Druid Vs. Shaman

[Everdark]

Hello!
Currently I have a 24 Druid. I've been on the debate to switch to Shaman. (I've been toying with the idea of necro or enchanter as well). I'm mostly a solo player but will want and plan to group as often as i can as well.

am i smarter sticking to druid? or should I consider switching to shaman.

I used to play Druid in EQ live up to PoP (then switched to Rogue full time) but I'm open to all suggestions.

Thanks all!

Cspine - 24 Druid / Doxal - 12 Enc / Everr - 6 Necro / Neebs - 14 rogue

[fragmaster]

The strength of a druid is quad kiting. The strength of a shaman is single target root/dotting or slow/tanking. Either class should be able to solo to 60, but druid should be quicker.

However, since you already have a druid, I would suggest playing that druid until you get velious ports. I recommend this because a druid character is a good source of plat for other characters and as a solo player a source of plat is invaluable.

[Cuktus]

I have a 35 (2 blues from 36) shaman and I am loving it so far. Had some great small groups (3-4) down in lower guk that were awesome! Also had a blast just soloing live side zl and AC camp when its open. Frag says that druids quad while shamans root/rot or slow/tank, which is true. What that translates to, however, is that it is alot easier for a shaman to solo in dungeons then a druid, I think. So, my advice, if you want to do a lot of the content like lower guk solo, might consider changing. If not, druid is a great class, and like, ports man. Ports.

[brecon]

The strength of Druid isn't quadding - that is a leveling and farming tactic, and it's not terrible efficient. The real strength of Druids are (1) its versatility, and (2) charming.

Versatility is obvious. You can port and have speed buffs, you have great hp buffs, and 50+ you get several mana regen buffs. POTG is maybe the best buff in the game, Mask of the Hunter is great, etc.

Druids are my favorite class to charm on. Not only can you charm, snare your pet, mr debuff it, and self haste it to 70%...but you can heal yourself if you get a charm break, and you can self HP buff to make it less scary. Charm for druids becomes really viable in the early 20s in EK, and never ceases to be. With snare/root stacking, it's very safe. Every enchanter in the game longs for a snare spell.

THE TWO PROBLEM WITH DRUIDS are (1) the EQ Gods really designed zones to fuck with druids, which limits their ability to charm solo. Lots of zones that you think should have animals (Burning Woods, Dreadlands) do not. So you are rather limited. Velious helps, as there are more outdoor zones with animals, but even still, you have no charmable mobs in most indoor zones. Then, in the biggest ''fuck you' to druids in EQ, they made seahorses in Siren's Grotto immune to root and snare...meaning that any attempt to kill them with charm mobs is reliant on charm lasting the entire fight. If charm breaks, you need to get out of the water and try again.

THE SECOND PROBLEM WITH DRUIDS is that you have no way to deal with summoning mobs. Necros have this same problem. Since you can't slow or AE stun, a charm break on a summoning mob is extremely hard to deal with. Necro's can FD it off. Druid's can try to keep the summoner rooted and just get a recharm in the space between summons...but it's dicey.

These are all like, level 60 problems. But because of these limitations I switched to shaman. For high level content, a 60 shaman with torpor is better because he can deal with summoning mobs in any zone. As long at the mob isn't magic immune, he can probably kill it. Shamans kill much slower than Druids, and they move around the world much slower, but on those summoning mobs they reign supreme.

It is worth noting that the Shaman Epic is a huge part of what makes shamans good soloers - but that with root/snare stacking, the Druid Epic is just as good. The Druid Epic + ES Vambraces gives you 88 dot/tick, which is about the average tick of the Shaman Epic. With the next patch, the Druid Epic becomes way easier to get. And Druids get AE Snare and AE Root, which makes breaking camps and CC easier than for a Shaman. So for farming and xping, Druids are even arguably better indoor, and outdoors for sure with harmony splitting. But again...slow is huge, and torpor is even more important for end game camping.

[maestrom]

Druids are MUCH cheaper. A druid can solo to 60 on EASY MODE with only 10-15k in gear (Gazughi ring, Lumi, ES vamb).

The same easy mode is MUCH more expensive for shaman (fungi starts at 60k, JBB is another 18k).

Pretty soon, druid and shaman epics will be much the same difficulty to acquire. (shaman being much easier/cheaper at the moment). Literally right now.

If you're starting out and don't have a ton of capital and are looking for something that can go to 60 without breaking much of a sweat, Druid or Necromancer is probably the way to go.

If you are willing to put in the time it takes to grind to 60 and farm 300k for gear and spells, shaman might be better.

[Raev]

In Kunark, Shamans were solo and small group powerhouses, while Druids were simply the worst: it was just impossible to main heal a group with Superior healing, and on raids they functioned as gimp wizards.

But Druids got seriously buffed in Velious. When you combine ports/sow for mobilization, POTG/Regrowth/Circles for buffs, FR/ATK debuffs keeping the tank alive, Chloroblast/Nature's Touch for spot/off healing, and maybe even Winged Death for a little extra damage, you get a solid and versatile raiding class. While farming you can combine POTG+Mask of the Hunter for effective self-clarity, charm animals in Kael, Siren's Grotto, and WW, and split camps with Ensnare+Egress. As mentioned Druids also level very well. Charm in outdoor zones is just facerolling easy.

I still think Shamans are better (Torpor+Slow is just WTFOP) but it's close now. Also, Shamans don't really need a Fungi, JBB, or even the epic. All that matters is the aforementioned Torpor, Slow, and Malo. Unfortunately, that's still 150k [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Man0warr]

Torpor more than that these days.

[iruinedyourday]

On blue I used to look at druids and pity them the way I would someone with a terminal illness.

On blue the shaman is incredible, it is the alpha omega of pve its invincible it can walk through KC and just face palms dogs as they strut around with huge explosions behind them.

On red its the polar opposite, it couldn't be more of a perfect mirror image roll reversal. The druid is incredible on red, its a beast. On red the shaman says, 'I want to win at pve! i am just cani-OH IM DEAD'

I hope these analogies help.

[kuuky]

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

With the next patch, the Druid Epic becomes way easier to get.

In what way, easier to do or cheaper to buy?

[iruinedyourday]

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

In what way, easier to do or cheaper to buy?

you can trigger venril sather for the epic drop.