Druid Questions

[Sethius Marlowe]

Can someone explain to me the ring? Let's assume money is an issue, and you have to choose between 600 mana (100wis) and this ring, what makes the ring that much better? I'm not saying I disagree, I just want to understand

[williestargell]

The ring is a luxury, all it does is open up a spot on your spell bar and let you insta-cast animal invis to break charms rather than cast camoflage. When charm killing your spell bar can bear that used lot imo. IMO its not worth the money until high level. Even then, depending on the going price, owning one is a luxury and if you have other needs they should come first.

Also if you exp in lake of ill omen at the ruins along the lake you might get a chance to loot one. At high level if you don't have one it'd be worth the effort to learn that "cycle" and farm one for yourself. I farmed these when the price was higher and always felt I was better off selling it, but now the price is down so if you loot one you might as well keep and use it.

This isn't a charming thread but just a couple quick hints. Using hide to break charm sucks, it fails too often and you do want to control the "when" of the break so the pet is low health but it needs to happen when you want it or the pet will die and you get no exp for it. The ring is best for that, because u can wait til the mob is really low and click it, its instant and doesn't fizzle.

Gear wise, additions to Dald's list: Kunzar Cloak for back, Forest Loops instead of crafted earrings for the same low price, Gator scale legs worth buying even if they cost a bit more, they'll last you til you get legs in fear at 46+

[Zargalose]

Thanks for added tips and info!

[williestargell]

Apparently he's not aware you can snare or root the intended pet before you pet it and then pet it afterward. Snare is much more effective here because it lasts lots longer.

[williestargell]

btw, if you time the tick you lose zero med time casting invis. tick/stand and cast/sit/tick.

As someone who has both a druid and enchanter, and who has had periods of having and not having the rings while charm exp'ing, I really do classify that as a luxury - you need a little more timing to cast the invis rather than click it. That is all.

Not all druids are going to spend 100% of their time charm soloing, some will group and some will solo via other methods (root rot and quadding). Unless your charm soloing a very high percentage of the time mana > goblin gazughi ring.

+mana items also need to be considered at low level. Something like Hollow Bone Bracers for your arms with 15 mana > 3-4 wisdom at low-mid level.

[loramin]

The guide Beckoning mentioned is this one, and it's great! I can't wait to use it for my Druid, and to add all the spots in it to the Per-Level Hunting Guide.

As for the ring, I'm with Daldaen: it makes more of a difference than buying an equivalent amount of gear IF you are charming ... which you really should be if you are soloing.

My Druid is only 24, but so far I've gotten way faster XP with charming than with rotting. It's not completely downtime free, but because it uses about the same amount of mana to kill two mobs:

• charm: 120
• 2x snare: 30
• nuke: 70
• maybe a heal if first charm gets resisted: 60
• ----------------------
• 280

as it takes to kill one by root/rot:

• 2x root: 60
• 2x crud DoT: 200
• 2x flame lick: 20
• ----------------------
• 280

it certainly means less time spent meditating (not to mention less time actually spent killing the mobs).

[williestargell]

add one invis vs. animals in there at 30 mana and that's what you're gaining from the ring. virtually nothing, because if you're running out of mana more than once in a blue moon while charming you're doing something wrong.

Charm soloing is fastest if you are a min/maxer and sadly almost everyone is, but outside kedge (which most druids should avoid like the plague cause its too dangerous for the average player) and perma bear pits the exp differential between charming and other methods of killing is over stated.

If you never quad and never root rot you've missed out on a good chunk of the druid "experience". And if you want to group then that goblin gazughi ring is going to be found to be totally useless when you're OOM as the group healer.

I'm not saying you shouldn't buy one. I'm saying you should buy the other basic gear first. I'm saying if you're 5k short of buying a hiero cloak you should sell the ring and buy the cloak, and then buy another ring later when you get another 5k.

Druids arent just an exp solo class, they can be a class to solo for valuable loots and to do that, you mostly have to root rot. If you go for that ring at low level you slightly increase your ability to charm solo totally at the expense of having enough mana to do anything else. You could completely equip the toon for that 5k, enabling him to use all the tools in your arsenal, or you could buy one item and wear cloth armor for the same price. It's just not logical to blow your whole bank on the one item.

[nhdjoseywales]

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

add one invis vs. animals in there at 30 mana and that's what you're gaining from the ring. virtually nothing, because if you're running out of mana more than once in a blue moon while charming you're doing something wrong.

Charm soloing is fastest if you are a min/maxer and sadly almost everyone is, but outside kedge (which most druids should avoid like the plague cause its too dangerous for the average player) and perma bear pits the exp differential between charming and other methods of killing is over stated.

If you never quad and never root rot you've missed out on a good chunk of the druid "experience". And if you want to group then that goblin gazughi ring is going to be found to be totally useless when you're OOM as the group healer.

I'm not saying you shouldn't buy one. I'm saying you should buy the other basic gear first. I'm saying if you're 5k short of buying a hiero cloak you should sell the ring and buy the cloak, and then buy another ring later when you get another 5k.

Druids arent just an exp solo class, they can be a class to solo for valuable loots and to do that, you mostly have to root rot. If you go for that ring at low level you slightly increase your ability to charm solo totally at the expense of having enough mana to do anything else. You could completely equip the toon for that 5k, enabling him to use all the tools in your arsenal, or you could buy one item and wear cloth armor for the same price. It's just not logical to blow your whole bank on the one item.

its not about that 30 mana, its about being able to determine exactly when charm breaks as opposed to its gonna break in 5 sec, i hope the mob life is where i estimate it will be and not higher so it beats on me and i have to use mana to heal and not lower so it dies right before the invis goes off and i lose the xp and waste time.

[loramin]

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

add one invis vs. animals in there at 30 mana and that's what you're gaining from the ring. virtually nothing, because if you're running out of mana more than once in a blue moon while charming you're doing something wrong.

If you've never charm soloed with/without the ring then I could understand why you'd have such a hard time appreciating a stupid invis vs. animals ring ... but if you tried both ways then you'd know what a difference the ring makes.

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

Charm soloing is fastest if you are a min/maxer and sadly almost everyone is, but outside kedge (which most druids should avoid like the plague cause its too dangerous for the average player) and perma bear pits the exp differential between charming and other methods of killing is over stated.

Over stated how? When I charm, I get XP faster (a little less than double) than when I rot. That's a fact, based on my experience soloing places like East Karana from levels 14-24 (not soloing Kedge).

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

I'm not saying you shouldn't buy one. I'm saying you should buy the other basic gear first.

Can you really say that anything is better than something you've never tried? You should actually try soloing with/without the ring at low levels before claiming it's better/worse than anything else.

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

You could completely equip the toon for that 5k, enabling him to use all the tools in your arsenal, or you could buy one item and wear cloth armor for the same price. It's just not logical to blow your whole bank on the one item.

Daldaen's already explained this much better, but I'll try again. Adding gear just ups your max mana/HP. It doesn't increase how fast you recover HP or mana, and it doesn't make you do more damage: all it does is make you a bit safer.

But the ring actually speeds up the rate at which you kill things. Unlike a mountain of gear, it actually gets you more XP, faster (when soloing; when grouping gear doesn't really speed up XP gain).

So it's really very simple: a single item that gets you more XP is better than a pile of items that don't get you more XP.

[kremlar]

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

So it's really very simple: a single item that gets you more XP is better than a pile of items that don't get you more XP.

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

Having spent all your money on the ring and having minimal WIS gear is really a non issue. Plenty of Druids went 1-30 in leather armor and no WIS gear. Those Druids soloed and grouped just fine.

I was kind of skeptical about suggesting somebody twink with just a goblin ring over a set of gear, but these are both really good points that changed my mind.

The only problem is that they don't sell for 4k, so unless OP wants to farm up another couple thousand plat it's not relevant.