I think I have made up my mind about purchasing D&D Online Stormreach. Any information available for a newbie with details on the approach to multi-classing in terms of skills, spells, gear? I would think that the option to multiclass almost certainly would reduce the strain on "We need a cleric" which is found on many other games.

I have read about raid encounters in D&D, but not much. I doubt that it has raid encounters on the scale of 40+ players, can you give me a rough estimate of raid encounters and the number of players average to complete the raid in a reasonable amount of time?

Are there live events such as city attacks and castle sieges? Does a lich and its pet dragon lead a legion of goblins into the nearest village while the players of the world defend the townsfolk? Even if D&D Online doesn't have this I am going to give it a try so long as the player base is sufficient.

How easy is it to get into a server, and which ones, which has a sufficient player base to find groups at all hours after 5(7, 9)pm eastern US(by amount of time)?

Ty for the input in advance. I look forward to participating in the unique skill system of D&D Online.

Originally posted by matthewf978

I think I have made up my mind about purchasing D&D Online Stormreach. Any information available for a newbie with details on the approach to multi-classing in terms of skills, spells, gear? I would think that the option to multiclass almost certainly would reduce the strain on "We need a cleric" which is found on many other games.

I have read about raid encounters in D&D, but not much. I doubt that it has raid encounters on the scale of 40+ players, can you give me a rough estimate of raid encounters and the number of players average to complete the raid in a reasonable amount of time?

Are there live events such as city attacks and castle sieges? Does a lich and its pet dragon lead a legion of goblins into the nearest village while the players of the world defend the townsfolk? Even if D&D Online doesn't have this I am going to give it a try so long as the player base is sufficient.

How easy is it to get into a server, and which ones, which has a sufficient player base to find groups at all hours after 5(7, 9)pm eastern US(by amount of time)?

Ty for the input in advance. I look forward to participating in the unique skill system of D&D Online.

I've only played DDO for a short time, but I think I can answer one of your questions. For live events, pretty much no. All the fighting is done in instances off of Stormreach, dungeons all over the place. Unless I'm completely mistaken, there are no outdoor zones.

Originally posted by matthewf978

I think I have made up my mind about purchasing D&D Online Stormreach. Any information available for a newbie with details on the approach to multi-classing in terms of skills, spells, gear? I would think that the option to multiclass almost certainly would reduce the strain on "We need a cleric" which is found on many other games.

I have read about raid encounters in D&D, but not much. I doubt that it has raid encounters on the scale of 40+ players, can you give me a rough estimate of raid encounters and the number of players average to complete the raid in a reasonable amount of time?

Are there live events such as city attacks and castle sieges? Does a lich and its pet dragon lead a legion of goblins into the nearest village while the players of the world defend the townsfolk? Even if D&D Online doesn't have this I am going to give it a try so long as the player base is sufficient.

How easy is it to get into a server, and which ones, which has a sufficient player base to find groups at all hours after 5(7, 9)pm eastern US(by amount of time)?

Ty for the input in advance. I look forward to participating in the unique skill system of D&D Online.

I really enjoyed playing DDO, I played a warforged cleric till about level nine then multi-classed as a fighter, people usually do expect cleric's to be healers, so if your going to be a fighting cleric, then let your group know before hand or you could end up with a few annoyed  players, most players are happy if you let them know first, if you do play a Healer cleric make sure your team buy you the healing wands,( there expensive ( asking is normal and fair, so don't be embarrassed to ask))

As a healing cleric don't let your self be bullied, as a cleric your a bit like a sergeant, it's your job to keep the group close enough to cast your heals, not your job to chase after everyone, there job to stay close so you can heal and they can protect you and usually the magic user/s.

Also playing as a cleric will help you meet and join up in group when you begin,( people still like to have a cleric in the party)

This game works best if you have a mic set up so you can use voice, even if you don't, set it up anyway so you can hear them.

This game is not like WoW or another point and click grind, so don't go in expecting it to be anything like it. although it has solo abilities, it mainly is a team or group play game, like the pen & paper version.

Download and play the trial fist this will give you ten days to play, if you like it buy it, a box set or online purchase will give you another 30days of play so this way you will get 40days of play.

Don't for get to say Hello to Gary when your in.

hope this helps, :)

P.S. yes there are out door zones.

You should probably start out with a pure class just to get used to the game and give you an idea of what sort of character you'd like to play. You can also ask for help here: http://forums.ddo.com/forumdisplay.php?f=46  Many experienced players will help you to build a character to meet whatever role you want to fill.

Raids in DDO are 12-man groups, normal groups are 6.

We recently had a large event where devils opened a portal and attacked the marketplace, eventually they blew up the center of town. Now it's just a pile of rubble but there is an entrance to a new underground area there. Here is a video that the big finale: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvkcE68VdfA&feature=related. This was a scripted event that anybody in the marketplace at the time saw :)

After they merged to 5 servers finding/starting a group is very easy. At eastern prime time you should have no trouble at all.

After doing a bit more research and getting my facts straight I have learned that multi-classing takes away from the max level attainable in a single class. I have elected to become a ranger for the full 12 levels. I can't wait until all the updates finally get patched to my computer on my super slow connection(estimated 25 hours). This game looks more and more awesome the more I learn. I have developed a rough plan of where I want to be with features and skills along with stats at level 12.

Time to look for more information and videos. Thank you for the link posted below I will check it out right now.

I think max level is 14th, If you ever play a warforge remember to watch out for the rustmonsters!, good luck.

Level cap is 16.

I hate rustmonsters! They get mixed in with other mobs and just wrecks all kinds of damage on your weapons.

Originally posted by matthewf978

Are there live events such as city attacks and castle sieges? Does a lich and its pet dragon lead a legion of goblins into the nearest village while the players of the world defend the townsfolk? Even if D&D Online doesn't have this I am going to give it a try so long as the player base is sufficient.

It would be awesome if there were guild cities or structures (castels, keeps, fotresses, etc) that could be attacked by monsters, but there is not.  :(

Player base is ok.  Due to the nature of the initial design there is a dependancy on group play.  It can be frustrating if you have to wait 20 minutes to get into a group although I suspect if you're coming from WoW you have plenty of experiance forming raids; ddo raids are 12 man groups. 

Welcome to DDO!

The most important thing about DDO is enjoying the directed experaince of the dungeons. If there's another game that remotely captures the same feel I wish someone would mention it...

Hellgate london, plays alot like DDo only Sci-Fi and I think has that feel as well, i do play both.

Originally posted by redcap036

Hellgate london, plays alot like DDo only Sci-Fi and I think has that feel as well, i do play both.

No kidding?

I guess I'll have to lurk in the Hellgate forums and locate a trial. ;)

Didn't Hellgate have a bad start due to bugs and performance?  (DDO's bad start was mostly due to content, or lack thereof.)

Originally posted by redcap036

Hellgate london, plays alot like DDo only Sci-Fi and I think has that feel as well, i do play both.

Isn't hellgate london a randomly generated map game with some random kill x type missions or find x? 

Last I looked it didn't have Raids or Puzzles or an extensive / diverse monster system (just demons, zombies and other related of their ilk).  It doesnt even have a diverse class system, infact its class system & leveling system are pretty different between the two games.

I mean I think the only thing Hellgate London & DDO have incommon is that "city" is a Hub(though DDO does have several Locales outside the city that are "Hubs"), live action combat, and all the quests take place in Instances.  

Other than that the games are completely different.

Please clarify what you mean because otherwise it sounds well....NOT correct.

Originally posted by mindspat

Originally posted by redcap036

Hellgate london, plays alot like DDo only Sci-Fi and I think has that feel as well, i do play both.

 

No kidding?

I guess I'll have to lurk in the Hellgate forums and locate a trial. ;)

Didn't Hellgate have a bad start due to bugs and performance?  (DDO's bad start was mostly due to content, or lack thereof.)

yer It did, but most do, I will say that it does have a few bugs still, but with that I'm still about to clock over my first level 30 charcter in it, still well worth checking out.