Quests in Dungeons and Dragons: Korthos Village

All beginner Dungeons and Dragons Online players start their adventures in Korthos Village. Players find their newly created character on a beach, where a rogue searching through wreckage offers his assistance. He leads the player to a camp, where he lets them choose from a pile of shabby weapons.

New DDO players will expedite the game's requisite learning process by paying attention to what NPCs, like Jeets the Rogue, are saying. The tutorial Jeets gives players directions to is another place where players, hopefully, will get into the habit of talking to every NPC they find.

New players should take the tutorial and remember what they learn. Basic commands, party adventuring, and simple combat are all explained in it. Adventuring with others is an important aspect of DDO; it isn't required, but it does make the game much more interesting and fun.

A pious cleric will give you advice and direction within the tutorial. During this beginner's quest, players will not only get to a successful ending, but will witness a cleric, sorceror, and rogue in action. Players should note how each has their own set of skills and abilities to help an adventuring party with.

Once you've completed the tutorial, you enter a door and will then appear inside Korthos Village.

The village is a small questing area compared to other zones in this game. All new players must start here, so there is normally a fair amount of other players getting new 'toons' (what DDO players refer to their characters as) underway.

The village itself is set on the shores of a lagoon. There are various NPCs stationed throughout the village. Some NPCs roam their public areas, but they usually aren't far from where players encountered them previously. For the most part, players will find them standing near a quest entrance, or socializing with other NPCs.

Korthos village appears the way a simple fishing village would appear in ages past - tavern patrons discussing the goings on at sea and on the shores, bored crewmen brood as they search for a ship to catch on with, and townsfolk who sorely need help from skilled adventurers to keep their rustic village safe from the wilds and evils of the island beyond the town's gates.

There's an option to skip the Korthos story line and move right onto more difficult questing, but that's a terrible idea for new players. Skipping this adventure zone will put you in Stormreach Harbor, where some quests require experience adventuring with others as a party. The option to do so is suited more for players that have a grasp on the game controls, especially during combat.

For those that do decide to quest in Korthos Village, there are four dungeon quests that need to be completed before you will be able to adventure outside the village walls.

It's recommended for players to make their first quest, Heyton's Rest (after they've completed the tutorial adventure that brought them here, of course). Heyton's was updated significantly with Turbine's Update 11.

Along with improved dungeon-design and graphics, players will find a sort of second tutorial here. The new walk-through design features voice and text information that will help new adventurers to learn more about the game. The story behind this quest is important to the events that players are to encounter in the village, and later on the island.

Inside a vast crypt, sahuagin (fish-like humanoids) have hidden their Devourer Altar. Lesser altars must be destroyed and crests obtained. Use 'm' on the keyboard to display an overhead map. Using this map, players are able to ensure that they've explored all of the dungeon. The map is also a good way to ascertain where hidden doors might be located.

Breakables are anything in the game that can be broken or smashed. Sarcophagi, barrels, crates, and vases are all good examples of items that can be broken. Inside broken items you may find coins or other valuable objects. In Heyton's Rest, there is no reason not to break every breakable you come across. By doing so, you build some wealth and gain a small experience bonus at the end of the quest.

Devourer Cultists are humans that are following a strange god of death. Death for them brings undeath, and it is welcomed by these fanatics. Since the sahuagin (fish-like humanoids) and others follow this same unholy religion, you are likely to find them together as you explore Korthos. Both cultist and sahuagin employ casters and archers to support their warriors. Whenever possible, get to these enemies and destroy them first, or you could find yourself being damaged by multiple ranged monsters as you engage in melee combat.

• The Storehouse's Secret is where new players encounter their first red boss and puzzle. The storehouse has several vermin and plenty of boxes to smash.

• The Cannith Crystal requires players to defend the crystal from devourer zealots. This is where newbies have to fight casters and learn how important it is to kill them first in any battle, if at all possible. This quest is more difficult than the two previously mentioned adventures.
• The Collaborator is inside the Wavecrest Tavern. Players need to withstand an onslaught of sahuagin before pursuing and killing the collaborator. This quest is difficult and new players should enter this quest in a group of at least three players. On higher difficulty settings, The Collaborator is quite a challenge, but also very rewarding.

Even though it can be fun to play certain quests repeatedly, if you want the best chance of success while adventuring, get some information about the nature of the quest you are planning to take on. There are tutorials and basic information about the Eberron game world.

DDO allows its players to communicate with each other in a variety of ways. There is a social panel (easily accessible by pressing 'o' on your keyboard) that enables a player to create an adventuring party and invite other players or to advertise as LFM (looking for more). Learning to use this method of advertising for fellow adventurers to join your party is the most common, and thus most successful, means of finding people to explore with.

The quests and story line are basic, and dungeonraider likes basic. There is nothing more frustrating for a new player than to get stuck on a difficult quest soon after joining a new MMO (massively multi-player online role-playing game). The quests are a good match for new players. They are well-designed and the graphics and sound are reserved, but pleasing to the user.

This introduction to Dungeons and Dragons Online is a nice respite from some other role-playing games that so obviously attempt to draw in their new players with fantastic events that new adventurers would have no business being involved with. Players can focus on learning how to control their characters (DDO player call their characters 'toons'), how to successfully defeat simple opponents, and the other basic skills necessary for players to move on to more involved adventures.