Advice for a newbie Druid

[BlackBellamy]

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

Play whatever you like. Pally, Druid whatever. You can still get to do end game and remember to enjoy the journey!

Yeah, see Kaluppo's sig, that's an example of playing what you like. He likes to be able to heal, he likes that archetype, he's got 2 topped out and 2 on the way. I'm sure at one point someone told him druids weren't welcome on raids, clerics were boring to play, paladins couldn't hold aggro, and rangers were gimped.

Kaluppo 60 Wood Elf Druid
Norezferu 60 High Elf Cleric
Hulkthor 20 Dwarf Paladin
Gavallin 23 Wood Elf Ranger

[Chryorn]

If you don't know the end game, don't choose your class purely on its value for the end game. End game can be fun and it can be terrible and frustrating. Sitting around for hours waiting - for the mob to spawn, for the raid force to assemble, after a wipe until all corpses are recovered and buffed for another go...

Depending on the class it can be very boring. For me as a cleric the big fights are not much fun: Starring at a wall to reduce lag as much as possible, standing up in coordination with the other clerics to cast my Complete Heal, maybe use a mod rod or ask for a twitch from a necro.

Since you are new to EverQuest you shouldn't focus on the end game. The paladin is a good choice if you enjoy tanking, pulling, wielding the big sword and standing face to face with the mob. - Especially in Classic.

The druid is a great choice to get around and really explore the game. Less gear dependent than the paladin but much better at accumulating the money to buy gear.
The druid can be a lot of fun due to the versatility, lots of different play styles.
The best XP when soloing is charm killing. Charming takes a bit of practice and experience. A druid is the best class for learning it: With sow and snare it is comparatively safe. Usually a druid can outrun a mistake or just bad luck that kill a new enchanter or necromancer without sow or jboots.

[NegaStoat]

To answer the OP - either Wood Elf or Halfling are top choice for druids. Wood Elf has access to certain Velious item options that the halfling can't score, and also has the Tunare initiate symbol quests later on in the server life. However, Halflings have Sneak which is super useful in using vendors that normally hate your guts, as well as some difficult area navigation. It's also good for doing a quest turn-in if all you need is Indifferent faction.

Folks usually dump everything into Wisdom and the last 5 points into Stamina, although I'd argue in the case of the Halfling to go with the last 5 in Charisma as they're strong enough already. Go ahead and roll the character, play it, level it, and take a break once it reaches level 20. At that point you have self ports to the 3 basic continents, can bind and gate to use with those ports, and have Tracking. The level 20 druid all by itself with what it offers is very strong for its utility and isn't a waste of time at all.

During your break, take a really hard look at what it is in Everquest that you enjoy playing in terms of fighting, or healing, or whatever. Make a gut call and either continue with the Druid or go for what you think you really want to play. Sometimes it's hard to make a choice on the character select screen and then stick with that choice, cold turkey. Playing the Druid to 20 will at least let you get a feel for the game environment, what the other players are up to, etc.