New Druid Advice from the experts

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

Respectfully, don’t know if I’d make this your hill to die on. Circlet of Shadows make necro charming a joy. If they didn’t, people would just buy the 9k 2-second ring instead of the 130-150k circlet (blue prices).

I have a 56 necro with a CoS and a 46 ench (used to be 54) without anything. I wouldn’t enjoy charming with self cast invis. I tried going back to the ench and quit after a long afternoon, lol.

You “can” do a lot of things in EQ. There is always a better way though and unlike arguing over a few stats, instant click is instant click.

Agreed. Invis clickies are superior for charm break. I don't think anyone is arguing otherwise. I am not. The debate is about instant cast invis vs. Invis with a casting time when it comes to breaking charm specifically.

The reason why Necros and Shadowknights like pre-nerf CoS isn't mainly for charming. Remember that SK's can't even charm. Instant invis on Necros and SK's is nice because it enables you to do things like get up from FD and instantly cast invis.

If Necros want cheaper instant cast invis for charming, they can buy a Goblin Ring.

My SK has a pre-nerf CoS, and he can't charm.

[bcbrown]

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

I did reference my personal experience, you simply didn't read it[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] You can certainly choose to believe I haven't charmed a lot. I didn't record my entire charming experience. Nor has anyone else, so we can be equally skeptical of everyone else's experience if you want to go down that road.

On my first druid (on blue) the only charming I did was alligator alley for levels 32-40 plus a little Kedge entrance after that. I got a lumi staff at 46, quadded to 52, then moved to green. My second druid charmed EK 20-26ish, gator pits and alley 28-38ish, and then Chardok 54-60. Plus a little charming while XPing in Kedge and a bunch of charming in Kedge at 60 when I decided to solo all the soloable nameds in Kedge. My third druid charmed EK 18-28, CT gator pit 28-31, and is now 32 in gator alley.

There, that wasn't so hard. Why won't you give any details on where and when you've charmed with or without the goblin ring?

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

On my first druid (on blue) the only charming I did was alligator alley for levels 32-40 plus a little Kedge entrance after that. I got a lumi staff at 46, quadded to 52, then moved to green. My second druid charmed EK 20-26ish, gator pits and alley 28-38ish, and then Chardok 54-60. Plus a little charming while XPing in Kedge and a bunch of charming in Kedge at 60 when I decided to solo all the soloable nameds in Kedge. My third druid charmed EK 18-28, CT gator pit 28-31, and is now 32 in gator alley.

There, that wasn't so hard. Why won't you give any details on where and when you've charmed with or without the goblin ring?

According to you, we should be skeptical of personal experience. You believe I haven't charmed a lot, and I don't feel the need to spend the time writing it out when you obviously wouldn't believe me anyway.

You don't read my posts either, as I've shared my personal experience in this thread. I am sorry you don't like the way I explained it.

You keep dodging the salient points, like the side for Goblin Ring admitting you can save the same nuke mana via Lumi Staff and ES arms at 49+ when you can click Ring of Stealthy Travel.

If you want to continue to ignore my previous posts and dodge all of the relevant points, you can choose to do so. The reader can decide who is more creidble.

[Snaggles]

The OP literally wants “New Druid Advice from the experts”. As of a few pages ago they were level 15. They don’t need extensive EQ knowledge to know they shouldnt buy a Lumi Staff or an invis ring that wont work until their 40’s. I expect if they had 9,000+ plat they wouldn’t be genuinely asking for advice.

It’s not kind thing to ruin a new player’s thread. If you want to joust windmills and go off-topic, go start a new thread elsewhere.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

The OP literally wants “New Druid Advice from the experts”. As of a few pages ago they were level 15. They don’t need extensive EQ knowledge to know they shouldnt buy a Lumi Staff or an invis ring that wont work until their 40’s. I expect if they had 9,000+ plat they wouldn’t be genuinely asking for advice.

It’s not kind thing to ruin a new player’s thread. If you want to joust windmills and go off-topic, go start a new thread elsewhere.

You could have 1 million plat and ask for advise if you don't know what the best options are.

Not sure why you think gearing discussions are runing the thread. OP wants gearing advise. Knowing why people suggest an item gives OP more information on why the item is useful.

Given OP's parameters of starting a new solo character with 5k, I agree with you that priority lists designed for rich players or players in active raiding guilds is not particularly helpful (Bcbrown and kjs86z2's suggestion). OP doesn't have 30k to drop on a Velious BP + Bracer for level 5 clicky use (assuming those items are still clickable at level 5).

Goblin Ring, Lumi Staff, Stealthy Ring, Spells, and Basic HP/MP gear are all within affordability for a new character like a Druid leveling from 1-50. You can make thousands of plat on your leveling journey from 1-50, depending on what mobs you end up fighting and if you do any porting. I made tens of thousands of plat while leveling my Shaman and SK.

[loramin]

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

The OP literally wants “New Druid Advice from the experts”. As of a few pages ago they were level 15. They don’t need extensive EQ knowledge to know they shouldnt buy a Lumi Staff or an invis ring that wont work until their 40’s. I expect if they had 9,000+ plat they wouldn’t be genuinely asking for advice.

It’s not kind thing to ruin a new player’s thread. If you want to joust windmills and go off-topic, go start a new thread elsewhere.

I completely agree, except for the part about "an invis ring that wont work until their 40’s". The ring works (and is amazing) as soon as you can viably charm fight ... which happens to be almost the same exact level that you can start farming it: the Sarnak Courier is level 14, and Druids get their first charm at ... level 14.

Of course, you won't want to start right at 14 (unless you can find a group in LOIO), and farming it will take a long time (likely many levels). But it seems perfectly fair to suggest that a low-level Druid go get some XP in LOIO ... and possibly pick up one of the only items that will meaningfully increase their leveling speed, in the process.

[bcbrown]

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

You keep dodging the salient points, like the side for Goblin Ring admitting you can save the same nuke mana via Lumi Staff and ES arms at 49+ when you can click Ring of Stealthy Travel.

If you want to continue to ignore my previous posts and dodge all of the relevant points, you can choose to do so. The reader can decide who is more creidble.

You talk about using Lumi Staff for finishing off charm fights and then you talk about credibility. I will stake my credibility as a charming druid that the lumi staff is almost entirely irrelevant for finishing off charm fights. If you have one you're gonna be quadding bloodgills 46-51. After that if you want to charm you're probably going for bats'n'bugs in SolB, Chardok entrance, Perma bear caves, or Kedge for the degenerate masochists. I can guarantee no one is using lumi staff on charm breaks in any of those zones. Maybe EJ or GD isn't completely greened out for a level or two. Maybe if you're charming griffons into hill giants in the karanas? You could possibly use it in EW or WW, but I definitely wouldn't want to be waiting on a 10 second click for 180 damage while xping in WW.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

I completely agree, except for the part about "an invis ring that wont work until their 40’s". The ring works (and is amazing) as soon as you can viably charm fight ... which happens to be almost the same exact level that you can start farming it: the Sarnak Courier is level 14, and Druids get their first charm at ... level 14.

Of course, you won't want to start right at 14 (unless you can find a group in LOIO), and farming it will take a long time (likely many levels). But it seems perfectly fair to suggest that a low-level Druid go get some XP in LOIO ... and possibly pick up one of the only items that will meaningfully increase their leveling speed, in the process.

Courier camp is rare enough to where it's probably better to just farm the plat. I wouldn't advise someone to farm Goblin R8nf unless they prefer farming their own items over efficiency.

Goblin Ring is good. Nobody said otherwise. Ring of Stealthy Travel is better when you can use it. It is an upgrade when you can afford it, and you can sell Golbin Ring for at least half the cost of Ring of Stealthy Travel.

Yourself and the other posters have still provided no evidence for your claims instant cast invis provides a significant edge for charm breaks. You can keep reposting your opinion, but a better use of your time would be posting evidence.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

You talk about using Lumi Staff for finishing off charm fights and then you talk about credibility. I will stake my credibility as a charming druid that the lumi staff is almost entirely irrelevant for finishing off charm fights. If you have one you're gonna be quadding bloodgills 46-51. After that if you want to charm you're probably going for bats'n'bugs in SolB, Chardok entrance, Perma bear caves, or Kedge for the degenerate masochists. I can guarantee no one is using lumi staff on charm breaks in any of those zones. Maybe EJ or GD isn't completely greened out for a level or two. Maybe if you're charming griffons into hill giants in the karanas? You could possibly use it in EW or WW, but I definitely wouldn't want to be waiting on a 10 second click for 180 damage while xping in WW.

You lost your credibility then. Your ad populum fallacy is irrelevant too.

The entire argument for instant click invis on Goblin Ring is you can get the mob below a certain amount of HP so you can use a lower cost nuke, thus saving mana. In the case of a Druid, you would probably use a spell like Firestrike (300 damage for 155 mana), so you can save 95 mana by not casting one of your 250 mana nukes.

There is a reason why Shamans buy JBB, Druids buy Lumi Staff, Mages buy Burnt Wood Staff, etc. There is a reason why these items are still thousands of plat in 2025.

I use my 9 second Epic Click in WW all the time. See my youtube channel. Free damage clickies save mana, because a 10 second manaless cast is cheaper than spending the mana and meditating. 95 mana is 5 ticks of meditate, which is 30 seconds. Using a 10 second clickie in this scenario saves 20 seconds of med time. In the case of being indoors, you can use ES Arms instead. Remember you are getting the mob down to a few hundred HP before breaking charm. Even Drones of Doom will finish off a mob that low in a few ticks after a 300 damage nuke while you med up or prep the next kill.

Now, you can claim that Goblin Ring has no risk involved when you get a mob down to sub 300 HP before breaking at the level range where mobs can double attack for 250+ damage. I disagree with that kind of claim. You'd need to provide evidence that the increased risk of losing the mob is worth the mana saving reward, a reward that you could also get via damage clickies at less risk. You'd also need to provide evidence that Ring of Stealthy Travel is less mana efficient than Goblin Ring. I haven't seen any evidence so far, and I've used both Goblin Ring and cast Invis for charm breaks.

[bcbrown]

Anyone else wanna tell DSM why no one's gonna be using Lumi Staff in SolB, Chardok, Perma bears, or Kedge?