Cannot plan -- Too much good stuff!

I can't stick to a plan with all these sales and bonuses bursting around my head like fireworks. Somehow, Turbine talked me into buying everything they're selling. I've got all the classes, all the adventure packs and I even bought a bunch of expansion pack stuff they haven't released yet! Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with my purchases. But I'm happy in an analysis-paralysis way.

So here's the options I'm weighing.

* I could take my main (Dwarf Paladin) into the endgame. It's new, it's fun it's an easy way to snag a Divine Epic Destiny. I will use my Stone of XP on my level 7 Cleric so she can skip levels 8-15 and fufill the destiny I created her for:  to be a shroud-mat farmer. 

 * TR into another Paladin. I will enjoy re-doing some of the screwy build choices on my current main and squeeze the maximum amount of XP from the Stone. Then I'll go into the X-pack and snag a Divine Epic Desiny. My first life I stockpiled enough Epic! dungeon tokens for an emergency TR, should the need arise. TRing now so I can use the Stone of XP before it expires qualifies as just such an emergency.

 *TR into Monk. Monks are on sale now for 50% off, I bought access so I might as well enjoy it. I don't know how to build monks and supposedly they're DOOMED in the new updates. But if all goes well, it might be really fun to have a Monk in the endgame content. (Edit: I already have some monk gear: Icy Raiment that I loved to death on my first life Tempest Ranger, and the devotion handwraps everyone always talks about.)

*TR into a Barbaran. I don't like playing Barbarians so this Stone of XP is my big chance to skip the grind from 8-16. This could also be handy since I often play while rocking a baby to sleep with one hand and barbarians require Less two fisted buttonmashing per second than Monks and Paladins. And by the time I'm ready to level again, the dust will have settled on the new enhancments and I'll be able to plan class I'm more invested in.

*Stall for time. I could stay at 20 for a while and finish farming all the Adventure Packs I bought, unlocking the Favored Soul, Artificer and first time Server Favor TP bonuses. While I like the idea of unlocking those classes and having the extra TP for the next bargain hunting crisis, I don't particularly enjoy content that I've leveled past. I'd rather struggle through at or slightly below level. On the down side, that means I'll wait three lives to run through all the content I bought.

*Favor bonuses on all servers. Since I enjoy server bonuses way more than korthos 100-favor dashes, I could take a break from my main and grind out some server favor bonuses that are oh-so tantalizingly easy to reach with all the content I bought.

So really the only thing I've decided is that I'm NOT going to roll a Druid, since those hombres can't benefit from the Stone of XP. :)

My First Time: Dreaming Dark

So a few weeks back I took advantage on the spectacular MotU pre-order and I got so many points, I bought all the adventure packs. It's amazing how DDO was my favorite video game, even when I have played less than half of it!

Anyway, the Dreaming Dark. I really liked this adventure pack. The scenery is great and the end-quest is a surreal dreamscape. If you liked the quest Prisoner of the Mind (aka EvoN2) you'll love the Dreaming Dark.

I love prisoner of the mind, on epic it used to be my favorite DDO gameplay experience. Now that it's been updated I don't enjoy it as much though.

Just in case someone is reading this and wondering if they should buy it, I've got two answers. Yes and No.

I say, yes because it's a really fun quest, but no because there is very little loot. Perhaps theres something for other classes, but all I'm looking forward to is farming some twink gear: a STR 6 X-STR +1 ioun stone trinket with minimum level 5. That seems like it will be lots of fun at low levels. Other options are +6 +1 Wisdom (so I don't have to continualy recast that dang Owl Wisdom spell while I wait for ML gear to catch up). Of course if I can get the spell absorption 50 charges, that would be the coolest of all. I've got my fingers crossed but I want to TR quickly so I can get my Stone of XP before it's gone forever.

The other thing is that I'm having a really hard time finding groups that want to run Dreaming Dark. Not enough XP per miniute, or loot incentives or something.

There's also a solo quest "Raiding the Giant's Vault." Its really great scenery, easy to complete quickly, and doesn't have any deadly fights (so I can go afk for my toddler w/o having to hide). For now it's my goto quest for when there's not enough time to do a real quest. And I like it more than slayers or house C crafting.

No one expects the Stone of Xp!

I intended to level my Paladin to 20 for Menace of the Underdark. My plans were based on normal experience gathering but I didn't expecte a sort of Stone of Experience! Ahem. I didn't EXPECT a sort of STONE-OF-EXPERIENCE!

Well, while I wait for them, let's talk about my build. Dwarf Paladin 19 Defender of Siberys III with Two Weapon Fighting, maximized empowered Cure Serious Wounds and UMD. Lots of fun, but not really working right. So, item by item:

DWARF. My prefered race. I'll switch when I TR into a sorc, but otherwise I'm happy as a Dwarf.

PALADIN 20. I heard so many good things about DMIV (Divine Might four) and the capstone I thought it would be fun to have a pure Paly for the MotU. But now that I've got a stone in my pocket I am planning on TRing very soon so I can rush back up to level 20 in time to enjoy the expansion pack. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't put DMIV or the Pally capstone on my list of goals.

DEFENDER OF SIBERYS III
Nice! I've got over 500 HP naturaly, and with the DoS bonus the total is 698 HP. The bonuses about shields is wasted on my TWF Pally but the increased maximum dex bonus on armor is useful since GTWF needs 17 Dex before other bonuses. I also enjoy the Glorious Stand clicky. It only lasts 30 seconds and the cooldown takes forever, but it's great as a panic button. Of course, I say the same thing about my house C jet boots.

TWF. I have two weapon fighting because I have two LIT II Dwarf Axes and some other TWF weapons.

MAXIMIZED EMPOWERED CSW
I love it. I had max CSW on my ranger first life and it's great to be able to quickly heal someone for 250 HP. Usualy that someone is me, but occasionaly the healer is about to die or someone is unconcious, or the tank is not properly cared for. Whatever the reason it's nice to have. And the bonus spell points from my Con Opp greensteel helm is usualy sufficient.

UMD. I've put max ranks into it and wear some +cha skill stuff. I use UMD for scrolls of feather falling, and also for a fully upgraded eternal wand of light I got from Mabar. Neither is essential though and so although I might try UMD on a later character, I won't do it this way again. (current score is, IIRC, 9 skill + 4 cha + 5 ConOpp = 18 UMD?)

So looking forward, I'm not sure what I'll do. I've only got the free classes (plus Druid) but I can't take Druid next life (because Druid levels are incompatable with the Stone of Xp.) I can see going one of two ways: TWF Pure paladin or TWF Paladin with a splash or Shield and Dwarf Axe pure Paladin. So three ways.

Right now I'm leaning towards the Rogue 2 / Paladin 18 because I'd like another chance to play with UMD and Open Lock when it's a non-essential part of my class.

Oh, and since this will be my third life (second TR) I'll have the full 36 build points available. Currently all my stats have +2 except for Str and Con (+3/+3).

Oh well, no time to plan for it, too busy playing DDO. :)
2)

Pre-order review: Spider mask (non elite)

News to me: the spider mask can be worn on top of my regular helmet. My main wears a GS ConOp (Green Steel Concordant Oposition, it regenerates mana and hp) it's essential to my self healing paladin (and in previous life, ranger). The GS con op helmet powered healing is so handy, I've planned all previous present and future TRs around it.

So... When I bought the pre-order I didn't know i could wear it with the helm. Imagine my surprise! Not only does the skill boni to cha skills stack, I can also have the appearance of the spider helm instead of the Alien visage of the GS helm.

So far, I'm not only satisfied but also pleasantly surprised with the MotU mask.

Interrupting wife proves DDO is nonstop adventure.

DDO is 100% fun. I statistically interpolated the percentage of fun with my wife's interruptions as my randomizer. The null hypothesis is "there are dull moments in DDO."

Time Randomized observations:

Observation 1. Recovering from near party wipe. Intimitanking Hezaru and Reavers away from the pile of soulstones, casting raise dead at the healer. Excitement 100%

Observation 2. Soloing Pray on the Hunter. Just stepping into the maze, starting the timer. Urgency 100%.

Observation 3. In VoN5 pull the lever countdown. Odds of secretly piking = 0.001%

Observation 4. Waiting for two stragglers at the VoN6 dragon door threshold. Chance of getting locked out while oggling at new purchases = 100%

Conclusion: we reject the null hypothesis. There is never a dull moment in DDO.

I'm back. What to buy?

So I took some time away from DDO. I was getting terrible lag all the time and couldn't enjoy it. But now my comp is tuned up and DDO is first in line for my $100 hobby fund.

A cousin showed me SWOTR and CO but it just Reminded me how much better DDO is.

If I don't buy the DDO pack I'm looking at donations to political causes or saving up for a new luxury watch or new computer. All good stuff, but DDO is the most affordable for sure.

GM's day or remember Gary Gygax day

Theris has a nice post about GM's day here:

http://my.ddo.com/theris/2012/03/04/gms-day-or-remember-gary-gygax-day/