Next gear for druid and shaman

[bcbrown]

I've got a druid up to 37 and a shaman up to 23, both decently kitted out with newbie gear, and now I'm starting to make enough plat to think about bigger upgrades. What should I look out for next?

I know the proper min-max perspective is to say gear doesn't matter, just start saving up for the expensive stuff like fungi tunic, JBB, Torpor, etc. But I don't expect to play either of these characters much past 50, and I'm certainly never going to raid or spend much time in the endgame. I'd much rather steadily get slightly better gear over time than just bank all my plat for the future.

For the shaman, seems like Silver Chitin Hand Wraps and a Poison Wind Censer are the right upgrades. I have no idea what I should target next for the druid, other than perhaps some jewelry upgrades and something for the Back slot.

Any suggestions? Magelo links in sig.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

For your Shaman you are on the right path. SCHW and Poison Wind Censer will give you the best bang for your buck, aside from the expensive stuff already mentioned.

I don't play druids, so I am not as helpful there. Mana items are always good, and a https://wiki.project1999.com/Luminescent_Staff would help with soloing. 6K is pricey for you, but still cheaper than the expensive Shaman items.

[loramin]

https://wiki.project1999.com/Equipping_a_Shaman and https://wiki.project1999.com/Equipping_a_Druid have a lot of suggestions, but fundamentally if you're doing this:

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

I'd much rather steadily get slightly better gear over time than just bank all my plat for the future.

you are swimming upstream, with the classes you chose at least. That strategy makes much more sense for melee characters.

For both Shaman and Druid (but especially Shaman) all the power comes from "big ticket" items like the JBB, your spells (not just Torpor, but several other high-level ones are expensive too), your epic, etc. If you don't save up for (say) a JBB, you'll notice it's absence ... but I can pretty much guarantee you'll never notice the difference in DPS from a new melee weapon (you'll just kill the mobs 0.01% faster). (Of course, you can't use the JBB until 45, so before then it's obviously not important, and the same is true of epic and spells.)

Druids are less gear dependent, but again "stat gear" (ie. slow/steady upgrades) don't really help them much. For them the big ticket items (which are much cheaper and more attainable) are the Goblin Ghazugi Ring and (at 45) the Luminescent staff.

So look, this is a game and you should have fun, and if acquiring +5 more Wisdom is fun for you, go for it. But if you want to make your character noticeably better in the game, you're going to have to save up, or farm items yourself (the Goblin Ghazugi Ring is even farmable at your level, if you're patient enough).

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

https://wiki.project1999.com/Equipping_a_Shaman and https://wiki.project1999.com/Equipping_a_Druid have a lot of suggestions, but fundamentally if you're doing this:



you are swimming upstream, with the classes you chose at least. That strategy makes much more sense for melee characters.

For both Shaman and Druid (but especially Shaman) all the power comes from "big ticket" items like the JBB, your spells (not just Torpor, but several other high-level ones are expensive too), your epic, etc. If you don't save up for (say) a JBB, you'll notice it's absence ... but I can pretty much guarantee you'll never notice the difference in DPS from a new melee weapon (you'll just kill the mobs 0.01% faster). (Of course, you can't use the JBB until 45, so before then it's obviously not important, and the same is true of epic and spells.)

Druids are less gear dependent, but again "stat gear" (ie. slow/steady upgrades) don't really help them much. For them the big ticket items (which are much cheaper and more attainable) are the Goblin Ghazugi Ring and (at 45) the Luminescent staff.

So look, this is a game and you should have fun, and if acquiring +5 more Wisdom is fun for you, go for it. But if you want to make your character noticeably better in the game, you're going to have to save up, or farm items yourself (the Goblin Ghazugi Ring is even farmable at your level, if you're patient enough).

Silver Chitin Hand Wraps and a Poison Wind Censer are the best way to level from 1-40 as a Shaman. JBB isn't usable until 45, as you say. Shamans are good at melee for a priest class. They have the same weapon skill cap as Warriors from levels 1-50. They make up for not having double attack and the main hand damage bonus by being able to haste and strength buff themselves. Slow tanking and meleeing is superior to root rotting until your 40s, when you need to start fighting level 40 mobs. Level 40+ mobs get a big boost to their AC/HP/Attack, so meleeing becomes a lot less effective for a Shaman. You can just sell the SCHW and Poison Wind Censer when you need to buy JBB. Their prices are already really low, so you aren't going to lose much later on by reselling them.

Once you hit 45 you will be using JBB nonstop if you have it, and you won't be doing melee anymore. The most you will do is have auto attack on, spamming JBB while face tanking mobs. You will get a hit in between JBB casts.

[loramin]

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

Silver Chitin Hand Wraps and a Poison Wind Censer are the best way to level from 1-40 as a Shaman. JBB isn't usable until 45, as you say. Shamans are good at melee for a priest class. They have the same weapon skill cap as Warriors from levels 1-50. They make up for not having double attack and the main hand damage bonus by being able to haste and strength buff themselves. Slow tanking and meleeing is superior to root rotting until your 40s, when you need to start fighting level 40 mobs. Level 40+ mobs get a big boost to their AC/HP/Attack, so meleeing becomes a lot less effective for a Shaman. You can just sell the SCHW and Poison Wind Censer when you need to buy JBB. Their prices are already really low, so you aren't going to lose much later on by reselling them.

Once you hit 45 you will be using JBB nonstop if you have it, and you won't be doing melee anymore. The most you will do is have auto attack on, spamming JBB while face tanking mobs. You will get a hit in between JBB casts.

None of that changes the fact that OP won't notice a difference if they upgrade the gear to get +5 more in a stat, or even if they upgrade their melee weapon. Instead of dying in 50 seconds, the mob will die in 49.4 seconds [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

None of that changes the fact that OP won't notice a difference if they upgrade the gear to get +5 more in a stat, or even if they upgrade their melee weapon. Instead of dying in 50 seconds, the mob will die in 49.4 seconds [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I agree stat pieces are not very relevant 1-40, other than max HP items and some AC.

But meleeing is considerably faster than root/rotting, because you are spending a lot less mana, and not getting hit very hard due to mobs being weaker from 1-39, especially with slow.

[bcbrown]

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

But meleeing is considerably faster than root/rotting, because you are spending a lot less mana, and not getting hit very hard due to mobs being weaker from 1-39, especially with slow.

It's also a lot more interesting to me. Root rotting is sitting around waiting for the mob to die, then sitting around waiting to med up. I'd rather be standing up and swinging a club.

Thanks for both of your perspectives.

[bcbrown]

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

None of that changes the fact that OP won't notice a difference if they upgrade the gear to get +5 more in a stat, or even if they upgrade their melee weapon. Instead of dying in 50 seconds, the mob will die in 49.4 seconds [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

FWIW, I got the poison wind censer and silver chitin hand wraps, and I did notice a difference. How much of that is "I want to believe I made the right choice" and how much of that is "fights are ending faster with fewer deaths and more health remaining", I do not know. I (now) agree that getting +5 more in a stat won't be noticeable.

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

For the druid:

Thanks, added most of these to my list.

Is there any reason not to get a Lumi Staff now? Like, I know I can't use the clickie yet, but the stats look as good/better than the current Smoldering Brand + offhand, and might as well start training up my 2hb now.

And I appreciate the advice, and understand the reasoning, but I'm not going to reroll. Eliahu is the highest level character I've ever had in Everquest, so I'll let him reach his potential, however capped that may be.

[Toxigen]

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

FWIW, I got the poison wind censer and silver chitin hand wraps, and I did notice a difference. How much of that is "I want to believe I made the right choice" and how much of that is "fights are ending faster with fewer deaths and more health remaining", I do not know. I (now) agree that getting +5 more in a stat won't be noticeable.



Thanks, added most of these to my list.

Is there any reason not to get a Lumi Staff now? Like, I know I can't use the clickie yet, but the stats look as good/better than the current Smoldering Brand + offhand, and might as well start training up my 2hb now.

And I appreciate the advice, and understand the reasoning, but I'm not going to reroll. Eliahu is the highest level character I've ever had in Everquest, so I'll let him reach his potential, however capped that may be.

They say Lumi staff is pretty solidly solo plvl for a few levels.

I never bothered. Couldn't pay me to quad. Charming is where its at.

[Byrjun]

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

FWIW, I got the poison wind censer and silver chitin hand wraps, and I did notice a difference. How much of that is "I want to believe I made the right choice" and how much of that is "fights are ending faster with fewer deaths and more health remaining", I do not know.

I think people are generally undervaluing shaman melee in this thread. I've been leveling a shaman recently on green and my melee was still parsing for around 40% of my total solo damage well into my 40s (it was about 40% melee, 40% pet, and 20% from a dot to make sure I was > 50% damage).

The whole pet exp issue hasn't been mentioned yet either even though that's also a pretty big factor while you're leveling. Even with a PWC my 34 pet was often exceeding my damage without a dot, which was why I was parsing in the first place to monitor the whole situation and make sure my pet wasn't nerfing my exp.

The SCHW are pretty good value. If your melee makes up about 40% of your total damage, then the SCHW will increase your total dps by about... 9-10%? In other words, every mob you kill dies about 9-10% faster. That's honestly a lot of free damage every single fight for only 1500 plat.

I started camping ice giants at 44 with banded armor and a PWC. It was doable but some of the fights were way too close for my liking. That's when I bought my SCHW and the results were very noticeable; I was ending each IG fight in a much more comfortable position. These are the kinds of upgrades that let you do camps a bit earlier and you can't get that from a bit of wisdom or HP (although you'll want that stuff eventually since it all adds up).

Now on the topic of root rotting, there's a few problems for shamans:

1) If you don't use your pet you're abandoning most of your dps. This means that you need a way to efficiently root rot multiple enemies at once (aka your epic).

2) If you are using your pet you'll likely need to cast slow anyways so it can survive, unless you're still fighting low level enemies.

3) If you're using the pet then you're still unlikely to out-damage it with your dots alone. You could send the pet in and out while using a parser to make sure it stays just below 50% of your damage, but that's a lot of micromanagement (especially without dot damage reporting).

4) All of your dots (until you get epic) have a root-breaking DD component on cast.

This is why root rotting never feels great to me. At least at 34+ you're almost always better off just face tanking the mob while you either melee it or JBB it.

There are some exceptions but they're rare. One example would be solb imps and elementals in the high 50s. Great spot to root rot for exp, but as I mentioned before you'll need your epic.

Some tools came later that made root rotting more effective for shamans (Virulent Paralysis!) but those won't ever be on P99 unfortunately.