Hi guys! I'm really looking forward to playing a nature loving druid!
I just have a couple questions. Sense this will be my first character, Is the druid a good first character?
I have heard of tuturial mode, I was hopeing if you guys could explain that too. Does that mean that you don't start in your home town?
Thank you guys...I'm just waiting for my new video card then I can play!:)

Druids can do a bit of everything, so are good for getting a feel for the more specialized classes.

Druids offer a great deal of depth however, when you get into how exactly our spell lines interact and what may be the best way to do certain things.

-Fenier

I have a friend who says "Druids are the hardest class in Everquest to play because they are the easiest class to choose at Character Selection."

If Druids were Baseball players, then they wouldn't be homerun hitters or starting pitchers, we'd be utility infielders and relief pitchers. We can play just about any position, just not as good as the starters.

If that's good enough for you, then the Druid is the class you will always play. If you want to be a star, then you'll play a Druid until you learn the game, and move to a specialist class. Our strength and our weakness is that we sacrifice power to gain versatility.

The tutorial is a dungeon that you can safely explore while you learn the basics, and has guides in it to tell you how to make the thingee go this way, how to communicate, how to use this or that... you'll catch on quick.

Good luck with whatever you choose.:cool:

A well played druid is welcome in my group, At any level.
It is a class that allows you so much freedom in playstyles. Offensive, healing, pulling, soloing, grouping...

The tutorial is there to help you learn the game commands and how to move around the world. If you have never played before it's not a bad place to start. The main reward for a non twink is the skull given for completing the base quests (where you run from person to person learning about things from weapons, armor, to maps and communication commands). Do the Tutorial explore the quest system and get yourself some equipment (no it's not great but it's a start) and some plat. Level work on purchasing your spells (print a spell list for a checksheet) meet people and have fun.

Good Hunting

If that's good enough for you, then the Druid is the class you will always play. If you want to be a star

Then learn your spells and how the game works to the point you can negate all the downsides of having a less focused spellbook, and make all the various lines work together in your favor.

For a Druid esp, your surroundings may help you. Animals nearby can be charmed, No room to kite means you can use your DoTs, if forced to tank it you can attack debuff it, use Damage Shields and Reptile at higher levels, and so forth.

Ocassionally it's a gear issue, but more often then not you will have *something* to fit the situation as a druid thanks to the array of methods we have to reach a specfic goal.

-Fenier

I think I just got told to learn my class. Damn Fen, that's harsh. :)

I think I just got told to learn my class. Damn Fen, that's harsh. :)

not so much no =p

it's all in the perception =p

I think you need to ask yourself what your goals are in the game. The druid is a fine class for casual groupers, soloers and even mid-game raiders. However, if you are one of the rare few who want to push our class to the limit and raid the bleeding edge endgame then you will likely be disappointed. The higher you go, the more apparent our weaknesses become.

To take Riverwinter's baseball analogy further, a team full of utility players isn't going to win the World Series. You need a mix of power hitters, solid fielders, star pitchers, speedy runners, etc. Sure, having one or two utility players is nice, but I bet most are going to be riding the bench.

I play a druid because it's fun:) You always have something different to do. Somebody needs a healer, you can do that. Somebody needs a nuker, you can do that. Somebody wants to make an AOE or a kite party, you can do that. You can solo well, and you can group well. You are one of the best explorers, questers, and tradeskillers. However, I'm not a hardcore raider, and as some folks have said, sometimes druids are not the best of raiders, and also, on most servers there's lots of druids.

I partially disagree on the power of utility groups though. The three toughest groups I have ever been part of were--6 bards, 5 druids and a shaman, and 5 enchanters and a druid. Imagination can take you a long way!

I noticed several replys saying we aren't that good in the high end game. I disagree. At 75 in a demiplane guild our druids are a big part of the healing group. We normally have 2 or 3 clerics and 4 or 5 druids doing all the healing on the main tank. We also put a damage shield on tank, add Reptile , and debuff, and heal our own group.

Soloing is fun all the way through the game. Our ports all over the world are a great advantage.

Just a note though, at the high end game every class is important and does their part. Without the other classes it would be really hard to beat the mobs.

Tessowin
75th Druid
Erollisi Marr
Resilience

However, if you are one of the rare few who want to push our class to the limit and raid the bleeding edge endgame then you will likely be disappointed. The higher you go, the more apparent our weaknesses become.


I am raiding the bleeding edge. I am not at all disappointed with my class and weakness is not something with which I am familiar.
I am a Stormcaller, and I most certainly am a force with which to reckon and a sight to behold.

It puzzles me why you would think druids in general take a plunge after mid-game content.


Ya know ... way too many people spend way too much time tearing the classes apart and nitpicking the details; druids this, mages that,
clerics those, wizards these, and shamans the other. Man, that business is nothing but apples and oranges. I am none of the above.

way too many people spend way too much time tearing the classes apart and nitpicking the details

It'ld be fair to call me a nitpicker, but I will say this...

In spring 2006, I started boxing a friend's high end shaman. The only druid vs. shaman stigma I had going into this was in regards to mana regen. But I quickly learned that their abilities mesh together a LOT better than ours do. And more surprisingly, I learned that shaman stacks together with another shaman a lot better than a druid stacks with another druid -- which makes no sense in regards to balance, since they have powerful non-stackable abilities like slow. Playing a shaman surprisingly feels a lot like a druid, we're trying to accomplish the same goal afterall - priority 1) keep tank up 2) get mob dead quickly (both directly or indirectly.) Through my first hand experiance I concluded that a shaman is but a druid with one of those "Easy Button"s you see in Staples commercials.

Now, keep in mind those observations were from mid-2006, PoR was still the latest expansion. Than TSS came out, the power jump on shamans was so apparent. It wasn't until that happened that I decided to become highly vocal about druid vs. shaman balance.

I noticed several replys saying we aren't that good in the high end game. I disagree. At 75 in a demiplane guild

If you're talking about my reply I suggest you read it again. I said "bleeding edge endgame" not content tuned for level 70.

I am raiding the bleeding edge.

I'd love to hear your thougts on the first 4 Solteris events and your opinions on how druids stack up against them.

Current event script design is not something which I use to define my class. Some classes shine in certain events, other classes in other events. Some classes play center stage, some do not. I am a druid, the master of adaptation and versatility, and I stack up well against anything.

I highly (HIGHLY) recommend to anyone playing the druid class (and feeling nothing but disappointment at the end game) immediately go click the delete button and make a new character. The problem, you see, it only takes an instant to rectify. Mistakes happen, its ok to move on!

Beyond me why anyone would pay good money to experience ongoing disappointment, but hey ... different drummers I guess.

My guild is just entering Deathknell, we just killed Mayong this week. Thats probably not "cutting edge" raiding, but its higher end than most people see.

I don't think its possible to finish Demiplane of Blood without druids, not when you are geared with the level anyway. We have the best nights when the raid is balanced, just enough of every class - not too many of one. I would like to hear from a raid leader that would prefer 18 clerics over 10 clerics and 4 shamen and 4 druids. The later mixed group has far more potentcy as opposed to having a butt load of the "star class".
In general raiding situations, AE's that kill us often kill the tanks as well, curses that kill us kill everyone else as well, Loose adds will just as easliy kill most caster classes and hybrid classes. I'm not sure what you mean when you talk about the inherent weaknesses of druids? I've mentioned this before but a 4 druid ROT of epic 2.0 clicks adds so much freeking dps to a raid encounter that it makes the dps we add on par with most classes. The extra aggro and heals we add to a tank with reptile, Extra Hp's to the raid with direwind, oh and don't get me started on debuffs! Druids bring a huge benifit to the table in raids, quit nickpicking.

I highly (HIGHLY) recommend to anyone playing the druid class (and feeling nothing but disappointment at the end game) immediately go click the delete button and make a new character. The problem, you see, it only takes an instant to rectify. Mistakes happen, its ok to move on!



This bull**** comes up in every class balance discussion. It's not okay.

The whole "just delete" "reroll" thing is crap, and anyone with half a brain knows it. You can't do that when you have up to 8 years invested in a toon.

So what do you do? You point out obvious class imbalnce and ask why your class takes the shaft.

When you have some people, from your own class, scuttle your attempts to look at the game objectively (especially by throwing the whole "reroll" line at you), it stinks.

I'm not high end, but I know (and talk to) plenty of people who are. I also play (regularly) a shaman toon equally geared to me. I have a fair idea what I'm talking about on class balance. On the subject of which, I'll say again what's been said 100 times: bleeding edge raiding balance doesn't define EQ wide class balance.

Read it again, Sam. Noone said high end druids suck. No toon with raid gear and 1000 aa sucks. But compared to other classes (apples and oranges, sure) with the same gear level and aa? When you take into account stackability (specifically comparing stackability of clerics & shamans) Yeah, druids take the shaft. It'd take Alan Shore and Denny Crane to win any argument otherwise.

The primary issue is a number of people are not happy with the current state. There is honestly nothing wrong with attempting to improve that state, but you need to accept and realize we have been getting improvements.

I think the main issue comes up when the mindset of the person in question shifts from - "I am a Druid in a RPG and this is what I do" to "How can I best help 53 other people kill this creature".

From a Lore perspective, we're doing pretty well. If you're playing EQ to play a RPG where you are a heroic guardian of Nature, you're apt to be at least fairly content.

Even on the group level, we're not doing *that* badly. I personally have recently been able to do some of the more difficult indoor pulls using a combination of Vinelash Cascade and Spore Spiral.

That said, in raid settings we are great to fill in various roles, and we do have roles of our own. We stack amazingly well provided there is no one else to fill that spot due to our flexibility. Being a nonspecialist class however, I do not expect us to suddenly become so popular we are picked over the more specialized classes on a consistent basis. However I do believe we need to offer a skill to remain competitive for a raid slot.

This isn't NToV where you had a Druid for Circle of Winter/Summer and that's it. This isn't end of Luclin were druids are virtual gods being able to heal nearly as well as a cleric with the damage powers of a Wizard. We have evolved into a sort of middle ground.

To enjoy playing a druid, you need in my opinion to accept certain basic truths

You are a priest with a wide array of damage spells, Not a Wizard who can heal. There is a reason we use Wisdom for mana pool.
You have an array of fairly specialized tools. Most of these are no good in most situations, but pretty handy in others. You possess a crossed skill set allowing you to Fill in (not replace) for Enchanters, Clerics, Wizards and Necromancers.I realize a great many people prefer the DPS aspect of the class, however EQ could not, and still can not survive, if it continued to require 1/6th of the player base to be a Cleric. Shaman and Druids needed to step up, and we were each given expanded healing tool sets to deal with the issues (regardless of if you feel those upgrades where sufficient, they were given to us).

Our Burst DPS side does need to be maintained however, but I am of the opinion we need to keep pace to the amount of DPS we can produce compared to Mages and Wizards.

Some people are incapable of handling this "new" shift in the class (which has been going on at least 4 years now), and for these people, a new class may be what you need. I am not dismissing your frustrations, but one does need to be reasonable and look at the larger picture. Class balance changes do not effect just us.

There are certain things during beta that the Druids who posted agreed on, and a few of them were indeed addressed. What a good many people don't realize is Prathun seems to be esp fond of specialized spells, and I personally expect to see them (for all classes) more or less as long as he remains spell designer.

That said, I am standing by my viewpoint as - we are useful, we could use some adjustment, and we are not broken.

If your stance is "we are horribly broken, need major class changes, and we suck" then perhaps some time as a different class may do you some good.You play to have fun, and if your not having fun, then you should strongly consider your time investment.

-Fenier

But compared to other classes (apples and oranges, sure) with the same gear level and aa? When you take into account stackability (specifically comparing stackability of clerics & shamans)

Not to pick on you at all, but the stackablilty concepts I see come up pretty often more or less require (in the case of shaman) specialized group setups. If your guild is light on melee, more shaman may not bring as much to the raid as you'd see in a melee heavy guild.

Likewise with clerics, The most you would want is 9. Even then, I don't think most raids would be very well served with 9 due to the fact that if you had 2 Shaman they'd likely be healing their own melee DPS groups. If your groups have more then one cleric in them, then either your not fielding 54 people, or you simply have to many clerics.

Overstacking on clerics sends healing through the roof yes, but it kills your DPS. You would get more milage out of stacking Shaman and Druids once you exceed a given amount of clerics as determined by your raids normal layout.

Using "ideal" cases does work ocassionally when looking at certain concepts. However since guild and raid makeup varies so drastically from one guild to the next, the actual "value" of the druid class fluxes greatly.

Personally? We have 4 Druids, and I wouldn't mind seeing 2 more.

-Fenier

Thank you guys for all your help, I am VERY glad to have people I can ask questions to, Thank you guys! Druid's rock, Rockin like a hurricane!

I love playing my druid and can't see myself playing any other class.