Mostly solo play?

[khalasar]

Is ddo mostly solo play like lotro?

[Running-Target]

yeah DDO is sometimes Solo, mainly because veterans don't want to group with new players. Veterans replay quests at higher difficulty, very fast, self-sufficiently and they know what they are doing, so they can level up again quickly and reincarnate.

The game is designed for four real players to fill roles in the party to go through the map. There is a default starting server where every new player is recommended to start a character so they have enough new players to group with.

[NavFamG]

Dungeons have multiple difficulty settings; normal (on level), hard (+1 level) and elite (+2 levels). There's also Reaper which starts at +4 levels above the norm, and even it has from 1 to 10 skull settings so 'easy' to HARD.

So yes you can solo most of the dungeons. Some do have mechanics where you require others and some are party recommended due to difficulty.

It's pretty much up to how you want to play.

Also on May 17th the latest Hardcore Server (Perma-death. Where after you die you leave the server and move your character to a normal one, so you don't actually lose your character) is starting. It's a fresh start server that'll last 4 months or so. LOTS of grouping there right from the start.

[Doug]

DDO is NOT designed for solo play. Some dungeons cannot be soloed, nor can most raids. There are definitely people who solo, but, like the Pen and Paper D&D on which it's based, DDO was designed as a cooperative game.

[CRCGamer]

I'd say a good sixth of the content really shouldn't be done solo if you want to have a fun time. Yes you can get away with it if you have a lot of knowledge and perform due diligence in preparation and carry an entire pharmacy worth of assorted restoratives. Plus be equipped with a bare minimum kit of deathblock, heavy fortification, some source of deathward, an additional spell absorption item for when deathward will be forcibly dispelled, permanent featherfall item, permanent underwater action (water breathing) item, plus more QoL stuff like permanent True Seeing on an item.

Difficulty in the game is on a sliding scale. Veterans can sleepwalk through normal and most of hard difficulty at any point. Elite and especially reaper are where the gloves come off and if you want to do those solo you had better be on your toes.

Some missions that "technically" require multiple people can be done with some very creative dodges involving henchman, pets, and hard crowd controlled monsters, or an occasional dimension door to escape a locked room scenario. You can technically paralyze or stone some poor shmuck into standing on a pressure plate for you long enough to open some doors using that mechanic.

Just, don't go in expecting the game to scale itself down to a casual solo Sunday drive. It isn't that kind of game.

[pexx421]

It is generally pretty easy to find groups though. I’ve pretty much always been able to find groups within a couple minutes whenever I want one. And generally whenever I run stuff solo, people join me more often than not. And you can always bring a hireling which is pretty helpful.

[Stupid Noob Gamer]

What i've personally found is that it "depends on the adventure". Due to power creep, many things are soloable, others, on the other hand, are not.

Generally speaking, when looking at entering an adventure, if the "party icon" (top right of the quest information screen when starting a quest) is green, and shows a single person, generally those are soloable. If it has a exclamation point, and multiple characters in it, generally those are not soloable.

Unfortunately, the best advice here is that you'll need to "feel" them out for yourself, find an adventuring group, or someone knowledgeable.

Word of advice, if I could: If you choose to solo, your first run of any adventure, be prepared to fail. That first time, you're more or less going in blind, and will likely meet your demise to a trap or mechanic of some sort (provided you are not a class that can detect/disarm them). Be prepared to shrug that loss off, and be ready to go in again with more knowledge than the first time.

Do not make ranting threads in the forum (like I did) complaining about x, y, or z, quest/mechanic. The community doesn't take kindly to venting.

[Daliena]

Originally posted by Running-Target:

The game is designed for four real players to fill roles in the party to go through the map. There is a default starting server where every new player is recommended to start a character so they have enough new players to group with.

Which one is that?

[Dwarf80]

im a solo player, always have been. I find it more enjoyable alone that having to worry about everyone else since that distracts from my gameplay. Im just a beginner only a few days out testing the diff classes by making 3 chars on ea server and testing them out one at a time until i finish the first area and deciding which class fills the role for how i want to play. I am a very slow player so i wouldnt be able to keep up with anyone else anyway. So yes it can be played solo but like other posts have stated up to a certain point it will become harder to do so......that being said i like to hire a hireling helper when i get a few gold collected. It makes alot of diff esp when your just starting out and still trying to learn the ropes.

[NavFamG]

Originally posted by Daliena:

Originally posted by Running-Target:

There is a default starting server where every new player is recommended to start a character so they have enough new players to group with.

Which one is that?

For a brand new player, first time logging in it will be the TOP server on the list where you choose what server to put your new character on.

[Doug]

Originally posted by Daliena:

Originally posted by Running-Target:

The game is designed for four real players to fill roles in the party to go through the map. There is a default starting server where every new player is recommended to start a character so they have enough new players to group with.

Which one is that?

The default server is rotated so as to keep populations fairly even across servers. So there's no way to say here which server that'll be at any given time. But it will be on the top of the servers list and will say (Default) behind the server name, iirc.

[Daliena]

Originally posted by Doug:

Originally posted by Daliena:

Which one is that?

The default server is rotated so as to keep populations fairly even across servers. So there's no way to say here which server that'll be at any given time. But it will be on the top of the servers list and will say (Default) behind the server name, iirc.

I see. I'm actually an ancient enough player that I first played this when it was new and I got a boxed copy.. But I have been on a years-long break and some friends might wanna play too, who are first-timers, and I thought "Maybe I shouldn't take my reincarnated god knows how many times character to play with them and try to find us somewhere we can actually hang out with people too"

[Doug]

Originally posted by Daliena:

Originally posted by Doug:

The default server is rotated so as to keep populations fairly even across servers. So there's no way to say here which server that'll be at any given time. But it will be on the top of the servers list and will say (Default) behind the server name, iirc.

I see. I'm actually an ancient enough player that I first played this when it was new and I got a boxed copy.. But I have been on a years-long break and some friends might wanna play too, who are first-timers, and I thought "Maybe I shouldn't take my reincarnated god knows how many times character to play with them and try to find us somewhere we can actually hang out with people too"

That specific situation might be a bit difficult. Because your old multi-TR has intrinsic value, if only for past lives and named gear that is hard to farm. So if it's on a different server than the default, you have to decide which is more important. You CAN transfer a character to another server, but it's about $15-$20 equivalent, iirc.

The other option is to start on the current Hardcore server (permadeath). It's got the most activity of all servers in the beginner area because when your toon dies, you have to start a new one, so finding groups will be the easiest there.. in return for, of course, the risk of death of your toon. And whether your toons survive or not, you can later transfer them free of charge to another server.. a service specific to the Hardcore events.

In any event, I hope you and your friends decide on a good home. :)

[Daliena]

Originally posted by Doug:

Originally posted by Daliena:

I see. I'm actually an ancient enough player that I first played this when it was new and I got a boxed copy.. But I have been on a years-long break and some friends might wanna play too, who are first-timers, and I thought "Maybe I shouldn't take my reincarnated god knows how many times character to play with them and try to find us somewhere we can actually hang out with people too"

That specific situation might be a bit difficult. Because your old multi-TR has intrinsic value, if only for past lives and named gear that is hard to farm. So if it's on a different server than the default, you have to decide which is more important. You CAN transfer a character to another server, but it's about $15-$20 equivalent, iirc.

The other option is to start on the current Hardcore server (permadeath). It's got the most activity of all servers in the beginner area because when your toon dies, you have to start a new one, so finding groups will be the easiest there.. in return for, of course, the risk of death of your toon. And whether your toons survive or not, you can later transfer them free of charge to another server.. a service specific to the Hardcore events.

In any event, I hope you and your friends decide on a good home. :)

I do know it has value, but eh. If the others are starting fresh, how much would they enjoy it if I rolled up in there with a "I'll solo Reaper" character, right? So figure it's best if I also start anew for this purpose.

[Doug]

Originally posted by Daliena:

Originally posted by Doug:

That specific situation might be a bit difficult. Because your old multi-TR has intrinsic value, if only for past lives and named gear that is hard to farm. So if it's on a different server than the default, you have to decide which is more important. You CAN transfer a character to another server, but it's about $15-$20 equivalent, iirc.

The other option is to start on the current Hardcore server (permadeath). It's got the most activity of all servers in the beginner area because when your toon dies, you have to start a new one, so finding groups will be the easiest there.. in return for, of course, the risk of death of your toon. And whether your toons survive or not, you can later transfer them free of charge to another server.. a service specific to the Hardcore events.

In any event, I hope you and your friends decide on a good home. :)

I do know it has value, but eh. If the others are starting fresh, how much would they enjoy it if I rolled up in there with a "I'll solo Reaper" character, right? So figure it's best if I also start anew for this purpose.

Reasonable. I wouldn't necessarily suggest playing that character with them, only that having it on the same server keeps all your oars in the same pond, as it were.

[Daliena]

Originally posted by Doug:

Originally posted by Daliena:

I do know it has value, but eh. If the others are starting fresh, how much would they enjoy it if I rolled up in there with a "I'll solo Reaper" character, right? So figure it's best if I also start anew for this purpose.

Reasonable. I wouldn't necessarily suggest playing that character with them, only that having it on the same server keeps all your oars in the same pond, as it were.

Perhaps so. Did check the server list now, though - none of them have 'default' on them, the one listed at the top is Cannith (where I have my stuff, though that might be because I also checked on it about a week back?)