Shamen Vs. Druids as Soloers

[Skope]

There are quite a few downsides to shamans as well. Some to keep note of are:

Lack of ability to split. Root works, sure, but sometimes it just doesn't cut it.

No real DDs. Though you get the 2nd best DoTs in the game (behind necros), sometimes certain mobs require a "kill it with fire!" type of strategy. You're built for efficiency, thus a caster mob can and will tear you in half.

No real stuns. Bash works, but there is no stun that you can cast. It can be supplemented by things like equipping a howling harpoon.

Expensive! you will see a large disparity between a poorly equipped shammies ability to solo and one that's very well equipped. in full rune-etched, black saph and a barb spiritist's hammer i can kill seafuries non-stop for a whole hour until i need to rebuff myself. The mana return on cannibalize and rage/chloro means I don't have to med to rechloro, haste or slow any mobs i encounter. In both hate and fear i can off-tank pretty much any trash mob in the plane. At 230 dex, it's actually more efficient killing furies than killing them with a necro (though not a mage).

come kunark/velious, shamans have great efficiency, but it comes at the cost of speed. Your battles will be drawn-out in order to maintain that great efficiency.

On the plus side:

They have the most efficient mana return in the game. Unlike necros, they can actually cast their mana regen spells with a clarity>KEI.

They have the best regen in the game due to spells/items available to them.

2nd best DoTs, only behind necros. With a pet and decent melee proc items they can do a decent amount of damage while melee'ing.

Best debuffs/buffs in the game, by far. Shamans get the best malise, best slow and great weakens, allowing a shaman to melee a summoning mob down while still maintaining efficiency.


Druids are better at soloing outdoors. They also have the ability to quad, which boosts their efficiency tremendously. Snare is a safer spell than root (in particular shammy root) when dealing with adds, and harmony is second to none.

if it's your first character, i'd suggest going druid.

[Tork]

I don't really have a dog in the fight, but '30 seconds to a minute a most' downtime for soloing sounds like a parody of an MMO to me - different perceptions I guess.

I like that EQ is hard, and that classes are profoundly different - I dislike how many MMOs feel like single player games with an over abundance of poorly named, scripted and AI'd mobs.

[Estu]

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

I don't really have a dog in the fight, but '30 seconds to a minute a most' downtime for soloing sounds like a parody of an MMO to me - different perceptions I guess.

I like that EQ is hard, and that classes are profoundly different - I dislike how many MMOs feel like single player games with an over abundance of poorly named, scripted and AI'd mobs.

There's a difference between actual difficulty and sitting for 10 minutes doing nothing. It's a thoroughly stupid mechanic. EQ has ups over WoW in real difficulty, but huge downtimes are pointless - again, unless they're meant to force you to group, but a druid presumably is supposed to be able to solo. And really, I don't see how WoW mob AIs are worse than EQ mob AIs.

[Itchybottom]

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

There's a difference between actual difficulty and sitting for 10 minutes doing nothing. It's a thoroughly stupid mechanic. EQ has ups over WoW in real difficulty, but huge downtimes are pointless - again, unless they're meant to force you to group, but a druid presumably is supposed to be able to solo. And really, I don't see how WoW mob AIs are worse than EQ mob AIs.

I've given up on reasoning with most of the EQ > WoW crowd.

Back to the thread through, shaman can definitely handle dungeons better than a druid. I found myself relying on my warden symbol of Tunare in dungeons, because all of my mana was spent on root rotting stuff that'd kill me if it got in range (even kobold shamans, in SoldungB for example.) My shaman friends however, just sicked dogdog on whatever, slowed the mob, and walked up and started beating the crap out of it with his Gardash occasionally re-applying ebolt. It continued like that all the way through Luclin in Maiden's Eye. I was stuck kiting crap, my shaman friend was always right in the thick of it. Shamans can afford more mistakes.

[purist]

To the OP who said something about Shaman soloing being more "pleasant" than Druids. There's nothing pleasant about having a DoT that costs 15-20% of your mana pool get resisted two-three times in a row, or having a root break after 0.5 seconds after landing. And then watching a Mage waltz into your camp and dominate it without breaking a sweat. Expect to be frustrated, especially 'till 34. There's no pleasantry to be had here.

[Rael]

Shamans are KOS?

[Estu]

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

Shamans are KOS?

Ogres are.

[Tetrian]

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

I've given up on reasoning with most of the EQ > WoW crowd.

Back to the thread through, shaman can definitely handle dungeons better than a druid. I found myself relying on my warden symbol of Tunare in dungeons, because all of my mana was spent on root rotting stuff that'd kill me if it got in range (even kobold shamans, in SoldungB for example.) My shaman friends however, just sicked dogdog on whatever, slowed the mob, and walked up and started beating the crap out of it with his Gardash occasionally re-applying ebolt. It continued like that all the way through Luclin in Maiden's Eye. I was stuck kiting crap, my shaman friend was always right in the thick of it. Shamans can afford more mistakes.

Considered boosting your AC and getting a fungi tunic instead of going for the standard 200 wis and + mana deal? - The only time you need the wisdom and mana is when you fill the bar prior to a kite or similar. This game is all about the mana/health regen and damage mitigation especially in dungeons. Most druids in live never got that memo.

Dont get me wrong, i'm not saying that shamans dont have a safer margain when it comes to bad luck on ressists simply due to slow, but i'd wager a bet that a druid can manage any encounter a shaman can do, with the right gear and gimmic items present.

Most druids in EQ played like retards on live. When in fact the class, with the right gear, is close to ideal for almost any solo encounter, indoors and out.

Druids are the pretty much the most versatile and powerfull class in this game, especially after kunark - Sure shamans do have a small edge on em straight up due to slow/canni but they also have some down sides, One of them is that they get to walk for it - A druid who fails at something is only a few minutes away from another go.

Another thing is ressists on dots. Druid dots are extremely effective both ratio and ressist wise. Same goes for damage shields. If potion stacked they rape face.


-Tetrian

[Darkath]

Hey everyone!

I've been following this and other discussions related to the Shaman as of late, and the class seems quite interesting to me. I wanted to know how realistic is to play the class as a melee class which could take in hits, dishes out damage with melee attacks and spells.

I had thought at first that probably the Sk or the Pally would suit this play style better, so I picked a Troll SK. I quickly found that is was simply impossible to keep up with the damage of mobs or that they just took to long to die, damaging me too much in the process.

My characters are measly geared (I've tried like 3 classes, none of them made it past lvl 14 :P) so I'm not really in a position to twink out a shammy. Give this situation, will I be able to play the shammy as I want to? Or does it really need to be very twinked for him to melee/cast mobs down?

[Skope]

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

Hey everyone!

I've been following this and other discussions related to the Shaman as of late, and the class seems quite interesting to me. I wanted to know how realistic is to play the class as a melee class which could take in hits, dishes out damage with melee attacks and spells.

I had thought at first that probably the Sk or the Pally would suit this play style better, so I picked a Troll SK. I quickly found that is was simply impossible to keep up with the damage of mobs or that they just took to long to die, damaging me too much in the process.

My characters are measly geared (I've tried like 3 classes, none of them made it past lvl 14 :P) so I'm not really in a position to twink out a shammy. Give this situation, will I be able to play the shammy as I want to? Or does it really need to be very twinked for him to melee/cast mobs down?

You'd probably need to be twinked well at early levels to melee down mobs. At lvl 39 you get togor's insects which helps mitigate the damage you take. As you get higher in level it gets progressively harder to tank mobs as a shaman if you aren't geared for it.

Is it possible? Absolutely. By the time you reach level 50 you will have time to farm some gear and perhaps pick up some rune etched and it will make your life incredibly easier.