New Character, New Adventure! Playing Dungeons and Dragons Online Part 1: The Village of Korthos

Today we kick off a new game playthrough of Dungeons and Dragons Online. This game is free to play and I will be avoiding the use of any character options or other paid bonuses that a new player won't have access to so you can play along! PLEASE NOTE this game's main commodity is the quests themselves and I WILL be playing through all of the purchasable adventure content. I will be giving my opinion on whether or not you should buy them as we play through them.
I will do my best to point out the traps, treasure, and interesting lore of each area as we go. This is a HUGE game with tons of in-game lore and interesting sights, so I hope I inspire you to give it a try yourself.
*Update* As a kind commenter pointed out, technically this character build requires purchase of the Feywild adventure pack EVEN IF you are subscribing to the game. I will be mentioning these packs going forward as separate purchases. For now, if you do not want to commit to a build that requires something you might not want to buy later, I suggest taking a look at Strimtom's character builds (channel linked below). He has a quite a few truly free-to-play builds and is much more knowledgeable about building characters than I am.
Build Feats and Skills:
Dragonborn Paladin, Lawful Good
Str: 17 Dex: 6 Con: 16 Int: 8 Wis: 8 Cha: 18
Every 4 levels, increase Charisma
Skills: Two points in Tumble (to bring it to even 1), rest into Use Magic Device
1: Draconic Ancestry: Red, Two handed Fighting, Deity: Follower of the Sovereign Host
3: Magical Training
6: Improved Two Handed Fighting, Deity: Unyielding Sovereignty
9: Improved Critical: Slashing
12: Greater Two Handed Fighting
15: Power Attack
18: Extend Spell
21: Overwhelming Critical
22: Perfect Two Handed Fighting
24: Child of Faith
25: Doublestrike
27: Beloved of the Divine
28: Embodiment of Law
30: Force of Personality, Scion of Arborea
31: Shield Mastery Specialty
Enhancements: Focus on Feydark Illusionist after unlocking it (*requires Feywild*)
Enhancements and Epic Destinies are easy to change, so feel free to experiment!
Play Dungeons and Dragons Online:
www.ddo.com/home
For tons of character builds and gameplay videos, watch Strimtom here:
/ strimtom
Character Planner to keep things organized:
github.com/Mae...
Streaming Occasionally on Twitch: / strategy_and_snark

[@juczer]

No idea why youtube recommended me this video, but I'm glad I stumbled here. And man, this brings me back. DDO was the first big MMO I've played (I've played a rogue and later I've created a paladin and it was one of the best decision I've made haha), so it's nice to see it again and nice to see you showing it to people! :D

[@TheRetifox]

I really like that you explain everything you doing in this playthrough, as a new player this is extremely helpful, I appreciate it, thank you! There's not that much cover for DDO especially for new players.

[@therealnynetynyne360]

Honestly I'm here as a returning player and there is a bunch of shit that wasn't around last time I played. So helpful

[@sinistercat1949]

I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR A VIDEO LIKE THIS!! Thank you so much!!

[@Dulkh4n]

Great to see you trying this, most ppl only plays this until lvl 3 an it's get so SOOO much better in later levels

[@DaddySnark]

Absolutely, it is too easy to judge an MMO by the first 20 hours. I'm going to end up super overleveled, but at least we will have seen every corner! Besides the raids. Obviously I can't solo the raids, but they have a LOT more KZbin representation than say, Tangleroot.

[@SaganTheKhajiit]

Wait, it gets better?! I just hit level 2 on my first character ever and I'm having an absolute blast already.

[@Dulkh4n]

@@SaganTheKhajiit yes, quest become more complex puzzles more fun (depends on how masochist you are) and you get more abilities to play with

[@therealnynetynyne360]

@@DaddySnark tangleroot in the early days were ransack XP status every character

[@therealnynetynyne360]

@@Dulkh4n if you want a challenge try the crucible in gianthold prob my fav quest in heroic range

[@humblefriar]

Thank you for taking the time to do this. Great job!

[@faro7780]

NWN an older classic???!!! HOW DARE YOU!! #cries in knee pain at 38 years old

[@DaddySnark]

Well, in a few months NWN will be able to buy you a consolation beer. I had the same reaction when Metroid Prime got its recent remaster. Seemed odd to remaster such a "recent" game... then I looked it up. 2002, same as NWN. Sigh.

[@MrMoonfear]

nice to see content creators for DDO, thumbs up, also good job :)

[@pufulin2010]

this hlp me alot to start this game..i hope u wud make a new series 2023 for new players like starting from 0 to 100% with everthing that this game has to offer like a walkthrou and go throu everything from lvling to gearing to...all so new ppl can fallow

[@djC653]

liking this run through better than Strimtom's. His walkthrough is more like how an experienced DDO'er would do it and yours is how us new to the game would play it. Nice.

[@pillarwatch]

Graphics are good enough for a game. How far does it have to go before graphics just become gross, grossly realistic.

[@RandoMattz]

even after years of studying D&D i always appreciate a good introduction video when it's so well done, good luck with the series!

[@dragonronin9263]

I never played DDO before and found it completely overwhelming. Thank you for this video. It was exactly what I needed. Looking forward to following along with the rest of your playthrough.

[@nilsalmgren4492]

It was a great game back when people ran in pugs and soloists were rare. All pugs needed a rogue for traps and either a favored soul or cleric to heal. Everyone stayed for buffs at the beginning of the quest, including listening to bard songs. Now it is just a zerg fest and you better keep up, or just solo.

[@DaddySnark]

I think this is a big reason why the permadeath servers are so popular. Basically forced communication and cooperation. Lots more people want groups, and the low end zergers weed themselves out in the early levels. I can't take the stress anymore, though.

[@nilsalmgren4492]

@@DaddySnark Never heard of a permadeath server. Is it a permanent game option? It does sound like fun. Korthos is likely very popular.

[@DaddySnark]

@@nilsalmgren4492 Right now it is a twice-yearly event called Hardcore League. They launch a new server so everyone has to start fresh and at the end you can transfer your characters, living or dead, to your normal server. Really gets a lot of people together and there are usually cosmetic rewards if you can get certain milestones like level 20 or 5000 favor.

[@razakaze]

I played this in 2006-7, when it was new, and returned to it. It is just better than wow due to less grind, but lacked then player base and funding as time went on.. seems like it is still worth to reroll this game

[@micky1311]

subbed. great vid

[@cyberknightstreams]

I am only at the 13 minute-ish mark where you mention Feywild and it being something you have to buy. then I see your also using a 32 point build....plan on watching the video later to see if there are other interesting things I can learn as a new DDO player as of about 2 weeks now.

[@DaddySnark]

32 Point Build is something you unlock free later. For this playthrough I wasted the extra points on dex I think to effectively be 28 point since I can't purposefully not use them

[@canicusmolinarius]

Looking forward to the series. Always great to see another DDO content creator doing cool stuff.

[@DaddySnark]

Thanks for the encouragement! I have a lot of this sort of content on in the background while I am playing, so I thought I would try my hand at it.

[@okamihikuro1401]

When explaining lvl up summary sheet, you forgot, that divine grace passive is one of the best pally passives, consider that you are charisma paladin too. This one boosted all your saves by +4.

[@479_adv]

Attempting to get into this game again. I have tried several times but your explanation is exactly what I needed apparently.

[@DaddySnark]

Glad it helped! If you have questions feel free to ask, I generally see the comment notifications the next day

[@haraldontour]

Regarding Korthos sets: You can get multiple. At least by TR 😄. And there are hirelings that can refill mana later.

[@catherinemorgan2741]

3 options for changing feats too hard (item ex: flawless dragon shard, shards and do as many feat changes as you can or allowed with Fred in Jarsco area, or game ask you to reincarnate

[@Lara-so9gl]

Thank you for the tutorial! I'm a LotRO player and tried DDO in 2014 or so and liked my Cleric but it was a f2p acc and things got confusing at the Harbor so I quit and now I'm back but playing a druid (no research, bad I know) but also subbed since no idea what exp and packs to buy so seemed easier. Having a blast and druid seems pretty op even on hard atm. Pretty scared to look at the "to go druid" now but mine is doing fine so I'll worry another time 😊 Edit: when you're new, every dungeon takes a long time 😅

[@peterretep4009]

FYI the "collector" / "ultimate" versions of expansions typically come with a permanent gold seal hireling. That makes them a LOT more expensive than the 10x multiplier you suggest, and the options are very limited, but they do exist :) For example, the Feywild expansion has a level 5 Bard, who provides Inspire Courage, Haste, and a bit of healing. Near level 5, he's pretty good. And later, you can just use him as a buffer and out-of-combat health top-up by always ordering him to stay put until you need him. Enhancements are, as you mention, technically a DDO addition, but in spirit they are essentially Prestige Classes, albeit a bit more flexible (and powerful, indeed).

[@kipperrd8964]

“Levers make you go both ways”? Dude! That’s not what levers do.

[@igorchaves920]

Something that can help new players /ui layout (save/load) (Name of the archive) /ui layout save layout1 (to save the layout and when you reincarnate or make another char your ui will be saved /ui layout load layout1 (to load the saved ui archive) these you write at the chat in game.

[@AaronWolfenbarger]

All those other games sucked DDo is the best its better than wow. I can play with other people but I do reaper 10's solo.

[@christaylor86]

Subbed within the first two minutes. Your passion for the game is endearing.

[@williamhorn4290]

a side of what you said in the beggining if this game where to be recreated using unreal engine 5 I'd buy a top notch pc just to play it again. Graphics do matter to me xD, sort of kills the immersion if it doesn't look good.

[@DaddySnark]

You aren't the only one that wishes it was possible. What little I know of art makes me think its even harder than the actual game programming...

[@AaronWolfenbarger]

I think you needd a better graphics card or to change your settings to max.

[@Zzzyga]

wow such a great guide, rare opportunity to see something like this.

[@SupaDanteX]

1:44:40 (Enough religious lore is literally 1 religious lore :D)

[@dealerofic3cream1]

My first life was Sorcerer. Oh boy it was painful. Then after more than 30 TRs, Sorcerer became an absolute beast.

[@DaddySnark]

I almost picked Sorcerer for this series just because it can be so hard if you don't already know everything.

[@johnelbert6291]

i remembered my talking about the timed you played a paladin solely because you rolled good enough stats to be a paladin

[@antrayner3721]

If you complete the DDO store quest in the Tavern you mentioned but didn't do, isn't the reward a single use Spirit Cake to reincarnate in a quest if you die? Probably worth doing as a new character.

[@DaddySnark]

Sure, its basically free, but its also sort of a trap. The implied safety net of being able to revive is actually a lot worse than the reality of coming back unbuffed into the same danger that killed you the first time. Then you feel like you wasted it, and/or like you need another one in your back pocket before going out again.

[@KippoKupo]

man you really look like a dude who just plays DDO all day. Looking like Jeff Albertson.

[@chrispurcell3624]

I know this is an old video and I'm not sure if you still read the comments on here, but I wanted to inform you that you can have more than 1 gold hireling active at a time, so with gold hires you can have a full party.

[@DaddySnark]

Indeed you can. The trouble is that most gold hirelings are not worth real money since they are consumables, and the ones that are permanent are bonuses from buying expansions. Thus, they ended up not being a focus for a new-player video. I have been tempted to do a Moneybags type playthrough with all the goodies just as a comparison, though...

[@DanceSC2]

screw wizards, ddo needs to stay golden

[@catherinemorgan2741]

Don't take this wrong way, I doubt you're playing legend LVL or epic 34 to 36 on elite by yourself

[@DaddySnark]

Why not? The only difference is you can't run the quests over-leveled so you need to actually stop and get some gear first. Honestly Legendary has been easier than Heroic and Epic since that's the level of all my gear I actually keep : )

[@catherinemorgan2741]

Unless you have money to buy tomes to max out stats and have money to buy sentient XP and jewels and upgrade materials to max out all that you're going to find as you put it do most all the quest on your own

[@DaddySnark]

Never bought a tome or sentient xp, myself. Do they even sell sentient xp? Most of us just feed unwanted named items to the gems. Not a newbie topic so not really going to come up in this playthrough.

[@DrJadedragon]

Best mmorpg out there!

[@catherinemorgan2741]

They not upgrade the hirelings for the new 32 cap, so solo is not totally great

[@DaddySnark]

They did add a new level 30 Cleric. Supposed to be pretty good, though I have only dabbled with it so far

[@Baal07]

Just for anyone watching this today and the future. Theres a cap on strikethrough at 400%. That is five hits per swing. Its not super reasonably hittable though IIRC, so it feels uncapped.

[@BennisKanal]

The problem is... when you tried reaper difficulty once in a few quests (the more "skulls, the more the effect works), anything else feels like you can do what you want without failing.

[@matthewkeating-od6rl]

great vid

[@dess1619]

A note, if you do decide to TR, you will automatically be able to go in on any difficulty the first time you do any quest that time around.

[@bsrasmussen]

Hey DaddySnark -- Just want to thank you for posting these DDO solo playthroughs. I think they are the best in class.

[@Japan-in-N]

Great video, the Cannith mfg quest poison traps can be turned off.

[@antonkonyahin8036]

It is really helpfully video for any ddo newby. Thank you, I learned a lot.

[@johnelbert6291]

i probably started like 50 new characters and never seen that boat lol

[@paulfelix5849]

A little late to the game there but does one *have* to use key movement, or is there a mouse driven movement like with WoW?

[@DaddySnark]

I haven't played WoW so I am not sure exactly what you are looking for, but I can't imagine trying to play without the keys. There are so many interactable things, plus the enemies are constantly moving, I don't think binding auto-run to the mouse would work very well. I usually just hold W and use the mouse to actually steer my character, sort of how you would control a twin-stick console game.

[@paulfelix5849]

@@DaddySnark In WoW, the wsad keys are the default movement method. But there is an option to use the mouse. The scroll wheel zooms the camera view in and out. Pressing left and right buttons together - the character moves forward and lateral mouse movement steers (with the character view following the change of facing.) Right button only - character facing change without movement (camera angle changes to follow character facing.) Left button only - changes camera angle without changing character facing. This provides tremendous versatility in movement. Was just wondering. Thanks anyway.

[@DaddySnark]

@@paulfelix5849 I think the biggest hurdle of all is going to be left click is basic attack. The rest... actually sounds like what happens when I hold right mouse button. Next time I log in I am going to look for a two-button-movement option, that sounds vaguely familiar but I might be remembering Dark Age of Camelot.

[@SupaDanteX]

Almost certain that someone else has commented this already but 1:39:50 The gold seal hires gimmick is that you can summon as many as you want. They solve your previous issue of "Just let me do it. Let me fill my party". The gold seals do that. Also rogues. There are no regular rogue hirelings.

[@DaddySnark]

Yeah, I normally run around with a full team of Gold from the various collector editions. I still think the Silver should be allowed to fill a party. Make all the Gold ones in the store permanent BTA. The collector edition ones are still special creatures most of the time so not really going to conflict for collectors. I doubt they will add low level silver rogues though, since they gave us two gold rogues. Still nice you can get epic level silver rogues, at least.

[@johnelbert6291]

one thing i hated is that i was paying monthly but you only get old content lv20 and below no above lv 20 skills which i bought to only later find out you get for free if you bought some new content and you dont get any discount for already buying the skills in which cost about the same , for an old game its very costly not counting the monthly dues

[@johnelbert6291]

i found this video thinking of the game wanting to play it again but remembered that moment of feeling greatly ripped off

[@Rood67]

Two times in the past year or so, they gave out a code that gave access to all free content. Paying for VIP is the best option; and multiple months at a time. Content, 500 store points per month, gold dice roll, more character slots, shared bank, etc… etc…

[@SaganTheKhajiit]

I'm a new player and I just hit level 2 on a Paladin, but I can already tell that I'm gonna hamster wheel the living crap out of this game.

[@DaddySnark]

I have to give them credit, the hamster wheel is honestly a good way to keep an MMO fresh. You don't have to just make new endgame, just make new game wherever it makes sense story/-wise and players will see it on their next trip. I have only reincarnated a handful of times, but I like the option being there to re-play my favorites whenever I want.

[@djC653]

newish to this game and have 2 toon's around 5th lvl and for some reason didn't know how to activate items like the water breathing ring, good to know.

[@DaddySnark]

If it helped even one person, then it was worth it. The one I used most often was the run speed buff from the Anger's Step boots, at least until I found some passively boosting ones.

[@djC653]

Was wondering is that what you do 1 Q at a time like grab it then do it then grab the next one? Or is this just for our benefit, just wondering.

[@DaddySnark]

It depends on the area. As you'll see, the in-town Korthos quests make sense to just to them one at a time but then there is a large wilderness area where grabbing all the quests ahead of time saves a lot of running back and forth.

[@therealnynetynyne360]

@@DaddySnark q method also great for finding secret doors and hidden chests

[@pm9651]

No other game imo has quite the noticable difference from 2k to 4k. This game is a gem. Was the original resolution just HD? Like what went on when they launched and they had a resolution for which they had no ui? Odd and sad for the lifeline of the game.

[@DaddySnark]

Considering how old this game is, sometimes I'm amazed they have newer compatibilities at all. I remember reading them talking about fixing the UI scaling, though I don't know where they are with that. I believe it involved having to re-make every icon in the game so its a slow process.

[@therealnynetynyne360]

One of the nicest spots was always the church where the cleric tp takes you, breathtaking shaders in that room

[@NotSure-e8z]

Eberon sucks. But it is what we got so... be it.

[@brianstevens3858]

It's not really that hard to change feats, see Lockania in the market and pass her test for a freebee. Also while it has a low drop rate there are collectables fred will take for feat swaps.

[@DaddySnark]

idk, you only get the free swap once per life (where you basically need to open the wiki to pass the test) and, at least back in the day, getting the higher level dragonshards was expensive. Plus weirdness if you try to swap feats that have prerequisites. My impression is that it is easier to TR than to feat swap for anything more than a minor swap.

[@brianstevens3858]

@@DaddySnark If a person is having to change feats between res's more than very occasionally it's time to refine the build, or trash the toon and start from scratch.

[@DaddySnark]

@@brianstevens3858 The time I see people having to change feats most often is new players, who are being heavily punished for not researching their build ahead of time. Experienced players will just TR or LR if an update changes the feats. New/casual players are not the ones I want to tax with rare drops and hidden systems. I love how deep the character creation is, but like 75% of the feats are noob traps. That'll probably end up being its own video...

[@brianstevens3858]

@@DaddySnark They weren't that way by default originally, it's the power creep that has made them so. A lot of them {like snake blood} at one time had a much bigger importance. That's why a lot of the first tier favor rewards are the same way. Back then a +2 was impactful. Today it is like the 1% stuff, not really impacting the character much.

[@brianstevens3858]

Of course back then it was all about the D&D and not about end game money zergers.

[@philovermyer6166]

You forgot to mention that the developers are antagonistic towards the community with their balance nerfs to popular builds, the developers who created the initial code are gone and even the most senior developer has no idea when they implement anything what precisely they are doing and so every new update will break untold amounts of content and features, the stability of the server is suspect on the best of days, their expansions are egregiously priced at base level being as much as a AAA title for what amounts to less than an hour of new content outside of grinding for new gear which if you're casual you won't need, the primary feature of the game is the Reincarnation system that keeps you on a treadmill of playing through the same bits of content on a guided path over and over ad nauseum. I'm sure there are more irrational problems with the game that disqualify it from being worthwhile to engage with.

[@carnivorepolice5-0]

Why so bitter just don't play lol

[@philovermyer6166]

@@carnivorepolice5-0 Yeah, why on a video praising a predatory game point out how predatory the game is, just like never say anything that challenges peoples' perceptions if they like a thing...

[@carnivorepolice5-0]

@philovermyer6166 predatory in what way you can earn all the content for free, you only pay if you want to.

[@philovermyer6166]

@@carnivorepolice5-0 To earn all the in game content takes an excessive amount of grinding, especially considering that all the content is one off adventures that earn you a relatively small amount of currency that you can only get once per cycle of the Reincarnation system. Expansion packs traditionally cannot be purchased this way, and the smallest amount of money you are being asked to put in is $40 for the bare minimum. What you get for that $40 is abysmal, typically 9 adventures that take ~10 minutes to play through and a raid or two with an otherwise meaningless area to run around in to get to those adventures. If they are working properly that week, which is usually a tossup, and if the servers aren't buckling under the weight of 100 concurrent players.

[@carnivorepolice5-0]

@philovermyer6166 no it really doesn't take the amount or effort you claim sure it won't take 10 hours but it's not strenuous I just bought the isle of dread with points I earned from just basic playing. Plus they gave away most of the content awhile ago for free. It's interesting how my experience differs so vastly from your own. Sounds like you struggled alot.

[@capsaicinkat7767]

hooozah!