Least Useful DDO Class?



By Ralsu




All of the classes in Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO) are fun for
the first few levels, but which ones retain their value in the end game?



It's fun picking locks and deactivating traps as rogue early on, but href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=118">how many
traps are in the end game dungeons? And how much easier is it for
the party to just run through the traps and heal up with potions after
the fact?



A barbarian is frenzied fun with href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=201">Rage
and 12 hit points per level in the early levels. What happens at higher
levels when low armor class makes all of those extra hit points
disappear in one swing from a giant or rust monster?



A sorcerer makes for great fun for blasting through the Harbor quests,
but players soon find that the direct damage spells do not do enough
damage to efficiently kill monsters. What happens when the sorcerer
runs out of spell points and can no longer practice the href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=209">Art
of Boom?


The Case against Rogues

Three letters: B-A-B. Rogues in DDO are great in that they can do
rogue-like things such as Pick Locks and Disable Devices (traps). Those
Skills are based on Dexterity and Intelligence, respectively. The
damage a rogue puts out is largely based off of Sneak Attack. To get
more Sneak Attacks, most rogues focus on Charisma to boost the Bluff
skill.



Since to-hit rolls are calculated based on Base Attack Bonus (BAB) and
the Strength Modifier, rogues miss more than all other melee warriors
besides the bard. Barbarians, fighters, paladins, and rangers all get
higher BAB than rogues. Additionally, since rogues are spreading
Ability scores to cover DEX, INT, and CHA, they seldom have the points
left to make STR high enough to hit consistently. While the BAB score
of a rogue may be only 3 lower than a fighter's at Level 12, that
rogue's STR Modifier is also likely 1 or 3 less as well. This adds up
to be a discrepancy most rogues can't overcome.



To top it all off, some of the hardest dungeons in the games have no
traps or traps that are easily solved without a rogue. Elemental
immunity spells get around some traps. Simply running through the traps
and healing afterward works most of the time, too. It's as if Turbine
was afraid to get complaints that DDO requires a rogue for every party.


The Case against Barbarians

A DDO barbarian is like a fighter without the Feats. Or like a rogue
without the ability to disarm traps. In the tabletop version of
Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), a barbarian rage could push a player
character to new heights of combat prowess. The inflated numbers of DDO
reduce the most meaningful trait of being a barbarian to almost nothing.



However good your barbarian build, you can find a fighter who can do
the same thing with better armor. Potions of buffs (Bull's Strength,
etc.) are so easy to come by in DDO, that the benefits of Rage are
hardly exclusive to the barbarian.



And if Uncanny Dodge is your reason to be a barbarian, play a rogue
(but see above first). Uncanny Dodge in DDO is not passive as it was in
D&D. DDO makes it an active Feat with a short timer. It' hardly
compensates for the low AC a barbarian brings to the table.



Trap Sense doesn't really make up for that low AC either. Damage from
traps is too easily mitigated (again, see above) for this perk to make
rolling a barbarian worthwhile. Plus, it's much better to detect and
disarm traps than to avoid them. That's what rogues are for!


The Case against Sorcerers

Three more letters: O-O-M. OOM is what some people say when they are
"out of mana," or out of spell points as far as DDO is concerned. And
sorcerers may find themselves OOM more than wizards even though they
get more spell points.



See. the concept behind the sorcerer class is that it is a raw talent,
capable of dealing damage in short bursts. that's why the D&D
version of a sorcerer is stuck with fewer spells from which to choose;
sorcerers learn very spells, but they use them well and do not have to
prepare them. DDO's inflated hit point totals for monsters renders the
idea of direct damage spells mostly useless. Most wizards learn that
early and switch to the role of crowd control specialist.



With fewer spells in their arsenal, sorcerers a left without a true
role in a party. They cannot successfully blast through enemies, and
they lack the full repertoire of support spells that a wizards
possesses. In the end, sorcerers are like watered down wizards.


I think I've made my point. Time
for you to share your opinion!
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style="vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(219, 201, 125);">
VOTE
IN OUR POLL!

Which DDO class is least useful in the end game?

  • Rogues! Who needs them?
  • Barbarians! They bring nothing to the party and sponge
    spell points
    through Cures.
  • Sorcerers! They can't do what a wizard can.
  • Other (make your case in our forums).
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=376">VOTE HERE





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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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