Druid Questions

[Zargalose]

Hi there i am a returning player and wanted to run a Druid. I could really use a good budget list of items i have about 4kpp. Also where can i find a really good charm leveling guide as far as which areas to farm at certain levels?

[nhdjoseywales]

Hi there i am a returning player and wanted to run a Druid. I could really use a good budget list of items i have about 4kpp. Also where can i find a really good charm leveling guide as far as which areas to farm at certain levels?

also looking for some good druid budget items. only have about 2k to spend on her though atm

[Daldaen]

Druids are extremely gear independent.

The only thing I would highly suggest if you are charming is a Goblin Gazughi Ring.

I would trade 100 WIS in gear for a Goblin Gazughi Ring personally. It makes charming 100x easier, you lose almost no mobs to late breaks of charm and later on in Kedge the item basically functions as instant invis since nothing but mermaids are non-animals. So you can use it to swim around freely (avoid mermaid area) with instant invis.

That being said, if you are unable to purchase one:

Ear - Jasper Gold Earrings - 3 WIS / 50 plat each
Finger - Platinum Jasper Rings - 6 WIS / 150 plat each OR Moonstone Rings - 30 Mana+ 3STR / 50 Plat each
Head - Nightshade Wreath - 5 WIS / 150 plat
Face - Platinum Ruby Veil - 7 WIS+STR / 350 plat
Neck - Chrysoberyl Talisman - 3 WIS+20 Mana / 300 plat
Hands - Split Paw Hide Gloves - 2 WIS / 20 plat
Wrist - Runed Mithril Bracer - 5 WIS+3STR / 500 plat each OR Chipped Bone Bracer - 5 WIS / 400 plat each
Arms - Platinum Armband - 3 WIS/STR / 200 plat
Chest - Foreman's Tunic - 3 WIS/STR / 100 plat
Shoulders - Braided Ivy Cords - 5 WIS / 400-500 plat. OR Prayer Cloth of Tunare - 3 WIS / 100 plat

Range - Small Wisdom Diety - 2 WIS / 100 plat
Secondary - Testament of Vanear - 10 WIS+Mana / Free Quest, just kill on higher level and loot on Druid.
Primary - Enchanted/Ruined Battleworn Morning Star - 5-6WIS / Free kill cleric undead in Kithicor, people let them rot often when doing Dark Elves.

Back/Legs/Waist to get WIS/Mana pieces will run you more like 800-1k each, I suggest against this if you're on a budget. Just save up plat for it later.

See here if you don't like my list: http://wiki.project1999.com/Druid#Pre-Planar

But as stated above, gear is generally rather irrelevant on a Druid. Getting a useful clicky like Goblin Gazughi ring is better use of 5k in my opinion.

[nhdjoseywales]

Thanks Dal. u r teh awesome

[Zargalose]

Thanks Dal. Any advice on where to charm for the early to mid levels. Not sure what the best areas are up till Kedge

[nhdjoseywales]

commoms-oasis-karanas is what im doing

[Beckoning]

Angelhawk has a good guide written for Druid charm kiting. I'm not sure if I can post links, so you can easily google this. I did find though that once I hit mid - 20s, it was easiest to just group (although I'm sure many people would disagree with me on that). I did HHK until level 35 starting in the late 20s.

[kledar]

I found charm kiting to be kind of frustrating when I tried it at level 19 or whatever in e. karana. The charm likes to break often, I wish I could snare and root, had trouble trying to control adds because I was sitting back a way. I can't afford the nifty goblin ring and I'm a human druid so I couldn't hide to break charm. The guide made it sounds so easy and there shouldn't be much downtime. I had a lot of downtime try to med my mana back up and had to run to zone often.

[Sethius Marlowe]

Can someone explain to me the ring? Let's assume money is an issue, and you have to choose between 600 mana (100wis) and this ring, what makes the ring that much better? I'm not saying I disagree, I just want to understand

[williestargell]

The ring is a luxury, all it does is open up a spot on your spell bar and let you insta-cast animal invis to break charms rather than cast camoflage. When charm killing your spell bar can bear that used lot imo. IMO its not worth the money until high level. Even then, depending on the going price, owning one is a luxury and if you have other needs they should come first.

Also if you exp in lake of ill omen at the ruins along the lake you might get a chance to loot one. At high level if you don't have one it'd be worth the effort to learn that "cycle" and farm one for yourself. I farmed these when the price was higher and always felt I was better off selling it, but now the price is down so if you loot one you might as well keep and use it.

This isn't a charming thread but just a couple quick hints. Using hide to break charm sucks, it fails too often and you do want to control the "when" of the break so the pet is low health but it needs to happen when you want it or the pet will die and you get no exp for it. The ring is best for that, because u can wait til the mob is really low and click it, its instant and doesn't fizzle.

Gear wise, additions to Dald's list: Kunzar Cloak for back, Forest Loops instead of crafted earrings for the same low price, Gator scale legs worth buying even if they cost a bit more, they'll last you til you get legs in fear at 46+

[nhdjoseywales]

I found charm kiting to be kind of frustrating when I tried it at level 19 or whatever in e. karana. The charm likes to break often, I wish I could snare and root, had trouble trying to control adds because I was sitting back a way. I can't afford the nifty goblin ring and I'm a human druid so I couldn't hide to break charm. The guide made it sounds so easy and there shouldn't be much downtime. I had a lot of downtime try to med my mana back up and had to run to zone often.

why cant you snare and root?

[williestargell]

Apparently he's not aware you can snare or root the intended pet before you pet it and then pet it afterward. Snare is much more effective here because it lasts lots longer.

[Daldaen]

why cant you snare and root?

I believe he is referencing the fact you can't do both until 1 month into Velious when Root and Snare stack.

The reason I say Goblin Ring > spending 5k on WIS gear is because it saves you time, allows you to be more precise with your breaks, and saves you EXP.

Without the ring you will be trying to hide break (which fails often) or casting a 40-50 mana spell with a 4-5 second cast time. You will sometimes have pets die in this period of time and sometimes when you hide to break you don't react fast enough after hide to cast invis or you hide, break immediately and the mob has too much health to die in one nuke when he likely would've lost that health in the 4-5 seconds you were planning on delaying. Plus this will let you med another tick longer usually because you can insta break whenever and not need to cast a spell.

When charm killing you will basically be casting snare or root (root indoor, snare outdoors), charm, and a nuke to kill your pet. Cutting out the invis cost does save some mana and getting more Med ticks can offset the lower WIS.

All that being said, if you have 4-5k available to yourself and you buy the goblin ring, the next 100 plat you get you could buy a few wis pieces and then when you're porting every 50-100 plat you could buy another piece.

Whereas if you spend your initial 4-5k on all that wis gear, you now need to spend awhile saving back up that much to buy the goblin ring.

Charming with one and without one is hugely noticeable. By the time you're leveling in kedge you definitely want one because it doubles as instant invis so you can travel around the zone easily (just learn where the mermaid area is and remember to invis there). Also at higher levels using it to break charm is extremely convenient because it doesn't prevent you from casting another spell immediately (like a root or a nuke) because it's a clicky. Whereas a spell invis will require you wait the 2 seconds until you can cast a new spell.

It's not required by any means but it makes life much easier. Far easier than the extra few hundred mana that gear would provide you. And yea, though you may need to stop and med a few mobs earlier than the Druid in wis gear, you will likely level equally as fast because you aren't losing any pets to late breaks from failed hides or casted invises. By your 30s you'll have porting and be able to make the platinum to easily close any mana gap you would've had with another Druid very quickly with how cheap that gear is.

[williestargell]

btw, if you time the tick you lose zero med time casting invis. tick/stand and cast/sit/tick.

As someone who has both a druid and enchanter, and who has had periods of having and not having the rings while charm exp'ing, I really do classify that as a luxury - you need a little more timing to cast the invis rather than click it. That is all.

Not all druids are going to spend 100% of their time charm soloing, some will group and some will solo via other methods (root rot and quadding). Unless your charm soloing a very high percentage of the time mana > goblin gazughi ring.

+mana items also need to be considered at low level. Something like Hollow Bone Bracers for your arms with 15 mana > 3-4 wisdom at low-mid level.

[loramin]

The guide Beckoning mentioned is this one (http://wiki.project1999.com/Druid_Charm_Kiting_Guide_by_Angelhawk), and it's great! I can't wait to use it for my Druid, and to add all the spots in it to the Per-Level Hunting Guide (http://wiki.project1999.com/Per-Level_Hunting_Guide).

As for the ring, I'm with Daldaen: it makes more of a difference than buying an equivalent amount of gear IF you are charming ... which you really should be if you are soloing.

My Druid is only 24, but so far I've gotten way faster XP with charming than with rotting. It's not completely downtime free, but because it uses about the same amount of mana to kill two mobs:

charm: 120
2x snare: 30
nuke: 70
maybe a heal if first charm gets resisted: 60
----------------------
280


as it takes to kill one by root/rot:

2x root: 60
2x crud DoT: 200
2x flame lick: 20
----------------------
280


it certainly means less time spent meditating (not to mention less time actually spent killing the mobs).

[williestargell]

add one invis vs. animals in there at 30 mana and that's what you're gaining from the ring. virtually nothing, because if you're running out of mana more than once in a blue moon while charming you're doing something wrong.

Charm soloing is fastest if you are a min/maxer and sadly almost everyone is, but outside kedge (which most druids should avoid like the plague cause its too dangerous for the average player) and perma bear pits the exp differential between charming and other methods of killing is over stated.

If you never quad and never root rot you've missed out on a good chunk of the druid "experience". And if you want to group then that goblin gazughi ring is going to be found to be totally useless when you're OOM as the group healer.

I'm not saying you shouldn't buy one. I'm saying you should buy the other basic gear first. I'm saying if you're 5k short of buying a hiero cloak you should sell the ring and buy the cloak, and then buy another ring later when you get another 5k.

Druids arent just an exp solo class, they can be a class to solo for valuable loots and to do that, you mostly have to root rot. If you go for that ring at low level you slightly increase your ability to charm solo totally at the expense of having enough mana to do anything else. You could completely equip the toon for that 5k, enabling him to use all the tools in your arsenal, or you could buy one item and wear cloth armor for the same price. It's just not logical to blow your whole bank on the one item.

[nhdjoseywales]

add one invis vs. animals in there at 30 mana and that's what you're gaining from the ring. virtually nothing, because if you're running out of mana more than once in a blue moon while charming you're doing something wrong.

Charm soloing is fastest if you are a min/maxer and sadly almost everyone is, but outside kedge (which most druids should avoid like the plague cause its too dangerous for the average player) and perma bear pits the exp differential between charming and other methods of killing is over stated.

If you never quad and never root rot you've missed out on a good chunk of the druid "experience". And if you want to group then that goblin gazughi ring is going to be found to be totally useless when you're OOM as the group healer.

I'm not saying you shouldn't buy one. I'm saying you should buy the other basic gear first. I'm saying if you're 5k short of buying a hiero cloak you should sell the ring and buy the cloak, and then buy another ring later when you get another 5k.

Druids arent just an exp solo class, they can be a class to solo for valuable loots and to do that, you mostly have to root rot. If you go for that ring at low level you slightly increase your ability to charm solo totally at the expense of having enough mana to do anything else. You could completely equip the toon for that 5k, enabling him to use all the tools in your arsenal, or you could buy one item and wear cloth armor for the same price. It's just not logical to blow your whole bank on the one item.

its not about that 30 mana, its about being able to determine exactly when charm breaks as opposed to its gonna break in 5 sec, i hope the mob life is where i estimate it will be and not higher so it beats on me and i have to use mana to heal and not lower so it dies right before the invis goes off and i lose the xp and waste time.

[loramin]

add one invis vs. animals in there at 30 mana and that's what you're gaining from the ring. virtually nothing, because if you're running out of mana more than once in a blue moon while charming you're doing something wrong.

If you've never charm soloed with/without the ring then I could understand why you'd have such a hard time appreciating a stupid invis vs. animals ring ... but if you tried both ways then you'd know what a difference the ring makes.

Charm soloing is fastest if you are a min/maxer and sadly almost everyone is, but outside kedge (which most druids should avoid like the plague cause its too dangerous for the average player) and perma bear pits the exp differential between charming and other methods of killing is over stated.
Over stated how? When I charm, I get XP faster (a little less than double) than when I rot. That's a fact, based on my experience soloing places like East Karana from levels 14-24 (not soloing Kedge).

I'm not saying you shouldn't buy one. I'm saying you should buy the other basic gear first.
Can you really say that anything is better than something you've never tried? You should actually try soloing with/without the ring at low levels before claiming it's better/worse than anything else.

You could completely equip the toon for that 5k, enabling him to use all the tools in your arsenal, or you could buy one item and wear cloth armor for the same price. It's just not logical to blow your whole bank on the one item.
Daldaen's already explained this much better, but I'll try again. Adding gear just ups your max mana/HP. It doesn't increase how fast you recover HP or mana, and it doesn't make you do more damage: all it does is make you a bit safer.

But the ring actually speeds up the rate at which you kill things. Unlike a mountain of gear, it actually gets you more XP, faster (when soloing; when grouping gear doesn't really speed up XP gain).

So it's really very simple: a single item that gets you more XP is better than a pile of items that don't get you more XP.

[loramin]

P.S. My main is a Shaman so I am all about the root rotting. When I first started my Druid alt I root/rotted because that was what I knew. But then I tried charming, and even though it took a little work to learn (the first hour or two was kinda rough), it worked so much better than rotting that I switched to charming almost exclusively. Nowadays I only root/rot when there's no animals around to charm.

[williestargell]

Daldaen's already explained this much better, but I'll try again. Adding gear just ups your max mana/HP. It doesn't increase how fast you recover HP or mana, and it doesn't make you do more damage: all it does is make you a bit safer

This works fine if all you're ever going to do is charm. Do you not have some friends you want to group with where you're going to nuke and heal and cast buffs. Naked you will not have enough mana to buff your group without needing to med after. Root rotting will be next to impossible to do correctly without some mana pool from gear. Soloing for loot in places like guk will be impossible to do naked.

If you wish to be one dimensional fine. I do not, and I think it's unfair to set up a new player for that type of non-fun experience. I don't want to see a druid get to level 55 and not know how to play in a group or solo in a dungeon for loot.

Seriously, if you want to do nothing but charm solo why are you playing a druid who's biggest strength is diversity instead of an enchanter?

[nhdjoseywales]

This works fine if all you're ever going to do is charm. Do you not have some friends you want to group with where you're going to nuke and heal and cast buffs. Naked you will not have enough mana to buff your group without needing to med after. Root rotting will be next to impossible to do correctly without some mana pool from gear. Soloing for loot in places like guk will be impossible to do naked.

If you wish to be one dimensional fine. I do not, and I think it's unfair to set up a new player for that type of non-fun experience. I don't want to see a druid get to level 55 and not know how to play in a group or solo in a dungeon for loot.

Seriously, if you want to do nothing but charm solo why are you playing a druid who's biggest strength is diversity instead of an enchanter?


cuz chanters cant port

[kledar]

can't you just switch rings when you're not charming?

[loramin]

can't you just switch rings when you're not charming?

Of course you can. I think what Willie was getting at was, if you sink all your plat in to the Goblin Ghazuli ring, you won't have any plat left over to buy an alternate ring, and then for some odd reason you wouldn't get any more plat until you...
get to level 55 and not know how to play in a group or solo in a dungeon for loot.

But of course, you can always get more plat after buying the ring, and in fact one of the easiest ways for a druid to do so is to port people. And what's the fastest way to get to level 34 so that you can make money porting? You guessed it: charming.

[Daldaen]

It's all pretty irrelevant since you can get to 30/40 pretty quickly then just port people for 20-100 plat donations and in no time at all you can afford decent wisdom gear.

Wisdom gear doesn't help you much pre-30, because returns are weak. You can go Mana gear instead but most of that stuff sucks post-30, and you'll want to sell it and buy wis gear anyways. (Or it's really expensive)

My suggestion was mainly focused on the OP. Who had 4k to throw around on a Druid and I suggested the ring first.

You can blast through 14-30s charming (where a ring will be immensely more helpful than a few hundred mana), then while porting people, fund your own wis gear.

Going the other route of buying up wis gear first leads to saving up for a goblin ring or you'll get tempted and buy GEBs or Gatorscale Legs or Mammoth Cloak, etc. And by the time you can afford it you've already past many of the levels when it would've been very useful (when learning charm killing)

Again - Druids have 0 reason to do anything but charm 14-60. It's the fastest way to EXP. It allows you to hone your skills at pulling, handling a charmed pet, root CCing, maintaining your own buffs, etc. You're never at the whim of someone else's AFKs or screwed if someone camps. You can AFK whenever you want. If you need plat, porting is decent at low levels and power leveling at higher levels.

If you want to group because you liked a certain zone or your friends or guildmates are going and you wish to join, by all means, join them and have fun. Don't listen to the people who say because you charm killed you will be useless in a group. Especially in your typical P99 6-man group.

Snare mobs when low on HP if they're runners (don't do at 100%, cause you'll take aggro)
Damage Shield MT (at lower levels this is tedious, around 29-39 when the duration is increasing its a lot more valuable)
Regen MT (easier to do entire group when those spells are available)
SoW puller if outdoors (if outdoors, use Harmony and pull yourself... Harmony enabled Druid is best puller)
If no CC class, utilize root before mobs get to your camp to park them out of combat (hit melee mobs first, don't root casters outside of camp)
Heal people who need it (if cleric in group let them handle most healing just cover healing the cleric or help heal everyone on big pulls)

Having spent all your money on the ring and having minimal WIS gear is really a non issue. Plenty of Druids went 1-30 in leather armor and no WIS gear. Those Druids soloed and grouped just fine. In no way are you crippling your ability to group or solo if you spend all the plat on a clicky. You'll just end up taking a break from killing sooner than a mana twinked person would.

Or just farm up like 8k on your main and buy it all hehe.

[kremlar]

So it's really very simple: a single item that gets you more XP is better than a pile of items that don't get you more XP.


Having spent all your money on the ring and having minimal WIS gear is really a non issue. Plenty of Druids went 1-30 in leather armor and no WIS gear. Those Druids soloed and grouped just fine.

I was kind of skeptical about suggesting somebody twink with just a goblin ring over a set of gear, but these are both really good points that changed my mind.

The only problem is that they don't sell for 4k, so unless OP wants to farm up another couple thousand plat it's not relevant.

[Daldaen]

I haven't bought one in awhile, I think I spent like 4.5k on my last one. Aren't they still around 4-5k? Or are they more.

So long as they are sub-10k they are worth it IMO.

[kremlar]

Rare to see them under 6k at the moment.

Not saying they aren't worth it at that price, just that it's a purely academic discussion if op has been away for a while and doesn't wanna relearn his old character and/or grind plat before living the mangy druid lifestyle.

[Renault]

You can agree to disagree with Dald, but it doesn't make you right.

There are plenty of arguments for what to stack. Some people will say Mana/Wis depending on level. Some will say HP/AC for a charm class. Sometimes resists, depending what you are doing. And then there are specialty items, like Gobbie Ring.

I 100% agree with Dald - you save xp and get a better feel for the potential of the class using a Gobbie Ring. Stacking wisdom only helps you to have a higher max mana pool, not a higher mana regen, and for most group situations on a druid, max mana pool isn't that important anyway. You will be meditating between chain pulls. For root/rotting or quadding you may need to stack mana, but then we have to discuss lumi staff, and in either case that is a 34+ discussion.

So...here are some options. I also agree with Dald that mid-30s druids can camp lots of items solo, but a Gobbie Ring in the late teens-mid 20s charming range is when it shines. It saves a significant % of mana, makes charming way more manageable in EK, and lets you learn how to do it right before mobs hit too hard.

[williestargell]

Again - Druids have 0 reason to do anything but charm 14-60

other than having fun and learning to properly play your class. this game isn't about how fast you can race to 60 for everyone, for some its about having fun on the way to 60.

All your advice is boiled down into one nugget - which is that the only way to play eq is to min/max. Min/maxers are what is wrong with this server. It's why people get to 60 and not know how to play their toons. Its why our raid scene sucks on many levels because people desire max pixels and are willing to do dirty things to get them.

Some people are born to min/max. Others want to play more casually. All I'm doing is pointing out for those people (OP possibly being one of them) that there are other ways to go. It's not about right and wrong, it's about knowing your options and picking the one that you think will be fun for you. If you want to play and use the other druid skills in addition to charm soloing then spending your whole wad of cash on a goblin ring is a bad idea.

[Itap]

Daldaen needs to add a disclaimer to his sig.

*The above post assumes you want to level your character as quickly and efficiently as possible.

[Zargalose]

Thanks for added tips and info!

[Gumbo]

I have a level 14 Druid and started getting into charm kiting and I am hearing that charm kiting is the way to go.

My question is it better to just go with charm kiting for level 14 through 60 or use charm kiting and switch to quad kiting when I reach higher levels? Which is best for xp and mana overall?

I also want to know if I understand charm kiting correctly. Should I charm an animal, use it against a mob and before the mob dies, hide or invis so it breaks the charm and kill the mob and then kill the ex-charmed animal?

[loramin]

other than having fun

Why do you assume that charming is some miserable experience, but root/rotting is some great joy? Let's be honest: nothing in EverQuest is "fun" in a traditional sense. This game is not Angry Birds, Candy Crush, or Clash of Clans, and 90% of solo play does not involve clever thinking, reflexes, or anything else that typically makes a game "fun". Instead, it involves very basic gameplay, repeated over and over.

The fun in EQ comes from two things: the social aspect (no one here ever said "don't group"), and progressing your character. Getting levels is how you progress, and charming gets you those levels faster. That's all anyone has said; no one said "you must charm, because you're not playing EQ right if you're not as efficient as possible".

Min/maxers are what is wrong with this server.
Did you level up by killing light blue mobs? Oh, you killed blue mobs? You horrible min/maxer you! Why didn't you enjoy the experience by leveling more slowly of light blue mobs? ;)

[loramin]

My question is it better to just go with charm kiting for level 14 through 60 or use charm kiting and switch to quad kiting when I reach higher levels? Which is best for xp and mana overall?

I also want to know if I understand charm kiting correctly. Should I charm an animal, use it against a mob and before the mob dies, hide or invis so it breaks the charm and kill the mob and then kill the ex-charmed animal?

Yup, you've got all that basically correct.

I can't speak to higher levels, but at lower levels charming is the fastest way I've found to get XP . As you said, you basically just get two mobs of equal power to fight each other, causing tons of damage for the price of a single charm spell. Then you break the charm before either dies and finish them with melee attacks or nukes.

The tricky part is the timing. If you break too soon you'll need several (mana inefficient) nukes, but break too late and they'll die, giving you either half or no XP. Because of this it's better to use camouflage than hide, as it's more predictable.

[Gumbo]

The tricky part is the timing. If you break too soon you'll need several (mana inefficient) nukes, but break too late and they'll die, giving you either half or no XP. Because of this it's better to use camouflage than hide, as it's more predictable.

So if I use camouflage instead of hide, would I have to keep casting camouflage each time?

Sorry for the questions but first time I ever played a Druid if you couldn't tell.

[kaev]

Did you level up by killing light blue mobs? Oh, you killed blue mobs? You horrible min/maxer you! Why didn't you enjoy the experience by leveling more slowly of light blue mobs? ;)

Oh c'mon, you know well the point he's trying to make, no need to get all snarky about it. :P

All you young druids and wannabe druids out there, Daldaen gives great advice if you want to level fast playing solo. Even if, like me, you have other ideas about the path you wish to take, it doesn't hurt to try the tactics and techniques he recommends. I'm no fan of charm soloing (or charm pets in general), and I found that quadding makes my teeth itch. But that's nothing to you, try stuff and see which of the many ways to play druid floats your boat. It's your character, see what makes it fun for you to play, might be you want the full variety, maybe you want to just get to some target level, maybe you settle into a single style and that works for you. :shrug: The only thing that's for sure is that the undying geniuses at Verant gimped the hell out of druid healing, so after your mid-30s or so the one thing that's really difficult without being ridiculously over-geared for your group and the content you're fighting is main-heal a group (but get a good CC 'chanter and a paladin tank and a necro for support heals and you might be surprised at the results.)

[Deckk]

any recommendations for level 11 solo Druid? At 14 I'm planning EK or NK for bandits... But until then I'm unsure.

[gildor]

CB, kill everything in sight..collect belts/pads and do turn ins in Kaladim until 14

[Deckk]

Isn't CB a little crowded to solo?

[Sorn]

It's way too crowded in CB for soloing. Everyone's in there either leveling or farming CB belts and pads.

Try Steamfont Mountains near the Minotaur caves (stuff like harpies, drakes, etc, but watch out for those earth and steam elementals in the beginning).

You can also go after undead pawns and rooks at the chessboard in Butcherblock, or try the various goblin camps scattered around the zone.

[Deckk]

Chessboard is a genius idea. As is Steamfont. Thanks for the suggestions.

[kledar]

Is the tracking skill capped at 20 or 50? mine hasn't gone up past 20 in a few levels now

[Sorn]

NP, Deckk.

Tracking is capped at 50 for druids. It took me a few levels to get it up there by obsessively hitting track every minute. Not sure why it would be stuck for you.

[kledar]

I've been using it fairly obsessively too, is there a per level cap?

[loramin]

So if I use camouflage instead of hide, would I have to keep casting camouflage each time?

Sorry for the questions but first time I ever played a Druid if you couldn't tell.

Correct, but the mana for that camouflage is a small price to pay.

In an ideal situation you cast one charm to start things off, one camouflage to break the charm, and that's all the mana you need to spend to kill two mobs (assuming you then melee both to death). If charm breaks you you'll need to re-cast it, and if your timing is off (or the mobs are different levels) you might need some nukes to finish one of them off at the end, but it's still cheaper/faster than nuking/DoTing both mobs to death separately.

[Sorn]

I've been using it fairly obsessively too, is there a per level cap?

After 20, I don't think so. It's only got a chance to skill up when you open the tracking window, though. I never saw it go up while I was actively tracking something. If it's legitimately stuck you may have a bug on your hands.

[Deckk]

this is probably a stupid question... But...

Harmony... Does it work on all mobs in outside zones or just animals? If animals, are bandits considered an animal?

[Sorn]

In my experience, Harmony works on everything and is irresistible.

I've used it to split up bandits (who are not considered animals) in WK. I occasionally use it to judge how far mobs are from each other as well.

[kledar]

nm its a known graphical glitch, my tracking skill is at 50

[Deckk]

Considering all the great feedback here (did 10-13 at steamfont near mino caves), I'll ask... Where should I go at 13? It's kind of that oddball level... Steamfont has a few blues, but there are enough people killing stuff there that I don't get to see the harpys/minos/earth eles with any kind of regularity.

I was thinking of bumming a port to EC and going to NRo/Oasis for level 13... But then at 14 go to EK to charm kill... Any other places that could be good xp?

[Sorn]

1. Bandits and bandit sashes in WK - bandits top out at level 12 but the sashes can get you really far, only issue is that they can be overcamped at times.
2. Everfrost Peaks, mammoth calves and a few types of orcs (troopers)
3. Some aqua goblins, some bandits in Butcherblock. Can't remember if the orc oracles in that spot between GFay and Nyzil Bloodforge are in the right level range or not.
4. Wisps in NK, + the GLS turn-ins
5. Get a group, hit Runnyeye
6. Wisps, snakes, bears, lions in EC, WC
7. There are a couple camps besides the Nybright Sisters in LFay you can do. You can stalk rancorous ghasts for their hearts and get yourself an Initiate Symbol of Tunare if you're a Tunare follower. There's an obelisk near MM you can camp. It's full of skeletons and mummies. Occasionally the ghoul boss will spawn (he's too high for you) but usually you can avoid him. (It's easy to see where the brownie scout paths...all those bodies along the trail :P The little guy moves fast and he's hard to see so you want invis)
8. Gnolls in highpass hold, I believe.

[Nycon43]

Killing random scarabs/spiders in Nro is also decent at 13, no really bothers with em.

[kledar]

The Tunare symbol was kind of a pain, it took a while and only the mummy closest to the obelisk will spawn the ghast. When I was there initially I killed all of the spawns but none of the other spawn ever turn into a ghast. The mummy spawn on the hill next to the obelisk is the one that spawns the ghoul boss, I think its a ranger quest or something.

[Deckk]

1. Bandits and bandit sashes in WK - bandits top out at level 12 but the sashes can get you really far, only issue is that they can be overcamped at times.
2. Everfrost Peaks, mammoth calves and a few types of orcs (troopers)
3. Some aqua goblins, some bandits in Butcherblock. Can't remember if the orc oracles in that spot between GFay and Nyzil Bloodforge are in the right level range or not.
4. Wisps in NK, + the GLS turn-ins
5. Get a group, hit Runnyeye
6. Wisps, snakes, bears, lions in EC, WC
7. There are a couple camps besides the Nybright Sisters in LFay you can do. You can stalk rancorous ghasts for their hearts and get yourself an Initiate Symbol of Tunare if you're a Tunare follower. There's an obelisk near MM you can camp. It's full of skeletons and mummies. Occasionally the ghoul boss will spawn (he's too high for you) but usually you can avoid him. (It's easy to see where the brownie scout paths...all those bodies along the trail :P The little guy moves fast and he's hard to see so you want invis)
8. Gnolls in highpass hold, I believe.

Killing random scarabs/spiders in Nro is also decent at 13, no really bothers with em.

All of this is awesome info. If I remember right, I can bind at the gypsy camp in NK, right?

For Ro, I'd bind in FP I take it...?

[SamwiseRed]

All of this is awesome info. If I remember right, I can bind at the gypsy camp in NK, right?

For Ro, I'd bind in FP I take it...?

assuming you are a druid, you can bind anywhere. otherwise yea.

[Sorn]

The Symbol quest is a pain, yeah. Took me two days to get the hearts. The ghast just doesn't spawn all that often. I believe it's one of two static spawns. The others will wander through the zone.

All of this is awesome info. If I remember right, I can bind at the gypsy camp in NK, right?

For Ro, I'd bind in FP I take it...?

Yes, others can bind you at the gypsy camp in NK. Once you hit 14 you can bind yourself wherever else you want.

I recommend binding slightly away from where the griffon paths. There's a spot where it pauses that is almost inside the gypsy camp. If you face the guard tower while in the center of the camp, the griffon will path to your left or thereabouts.

[akahdrin]

I wouldn't invest in mana rings of any kind. Pick up some plat fire wedding rings and stack some hp on top of more hp. If you're doing charm killing, it's all about your regeneration, not about your total mana pool. You'll never hit 0m anyways when charming unless you find a crazy place to level with unlimited mobs. After about 15 minutes of charm killing, you're on the same footing as someone with higher wisdom anyways because you're both just relying on the same mana regen. Hit points will allow you to take those hits when your charm breaks. I've never been a fan of mana items, it doesn't do much except get you an extra spell if you happen to be at full mana (in comparison to someone without wisdom gear). When soloing, you don't need that mana. I see a lot of dead druids wearing pure wisdom gear.

You have to figure that if you get 2 plat fire rings, it's more hp than skin like steel and for a lower level player that is quite powerful.

[chipz]

Lol @ the guy talking about people not knowing their class. Like EQ has ever been a hard game or something. Stop trying to mislead the OP and let him charm away.

[williestargell]

All you young druids and wannabe druids out there, Daldaen gives great advice if you want to level fast playing solo. Even if, like me, you have other ideas about the path you wish to take, it doesn't hurt to try the tactics and techniques he recommends. I'm no fan of charm soloing (or charm pets in general), and I found that quadding makes my teeth itch. But that's nothing to you, try stuff and see which of the many ways to play druid floats your boat. It's your character, see what makes it fun for you to play, might be you want the full variety, maybe you want to just get to some target level, maybe you settle into a single style and that works for you. :shrug: The only thing that's for sure is that the undying geniuses at Verant gimped the hell out of druid healing, so after your mid-30s or so the one thing that's really difficult without being ridiculously over-geared for your group and the content you're fighting is main-heal a group (but get a good CC 'chanter and a paladin tank and a necro for support heals and you might be surprised at the results.)

Someone finally sees the point that druids can do more than just charm solo. Obviously charm soloing is good exp and is fun for most, that doesn't mean you want to set yourself up for only that.

[Waedawen]

Hit points will allow you to take those hits when your charm breaks. I've never been a fan of mana items, it doesn't do much except get you an extra spell if you happen to be at full mana (in comparison to someone without wisdom gear). When soloing, you don't need that mana. I see a lot of dead druids wearing pure wisdom gear.

Funny how since ever and forever, I was using this same line of rhetoric to convince people that hp pool > mana pool and it's finally caught the echo chamber effect.

[williestargell]

I'm all for a druid trying out all their skills (I'm not anti-charming, I'm just anti doing only charming).

I kind of disagree with skipping crushbone. If you're an elf it's your duty to slay orcs, there are also quest pieces in there that result in loot that will last you many levels - prayer shawl of tunare is pretty nice, there are loot drops that can gear future characters, there are quest turn-ins for exp. Go in, find a group and kill stuff, you will ding rapidly and learn about playing in a group.

Crushbone is the single most classic experience available on P99, so if you want to experience "classic" eq, you should go there. You will see what eq was like during the first weeks that it came out.

[GreldorEQ]

Im still wearing my prayer shawl of tunare at 60. Sure - I'm lazy, but it was my first quest completed here and it came from Crushbone!