Are Druids Useless for Groups and Raids?

[baub]

Druids are like my little brother when it came to playing contra or mario. He had a controller, it just wasn't plugged in.

[Overweight]

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

Druids are like my little brother when it came to playing contra or mario. He had a controller, it just wasn't plugged in.

This made me LOL lots...... well said sir. We're all guilty of doing this LOL.

[Snaggles]

If your cleric is running LOM your group is under-geared/leveled for the camp or someone is doing something very wrong.

If a druid is in the same group as a cleric his/her hands better be bright red with flames constantly. Same goes to any other caster dps. If not it's akin to a melee arming himself with splintered clubs to raise 1hb.*

* Unless the druid is chain pulling with harmony as mentioned.

[Atmas]

To the OP: Play what you want to play. What is the point of going through 60 levels on a class you don't enjoy?

Druids can solo well and people in game aren't as picky about group members as it sounds based on the forums. Not that people aren't selective when there is one spot and 3 people lfg but really you don't need to worry about it so much.

When it gets to raid time people need DPS and patch heals. Lastly the game, not the players, decides what loot drops.

[Handull]

Some good points were made.

Play what you want, but here is what I like about a high end druid (56 currently)

-Once you hit 46 and get a lumi staff you can solo to 49 super fast. From 49 to 60 you can solo quickly without much gear at all.
-you can port around all you want, without having to find a porter
-camping most gear is pretty easy
-While you aren't the 'best' for a min/max super group, you can duo/trio really well with other classes (duo'ed with a war in the basement of KC the other day, trio'ed with a monk+tank in HS, etc)

You can do a lot on raids:
-No shaman? you can cover melee str buffs
-Do some back up healing once in a while to help out
-Necro wants to litch more? hit him with skin+regen
-Clerics need to save mana? you can give melees, offtanks, and chanters hp/ac/regen buff all in one
-Things get out of hand? throw down some quick roots for CC and snares to start kiting and grab agro fast
-Want to pull? Go for it! With harmo and sow/wolf you can fairly easily pull hate and fear (but expect to die before you wipe your raid)
-hate/fear/sky are also outdoor zones, so you get to use all your spells, including the mana regen ones that you can't use in high level dungeons like seb
-Want to dps like a champ? charm a rat or ape (hate/fear) and you can easily become the exp group
-need to deal with real life for a sec? nuke away until oom and the raid can go on and no one will really miss you too much

I've been doing all of these things and its super fun, imo

if you try it out and don't find it fun, then try something else. i rolled a monk alt cause i really enjoy pulling, though in some situations knowing what and how to pull is more important than what class you play. have fun.

[Hamahakki]

Druids are far from useless but in general they aren't one of the better classes for exp grouping.

Druids are a versatile class with lots of strengths, the main ones are:

- Druids are early bloomers; they are quite strong below about level 35. Thorns especially are very powerful at lower levels. From 35-60, shamans, clerics and melee classes improve a lot more than druids do.
- Druids are so versatile there is always SOMETHING you can do. You aren't the best at healing, dps, or CC but you can do it. Any group can put a druid to good use, unlike say an enchanter which is not very useful in a group that already has an enchanter.
- Porting is a legitimately strong exp group ability. Putting together your own group is easier for a druid than most other classes because you can pick people up. Some classes might do more damage in the 6th group spot than a druid, but that doesn't matter if the group never gets off the ground. Evac is a useful ability too. Some dungeons require ports (hole, HS).
- In areas where charming is possible, your DPS can be extremely high.

- You can always solo, druids are great at it.

[Snaggles]

Groups are traditional and unorthodox. Some odd combos are done to spice up the game or out of necessity. If people aren't dying an exp/loot is flowing the druids role isn't important. You will get plenty of them because healers are less plentiful than dps (and Nature's Touch is badass in Velious).

Raids are different. You have a couple roles as does everyone else. You wont deviate from the leaders plan. No raid will be without a shaman or a cleric will be saving mana, lol. People will get prime buffs from all and many guilds will symbol everyone on final encounters. A druid will be healing/buffing and the only nukes that will get thrown will be occasional debuffs. Anything else (even charming) is a distraction and waste of mana.

Your heals benefit the raid more than your damage because dps and usually offtanks won't be getting cleric heals. On anything but blue cons you will never keep up with melees in dps (even Rangers) let alone the rogues and monks. Wizards dps because they are designed to.

Your experience/guild may vary but this seems the general standard for any raid that isn't trivial. Your role isn't less important because your babysitting rogues...they can't always stay alive by themselves.

[pickled_heretic]

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

Anything else (even charming) is a distraction and waste of mana.

this is nonsense btw. charming is the best dps in the game if you can get it organized at a raid level. and is a great way for druids to contribute to a raid.

[Daldaen]

For groups druids *generally* aren't picked because another class can do it 'better'.

A Great druid can:
They can pull better than a mediocre monk.
CC better than a mediocre enchanter and a good bard (great bards still are better)
Heal better than a shaman pre torpor
Mitigate caster damage through Resist buffs
Regen a group to greatly reduce healing require (19 regen with Regrowth+Natureskin every 6 seconds lasting 15minutes adds up.)
DS a tank or an entire group to add nice passive/aggro free DPS
DPS in burst decently well
CHARM <3.

There are very few roles a great druid can't fill, aside from tank/slower basically, they can do almost everything else. And in Velious we get ATK debuffs which count as a pseudo 'slow' as it is passive DPS reduction.

I've been main heal, puller and CC in a basement KC group for probably 6-8 hours straight killing. So druids can get groups and do stuff, but you generally aren't picked for groups unless you are known as a skilled druid by a guildmate, friend, etc. But if you start em you can do pretty well. You won't be getting groups in Crypt or Spore King generally speaking by just putting up LFG. As those camps are usually optimized with the 'best' group setup as they are extremely lucrative and they have their pick of the lot (in terms of LFG people). But you can start groups for em.

[Taluvill]

Biggest thing is to mold yourself to the group's role/needs. If you have to heal, you have to be flexible and put your cleric hat on. If you have to dps, get your wizard hat out, etc, etc. A lot of it is just being flexible.

I charmed monkeys in Fear right when it came out. It's definitely a legit strategy, but while a monkey with full shaman buffs and druid haste can tank or just kill everything like a boss, when charm breaks, its really, really bad.

Edit: The problem with a druid charming is it is not as reliable as a chanter, even when you hit that 230-250 Cha mark. The only time that its good for a druid to charm is when you have a very, very stable group or raid, and at that point, you'd just have the chanter charm.