I have a theory, it goes a little something like this:

The Druid is one of the hardest classes to play in Everquest.

An offshoot of that theory is:

Of the three Priest Classes, the Druid is the most difficult to play.

When I bring this subject up I typically I get told that Druids are easy because they solo well. Then I get told myriad reasons that other classes are much harder than Druids: Clerics, Bards, and Enchanters for example. What I find most ironic is that the things that they argue that make those classes hard, Druids have to use the same tools, just not do it as well.

I won't go into my reasons why Druids are hard right off the bat, I want to get some feedback from you guys. If I am out of the box, let me know. My guild is already teasing me about my theories anyway, so you guys can just ride that train if you want. :)

Playing a shaman or cleric feels like playing a druid with an easy button - it makes me think of that staples commercial.

In order to play a druid you must must must be multi-tasking. You have to be able to DPS, cure, heal, kite, solo,and yes even tank on occasion with reptile, DS and be fully buffed. If you dont believe druids can tank send one to Devastation at level 74 with Reptile, DS,s barkspur and have fun. Not druids are not the next up and coming pally or warrior but we do what we need to do to level. Sony unfortunatly has always imo turned a blind eye towards druids and have concentrated more on other classes (not going to get into that discussion here :eusa_booh ).

Some people are going to find druids harder to play than another class, it really all depends. For example, i have played a druid since EQ came out, i have tried to play other classes and find myself hindered by no tracking or no fast running or no ports. So it all depends on the person behind the computer.

I think that your attitude towards the class depends on your goals. I think that running a druid is just *fun*. We're fast from an early time with SoW. We can bop at will around the map - yes, there is now fast travel to some places, but we are much more flexible.
Some of our low level skills that folks take for granted - snare, reliable root, track, forage etc. - are
tools that other classes simply don't have. You don't realize how helpful they are until you lack them. You have a variety of tools in your box (chanters are the only other class I can think of with more variety in this regard) - healing, nukes, dots, animal pets, etc. You can be a decent puller (especially in outdoor zones).

The flipside is that we're generalists, and specialist classes are better at any given thing than we are. Wizards trump us on nukes, chanters and beastlords on pets, clerics on heal, etc. This can lead to some frustration - because if your measure
of a good class is "best at x" then we don't measure up well. But this is a game,
and my measure of a class is the fun factor. We have it.

Well said Ohio, and bah you beat my posting:texla:

I would agree that druids are more difficult to play than some other classes (such as clerics) as we have to do more with less in some circumstances. If we're root/rotting - I wouldn't agree. Any chimip can do that. If we're the sole healer in Ash - I would definatly agree. If a cleric is solo'ing, I would say it takes some skill. If they are the main healer in ash - not too hard. Each of our toolboxes allows us to excel or struggle in different situations.

I consider my bard a fairly difficult class to play becouse of the amount of things he's often required to do in a group (and do well).

Yes - I would agree that druids are the most difficult priest class to play.

Overall, I would rate druids, bards & monks as the more difficult classes to play (again - all contingent on content). Unfortunatly, EQ is full of ppl that play play their class poorly (ie - when was the last time a warrior "shielded" you?).

(ie - when was the last time a warrior "shielded" you?).

Chriten, Saryrn Server about 2 weeks ago in Devastation:p

It all depends on how well you know the class. But healing with a cleric, after playing a druid for 5 years...is most definatley like easy mode. I've been playing a cleric on a bunch of single group aug runs with friends lately, and its insanely easy. Since I am used to conserving mana when I heal with my druid, I use the same methods on a cleric, and rarely end up dropping below 90% mana, unless its on a named.

Playing a druid is easy.

Playing a druid well...not so much.

Playing a druid is easy.

Playing a druid well...not so much.
quoted for truth! and the same goes with most other classes.

My Druid hating friend (a Magician) told me today that: Druids are the hardest class to play in Everquest because they are the easiest class to choose at character creation. They are a hedge class, for people who want to do everything, but can't commit to any one thing. They are for people who do not want to be dependent on other people for anything.

He placed Paladins in the same hedge category, but ironically he did not place Bards.

I know that he hates Druids because they compete with him for Nuke enhancing augments and gear.

Playing a druid is easy.

Playing a druid well...not so much.


this goes for any class. if you just heal with a cleric, yeah, is easy. if you do only one thing with any class it is easy.

to tell the truth ALL classes are easy. the diference between a good player and a bad player IMO is paying attention.

when i play a cleric i am pulling, cc, off tanking, reverse Dsing, nuking. if i play a warrior and i am botting the cleric, i just alt tab to heal and thats it.

so if you use my example of the way i bot a cleric, yeah, is easy to play a cleric. if that is all of the experience you have had playing one, then i can see how you would think they are easy to play.

when i bot a druid i use them for snare and some dots and some back up heals. pretty damn easy, about the hardest part is to not dot too much to keep from pulling the aggro off me tanking as a cleric.

so... is easy to play any class. to play any class "well" is a diferent story.

Excellent post Keyera.

I don't like it when players say X class is easy, it seems to me that the person saying that is not exploiting the classes potential.

I have a theory, it goes a little something like this:

The Druid is one of the hardest classes to play in Everquest.

An offshoot of that theory is:

Of the three Priest Classes, the Druid is the most difficult to play.

When I bring this subject up I typically I get told that Druids are easy because they solo well. Then I get told myriad reasons that other classes are much harder than Druids: Clerics, Bards, and Enchanters for example. What I find most ironic is that the things that they argue that make those classes hard, Druids have to use the same tools, just not do it as well.

I won't go into my reasons why Druids are hard right off the bat, I want to get some feedback from you guys. If I am out of the box, let me know. My guild is already teasing me about my theories anyway, so you guys can just ride that train if you want. :)

Cleric harder than Druid? I'd have to laugh at that. :icon_lol:

As for whether or not the Druid class is hard to play...
I guess it all depends. Some people won't/don't understand some of the details and tools of Druids. Therefore, it's that much less for them to even think about as a Druid. The less you do, the easier it is.

I guess I need a little more from you guys. If playing a druid is hard, then what makes it hard? If playing a Druid is easy, then what makes those other classes hard? If you could be specific, it would help a lot. I am basically writing a mini thesis, I have Theory, I need an Argument. It should not be conjecture. I am asking for your input because many of you have much more experience with our class.

Don't get me wrong, I know I am a good Druid, I got mad skills, I got tools, I use them. But I know that there are tactics, techniques and situations that I have not seen in my 1.7 years in EQ. So give me the benefits of your experiences.

(ie - when was the last time a warrior "shielded" you?).

Friend warrior of mine was attempting to shield me in a mission the other day, but he had had one too many beers and shielded the mob instead and I ended up dying..LOL.

As for druid class being hard, I would agree that it is an easy class to play, but a hard class to play well. We have alot of versatility, and can contribute in alot of different circumstances, as long as you understand all the tools that we have.

I guess I need a little more from you guys. If playing a druid is hard, then what makes it hard? If playing a Druid is easy, then what makes those other classes hard? If you could be specific, it would help a lot. I am basically writing a mini thesis, I have Theory, I need an Argument. It should not be conjecture. I am asking for your input because many of you have much more experience with our class.

To expand on my synopsis, it's easy to play a casual druid. Most people don't want to push their toon to it's maximum potential. Most are happy to do the bare minimum of their toons ability to get the job done. This holds true for all classes, and quite frankly, a lot of the current work force.

Those that excel, and play a "good druid" are the ones who choose to push the limits of their toon and constantly raise the bar of what their expectations are for themself. Those that don't...well...they suck.

If you are a cleric, and all you do is heal without running out of mana, probably nobody will complain.

If you are a shaman and all you do is land debuffs, again probably nobody will even notice.

If you are a druid and you are healing a group that doesn't have a cleric, you can get the job done for the most part, but on every occasion where someone dies (even through their own stupidity) they're going to be thinking they would have lived if they had only picked a cleric instead.

If you are a druid and DPSing in a group that already has a cleric, you can deliver decent DPS, but every time someone punches lesson, they're going to be thinking about the extra DPS they would have if they had only brought a rogue or wizard or mage instead.

The only way you can overcome this on a regular basis is if you can prove the value of your versatility - serving as a main healer to groups without a cleric, while contributing significantly to DPS at the same time. It's damned hard to get your druid character to a point where it can do this in higher end content. A cleric or shaman with 500AA and high-end single groupable gear can justify their inclusion in any group as long as they can stay awake and hit their heal or debuff hotkeys at the appropriate times. A druid with the same AA and gear level is going to have to pick - either heal OR DPS - which isn't really enough to justify our inclusion in high end groups except as spackle when the perfect classes aren't available.

So yeah, from the perspective of single group content, druids are harder than other priest classes to play at a level where they are perceived as worthwhile.

Thanks Shruella, that's exactly the kind of comment I was looking for.

It's easy to heal "or" DPS... it's more of a challenge to do both and add in some debuffs at the same time while trying to keep mana up.

In some areas it's just too hard to do both but being a good Druid means you are good at:

1. Healing
2. DPS
3. Crowd Control
4. Debuffing

often you have to switch at a moments notice, meming new spells sets on the fly and stepping in without instruction to fill in a spot for someone that went down, AFK or LD. These "split second" decisions is what makes or breaks a good Druid IMHO.

While a pure DPS or Cleric can get by with only using a few of their spells, Druids need all 9 slots and often more. I have a few hot keys that switch out only 2 spells in the heat of battle just to be able to do more things at a moments notice. As long as the other 7 spells stay the same the two new spells mem very fast so you can extend your spell set if you set yourself up the right way.

-Cass

I have never used a hotkey for a spell swap. Sounds easier than using the load drop down for spell sets, or searching thru drop downs for detrimental spells-resist debuffs-fixation of ro or beneficial spells-damage shields-viridifloral shield on the fly. How do you do that?

You can right click on the spell book under the spell gems (while using default UI), and you can save/load/delete spell sets. Just save it as whatever you want, and then you can load it by right clicking, going to load, and highlighting the profile you want.

Sorry Netura, I should have been more clear: I know how to save spell sets, I use the load spell set drop down. I just thought Cassea had some new way of loading a spell set with a Hotkey. One button swaps would rock.

Sorry Netura, I should have been more clear: I know how to save spell sets, I use the load spell set drop down. I just thought Cassea had some new way of loading a spell set with a Hotkey. One button swaps would rock.

Agree! If there is a way to hotkey spellsets that would be awsome...Do tell. :elfbiggri

/memspellset [number]

or

/memspellset [name]

The first command loads the Nth spellset, not too bad but I prefer the second which uses the name of the spell set. i.e. /memspellset Raid, loads my default Raid setup

Also works from hotbuttons

Also works from hotbuttons

They works well except when you accidentally hit one in the middle of a battle :iamwithst

/memspellset [number]

or

/memspellset [name]

The first command loads the Nth spellset, not too bad but I prefer the second which uses the name of the spell set. i.e. /memspellset Raid, loads my default Raid setup

Also works from hotbuttons

Yep... works like a charm. I have an entire hotbar dedicated to spell sets I use. Real sweet.

-Cass

Thanks for the tip, might make life as a Druid easier.

Quick story about life as a Druid: I had friends waiting for me to level up and play with them at level 55, so I chose the Druid because I could do a lot of things and I was self sufficient:

Not having to depend on others was a key factor in making the choice to become a Druid.

They played low level toons until level 10 and I started my solo career, essentially soloing to the wonderful level of 46, where both KEI and Virtue land and stick. I started grouping for the experience at about this time, and did a lot of LDON's to learn what Druids did in group. At first I nuked, but I soon became the main healer in groups. While I grouped for the experience of grouping, and not for the experience, I continued to solo until about level 65 where I was somewhat useful to my level 70 friends, where I started grouping seriously, mainly as DPS and backup heals.

When I joined my guild, Immortalis Kruoris, I was level 67. I had been playing EQ for 15 months, had less than 50 AA's and my Druid had 33 days of playtime, approximately 11 hours a week for 68 weeks.

People say Druids are easy because they can solo. I have learned how to Rot and Kite, charm kiting, and can say without a doubt that I have mastered Quad kiting. Druids are easier to solo because they can nuke or Dot and when they mess up, they can heal themselves or succor away. But quad kiting ain't easy, if it was, every Druid would do it. And in my travels I've learned that as good as Druids are at soloing, Wizards and Necros and Mages are just as good, sometimes better.

My friends do not respect my choice of class. They see Druids as underpowered. I get groups with them because they are my friends, not because they find intrinsic value in having a Druid along. Druids heal, but not as well as Clerics, and Druids nuke, but as well not well as Wizards. Just like Shruella said, everytime something goes bad, your group will ask themselves whether it would have been better to have a Cleric or a Wizard around.

This bad press is because it is easy to play a DPS druid, or a Healer Druid, if that is all that you do. Watch health bar, press spell gem. It is easy to complain that you need better nukes or heals if that is what you use most. And it's easy to be viewed as a collective of whiners who want the healing abilities of Clerics combined with the Nuking abilities of Wizards. The idea that Druids are underpowered comes from Druids, and the perception of Druids as less useful than other classes is one we have promoted.

This perception (one, that we are underpowered, and two, that we are whiners) is the detriment of the class. Hell, for a while there you guys had me going, I actually thought my choice of class was wrong. But I asked myself, if Druids are the 4th best Casting DPS and the 2nd best burst healers in the game, what's underpowered? I mean how many Wizards and Mages can heal themselves for over 50 percent of their life in one cast? How many Clerics can Quad kite, or effectively solo in in some other way?

People are impressed with Bards because to be a great Bard, you have to use all of your tools, string them together and switch them out as the situation calls for. They say Bards at THE hardest class in Everquest to play, and they may be. But do Druids have less tools than Bards? Not really. Our versatility is our greatest strength, and our detriment. We have great tools, we all just don't use most them. We are more than just Healers or Nukers, or a combination of both, but who knows that?

Certainly not our peers. They think we have it easy.

/mem #

for short

but yea - don't hit it when you dont want to by mistake, lol

If you don't want to get bored quick or just can't choose (like me), druid is your safe choice. A very versatile class, that can perform well if you have a clear goal in mind for the main role you want to play.

Keeping an open mind is vital... Talk is cheap and it's easy to criticise, but even if you don't fully agree with someone, it's a good thing to still try to understand what he or she is getting at. If you can test such things out without wiping a group, DO it! The worst thing that can happen is a quick trip to the guild lobby and 1 more lesson learned.

Ofcourse you could say this about every class, but as a healer in groups anyway, you're expected to know the healin' deal. And I'm ashamed by some people who still don't know you can remove tash with a poison cure and not only a RC :P ... stuff like that should just be eliminated asap. The more you know, the better druid you'll be. It's not just getting a good heal focus that makes you that druid people will want to be grouped with again... it's the total package you can provide.

Preemptive handling. Using common sense. You'd be amazed how many clerics I meet who really truely *suck* skillwise compared to me playing my druid. I have a cleric myself too btw, so I'm allowed to say this ;) The best example still:

A chanter that gains aggro right after a mezz resist. Most druids immediately switch to the chanter and start the heal.. with the chanter still at 100 health. Why? Because our heals are just a bit slower and once that rune fades, it's a quick way to chanter splat. Too many clerics who just don't pick up on this (or simply don't care, you be the judge) and then "didn't see it coming, it was "too" fast" . . . .....
I just shake my head at that, especially when I'm dealing with a 75 clr who really should know better by now.

I could give you many more examples like this, but it'd be a boring monologue and I'm sure you can figure out the many other common situations that could make or break (wipe) a group depending on the healer (druid).

To stay on-topic : Druids aren't hard, they just require a little extra work which keeps us on our toes and in the end makes us better, more aware healers. Clerics seem clueless as to how good they really have it.

Eriko-san, I agree that the primary role of the Druid is Healer (we are priests, contrary to all the Evocation Specialists Druids out there, we're meant to be healers) You play a cleric, with uber healing tools, and you understand that your tools as a Druid are not as effective for healing, so you have to plan ahead more. That's cool. But are you using your whole whole tool box as a Druid?

In the situation you are talking about, I wouldn't even think about healing the Enchanter. (I regularly group with an Enchanter BTW.) I as MH, I would fast heal the tank and then root the add so the enchanter can back off and try to remez. Hopefully their pet doesn't have toys proccing to break the root right way, but then again, their pet is supposed to do the same thing as the root, give them space to remez. If I have time, I snare the mob too.

So there are other things you could do, and granted, healing probably doesn't put you above the chanter on the hate list right way, but it puts you next, and when if they go down, you're tanking. I don't know about you, but I take hits about as good as an Enchanter... maybe a little better but not much. If I have to chose between the Enchanter or the tank, or me... well... the Enchanter can't heal the tank.

The bad thing about Druids is sometimes we have to choose who lives or dies, where a Cleric in the same situation can save everyone with their expert heals. That's where it gets hard. We have to save everyone with other stuff besides heals.

The bad thing about Druids is sometimes we have to choose who lives or dies

99.9% of the time, it's me! :) On a serious note,I tend to choose everyone BUT the tank if it's gonna be "oh crap" moment for who lives or dies, mainly because most of the time the rest of the group can recover easily enough, and then just rezz/rebuff the tank, and everyones good to go.

Totally agree even if raids, it comes down to who is needed and who is not. IF i got the whole group down to like 20 percent health from an AE or a dot then i just hit my group heal and start with the tank or whoever is most important for the event that we are doing.

So there are other things you could do, and granted, healing probably doesn't put you above the chanter on the hate list right way, but it puts you next, and when if they go down, you're tanking. I don't know about you, but I take hits about as good as an Enchanter... maybe a little better but not much. If I have to chose between the Enchanter or the tank, or me... well... the Enchanter can't heal the tank.

No, the chanter cant heal the tank. On the other hand, the druid probably cant keep the tank alive with 2+ mobs beating on it unslowed either. Well, depending on the tank, content, etc. But there arent going to be many druids who can keep the tank up with 2 mobs on him in Ashengate or Frostcrypt I think. Maybe a raid druid. I know I cant. Taking aggro from the chanter saves the group more often than the other way around for me. A decent chanter will probably be able to mez both mobs and stop the fight for a short period to get me back up. Chances are the rooted mob is going to need more attention than I can give it and still heal the tank effectively, however.

Druids tend to solo well, but we group less efficently. There are better solo classes that also bring a lot more to the group, but they too have issues elsewhere. The grass isnt really greener elsewhere, it just depends on playstyle.

Personally I remain evocation spec'd with a secondary Forte of Alteration. The mana losage isnt that important with rest and FT being where it is. Add in masks, skins, and chanter mana regen and I rarely go OOM even on constant pulls.

Where druids shine in my opinion, ironically enough, is when we are in a group that has a bunch of specialists. A group with a warrior tank, a cleric, wizard, and chanter may not think it needs the druid. And 98% of the time they probably dont. Its that 2% where things go to hell suddenly that druids really shine. Those Oh ****! moments where suddenly everything goes into high gear. Thats where we shine. Because we are suddenly dropping heals, dumping DPS, and hitting Reptile and root and snare. A good druid in these circumstances is invaluable because we can turn an evac/wipe situation into a recoverable one. Why? Because the specialists are too specialized and are unable to switch out easily. Yes, a ranger could perform many of our duties, but then you lose a lot of DPS and in those moments you need all the DPS you can muster. And if you lose one of those specialists, a druid can still cover for them. Even a ranger would be hard pressed to cover everything a druid does. They certainly cant evac if the wizard goes down, for example.

As a druid I provide redundancy that turns those wipe/evac situations into recoverable ones. Now if you are min/maxing then it may be better to simply take the hit than lose the DPS or healing by having the druid. Those situations come by rarely enough your probably losing xp by not maximizing your DPS. But if your group is concerned more just about constant killing and having fun, then a druid does become invaluable. Check the other class boards. You see many posts about what that class can do to make things go well and fast and efficent. But you rarely see posts talking about how they saved the group from a bad situation. Yes, it does happen, but not as often as a druid allowing a group to recover instead of simply wiping or evacing.

My group works well together. We are made up of specialist classes. But at least once or twice a night if I'm not around they wipe. Those same wipe situations probably would have been recoverable with me. Well, I know they are because we rarely evac/wipe when I'm around. Druids boost everyone by a slight bit because we provide a cushion of redundancy. If the cleric or wizard or ranger or wizard needs to go afk or do something for a short period they can without jeapordizing the group. No other class brings that kind of redundancy to a group. Well, possibly a bard. But even there a bard doesnt heal as well or evac if necessary.

The problem, of course, is that a druid does need to be at the top of their game to be useful in those wipe/evac situations. They have to be ready for it and paying attention. We are most useful in those defensive moments and we cant be caught flatfooted with low mana or a bad spellset up. And the group itself needs to recognize that this is what the druid is for. The druid is there to help them all be even better at what they do, not just be there in and for itself. Our contribution is a lot more subtle in many ways. We also allow for the group to take more risks. We can send out the cleric or chanter to mez/lull and risk losing them. We can let people go afk in dangerous areas. We can hang out in train prone spots. We can do many things many single groups full of DPS/Heal specialists cant do because of the druid. Or rather, they can do it, but we do it better and with less risk and fewer evac/wipes than they do.

Druids have issues, no doubt. We fall behind a lot even in secondary roles in many cases. And yes, druids can very hard to play at least well, especially in group situations because of what we need to be able to do. But in the end, we are valuable within a certain subset of situations. We're like the part timer at work. Yes, all the full time people can get all the work done. Often people may wonder why that part timer is even there. Until it goes to hell. When that mad rush happens and things rapidly go downhill. Suddenly the part timer becomes invaluable in providing just that little bit of help to allow everyone a breath. Sure you could plan ahead for such things, but chances are when things go to hell, its fast, sudden, and without warning.

Outstanding post Kellory!

Kellory
Taking aggro from the chanter saves the group more often than the other way around for me. A decent chanter will probably be able to mez both mobs and stop the fight for a short period to get me back up.

If you are main healer how are you going to get back up in a short time with no rezzer in group? This assumes a pally is not your tank since you have no cleric, you being main healer, and you probably have no shammy since you have a chanter.

You have to take port to bind then port/run back to group. Then loot your body and then med since most folks are about 25% mana after looting. Then rebuff yourself/get rebuffed. All of that is not a "short time" maybe 10-15 minutes depending on what zone you were/are fighting in compared to your bind point and how many zones you have load through.

Eriko-san, I agree that the primary role of the Druid is Healer (we are priests, contrary to all the Evocation Specialists Druids out there, we're meant to be healers) You play a cleric, with uber healing tools, and you understand that your tools as a Druid are not as effective for healing, so you have to plan ahead more. That's cool. But are you using your whole whole tool box as a Druid?

For the record, I still consider my druid to be my main.. the cleric is a "I'm bored stiff of LFG" thing to keep me from bashing my head into the walls here :)

I can actually use the whole toolbox, but it strongly depends on the group and their inadequacy to perform. I say inadequacy because if people have their roles sorted, there's really not much for me to add besides heals or the class e'ci + coldnuke (or hro + fire if that's your thing). On a GoM proc I'll reptile the tank if it's not a pally (and if needed), and there are ofcourse a lot of tidbits I forget that add up making me a good druid to invite to group :)


In the situation you are talking about, I wouldn't even think about healing the Enchanter. (I regularly group with an Enchanter BTW.) I as MH, I would fast heal the tank and then root the add so the enchanter can back off and try to remez.

The same I would explain to any person who's seriously interested in learning the druid way, I will say here as well : It strongly depends on the situation you're in. If you're on a quest and you just want to get it done right, without failure (think tipt? I guess? for lack of better example) .. then being overly careful and helping out CC classes is great and all.. Np! I'll be ghetto CC with snares and roots as long as I know it won't have an adverse effect ; jeopardising the group's chance on survival.

With that said, chanters are everything. I will even heal a chanter over a tank if that means the tank will die.. Not always ofcourse, but CC in some situations can be this important. If healing the CC (chanter in the example) means gaining control over all mobs in camp = prevention of wipe, I will gladly tend to the chanter first and the tank later. In practise this still means both the tank and chanter will live or the tank lives and the chanter
dies because the mob pounds relentlessly on our poor silkwearer ...

A chanter's job basically is CC though, and if it's a traditional xp situation where the goal is xp or maybe tier 1-2 molds or drops .. I expect the chanter to do his or her job and I will do mine : semi dps or healing where needed. If the chanter goes LD, I immediately swap to ghetto CC. If the chanter for whatever reason seems incapable beyond his/her control, the same applies.. But I will not babysit every other person in the group because of slack, unless you meet me in an exceptionally good mood :) I'm too oldskool to be the saviour of Norrath , if you know what I mean. Simply put (different example), if a ranger fails to snare even though he can and he does this over and over and over? (because of slack or uncaring for survival) I will just ignore this even if that means group wipe.


The bad thing about Druids is sometimes we have to choose who lives or dies, where a Cleric in the same situation can save everyone with their expert heals. That's where it gets hard. We have to save everyone with other stuff besides heals.
And this is exactly where it gets hard yes :) Cos it's kinda like having to cast Exodus.. even if it's a well-timed Exo that was needed, people will still complain "wtf was that, it wasn't needed we could've handled it!" etc... Choices choices! I think I'm experienced enough to know who should live and die though, and luckily people on my server know me for my healing capabilities and the decisions I make based on common sense :)

Oh.. and Icefall bears are white, Sony.. NOT black! gdi! I want a white summoned bear! :(

edit: PS - It should go without saying druids are great soloists.. Ports, evacs, a wide array of roots and snares, dps spells to bring the mobs down and heals as a bonus for when things turn sour. With gear you're even able to bring down (tss) steppes nameds by means of summon dancing and healing up, for example.



~
(edited : "jeapordising" to "jeopardising")

It's all situational, being prepared for the situation is where playing the Druid is hard. Last night, I pulled my root out of my spell gems to rebuff someone, and didn't put it back in, damned if I didn't need it trying to cross Broodlands after we killed Rikki last night.

So while I agree with Erikochan on principle, and I have a really great Enchanter as my friend, I think we'll just have to agree to disagree on the importance of healing the Enchanter. Who we are going to heal is a situational decision, and, like an evac, it sometimes ends in a bunch of pissed group members like we spoke of earlier.

My friend who plays one of our Clerics scolded me after our first win on Rikki, because he came out of the cheal chain to heal me, while I was healing a Wizzy and ignoring my health for a little bit. I told him we need DPS to kill the mob, he told me that sometimes healers have to chose themselves before the dress wearers.

I admit, I am still learning. I made the mistake of telling my guildmates that playing a Druid was hard, and I get ridiculed for it still, months later. But I read and post here with the idea that I should know my class better than everyone in EQ who THINKS they know my class. They think they know Druids because they played one before they moved on to something else. Something better.

They just don't get that when they chose to play a specialist, they chose something easier.

Playing a druid WAS hard back in the day when we got a 25% exp cut for fighting outside. This was taken out of the game I think in 2000 or 2001.

he told me that sometimes healers have to chose themselves before the dress wearers.

I would say that in almost every situation that should be the case. A dead healer can't heal anyone. Though of course in saying that you don't have to heal at 90% :) I usually pop a potion around 70% and if i get under 50, then i heal myself if it's convenient.

Playing a druid WAS hard back in the day when we got a 25% exp cut for fighting outside. This was taken out of the game I think in 2000 or 2001.
http://smiliesftw.com/x/inoutugh.gif http://smiliesftw.com/x/wtf.gif http://smiliesftw.com/x/inoutugh.gif

He's just talking about the fact that zone experience modifiers in outdoor zones in the old world were about 3/4 of the ZEM of dungeons.

Aside from that, when I soloed back then, I killed hill giants, spectres, and ice giants. All of which also have more HP and hit harder than frogs in guk of the same level, which was the main place I fought in groups.

[COLOR=#000000]Eriko-san, I agree that the primary role of the Druid is Healer (we are priests, contrary to all the Evocation Specialists Druids out there, we're meant to be healers)

Hmm. I can not say that I agree with you at all.

Sure Sony made us healers as they needed more healers than just clerics due to the way the structured encounters at the higher levels of the game.

However, looking at the spell line up at level 50 I can see that Druids can do a lot more damage than they can heal (for a max of 600pts or a regen), and honestly, I do not see that change much in the next ten levels either. So saying we are 'meant' to be healers is shading the truth to say the least. Apparently until level 60+ we were not expected to be a healing priest, unless the raid needed more bodies for the CH chain.

So it would be more honest to say that Druids are capable of healing and nuking (a dps role is a bit out of sight after several expansions of neglect of that area).


Eri

It's okay Eri, we can agree to disagree.

He's just talking about the fact that zone experience modifiers in outdoor zones in the old world were about 3/4 of the ZEM of dungeons.

Aside from that, when I soloed back then, I killed hill giants, spectres, and ice giants. All of which also have more HP and hit harder than frogs in guk of the same level, which was the main place I fought in groups.
True enough. I remember running low on mana when my Druid was soloing HGs in his 30s because they seemed to have an ungodly number of HPs for the level. On the other hand, you didn't get hit much in 1999-2000 when soloing outdoors as long as you stuck to non-casting mobs.

The big problem with outdoors soloing in the old world was a severe mob shortage past 35-40. Ice Giants and Kaladim citizens were permacamped and even Oggok guards usually had a group or two taking good care of them. Add the fact that all the good stuff dropped in dungeons and things didn't look too good for Druid soloers unless you played during the off hours. Solo hunting got much better post-Kunark if you knew which mobs summoned :)

In my opinion playing a Druid well requires some thought towards efficiency and the ability to pay attention.

This is pretty easy for some people, but alot of people don't put enough time into these practices and inevitably fall behind.

A good druid can heal Ashengate easily if he knows the most efficient way to conserve mana and get the most out of his heals... it's a balance between not wanting to waste the mana for a heal but wanting the tank to be safe. It takes practice.

With a cleric, they don't need to focus so much on the subtleties. Not that they don't have to conserve mana and pay attention, but face it, they start off ahead of us in efficiency.

As with a druid's DPS role, I think that this is heavily dependent on the druid's AA's... as with most nuking classes it doesn't take a whole mass of skill.

Playing a druid is easy.
Playing a druid well...not so much.

I agree with whole-heartedly, but I think it applies even more to the class of Necromancer. Noone (that I have seen) has mentioned that the Necromancer class is difficult to play well. Sure anyone can unload their 1.2k+ base dots and be good dps, but Necromancers are blessed with the ability to be some of the best at balancing dots, pulling, kiting, and wipe-regroupers. They have some many tricks that if they are a good player, they can take advantage of and be one of the most useful classes in the game.

no druid horn tooting here, but between, Pulling, healing, dpsing, buffing, no one comes close to what a fully capable druid can do when put on the spot

with all the nukes, dots, heals, debuffs, including second life, reptile, mask, direguard, and buffs everyone elses need, everyone else has it easy , the only one id compare is a bard, because they have a smaller window to work with in order to be effective ...
other then that ... pshaaaa