a druids roll in a group

[shooteneq1]

I havnt played since omens of war and by then druids are completly diffrent than how they were in classic. Ive been soloing since i started p99 and thats easy enough but im looking at starting to group up now for dungeons and the like. My main question is what roll does a druid essentially do in a group. Our healing spells are horribly lacking untill at least velious so i cant imagine us doing much healing. Are we essentially just buff/utility/weak dps?

[SamwiseBanned]

*role not roll

um obv healer if noone else can sustain heals, other than that dps, ghetto cc, and pulling. ofc buff your tanks and dps. dmg shield is the best way to add dps to a group for little mana. always have your tank dsed as well as regen. ina dungeon you should be prepared to root/snare runners or any place a running mob can train adds on you. outdoor zones you can act as puller with harmony. keep evac up if possible, but only use it if you know you guys are gonna wipe or MA calls for it. if CC, pulling, healing, and all that is covered then you are pretty much a wizzie. Keep ds/regen up and save mana for evac/spot heals but use nukes instead of dots to add to dps. unless your group is all sorts of jacked up, your dots will never last full duration so nuking is better. learn to nuke without pulling agro. sorry this is a wall of text but im so damn lazy. anyways there are other things but these are the basic.

Healer - keep regen up on tank and heals for group
Puller - mainly outdoors, use harmony to lull then pull.
CC - snare/root mobs so they dont run, root adds
dps - DS main tank, nuke
utility - buff/evac/food/water/track

tldr druid can fill most roles outside of tanking. one thing i didnt even touch on is charming which can add SIGNIFICANT DPS to group. sonic bat lol gl gl

[Kevlar]

Druids are mainly an extra albeit weak dps. Unless you can charm, then you can be real dps. They were terrible healers until pop but do get some nice debuffs for casters and decent DPS. Maybe 75% of a wizard, but with buffs, regen, damage shields and top off heals they aren't terrible. Most raids needed all the clerics in the CH chains so the druids and shaman get the job of group healers in the dps groups.

[Daldaen]

Druid healing sucked til Luclin with Tunare's Renewal (3k base heal for 400 mana)

Druid DPS is pretty bad unless you can charm as previously stated. If you want to go from 100-0mana all straight nuking you can blow stuff up pretty hard, but you're like a wizard in that regard. Great burst DPS but useless in 99% of group situations since they are generally in for the long haul. Also that will often get you aggro depending on when you start nuking.

Harmony is boss as most people mentioned, allows for easy splitting of rooms if outdoors.

This server's root code is broken so at level 49/56 roots, you can easily act as a CC for a group so long as there aren't too many window-lickers in your group standing next to said rooted mobs. With the 56 version you can easily CC 5-6 mobs at a time so long as you have the room to kite / spread them out.


So... basically you can heal content, just need a Chanter/Bard for mana regen to keep up. Hard/High End content like the depths of Sebilis / Charasis in some parts / Chardok in deep you will have a tough time keeping up mana/heals in a high DPS group that is constantly pulling. Its doable, but being a cleric with CHeal is 100x easier/more doable.

[Splorf22]

I think Druids (like Wizards) get screwed by the EQ power curve. At 40 Druids are really quite strong, at 50 they are still not bad, and at 60 they are very weak. The problem is the insane increase in mob HP which drags all the fights out and leads to huge downtime. Shamans get stronger at 50+ for the same reason; slow makes much more sense when the fight lasts 100 seconds than when it lasts 30.

Really what Druids need is a pseudo complete heal, something with a long casting time, decent amount of hp, and reasonable ratio, say 2000 hp / 550 mana / 12 seconds @ L56 would go a long long way in the Kunark era.

[Arillious]

What samewise said basically. Druids do not fit in any of the "perfect" group scenarios unless charm can be used.

Druids do well in duo and trio situations where they can take over the role of many other classes.(IE pullers, healer, cc, etc)

[Handull]

"the perfect group" will never contain a druid, but arguably "the perfect duo" is an enchanter and a druid. while an enc+shaman is better for any single zone/camp, the druid/enc combo allows you to quickly port around and check all the high end zones for mobs, while also providing heals and valuable nuke/dot dps and damage shield.

however druids are also a great solo class, probably #3 behind encs and shaman. you can get pretty creative and solo some nasty stuff, like Drusella Sathir, who I finally bagged the other day (though its not trivial or for the weak of heart). fun class, and i'm glad its my main

[Grundoon]

I played EQ for about 4 years, starting just after POP was released. I always played druids in the MUDs before, so i tried that first and it became my main. First, I have a question. When did the SUCCOR spell get introduced into the game. I know by the mid 20s druids had a succor spell, giving them primary responsibility for evac duties to avoid a wipe. Does Project 1999 give low or mid level druids that nice, fast casting succor spell?

I found that druids' role in a group is as a utility player. Need DPS? Druids have an assortment of dots and nukes. Need backup heals? Druids can patch a player when the clerics CH is casting, keeping said character from the brink. I also made it my job to mind the cleric's health, switching to healing them when they had the agro, so they could keep the tank up. Cure disease. Need buffs and damage shield? Druids have the 2nd best of all the buffs, and sometimes that's the best available. CC - root and snare. Harmony. oh, and did i mention EVAC? I always kept about 20% of my mana pool in reserve for the moment the cleric called for retreat!

For an all around utility class which can fill in for most roles, you can't beat a druid!

Grundoon
quadkite.com

[Verityn]

Just don't be one of those people who think they only ever have one roll at a time. Like when the clerics dies don't just stand there continuing to nuke away if your group could use your heals. It drove me mad when people would say, "Well, you said my job was DPS and healing was the clerics job." I've seen this in many other mmo's that have hybrid classes like the paladin in wow who also never seem to want to heal even if it means everyone's demise.

Play your class to its full potential at all times which means be ready to heal, snare, nuke or even tank as a druid if the moment calls for it even if there's a primary person performing those roles.

[Grundoon]

Well said, Verityn! You help make my point. That is one of the beauties of being a druid, and how they are an asset to any group. They have the tools to fill in where ever there's a need! They're probably not the best at most things, but their versatility is what makes them so fun!