My L65 druid's gear is a mixture of PoP Ornate and LDoN, with a few LDon purchased augments. I have upgraded for the OOW-GOD-DODH-DON expansions and am looking for a suitable upgrade path in general. Casual grouping is the extent of my ability to hunt for dropped or quested gear.

I'll try to keep my questions brief. Googling has helped me a lot, but these are the things I'm not sure where to go to find out:

What's better for me to save up for, GM Cultural, or the armour you buy with Radiant Crystals? (Piece for piece I can compare but it's a question of how I can upgrade the two different types with augs).

Can I only use augs bought with crystals, in armour bought with crystals, or can I also combine them with Cultural?

Will upgrading from LDoN gear mean my old augs are just plain obsolete or is there any non-LDoN armour with the same slots?

Losing clicky-root or mana pres from my current gear would pain me. Are there similar effects on Radiant Crystal armour or Cultural? If not, would all the extra mana and wisdom make up for it?

Cheers,
Jo

My L65 druid's gear is a mixture of PoP Ornate and LDoN, with a few LDon purchased augments. I have upgraded for the OOW-GOD-DODH-DON expansions and am looking for a suitable upgrade path in general. Casual grouping is the extent of my ability to hunt for dropped or quested gear.

I'll try to keep my questions brief. Googling has helped me a lot, but these are the things I'm not sure where to go to find out:

What's better for me to save up for, GM Cultural, or the armour you buy with Radiant Crystals? (Piece for piece I can compare but it's a question of how I can upgrade the two different types with augs).
GM Cultural, fully aug'd, has superior stats than DoN Crystal purchased armor fully aug'd. However, both those routes take a great deal of time. You may want to consider getting your armor from PoR Tier 1 (see note #2 below) and using your DoN crystals to buy augments instead.

Can I only use augs bought with crystals, in armour bought with crystals, or can I also combine them with Cultural?
Augments can be placed in any armor with the corresponding augment slot. They can also be removed from armor and put into new armor. You just need to buy a solvent from an NPC vendor (ranging in price from a few pp to 1kpp+).

Will upgrading from LDoN gear mean my old augs are just plain obsolete or is there any non-LDoN armour with the same slots?
I don't know the LDoN aug slots off hand, but the new armor uses aug slots 7,9 & 12 most often.

I believe there is a way to sell your LDoN pieces back for LDoN points. You might want to look into doing that and repurchasing different augs that would fit the newer armor. Anyone have a link on how to do that?

Losing clicky-root or mana pres from my current gear would pain me. Are there similar effects on Radiant Crystal armour or Cultural? If not, would all the extra mana and wisdom make up for it?
You can't buy clicky root, but almost all focus effects can be bought with Radiant Crystals. Check this site (http://plurpage.com/everquest/don.php) for a searchable list of augments.

Two Notes Of Interest:

1 - While you are earning Radiant Crystals, you can upgrade a few visible armor pieces and many non-visible pieces quickly an easily with Monster Missions. Check out this list (http://eq.forums.thedruidsgrove.org/showthread.php?t=12277) which includes what missions have leather drops and non-visible slot rewards. The "Revenge of Farsooth" South Karana mission has a rare reward of an FT3 Ranged Slot item, as well.

2 - Consider buying the PoR expansion. You can get into a pick up group in Arcstone to camp the diff named mobs that drop the quest item to turn in to get this level of armor:

Woven Bramble Tunic
AGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO TRADE
Slot: CHEST
Charges: Unlimited
AC: 45
DEX: +15 STA: +22 WIS: +20 AGI: +13 HP: +140 MANA: +155
SV DISEASE: +15 SV COLD: +20 SV POISON: +20
Avoidance: +15 Regeneration: +3 Mana Regeneration: +3
Recommended level of 70. Required level of 68.
Effect: Glitterfrost (Any Slot/Can Equip, Casting Time: 0.8) at Level 68
Recast Delay: 420 seconds, Recast Type: 8
WT: 9.0 Size: LARGE
Class: DRU
Race: ALL
Slot 1, Type 7

Clicky effect: Decrease Hitpoints by 1892

This is far quicker than DoN bought armor (and has superior stats) and far less time consuming than skilling up for GM Cultural made armor. Save your DoN crystals to buy focus effects and put them in this PoR armor. We're working on a complete list of the Tier 1 Arcstone druid armor here (http://eq.forums.thedruidsgrove.org/showthread.php?t=13376).

Also, there are some quick quests in Arcstone and Relic you can finish with a pick up group that results in significant upgrades for you.

Relic Shopkeeper's Earring
AGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO TRADE
Slot: EAR
AC: 18
STR: +12 DEX: +6 STA: +13 CHA: +12 WIS: +14 INT: +14 AGI: +7 HP: +200 MANA: +190
SV FIRE: +10 SV DISEASE: +7 SV COLD: +8 SV MAGIC: +14 SV POISON: +12
Recommended level of 70. Required level of 68.
WT: 0.5 Size: SMALL
Class: CLR DRU SHM NEC WIZ MAG ENC
Race: ALL
Slot 1, Type 8

This comes from completing the Shopkeeper's Delight task starting in Relic with Shopkeeper Borso. The same NPC has another task, The Needy, that rewards:

Relic Shopkeeper's Earring
AGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO TRADE
Slot: EAR
AC: 18
STR: +12 DEX: +6 STA: +13 CHA: +12 WIS: +14 INT: +14 AGI: +7 HP: +200 MANA: +190
SV FIRE: +10 SV DISEASE: +7 SV COLD: +8 SV MAGIC: +14 SV POISON: +12
Recommended level of 70. Required level of 68.
WT: 0.5 Size: SMALL
Class: CLR DRU SHM NEC WIZ MAG ENC
Race: ALL
Slot 1, Type 8

Next to Borso, is Shopkeeper G'kil Zon. He gives out the Crossfire task that rewards:

Relic Shopkeeper's Charm
AGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO TRADE AUGMENTATION
Augmentation type: 7 8
Slot: FACE EAR NECK SHOULDERS BACK RANGE FINGER WAIST
HP: +55 MANA: +55 ENDUR: +55
Recommended level of 70. Required level of 68.
WT: 0.0 Size: TINY
Class: ALL
Race: ALL

All three of these tasks can be completed with pick up groups. In fact, I see a lot of /ooc for group formation for these tasks on my server.

Lastly, in PoR, there is an extremely simple delivery task that results in this:

Crimson Cloak of Moonwaters
AGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO TRADE
Slot: BACK
AC: 11
STR: +13 DEX: +6 STA: +9 CHA: +13 WIS: +5 INT: +5 AGI: +8 HP: +165 MANA: +165
SV FIRE: +13 SV DISEASE: +6 SV COLD: +11 SV MAGIC: +12 SV POISON: +13
Recommended level of 70. Required level of 66.
WT: 1.0 Size: SMALL
Class: CLR DRU SHM NEC WIZ MAG ENC
Race: ALL
Slot 1, Type 7

It starts in the Elddar forest (I'll track down the NPCs name) and allyou have to do is deliver item he gives you to NPC in Plane of Growth. Thats it!

A few more easy PoR quests with wonderful rewards are in this thread (http://eq.forums.thedruidsgrove.org/showthread.php?p=195362#post195362). Since PoR is new, you will find it easy to get into pick up groups.

I was in the same boat as you, being a non-raiding druid who took a break from the game. But a combination of Monster Missions, DoN Crystals and the new Prophecy of Ro expansion has helped me upgrade my equipment by leaps and bounds. Now if only I can replace my Elder Spiritist BP. :)

Ruadh -

Wow! Thank you for your comprehensive reply. Certainly a lot of info to digest there. I'll definitely have to check out PoR and the MMs then.

Jo

DoDh missions give pretty decent gear as a reward as well. If you want your spells, that's a good route.