questions: starting a Druid from scratch
 

Hello folks,
Coming back to P99 after being gone since pre-kunark and starting from scratch.. sie Druid is one of the only classes I didn't try on live back in the day and seems like one of the better choices for my play style.

Limitations (emoticons instead of bullets cause why not):
:p not online during peak hours.
:o limited time when online, grouping would probably not be an option most of the time.
;) no outside funds/gear coming in.

the questions:
:cool: Charm kiting as a means to level, will this net enough coin to fund spells? (until porting becomes available).
:rolleyes: are druids limited to said charm kiting in outside zones only?
:mad: camping named mobs for $$ items, possible as a druid solo? or is that an enc/nec/shm only thing.
:( are any of the starting zones better than the others from a pure plat making standpoint?
:eek: any tips for rookie druid?


Thank you

Look me up in game, under this forum name and shoot me a tell. I'll get you some starting funds.


I am new to the class myself, but at level 37...I think Ive gotten a decent grasp on the class and what we can do. The ability to solo is one of the main reasons that I chose to go druid, as Ive got young kids who require me to AFK ALOT , so I need to know that I can gain steady EXP solo.

There are great starting areas, If your going to roll a wood elf, I'd recommend you not stick to Kelethin/GFay area to grind out that 1st 10 levels... I found that taking myself over to the Qeynos starting area allowed much more consistent leveling. I could go on and on... If you can make it to 29 and get by on the basics for gear and maintain your spells... You will be golden.

Ive been able to do ok with ports, and I dont even work that hard at it. The players on this server are good people.. You'll get the help you need....

Best of luck to you. If you need anything look me up.

For your questions.

1: No
2: Yes and no. You will get more opprotunities charming in outdoor zones
3: You can solo named mobs. Hell I soloed Frenzied at around 48 before Kunark. You are limited tho, learn to love Kedge Keep..
4: Qeynos is a great place. You can move to the Karanas and solo bandits for sashes to turn into pure plat.
5: Tips for a new druid? reroll :P Honestly, you wont be loved at 60. It's a fun class, but it doesn't do anything in the end game.

I agree with everything Auvdar said except #5. Don't choose and play a class based upon how much they are wanted/needed in the end game. Play one you will genuinely have fun playing, whether it be logging in for 5 minutes or 5 hours. It's a long journey to 60, and once you're there and realize the greed and poopsocking that goes on, you'll be happy you chose a class you actually wanted to play. Just my 2cp

In regards to #5, I did a Sky raid the other night and was the only druid there.... think about it.

As Itap said, if you enjoy playing a Druid then that is all that counts.

Some good advice in this thread already, but to add my 2c:
Charming is a great way to level but you're still going to have trouble getting spell money until you hit 20 or so, so play smart. Bandit sashes are a good choice; so are lightstones. Go to North Karana and kill willowisps; turn in lightstones and greater lightstones to the appropriate gypsy at the gypsy camp; sell the resulting items and make mad bank.

I've occasionally seen druids farm named monsters but it's not super-common; it's a mixture of the class not being incredibly strong for that kind of thing (at least in general; I'm sure there are specific places like Kedge where they are quite effective) and the druid being a class generally played by casual players who don't necessarily look into this kind of thing. In any case this probably won't be a good way to make money until you hit level 50+ or so. You can certainly do well at seafuries, though.

Tips for a rookie druid: until you can kite, you'll probably find melee + thorns + DoT/nukes to be the most effective way to level. Will be a little tough as you approach 14; experiment with different things like root-dotting or whatever you have available to you. Once you can charm, head to East Karana and rake in the EXP. If you plan on quadding at some point, you'll need mana/WIS gear, so start saving plat. Other than that, it's mostly about knowing how to charm/quad and where to charm/quad. Have fun!

I honestly do not recommend quadding unless you have a lot of mana, a lot of things to do to afk, are insane until 46. Reason is that there are way more efficient methods to leveling like charming that leaves quadding in the dust.

Now at 46 you get access to the lumi staff which sets off self pl mode. I went from 47 to 50 in 6 hours quadfinh. Downtime was due to an add that just won't cooperate and needed to be burned down. All you need is sown snare, regen, and am escape plan in case of oh shi. moments.

Thanks all for the replies!

Probably something I don't need to worry about, a day that i'd be able to "enjoy" the end game content would be like one day a month and that's being generous.

Rolled a woodelf before making this post thinking the Kaladim bone chips quest would be the quicker way to get up to charm kite level, sounds like qeynos area would be a better starting zone though. I only hit level 2 and raised enough gold for 2 spells so its not like rerolling would be harse.

Is farming gnolls for that moonstones quest plausible or is that more for people with $$$ who just buy fangs in bulk? Or are those no-trade and i'm thinking of them orc scalps?


Again thanks for the replies

There are many threads on charming vs quadding. Some people, like me, value the free time we have between quads to do other stuff (like read a book or work on a project). If I only consider the time I'm playing the game, I get xp much faster quadding then charming. Quadding is also safer, as you almost never take any damage, and even if there's a lag spike or you get disconnected you'll probably be medding when it happens.

I enjoyed the end game back on live with my top level druid (from whenever I hit 50 after release until 2002). I never had problems joining raids, etc. I think a lot of druids prefer to play solo and/or are less social people in general, and this tends to affect how druids are perceived. Also, since druids are able to solo so well there is less pressure on them to join groups, so they often just don't. A top level druid is the most versatile class, and is particularly awesome at certain things like power levelling people. These days I'm like the OP in that I have limited time and would find it hard to commit a large block of time to doing many group activities, so I almost always solo.

I returned in your exact same shoes. No money, no characters, never played a Druid. I would go halfling for the bonus exp and easier starting area.

I did 1-3 newbie area in Greater Fay. 3-6 outside of Kaladim farming bone chips way after they became green.

Turned the bone chips in until I hit 9. Had a nice level 57 give me 100 plat.

Bought spells and got a really good deal on a decent melee weapon.

Then I got a port to NK, ran to Qeynos, sat for a few hours until someone could bind me.

Then I spent 9-13 or 14 farming gnoll fangs and rabid grizzly and wolf pelts in and around Black Burrow.

At 13 or 14 I turned in 160+ gnoll fangs and 35+ grizzly pelts and hit level 20. The pelts are worth 4 pp per turn in and I had turned in quite a few rabid wolf pelts which are 2pp each + exp. I was able to easily buy all of my level 14 and 19 spells with that money.

Good luck.