limited funds - which spells are essential?

[Dural_Levant]

I am only a lvl. 6 Druid, but I scoped out the price of my level 9 and 14 spells. I will not be able to afford them all when I reach those levels so I need to know which spells are considered "essential" and make sure to save up for those first.

The spells with an asterisks before them are spells I am already sure of that I need to get.

-Level 9-
Endure Cold
Enduring Breath
Firefist
Ignite
Invisibility versus Animals
*Light Healing
Shield of Thistles
Starshine
Strength of Earth
Thistlecoat
Treeform

-Level 14-
Befriend Animal
*Bind Affinity
Cascade of Hail
Expulse Summoned
Halo of Light
Invigor
Levitate
See Invisible
Skin Like Rock
*Spirit of Wolf
Stinging Swarm
Summon Drink
Summon Food

[Neon Archie]

Can probably skip Starshine and Halo of Light, these are spells that generate light sources which you may not need if you have infravision naturally.

Would skip Summon food / drink. Bind Forage to a command key like "A" and never run out of food/drink.

Would for sure get these type spells as priority:
Movement enhancers
Direct Damage
Heals
Thorn Coats
"Skin Like" line

Then get:
Endure lines
Animal charm / invis

The first 15 or so levels it can be a challenge to get all the spells when you ding. After that though you should start making enough coin to go back and buy the ones you missed, and it won't be an issue getting them all going forward

[Danth]

Level 9 you want Ignite and Light Healing as your two largest immediate priorities. Invis to Animals has use (in conjunction with charming, mostly) later on, but not right at level 9. Strength of Earth is used if you find yourself getting encumbered but you can live without it for awhile if need be. Enduring Breath also classifies as a spell you'll eventually want but won't need right away. In the case of the "endure" resist buffs and the damage shields (both self and targetable) there's a fair chance you'll buy later-level upgrades before you even use them. Firefist is pointless and Treeform doesn't get much use other than as a joke past level 14 because it strips off run-speed buffs.

For level 14 you should buy Spirit of Wolf, Levitate, Bind Affinity, Skin like Rock. Summon Food and Summon Drink are rarely used, but nice when you need them (typically when on corpse run) and very cheap. Stinging Swarm may see use if you root-dot stuff, contingent on playstyle. Befriend Animal has obvious critical use for Druids who wish to charm. I like to keep See Invisible up at all times on P1999 because I don't trust other players very much, but it's hardly ever needed for actual PvE gameplay. Anti-summoned spells and area effect damage spells can be largely ignored at this level--you'll have upgrades available before you ever need to use them. Invigor presently serves little purpose on P99 ; you can go back and buy it later if a future patch ever makes it more useful.

Danth

[DMN]

Might be a good idea to mention you plan to be duoing with a warrior primarily.

Treeform is actually quite powerful and underrated at this level range, especially if not soloing and you can have someone else pull the mobs to you. You might consider setting it up so the druid is tanking with a thorn shield up for these levels if you can effectively utilize treeform.

Weapons are also sometimes more important at those low levels. If the both of you had a 2h fine steel staff/sword, that might be far more useful investment at those levels for the plat investment(you should still certainly buy the ones you have asterisks on though-- you might be able to hold off awhile on bind depending on your location). Find someone killing guards and offer to buy one of them for a plat or 2 more than they'd vendor them for. Or if near qeynos you can do the bloodforge hammer quest. Not so great until level 10 due to the damage cap though. But they would certainly help out going after wisps early and if the lightstone quest it is, it would be a great source of early plat.

[pivo]

You didn't ask this, but I will mention anyway. Money. I'm Druid lvl 12, when I bought my lvl9 spells, I had money left over for at least lvl14 spells if not next rank also. I'm pretty sure I already have lvl 19 spell covered also.

Where did you start? I started in Greater Faydark, lots of skeletons, especially in next noob zone in front of Kaladim, (or also neighbor (beginner) zone in Steamfont Mountains) i sold few stacks of bone chips. Players are buying them for leveling up fast. Got 10 platina per stack.

Then north part of GF are Orc tents/camps. You can start farming them solo I think at level 7? Earlier if in group. Belts drop after every 3rd or 4th monster. 2 platina per belt. Players are buying them for faster leveling. In few hours of playing you have all bags full of belts. 25 belts - 50 platina!

At lvl 8 or 9 you go into next zone which is full of these orcs. At level 11 you can also farm in nearby zone Steamfont Mountains (Gnome starting area) Minotaurs. They drop axe that vendors buy for 3 platina. Plus some gems. Some sells well. (although Orc are more profitable, but sometimes is there just too crowded)

If you are in some other area, check treasury hunting guide:

http://wiki.project1999.com/Treasure_Hunting_Guide

You should have plenty of money for spells. That being said, I'm glad you asked this question. In my case, problem is not money, but what to put in those limited slots. I keep gate always, escape route, sometimes they stun/interrupt you, you need gasping roots first, so you can move away enough, to cast the escape gate. You need snare to stop monsters running away (and pull in others) when they are just about to die. At lvl9 you have 3 shield spells. I can use only two, no enough gem slots. Plus one nuke (ignite) and heal.

In my case big problem are available slots and knowing which spells are essential is really the most important thing.

I have similar levels magician and Necromancer and all gem slots are not even filled up with them, for this reason I like those two toons much better.

After lvl14 you will get superb spells everyone will be asking you to buff them, Speed of Wolf (faster movement) And one more I think? Well the best Skin shield is also very wanted. So you will have those gems populated just so you can fulfill demand. Add gate, root, snare.... that spell that calms others down when you attack group of 2-3-4 so only one attacks you, this one is also essential or you can't break the groups, (edit; spell name: Harmony) and you will looks like constantly adding/removing spells on your spell bar. I'm already doing this at lvl12 and it is starting to become annoying to me.

I hope at some point in the future I can stick with one spell bar combination, or I may start playing Druid less and less. I want to play not keep messing with the spells on a spell bar.

Someone tell me, it gets better later down the road ;-)

[sacman08]

At level 9 you want Ignite and Invis vs Animal. Str, Firefist and Enduring breath are nice to haves later when you get more money.
At 14 you want Befriend Animal, Skin like Rock and Stinging swarm. Skip the whole Dismiss Summoned line of spells, they are absolute waste of money. You will only use summon food and drink if you chose Halfelf or Human druid. The rest can wait until money permits.

Money makers at your level are High Quality Bear skins and cat pelts for tailors. Lightstones sell well when you can do wisps. Do lowbie quests like bard mail and belt turn in for money and gear.

[unleashedd]

treeform is a gamechanger at such low level. you need to find a spot where you can pull a few mobs from so you dont need to recast treeform. the regen on it seemed very useful - went to lfay sisters at lvl12 to solo. treeform, thorns, snare, dot, melee. allowed me to keep all 4 sisters down with very little downtime (rng permitting). been buying all spells ever since [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Tywulf]

[QUOTE=Dural_Levant;3129780]

The spells with an asterisks before them are spells I am already sure of that I need to get.

-Level 9-
Firefist
Ignite
*Light Healing
Shield of Thistles
Strength of Earth
Thistlecoat

-Level 14-
*Bind Affinity
Expulse Summoned
Levitate
See Invisible
Skin Like Rock
*Spirit of Wolf
Stinging Swarm
/QUOTE]

Those are what I would consider "essential" spells to buy when you're tight on funds, with a few caveats depending on playstyle.

Don't plan to melee at all.. like you've got a doll or a book in your hands? Skip Firefist, it's self only.

See Invis and Levitate are useful but not entirely necessary, with Lev being the more useful of the two. Takes batwings to cast but makes running thru Everfrost, Lavastorm, Lk Rathe, Feerrott and the like much easier. See Invis makes those pesky Air Elementals show up, and there are a few of those in Najena and other spots.

If you play primarily a healer role in a group setting, know that Skin like, Strength of, Shield of and xxcoat are your friends, plus every Heal and Regen spell you get. We don't heal so great until later so get the whole bag of tricks there. Also in this instance nukes and DoT's are last in priority, you want them but you want the other stuff first if a choice has to be made.

[Guesty07]

Get tree form, HP buff, STR buff and damage shield, go to minatour camp in steamfont or sisterscamp in faydark and just let the mobs melt on your damage shield while you melee in tree form