Druid consideration

[Tox]

I'm starting up, a solo class, druid or enchanter? Opinions from druids would be great

[Caridry]

Both are very fun, but both fall off in the raid game imho. Velious druids become pretty cool with POTG and natures touch, but for now they are very situational. Enchanters are solo kings with charm, and can solo some serious big money camps. But their raid game consists of buffing and watching (unless you are good at charming certain raid mobs).

Both have their flavors, I find it easier to find solo spots as an enchanter, because there are just SO many druids at all the quad/charm locations, especially with charm being limited to animals.

[Daena]

Both charm to solo, and are one of the top solo classes.

Druid is a pain till level 14, then you get sow and animal charm, and can solo easily up to lvl 60. Your options are animal charm (14-60) and quad kiting (34-55), with root dotting as an option. Druid has it easier soloing for exp since they have snare, heals, hp buffs, sow and ports.
Enchanter is slightly easier at very low levels since they can use their animation pets to tank for them. Then there comes charming, which is not limited to animals only like it is with druids. However lack of sow, snare and heals is rather painful and makes soloing a lot harder (but still very doable, just not easymode like it is with druid).

Grouping: enchanters are always wanted in groups, druids are very strong in mid levels, but mid-40's their heals become so weak they have big problems getting groups. Even getting Superior heal at level 53 doesn't help much. Comes Velious druids will be slightly better but still nowhere near as good as clerics (mighty hp buffs and super powerful Cheal) or shamans (slows, torpor).

Farming platinum: enchanters are kings at this 50+, rivaled only by epic'd shammies with Torpor (and perhaps some very good necros and mages come 3rd). Druids make excellent mid level farmer, but at high levels they are very weak since there are few if any animal camps to utilize charm. And it is charm you need to farm most of the high level stuff.

Raid game: enchanters are boring especially with Velious, so many high magic resistant mobs and you have to buff a lot you won't be charming or nuking much. Druids will be spot healers and either nuke or charm (like in Plane of Fear/Hate) when there's enough healing provided by your clerics. In my opinion druids win here.

54 druid here and 70 raiding enc on live circa 1999-2005

[Daldaen]

Played a Druid through 100 (actively raiding 65-90 on Live). Played around with two enchanter alts 70/75. I Rerolled on Mac server, had a 65 Druid main and 65 Enchanter box. I Have a 60 P99 Druid and 46 P99 Enchanter.

So I'd like to think I have a decent amount of experience between the two classes. I personally always favor Druids over Enchanter's for a few reasons:

1. Travel. Not having ports, SoW/Other run speed, even in modern EQ with all its fast travel, is annoying.
2. Heals. Druids can heal themselves and others. Soloing this is useful, grouping you never have to die due to someone else's incompetence at healing. Enchanter's have runes, but no means to heal themselves, this is a lot more punishing. If you get dropped down to 50% after getting stunned and your rune eaten through, you cannot regain that Hp other than through slow sitting regen when solo.
3. Snare. It's not mez, but it definitely makes certain aspects of the game more manageable (not dealing with fleeing mob trains) and more fun (snare/egress pulling).
4. Utility/malleability. Enchanter's have a great set of tools. Mez/Charm/Slow/Buffs. However on raids specifically, they are limited to buffing, charming (if able) and mezzing (if able). This can be very boring. Druids however can mold and shape to fit the needs of the raid based on class makeup, skill of people etc. A 60 Druid can fill in on some important tags that generally an SK or Monk would do for a raid by utilizing snares, roots, and Egress to clear aggro. They can fill in and spot heal AE damage or rampage tanks or bad spots in CH chains. They can nuke most every mob (whereas when many mobs are Magic Immune, Enchanter's can't do anything) using either fire or cold. Druids can even ghetto CC with snares and roots.

For general, all purpose play, I favor a Druid. Just so much more flexible. Less valuable in a 6-man group than an Enchanter (though 6 man groups are boring). Also doesn't have the capability to farm high end camps with much ease. But for everything else, Druid can do more or less what an enchanter can.

If your goal is a money making character, Druid is a decent mediocre money maker. But they won't be rolling in 100ks unless you devote a huge amount of time to druiding. Enchanter is better for the money's.

What sort of play style are you planning on having? Casual/Hardcore. Raider/Grouper/Soloer? Grind to 60 fast or slowly level up as you play? Etc.

[Tuljin]

Enc is way better for money farming at high levels and you'll always get a group. Enc can also solo the hardest dungeons better than a Druid can.

Drood is a great class for soloing, grouping, and general adventuring but there's a ton of druid hate on the Blue server. You'll have a hard time getting groups and you'll get crap from everybody the whole time. According to the P99 character data it is the most popular class, so with that high population comes a lot of players that give Druids a bad name.

It all depends on what you want out of the game. Both are not incredibly in-demand or exciting "raid" classes but both are great for soling, groups, and adventuring.

Druid and Enchanter make an awesome duo as well.