Druid ?

[Malianna]

As some of you know in the new player forums, alot of you suggested to try a druid and well, i kind of dumbfoundly refused constantly.

So, i tried making one and since lvl 5, I've liked it quite a bit. I'm curious if those who would seriously consider playing a druid would ever get into raiding or perhaps into groups (outside of quad kiting)?
Also, what gear should i look for starting out?

[Estu]

Druids can be useful in groups: they have heals (not as good as cleric heals, though), they have thorns, they have harmony which is extremely useful in outdoor zones, and they have root and snare. They are not generally at the top of people's lists when looking for more people for a group but they can definitely be useful for groups.

In raids they are not very useful, but that doesn't mean you won't be able to find a guild that will take you in and let you raid with them.

In terms of soloing, quad kiting is kind of overrated; animal charming is the real EXP godsend.

In terms of gear, don't worry about it. You need money for spells first and foremost. If you have that money, the only reason you'll really need gear is if you plan on quadding, in which case you should stock up on +mana and +wis gear. If you plan on grouping or charming, then you don't really need a big mana pool (I mean, it doesn't hurt, but you can level perfectly fine naked). Also, a good weapon can be useful for the early levels, i.e. before you hit 14 and start charming.

[Daldaen]

Druid's are good for doing random quests, farming mid-level twink gear, powerleveling, porting, and utility slots in groups.

On raids druids buff, spot heal, and charm. At every opportunity you can charm, it is likely in your best interest to do so:

PoFear - Shiverbacks
PoHate - Rats
PoSky - Pegasi
Chardok - Dogs

If your raid leader tells you that you cannot, there is a high probability your raid leader/raid is terrible. Cause even if you devote your attention 100% to the charmed pet, and don't even heal or buff anyone else... you are being more beneficial to the guild with that charmed pet DPS than doing anything else a druid can do given its a standard planar clear and not an AOE or some such.

Druids get in groups that they make is generally the case. You can get invited to random groups 1-50s, but in the high 50s people stop inviting druids. At that level they are still useful between regen (15/tick on entire group adds up over time), DS (32 DS on main tank is quite a bit of mana-free damage), root/AE Root (with non-summoning mobs being able to root CC is huge, with summoning mobs, being able to root 1-2 times before they start summoning again can save you breaking a room with bad/dead/non-existant mez CC/puller), and spot heals save the day quite often.

Gear... druid gear is pretty cheap. I suggest getting a Testament of Vanear for free (10 WIS/10 mana secondary).

Earring - Jasper Gold Earrings (3 WIS) - 25pp/each
Ring - Platinum Jasper Ring (6 WIS) - 150pp/each
Face - Platinum Ruby Veil (7 WIS/STR) - 300pp
Neck - Chrysolberyl Talisman (3 WIS/20 Mana) - 250pp
Shoulder - Braided Ivy Cords (5 WIS) - 250pp

Chest - Foreman's Tunic (3 WIS/STR) - 250pp
Arm - Platinum Armband (3 WIS/STR) - 250pp
Hands - Splitpaw Hide Gloves (2 WIS/ 3 DEX) - 25pp
Wrist - Runed Mithril Bracer (5 WIS / 3 STR) or Chipped Bone Bracer (5 WIS) - 250-500pp/ea
Head - Nightshade Wreath (5 WIS/INT) - 250pp

Primary - Tainted Battleworn Morning Star (6 WIS) - Free Hang out in Kithicor and loot)
Secondary - Testament of Vanear (10 WIS/10 Mana) - Free Quest
Range - Small Wisdom Diety (2 WIS) - 50pp


All of those items total up to like.. 75 WIS or so. All costs 250 plat or less. There are a few slots with no good options until you pay 1k~. For about 3-4k you can buy all of the above and your first several spell levels. Add another 5k and you can fill out the rest of your slots with the bellow.

Legs - Gatorscale Leggings (4 WIS / 15 HP) - 1k
Waist - Reed Belt (5 WIS / 10 HP) or Mucilaginous Girdle (6 WIS / 10 HP) - 1-1.5k
Back - Mammoth Hide Cloak (4 WIS) or Molten Cloak (4 WIS/INT) - 1k
Feet - Wolf Fur Slippers (20 Mana) or Golden Efreeti Boots (9 WIS/INT) - 500pp or 4-5k


All that being said, druid gear is sort of irrelevant.

[phacemeltar]

Originally Posted by Daldaen [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

You can get invited to random groups 1-50s, but in the high 50s people stop inviting druids.

alot of people who play project1999 operate under the theory that druids are useless, but i would disagree.

take into mind this scenario: you are in a group of mid 40s, camping a named camp down deep in some dungeon. every mob is a placeholder, and frequently are dropping items worth 50-100pp each to vendor.

if you are like me, then you are going to want to let none of those items rot. this is where a druid comes in handy. if the person starting the group had full availability of all classes, most likely the group would consist of cleric, tank, offtank/dps, bard/enc, dps. this may not be the ideal setup for everyone, but in my opinion it is best.

that leaves room for one more player, the most ideal option being either shaman or druid. both can cast STR, both can cast SOW/LEV, both can offheal in a bind.. but where the druid excels is in the ability to bind themselves at the camp and fly all the trash loot to a druid-ring vendor. of course, taking a druid over a shaman means the tank does not get extra dex buff or talisman.. but i think that the group comp i described should make that ok.

tl;dr - you are not useless

[Daywolf]

Hmm? Yeah kinda vague. Just depends what you want to do. And to do that you should play the class you want to play. High lvl druid isn't much like lvl5 drui, so you may not like it much later on since you didn't really feel drawn to it in the first place. But that can just be from an oversight.

Starting out, just grab leather armor and work in wis items mostly. If you are going to root-rot and heal-buff (mostly what I do)thats all you will ever need. An easy first char to roll since you don't really need a lot of shiny stuff to cap, and drop lots of giants along the way.

Or if you want to be more the solo charmer, we'll there's that path too.

[Auvdar]

Best part about druids is,.. well at least you're not a ranger [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

In all seriousness, Druids are fine. You get people places, you buff, you spot heal, you can do good burst spell damage (outside of bosses), and you can charm in certain raids.

Come SoV, you can heal even better. You can atk debuff. You get one of the best group HP buffs in game.

Druids are fine. They aren't a needed class, but they make a good addition.