What exactly is the purpose of Druids on early TLP?

This is such a noob trap. Just because every other class has a way of doing something better than the druid doesn't make a druid bad. Druids are versatile. Can a cleric evac?. Can I wizard heal? Can a ranger nuke? No that's why you have a druid for versatility. Verstality is so underrated in EQ

You are pretty much considered a bad puller now if you can't track now as a monk.

Druid are great DPS when you have a guild with crappy players, kept my group up and hit top 5 DPS. Join a sub par guild and feel better about druid.

It's like Voldemort. Can't say its name.

I hear a lot now about the revamped DOTs... what was the revamp? Did it only impact Druids or other classes too?

So when you now casting drones of doom, it costs more mana, but it also does the damage of creeping crud and stinging swarm. You can no longer stack those. You can stack the fire line, aka flame lick, and when ldon is out the vengeance line as well. Immolate includes flame lick damage etc. I think it only adds the previous 3? it might be 2 of the spells in the same line.

Shamans, and I think enchanters? also had theirs revamped as well. This includes beastlords/rangers since those are the same spells, only necros and sk's? aren't revamped.

Druids are bad. Play a shaman instead

Good logic.

No ranger in your group? Druid can snare

No wiz in your group? Druid can port and DPS.

No shaman in your group? Druid has other buffs besides what conflicts with cleric.

No ranger or wiz in your group? You now have 1 person who can do both.

No ranger, wiz, or shaman in your group? Now have 1 person who can do all 3.

Unless you're saying every group has some combination of ranger, wiz, and shaman which is funny.

I agree that if you can work around things to basically make the druid charm then it's good.

But they still don't heal or rez so a cleric just wrecks them on TLP's, and if your group doesn't have a slower then a shaman crushes them. Furthermore, that group probably won't settle on a druid anyways.

I'm not a druid hater, by any means, but I found no good reason to roll one over other classes. This is despite liking druids. I played one on Rallos Zek in classic EQ and I played one on Agnarr. They just need some help.

I would really like to see their spell Nature's Recovery up'd big time. Something between torpor and what it is now. Basically, a super HOT/regen hybrid rather than a useless 3 minute regen. That would help them heal better in groups.

Another thing is, their utility is great, but the player power creeps hit the super efficiency of regen/dots/damage shields the hardest. That is, quite literally, the druids wheelhouse. If they continue to tone down early TLP dps output, druids will become relatively better.

Oh and another thing, their epic clicky is a joke.

Oh really? Do you main a druid? I'd take a sk/clr/enc/brd/mnk/mag any day, in any situation, rather than inviting a druid a 'crew of druids'.

Sure druids can do all those things at once... but when you want a wiz for evac and theres a bunch on /lfg you arent picking up a druid.

When you want someone who snares, you arent picking the druid in lfg, you gunna get the sk,necro or ranger

Druids get passed up on groups all the time because every class can do it better than them.

Druids make great group creators though.

Snare? This is not a ranger vs druid thing. Numerous classes can have snare, but it is moot. Player power is so high that mobs melt. There is no need to snare everything like there was 20 years ago.

Ports in a group is entirely overrated. You get where you need to go and stay. Buy a port if you need to. Otherwise, it's not like exp groups port around during their sessions. Chances are, they just did upper guk to lower guk for 30 levels and never needed a port. lol. I really like having a port class, but I can really easily get ports without one. Unless you're a traveling farmer or insist on seeing the world, it's really easy to use /taxi.

I'm not sure what the fascination is with snare here. But it's not that big of a deal. Hell, if you fight in Lguk (spoiler, 98% of you will) then undead mobs won't even run. You'll rarely miss snare, but you will always miss no slows, no rez when it compared to other priests.

ugh christ, this stupid spell. I tried really hard to make it worth a damn but it's such a disappointment. I wish it had a significant mana regen component, that would at least justify the extremely short duration and long recast timer. Mana is the number one issue preventing druids from actually feeling like a powerful class. It's why the free DoT clickies feel so class defining for the early eras

You made snare a ranger vs druid thing when you brought it up lol.

You're the one who brought up ports, not the person you were replying to or me, so I commented on it in my reply.

I'll leave the rest of my other post alone I guess.

lol, best advice in the thread.

God help that poverty druid that doesn't buy the ES vambraces because theyre too expensive. Then he's in your group, able to dot 1 in every 4 mobs (those dots are super expensive) and not much else because they have to med too much.

If you're a druid you need the ES arms absolutely ASAP. It's the only way to even remotely be competitive. Even if you're melting frogs in seb, a few ticks is better than nothing.

I guess you've never heard of "Monk Track"? Yeah... do something about that if you think Tracking is a thing people actually need a Druid/Ranger/Bard for these days.

I've never heard of 'Monk Track'. Please, do tell...

Google is your friend.

Don't need a druid for snare, SK, Necro, Bard or ranger all bring more specialized skills to the table along with snare, there will probably be at least one of these other classes LFG along with the druids.

Don't need to port once you have made it to your camp, seems a bit silly to reserve an entire spot in a group for something you can toss someone in the CL 50 pp to handle for you.

Druid doesn't have a fraction of the buffs a shaman has. Str buff, Dmg shield, and a few resists are not a replacement for the slow/haste/dps/stat buffs a shaman brings. No one invites a druid when they really need a shaman.

Druids will only get picked when the "better" classes aren't LFG, and there will always be a more specialized class lfg on a brand new TLP. Few people want someone who can do a little bit of everything to round out their group, they want just one healer, another dps, tanking or CC/slow, and there is always someone available for those roles who is a better choice than the druid. That is just the way it plays out on TLPs, and talking about how amazingly versatile a druid is isn't going to change that.

They are an excellent portbox and foragebox. Don't underestimate the value of foraged goods and ports on a TLP, they are definitely a cash cow. I highly suggest leveling a druid to assist your main on a box, I did and I know I will always have one on any server I play.