Yes, it’s time for part 2 of my pre-PAX East test of DDOcast’s live capabilities. Last week was a basic test to see if I could get a Skype call streamed easily and deal with production. Yes!

This week: Add live calls!

So, here’s how it will work. I will be broadcasting over my Ustream account (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ddocast) on Friday, March 12th from 8pm until 10pm Eastern! Besides the regular DDOcast craziness, we’ll be taking your calls one of a few ways:

1. Google Voice: I’ve set up a Google Voice number for the show - (507) 295-1847 - that you can call on Friday night to be live on the air. You can call it before then, but I won’t answer and it’ll go straight into voice mail.

2. Snapvine - I’ve had an account on Snapvine for people to leave voice messages for a few months now. If you’d like to pre-record your message to us for broadcast on Friday, visit Snapvine.com/DDOcast.

That’s it! Pretty easy. The show will also be recorded for regular release, probably on Saturday.

I’d love to have you give me a call on Friday night! Say what you want.

Jerry

Last night I ran I Dream of Jeets on Elite on Mockduck the level 20 Cleric. It was far more difficult than I expected! We did it, but there were many deaths, I’m afraid…

Reason I bring it up is that I looted a something-or-other belt of Heavy Fortification from one of the chests. After the quest, I was selling all of my loot to the bartender when all of a sudden I paused - Wait! Someone could probably use that belt. Maybe an F2P player getting started, maybe a premium player without the Necropolis adventure pack series.

So, I’ll be putting that belt up on the Auction House on Sarlona for a small buyout. Maybe a couple thousand plat. I realized that I tend to sell a lot of loot that could be used by others. After four years, you tend to have all the “level up” gear that you send to newly rolled characters to get them prepared as they level. But there are many people who aren’t in this position!

Hopefully the good karma will come back to me in the form of a Bloodstone.

I’ve decided that Mockduck is headed toward favor heaven. His next step is to max out favor on all of the quests! I’m currently at about 2300ish, so I’ve got a ways to go, but have made a lot of progress already. Yes, that means no True Reincarnation in his future, but I’m fine with that. There really aren’t any major things I’d change with him, so it’s a good chance to have that “permanent” character.

He’s also currently wearing armor that looks a bit like a skirt-top combo…

I sort of see the look of my character at low levels sort of the way I look at kids between the ages of 13-16:  Trust me, your fashion statement is not nearly as cool as you think it is, and you’ll look back on it later and shake your head.  Thing is, I look for armor properties over look until I’m ready to move into +5 armor (and eventually Dragontouched, but that all looks the same).  So, at say level 5 I’m wearing whatever the best armor is I can find at the moment.  If it looks like I should be wearing tights instead of leggings, well, that’s fine for now.

Somewhere out there I have pictures of me wearing LOTS of Hypercolor shirts.  Yes, I even had a Hypercolor tank top.  At least I never wore my overalls backwards like many of my peers…*

So without further ado:  the Three-Pointed Hat:

I really LIKE the three-pointed hat!  As an introduction to how armor skinning could enter DDO, I’m all for it!  I will admit, though, that I’m also wearing this particular combination because I think it’s funny.  Then again, I think Halflings are kinda funny.  He’s doing amazingly well, but dresses a bit odd.

Ran through all of the Explorers and got 118 or so slayers (and five of ten Rares) in Sorrowdusk last night on him.  That is such easy xp!  Sneak Attack bonus for the win.  I’m also learning how to properly use sneak, hide-move silently and Diplomacy, which I have found can be really nice if done properly.

Sunday’s DDOcast Build Guild plan?  Not sure.  Thinking either Tangleroot or Three Barrel Cove, haven’t yet decided.

Jerry

*Keep in mind that I graduated from high school in Minnesota in 1993…

Hi everyone, been messing around a bit with trying to get the actual DDOcast episodes embedded into My.DDO.com here with the release of the In-Game browser in Update 3.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a way to embed a media player into the posts, due to some kind of conflict with Flash, but there is a Widget where I can add an RSS feed, which is what the podcast is based on.

So, without further ado, it’s here! You can listen by clicking on the episodes in the RSS feed widget. If you care to embed into your own page or whatever, here’s the RSS feed:

http://www.cyberears.com/podcasts/podcast_5042.xml

Last night I took Veiovis, my FvS/Rog, through a few runs of Xorian Cipher looking for either the Chaosguard or Planar Gird. No luck, did get the Chaos band. Not a great item, really, but at the time it really helped! My intelligence wasn’t high enough going into it, assuming that someone else would get the runes. However, due to various circumstances that didn’t happen. I got the House P buffs (the second time through anyway) and was still just a WEE BIT short of hitting that magic 21. So, hit the chest - saw the ring - put it on and boom! Instant rune success.

One odd thing I noticed is there was one Int rune (the one that spawns the arcanes) that I was unable to hit on Hard with an Int of 22. I thought that would be enough?

Someone in the group claimed that ALL the runes have a requirement of 21 to activate no matter what the difficulty level. Is that correct? I thought they scaled up.

Anyway, after that I killed some late-night time literally blasting through Menechtarun slayers, explorers and rares with an amazing short group. We were just unstoppable! Barely even had to heal people. Group level 10ish. There is sooooo much xp out there in the desert, love it. Still one of my favorite areas, too.

Sunday’s DDOcast Build Guild on Orien continued to be awesome. Week two - a few less folks, but still plenty of activity. I am wondering if in a few months this guild will be big enough to run just about any time? It’s possible. The idea of FINALLY having a regular meet-up where DDOcast listeners, submitters and anyone else can get together on common server ground was a good one. So much fun.

About the only other thing I’m thinking about is the state of Veiovis. He’s great with locks (I kinda upset a rogue in the PUG Xorian group last night by stealing all his traps, sorry about that…). He’s doing just fine with healing. He can stay alive okay, although those monster troll swings can lay him flat. Only area he’s really lacking is DPS and damage output.

Eventually, I’ll be primarily using things like Blade Barrier, Comet Fall and the ilk to do damage, but having a good weapon DPS ability never hurts. So, big possible change - do I make Veiovis a two weapon fighter? If so, what feat to give up? I just can’t decide.

I need this in real life…

Jerry

It’s happened - I’ve officially capped my first character on Sarlona. Mockduck, my main cleric, hit 20 last night running with a great group of folks through Sins of Attrition. They needed a cleric - I needed to complete the quest to help get ToD flagged. Although the upcoming change to the raid means I am even farther away from getting raid ready, since the boots of anchoring will soon be all but required to complete the raid.

Still, big milestone. I ended up taking the Cleric Capstone and getting another point of Wisdom.

I have no immediate plans to True Reincarnate. Mockduck is my favor getter, among other things, so up next is to shore up loot, finish up quests, run the Abbot and ToD and cap out favor! After that, I will consider reincarnation, although I really only want to re-do some skill points and boost him (a drow) up to 34-36 points.

Not the end, just a new beginning.

Consider it a work in progress, here’s my initial pass.

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 3.10
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Level 20 True Neutral Human Male
(20 Rogue)
Hit Points: 222
Spell Points: 0

BAB: 15/15/20/2525
Fortitude: 8
Reflex: 18
Will: 6

Starting Feat/Enhancement
Abilities Base Stats Modified Stats
(32 Point) (Level 1) (Level 20)
Strength 16 16
Dexterity 15 22
Constitution 12 14
Intelligence 14 14
Wisdom 10 10
Charisma 10 10

Starting Ending Feat/Enhancement
Base Skills Base Skills Modified Skills
Skills (Level 1) (Level 20) (Level 20)
Balance 6 29 29
Bluff 0 0 6
Concentration 1 2 2
Diplomacy 4 23 23
Disable Device 6 25 25
Haggle 0 23 23
Heal 0 0 0
Hide 6 21 29
Intimidate 0 0 0
Jump 7 26 26
Listen 0 0 0
Move Silently 6 22 30
Open Lock 6 21 21
Perform n/a n/a n/a
Repair 2 2 2
Search 6 25 25
Spot 4 23 23
Swim 3 3 3
Tumble 6 29 29
Use Magic Device 4 23 26

Level 1 (Rogue)
Skill: Balance (+4)
Skill: Diplomacy (+4)
Skill: Disable Device (+4)
Skill: Hide (+4)
Skill: Jump (+4)
Skill: Move Silently (+4)
Skill: Open Lock (+4)
Skill: Search (+4)
Skill: Spot (+4)
Skill: Tumble (+4)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+4)
Feat: (Human Bonus) Toughness
Feat: (Selected) Two Weapon Fighting
Feat: (Automatic) Attack
Feat: (Automatic) Heroic Durability
Feat: (Automatic) Light Armor Proficiency
Feat: (Automatic) Martial Weapon Proficiency: Rapier
Feat: (Automatic) Martial Weapon Proficiency: Shortsword
Feat: (Automatic) Martial Weapon Proficiency: Shortbow
Feat: (Automatic) Simple Weapon Proficiency
Feat: (Automatic) Sneak
Feat: (Automatic) Sneak Attack
Feat: (Automatic) Trapfinding
Enhancement: Rogue Damage Boost I
Enhancement: Rogue Haste Boost I
Enhancement: Human Versatility I
Enhancement: Rogue Sneak Attack Training I

Level 2 (Rogue)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Diplomacy (+1)
Skill: Disable Device (+1)
Skill: Hide (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Move Silently (+1)
Skkill: Open Lock (+1)
Skill: Search (+1)
Skill: Spot (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Automatic) Defensive Fighting
Feat: (Automatic) Evasion
Enhancement: Rogue Sneak Attack Accuracy I
Enhancement: Rogue Hide I
Enhancement: Rogue Dexterity I

Level 3 (Rogue)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Diplomacy (+1)
Skill: Disable Device (+1)
Skill: Hide (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Move Silently (+1)
Skill: Open Lock (+1)
Skill: Search (+1)
Skill: Spot (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Oversized Two Weapon Fighting
Feat: (Automatic) Trap Sense
Enhancement: Rogue Move Silently I

Level 4 (Rogue)
Ability Raise: DEX
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Diplomacy (+1)
Skill: Disable Device (+1)
Skill: Hide (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Move Silently (+1)
Skill: Open Lock (+1)
Skill: Search (+1)
Skill: Spot (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Automatic) Uncanny Dodge
Enhancement: Rogue Subtle Backstabbing I
Enhancement: Rogue Hide II
Enhancement: Rogue Move Silently II
Enhancement: Rogue Improved Trap Sense I

Level 5 (Rogue)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Diplomacy (+1)
Skill: Disable Device (+1)
Skill: Hide (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Move Silently (+1)
Skill: Open Lock (+1)
Skill: Search (+1)
Skill: Spot (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Enhancement: Human Adaptability Dexterity I

Level 6 (Rogue)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Diplomacy (+1)
Skill: Disable Device (+1)
Skill: Haggle (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Move Silently (+1)
Skill: Open Lock (+1)
Skill: Search (+1)
Skill: Spot (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Weapon Finesse
Enhancement: Rogue Damage Boost II
Enhancement: Rogue Assassin I

Level 7 (Rogue)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Diplomacy (+1)
Skill: Disable Device (+1)
Skill: Hide (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Move Silently (+1)
Skill: Open Lock (+1)
Skill: Search (+1)
Skill: Spot (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Enhancement: Rogue Sneak Attack Training II
Enhancement: Rogue Sneak Attack Training III

Level 8 (Rogue)
Ability Raise: DEX
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Diplomacy (+1)
Skill: Disable Device (+1)
Skill: Hide (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Move Silently (+1)
Skill: Open Lock (+1)
Skill: Search (+1)
Skill: Spot (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Automatic) Improved Uncanny Dodge
Enhancement: Rogue Haste Boost II
Enhancement: Rogue Sneak Attack Accuracy II

Level 9 (Rogue)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Diplomacy (+1)
Skill: Disable Device (+1)
Skill: Hide (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Move Silently (+1)
Skill: Open Lock (+1)
Skill: Search (+1)
Skill: Spot (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Weapon Fighting

Level 10 (Rogue)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Diplomacy (+1)
Skill: Disable Device (+1)
Skill: Hide (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Move Silently (+1)
Skill: Open Lock (+1)
Skill: Search (+1)
Skill: Spot (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Rogue Bonus) Improved Evasion
Enhancement: Rogue Sneak Attack Accuracy III
Enhancement: Rogue Sneak Attack Training IV

Level 11 (Rogue)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Diplomacy (+1)
Skill: Disable Device (+1)
Skill: Hide (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Move Silently (+1)
Skill: Open Lock (+1)
Skill: Search (+1)
Skill: Spot (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Enhancement: Rogue Dexterity II

Level 12 (Rogue)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Diplomacy (+1)
Skill: Disable Device (+1)
Skill: Haggle (+3)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Search (+1)
Skill: Spot (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Piercing Weapons
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Rogue Assassin II

Level 13 (Rogue)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Diplomacy (+1)
Skill: Disable Device (+1)
Skill: Haggle (+2)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Open Lock (+1)
Skill: Search (+1)
Skill: Spot (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Rogue Bonus) Cripling Strike

Level 14 (Rogue)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Diplomacy (+1)
Skill: Disable Device (+1)
Skill: Haggle (+3)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Search (+1)
Skill: Spot (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery I
Enhancement: Human Versatility II
Enhancement: Rogue Sneak Attack Accuracy IV

Level 15 (Rogue)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Diplomacy (+1)
Skill: Disable Device (+1)
Skill: Haggle (+3)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Search (+1)
Skill: Spot (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Two Weapon Fighting
Enhancement: Rogue Damage Boost III

Level 16 (Rogue)
Ability Raise: DEX
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Diplomacy (+1)
Skill: Disable Device (+1)
Skill: Haggle (+3)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Search (+1)
Skill: Spot (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Rogue Bonus) Slippery Mind
Enhancement: Rogue Damage Boost IV

Level 17 (Rogue)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Diplomacy (+1)
Skill: Disable Device (+1)
Skill: Haggle (+3)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Search (+1)
Skill: Spot (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)

Level 18 (Rogue)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Diplomacy (+1)
Skill: Disable Device (+1)
Skill: Haggle (+3)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Search (+1)
Skill: Spot (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Skill Focus: Use Magic Device
Enhancement: Rogue Dexterity III

Level 19 (Rogue)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Diplomacy (+1)
Skill: Disable Device (+1)
Skill: Haggle (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Move Silently (+2)
Skill: Search (+1)
Skill: Spot (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Rogue Bonus) Defensive Roll
Enhancement: Rogue Extra Action Boost I
Enhancement: Rogue Haste Boost III
Enhancement: Rogue Assassin III

Level 20 (Rogue)
Ability Raise: DEX
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Diplomacy (+1)
Skill: Disable Device (+1)
Skill: Haggle (+1)
Skill: Hide (+2)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Search (+1)
Skill: Spot (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Enhancement: Human Greater Adaptability Constitution I

Great time last night stumbling my way through the Vault of Night series with a mix of vets and new players on Veiovis. During the run, which went mostly well after a rough patch in Von 2, Veiovis hit level 10! Half-way there.

I plan to post up a status update on the state of the build, but it’s stuck pretty closely to the outline I listed a while back. 18Fvs/2Rog, low strength, high dexterity, weapon finesse, high search/disable device. Mix of a great support character, healbot and solo build.

So far so good! I’ve had just two considerations, but not sure if I will actually do these. One thing is hit points - starting out with a pretty low Con score as I did, combined with the rog/fvs build, means I really don’t have enough hit points to head into combat at the higher levels. I will be using plenty of insta-death spells, blade barrier and the like, but having hit points is always good. As such, I am reconsidering my feat choices, and am thinking about what I could get rid of to take toughness.

Another feat possibility is two weapon fighting. Being sword and board means I will struggle in the DPS department. The fact I have weapon finesse has helped a ton with this build in combat, but I do miss the Strength bonus to damage, for sure. Going two weapon fighting would dramatically improve my kill count and damage output, but what feat to get rid of for it? Not sure.

One nice thing is that I was able to give Veiovis a +2 Intelligence tome before he leveled to 10 last night. Mockduck my cleric found it as an end reward in Raiding the Giant’s Vault from the Dreaming Dark. Figured that extra skill point/level and slightly boosted rogue skill would be best utilized on Veiovis. I plan to use that extra skill point per level to give him a bit more jump and spot.

One of the great (and frustrating!) things about DDO is that building specialized characters is about the trade-off. It’s pretty hard to do EVERYTHING in DDO on one character, so the balance work is a key part of a build: what will the build be great at? what will be his/her weak spots?

Anyway, loving this character. Now dragon-flagged! Expecting to soon head into Gianthold for an xp-loot frenzy.

I forgot to grab a pic of Veiovis Mahk’doh for this post, but did grab a recent shot of my main Mockduck, carrying his recently-upgraded Light and Darkness shield from the Path of Inspiration/Dreaming Dark. Have fun and I’ll have more later!

I’m finally trying to get Mockduck ready for the Tower of Despair. Here’s the thing: I love DDO. A lot. And I rarely bring my gripes about their quests to public forums. That said, I have to admit that I don’t enjoy the Shavarath quests very much. They look great, they have neat mechanics, there’s a lot to like! But there’s also a lot that I really dislike.

I find the four ToD prereqs frustrating. They are long and just too brutal for me. Even on normal, they seem like an exercise in frustration. Unless you are a truly uber-specced player with tons of great loot and a build that is near “perfect”, you’ll die in these quests. A lot.

I understand Turbine’s design decisions here - these quests are the “end game” and should not be a walk in the park. They should be tough - after all, we’re entering their world, and it’s a rough place to be. Still, this is a video game! I just think these quests are frustrating, overly resource intensive and waaaaayyyy too long to run.

Loot is good, though! I also like the look of Shavarath, and the stories are good too. I like the multiple options for success in some of these too. So it’s not all bad. But everything I’ve heard about Tower of Despair makes it seem like a raid that I will not like very much, too much work, too much grinding to achieve success (boots) and too resource-intensive as a cleric.

I do want to try it, though.

Comparing Shavarath to the Inspired Quarter: I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Path of Inspiration. Yeah, it’s easier, but I just enjoy running these quests and the mindsunder so much more than the Shavarath stuff.

Also, the xp in Shavarath is ridiculously bad. Genesis point being an exception. C’mon, 7,000ish xp for Bastion of Power!!?!?!?!?!

I did enjoy running Bastion and Genesis last night, though. Reason? Because I was with a group that was excellent, unlike many of the other times I’ve tried to beat these quests. As a healer it was refreshing to be able to keep everyone alive. Reason? They knew how to help me keep them alive. There were some deaths, though, particularly in two parts of Bastion.

I want to give a shout out to Brasch, one of the finest players I’ve grouped with on Sarlona. Seriously, he knew where to go, what to do, lead the group and keep himself going. Really great player alert!

I picked up two nice loot items: Draconic Necklace and Telvi’s Sash. I wanted to give the Sash to someone in the group, since the only thing that was of benefit to my cleric was the +150 spell points. No one wanted it! Since they are bind on acquire, it came down to keep or sell, and I just couldn’t sell the Sash. The necklace is nice because of the Greater Heroism clickie. Only issue for my cleric is that my +6 Wisdom item is my necklace, so I think I will have to buff, get my spell point pool below the +6 benefit level, switch to the GH clickie, use it and then switch back to Wisdom necklace. At least until I find another Wisdom item. Question: What other wearable items (aka-no weapons) drop +6 wisdom? Ideally it’d be a trinket, any possibility of that?

Here’s the items in Dragon.Star’s excellent definitive loot thread:

Telvi\'s Sash

Draconic Necklace

Anyway, sorry for the negativeish post. I really do love DDO. Ultimately, I think the Shavarath stuff is NOT bad, it’s just not the form of DDO that most appeals to me. If I was a more hardcore player, I’m sure I’d like it more. There’s nothing wrong with a tough challenge! Just too tough for me, I think.

Jerry

Very unusual experience last night playing DDO…

…Unfortunately, I’ve been a’zergin’ and can’t remember which quest this happened in, but I was pugging a group (maybe Stormcleave?) and had an interesting group tactic dynamic.

The ranger gave each of us Freedom of Movement with the words, “Make sure you tell me the instant this wears off…”

Throughout the entire quest, almost every combat, grease was cast in the middle of the group of mobs and players. Since we had FoM, no worries! But the mobs were like fighting in a bannana peel factory. Funny and surprisingly effective!

I’ve now done Stormcleave on Veiovis. Good times, no good loot. Also did some Three Barrel Cove stuff, which is nice. Having fun! Even brought out my cleric Mockduck recently to get Epic quest ready in the Menechtarun (still have a few orbs to collect, hadn’t flagged him since before the shift in flagging).

Good times.