You should probably just be running things on normal.

Elite is not for you.

I realize you guys derive great pleasure from tormenting Fran, but at some point it's got to get old.

Can't we just ignore him?

I know the last time I interacted with you on these forums I was pretty harsh. I'm going to try to do things a little differently.

FranOhmsford wrote on May 23^rd, 2016 at 1:39pm:

Most random loot is garbage. For the small percentage that is not, you should be able to tell which are pieces you're likely to use. I found a +11 search/+13 disable goggles yesterday. I have plenty of characters that have rogue levels (one or more) and I was impressed by how nice that item is. However, I immediately knew I would never use it because it's goggles and I have other things that go in that slot on most of my characters. So, I auctioned it (15kp) and it sold.


Quote:

I am simply amazed that with the number of characters you have that you've never pulled a Carnifex. You must not run Delera's every life - or, if you do, then I'm guessing you probably missed it on the list. I've pulled one and I've got far fewer characters than you do (and I also run it every life).

Quote:

You realize you can do as little as 10 paladin levels, right? Even 10 paladin/10 monk. I'm not saying this is a good choice, but it's something to keep in mind. By not going to 4 monk levels, you miss out on 2% dodge. If you go to 6 monk levels, you get another class feat and Adept of Forms for free. You could do 8 paladin/6 fighter/6 monk, but I don't really see what 6 levels of fighter are getting you. Sure, you're getting 4 class feats out of it and maybe Stalwart Defender stance (does this even stack with the paladin stance that grants PRR/MRR?).

Quote:

No one can really tell you this. You pretty much have to decide this for yourself based on what your goal is for your character.

The thing that strikes me about you is you seem to struggle when it comes to thinking tactically. If this is accurate, this is why your builds are sub-optimal compared to where you either/both seem to think they should be and/or want them to be and also compared to other builds. This isn't meant as a criticism. So, don't take it personally (though that is probably a fruitless request). I'm genuinely trying to think of ways to help you.

Technomage wrote on May 23^rd, 2016 at 1:44pm:



But if we let Fran make a fighter without haste and damage boost......tomorrow.......he will tell a poor noob that it's ok to make a fighter without haste and damage boost. And then that noob will tell another noob who will each teach that sort of ignorance to their children who will teach it to their friends.......

And then years from now, when we are dying in our beds........every single fighter in DDO will be running around without haste and damage boosts........and we could have....NAY.....we SHOULD HAVE STOPPED IT.

But we were silent. And we did NOTHING. We just watched it happen!

So you ask why we can't ignore Fran.........we do it good sir, for the FUTURE OF ALL FIGHTERS. EVERYWHERE.
FOR ALL TIME!!

We will stand by and watch it happen.......NO LONGER. The LINE MUST BE DRAWN!

FranOhmsford wrote on May 23^rd, 2016 at 1:39pm:

Stuff changes in MMOs, for better or worse.  If you don't like games that change, MMOs are probably not for you. 

Adapt your gameplay as the rules change or just accept that you will eventually be relegated to non-ee viable flavor builds.  Your choice.  Choose and stop bitching about it.

FranOhmsford wrote on May 23^rd, 2016 at 1:39pm:

If you have that many toons and past lives and you can't figure out any non-warlock builds that are EE viable, you are either being intentionally obtuse or you are the textbook definition of a slow learner.

If you turned your wraps monk into a *good* THF Bladeforged Paladin build and pulled your head out of your ass, you might learn that classes other than Warlocks can easily solo EE.  Given your previous statement about the number of your toons and past lives though, that's a HUGE might.

My very first toon in DDO was a pure monk.  I learned pretty early into epics that a pure monk was a fairly poor choice for EE content, especially for soloing it.  Since then, every build/life I've run has been EE solo capable by design.  Some I've gone pure, some I've multi-classed to shore up known weaknesses of the main class specifically for EE content. This includes almost every class icon in the game so I know it can be done. 

FranOhmsford wrote on May 23^rd, 2016 at 1:39pm:

This right here is your problem.  You're saying "I've been told that what I want to do sucks, I know it sucks, but I'm going to do it anyway."  You intentionally choose sub-par builds then complain about how hard EE is and how overpowered proper builds are.  Take some personal responsibility for your choices of sub-par builds and accept the downsides that come with the choice.  Don't whine about it or use that as a bar to complain about other classes or builds.

There are many pages of good builds in the builds sections on this website that you could easily use.  There are even some solid builds on the official forums, too.  That you have such readily available references and examples on how to make EE solo capable builds and intentionally choose to ignore them while complaining about the state of end-game content says a lot of unflattering things about you.  It's also the primary reason why you catch so much flak here. 

nowAvaultie wrote on May 23^rd, 2016 at 3:20pm:


Did you bug report it?

Digimonk wrote on May 23^rd, 2016 at 3:06pm:


You are forgetting one major thing. Classes/ builds/ characters don't do jack shit. Some builds are easier to play, that is for sure, but it's still very dependent on the driver. You can give a child a toy, but you can't make them play.

When people claim that they don't have solo EE chars/ builds.. what they are actually saying, is that they do not know how to run a quest solo at that difficulty. With some tactics and tools, you can drag yourself through EE content on even less than ideal builds.

Concerning Fran.. DDO is a game. If you don't enjoy doing something, don't do it. It's a game, it's sole reason for existing is to entertain.

Frank wrote on May 24^th, 2016 at 5:58am:


I read this too fucking much all over the Vault and the mobos and it simply is just not true. 

There's a HUGE goddamned difference in the time between doing 1-20 (or 15-20) with great gear and doing it with just any old POS rando gear you find like everyone squawks about being "sufficient".

The blithering fucktard comments about heroics being so easy with just "whatever" for gear are just parroting other idiots and spreading dis-information whether they know it or not similar to what another poster wrote about Haste Boost and Damage Boost.

FranOhmsford wrote on May 23^rd, 2016 at 1:39pm:

The game is a moving target.  Rules change a couple times every year.  What worked last year works differently now, and what works now may not work next year.

It's called "Dungeons and Dragons Online", but every rule change has taken it further away from "Dungeons and Dragons".  It hasn't been D&D for a while.

I think the frequency and magnitude of the rules changes are pretty crummy, but Turbine doesn't care what I think, or what you think, so either adapt to the changes or be frustrated by them.

I don't want you gone, but I would like to see you grow.

FranOhmsford wrote on May 23^rd, 2016 at 1:39pm:

If you're sure about it before you try, then it's a self fulfilling prophecy.  If, on the other hand, you embrace the change and look for ways to play the build to its strengths and not the same way you've been playing everything for years, you would learn something new.

FranOhmsford wrote on May 23^rd, 2016 at 1:39pm:


Random loot isn't bound.  If you're going to horde faster than you can learn to parse which combinations are relevant, create F2P accounts and mail/trade your horded crap to characters on them.

Each F2P account provides two character slots, each of which comes with 80 inventory slots without running any quests (except the Grotto) that you can examine and sort through at the same time your main character is active.

Instead of keeping everything because you can't tell what's worth keeping, it's more efficient to learn what's worth keeping.  There's that "learn" word again.

Mokune wrote on May 24^th, 2016 at 7:09am:

You don't need best in slot gear to level.  Great gear does make a difference, but nobody suggested "POS rando gear" being appropriate. 

Between understanding what makes an item desirable and having a good pile of plat it's easy to find what you need to level up either as loot drops or through AH purchases.  It won't be the same as named loot accumulated with an eye for being useful across a wide range of classes over 30 lives on the same character, but it's enough to enable you to be effective and contribute as you acquire more goodies.

Having an unmanageable pile of unidentified and unknown items saved "just in case" is not even almost as useful as the ability to identify that the "Alkalescent 3 Cloak of Natural Armor Bonus 1" should be vendored immediately.

FranOhmsford wrote on May 23^rd, 2016 at 1:39pm:

SoS was given away to anyone that logged in during the 10th anniversary event.

Carnifex is BTA.  It's a stretch to think that you haven't gotten one on at least one reward list yet, but even if you haven't, it's not a burden to farm.  You complete the chain once as you level up for bravery bonus.  Repeating it twice more right before you reincarnate would take less than 20 minutes and get you the third completion all-everything-yes reward list.

You may not complain about past lives and simultaneously stomp your feet and refuse to prepare for them.

FranOhmsford wrote on May 23^rd, 2016 at 1:39pm:

Declaring that any character will have a final life is an excellent way to be frustrated.  The game changes.  Be like water and flow with it.


It would probably help you if you read "Who Moved My Cheese".

Dickbutt wrote on May 23^rd, 2016 at 2:16pm:

This.

It was just a question, Fran. I wasn't "telling" anyone to do anything.

Frank wrote on May 24^th, 2016 at 12:41pm:

I just did this. new account, no tomes, no past lives, no gear. A bf shiradi 32pt build, and a 28pt human mech. Low level quests were pita until I hit higher levels, once I got to 13+ it got much easier for me as all the new updates have insane bta gear. The shiradi was iconic and starting at lv 15 makes heroics seem really easy. That and 1st life builds gain xp so fast anyway that even if youre having trouble on HE you can simply drop down to HH and still level fast and easy. And the shiradi was rolled after the mech allowing me to plan some gear for the toon ahead of time.

Carnifex is still BtA right?  How can someone have so many toons and not have a carnifex by accident. 

And any toon I have that is melee, I use Carnfiex pretty much all the way to level 20 since I usually don't stop at the Shroud while levelling to make a greensteel.

OldCoaly wrote on May 24^th, 2016 at 11:17am:


Unfortunately I seem to be psychologically incapable of creating a "Mule Toon" without ending up wanting to "play" that toon.

I have 3 alt accounts already and do actually play the characters on 2 of those accounts {the 3rd is currently just for helping a friend's guild remain at 6 accounts}.

Dual-Boxing on my laptop is also a pain though it is possible.

OldCoaly wrote on May 24^th, 2016 at 11:17am:


The recent changes to random loot spun my head - I'm having real trouble working out what should be kept - I have two guild chests full of Sceptres/Staves I may never use for instance.

OldCoaly wrote on May 24^th, 2016 at 11:17am:


I agree you don't need best in slot gear to level - I regularly run with Lvl 12-23 gear right up to 28 {when I start swapping in E-Orchard gear}.

But even with that I basically have 5-10 open inv slots on my Epic Toons and in EN just grab gems and renown from chests unless I see something blatant pop up.
NPC Rewards are always going to be either Comms/Tokens or Renown unless a tome or heart shows up.

OldCoaly wrote on May 24^th, 2016 at 11:17am:


Once you get in a levelling group you don't have time to go to the AH - I regularly miss going to the TR Cache when levelling up because I'm doing so while still in a group.

The AH is streaky with good items and it's a common occurence for the item you're actually after to not be on there when you need it.

Also: The new random gen is difficult to search for on the AH as I haven't been able to memorize all the new names for prefixes and suffixes yet and 3rd effects don't even show up in the name!

I'm still using mainly named loot and old random gen on most of my characters.

OldCoaly wrote on May 24^th, 2016 at 11:17am:


Give me some benefit of the doubt please.

I've been playing 6 years now and I know Nat Armour is usually USELESS!

Alkalescent - If that's the Absorb I have no space in my gear to wear it.
If it's the Resistance I have Ship Buffs for that!
Either way it's a straight vendor item if I even bother to pick it up!

OldCoaly wrote on May 24^th, 2016 at 11:17am:


Did you miss the point that I was talking about my Wraps Monk?
I didn't grab a SoS on this character during the event because I had no intention of ever using a SoS on this character!

I think I took Comms to upgrade my Antipode.

OldCoaly wrote on May 24^th, 2016 at 11:17am:


I hate Delera's!

No way I'm going to run it 3x in one life on a character!

I do have a couple of Old Carnifexes somewhere but I think they're BtC and would have to go searching for them anyway.

OldCoaly wrote on May 24^th, 2016 at 11:17am:


No need for Hyperbole - I'm doing no such thing!

OldCoaly wrote on May 24^th, 2016 at 11:17am:


I understand the game changes but throughout all of those changes since 2010 when I started playing it's been other players saying you must play this way NOT the game!

gibbon wrote on May 24^th, 2016 at 10:10am:


I can't stand Wolf gameplay!
Druid is the single worst Class in this game for me - Cleric and FvS are objectively weaker but at least I enjoy playing those!
I've come up with a decent way to get Druid Past Lives - 5 Barb/3 Fighter/12 Druid Occult Slayer/Stalwart with no animal or elemental form and absolutely NOTHING in Druid Trees!
It works for me in getting Druid Past Lives as I have no intention of ever playing Epics as a Druid!