Ok so I posted on the new player forums about some questions and mentioned I was looking at ranger but after a few days of thinking I really don't want to play a melee. My heart is in casting. When I played YEARS ago I played a druid and loved it. I love SoW and teleporting and quadkiting and lots of other things. I also loved playing a Wizard simply because of the huge burst DPS but then we had the long mana downtime. My questions are: 1) Which solo's better to end game? 2) Which are more sought after in groups? 3) Which are more sought after in Raids? 4) Are wizards significantly higher DPS like in the old days? Druids even close? I know Druids used a few DoTs as well as nuking and Wizards were just simple DPS burst. 5) Is one a lot harder to grasp then the other as far as a player returning after 15 years away? I know mages were better before and Necro's were the best soloers but I just can't bring myselg to play them LOL
1. Gonna differ this question, as kiting is a bit harder in the latest expansion, and I'm not sure what setups are working well with that in mind. 2. They both are. DPS classes are usually more interchangeable than healers, but I don't think you'll have issues getting groups on either toon. 3. Probably Wizards, at least this expansion. 4. Wizards are significantly higher DPS than Druids, yeah. Druid DPS isn't terrible by any means considering they're a priest, but Wizard DPS is much, much higher. 5. I personally think the basics of playing a Wizard are easier to get down than most other classes. I think all classes take a lot of skill to get to their full potential, but IMO Wizards have less of a learning curve to get to a decent portion of their potential. With Druids you have DPS, healing, and utility, which can be more complicated to get down as far as basics go.
Just a thought in helping you make your decision.... if your a druid, most people are going to expect you to heal in groups. If your a wizard they're gonna expect you to dps. Yes, you can dps.. but that's usually not what you'll end up doing. Now friends will let you dps, while someone else heals.. but raid guilds are gonna expect you to heal groups too. so if you wanna heal? be a druid. If you wanna dps? Be a wizard.
Yeah I always forget that. I don't mind healing occasionally but... Yep Wizard it is...but I'll miss SoW =(
Nobody solo's anymore. Everybody uses mercs ('moloing'). Neither of the 2 classes is really good at moloing in the current top content because too many mobs summon and are immune to snare/root. In the few places where mobs don't summon, Wizard will kill a lot faster than Druid. Wizard. Wizard, by far. 'Significantly' doesn't begin to describe it. It's probably harder to learn how to play a good Druid than a good Wizard, because Druid has more different roles to learn.
I dunno about when you played, but wizards used to be weak a long time ago. But currently they are one, if not the, undisputed best dps class in the game. Best on burst, and great on sustained. The sow thing is kinda irrelevant, since u should get a fast mount as soon as ur able... and keep yo butt in that saddle whenever u can, since it counts as meditating in regards to mana regen
the ~10 mana per tick you get from being on a mount is really just a drop in the ocean , especially 96+ when you start getting harvest refreshes. in any situation where kiting might even be possible, being on a mount don't worth the loss of mobility.
I picked the Druid for my 3 box over the wizard , main reason druid can heal my pet when merc dies Wiz cant ...I have many alts but I am liking the new box combo I have made , Mage my main , Enc main alt and the new Druid , getting around EQ has never been so fast , Druid can heal targets target with there nukes and that's a nice bonus IMO 1) Which solo's better to end game? (Druid is better can be healer or DPS) 2) Which are more sought after in groups? (Druid) 3) Which are more sought after in Raids? (Druid) 4) Are wizards significantly higher DPS like in the old days? Druids even close? I know Druids used a few DoTs as well as nuking and Wizards were just simple DPS burst. (Wiz higher DPS) 5) Is one a lot harder to grasp then the other as far as a player returning after 15 years away? ( Druid is harder they have more going on Heals Nukes Dots ) Yimin
Wizards solo better than druids when we are talking kiting....they have better damage output and better mana recovery. That being said, both work fine for grinding and both stink at trying to take summoning mobs alone. Wizards are more sought after for groups because everyone and their brother has a merc healer (don't get me wrong....I'll take a good druid any day in my group but I would say wizards are more sought after). Wizards are very wanted on raids, much more so than druids unless the guild in question just needs healers in a bad bad way.
I'd say the best for grouping and raiding is probably wiz although just because you are max level doesn't mean you are good The most sought after is probably druid
I was kiting around on mounts from lev 50-ish to 100 in outdoor zones. Not sure if wizard can stretch mana better than mage but I notice a huge difference mounted vs being in air elemental form, even now at lv 103, and I would kill for even a +5mr bonus, much less +10. But then again, I often forget to /sit indoors and mount glide can be offset with right click mouselook
Wizards mana recovery is much higher than a Magician's. They have a gather AA along with their spell gather and I believe occasionally it will refresh from a claw proc, not 100% sure on the claw thing, I know it can cast twincast though! Lucky SoBs!
Just gonna be honest here, I cannot remember the last time I was looking for one more group member and thought "Let's try to find a druid." I can remember the last time I said "Get a wizard for the last spot, we need some real dps." Maybe because I'm an enchanter I am biased, but with the advent of merc clerics, waiting around for a healer to show up doesn't happen anymore. I'll take a healer in my guild LFG anytime over a merc.. but if I have to choose between a pickup healer that I don't know or have never heard of, and a pick up wizard.. the odds of the wizard killing me because he doesn't know his class are slimmer as well. Just more food for thought.
Druids have a nifty wide tool set. Problem is to balance that, their tools are fairly inferior to the pure more focused classes. Druids are far behind clerics in healing, what with multi spam healing, and to be honest situationally behind shaman and occasionally paladins. We do maybe 20~35% wizzie dps when we are actually doing mostly DPS over heal and util. Wizzies are dern good DPS, mostly uncomplicated. You can build a 2 button wizzie and perform okay. Wizzies are wanted in group and raid a lot, plus they can stand outside of a lot of AE mechanics. I love my druid, I love being a good skilled healer, the guy people bug for skin, the guy who vines the dang mob unless some probie marks it undead. I will never be great dps, but I can do just about everything. Mugs
I can't get close to the damage output of a wizard, it's not even fair to try comparing us. We can both kill any kitable mob, and druid ae kiting is actually pretty good. But thanks to TDS zone design and the 101+ exp nerf, that gets a lot worse once we hit 101. For killing summoners, we both use a clr merc and face tanking. Wizards have the advantage there, too. Shield of Fate, runes, (and stuns?) plus higher dps means they're in less danger for a shorter period of time. Sure I have self healing, but I have to stay alive for 2-4 times longer, and healing myself isn't doing any damage.
I do in fact raid TDS all done , and here is the thing with out healers there is no raid or did I need too tell you that ... Any good guild with intelligent officers will have a lot of different Dps classes , ... Or am I too assume you only think wiz can DPS ? Dps class easy too find for raiding IMO , healers much harder to come by ... Yimin
