Ok, since many Druids 60+ will be forced to buy many of our PoP spells, I thought it might be helpful for folks who have mostly completed their spell lineup to offer some loose "rankings" to give guidance for purchase order.

Here's my first cut (I don't have all these yet, btw)

<strong>Top Priority</strong>
65 - Winter's Frost
65 - Mask of the Forest
64 - Savage Roots
63 - Protection of the Nine (or BoT9 if you can afford it)
63 - Nature's Infusion
63 - Swarming Death
63 - Command of Tunare

<strong>High Priority</strong>
64 - Brackencoat
64 - Summer's Flame
64 - Protection of Seasons
62 - Karana's Rage
62 - Flight of Eagles
61 - Replenishment
61 - Hand of Ro

<strong>Medium Priority</strong>
64 - Karana's Renewal
63 - Shield of Bracken
63 - E'Ci's Frosty Breath
63 - Blessing of Replenishment
62 - Karana's Rage
62 - Immolation of Ro
62 - Nature's Might
61 - Winter's Fury

<strong>Low Priority</strong>
65 - Legacy of Bracken
61 - Earthen Roots
61 - Storm's Fury
61 - Catastrophe

<strong>Don't Bother</strong>
65 - Destroy Summoned
62 - Imbue Storm

Thoughts? Comments? Disagreements?

<img src="http://sun.he.net/~justin1/eq/sig4.jpg"/>
Magelo Profile (http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=562742)

I have to agree with you it is what I thought about the spells myself.

Raey

Hrmm, I would change things up a bunch. I am basing the following ,mostly on how often I cast them. And keep in mind I spend most of my time raiding, with the remainder spent grouping and a little soloing

The Best:
63: Nature's Infusion
63/65: Blessing/Protection of the 9
64: Summer's Flame (our best nuke - if you have the right FE's)
65: Winter's Frost(vs high FR mobs)
64: Karana's Renewal (druid CH rots own~)
64: Savage Roots

Good Stuff:
61: Hand of Ro (great raid debuff)
65: Mask of the Forest (nice upgrade)
64: Brackencoat (another good upgrade)
62: Karana's Rage (the best quadding spell)
64: Protection of Seasons (another nice upgrade)
63: Swarming Death (Focus effects make nukes more efficient, but this is a nice DoT)

OK:
63: E'ci's Frosty breath (ok debuff vs high FR mobs)
61: Catastrophe (our best PBaoe)
65: Shield of/Legacy of Bracken (good for grouping, if you dont have a mage)
62: Immolation of Ro (stacks with Hand, which is nice)
63: Command of Tunare (yes, they really did hose charms)

/Shrug:
62: Flight of Eagles
61: Replenishment/Blessings of (get the free one)
61: Storm's Fury (everything seems to be immune to stun)
61: Winter's Storm (rain spells....ok)
61: Earthen Roots (till you get savage roots, sure)
62: Nature's Might
62: Imbue Storm
62: Ro's Illumination (aoe debuff? whatever)

-hs

It depends on your playstyle. For example, for me Storm's Fury is far more useful than Karana's Rage, since I never quad-kite.

That said, I think we can all agree that one spell is truly essential: Nature's Infusion. This is simply a huge healing upgrade, like nothing druids have had before.

Second in line for soloers is Command of Tunare. Though constantly nerfed, it's still a viable solo tool.

The rest of the spells are all minor upgrades to what you already have.

NI is the must have spell.

I bought all my spells, save 3 - Mask, Savage roots and Eci's. I got mask and eci's on turn ins or I would have bought those too. I still don't have savage roots and routinely pass on Specs even though it's the last spell I need. I just don't see myself using the spell form. I have the effect on my legs if I want a longer duration root but the majority of the time, I like to cc in a pinch with earthen roots, because I know it'll only last a min (which is usually long enough)

My top priority spells were:

PotN / BotN
Karana's Renewal (mana cost stinks, but I'm constantly healing 8k+ tanks, monks, sks or what have you)
Nature's Infusion
Circle of Seasons
Group Thorns
Winter's Storm

Most will put thorns on their low priority list but for a double boxer like me, I have it mem'd 99.9% of the time. I don't want to have to target to ds.

Lower priority spells were:

CoT
Swarming Death
fire nuke
Blessing of Replenishment
etc.

I rarely use the fire nuke or the dots. That's just play style though.

Other must have's are our new stun and all our debuffs

e'ci's is a waste of a spell slot, for how often it gets resited or gets you agro, compared to the mana it costs. were it a simple cold based version of HoR... sure, that'd be useful... but for what, 3 times the mana to get resited 50% of the time? bugger me but that's just a waste.

all that said: it's great for when everyone needs a laugh and wants to see me die.

put it in the lowest category.

alyn cross
forces unknown

Seeing the way spell prices jump between level ranges I think this is really better broken up into the type of spell in order of usefulness.
So here goes my wag at it.

High Utility for me - Often used at raids or grouping/solo'ing
61/62 Spells
Hand of Ro
Catastrophe
Storms Fury
Flight of Eagles
Karana's Rage
63/64 Spells
Nature's Infusion
E'ci's Frosty Breath
Protection of the Nine
Protection of Seasons
Savage Roots
Summers Flame
65
Blessing of the Nine
Winters Frost

Medium Utility - Rarely used at raids mostly for grouping/solo'ing
61/62 Spells
Ro's Illumination
Nature's Might
Immolation of Ro
Winter's Storm - I keep trying this spell, but the resists, ugh.
63/64 Spells
Karana's Renewal
Brackencoat
Swarming Death
Blessing of Replenishment
Command of Tunare
65 Spells
Legacy of Bracken
Mask of the Forest - placed here due to the mask of stalker/hunter almost equal

Low Utility - I can't remember what page in my spell book they are on
61/62 Spells
Earthen Roots
Imbue Storm
Replenishment
63/64 Spells
Shield of Bracken - in fact, not even sure if I have it
65 Spells
Destroy Summoned - I usually go with banishment first

Playstyle Comments:
My guild currently has 15+ level 65 clerics between apps and guilded members. We don't DO healing rotations with the druids.

I don't use DOT's: DOT's at a raid = death as you can't manage the aggro as easily as a nuke. IE you get summoned with a dot, you can't stop for 12 seconds while the tank makes more aggro. You nuke, the MA can out aggro that in short order, saving your life. Further, we often switch targets now even on some named mobs, last thing you want is extra aggro or broken mezz's. Further, Summers Flame with 25 percent off mana gloves is a very effective 700 dmg/tick without crits if your tank can keep aggro while you chain nuke, if he can't, no point in dot'ing too.

My typical spell line up for most events is

1) Snare or Cure
2) Root or Cure2
3) Hand of Ro or Eci's Frost Breath
4) Summers Flame or Winters Frost
5) Protection of the Nine
6) Natures Infusion
7) Protection of Seasons, Blessing of Replenishment or Legacy
:cool: Flight of Eagles or Sow or Everlasting Breath or Levitation

That covers everything but indoor/outdoor AE'ing and I do those differently. At our raids we rarely have time to sit and change spells around, IE constant adds with pulls and lots of splitting mobs. I've sat before to mem a spell and lost 6600hp in the time it took to stand up. I WON'T change a spell at a raid unless camp is clear and the puller is AFK.

Iegil Eyriewind

I never memorize Banishment, except those times when I was helping with the trials. Destroy summoned is a nice efficient spell, and I use it in BoT all the time.

I personally avoid using group DSs even though its slightly more inconvenient to use the single target one. I find that especially in exp groups, people are getting close to maximum buffs, and its annoying for them to have to keep clicking off DS every few minutes. If they forget they might not get Sotw at a time when I need them to get it. Also, I find tanks will often choose to forego DS if they are getting full of buffs.

I think I have memmed group DS about 7 times since I hit level 55.

I have kind of given up on EFB. The resists on it are incredible and the taunt factor of a resist on it seems pretty high =/. I find Moonfire lands well without it anyhow. Or I just use swarming death if its a FR mob and I am having trouble landing cold nukes.

I don't bother to mem BoR either. I have rotg clicky which is good enough for how I use regen spells in PoP, and anyhow people tend to click it off.

The spells I use most often are Natures's Infusion, po9, Summer's Flame, Hand of Ro, Flight of Eagles, and to a much more limited extent bo9, Swarming Death, and replenishment (for those times when I do solo).

Storm's Fury is definitely one that should be higher on the list. Given that some PoP mobs do gate back to their spawn points, and that PoP mobs are incredibly nasty, this spell is very useful.

It's one of my favorites for soloing Valorian Sentries in HoH, that's for sure.

My list as to current use and importance.

<strong>High, must have, use these a lot:</strong>
63: Nature's Infusion
63/65: Blessing/Protection of the 9
64: Summer's Flame
65: Mask of the Forest
64: Savage Roots - if you get clickie pants, you will still find a use to mem this spell
64: Brackencoat (nice AC)
63: Swarming Death

<strong>Very Good, should have, use these more than you might expect:</strong>
65: Winter's Frost (very powerful, but may need CR debuff to eliminate resists)
64: Karana's Renewal (used in exp groups or raids, depends what your role is)
61: Hand of Ro (debuff, needed with Summer's Flame to get rid of resists; in raids, it's always cast by someone)
62: Immolation of Ro (very good dot for rotting)

<strong>Still very good, but don't use these quite as much as the others:</strong>
63: E'ci's Frosty breath (essentially raid only debuff, too slow in combo with Winter's Frost for exp groups)
62: Karana's Rage (our MR AE dd, and quad spell)
64: Protection of Seasons (guilds need a few of copies)

<strong>OK, maybe used when circumstances call:</strong>
61: Catastrophe
65: Shield of/Legacy of Bracken
62: Nature's Might (group exp buff)
62: Flight of Eagles
61: Replenishment/Blessing (clickie on chest gets used much more than mem'd spell did)

<strong>Marginal, you might find a chance to use these:</strong>
62: Ro's Illumination (some raids)
61: Winter's Storm (nice rain spell, but very situational)

<strong>Really don't use these:</strong>
61: Storm's Fury
62: Imbue Storm
63: Command of Tunare (only if you like to try and charm)
61: Earthen Roots (don't have this spell, no need to have it with savage roots)

Rolaque
Saryrn

Of the spells I have.
I use
Good
65- Bot9......Tired of single casting everyone. MGB Bot9 :)
63- Nature's Infusion....Fast Cast. Great Heal.
64- Savage Root...Long duration Root with a neg 30 MR.
Able to park mobs for up to 4 min.
64- Summer Flame...Nuking DD
64- Brackencoat...Nice upgrade
62- Immol of Ro...DoT upgrade. Great for soloing. Not too useful in Groups.
61- Replenishment...Good Health Regen.

Fair
61- Hand of Ro..FR,Attck Debuff. Good for only named mob
62- Ro Illumination. Good for only named mob.
63- Shield of Bracken. Some DS is better than none.
63- Command of Tunare. Useful whenever I casted it. I only use it once in a while.
61- Winter's Storm..Good Damage/Mana if no resist.
64- Karana Renewal..Only for Raid.

Bad/Never Use It
65- Destroy Summoned
61- Catastrophe
62- Imbue Storm
61- Earthen Root

Wish List:
Mask of Forest
Blessing of Replenishment
Swarming Death

Going off the original list, I'd move a couple spells around:

Overrated:
Swarming Death
Karana's Rage
E'ci's Frosty Breath
Nature's Might

Underrated:
Ro's Illumination (wasn't on the list)
Storm's Fury
Earthen Roots

Spell utility depends on playstyle, equipment and aa available as well as your environment. A raiding druid that likes healing, for example, would probably love Karana's Renewal (KR: Top Priority). On the other hand, a group xp oriented druid will be fine with Tunare's Renewal for a long time (KR Low / Don't Bother). An explorer who likes playing with charms might put it somewhere in the middle (KR: Medium)

E'ci's Frosty Breath has a couple problems. First, it lacks a resist modifier, making resists all too common. Second, the debuff often isn't enough to consistently land 3 waves of Winter's Storm. It looks like a good spell, but I haven't been impressed so far. On bigger targets, along with Malosinia and possibly bard debuffs, the extra CR debuff can be nice.

Nature's Infusion, Command of Tunare - Top!
p9/b9, mask, FoE, Savage Roots, Summer's Flame, Winter's Frost - get these next
PoSeasons, BoReplen, Shield of Bracken, Hand of Ro, Ro's Illumination, Earthen Roots - good for groups and raids
Swarming Death, Immolation of Ro - do you have Affliction Efficiency 4?
Storm's Fury, Karana's Rage, Karana's Renewal, Destroy Summoned, the rest... some are situationally very useful, but if you're in these situations, you'll know you want the spell.

I agree with Aelia's list for the most part. However, I think people are rating Brackencoat way to high - for the little that it does I almost never bother to cast it - on raids I need to conserve my spell spots, and when grouping/solo I use Arch Shielding instead from Dain hammer (easier Dain can be done with 6 people or less nowdays lol).

Also, alot of people are rating Swarming Death too low - it should be high priority because its almost never resisted, causes little aggro, and is useful on raids and in xp groups cause its so fast acting. Immolation of Ro, though, is not such a good idea to use cause it has such huge aggro and takes 1 minute - you might as well be nuking for less aggro and more damage. Only time I ever use Immolation is for root/dotting soloing.

As for catastrophe, its low priority unless you are going to be raiding PoP mobs. There are a couple of raid situations where it is useful, but otherwise I've never used it outside of those raids. Finally, Command of Tunare used to be high priority, but after the charm aggro/xp nerf and solo xp nerf its not that useful grouping or soloing anymore (PoStorms xp is no where near what it used to be) - I laugh at the high prices people still want for it in the bazaar.

The reason I am sure aelia rated immolation of ro as high as she did (and I do as well) is not so much for the DoT part of it, although its decent, but for the debuffing aspect. Immolation gives -27AC and -35FR, and stacks with hand (-15AC -72FR, -100ATK) very nice for raids.

Couple comments, if your elemental flagged...

Eci's is a GREAT debuff for plane of fire exp groups and regular groups...

Further, our new stun rocks, I've done an exp group in BoT using a cleric/chanter/druid/3 rogues with NO one tanking. Cleric/Chanter/Druid chain stunned, rogues backstabbed away. Only needed one-two heals per mob.

Brackencoat for example, some people say its a waste of a spell slot... well it is. It has a duration of over 3 hours with extensions on it. Cast/Demem and go EXP. It's not like you gotta keep it or mask memmed.

Iegil

By spell slot they ment the 15 buff limit.

I have no clue howmuch the ac acctually effects us, but I like having brackencoat at all times, and unless resists are needed on a raid, I have enough buff slots free for it.
But having said that, it's more of a toy than anything, because a 13 point DS and the 40ish? ac really won't do much of a difference in PoP where stuff has 1000's of hp and hits for 500+.
It's pretty much like our defensive AA's. It's common knowledge that LR5 won't save us much, but it does make a difference, so I won't turn down any extra ac.


Now that I think about it, there are acctually a few situations where it's quite useful. Soloing summoners, like the elder elysian, comes to mind. You're bound to get hit, so throw up brackencoat/shield of bracken and coldain ring and he'll get some decent damage off your DS, add Sotw to that and it'll hurt.
Also helps when you're farming trade surplies off greenies, at least what I usually do when I can't be bothered with booboo is grab all the DS' I can get and just sit repeatedly till the mobs kill themselves on them.

I agree that Storm's Fury is way underrated.

In my time in BoT I have stopped SOOOO many giants from gating using that as a stun. Equally with other classes that have stun.

It is not the end all and be all of nuking. At max crit it's 820. It has a bit of time on it's refresh timer. It has outdoor only restriction.

But I don't view that as a nuke, I view the spell as a stun and helps gaters go down more often than not!

I'd switch Hand of Ro and Summer's Flame for Swarming Death can do much more dmg with that and hand of ro is damn handy. Ofcourse I dont solo.