druids?

[Seeatee]

how disirable are druids in a group? what role do they usually fill here on p99? are they main healer types or something else? also how well do druids solo here and what solo style do they tend to use best?

[mickmoranis]

Blue = roleplay
Red = bad ass killer of other players and group manager and organizer

[loramin]

how disirable are druids in a group?
what role do they usually fill here on p99? are they main healer types or something else?
I don't group with my druid so I'll leave these to others.

also how well do druids solo here and what solo style do they tend to use best?
Very well; I've gone from 1 to 39 super easily. I went the animal charm route, because it's some of the best XP in the game. However at the later levels quad kiting gets popular too: it's a matter of preference, as both give good XP.

[Deliverator]

Druids can be main healer but at lower levels their heals are sub par. They need high mana regen or insane mana pools to main heal a content appropriately geared group. They are useful as puller in outdoor zones, offer great grouping oriented buffs, and work well as backup healer/buffer/damage. They can also provide some crowd control through their above average root duration and snare to stop enemies from running without continuing to cost mana for heals. Root is also useful as a tanking aid for warriors in the lower levels as their damage and taunt powers are lacking in early levels compared to the damage output of melee and magic dpsers. They are not commonly sought because they don't provide anything unique to a group unlike shamans or enchanters. At level 60 they can easily operate as a main healer with chloroblast and natures touch providing much higher healing values along with clickable buffs for saving mana like group regrowth and thorns. I've seen a well geared group be main healed by s cleric using valor clicky so a druid could do the same with skin like diamond legs spamming 200pnt heals every 10 seconds or whatever that cast time is.

[brecon]

I mained a Druid on Red for a long time. At 60 I raided for awhile, and ended up switching to a Shaman.

As a Soloist: Druids are a blast to solo level with, all the way to 60. I really enjoyed it. The fun and manly way to solo is Charming Animals. But this limits you to zones that have animals. Solo leveling in Kedge and Permafrost lower level is the true sign of a Druid. Unfortunately, Velious went out of its way to make Druids incapable of soloing. The only non-leveling zones with animals are Kael and Siren's Grotto. Because of the mechanics in SG (you can't snare anything and everything summons), you really can't charm solo effectively. And in Kael...there are some OP dogs to charm, but you need a monk to pull them out for you.

The other option is quadding...which takes no skill. But again, you are limited to outdoor zones where you have room to run 4 non-caster mobs in circles.

As a Group member: After a certain level, you really cannot be the main healer of a group. You don't have an efficient spell like CH, and you don't have slows. And in hard camps, you want BOTH a Cleric and Slower. Basically....druids become an awkward extra member. The same holds for raids: unlike clerics, shamans, warriors, rogues, bards, a druid is never needed. You will be abused for mobilizing people for raids and doing succors across Siren's Grotto, you will never get to raids on time bc people will beg you for ports.

Druid is a great first class, and a fun class to solo level. But it's limitations are real at 60.

[Darkatar]

You will be abused for mobilizing people for raids and doing succors across Siren's Grotto, you will never get to raids on time bc people will beg you for ports. .

Yep, that got old fast. Thankfully some guilds make concessions for porters who are actively mobilizing a raid force. Some. Not all.

[Deliverator]

Raiding on a druid is really boring outside of Fear. You are basically a PoTG bot being passed around like a loose whore from caster group to caster group.

[mickmoranis]

Raiding on p99 is really boring

fify

[Pyrion]

Druids get groups just fine as healer up until level 40 or so. After that you will have a hard time. People usually want a cleric by then though shamans can get thru due to slow.

[Troxx]

Shamelessly quoting myself because I don't want to re-write what I posted in another thread

Druids contribute to groups just fine. They aren't and never will be a min/max class but can pull their weight just fine.

By level 50:

-group regen has a heal potential of 16.5hp per healed mana spent (1100 per person x6)

-24 or damage shield (5 mins 120 mana). Hit only 10x a minute that equates to 10 aggro free damage for each mana spent. 20x a minute = 20 damage per mana spent and so on. Damage shield on the tank has always been and will always be the best damage per mana ratio for any of the casting classes.

-skin like nature (frequently overlooked) gives hp/AC and 2hp/tick regen. Looking at the healing only that's 1440 potential healing for 300 mana (nearly 5hp healed per mana spent)

While these are not glamorous additions to a group - they are powerful additions to all groups in this level range. Those 3 things alone are trivial for a 49 Druid to maintain with plenty of mana left over for healing. Complete heal aside, single target Druid healing at is 2.3:1 compared to lower cleric blast heals 2.5:1 and 2.6:1 ratios. Excluding cheal, cleric still maintains advantage with a more efficient celestial heal.

Str buffs, snares, roots and DD are extras along with harmony pulling and group sow.

Druids are underrated. They are fine additions to groups but sadly do not fit into the min/max ideal groups that this server always favors. They synergize very well into awkward groups. Paired with a shaman and 4 melee (without sufficient hp to maximize cheals potential) willing to spread out damage, they can actually put out more healing over time with continuous 12hp/tick (nearly a fungi) to the whole group. As a leveling shaman, I always greatly appreciated not having to deal with the burden of maintaining 6 regens at 200-300 a pop. Having regens on everyone equates to less wasted mana from blast heals - always worth keeping up.

Higher 50 up to 60:
Regrowth of grove 16550+ potential healing 600 mana (27.6:1 heal ratio potential)
Natureskin: 3240hp regen for 400 mana (8:1 heal ratio potential)
DS: 32 per hit 150 mana (1.5 damage per mana spent for every hit per minute)
POTG: ridiculous stacking mana regen

Classic eq is slow paced and favors regen. Prior to 60 you're looking at 19/tick hp regen to the whole group. At 60 POTG is crazy good.

Druids are actually well balanced. The problem isn't with the Druid, it's the community's perspective of the Druid. I like having them in a group.

Basically - Druids as a class are fine. The perception of the class by the community is the problem. They aren't a min/max class and therein lies the problem finding groups.

[Nixtar]

Shamelessly quoting myself because I don't want to re-write what I posted in another thread

Basically - Druids as a class are fine. The perception of the class by the community is the problem. They aren't a min/max class and therein lies the problem finding groups.

Then there are the gloves of earthcrafting(if tunare) + any velious quest BP or Harmony BP from hate which makes both group regen and DS a free cast. Both are very attainable and vindi head often ends up rotting/given away to whoever wants it.