First impressions and questions

Hello! Nice to meet you for the first time, DsO community! I wanted to share my first impressions of the game as a new player and, of course, ask some questions. So, my first question has to do with you - the community:

Why is the game's community so poor? Is it because the game is German and not English? Or, perhaps, the fact that it's split apart based on one's region's language? Maybe the amount of 12-year-old players is overwhelming? I don't know, but I do know that it's terrible! There are literally no prolonged forum discussions, there are no comprehensive guides for any of the classes (let alone PvP battlegrounds), the wiki has little database and barely gives any tips and mostly - nobody seems to care to talk to a stranger or chat ingame. Can I even play this game if I don't know German?!


Soon after I started playing this game I found out it was downright P2W and, being a player who has spent less than 2 € for games in his lifetime, I almost quit DsO for good, but I realised it was quite possible to enjoy the game without paying too. I mean, I can put up with the fact that every payer wrecks me... But here comes my second question:

Does the matchmaking system of PvP take into account gear, knowledge and fame level?
It must be terribly broken if it doesn't.

Aand, third question:
I get the impression that you can't easily acquire andermant without paying a good sum of real money, so I ask - Is it such essential of a game currency? Can't you actually reach a satisfactory level of success without great amounts of andermant?

Thank you in advance, to anyone who cares to read this post and answers!

 

Just saying but how did you found out it was p2w if you are a new player??? Gear is the most important to have, and for that you need luck yes luck and no money. Andermant can you farm... Truth be told with 5K ander you can get 5% speed more and for 10% you need like 135k. Which mean one heavy p2w can have max 20% more speed with luck and better play you have a chance still. Same for other gems. I know other games where reaching end level without paying wasnt even possible. And with paying if there were like 5k euro. in this context i think DSO is well balanced. Pve is fun but i think the best of DSO is pvp, ok there are problems but nothing is perfect. What i like most is that the action it feels real.

Sometimes you will fight against monsters in the arena. It happens... 1 year ago nearly all players were monsters against my Spell waver now i very very rarely see one of them and except 2 months premium cause of 1k mantel quest ( if i knew of release 139 i wouldnt have bought it) it is a f2p char. All you mentioned matter knowledge and lvl 35/40 pvp are helpful in pve too'

If you farm and have patience you will have a great char in 1-2 years (1 hour daily or so). A really good char can be made for pve even faster. If you are looking for a game which can entertain you in the long run DSO is a good one. So dont give up and keep at it.

 

I did some research and also I learned about those impossible to obtain Royal Gems and the ability to upgrade your items' level without altering their requirements, the two of which together make the twink potential extreme.

Anyways, which aspect of the game were you refering to when you said luck is so important? Gambling at the Jesters? As far as I know that's the only way one can obtain %movement speed gems. Am I wrong? If that's what you're referring to, well, I kind of already made the mistake of trying my luck with the Jesters and so I lost my first 650 Anders for random amounts of random essences and a Kaboom Explosive -.- Totally not worth it. Has anyone ever won the Jackpot?

Yeah, I just did like an hour ago in a 5v5 match. It was a DK that took a minute long effort of three Rangers to get killed at last. The only reason we actually managed to kill him was because he was quite a noob. He literally ate everything we threw at him, picked one target and ignored everybody else...

Indeed, I do plan on continuing to play the game. Right now, though, I'm just accumulating Ancient Knowledge and gems from Daily Quests and daily log-in bonuses. Yes, I am flip-flopping between two characters.

 

Good question. For me, I'd answer that the sheer number of negative comments following every single release has been a major turn-off for me to get more deeply engaged. I usually try to post some more positive (or at least a balanced) approach to a topic, but when it gets sandwiched by complaints, I tend to drift off for a while rather than engage in discussion.

I find the majority of my information comes from my guildies. That's also where most of the chat is for me. Fact of the matter is, if I didn't PvP, I probably wouldn't know anyone outside of my guild at all because that is my social circle for 99% of the time. Chances are, many other players are just doing the same or similar.

It's possible. It'll take (a lot) longer, but definitely possible to be decent, or even amazing, without spending. Just enjoy the journey, it'll take a while to reach the destination any ways.


And yes, I'm going to totally skip the PvP question because it's been said before that pvp rebalancing is in the works. Wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it, but let's just see how that turns out before we all start complaining, er, giving constructive feedback.

 

I am also a fairly new player (started at the end of December, 2014). And new enough to the forum that I can't figure out the clever quote thingy I do not find the forum community particularly poor. Usually, if I have a question someone has already answered it previously, eliminating my need to post. The forums do provide sections for each class and within those posts is a great deal of helpful information. While the information is not laid out in a comprehensive guide format, it can give you insight and direction. For in game chat, finding a guild would probably be your best bet.

The P2W concern has been thoroughly discussed in other places in these forums and more eloquently than I can relate after too many hours of playing. I thank the paying players for my ability to play. Yes, they may have all the groovy gems, a fancy mount, and a cloak long before my characters will but they still need to farm for gear like the rest of us. And that is where the luck comes in, gear drops. Playing the jesters with your hard earned (farmed) andersmant may not be the best route to take if that resource would be better spent on gems, etc. But...you can't win if you don't play

 

In the bottom right corner of each post there is a 'reply' option. Click that and their comment is transferred into your comment box.
Then you can alter the text within the quotation brackets to choose what you want to reply to.

Regarding andermant usage for f2p, your priority should be opening inventory slots, to make farming extended and more efficient.
Then basically focus on gems.

 

What can I say, thank you for proving me wrong on how terrible I thought the community was!
So, finding a guild is more important for new players than I thought, huh. I don't get random invites like I normally do when I play other MMORPGs, though. I'll have to search for a nice guild myself. I have no idea how to do so, though. Have you got any tips? I doubt shouting in the center of Kingshill will do much.(Guild section in the forum, how convenient. Stupid me.) Should I first reach a solid level like 25+? I bet I'll also need to refine my Russian since I play on Grimmag.

Still, Shadoodragon, it would be nice if someone undertakes the generous task to write a comprehensive guide or two. In fact, I'd give that man 9001 cookies. Besides, the section for Steam Mechanicus has almost no information except for debates whether the class sucks or is actually decent.

By the way, at first I made my second character just to abuse the mentor bonus, then I decided to actually level him up aswell. I was wondering whether I'll have to go through the same territories and quests twice. Is there more than one way to level up a character (apart from non-stop bossing with a guild; I see this as quite unrealistic)?

 

If there's a guide, it won't be really long. It will probably cover stats (balance of stats and as high as possible), pvp (twinking, fame levels, griefs), currency (gold, draken, andermant), events, parallel world, and gears. You should be able to find them all in the forum, you just need to look through.

I think you should just play around and level one up to see if you want to spend time on this game. This game takes at least half a year to be "ok" in stats. In the end, it's all about items, gems, and fame level. Also, a lot of farming. There's no rush in end game.

 

Thanks lewcar!

The quests and areas are the same for every character. You will have to do them for each one that you level. At least I haven't yet found any differences so far.

Non-stop bossing is not really my cup of tea, either. I don't have much luck with boss drops and tend to find the better items come to me from random mobs. There are uniques that only drop off of bosses and the wikia can help you to determine if farming a particular boss for that item is worth it to you. If guildies aren't available to farm a boss with you there are usually are other players in the area looking to slaughter that boss repeatedly. The new group feature should help you with that.

If you stick with DSO, I am sure that you will find that due to the composition of mobs, some maps are more easily farmed for certain classes. On my DK for instance, I find constant slows and stuns particularly annoying so on that toon I usually farm places where the mobs don't have those abilities. Of course, with better gear, those irritating mob tricks are less bothersome (they die faster )

Typically, I try to solo as much as possible and the levels make themselves. My method is to go as far with quests as my toon can handle and then go back to slightly lower levels that still give experience to get gear, glyphs, gems, ect. The Crypt of Kings is an exception to the slightly lower rule because Heredur tends to drop that unique of his fairly often which is good for glyphs and the gem drops are ok there. Others may have different methods that garner them greater rewards more quickly, but part of the fun for me is just seeing what drops. I know that I am nowhere near endgame even on my highest level toon. But I also purposefully slow my leveling just so that I can try to keep my gear up.

 

I understand what you're looking for in a character guide. In other games I've seen detailed and thorough "How to" covering every aspect of a character class created by a dedicated player or two.

The lack of an inclusive one in this game is ...well... a beautiful thing. The game itself is simple in concept and design, but that simplicity masks a deeper complexity that you won't find decoded in a guide book because no one truly knows the answer and it is up to you to experiment.

Couple of examples; you can find plenty of math formulas to calculate damage, the game even does it for you on weapons and character sheets. But, how does increasing mana/steam/rage/concentration truly impact damage? Is it worth changing out a damage ring and breaking a set to use a Ring of Fortitude with its extra speed and resource to get that extra big attack or two in PVP? The math for damage will tell you NO, but is it right? A second example; for PVP on one end of the teeter totter you have max damage/min defense, on the other you have Max defense/min damage, where would the optimal mix be? Not gonna find an answer that everyone agrees on.

The variation in possibilities based around preferences and luck makes a one size fits all approach impossible. Yes, there is preferred sets and items that people look for but play style and opportunity to be unique drive creative builds. And that is the beauty of it and why there is no comprehensive guide.

 

I had a definitive guide for DKs on the old forums, but then they went and actually deleted the forum. I ought to take the time and re make it, but I like playing a lot more than typing.