Complete Newb on P99. Help with Green class

[Hesufo]

Hello everyone, this is my first post here. I've played other MMOs but this is the first time I'm diving into EQ since I heard about Green launch some days ago. I've dabbled with the UI to get myself accustomed, read a couple of guides, tried out some of the classes, and I've narrowed my choices down to two: Druid and Shaman. My questions:


1. What are the more defining differences between the two classes, especially from a playstyle perspective?

2. With shaman, since I can only choose evil races or barb who starts at the end of the world, how much tougher or frustrating would normal play be, compared to Druid (or other good races in general)? I do have a background with tough MMOs, by the way (played a lot of Tibia back in the day).

Any other general tips for starting out would be extremely appreciated. I'm going in alone so I'd also like to join a guild soon or find a stable leveling group somehow. :) Thanks!

[skorge]

As a first timer I recommend the druid over the shaman. The druid has some really good spells, you can solo (kite), or group well (get heals, DS, etc) and you can port.

[Gustoo]

Both good classes. Druids are easier and generally more versatile, shamans more valuable in groups, generally. Druids can teleport and go into all good cities. Shamans need to be based near their shaman cities either evil or remote like halas.

Halas is close to qeynos though, just 3 zones way.

I agree with druid reccomendation, but any class that you think sounds cool will be a good choice here.

[Qaldar]

Shamans get health to mana conversion and the most power slow in the game which is needed for tough fights. Druids tend to have a harder time finding groups but can solo (so can shamans). Druids do get the ability to port all over Norrath which is very convenient and a source of income.

Playing an evil race isn't that big of a deal but being new, you might get whacked by some good-factioned NPCs while learning the game. Since you lose xp and ressers won't be around to restore your xp, you may have an easier time playing a druid.

Shamans get the best heal spell in the game later on at level 60.

[mgriff02]

Druid is definitely going to be the easier choice here for a noobie.

And welcome to Norrath! Hope you love the place as much as we do. Forgive the crowds.

[Tecmos Deception]

They really are quite similar in a lot of ways in a BROAD sense. They're both versatile support classes in groups and raids, in general. They're both pretty potent soloers. Druid is more versatile solo (has different solo options) than shaman while leveling, but shaman is more strictly powerful at max level, especially in the expansions. In the small group settings, so like duos or trios, shaman is head and shoulders above druid.

Shamans are defined by buffs and debuffs, overall. They have BY FAR the best stat buffs (melee love you) and the best slow (massively reduces melee damage NPCs deal, which is most damage NPCs deal). They are secondary healers and only damage dealers when they have nothing else to do or by necessity. This isn't ALL they can do, but it's probably their defining features.

Druids are not as specialized I guess? They're just generally a support healer role with some special tricks: charming animals can be a big deal in some areas, and "quadding" (pulling 4 enemies at once and using special AOE spells you get to kill all 4 at once) as a solo activity, and teleports, and damage shields. They have a variety of respectable-but-not-amazing damage spells.

There's probably more nuance to playing a shaman than a druid. And shamans are generally a "busier" character to play in terms of actions per minute. I can't think of anything else. Druid is a good choice for a new player, but they're both great classes.

[radbeard]

Both are great classes. Shamans tend to be more important in the 'end game' but also EQ is 99% about the journey and the 'end game' is kind of a mess so I wouldn't let that weight on me too heavily.

barb's are the best shaman fashion race so I think Everfrost is going to be teeming with them. You're also very close to the low level dungeon of Black Burrow there. By the time you want to go further into the world you'll have the speedbuff Spirit of Wolf.

Druids are extremely versatile. Their kind of middling-dps won't be considered so bad on a fresh server b/c you won't be competing with twinked warriors. Teleports (self ports starting at 19 I think) are a tremendous luxury. Thorns damage shield is great. you also get SoW. And its easier to solo or group. Probably a lot of groups will be happy to take you as a dps/buffer/backup-healer which is a nice amount of flexibility.

I would think at start that druid is the way to go. Unless half the server rolls druids anyway.

[bum3]

I recommend druid for starting. My reasons are simply because evil, always my go to, has to travel a lot to play with people since the majority will play good races. And being able to sell and bank takes longer to do in most places. Druids can bind at the group and port to druid ring vendors, sell, and gate back to the group. I do, however, like shaman more.

[Hesufo]

Thanks for all the responses! Damn, I was kinda getting behind the idea of a shaman but the conveniences of being a druid might just sway me in that direction.

I'll see you all in Green later today <3

[Tecmos Deception]

You'll be good either way. Shaman is probably a stronger and more "necessary" class overall due to their amazing stat buffs and slows, but druid (especially in the classic era) is a very good class too and definitely gets the nod in terms of convenience and versatility, while probably also being somewhat easier to learn and play.

Most people who talk about how powerful a shaman is are picturing a level 60 shaman in Kunark+ when they get their capstone heal spell that really puts them over the top. But even a hardcore player is a year or more away from that point, and druids never stop being a solid class or lose any of their convenience or versatility (it may even go up in later expansions as teleports are more valuable and there are more areas to quad kite and charm animals in).

[Jibartik]

The learning curve on a shaman is much steeper than the druid.

Both are super fun classes, druids excel at vanilla EQ while shamans shine in kunark, however there is a ton of great loot for shamans in vanilla that gets nerfed after 6 months (but as a new comer Id say dont worry about that stuff its all for sickos).

I think the druid would be the ideal choice of the two for a new player coming to vanilla.

[mgriff02]

Really just play what sounds best to you. When I first started playing the game back in '00 I rolled a warrior. That turned out to be a less than ideal choice for a first timer, but I had fantastic fun with him and am glad I picked a harder slog of a class. If a shaman is in your heart then let that shaman loose.

[Jibartik]

Well to a newbie, a druid and a shaman might sound the same haha. Maybe a description like this would be of some help:

A shaman is more like a witch doctor who delves into dark magic, powerful armor can be used, but it is rare and magical and difficult to obtain.

A druid is more like a outdoor world traveling friendly death machine capable of killing anything it wants, but wanting to kill as little of it as possible.

[Khorza]

1. What are the more defining differences between the two classes, especially from a playstyle perspective?

Things change a lot with Shamans in Kunark, so to keep this post relatively concise I'm only going to mostly discuss vanilla EQ. If you're planning on playing throughout the expansions just keep in mind that Shamans become very powerful and become a key class in solo, group, and raid play while Druids' contributions are a bit more niche. To put it a bit more bluntly, Shaman is a better class than Druid.

In vanilla EQ, Druids and Shamans are a lot more balanced against each other. But they're also a lot more similar to each other. They heal, although considerably worse than a Cleric, and they provide their own unique set of buffs. Shaman buffs are better, and they can debuff attack speed on any non-MR immune enemy, which is very powerful. Druid utility (snares, ports) tends to focus around solo play and personal convenience. You can also sell ports for a bit of coin.

I think Druid is a very chill class that's good for players who want to relax and have a lot of solo power and convenience, especially with travel. Shamans have a higher ceiling, and I consider it a class that an "expert" can get a lot more mileage out of than other classes, especially after Kunark when you gain access to Cannibalize 3 and Torpor. With those spells you lose efficiency any time you're not casting something, and the class becomes very active and almost plays like a Bard.

So the playstyle evolves post-vanilla quite a bit, where Shamans are a very powerful yet highly active "elite" class, and Druids just aren't quite as good but are still a nice relaxing slow-paced class with a lot of personal QOL abilities. It's nice to be the Druid, but the other people you're with might wish you played a different class instead. Until they need a port, and then they're your best friend.

Keep racial preferences in mind as well. Druids are generally good guys (humans and elves), while Shamans are only playable by the more primitive races (Ogres, Trolls, and Barbarians).

2. With shaman, since I can only choose evil races or barb who starts at the end of the world, how much tougher or frustrating would normal play be, compared to Druid (or other good races in general)? I do have a background with tough MMOs, by the way (played a lot of Tibia back in the day).

First of all, all 3 races are good for Shamans. The attribute distribution is great (you're primarily looking for Stamina and Wisdom), and you get Slam no matter which race you choose.

Barbarians are the worst choice since their starting attributes aren't quite as good as Ogre/Troll, and they also don't get frontal stun immunity or regeneration like those races do. But that's also reflected in the exp penalties, as Barbarians need 5% less experience than Ogres and 10% less than Trolls.

You seem negative on Halas but I think it's a great starting location. I like the atmosphere of the place, the newbie area is alright, and there's some decent quests. For example, you can give Cindl a polar bear skin for a random piece of patchwork armor, and you can kill the polar bear cubs as early as level 2. A lot of races don't have easy access to armor like that.

The best part though is that you're near Qeynos which is the best starting area in the game. Loot gnoll fangs, rabid pelts, and bandit sashes and have a super easy time leveling into your teens. The worst part is having to travel across the continent once the Qeynos area runs out of good leveling spots.

The Ogre and Troll starting experience probably isn't the worst in the game (because Toxxulia exists) but it's close. Innothule is frustrating with all of the water and aggressive mobs. The Feerrott has quite a bit of aggressive mobs too, but they're a good source of armor and weapons. Froglok mobs (including the tadpoles) can also drop netted armor, which is cloth armor except lighter and magical. The gloves, shoes, and shoulders are particularly special because they allow you to punch, kick, and slam magical creatures.

Oggok also has some decent quests such as turning in 4 lizard meats for a rusty two handed sword, or 4 lizard tails for a random piece of rawhide armor. That's a bigger ask than a single polar bear skin, but it's better than nothing.

As far as the faction issues, it's not the end of the world. It's a mild inconvenience at times but both classes have access to the invisibility spell (although Shamans get it very late, I think at 29). Keep in mind that the most popular dungeons at the higher levels is Nagafen's Lair, which is right outside Neriak, and Lower Guk, which is right outside Grobb. If you're friendly in these cities you actually have a bit of an advantage over good races who have to hoof it over to Freeport to bank and such after adventuring in these dungeons.

So, you may not have access to quite as much of the world as good races, but you'll have access to a bunch of stuff that they don't have access to. It balances out somewhat.

Any other general tips for starting out would be extremely appreciated. I'm going in alone so I'd also like to join a guild soon or find a stable leveling group somehow. :) Thanks!

Well there's two ways to go about playing here; you can either go in completely blind and try to discover everything yourself and make a big adventure out of it, or you can try to maximize your playtime and reference sites like Allakhazam and the wiki to look stuff up such as quests that are available near you. The majority of players will vendor or toss items like the stuff I mentioned above (polar bear skins, lizard meats) because they don't bother to research anything and potentially find out that some stuff can be turned in for much more valuable rewards.