Would I regret starting P99 as a Human Druid?

[Rallon]

Hi all,

All the buzz around Ragefire reminded me about Project 1999, so I want to roll up and play old-school EQ, albeit much more casually than I could as a kid the first time around.

My very first character the first time around was a Human druid, though I ended up switching servers and rolling a Wood Elf Bard to play with a friend before too long. I still remember scraping together enough cash to afford the spell that summons the little light item so I could find my way through the tunnel in and out of Surefall Glade as a blind human. I'm thinking about going Human Druid all over again, but I've seen a lot of advice from skimming the forums to suggest that the Freeport side of the world is much preferable to Qeynos-land for new players.

Will I doom myself by going Human Druid down in Surefall? I'm not particularly worried about end-game min-max concerns - more about being all alone and unable to put together money for spells.

Is this a bad idea - should I look elsewhere as somebody starting fresh and copper-less, or are folks just suggesting Freeport for easy access to buffs in EC?

Thanks!
--Rallon

[Tann]

I'll add the word Half Elf, or Half-Elf, to this. So that we can summon the all mighty.

[Yumyums Inmahtumtums]

Half elf is the best looking race in the game in any armor type. Daldaen and Kaev are the sexiest characters on blue.

[Danth]

While Humans aren't the top Druid race, ultimately race doesn't affect Druids all that much, so there's nothing wrong with your preference. Levels 1-8 are fairly rough for any kind of Druid because you lack meditate. Once you can start killing things like willowisps successfully you'll have sufficient money for your spells, and Druids don't particularly need much in the way of equipment at low through mid levels.

Night blindness isn't much of an issue on P1999; the client used here (Titanium) has a built-in night brightener that works in outdoor areas so Humans get by much more easily than they did historically. A few dark indoor areas (such as Befallen) are quite dark without a light source, but there aren't many and you don't usually have to worry about it. Save a lightstone for use as a light source. At very low levels you can just use a torch or lantern you can buy for a few silver or gold off a vendor; you won't immediately have anything better to put in your offhand anyway.

As you suspect, Freeport is popular mostly for access to buffs and possibly newbie hand-outs. If you wish to relocate to Freeport, you get an invisibility spell right away at level 5 so that's trivially easy, too--not fast, but plenty safe. Be sure to get a bind if you do this. Note that the Druid spell merchants aren't particularly close to Freeport; I think Rivervale is closest.

Danth

[kaev]

Originally Posted by Yumyums Inmahtumtums [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Half elf is the best looking race in the game in any armor type. Daldaen and Kaev are the sexiest characters on blue.

dawww... Kaev was last seen staring at the Seb bubble in TT, haven't logged him in some time now, and he's my only Half-elf char. My druid is Human, and I'm told he looks very good with the high rez textures applied to old models. For FashionQuest Human druid is the way to go. Maybe someday I'll put a robe on Medra for the ultimate in druid FashionQuest.

There is tremendous coolness to being a Half-elf druid, but it comes at tremendous cost: Half-elf chain look is ugly almost beyond words and Half-elf leather look is mediocre at best. Both Human & Half-elf druids can follow Karana, unmatched amongst EQ dieties in coolness. Karana's only flaw is allowing haffer druids to exist, but they're short and easily overlooked. A Half-elf druid following Karana is, of course, the apotheosis of cool, but you do suffer with a severely downgraded FashionQuest score.

[Chubba]

I have a 36 Druid and haven't found any issues with him being a Human. My wisdom sits at 164 and stamina around 105 at the moment. I still have plenty of items to pick up on him.

Plus I do believe charisma still plays a role in critical failures on a lull, it is nice to have a lull resisted and not pull everything. Not sure how much of a difference the extra charisma makes though in comparison to a Halfling.

[kaev]

Originally Posted by Chubba [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I have a 36 Druid and haven't found any issues with him being a Human. My wisdom sits at 164 and stamina around 105 at the moment. I still have plenty of items to pick up on him.

Plus I do believe charisma still plays a role in critical failures on a lull, it is nice to have a lull resisted and not pull everything. Not sure how much of a difference the extra charisma makes though in comparison to a Halfling.

Harmony does not fail, there are no resist checks and thus no critical failures. Harmony is incredibly OP for easy pulling in outdoor dungeons (indoors you need cleric/paladin/enchanter/bard, preferably with high charisma). All that matters with Harmony, assuming you're outdoors where you can actually cast it, is to have particle effects on so that you have visual confirmation of which mobs were affected by the cast.

As for charisma on a druid, I don't think it is useful other than for vendor prices like everybody else. I'm pretty sure that the druid animal charm spells are not affected by charisma the way enchanter charms are, afaik only relative level & target MR matter.

[Emoteen]

My main is a human druid on red - I loved starting in Qeynos Hills. Starting from scratch you can get 5hp earrings and rings from Qeynos sewers (at level 5 no problem). A lot of good low level money quests (rabid wolves and bears really bring in the low level pp). Not unheard of to get a Blackburrow group - but you can solo just fine. After BB you can do the bandits in WK. By the time you hit 19 you have SoW and invis and can make the run to WC for the teleports and then go where you wish.

[Caridry]

Originally Posted by kaev [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Karana's only flaw is allowing haffer druids to exist, but they're short and easily overlooked.

Originally Posted by Daldaen [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Plus Halflings are horrible.

OMG! [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

You all are horrible horrible people! Our people are noble, and loyal! So what if we eat all your muffins. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Daldaen]

Originally Posted by Yumyums Inmahtumtums [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Half elf is the best looking race in the game in any armor type. Daldaen and Kaev are the sexiest characters on blue.

Confirmed! I must have missed this thread as I was working late last night and stopped forum questing.

As for the comment on CHA - It should impact Lull/Calm Animals. I *think*... I never use the spell anymore since at level 60 I can just faceroll my way through Kedge. I suppose in Chardok it would be useful if you're factioned and you want to help a non factioned person invis down (though you could just start a train). In Velious it may have more applications though.

Harmony is unresistable as mentioned above, it doesn't matter for Harmony. Also as mentioned above, Harmony is extremely OP. Though it is outdoor limited, it trivializes pulling outdoor zones like Mistmoore/CoM/Unrest (Mistmoore and Unrest you should be able to be dubious in Wolf Form also, for super easy pulling).

Half-Elf is awesome for druiding. I never get SoW or port requests on my Druid. In fact I get more Rez requests on my Druid than I do get ports. Plus you look sweet.

In Velious, you will want to be Tunare Diety for the DS Gloves and Root Neck. Gloves have awesome stats and having mana free root without devoting a spell gem to it is very nice too. Plus Halflings are horrible. But Humans can be Tunare as well.

I still suggest Half-Elf. Human is far too boring of a race in a fantasy game.