Leveling druids post nerfs

[Rimson]

My main (Only level 26) has been a Druid since I learned about this server last summer. I have extremely limited time to play and decided druid because it was a class that had SoW and could solo which is extremely important for me in my time schedule. Every once in a while I can have enough time for a good group but most of the time I have about an hour to play. I stopped playing around November or so to wait for Kunark so I could enjoy the zones I (mostly) played in during my live EQ times.

I come back to Kunark and realize my DS has been nerfed, my DOTs are no longer stackable (I can only use 2 of my 3 DOT lines), and the damage of my DOTs to be nerfed as well. Trying to solo only leads to me burning almost a whole mana bar on one mob while pre nerf I could easily take 2-3 before a big med break.

Is Druid soloing pre level 34 (quadding) pretty much dead? I would hate to have to reroll as I have many no drop items (Pegasus Feather Cloak, Testament of Vanear, Tainted Battleworn Morning Star, etc). I know I can group but again I don't feel right joining a group only to leave an hour later with my limited play time.

Just at a loss at how I should continue or if I should just give up and reroll a shaman or something. Have any druids have success soloing pre 34? Please don't flame, I realize that the nerfs were classic but I just don't know how to play my class anymore.

[Alawen Everywhere]

Just use your Creeping Crud spell. It's by far your most mana-efficient damage. Don't bother to root if it's breaking too often. Stick your snare, then the dot, then run off and med kite. I'm trying to remember what I killed at level 26. It might have been spiders in EK or mammoths in Everfrost or maybe gnolls in SK.

I think there's a mistake in the resists on the magic line dots--they should resist about .01% or so. Hopefully it'll be fixed soon. Good luck!

[Messianic]

Get used to using Druid charm. CHA is no longer critical for it to work.

EF Mammoths are definitely great for your level. Crag spiders are good until 27/28 i think...

[Rimson]

Ok thanks for the advice guys. Is there a guide to charming anywhere? Never played a class in live with any type of charm.

[Jigga]

So none of the druid mr dots stack now? Anything stack with WD? I thought on live all that stuff stacked or did it get changed eventually?

[Gnar]

Guide:

1. Buy spell
2. Mem spell
3. Cast spell
4. Do not duck during casting of spell

[Daldaen]

Learn2charm.

EF Mammoths 20-25~
Overthere rhinos/cocks/lions 25-30~
Kedge Keep 30-50
Timorous Raptors 50-55

[Messianic]

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

Ok thanks for the advice guys. Is there a guide to charming anywhere? Never played a class in live with any type of charm.

Search the forums a bit - I know Alawen and others have discussed how good it is and how they used it. But essentially, keep your distance and be ready to snare either mob if charm breaks. Remember that you need to personally do at least 1 damage to a mob to get 100% exp (a level 1 nuke works). If your pet does all dmg, he steals a vast majority of the exp.

[moklianne]

Charm kiting was the best xp for a Druid without a doubt, until they nerfed it in PoP.

Snare mob
use tunare's (animal -MR)
charm mob
attack same mob type with pet
when pet hits 15% invis to break charm
snare healthy mob
use tunare's
charm healthy mob
attack nearly dead mob

This was of course the way to do it after they nerfed the dps of charmed pets. I believe that happened around the same time of the xp nerf in PoP though.
Straight up charming and pet hasting may be enough to kill a mob right now.

[Ardenya]

I've been charming frogs in PoS but never in classic so I cant advise you where to go to but this is how it works.

Find an animal and snare it. Always keep your charmed mob snared as you dont want to have a beefed, angry monster running towards at full speed you when charm breaks. Always re-snare at charm break! Pull him to a safe area where you set up your camp. Charm it and put it on guard. Next, buff it with STR and a DS. This will give it an edge against the mob it will be killing.

Now you can go ahead and pull another mob. Get it back to your camp, root it and sic the charmed mob on it. Throw a DoT, gain some distance to have time to react in case charm breaks. As someone has said, you'll need to make damage to get full exp.

I'd advise you to keep the non-charmed mob rooted so you'll have to deal only with your ex-pet should charm break but thats not necessary if you find it to be a mana drain.

As your pet kills the mob its been fighting your next move depends on how many HP it's got left. As you had it buffed up before pulling the other, it should have enough HP to be able to take on another without dying. In that case pull the next mob, have you your pet kill it.

Should your pet have only little HP left, break charm using either invis or hide and take it out. At best, it'll have about 5% left and will be an easy kill but still grant full exp. Whatever happens, you dont want your pet to die to the other mob as you'd lose out on easy exp.

So to sum it up:
1. Get a mob, snare, charm, buff; resnare on charm break!
2. Get another for your pet to fight, root, DoT
3. Break charm, finish off your ex-pet
4. Profit!

It takes some training to be able to pull it off smoothly but its definitly more fun than your usual root/rot. You can play around with pet buffs to see which works best, giving your pet the necessary edge. You'll might even throw a small heal now and then to make sure it survives the fight.