What makes a druid good in a group as opposed to just average.

[shams]

Just wanted to get the community's opinion on what makes a druid a good and worthwhile addition to a group. I play a lvl 28 druid and have never had a problem finding a group, though I find that when I'm not the main healer, I dont really have much of an influence in the group. My DPS is mediocre-average I would say when I'm not in a healing role. I normally try to keep the MT damage shielded as much as possible as well as keeping everybody else buffed with whatever is needed.

Other than the stuff I listed, is there anything you guys find exceptional when you're grouped with a good druid? I'd like to take whatever info I can from you guys and apply it in game. My toon's name is Sooby in-game, so please feel free to let me know if you need something extra from em if we're ever grouped together in-game.

Thanks!

[Slave]

A good druid is a druid that is in an exp group under level 40.

[legider]

1. Damage Shields are extremely undervalued in groups. It puts out a great deal of damage.
2. Roots are a great form of CC when you work together with your puller. Use the lower costing roots to manage your mana better.
3. Snares of course are great for dealing with runners in dungeons.
4. Healing. It is quite easy to function as the main healer at the sub-50 game. But, after that it becomes quite difficult to keep up unless you are paired with another priest. Still, your heals can be a lifesaver.
5. Damage can be a tricky area. You will never do enough to fill a DPS role, but you could fire off the nuke that will save the party since you can still hit fairly hard.
6. Regen/Chloro/etc. are great for keeping the group members topped off. Becomes much nicer when you get the pack versions.

[Grozmok]

Druids are awesome utility.

[SCB]

Dot mobs, keep regen/chloro ticking, and keep buffs up. Nuke when you can. Druid nukes are roughly comparable to Mage nukes, so your damage output shouldn't be horrible (it won't match a Mage, as they have pets and you have dots, but dots rarely tick full-duration in groups).

If there is not a cleric, you can honestly keep a group going just fine, but you're vastly helped out if a shaman comes along, too.

The best parts of being a druid are the intangibles. You can bring so much to a group that there really is no reason to every turn a druid down.

[webrunner5]

I don't see how you can do much more but heal. No way you are going to keep up with mana without C2 in a group with a Large race Tank, and cast other stuff. I know the puller needs SoW, but if you are the healer you will need to be on your butt medding. Thornes is nice but it takes mana to cast and you lose med time.

A Cleric is always ahead of a Druid heals wise, and a Shaman has Canni to help. I hate being in a group as a puller having to wait for the healer to med up. It screws up the effort you make to split mobs. More re-pops you don't need.

If you are the backup healer well Strength, DEX, AGI buffs help a lot at times. I never wanted to be the main healer in a group as a Druid. No fun.

[Ephirith]

1. A druid facilitates groups in far flung places. Who the hell plays a wizard.

2. Spot heals when needed, emergencies.

3. Evacs in bad situations

4. Stuns casters with that wind spell?

[Swish]

Some good posts above, if you're backup healing and there's no clarity to be had - just play the role of the 6th member... if the cleric is struggling to keep up, help with heals. If there's a lack of dps, throw some dots and nukes.

Keep a DS on the main tank either way, throw the puller a sow. Just be adaptable enough to suit the group's needs. I think druids should be more welcomed in groups in the later game, they're still useful :)

[fischsemmel]

The issue with druids isn't that they can't be effective in groups, imo. The issue is that the majority of groups strive to have 1) a cleric and 2) a shaman and/or an enchanter. And when that happens, the stuff that a druid does best for a group is already being done by someone else.

DPS? The real DPS cover it better than a druid does.
Healing? Cle+sham.
Buffs? Cle+sham, except for DS.
CC? Enchanter or a good puller covers it.


A druid can be a great asset to some groups. Charming animals can be great DPS in some situations while leveling. Druid can also fill in spots in less-than-ideal group compositions. But when people are getting their ideal cleric + tank + shaman/enchanter + DPS groups, there is really very little room for a druid there.


Like the others said, though, when you are a druid in a group, you just need to fill the gaps that aren't covered by your group already. Help heal when the cleric can't keep up, keep up hp/ac and regen and thorns in groups that don't have better already, handle the CC or help with the CC, deal some damage while also maintaining a high but less-than-full mana bar, etc.

[MelxDruid]

Ninja cc rooting and snaring. It can go a hell of a long way.

[Auvdar]

In outdoor groups you make one hell of a puller. Remember leveling up back when the server opened and what I would do is harmony a camp, snare, then really just kite them around (you can keep this up for a long time, snare is very inexpensive), adding more as you kite around. Then your tank/tagger just snags one off your kite, group kills. Repeat. Of course this depends on group make up, you won't be doing that kind of pulling if your the main healer. People wont believe you should be the puller in a outdoor group, but trust me if you can snare kite a ton of mobs around and let your group pick them off one by one while you grab more, (thus non-stop exp), you will be loved.

Indoors you are much more limited. However evacs, ports, back up healing, don't bother with DoTs (waste of mana that could be used elsewhere IMO, mobs die way to fast), nukes, snares. If you are in a more open area in a dungeon, always try to ensnare anything a enchanter mezzes to help them out. Back up heals on non-tank classes is your biggest role, to keep the cleric free to heal the tank. And always, and I mean always, keep enough mana for a evac. As a druid, you are OOM when you hit that point. (Unless of course that mana is a life saving heal that makes the group not wipe.)

[Vladigan]

Its the player that makes the class not the other way around.. Play what you enjoy and learn to play it well.... We have all group with a terrible (insert class here).

Bottom line, if you are not feeling useful in your group, find something you can do to make things more efficient.....

[Skekekke]

Knowing your role and adapting to the role needed without being told.

[timoris]

Druids are never the ideal group mate but I'll take a well-played druid over a shitty chanter. I've grouped with enchanters who were the worst at mezzing (often single-target mezzed assist target) and druids who always kept DS up, regen up, buffs up, patched heal when needed, DPS when needed, and even root parked mobs for CC. Only the hardcores care significantly about the extra efficiency from a perfect group setup.

To play a good druid:
1) Keep buffs up (yes, those short duration buffs).
2) Know when to patch heal when secondary healer
3) Know when to go into DPS mode
4) If no other CC is available, offer to root park mobs (and do it well by getting aggro quick, moving mob away from group, rooting, rinse, repeat). Knowing at first glance what mobs are casters and which are non-casters is an example of skill in this department.
5) Offering to port groupmates out of dungeon when they need to go and you are deep in nasty territory - people remember this.

[Kevlar]

Get a couple daggers and a charmed pet, give it your haste spell, you are about 4x the dps of the best geared rogue. Just keep it snared and you are gtg. But really, why group? They just slow your xp down for the most part.

[Deadmantis]

My druid used to duo alot with my best friend's cleric, I know that's an odd combo, but he would get invited to lots of dungeon groups. Guk mostly. If they had room for 2 he would insist they bring me along. Some groups were not so excited about having a utility class when they could have a dps caster or melee instead.

Needless to say I proved my value in many groups. Like so many other posters have noted, we can do quite a bit. Damage shield, buffs, snares, roots, dots, even evac when things get hairy. We won't be best for healing or dps, but we can do a little of that and everything else.

Played druid as my main since 99. Enjoyed every last minute, would not change a thing.

[shams]

Thanks for all the input guys, tons of excellent information in there!

[Plyssken]

Just communicate with your group & don't get stuck in one role. You can adjust a group to make the most out of each class with the right spells. Like if your working with a cleric and want to back up heal let him/her know. If your a group with a necro & are going to snare, let them know so they can hold off dropping theirs. What's been said here is so true. Grouping is the gateway to guild raids later.

[Slave]

Thanks for all the input guys, tons of excellent information in there!

Don't be fooled by all this lovey-dovey talk. Druids are easily the least wanted group member by any group of 50+. You will simply not get exp groups anymore by that level. All the sugarcoating in the world is not going to help you then.

Druids are such awful group members in the dungeons that matter, compared to every other class, even Ranger. There is practically zero reason you'd want one over anything else in a high level exp group.

Remember that it takes more experience to get from 54-60 than it does from 1-54 (and on higher level mobs). A druid is a solitary being by nature.

[Kingofqueens123]

Druids are a independent class, fuck your groups.

[SavageHenry]

The answer is basically C2 and/or a manastone/fungi tunic/fungi staff and a cleric to CH you when get low on mana. This way you can keep regen/DS up and still be able to do some decent dps and off-heal or root when needed. It's actually a lot of work playing a druid in a fast-paced group with that kind of mana regen, but if you do it well it really does add a lot more to the group than I realized before leveling a druid.

[azeth]

1. Damage Shields are extremely undervalued in groups. It puts out a great deal of damage.
6. Regen/Chloro/etc. are great for keeping the group members topped off. Becomes much nicer when you get the pack versions.

/thread

damage shields will out DPS most everyone but rogues/monks/warriors

[Kevlar]

Remember that it takes more experience to get from 54-60 than it does from 1-54 (and on higher level mobs). A druid is a solitary being by nature.

Its like that over all level ranges. But the monsters you fight give out exponentially more exp, so you never even notice...

[Plyssken]

Don't be fooled by all this lovey-dovey talk. Druids are easily the least wanted group member by any group of 50+. You will simply not get exp groups anymore by that level. All the sugarcoating in the world is not going to help you then.

Druids are such awful group members in the dungeons that matter, compared to every other class, even Ranger. There is practically zero reason you'd want one over anything else in a high level exp group.

Remember that it takes more experience to get from 54-60 than it does from 1-54 (and on higher level mobs). A druid is a solitary being by nature.

re-roll ranger....;)

[Ephirith]

Don't be fooled by all this lovey-dovey talk. Druids are easily the least wanted group member by any group of 50+. You will simply not get exp groups anymore by that level. All the sugarcoating in the world is not going to help you then.

Druids are such awful group members in the dungeons that matter, compared to every other class, even Ranger. There is practically zero reason you'd want one over anything else in a high level exp group.

Remember that it takes more experience to get from 54-60 than it does from 1-54 (and on higher level mobs). A druid is a solitary being by nature.

Also don't be fooled by this perspective, right here. Yes, we've established druids aren't desirable for groups, and that they find parties harder to come by. But you're ignoring a segment of the population that doesn't min-max so strictly, that groups with people they like.

I'm not debating the fact that druids are horrible group members, but it is going way too far to say you will not get exp groups. This isn't sugarcoating, it's reality. The ideal classes aren't always going to be around. A druid is far more inefficient, but it doesn't ruin the group, it doesn't even necessarily preclude having an exceptional group.

If you don't have any/many friends and you sit on your ass lfg, yep, you're going to find that nobody will invite you. You can port, use it to your advantage. Find a cleric, a tank, dps, etc and build a group. Go wherever they are and pick them up.

You'll find there are a lot of people who don't like to play EQ like a spreadsheet. The game is trivially easy anyway.

[Kevlar]

The game is trivially easy anyway.

Ever lose your corpse in the PoF? If EQ is easy exactly which MMO is hard, because everyone I have ever played has been a breeze in comparison.

[Ephirith]

Ever lose your corpse in the PoF? If EQ is easy exactly which MMO is hard, because everyone I have ever played has been a breeze in comparison.

You're right I probably should have been more specific. The game can be unforgiving and tedious, but the level of complexity and capacity for skill is relatively low for most classes in my opinion.

Then again it's easy to say that after 10 years of MMO's.

[Splorf22]

+1 ephirith.

Here is the thing about playing a Druid: even if you can find groups, it's got to suck knowing that just about every group you joined would be better if you were replaced with another class.

[Happyfeet]

I played a druid and monk as my two mains on live since day 1, and here.
May not be the "best" choice for a normal everyday XP group, but a good druid can definitely hold their own if played correctly. I won't go into details, or give you examples of a druid with a VP robe and their healing efficacy as it doesn't apply to your every day druid you will run across looking for XP.

Semi off-topic, being these are raid and not group oriented but someone's gotta stick up for the druids and their usefulness.


Druids in the raid scene are irreplaceable, so don't give up if you have plans on raiding:

NS is better than Hero (everyone loves the regen, but sham/necs need to have it).
Group resists save tons of time/mana.
Patch healing MT and keeping your group alive.
Against a weak to fire mob (Hosh, gore, etc) druids can do some mean DPS AND heal themselves if they need to. Chain nukes for 1150 add up very quickly when a mob has 32k hp. Also, Breath of Ro debuffs their AC/FR even more while doing 103 a tick, stacks with all debuffs.
Porting for quick mobilization.
Kiting adds in places like Sky, VP and juggs in trak engages.

[usedtobejubaloftorv]

Ever lose your corpse in the PoF? If EQ is easy exactly which MMO is hard, because everyone I have ever played has been a breeze in comparison.

if you want a hard MMO, go find some of those MUDs I programmed back in the early '90s - you lose a level plus any surplus XP every time you die.

[Messianic]

if you want a hard MMO, go find some of those MUDs I programmed back in the early '90s - you lose a level plus any surplus XP every time you die.

If you want a hard MMO, you should also cut yourself whenever you get hit by an enemy. Then you should play while drinking bleach and snorting cyanide, and you should randomly lose everything you've worked for at any point in the game and call it the wrath of God.

Only then can an MMO truly be hard.

[fischsemmel]

Its like that over all level ranges. But the monsters you fight give out exponentially more exp, so you never even notice...

You'd be right except for two things:

1. The level mod in the exp-to-level formula increases as you level up, although the exp-from-a-kill formula does not increase in a similar fashion.

2. It takes longer to kill stuff (and recover from killing stuff) at higher levels, so even if it took X kills of level 10 mobs to get through level 10 and X kills of level 59 mobs to get through level 59... level 59 would still take longer.

[Scavrefamn]

You're right I probably should have been more specific. The game can be unforgiving and tedious, but the level of complexity and capacity for skill is relatively low for most classes in my opinion.

Then again it's easy to say that after 10 years of MMO's.

The other guy has a point, compared to what MMO?

I played WoW and it was total faceroll.
Most every other MMO started to copy WoW and became even facerollier.

If WoWs level of complexity and capacity for skill is low, it isn't low relative to the alternatives because the popular garbage MMOs like WoW are way easier.
While easy and good are not mutually exclusive, the contrast between what made EQ synergize with it's difficulty and the spite with which WoW treats those factors makes it clear that WoW and WoW clones are the opposite of what we are looking for.