Recommendations: Druid or Wizard?

[Edame]

Hey y'all,

My playstyle is basically rolling solo 60-70% of the time, and 30-40% grouping. I chose the two quad kiting classes because when I'm soloing, I like the idea of burning all my mana for some okay XP then going AFK to get shit done around the house.

Though I can't always commit to long grouping sessions (in which case I'll just solo), I do enjoy grouping more than soloing. I understand Wizards are terrible at finding groups, but so are Druids later on (correct me if I'm wrong).

Any input or advice is appreciated.

[Orruar]

Druid. Far more group utility. Wizards are really just useful for certain raids.

[Laledorie]

Personally I've never played a wizard but I've played a few Druids. They are a pretty easy solo class in my opinion but they are also useful in groups. At least in my experience. However, there are a TON of Druids on P99. Overpopulation for sure. But my advice is play whatever you actually enjoy playing, even if there are too many. Because if you actually enjoy it, you'll play it more! =)

[Lojik]

Wizards and Druids go opposite directions in terms of usefulness. 1-28 for a Wizard is torture. Once you get to 29 you get rewarded with being able to quad ok. 51+ you can quad better, but 55+ you can do aoe groups. 60 Wizard boss for raids.

Druid on the other hand very useful early on, and good utility for porting and powerleveling. Not very desirable for groups 55+ or for raids.

Honestly sounds like druid better for your playstyle though. Fun class from what I hear from 1-51ish

[HippoNipple]

I would go wizard in my opinion. For someone with low play times you are on the right track with wizard/druid though. I like wizard more than druid because I like being the best at something rather than jack of all trades. Also, the higher the level the more the wizards utility begins to be important. You may just be nuking/medding from level 1-50 in exp groups but that changes during more difficult content.

[Estu]

If you're just quadding, they're equally good soloers (druids a little better because you don't have to get JBoots, although maybe wizard AE nukes are more efficient? not sure). Charming is faster EXP as a druid than quadding which makes them better soloers than wizards, but it doesn't sound like that's your style.

For grouping, druids are much more useful than wizards. Not amazing, granted, but snare is quite useful, and wizard AE snare can be messy (you get a resist and you're not sure which monster resisted; you snare yourself; you spend more mana on snares); plus, druids can heal and buff, which is more useful than having more efficient nukes.

For raiding, wizards are much more useful than druids, but it doesn't sound as though you'll be doing much raiding. Even if you do raid, you'll do OK as a druid, you just won't be super-useful.

So I'd go druid.

Sidebar: if you just care about getting EXP and then having downtime, you could roll any nuking class. Root-nuke is viable (if not efficient) for clerics versus undead, for instance. So you'll EXP slower than quadding, but you'll have very much the same play style (kill something, go afk for several minutes), and you'll be much more desired for groups and raids.

[Dweed]

On a similar note I'd consider a race with Hide. Perma invis while afking for 10-20mins is great.

Druids are way more fun.

[JurisDictum]

Once you get your insta-debuff clickie and some SoW pots, Wizard is very good quad kiter. Wizards can also join Chardok AoE groups, which is a the fastest leveling you can find in your 50s. By the time your 60, you'll be glad your a wizard instead of a Druid.
Druids basically peak in their mid 30s. A lot of Druids reroll long before 60, because their grouping falls off. There are a lot of druids on this server, but relatively few 60 druids compared to other classes.
Wizards are even better in Velious than now. So basically, if you care about your character long term, I would go with Wizard. It would be different if this was PoP, where Druids had complete heals, insta gates, and good charm. But classic Druids are meh...
(BTW: it's a running joke amongst some of the endgamers that wizards are considered "bad")

[lecompte]

If you want to raid, wizard. Otherwise, druid.

[Atmas]

Druids have good survivability and utility in groups, but suffer later on for not really leading the pack in any one area. Wizards are not good sustained group dps but excel in raid damage situations. Wizards also are good for AoE groups. A good AoE group pulls in xp way faster than a conventional group.

[webrunner5]

Druids make so much plat on this game it is crazy. Wizard well, pretty much crap for loot. Druid welcomed in ANY group till say level 50. Wizard, well no group till 60. What else can I say. End of thread. :eek: :D

[Estu]

Druids make so much plat on this game it is crazy. Wizard well, pretty much crap for loot. Druid welcomed in ANY group till say level 50. Wizard, well no group till 60. What else can I say. End of thread. :eek: :D

If you mean porting, you can make the same plat on a wizard (more, really, since you can port to planes). But platinum from porting isn't nearly as much on average as you can get from farming with a class like a magician or necromancer, or PLing with a monk or necro. Druids and wizards are not really great classes for getting cash at high levels, though porting can be nice at lower levels.

[Tiggles]

If you want to raid, wizard. Otherwise, druid.

[Cecily]

There's quite a few raid mobs you can land nukes on as a druid, just not all of them. Why it's not an optimal raiding class. If you can land them.. you'll be contributing about 2-3k damage on average. Solid imo, and I'm a rogue main.

You will have to solo to 60 as a druid. Wizards can AE group their way through the 50s, but are a pretty bad exp group class otherwise. Rotting, quadding, and charming options, makes druid soloing more fun.... All in all, it's a pretty rough road either way. Good luck with whichever you choose! Ports are amazing.

[Gadwen]

Personally I've never played a wizard but I've played a few Druids. They are a pretty easy solo class in my opinion but they are also useful in groups. At least in my experience. However, there are a TON of Druids on P99. Overpopulation for sure. But my advice is play whatever you actually enjoy playing, even if there are too many. Because if you actually enjoy it, you'll play it more! =)

^ this

[Estu]

Do not listen to this person. My druid alt pulls in 1k+ per hour porting, you just need to be fast with the tells to beat out other druids. Just because you aren't competitive enough to win the fares doesn't mean it isn't there. Not to mention we can PL 1-30 for 2k an hour.

I don't know how long your druid alt's been porting, but I've spent a lot of time on my 57 wizard porting and I rarely get 1k/hour. Sometimes there is little demand for ports and sometimes there is demand, but there are also a ton of other people porting, so it becomes a stupid tell race. Maybe part of the reason I don't get as much money doing it is because I decide to let other people deal with it when that happens instead of gluing my eyes to the chat window and then trying to type "/tell monkeysuncle I'll port you" as quickly as possible, but even if I did that, there are going to be other people doing the same thing, and honestly, it seems kind of dumb to engage in that kind of competition. Also, even if you did, you could get 1k/hour sometimes, but not consistently; on average, you'd be getting less. Compare this to a farming class that can get 1k+/hour on average. I also question how often you can get 2k/hour for power leveling. I haven't done much myself, but while druid PL is nice at lower levels, isn't monk/necro PL faster? Whenever I've PLed on a 60 druid I've had to take downtime to med because I'm always throwing heals at my PLee.

You will have to solo to 60 as a druid.

This is blatantly false; I see druids in EXP groups all the time. They're not the most desired class for them, but people like healing when they can't find a cleric (or when they have a cleric but would like backup heals), and people like snares, and people like DS.

[Alorae]

I think both classes are great if you are the kind of player who simply does not have the time to sit in an xp group for 4 hours at a time. You can pull a quad, then afk and med in a safe spot for as long as you need. You can log in, quad, and log out. Extra great if you have the ability to play on your portable device - pull a quad while taking a shit at work!

Wizard wins though, if anything just because you have an instant click staff for pulling. Can't imagine life without the flux staff.

[Zyn]

portable device? I assume you're referring to a laptop.

If you have some other way of playing EQ, PLEASE TELL ME ASAP! :)

[SCB]

I think wizards will be more fun at higher levels (44+) than druids, despite the fact that I greatly enjoyed my druid. Wizards also have more fun quests than druids have, and are better in dungeons and I'd assume better against casters.

[Alorae]

portable device? I assume you're referring to a laptop.

If you have some other way of playing EQ, PLEASE TELL ME ASAP! :)

I believe there is a thread or 2 about running p99 on a droid.

[Estu]

I think wizards will be more fun at higher levels (44+) than druids, despite the fact that I greatly enjoyed my druid. Wizards also have more fun quests than druids have, and are better in dungeons and I'd assume better against casters.

Personally, though AE groups are a lot of fun, overall I find wizards to be one of the most boring classes in the game. IMO druids are more fun to play. They just have more they are capable of doing (hell, they can even do AE groups, though not as well as wizards; don't know if they'd be useful enough to be let in).

[Kohedron]

I have a 26 rogue, and I think every group I've ever been in (group a lot as a rogue) had a druid in it. Granted, this speaks nothing for what things are like later, but a trend definitely exists thus far.

[webrunner5]

I grouped on my Druid from like 9 to 14, then Soloed to like 35, then started grouping until 54. You really can't be the main healer anymore after like 50ish. Can go a bit further with a Enchanter in there with CII. You have to solo pretty much to 60 which you can by Charming. And Root Rotting. Just too scary to Quad kite any mobs at high levels.

I remember trying to solo Lodizal on live with my Druid. It was no picnic I can tell you lol. Shamans are a lot better at it. But could be done. So Velious might be interesting again for Druids.

[mtb tripper]

wizard for sure, druid is a pussy class

[SCB]

Personally, though AE groups are a lot of fun, overall I find wizards to be one of the most boring classes in the game. IMO druids are more fun to play. They just have more they are capable of doing (hell, they can even do AE groups, though not as well as wizards; don't know if they'd be useful enough to be let in).

If you're in a small group or duoing, casters are a real bitch. Wizard stuns are a bit more reliable and chainable than druid wind spells, though an enchanter trivializes casters so if you have one of those it's not a big deal.

[Borador]

I believe there is a thread or 2 about running p99 on a droid.found one thread that was only semi helpful... I've used Splashtop before to just remote to my PC. But, to really make that work I'll need to set up a mouse/keyboard that would work. Anyone have an easier way?


And to stay on topic, I'll vote wizard simply because you can just root/nuke singles very easily. The epitome of AFK slow xp farming. I would also consider a cleric too, basically an undead only wizard but
Much more useful grouping.

[Cecily]

This is blatantly false; I see druids in EXP groups all the time. They're not the most desired class for them, but people like healing when they can't find a cleric (or when they have a cleric but would like backup heals), and people like snares, and people like DS.

Yeah like most generalizations are. There's exceptions of course. But it doesn't change the fact that you will have to solo your druid to 60.