cprender
04-16-2004, 10:26 AM
What is the WoW Druid?
As the subject line indicates, I have only played to level 10 as of yet, but it looks like we are once again the Jack of all Trades.
Some inexact, but basic info about the druid:
1. We are a leather class, big surprise. I guess all these game designers read the same books. While this means we cannot really go toe-to-toe with higher level or multiple mobs, we are not cloth wearing lightweights like our unfortunate friends the Priests and can take a beating for at least a little bit.
2. We start off with a single proficiency in Staves, but we can use our Skill points to purchase additional weapon proficiencies whenever we want to. Daggers are the cheapest to cross train, but Spears (yummy), axes and maces are available as I remember.
3. We add around 8-12 HP (STA dependant?) and 10-15 mana (INT dependant?) per level. This puts us firmly in the middle with Rogues and probably Hunters as far as HP goes, Warriors and Paladins get around 18 HP or so, while casters get less.
Our spell lineup is:
1. Mark of the Wild - a targetable AC and stat enhancing buff that scales as we level, adding more AC and more to base stats.
2. Thorns - a targetable DS that also scales, and while the Damage may seem trivial, 3 hp’s at level 6, it does add up on the lightweight WOW mobs. Porcupining as a strategy may not be viable, but together with your melee, and instacast DPS, you can cause some real hurt.
3. Direct Heal – slower cast, but heals a meaningful albeit variable amount of HP. What is interesting is that our level 8 Direct Heal is obviously aimed at higher HP tanks, as it can heal more HP’s than any druid at this level is likely to have.
4. HOT – instacast, yes it is pretty nice. A bit weak at low levels, it may have to be tweaked upward to make it more useful
5. Nuke – Slower nature based DD that seems to be pretty appropriate for our level. We are not a Mage after all.
6. DOT – instacast arcane DOT that is pretty weak a lower levels. I can’t quite figure this one out. I tend to try and channel my nuke though in conjunction with my Melee DPS and DS damage.
I have not been in a lot of groups with my Druid as of yet, and the few that I have joined have been mostly other druids because EVERYONE has started a druid. What is interesting is that a group of 4 or 5 druids can do it all, stick on as Tank, one as Healer and the others as DPS and you have a strong group.
Last night Sobe and I had a group of 4 or 5 druids going after a named mob. While we were clearing to him, we kept coming across caster mobs and the fun would begin. The caster mob would nuke whomever he aggroed on, while the rest of us “unleashed hell” on the poor sap. It was really humorous, but I have some concerns about mob AI because of that.
At Level 10 we get our first Beastform, Bear. I have not played a lot with it yet, and I think we need to do a separate writeup on this exciting ability.
Overall, I was moderately happy with the abilities of a Druid. The one thing I would like to see is another buff to add some resists. Quite frankly, I had a lot more fun playing my rogue. As an explorer at heart, I loved to run around in Stealth Mode to see the sites.
As the subject line indicates, I have only played to level 10 as of yet, but it looks like we are once again the Jack of all Trades.
Some inexact, but basic info about the druid:
1. We are a leather class, big surprise. I guess all these game designers read the same books. While this means we cannot really go toe-to-toe with higher level or multiple mobs, we are not cloth wearing lightweights like our unfortunate friends the Priests and can take a beating for at least a little bit.
2. We start off with a single proficiency in Staves, but we can use our Skill points to purchase additional weapon proficiencies whenever we want to. Daggers are the cheapest to cross train, but Spears (yummy), axes and maces are available as I remember.
3. We add around 8-12 HP (STA dependant?) and 10-15 mana (INT dependant?) per level. This puts us firmly in the middle with Rogues and probably Hunters as far as HP goes, Warriors and Paladins get around 18 HP or so, while casters get less.
Our spell lineup is:
1. Mark of the Wild - a targetable AC and stat enhancing buff that scales as we level, adding more AC and more to base stats.
2. Thorns - a targetable DS that also scales, and while the Damage may seem trivial, 3 hp’s at level 6, it does add up on the lightweight WOW mobs. Porcupining as a strategy may not be viable, but together with your melee, and instacast DPS, you can cause some real hurt.
3. Direct Heal – slower cast, but heals a meaningful albeit variable amount of HP. What is interesting is that our level 8 Direct Heal is obviously aimed at higher HP tanks, as it can heal more HP’s than any druid at this level is likely to have.
4. HOT – instacast, yes it is pretty nice. A bit weak at low levels, it may have to be tweaked upward to make it more useful
5. Nuke – Slower nature based DD that seems to be pretty appropriate for our level. We are not a Mage after all.
6. DOT – instacast arcane DOT that is pretty weak a lower levels. I can’t quite figure this one out. I tend to try and channel my nuke though in conjunction with my Melee DPS and DS damage.
I have not been in a lot of groups with my Druid as of yet, and the few that I have joined have been mostly other druids because EVERYONE has started a druid. What is interesting is that a group of 4 or 5 druids can do it all, stick on as Tank, one as Healer and the others as DPS and you have a strong group.
Last night Sobe and I had a group of 4 or 5 druids going after a named mob. While we were clearing to him, we kept coming across caster mobs and the fun would begin. The caster mob would nuke whomever he aggroed on, while the rest of us “unleashed hell” on the poor sap. It was really humorous, but I have some concerns about mob AI because of that.
At Level 10 we get our first Beastform, Bear. I have not played a lot with it yet, and I think we need to do a separate writeup on this exciting ability.
Overall, I was moderately happy with the abilities of a Druid. The one thing I would like to see is another buff to add some resists. Quite frankly, I had a lot more fun playing my rogue. As an explorer at heart, I loved to run around in Stealth Mode to see the sites.