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.

[Jimjam]

But is there a velious plate helm for half elf druids?

[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

[Kutsumo]

Just FYI, with the titanium client human "blindness" is barely noticeable. It's a little bit dimmer than the ultravision classes. No need to regret human b/c of sight, at least.

[B4EQWASCOOL]

I can't imagine a better race than halfling for a first character druid for the xp bonus alone.

[Tuljin]

Human is a fine race for druid. Roll 15 wis and 15 sta for nice balanced stats.

[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.