Druid Gear - 250 pp What to Buy
 

Hey all, I have about 250 pp saved up. Besides 55/5 rings, what gear would you recommend? I'm particularly curious for a main weapon.

You won't be using your weapons much past mid teens at latest and your killing speed or healing rate will be limited by mana regen over time instead of mana pool.

My rec?

Save that money for spells - at least 2 spell sets above your current spells. If you're going to spend money on gear, I'd focus on things like those 5/55 rings for survivability. Unlike a lot of gear, they will hold their value over time as you get more druid oriented gear.

Get level 14 before you buy gear.

5/55 rings are useless with SoW + snare, if you're not getting hit then there is no reason to have higher HP's.

At lower end, I personally would say sub level 30, aim for + mana and not + wis as the gear is both cheaper and more effective. at level 15 one wisdom gives you 3 mana. at 30 that doubles to six mana for every wisdom. Even at level 30 a + mana ring like Moonstone Ring, which you can get for 50-75pp, is WAY more useful than a 5/55 ring. Because the HP ring means you can take a few more hits before dieing but the + mana ring means you can kill the mob more easily before it has a chance to hit you.

At level 24 mobs started hitting me for 40-50 damage, so two 5/55 rings mean two more hits before dieing. Or 1 moonstone ring is 1 root or 2 snares which can mean a world of difference.

Don't get me wrong, + hp is good, but don't sacrifice your ability to kill things for the ability to take a hit you still won't survive/gain xp from

Jasper Gold Earrings
Jaded Platinum Rings or Platinum jasper rings, whichever you can afford.
Split Paw hide gloves
Black Iron Medallion.
Just go through the wiki under equipment by class of Druid and sort picking up some things are affordable to your coin and look up the prices. If they are to your liking, start asking in Auction for those items.
I just got my Druid to 19 and those items above are what I am using so far along with a couple other items like a Foreman's Tunic etc.

Until a druid is old enough to quad kite mana pool takes a back seat to mana regen. The rate of healing and dpsing is limited not by the size of the pool, rather how quickly it fills. Mana pool is paramount with ventures like quadding where the pool needs to just be big enough to drop all targets before your tank runs empty - but quadding isn't something young Druids will be doing.

As for 5/55s bring useless ... Heh ... Not sure that even warrants a reply. Especially at low levels, a pair of those can mean the difference between life and death. They are always in demand and hold their value. When you outgrow them, they also make great handmedown gear for Alts if you don't need the money.

Having said all of that, Druids can function and level perfectly well naked.

go to Kith n have someone kill undead cleric for free +wis mace

First off, the flaws in what you stated


The only things you have that increase mana regen until high level as a druid are clarity and meditate. Meditate being higher increases mana regen per tick. So your argument right there is incredibly flawed.

A smaller mana pool vs. a larger mana pool does not interact with regen rate, just changes how much mana you have when at 50m.


Mana pool is also paramount for snare kiting which is what a lot of low level druids are stuck doing since dots are weak and root is short duration. 1 snare and 5-10 dd's are one mob down, having a larger mana pool means you can pull more on one bar of mana before going oom. Which suddenly means that if you have more mana and are keeping snare up for 15m you lose ALL functionality of the 5/55 rings

I don't know what druids you were playing but every time I died below lvl 10 it was because of adds or red con mobs and 110 HP's would've bought me all of 20 seconds of life(if that). Nice way to cherry pick my statement, I said they were useles when you have snare and sow. Could be useful low end but 60 mana is much more important because that has way more applications than 110 hp's

One thing you said I actually agree with

Save money for spells
Use wiki to target drops u can use
Use charm animal as much as you can to level (Lake III omen, Karana's are golden places for druids)
Use 5/55 hp rings below level 30

The Testament of Vanear is a good read until well higher levels, and it's practically free! I remember being able to take down Dyllin no problemo at L19 on my druid. Just make sure you keep him rooted to avoid him alerting his buddies.

http://wiki.project1999.com/Testament_of_Vanear_Quest

/facepalm

There's not really a flaw with what I'm saying man, I think you are misunderstanding me. The point is there is no way to increase mana regen other than level for more meditate and finding external buffs. The *point* is that the bottleneck is a factor largely beyond your control - it's not like you can meditate any faster. Having more mana means you can go a bit longer before meditating - but it also means it takes you longer to meditate back to full.

Unless you are routinely running yourself dry each single target kill (in which case I'd argue you're biting off more than you should chew), 100-200 extra mana just gives you a bit more of a mana buffer - nothing more or less. It's presence doesn't increase your xp rate.

Will 5/55s help you kill faster? Nope. Will it make you nuke harder, meditate quicker, run faster, or shoot laser beams from your eyes? Again - nope. Will it make you sturdier when shit hits the fan (either solo or grouped)? Yes. At low levels before you can afford good mana or wisdom (increased returns at higher levels) gear, it's really hard to find a better value ... I don't care what class you are.

I didn't die often, but especially when my druid has sow, yes ... 110hp makes the difference between life and death. It'll nearly buy you a full round from that wandering Hill Giant you didn't see (or hear? lol) stomping up behind you. In a group, it might just buy you the twenty seconds <your words, not mine> needed for the tank to taunt off you, the rogue to burn it down ... etc.


My point is simple. 60 mana for the sake of 60 mana isn't nearly as useful in the long efficient grind as some people make it out to be. It isn't your mana pool slowing you down ... it's the rate you fill that pool. For raiding, quadding, and high level high intensity grouping a mana pool will buy you added degrees of safety ... but once again these aren't things that a low level druid is going to be doing.

If you're snaring/nuking on a low level druid ... that's a pretty bad way of getting xp compared the the much more mana efficient root/rot or better yet charm methods of xping.