I think we should do all of Korthos on elite when we TR. We need the XP and favor. My TR'ed toon will be able to open everything on elite since he's a TR2. Needing 4.3 mill XP means I will have to farm quite a few quests.
You misunderstand. I have no intention of skipping Korthos. I just want to get my Rogue into the guild. Which means leaving Korthos and heading to Stormreach.
You can leave Korthos at any time after completing the Grotto. So we can run that, run out and get/craft any gear we desire, come back, and be ready to roll all the quests on elite.
As of right now, I don't know how PA will turn out. I've heard it's ruined and will lower dps. I've also heard that the to-hit penalty no longer matters. I've also heard that nothing is changing in regards to player to-hit. So, in short, the DDO forums are useless for that, and I would plan on taking it. If it doesn't work out, you get a free feat swap.
Alrik, Favored Souls chose spells as they level. They get only a limited selection, which costs plat to swap one spell at a time at the trainer. This is why I suggested Cleric first; Clerics get all the spells they can know when they level up, and can swap them in and out as they need to. So you can learn what works well and where, and what to take when you do run a FvS.
Only Wizards and Artificers inscribe scrolls into their books. Clerics and Druids get all their available spells, Sorcerers, Favored Souls, and Bards have to choose spells as they level, and can't swap them except at a trainer.
There are really only two main ways to build a FvS:
Healer/Melee
Healer/Offensive Caster.
The third choice is Gimp.
For a casting FvS, or Evoker, max out Wisdom and put every level up point into it. CON 14 at least, at least 12 CHA to start, with the rest into STR. Since you have 28 point builds, that works out to STR 10, DEX 8, CON 14, INT 8, WIS 18, CHA 12.
You only need CHA up to 19 to cast all your spells, which is trivial to get. Many geared players dump CHA entirely and rely on gear, buffs, and enhancements. 12 means with Ship buff alone you'll have 14, or level 4 spells, and the level 2 CHA boosting spell will net you 18. Enhancements can fill in where needed. Once you get a CHA item, you won't even need those. And the level 20 capstone gives you 2 CHA.
Quite honestly, I'd get 32 point builds opened up before building a FvS. Makes it so much easier. Those 4 points mean a 14 STR, which will be useful early on as you don't have any great offensive spells until spell level 5.
As far as healing goes, any build of Favored Soul should be able to and willing to heal. Max out your healing amplification line, carry the best Devotion* item you can find, and you're done. Healing play is a mindset as much as anything else. You have to be able to watch the health bars of your allies, and willing to stand back and heal them as needed. An offensive caster will also have to learn to judge where their sp are best spent, and when to back off of casting to focus on healing. Melee FvS are a bit more lenient in that respect, as they just have to learn to manage aggro and know when to back down and heal. At one point, I was pretty decent at that. Probably not now, since I haven't ran a divine caster in a group in awhile.
For Feats, you want Toughness, Empower Spell, Maximize Spell, and Quicken as required. Beyond that, I recommend two Spell Focuses in Evocation, and you have 1 "free" feat for Spell Penetration (value depends on what you're running), Extend (not too useful unless you're keeping up short term buffs like Divine Power and Divine Favor), Empower Healing (over-kill IMO, given that Heal overheals anything other than a no-amp Warforged* gimp) or Shield Mastery (not as useful post expansion, but still a healthy bit of damage mitigation).
For a melee build, Two-handed fighting like Mirys was, Power Attack and Improved Critical were her feats of choice, and I think I took extend because I did keep Divine Favor and Power going full time. Two-weapon fighting melee FvS are a pain, because you need TWF, ITWF, GTWF, IC:X, Quicken, and Toughness as required, with Maximize and Empower desired. And that's assuming you don't take a weapon proficiency, and instead use your favored weapon. Most TWF FvS go with two levels of Monk for two extra feats and a useful Evasion.
As for races, DDO even in the highest end of play is not so punishing to race choices outside of Warforged*. Drow are tied for the weakest race, with Elf, but either is perfectly viable with a good build, player, and/or gear. I usually recommend Human or Half-elf; Humans have the extra feat, and Half-Elves have unmatched versatility in builds.
*
1 - Warforged suffer a 50% healing penalty. This can be brought up with enhancements and rare gear. But, this cripples them as a melee race. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking you don't need healing amp as a Warforged; Warforged melee without Healer's Friend at least to 2, and as much healing amp as they can scrounge on their gear is as useless as a 6 CON Drow Rogue in an Epic with no traps. Warforged Artificers and arcane casters can heal themselves, using repair spells. So they can skimp on it, though I took Healer's Friend II on Pump.
2 - Post expansion, potency type effects are changed. Specific type boosts, like Devotion or Combustion, are far stronger than general Potency. So you'll want Devotion on full time as a divine, and want to try and slot Brilliance (I think) as well for your light spells and Impulse for Blade Barrier (which is affected by Force-type enhancements).
With 8 people, we could definitely fit in two capable groups. I'd suggest setting Trevor and Alrik on different teams, as they're not as geared as our TRs, and Alrik isn't as experienced.
This of course means each group will need a trap-capable character though, and a divine caster. It also means we have to take turns throwing Grease at Peter. We can use hires to fill in as needed.
Of course, we could swap as needed, in the case of traps. One group running stuff not needing a trap monkey, the other getting me. Then swapping. It would largely depend on Alrik and Trevor's decision in what to run.