Back in 2013, Druid survivability was an issue. We have no AC, no Runes, no Pet; really no way to defend ourselves. So the devs added a very good Fade ability and a 2nd life that really went a long way to keeping us alive. Well, two years later, those two abilities have been nerfed almost to uselessness and our AC, Pet, Rune, and basic defensive ability is still broken. I think I've had one 2nd life fire in my last 12 deaths and I've forgotten fade even exists (it seems to clear aggro for about 1 second, and I'm rarely if ever on rampage). Any thoughts? 1) Fix AC 2) Make Swarm of Fireflies useful? (also make it work while stunned - never seems to work during Terror raid) 3) Decent Rune? 4) Revisit the 2nd life nerf? Anything?
I do think they over did it on the 2nd life nerf (at least the cleric version) but if you are getting it at only 1 in 12 tries that seems like you may just be getting unlucky on rolls. On really tough encounters you may want to try activating tribute to increase the odds. It makes a difference.
Well, survivability in general. With the preponderance of summoning mobs I've long ago given up the "caster" way of fighting. Solo/Molo I tank with cleric merc. In groups I purely DPS with remote line and let mercs main heal - if additional healing is needed at all; generally we'll go with DPS mercs as the SK I group with needs very little healing. Specifically now, though, I'm back to being easily killed by trash mobs that other classes have very little problems with. Pre-nerf, this was offset by the number of times I was able survive bad encounters - even though I was still unable to fight content other classes can. So IMO, the introduction of fade and second life was to offset our lack of any defensive capabilities enjoyed by almost every other class in the game - AC, Runes, Pets, etc. Now that those offsets have been removed from the game I would like to see some discussion about correcting the original problem.
So it sounds like you mean in a solo/molo context in current content. Yeah, I don't think Druids do well in that context right now (I'm not certain they should).
I'll have to verify that in my logs - It was my 12th death when I had my first clean 2nd life save. 6 of the previous deaths were during a Terror raid with the random "you are feared and you will die and there is nothing you can do" effect. I know while waddling away stunned, my Swarming Fireflies did not save me. I assumed that this was because you can't be healed while in the feared/stunned state. Maybe the 2nd life tried to proc during this time as well but was blocked. I never died like that before on Terror raids, but I read a post recently it may be bugged.
Sorry, I didn't mean to imply I Solo/Molo current content (trash or otherwise). I've never even tried - so I don't know if I could or not. If I did though, I would have no other choice but to stand and tank like any melee class. For current content I always group with SK friend and run through tasks. I generally only solo to fill in old tasks I missed from earlier expansions.
Feared is VERY different from stunned. It's closer to charmed than anything else. You are an NPC while feared, not just a PC that can't move or cast. Your buffs might not exist in that state, and it's buggy as crap. The best way to deal with that AE is to not get hit by it. Play in 3rd person, don't stand near anyone, and be able to run or mistwalk away ASAP if a totem spawns on you. For general survivability, I've had to go back to more preventative measures since fade stopped working on a lot of raid mobs. Watch my positioning to make sure I won't in the first line of proximity aggro for adds, using fireflies on myself, and even asking for DI/SB if I'm going to be AEing. We do still reactive options, too. Half second heals and remoting things in the face help buy time for adds to be pulled off you. I have mistwalk bound to spacebar, so it can be used to quickly escape from adds. Fade still mostly works on adds, but mistwalk buys time quicker in some situations. Remember, to the devs, our dedicated defensive style skills are the beastwood guard lines. AKA, hot, runny dog crap. Protection of Direwood was even changed to instant cast, and no one in the thread has even mentioned it before here.
Oh my, you mean this? An 18k rune that takes 15 minutes to recast and lasts only 18 seconds? This is literally a spell you can hold up as proof Devs dislike Druids. Beastsnag Guard Rk. III Share Description 1: Mitigate Melee Damage by 75%, 17900 total2: Add Defensive Proc: Beastsnag Guard Parry III rate mod 400Details Raw Spell Data, Lucy Spell View Mana: 558 Skill: Alteration Casting Time: 1 Recast Time: 900 Fizzle Time: 1.5 Range: 200 Location: Any Time of Day: Any Fizzle Adj: 112 Deletable: No Interruptable: Yes Short Buff Box: No Timer ID: 5 Target Type: Self Spell Type: Beneficial Category: Melee Guard Source: Live 04/18 Messages Cast on you: Your skin turns hard as beastwood.Cast on other: Soandso 's skin turns hard as beastwood.Effect Fades: Your skin loses its beastwood hardness.Game Description Covers your skin in bark, greatly reducing the damage you take from melee attacks for up to 18 secs (3 ticks). Your skin will absorb up to @1 points of damage.
I wonder how many times those defensive procs have triggered in the past 3 years. It took years of telling Aristo that those spells were awful and either needed to be significantly improved, or he needed to stop making them. He finally stopped extending the line. Then Dzarn extended the AA, while leaving it just as worthless. Except now it has a 0s cast time. So it's a crappy reprove on an 18 minute cooldown, instead of 10s. The beastwood guard spells were definitely in the running for worst spell in each of their expansions. The's so bad that I never scribed them past HoT. I have a few of the rank 3s sitting in the bottom of my bags to link to people who think spells will be good, useful, or change based on player feedback.
