Originally Posted by bcbrown (Post 3503679)

I'd much rather steadily get slightly better gear over time than just bank all my plat for the future.

Originally Posted by loramin (Post 3503804)

https://wiki.project1999.com/Equipping_a_Shaman and https://wiki.project1999.com/Equipping_a_Druid have a lot of suggestions, but fundamentally if you're doing this:



you are swimming upstream, with the classes you chose at least. That strategy makes much more sense for melee characters.

For both Shaman and Druid (but especially Shaman) all the power comes from "big ticket" items like the JBB, your spells (not just Torpor, but several other high-level ones are expensive too), your epic, etc. If you don't save up for (say) a JBB, you'll notice it's absence ... but I can pretty much guarantee you'll never notice the difference in DPS from a new melee weapon (you'll just kill the mobs 0.01% faster). (Of course, you can't use the JBB until 45, so before then it's obviously not important, and the same is true of epic and spells.)

Druids are less gear dependent, but again "stat gear" (ie. slow/steady upgrades) don't really help them much. For them the big ticket items (which are much cheaper and more attainable) are the Goblin Ghazugi Ring and (at 45) the Luminescent staff.

So look, this is a game and you should have fun, and if acquiring +5 more Wisdom is fun for you, go for it. But if you want to make your character noticeably better in the game, you're going to have to save up, or farm items yourself (the Goblin Ghazugi Ring is even farmable at your level, if you're patient enough).

Originally Posted by DeathsSilkyMist (Post 3503853)

Silver Chitin Hand Wraps and a Poison Wind Censer are the best way to level from 1-40 as a Shaman. JBB isn't usable until 45, as you say. Shamans are good at melee for a priest class. They have the same weapon skill cap as Warriors from levels 1-50. They make up for not having double attack and the main hand damage bonus by being able to haste and strength buff themselves. Slow tanking and meleeing is superior to root rotting until your 40s, when you need to start fighting level 40 mobs. Level 40+ mobs get a big boost to their AC/HP/Attack, so meleeing becomes a lot less effective for a Shaman. You can just sell the SCHW and Poison Wind Censer when you need to buy JBB. Their prices are already really low, so you aren't going to lose much later on by reselling them.

Once you hit 45 you will be using JBB nonstop if you have it, and you won't be doing melee anymore. The most you will do is have auto attack on, spamming JBB while face tanking mobs. You will get a hit in between JBB casts.

Originally Posted by loramin (Post 3503868)

None of that changes the fact that OP won't notice a difference if they upgrade the gear to get +5 more in a stat, or even if they upgrade their melee weapon. Instead of dying in 50 seconds, the mob will die in 49.4 seconds ;)

Originally Posted by loramin (Post 3503804)

So look, this is a game and you should have fun, and if acquiring +5 more Wisdom is fun for you, go for it. But if you want to make your character noticeably better in the game, you're going to have to save up, or farm items yourself (the Goblin Ghazugi Ring is even farmable at your level, if you're patient enough).

Originally Posted by DeathsSilkyMist (Post 3503888)

But meleeing is considerably faster than root/rotting, because you are spending a lot less mana, and not getting hit very hard due to mobs being weaker from 1-39, especially with slow.

Originally Posted by Toxigen (Post 3504004)

For the druid (a lot of these would apply to shaman too):

Thurg wrist / chest, Earring of Woven Bark, Coldain Skin Boots, Othmir Fur Cloak, Obulus Death Shroud, Skyfury Scimitar, Frozen Orb

oh rip you didnt go tunare, no free DS gloves for you, shame because they're so so good for charming