Advertisement

Exploring Eberron: We need a favor

Well, okay, we need some favor. The latest Nights of Eberron in Dungeons and Dragons Online was a bit of a free-for-all -- OnedAwesome got the opportunity to group up and choose any paid content they wanted to do for the evening. Guest passes were handed out for anyone who needed one and the guild was off and running.

The evening was a bit of a last crazy hurrah before we settle into pursuing some larger goals. The Massively guild is finding its rhythm quickly, but there are still challenges in such a large and diverse group: new players join every week, older players aren't always interested in moving at the group's relatively slow pace, and instancing presents a much different scenario than a persistent world. The great thing about DDO, however, is that it allows for this sort of thing. With repeatable quests and four difficulty levels for almost all of them, the instancing system is almost an advantage for this type of group. We can have 40 guild members all doing the same quest at the same time while still maintaining a pace for every type of player: specialized groups for those who want to do epic difficulty, those who want to play on normal, those who want to zerg through it, new players who want to take their time and learn -- you name it and we can form a group for it.

Our next goal will be to pursue favor and start gaining some rewards. Follow along after the jump to see how the favor system works and what we'll be doing next week!


I want to start with an overview of the favor system and how it works. At the core it's very simple: earn favor with different patrons, earn rewards. You earn favor with the individual patrons by doing quests on their behalf -- each quest is worth a few favor points with more points given at each difficulty level. For example, a quest that gives 2 favor points on normal difficulty might give 6 points on elite difficulty. Your favor points add up separately for each patron, but they also add up cumulatively for a "total favor" score.

Reaching milestones in favor numbers will earn rewards both for individual patrons and total favor. The first total favor reward is the ability to create a Drow character at 400 total favor, so if you've been considering spending some Turbine Points for that, hang in there a bit longer because we're going to start pursuing favor in OnedAwesome. We'll be doing a combination of free and premium content from here on out -- I'll continue to provide guest passes for anyone who needs them as we go.

By the way, if you're curious about these guest passes you keep hearing about, by the way, a guest pass is an item that provides temporary access to specific DDO paid content. It can be purchased in the DDO Store by someone who does have access to that content as a way to bring their friends along when adventuring.

Our first goal is earning some rewards from the Coin Lords. Who are these guys, exactly? They are a group of nobles that run the city, responsible for and controlling the flow of commerce -- they're definitely a good group to have on your side. You can check your current favor rewards by pressing "P" and clicking on the Patrons tab, and I'm willing to bet you'll find that you've got the most points with the Coin Lords right now. Once you reach 75 favor with the Coin Lords you'll receive a fourth inventory tab, so we'll begin by pursuing that because everyone loves more inventory space!

Next Wednesday we're going to begin our favor chase with the Seal of Shan-to-Kor Adventure Pack, followed by The Sunken Sewer and Missing in Action if there's time. I know that we have a small group within OnedAwesome that has moved ahead of the general guild, but as the vast majority of the group falls in the 3-5 level range, Shan-to-Kor is the best fit. This again is where the mechanics of DDO work in our favor: the more experienced players can run the quests on elite while those who are still learning can take their time, get used to things, and enjoy themselves in a more low-pressure setting.

The quests can all be picked up in the southeastern corner of Stormreach Marketplace -- see that little orange triangle on the map? Wayfinder Dael is enjoying a cold one at the end of the bar down there. Chat with her for the Shan-to-Kor series, Aurla Courson beside her for The Sunken Sewer, and turn around and backtrack a few steps to find Ulcana Braddock for Missing in Action. We'll meet next Wednesday in that area in district three, so check the little dropdown menu at the top left hand corner of your screen to make sure it says "3 - The Marketplace" and you should find yourself in the middle of a sizeable crowd.

If you are not a member of the Massively guild yet, this is the perfect time to join. The guild is a whole is still at an early level, which means it won't take you any time at all to catch up. Just roll a new character, run through the Korthos Island quests to get to level 2-3, and meet us Wednesday night. You can send a /tell to Rubialina in game for a guild invite. If you want to join or get some help running through those early quests beforehand, feel free to add me on Steam -- CrimsonAnnja -- jump into game when I do and send a tell. Many of our OnedAwesome members are part of the Steam Massively Mob and love to help out, so make sure you join there as well.

While it's not too late to catch up easily at this point, it's not going to stay that way for long. OnedAwesome has been all about learning and getting settled in for the past month and a half, but we're going to be progressing much more rapidly from this point on. New players are more than welcome every week because it's never too late to catch up, but if you've been considering joining and aren't sure this is absolutely the best time to give it a try. With that in mind, I hope to see you in game soon -- we love new faces and are eager to get you caught up and playing with us.

See you next Wednesday!