Advice for a 100% newbie druid?

[HugePosey]

Hey everyone. I always wanted to give EQ a go and finally have made the attempt. First of all let me say this game is HARD! I've been at it all day and I'm only level 5. No hand-holding here that's for sure. Any advice for the veterans for a brand new druid newbie?

[Hobie819]

I'd say a lot depends on your playing style - do you like the social aspect of the game more? If so, go for grouping. If you do things while playing EQ a lot and go AFK frequently, try the soloing path. Not to say you can't do both (you easily can) but that would change up any advice given.

Myself? I'm in the latter group. Family and responsibilities have caught up with me since my early days on EQ, so Im frequently going AFK in between kills which makes a horrible grouper. It's not bad soloing though. Do a quick pull, expend all mana, get the xp, sit an meditate for 5 minutes and go AFK to take care of life. Come back and repeat.

Where are you currently located? Qeynos, Rivervale or Kelethin?

[Estu]

If you want to group, stick to dungeons - your first destination should be Crushbone. Your role will be that of a poor man's cleric (healer) and roots+snares. Druids are not great for groups but you should be able to get groups relatively easily.

If you want to solo, stick to outdoor zones. Melee mobs with thorns and nukes, or experiment with different styles, until you hit level 14. At that point, it's animal charming all the way (head to East Karana). Look around on this forum for charming strategies.

If you need advice/help, check the wiki - it has a ton of information - and also do "/who all druid 40 60" and send people tells with questions.

[Pend]

I almost exclusively played a druid on live. I also hated soloing, which was kind of counter-culture for druids back then. So the following is my take on the grouping druid.


Learn your roles.
At the beginning probably up until about level 45ish, you're first and foremost a utility class. You're a priest. Then, you're a damage doer. Above 45, your nukes and dots and damage shields are much stronger than your healing ability, although you do still have a role there.

But that's a generalization. It really depends on the group you're joining and what their needs are that defines your role in that group. That versatility is what makes druids both highly sought after and avoided. There's a marked difference between a druid in your group that can't or doesn't figure out what he's supposed to do to improve the group efficiency and one that joins and immediately figures it out.

Sometimes you have to be a main healer. Your heals are only one step behind a cleric's for 5 levels, and then the same as a cleric's for another 5 levels. This is true up until cleric gets CH, which isn't until 39. If you're the only priest class when you join a group, assume that you're taking the main healing role. Don't nuke in this role unless you're overflowing with mana...you'll be wasting valuable healing mana (and thus slow down your group).

Sometimes you have to be secondary/backup healer. This should be obvious by the fact that there's already a cleric in the group when you join. In this role, you're watching the cleric's health (if they're getting beat on, its tough for them to heal themselves), and any caster classes (whose health can go down fast on occasion, and the cleric might be busy healing the main tank). This role is really the sweet spot for a druid. Utilize your damage shields (unless a Mage is in group--their DS are far superior), buff anyone with Skin that the cleric hasn't already, buff with Str (unless a Shaman is in group--their Str buff are superior). Nuke when it won't exhaust your mana or pull agro. Use root to ghetto-mez mobs for crowd control when an enchanter or other CC class isn't in group. You should really be running around doing stuff constantly in this role.

Sometimes you have to share main healer role with another non-cleric priest class. The scenario is, you join a group with another Shaman or Druid, but with no cleric. Negotiate with the other priest how you want to proceed. Don't assume anything. Usually someone takes the main healing role (with back-up support from the other priest).

Sometimes you're just there for damage. If your group is already stocked up with priests, then pull out the dots and nukes and damage shields. NEVER dot a mob that the main tank isn't beating on if there's an enchanter in the group.

In all of the above roles, SNARE EVERYTHING. And don't wait until it's running away. Generally snare is safe to cast without getting agro at about 75% mob health. Snare everything. Druids are the kings at preventing group wipes cased by a runaway mob. ESPECIALLY true in dungeons. Snare everything. (Unnecessary on undead because they don't run, but it's good to get in the habit of snaring everything anyway.) You can even snare mezzed mobs. Enchanters love this because the mob goes after you instead of them when mez breaks (helps them re-mez if they need to). Snare everything. It helps when your group has to abandon an attack because there's too many mobs and not enough mana, for example. Even without SoW, the group can get away safely if the mobs are snared. Snare everything. The most frustrating thing for me is being in a group with a druid who doesn't snare and the mobs can run away fast (see: Upper Guk).

Learn your environments.
Animals. See a lot of animals crawling around in the spot that your group is camping? Pull out the animal charms and animal fears. (A feared + snared animal mob is painless and easy to kill.) Learn to control an animal pet (and how to handle when charm breaks, etc.).

Elemental mobs. Is your group fighting elementals? You have a specialized nuke for "summoned" creatures. Use it...it resists less, uses less mana typically than your standard nuke.

Indoors. I avoided most dungeons early on because I lost the use of many of my spells that only work outdoors. But this is wrong--dungeon groups can have special needs for druids (see "snare everything" above). But remember that things like SoW, Camo, and some other spells only work outdoors. But the xp is so so so much better/faster and the experience much more fun.

Outdoors. As mentioned above, you have spells that only work outdoors. Now's the time to pull them out and use them. Make sure everyone is SoW'd. It can save lives, not to mention make pulls go faster.

Islands. If your group is fighting on an island, load up Levitate and carry a stock of bat wings. Everyone in group should have levi and sow. It makes "swimming" unnecessary--with levi you essentially walk on water and run with the speed of sow across it.

Duoing is fabulous.
You'll have some of the most fun as a druid when duoing. The risk and challenge is greater, particularly when duoing a dungeon with someone. And the versatility of a druid, combined with it being a priest class, offers it a wide range of possibilities for duoing with another class. And the xp of duoing, if done well, can be extraordinary. Plus, you still have a bit of the socialization of grouping.

Warrior + Druid: You're the healer. Buff the war. DS the warrior for extra damage. Snare the mob. Handle crowd control (with root or pet charm, as available). Dot the mob (kills can be slow enough that dot will be particularly efficient). Otherwise, let the war take care of the rest.

Necro + Druid: This can work well early on but it's particularly effective at later levels. Regrowth/regen buff the necro. They'll cannibalize themselves to provide for both your mana pools and the regrowth will counteract the effect. Plus, the necro has some powerful heals for themselves, you, and their pet. In this scenario, the necro pet is the main tank. So Skin buff it, Str buff it, Regen buff it, and DS it. Otherwise, similar to Warrior duo above.

Mage + Druid: You're really there for snare, buffs, heals, dots, and nukes. Mages have a powerful pet heal, which will be your main tank in this scenario. Buff the pet. Mages will take care of DS (better than yours). Similar to Necro, except that Mages can't heal themselves. Protect them.

Those three pairings are my favorite, but they're definitely not the only workable duo. Notice how "snare" factors in to every duo role, too?

[Infectious]

Check out the wiki, good druid guides. I would say get 15 asap and mess around with charm. Druids level insanely fast leveling with this method

[HugePosey]

Thank you all for all the responses.

Got into my first group today. It started slow with myself, a cleric, and a ranger killing orcs north of Kelethin. I tried to play my role correctly; snaring everything in sight once the ranger got threat and healing him when necessary. Eventually we grew to 4 and then 5 as a few enchanters joined our ranks, moving ourselves from a small orc camp to inside the lair of Crushbone himself.

I was the lowest level and, although I knew I wasn't contributing as much as the others, I did my best with some clutch heals that saved people and snaring (Even though it would resist almost exclusively on red-conned orcs). I stayed with the group for a couple hours, as people came and went, even getting to kill Emperor Crushbone as a high level ranger was kind enough to pull and buff for us for awhile. I had to leave with just 15% or so to level 8 and before I logged to cook dinner I turned in a mass of CB belts to reach level 8, gated to learn my meditate ability, and breathed a sigh of relief. My first social experience yielded 2 levels, a lot of experience in my role, some good friends, and all that.

This game has me hooked as the social aspect is much richer than any games I played before. :)

[Byrjun]

Grouping is usually more fun, but the best exp at lower levels is just meleeing mobs w/ DS on you. Then when you get into the teens you can give charming a shot. :)

[Pyrion]

The social aspect of EQ is much better because the game is so much harder than modern MMOs. Need help to locate your corpse? Usually people who have the ability will help bacause they know how awfull a lost corpse is. Generally people are really helpfull here, but dont expect somebody to leave their group just to help you.

[Examino]

I just got my 14 animal charm spell, decided to hit up oasis...whats the best way to use charm at this level?

I noticed the charm only lasted 1 maybe 2 kills before it attacked me

[Infectious]

Snare mob, charm. Have your pet kill another mob. With your pet at say 30%, hit guard pet. Go find another mob to charm. Use hide and break charm. Snare and charm your new pet and kill your old. There are other techniques people use but this is pretty much basic. Whole idea is, after this first kill your pretty much making a new pet each mob and killing your first pet that is only 30% or whichever. Druid is a good pick because you will get alot of classes in one( kiting, charming, healer in group, dps in group, crowd control and ect.) Check out the testament of vanear quest on the wiki also. Very good off hand quest you can do in a couple levels

[Faerie Blossom]

Snare mob, charm. Have your pet kill another mob. With your pet at say 30%, hit guard pet. Go find another mob to charm. Use hide and break charm. Snare and charm your new pet and kill your old. There are other techniques people use but this is pretty much basic. Whole idea is, after this first kill your pretty much making a new pet each mob and killing your first pet that is only 30% or whichever. Druid is a good pick because you will get alot of classes in one( kiting, charming, healer in group, dps in group, crowd control and ect.) Check out the testament of vanear quest on the wiki also. Very good off hand quest you can do in a couple levels

I never charm kited on live, mostly grouped and quadded. Is it that big of a deal if you don't have hide? Figure 3 second cast time for invis to animals wouldn't be too bad, right? Not all druids get hide :P

[Estu]

Snare mob, charm. Have your pet kill another mob. With your pet at say 30%, hit guard pet. Go find another mob to charm. Use hide and break charm. Snare and charm your new pet and kill your old. There are other techniques people use but this is pretty much basic. Whole idea is, after this first kill your pretty much making a new pet each mob and killing your first pet that is only 30% or whichever. Druid is a good pick because you will get alot of classes in one( kiting, charming, healer in group, dps in group, crowd control and ect.) Check out the testament of vanear quest on the wiki also. Very good off hand quest you can do in a couple levels

The problem with this method is you eat a 50% EXP penalty for having your pet doing most of the damage to a mob. Here is a common method for charming that avoids this:

1) Charm an animal. It should be dark blue, but as low level as possible (i.e. close to light blue). This will ensure that charm has a high chance of lasting a long time - it will not be nearly as reliable if you charm something that's close to an even con.

2) Snare any enemy (not necessarily an animal). This can be a high dark blue, or an even con, or even a yellow con.

3) Have your pet attack the enemy. Manage aggro so that your pet and the enemy reach low HP at the same time.

4) Hide (or invis, or whatever) to break charm. Both mobs should be fleeing. Kill your pet (this needs to be done first to ensure full EXP on the enemy mob), then kill the enemy mob.

Result: two full EXP kills for very little mana, making this the fastest way of getting solo EXP outside of bard mass kiting.

[HugePosey]

Nice discussion going on in this thread, much thanks again for all the advice. I'm 13 now so one level away from trying my hand at charming, can't wait!