azraelck
Angel of Cookies!
Thanks. Found the other thread too, but it seems to be pretty inactive.
Also forget to mention, I am thank god not totally unfamiliar with D&D. Neverwinter Nights 1/2 and the Baldur's Gate saga has kept me busy for many many many hours.
Currently I'm a first lifer level 7 Human Paladin splashed with a rogue level. Took Hunter of the Dead for the healing amp according to this guide. I assume he knows what he is talking about.
I've seen this build. My own old Paladin was a little similar, sacrificing heavy armor for evasion. But mine was a 32 point 18/2 Monk splash, and used two Khopeshes and, for what at the time was a viable PrE, KotC.
Very survivable, but not near the tops for dps, even for a Paladin. I'd recommend Junts' guide as well, for Paladins. http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=218542&highlight=junts. A bit out of date, but still valuable.
DPS
How does one raise dps? All the weapons I find in chests seem to be carbon copies of eachother. +1/2 enchantment and/or some form of elemental damage.
At level 7 I am running Delera's Tomb over and over for experience and the unique loot. Mostly I want the axe since people seem to swear by it. Already have the voice trinket.
I swear my dps hasn't changed one bit from when I was level 2 and smacking kobolts about. I even raised my STR to 20 through gear and the 1 bonus point. Still hitting around the 20~30 range.
Power Attack/Cleave of course.
I'm going to have a pretty bad time if this keeps up.
One of the problems is that Paladins, by design, are not a particularly strong DPS class. They use smite evil/exalted smite to compensate somewhat, but they will never come close to a Raging, Frenzied Barbarian. All in all, I'd put my old Half-Elf Favored Soul melee build above a THF Paladin, equally geared. The melee FvS may be slightly under the Paladin in raw dps, but they have Divine Punishment and a weak but useful Blade Barrier, and the second best healing abilities in the game.
They're also very stat-tight, as they need STR, CON, and CHA at a minimum, whereas most full BaB classes really just need STR and CON for THF, maybe a minor investment into DEX
That said, you'll get better gear as you go along, and you're dps will likewise increase.
Until you can pull Carnifex, which took me 30+ runs originally, try to find a decent Falchion. Paladin smites LOVE criticals. And Falchions get more than any other 2 hander.
Evasion Paladin pointless?
Second question is about the survival build that I am running. I did part 1 of Delera's solo at level 6 without hireling. Won't say it was easy, but I managed. Though it send me running and swearing off that place until I had Ghost Touch from my Hunter line. I was pretty proud of my paladin for being able to solo that.
At level 7 I came back for more with my Mace +2 (for the skeleton archers). Took such a beating that I ran back to entrance and summoned my emergency mistress to heal me. Then I blasted through the place, which made my paladin feel useless since I choose to sacrifice dps for survival/self healing when I can get a cheap level 3 hireling and destroy the place with pure dps.
Another point is the beating I took from huge mobs. Already I take such a beating that I need to have a hireling to heal me since selfhealing gets me nowhere, but it will only get worse at level 8 when I switch out my heavy armor for light to activate Evasion. I really don't see the point to survive a fireball to the face only to be cut down by the 5 melee buddies.
One thing you've got to remember, is that your character lacks the same level of gear that the poster who made the build, Junts, or even myself have. You also lack the same level of experience that we do. So things will be tougher. DDO is a 'solo-friendly' game, yes, but that doesn't mean anyone and their pet goat can roll in and start soloing elites first time out!
For example, do you have a Fortification item? This makes a huge difference in incoming damage, as fortification reduces the chance, or eliminates it, of being critted, as well as cutting down on Rogue-type mobs SA damage.
That build you found lists no less than 3 Paladin past lives (15% healing amp), a Torc (I've done 60+ runs of that raid and never seen it drop once), a Con-opp Greensteel (doable, but would take awhile with only one or two characters, and requires being able to flag for and run the Shroud raid), 20% healing amp bracers and 30% gloves (20+ gear most likely), a relatively high crafting level or access to someone who can craft unbound shards. Even at your low level, he's assuming Red Fens gear, from level 9 quests, already farmed out! It's not a newbie-friendly build in the least.
Paladins do not get sustainable self-healing until much later. They get Cure Light Wounds at 8, Cure Moderate at 12, Cure Serious at 14. Coupled with their lower spell point pool, it doesn't truly become sustainable until you are well geared. Rangers have much the same problem. While Paladins do have LoH, it's only a couple of uses. Not until Epics can you get regenerating LoH, which sucks.
That said, I once ran a raid in which the Cleric went down, and my Ranger swapped from DPS to healing and kept the tank alive until someone else was able to raise her. I also kept a hallway healed while I was fighting in that same raid. So don't discount Paladin and Ranger healing just yet. You have to build for it, but it's powerful nonetheless. Once I even solo healed a pug on a Halfling dragonmarked Monk, and made it through several quests before finally getting to a long one that I ran out of healing.
To be honest, Paladin is the last class I'd recommend to a new player. And I would never assume a self-healing build outside of Cleric or Favored Soul for a new player.
When I am soloing, I don't charge the mobs quite as much as I do in groups. I use Bluff to pull them to me one at a time, find some traps to run them through, and use crowd control abilities like Trip or Stunning Blow.
Several times I was tempted to just roll a pure monk and go everywhere with a hireling. Only thing currently holding me back are all the nice things Hunter of the Dead gives me. (And Lay on Hands if I am completely honest) Perma Ghost Touch? Immune to fear? Immune to level drain?
I will most likely want to kill myself as monk when I start running into things that drain me. Or the changing of wraps whenever I meet a wraith.
Monks are actually one of the easiest classes to play once you learn it, though they really demand a lot from the player. They have a reasonably high AC naturally, a decent Dodge %, and coupled with Improved Evasion and the highest attack speed in the game, can bring down mobs quickly. IMO they shine about level 12 and up.
They're actually easier to gear, as they don't gain much dps from weapons (they actually lose dps by using anything but unarmed fighting), but from leveling. Their unarmed damage die increases as they level. Once you get Stonedust handwraps, you can use them for trash basically until you get to epic levels, and get the Grave Wrappings. Mine has an array of mob-specific wraps as well, for different raid bosses.
They're also the melee crowd control kings and queens, with Stunning Fist, Quivering Palm, Stunning Blow, the Shintao stun if you go that path, Touch of Death for Dark Monks, etc… Keep the best STR, CON, DEX, and WIS gear you can on them, and pick a stance or two to build around. I like Earth for the added hp.
I'd advise going Light Monk at first. Shintao gives DR bypasses at each tier, so for most bosses with DR, you only need a Holy wraps to break it.
If you are willing to drop cash into the game, consider Half-Elves as well. They're hideous, but Monks can make use of the Cleric dilettante for easy scroll/wand usage. Alternately, they can use the Rogue dilettante for added dps.
Thanks for your offer azraelck, but I will decline for now. Though I will probably love the social aspect of a friendly guild, I am playing from europe. The time difference would keep any social interaction to a minimum.
I admit I only registered to ask you these questions. I try not be one of 'those' who only come running when there is something that benefits me and joining you guys on Khyber will make me feel like a douche.
BBQ
Peter is from Norway, Alrik from Germany. And Corwin lives in Australia. So don't worry about the play times.
No worries, not taken that way. I fear that the gap in power between veterans and first lifers are too wide to bridge and I end up running after everyone doing nothing and in the end, ruining the experience of an adventure.
It's not insurmountable unless you're thinking to go full retard, top-of-the-line dps mode. Then you're looking at many many lives through many many classes, and gathering gear until your eyes bleed.
It's more a gap in experience. DDO is a game where player skill comes into effect. The Barbarian tactic of charge and hope the healer can keep up can work, but solo often not.
Try to find a guild if you're not going to move servers, that will take a new player under their wings. Most people aren't elitist jerks, and will gladly help others out. I still see contests and giveaways in the harbor on occasion when I wander through, vets helping out newbies. I've given out so many tapestry pieces that I actually managed to run out.
There are also Euro-zone guilds available. There's a lot of European players out there, so just keep an eye out. I'm not sure on Thelanis, since I've never been on that server, but on Khyber it's rare I start a group and not end up with someone from over the pond.
One final thing is that, ultimately, you may not have the playing style and preferences for a pure melee. I'm actually one who prefers hybrids myself. But I'm more of a do-all player, as evidenced by my use of the old Exploiter Ranger (18/1Rogue/1Fighter build, traps, locks, dps, and self-healing), a THF melee Favored Soul, and a TWF melee Bard. Even my 'one trick ponies' tend to have more than one trick, like my Sorceress and her heal scrolls and highly effective Enchantment spells, or my two Fighters with their cleric dilettantes. Truly focused builds, that only do one thing at all, are, IMO, weaker than more versatile builds, due to the nature of the game.