Both are great group classes, its really just a matter of having competent players playing them, and that is the big caveat when people start these discussions. I'd rather have an excellent Druid than a nub Cleric any day of the week. I would rather have an excellent Necromancer than a monk that doesn't have good gear and can't pull well.
Many Clerics who you'll run into do absolutely nothing except for CH. Great clerics will do a lot for CC, pulling, lulling, and of course healing. Druids are great because they get HP/AC and resist buffs just like Cleric, but they also have an awesome high level group regen, DoTs and DS (which adds up to a lot of DPS over time), and a superior CC toolset. They can also charm in many tough zones, though fewer than Necro. Druid is great for pulling and if geared the right way they can get a great HP pool. Also little mentioned on these discussions is the ability to Evac, which in the hands of a skilled player ends up being lots of saved time, something that really can't be quantified/valued. Wildfire is an excellent nuke, and if your Druid is efficient he will have mana to toss in a good nuke once in a while. In Velious Druid gets a group buff that adds 6 to mana regen, with Mask of the Hunter they also get a self regen bonus.
Unfortunately, many people who play Cleric and Druid do absolutely nothing besides heal.
Necro has an excellent CC toolset and all of his skills are very useful for groups. HP and Mana feed are good but were never designed to replace a priests healing ability. Their pets are awesome (especially Emissary vs. caster mobs) and their charmed pets do excellent DPS. The Nec snare is a great spell but its not a true duration snare, which is vastly underrated in dungeons (damage free DPS on running mobs, no runners to cause trains)
Most players on p99 wouldn't even attempt a group without a priest. I think the real question here is "What's better in a group THAT ALREADY HAS A PRIEST IN IT, Necro or Druid."
Last night I was on my 51 Paladin alt in a group with a 51 epic rogue, 52 Druid (no Superior Healing yet) and a 54 enc. The enc had an elemental rogue pet and I was pulling a bunch of the castle after the dropoff. I was tanking 54 Rock Golems and even tanked Stonesoul the Unmoving successfully between my heals, druid heals, and dps. Not to say it wasn't tough, but we did very well. The rest of the mobs weren't really a challenge. We stayed alive, got loot, moved the XP bar, and most of all had fun. Yes, a 51 Paladin tanking 54 rock golems without even Superior Healing.
If you ask me, I like Druid AND Necromancer in group. An awesome crew I had going for a while was Monk, Nec, Dru, Wiz, with the occasional 5th person if they were a friend that wanted to come along. I would pull, CC, and nullify the casters with Wiz while the Dru and Nec were busy being efficient and keeping the wheels greased.
Nec or Dru (sometimes both) with charmed pets and Wiz stunning and getting agro on charm breaks so they can remez. Druid would keep up regen and the only person he had to actively heal is the Monk. DS from the Druid and DoTs from both Dru and Nec for tough warrior mobs. Also, if we really have to lay on the heat for whatever reason Wiz and Dru both nuke.
With the Wizard pulling and nullifying caster threat, there is rarely a big nuke that lands and rarely does the monk get hit with slow or a DoT. Also, the Monk is not taking damage from spells or mobs by not pulling. Caster mobs have such low HP they are complete weaklings when they are on stunlock and have someone with the wherewithal to voluntarily agro them and stare their spells in the face. This saves the Druid tons of mana and removes the need for a CH when the tank gets plowed with an Ice Comet.
These two groups and class combinations are not possible without good players. When you really play with good players on odd classes you really find out what they are capable of. A lot of fun of EQ is not easily plowing through mobs with a min/max group but playing with odd class combinations in challenging dungeons and kicking ass.
So the real question is Druid vs Nec with another non-Druid priest present. You can't really pose this question without this caveat.
Bad Necs and bad Druids give the classes a bad rap, but both are great for groups when played well.
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