Hello, I bought DDO back when it launched but my PC at the time could not run it very well. Lately, I have been looking for a game with a heavy emphasis on grouping with other players as early as possible. I used to play GW1 and I loved how you pretty much were forced to be in a party from level 2+. So, my question is: how group based is DDO? If I started playing again, would I find myself soloing very much? If there is a lot of soloing, how long would I have to solo until I got to group content?
To answer your question, DDO provides experiences for both solo play and groups. Each quest instance is divided into several different difficulties (Casual, Normal, Hard, Elite) of which you can choose to do solo or with a party. There are a handful of solo only quests in the Harbor area, but those are not essential and they are quite brief. My main server is Cannith. According to my observations, there is a fair spread of available groups in the LFG panel during any given hour. However, most activity seems to be heavily concentrated during the evening (after suppertime or so Eastern Time Zone) and during the daylight hours (evening for folks across the pond and such). Low level groups as well as higher end groups are represented on a fluctuating basis. If you are interested in playing the game again, I do head a guild (MMORPG'com) that fosters new players. We are quite small, but do have a strong alliance with some other folks on the server who continually offer assistance to myself as well as others in my guild. I do keep around a low-level character in my stable for the sole purpose of lending a hand to new players (Level 4 Sorcerer) and have eight other characters in various stages of leveling. In other words, you most likely wouldn't have to level alone while I'm ingame and I would be more than happy to join you in your adventures.
The game has came into it own of late. Still not perfect, and probably blossomed too late for many regulars here at MMORPG.com. It is far more forgiving and solo friendly now, but a good group is worth it's weight it plat. I'm based on Sarlona and am an officer in The League of Extraordinary Ham. We're a mid sized, level 72 guild with a regular group of players. Feel free to drop by and ask anyone with a Ham tag any questions you have.
Everything pretty much can be soloed on hard and normal what with the hirelings you can use which is usually just a heal bot people utilize. Along with having decent and the right gear. There are some quests that do require a party because of the puzzles like the Crucible or you would need a certain class which is mainly a trap monkey for traps. There are quite a number of quests that do have certain mechanics that can make it very very VERY long if you don't know it. But for the most part you CAN solo everything with the exception of elite difficulty unless you got an uber class with all sorts of buffages and tweaked out gear. DDO has the best LFM even though it can be a bit elitism at times. Grouping is also a hit or miss though. Sometimes on my server you have a gap in the LFM where there are no groups for your level. DDO is pretty stringent on what levels a group takes as there is bonus XP if you complete a quest at the specified level. Before it was an xp hit but now there is a thing called hard or elite streaking which gives a large bonus to XP. If your a newbie then it might be bit difficult at first until you get to know quests. Some quests are really rough if you do not know it like say the Pit. Some groups are pretty friendly to new comers while others are elitists who only want players that know what they're doing. Join a friendly guild who can teach you the ropes. That will be the experience a whole lot better.
DDO is a good game and it's rather solo friendly during the earlier levels, but becomes increasingly less so. Not that you can't solo, but the rewards for doing so (loot/xp) become negligible. WARNING although DDO is a good game it I one of the most unfriendly games for new players on the market.
I found that there are times when you need to be in a group but none were available, so instead hired henchmen to help get through quests!
The weird thing for me about grouping in DDO is that so many groups just natually use voice chat. I have never played a game where the ´norm´ is for everyone to be talking. That said, I mainly play DDO as a WOW break, which is all about grouping, so when I play DDO, I usually solo.
