New, Looking for advice

[Danth]

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

I don't think your post is inconsistent with the rest of the thread, just more optimistic.

I think we're all saying more or less the same thing: The Druid can get the job done as a healer for leveling but has a tougher time doing it than the Cleric, with ultimately a lower ceiling (as a healer). In exchange the Druid gains all the little benefits that make it P1999's most popular class.

Danth

[Sorn]

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

P.S. Never heal the enchanter on charm breaks. 400HP of Chloroblast will barely slow down a charmed pet quadding for 150+ and it won't prevent spell interrupts. A good cleric uses Stun, and a good Druid uses Snare to kite around a bit. If you have a good enchanter, all they need is a few seconds of not getting beat on to get off a Color Skew.

No, I heal because snare won't get me aggro 100% of the time (if the enchanter has had a resist, or otherwise) and my heal will land at 2% HP and let the enc survive another round. I'm also in tight spaces more often than not in these situations, so there's no room for me to kite.

And I'm with Danth. Druids will work in most grouping situations (I have main healed with a monk tank and no mana regen to speak of), but there's ultimately a point where a cleric will let you go way, way farther. I would NEVER have druids as the only healers for most big raid encounters or even most of the smaller ones. But I do think that druids don't get enough credit in the healing arena.

[EdTuBrutus]

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

And I'm with Danth. Druids will work in most grouping situations (I have main healed with a monk tank and no mana regen to speak of), but there's ultimately a point where a cleric will let you go way, way farther. I would NEVER have druids as the only healers for most big raid encounters or even most of the smaller ones. But I do think that druids don't get enough credit in the healing arena.

There is a huge difference between "will work" and "works well". And that's the druid's real problem. In almost all situations it is massively inferior in terms of efficiency in an XP group. And as the consensus of this thread shows, an XP group is pretty much the only time a Druid can main heal.

So in all cases, a group with a Druid healing is taking more risks and being hugely inefficient, levelling more slowly and being more limited in the targets it can attack.

The bottom line is this. The game has significant design issues and the lack of alternative healing to Clerics (against MR mobs) and the lack of alternative group efficient healing to Slow is one of those issues. Slow and CHeal are just ridiculously, incomparably powerful to almost all other spells in the entire game. Druids just don't have any of these tools.

[Poetic]

Not trying to sway your decision, but pm me here if you want a port and help getting whatever you choose to your friends. It will be quick and easy.

[Aesop]

is this a 6 man group?

if not, port your group to a cleric, or port the cleric to your group. or find a shaman, that will work too.

a druid should work for plenty of stuff, but as mentioned fall off in effectiveness at a couple points during leveling.

couple things not mentioned, thorns is good passive (unresistable? never seen anything resist them) dps. druids get a strength buff which can make quite a difference for melee.

you make a lot of things work, I've solo healed a kedge keep group while keeping a seahorse charmed (had an enchanter there, but since i was charming he was mezzing adds and mezzing my pet when it broke, and with his mana regen i was able to keep up with the healing).

I solo healed solB groups, but there was large med breaks at points. Over on red the pop is so low you got to make things work.

At 60 with mask of the hunter and potg mana is great + nature's touch as mentioned.

[SoekiWiz]

Dear all new players,

Project 1999 and any other variations of EverQuest are known to cause addiction. Pixel hoarding, although widely undocumented in the medical field, has been known to have stronger effects than both sugar and heroine combined.

Will power will not save you once the addiction has stricken you.

New? Want some advice?

Delete the game. Run for the fucking hills. Save yourself.

Wanna create a well-rounded group with your broskies?

Tank (War/Pal/Shd)
Heals (Shm/Clr/Dru)
DPS (Rog/Mnk/Enc)
+1 (Rog/Mnk/Enc)
+1 (Dru/Wiz)
+1 Whatever

I've bolded my personal recommendations - I would have honestly gone Cleric over Shaman, but OP says you really don't feel like cleric'ing and I advocate play what you wanna play.

From similar posts, you'll also find that many people recommend you pick up a core class as starting with buddies is great, but inevitably people fall off.

Maybe one of your buddies can be the healer and Cleric if you don't want to do it? Cuz Enc/Clr charm killing duo is beast as fuck. You can slingshot to 60 compared to the other folks if you're duo'ing, or you can find groups very easily.

PS: To help you out with "play what you wanna play" - Don't worry about starting cities. There are plenty of folks who will port you if you ask nicely and enough times to catch someone when not busy. I will do it myself if I am online, my names are below. You can also try /who all Dial for a guild called <Dial A Port> - they're very nice people who do ports and such for CR's for free regularly. I'm sure one of them would be happy to help.