to Epic Destinies is really a must. Not only do they act as the enhancment trees for levels 20-30 but maxing the ED trees also gives you access to additional feats at 26, 28, and 29.

The first expansion: Menace of the Underdark, has always had the Epic Destinies packaged with it because they were released together. I think the only other way to get Epic Destinies is separately from the DDO store, for close to the same dollar amount of points as the expansion would cost. So Menace of the Underdark is a great place to start. It provides enough content to get you from lvl 20 to 25 without having to repeat things much if at all.

Personally, I really enjoy the second expansion: Shadowfell Conspiracy. But there are many who would probably tell you if you need to save money that you can leave it out.

*Both of those expansions can only be purchased with money, and cannot be obtained from the DDO store with points. Keep in mind that you will earn DDO points by playing all the quests, so when spending money these two expansions might be the best value.

I can't speak much on the third expansion: Mists of Ravenloft, because I don't have it yet. But the standard version is also available from the DDO store for points.
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Where it gets to more personal preference...

The higher cost bundles for the expansions don't have anything that is necessary or that would be considered bare minimum, but they absolutely can be worth the money if you don't already have the things they provide. This includes quest packs, classes/races, and convenience items that would otherwise cost too many store points to be worth it to a F2p player.

As for Quest Packs: When considering value to need, there are fewer free quests the higher level you go. So it's best to start with packs that contain Epic difficulty. The packs such as Three Barrel Cove, Gianthold, and Necropolis 4: which have BOTH heroic and epic difficulties--essentially provide roughly twice the content. Although for Necropolis it's cheaper to get necro 1-4 as a bundle.
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If you do purchase all 3 expansions, You'll have enough content that you can get whatever quest packs interest you the most without having to worry so much about what levels the quests are. With 2 holiday seasons coming up, I'm sure lots of things will be on sale :)

[NavFamG]

If you go to the Official forums or just google ddo adventure pack review you'll find a good write up of all the adventure packs rated by cost vs xp gain vs favor gain vs loot vs how many quests you get to help you decide.

You'll see and hear alot about 'Must Have' packs. If your whole concept is just to get to max level over and over again those must have's will be what you're looking for.

If on the other hand you'd prefer to play and enjoy yourself you might want to look at some of the others that might not be in the must have listing, but are just enjoyable to play.

I too have Three Barrel Cove - a very fun pirate theme pack, nice mix of quests, has a wilderness area to play in also.

I also have Deleras' Tomb - very undead, lot's of skeletons set of quests with some good loot. If you're not into fighting all manner of skeleton's you won't like it. Has a linked set of 4 quests and then some others quests too, nice level range for the quests also.

I don't follow the must have crowd so some of the others I have (that may or may not fall into that group) are Catacombs - Also undead orientated, Shan-to-Kor - GREAT the first time around, very visual questing, long quests that are chained, Tangleroot Gorge - kind of a poor wilderness area and you keep going back into the same dungeon over and over a bit farther each time. Some like it, some don't - I found it OK, Sharn Syndicate - Very Fun, you get to play the 'bad guy' with these. Generally looked down upon because of poor loot and xp, but fun to play. Sorrowdusk Isle - OK to Nice wilderness area, you fight a lot of trolls, would rate very good except for the annoying feature of having to run back and forth to the dungeons on the island alot. Would probably count as great if it had the teleport feature that Tangleroot or 3 Barrel Cove has. And my first expansion: Mists of Ravenloft - nice spooky play area and quests, good level range for the quests.

[Taebrythn]

wait until black friday. its only a few days away

[Fistalis]

Taebrythn の投稿を引用：

wait until black friday. its only a few days away

This.. then do any upgrades on the expansions that include bonus points. Then spend the bonus points to fill in any level gaps where you Have issues.
Gianthold and vale would be my suggested use of any bonus points... others may have differing opintions and if you have knowledge of what levels you personally need more content then spend the points accordingly. Note that one of the expansions include like 4 extra adventure packs (motu i think at the proper tier)

The only expansion that you aren't likely to see at a huge discount is ravenloft.. If you can't get it on sale then it's worth the points or the base package for the loot.. makes gearing heroic TRs really easy since alot of builds can wear the RL loot can 10 to 20 pretty effectively.

Ravenloft isn't required by any means but if you are doing the Heroic TR grind it makes your life 1000% easier not having to worry about inventory tetris. That being said if you aren't trying to buy it just save up points for it.. may take a while but saving up points while on the Reincarnation grind adds up over time.

Catching the first two expnansions on sale (if the Black friday sale is anything like previous years) and doing the bonus point tiers for them will provide more than the absolute minimum needed for very little money. WIth everything provided by them you'll be well equipped to grind out The TR train and SAVE POINTS to eventually unlock additional content alviet slowly but with no additional money spent.

[Question]

bloodymonarch の投稿を引用：

I'm considering spending some money on this game, but I'm at a loss as to which expansion packs or adventure packs etc. are the best to purchase. I'm F2P currently. What are the bare minimums necessary to go from a new character to max level and reincarnate to do it again?

Also, are there any expected sales on the way I should wait for?

The problem is for 1-20 alone you need a LOT of packs...unless you really like repeating quests, which will slow you down and limit the favor you get per life (not counting repeating quests like shadow crypt that have insane xp/min obviously).

Just off the top of my head...these are the ones I usually run per life without an XP tome, usually on reaper for max xp :

-Catacombs
-Three barrel cove
-Demon sands
-Gianthold
-Vale
-Devil assault (mainly for token farming)
-Necro 2 and 4 (most people seem to avoid necro 1 and 3 like the plague)
-Vault of night
-Red Fens (re-thinking this, the xp/min is really not that good after you get the items you want)
-Sentinels of stormreach
-Dreaming dark
-Disciples of rage
-High road

Usually at least some parts of the following for favor and to hit the xp cap at certain levels :

-Delera's tomb
-Sharn syndicate
-Seal of shan to kor
-Attack on stormreach
-Path of inspiration

Not counting packs that I only run to try and get a specific item (like trials of the archons) or packs that I sometimes do because theres a party zerging them (like druids).

Total up all the costs and you are probably looking at $100+ worth of packs...easily...just not viable unless you have been playing for years and have plenty of points to burn.

As f2p, you are way better off getting VIP and trying out the different packs to see which you like as well as to get twink gear from packs that you only want to run once but dont plan to re-run for xp in future lives. But the usual must haves are IMHO :

-Three barrel cove
-Gianthold
-Demon sands
-Vale
-Vault of night
-Sentinels of stormreach

Catacombs is also frequently recommended...but i really dont like it because of the backtracking and it has a level 3 quest where you have to kill 200+ tanky skeletons...

[Doug]

To keep it as simple as possible, to reach Heroic cap (20) and TR without ridiculous amounts of re-running of the same quests, you need to fill two major holes where F2P quests are rare. It has generally been recommended that you do so with Gianthold L13-14 (Epic version included) and Vale L16 (but can take you right to cap). Both are quite popular and frequently run (which is definitely NOT the case for some of the other recommendations I've seen here). Bonus is that the quests are older, so the mobs aren't quite as powerful as in some of the newer content.

Many people farm Tokens of the Twelve (for reincarnation) in Devil Assault, but they actually drop in most Epic level quests in Eberron (NOT the ones in the Forgotten Realms). OTOH, sometimes you can pike DA while someone soloes it and get free XP, loot, and possibly even tokens (though if the LFM is posted requesting that you donate your tokens to the person soloing, do).

If you also wish to be able to reach Epic cap (L30) and ETR, at a minimum I'd add the Menace of the Underdark expansion. I believe it includes Epic Destinies, which are also a strong recommendation for anyone who intends to play in Epics.

Fwiw, I wouldn't recommend running into Epic levels until you've at least TRed twice so that you have Elite quest opens on the first run and 36 point builds.

[Doug]

Beyond that, there are a number of recommendations for specific purposes.

Delera's chain includes an end reward trinket (Voice of the Master) that provides +5% XP from L5 onward.

The Ravenloft expansion provides an excellent weapon every life (your choice of type) that's ideal vs most undead and pretty decent for its level in general. As a bonus, it's available after running only the first introductory quest in the chain.

Three-Barrel Cove provides enough XP for a multi-lifer's entire at-level needs and a bit more on one single run through its L5 quests.

Necropolis (especially if you can buy Necro I-IV as a bundle) covers a level range from L5 to L14 and is run fairly frequently. Only Necro IV has an epic version.

Vault of Night quests and pre-raid (L8-10) are run regularly in both heroic and epic versions.

Secrets of the Artificers is a decent way to cap if Vale isn't enough and as a bonus, its favor both helps unlock the Artificer class (may also have to run a few challenges) and purchase of Marks of Cannith to allow a third effect on Cannith Crafted gear (though that's generally not relevant until you've had at least a few lives to collect collectibles).

Seems to me those are the best second-tier choices, though Demon Sands (Menechtarun), Shadow over Wheloon and High Road might arguably be good choices depending on what level range you're looking to fill. And all three have both heroic and epic versions.

[Doug]

If you get into epics, you'll find that many people level using a list of "dailies" (individual quests run once/day to avoid XP penalties), that tend to include the following:

The Jungle of Khyber (VoN3) - Vault of Night pack
A Legend Revisited (epic version of Two-Toed Tobias) - Three Barrel Cove
Spies in the House - Sentinels of Stormreach
The Chamber of Raiyum (colloquially known as 'Wizard King') - Demon Sands (Menechtarun)
The Lords of Dust - F2P
Through a Mirror Darkly - Shadow over Wheloon

You might see occasional others show up on a list of dailies, but these are the ones I see most commonly. Also frequently run for XP in epics is the Vault of Night pre-raid (VoN5). The raid (VoN6) is NOT run because to do so puts you on timer; you can't run VoN5 again for 2 1/2 days (iirc).

Obviously if you wish to take full advantage of a program of dailies for leveling, you have to own the appropriate packs (though nothing prevents you joining for as little as a single quest).

[Doug]

As has been mentioned, inasmuch as possible, buy packs and expansions when they're on sale. Most go on sale 2-3 times a year at discounts of 20-25%. Deeper discounts may occur for some of them (the older two expansions were 80% off earlier this year, though that's unusually discounted).

[Grexus Blacksun]

The one I'd emphasize buying is Menace of the Underdark Expansion (especially the Steam version) as it nets you the Underdark/Eveningstar stuff, unlocks Epic Destiny, Unlocks Druid, includes a Greater Tome of Experience, 1000 DDO points, and 4 "Classic" adventures. It's already at a bargain price on Steam, but it will probably go on sale this Black Friday, too, so best time to get it.

[Doug]

Black Friday sale is starting. Here's what I've seen so far:

"Get 50% off ALL Ravenloft expansions in the DDO Market
75% off the Deep Gnome Iconic Hero
50% off the Dragonblood Prophecy adventure pack
Double Bonus Points
and more!"

and here's an odd one: Tier 20 of the Shared Bank: Item Storage is on sale for 35% off (introductory price). The odd part? I just bought it even though I don't own Tiers 16-19! (You DO need to have the first tier, though.)

[Doug]

Grexus Blacksun の投稿を引用：

The one I'd emphasize buying is Menace of the Underdark Expansion (especially the Steam version) as it nets you the Underdark/Eveningstar stuff, unlocks Epic Destiny, Unlocks Druid, includes a Greater Tome of Experience, 1000 DDO points, and 4 "Classic" adventures. It's already at a bargain price on Steam, but it will probably go on sale this Black Friday, too, so best time to get it.

If planning to play in Epics, rather than TR at 20, this is indeed the first recommendation from me as well. Note that the bonus goodies he mentions are in the Standard Edition. The Base Edition contains only the quests, Epic Destinies, and a Lesser Tome of Learning. Both are excellent value.

Base Edition:
https://store.standingstonegames.com/store/ssg/en_US/pd/ThemeID.4823088000/productID.246618300/categoryID.58733100/parentCategoryID.58516100

Standard Edition:
https://store.standingstonegames.com/store/ssg/en_US/pd/ThemeID.4823088000/productID.246618200/categoryID.58733100/parentCategoryID.58516100

[Question]

I was told that MOTU + Shadowfell usualy goes on sale for like...$10...definately dont get them full price now. Theres still the chance that it will go on sale for cyber monday or christmas at least.

[bloodymonarch]

Seems like the Ravenloft one went on sale instead of the other stuff. I'll probably just hold off on this game I guess.

Thanks for all the information, I'll reference this should I need it.