So i'm coming back to the game after a long hiatus, and I've nearly gotten my first 120 character put away (Beastlord). And it's been fun and I do plan on playing him in this next expansion, but I'm looking for a new adventure. And I was thinking of a Druid. And I was curious how they're looking going into Luarion's Song? Now I know every class is "viable" and can "fulfill their duties for their role" in any situation, but how strong are they looking. If a group is looking for a healer, will they gladly take me? If they need a DPS slot filled, do I have what it takes to fill that spot? And yes I'm aware, Shamans do it better, Clerics heals are stronger, yadeeyadeeya. But I'm set on the idea of the Druid. If i can still contribute and do what i'm supposed. So long as it's not going to be lonely at 125. Disclaimer: No intentions of raiding. Not playing on FV
A druid is definitely better than healer merc for most groups. Announcements like "group is full unless you are a healer" is quite frequent is many chat channels (General, Guild etc).
Druid does great DPS when you want to DPS and does great healing when you want to heal. They have a line of nukes that heal the targets target as well so you can do both. I love my druid main! The travel component is nice as well. The only downside is they they chew through mana if DPSing. You really have to manage it with the few mana recovery tools they have.
Druids are fairly bad at healing, especially if the tank isn't raid geared (kinda sounds like the kinda tanks you'll be hanging with commonly) or doesn't really know what they're doing (most don't, especially group only tanks). They're worse than paladins at healing if it puts things in perspective. Dps is pretty good, especially with good support. You're going to run out of mana, fast, if you're really trying to put up the numbers. some useful utility like snares and roots I guess. Good adps for casters. Being able to port is kinda nice for somethings. I personally see druids as what I call a "raid only class". Meaning that they really shine in raids but are outclassed to the point of questioning why you'd even roll one if you just want to do group content or not be a forage bot or port hoe. You can certainly make a group druid but I think you'll sadly be disappointed long term.
Ah this is what I was worried about. General census is: But then get conflicting replies. One saying they're great, the next saying they're not worth the effort. >.<
They are certainly better than a merc at healing. The problem is, no one chooses to play a druid because they "want to heal".
Yeah, it's not that I'm looking to be a healer main. I just like the idea of Druids. But, being a priest class, I'd like to be able to fill the role of a healer and replace a healer merc if necessary. Just like I'd like to replace a merc for DPS too if the option arose. I guess what i'm trying to get at is: if a group is looking for a dps/healer to flesh out their group, would they take me (let's just assume i'm a competent slightly above average player), or will they wait around to see if they can pick up another class and only choose me as a last resort?
As a dps? Unless they're really stupid, they'll absolutely take you. As a merc replacement? If the tanks ok and not doing anything insane, then they should absolutely take you too. Caveat to this, is some people are "reaaaaaly" stupid and "require" the healer to be a cleric. If they're slightly less stupid but still pretty stupid they might be apprehensive at taking a shaman instead of cleric if they can't find one. But they'd laugh at the idea of taking a druid, even though you can fulfill the role just fine as long as, again, the tank is decent and not doing something insane. Droods can spam single target heals all day, the majority of them are just slow and fairly weak compared to the other priests and...tank. I know that's a lot, sorry. Hope it answers the question. These are just my personal findings, mind you. But I've grouped with all kinds of people.
I fully get this. 100%. While leveling up there were a few times I wanted to be rude and drop group and go back to molo'ing because playing by myself yielded better results than "speeding things up with a group" (recently got logparser and blown away by how little people actually try! Why as a monk is your endurance bar not dropping below 90% !?!? lol)
Tldr I don't think you'll have any trouble finding groups, you might just have to convince the group you're good enough to heal assuming they do their own job well, too. It'll probably get scetchy at times depending on tank and situation where a shaman or cleric would be a breeze. Otherwise everything a druid can do makes them a super fun class. Up until you run out of mana! And being group geared only makes all of the above a tiny bit more painful. But I support your decision!
I, for example, play pet-tanking group alot. In a group BST, BST, MAG, MAG, BRD a druid is a total must-have to replace my healer merc. Curiously, a druid is better than a shaman for this role. A druid brings everything: good enough healing for a tanking pet, group heals for those pesky AE and poisons/curses (sometimes it happens), extra mana regen, a measurable dps, an awesome aDPS for this group (both beastlords and mages benefit), quality burn dps and adps, long-haul logistics, hail-mary evac, CC in form of calming, snare ability. Yes, a druid is valuable asset for such group, of higher value than actual cleric, shaman (shamans bring very little to a BST-tanking group) or a merc. Druids are great for some groups and mediocre for others (SK,BRD, ROG, ZRK, ZRK would much prefer a shaman, not druid). But druids are a wanted class overall.
druids get dragged through the mud because they are horrible at boxing. Shm is basically designed to box with (all HoTs plus slow), single spell to cast all their dots, ect. Druids need alot more attention to get stuff done. Thats not to say druids aren't great. I would also challenge the idea that a healer merc can be better than a druid. MAybe it can be better than a druid someone is boxing - as NO ONE can play a boxed character nearly as well as a single person playing that class (unless they are using cheating programs) Edit: queue people claiming their boxing is superior....
It seems like you want to play a shaman without admitting you want to play a shaman. Druid very much is a great class in raids but miserable to play in group or solo settings. Though they can kite/rot, they have serious mana problems. They aren't as good sustained dps as shamans in a group setting, nor lend nearly the healing or utility, tanking or pulling that shamans can do. They aren't effective at mass rotting. Just try both at a reasonable level and you'll instantly drop the druid.
In my experience druids are best in a caster group as a DPS / backup healer spot. That probably won't be too easy to find in the pickup group game, but I'd imagine you can still contribute pretty well in non-ideal setups. Druids have reasonable personal DPS, great caster aDPS, and mana issues, as others have mentioned. In terms of healing, I'd say druids can handle up to moderate incoming damage pretty well, but struggle with heavy damage. I would not trust a solo druid to handle big aoe damage like in the CoV group missions. I also wouldn't trust a druid to "carry" a poorly played tank through big tank damage situations (like blobs mission in NoS), but they can work if the tank is pressing their buttons correctly. Outside of stuff like that, I can see druid healing working fine. Also wanted to note that druid tank healing is pretty awkward if you want to maximize output. You'll be mixing heals targeted on the tank with damage spells / Blessing of Ro AA on the enemy target for the target-of-target heals. Lots of target swapping, especially if you're weaving Blessing of Ro AA while the tank-targeted heals are on spell gem cd. Another thing is keeping up Shadowy Ways for anyone melee'ing to proc small target-of-target heals (these add up if everyone melee's), or Arboreal Atonement for casters. It's not quite as straightforward as shaman / cleric / paladin healing, but can get the job done.
Since the groups I'm in usually have raid geared tanks with lots of AAs, I can't speak for tanks with lesser gear but my druid does just fine healing. DPS is not outstanding but it works, although sustained dps tends to run into mana issues after a while. There are likely better druids than I who can rock dps. All in all, I find a druid tends to fill both spots acceptably. Having the ability to evac your group if there is a bad pull, etc., is always a plus. As for soloing with a merc tank, I find that does not work well at all, as I'm basically having to focus on healing to keep them alive so there is very little dps. Plus, I really find soloing/moloing boring, so that doesn't help either. If you want to solo/molo, you need to pick a different class. Oh, I kind of missed the title of this thread, so I should say that I have zero idea if Laurion's Song is any different than playing a druid in previous expansions.
Well i guess I should have named it "going into LS" as im curious how they play now. I do have a Beastlord that lets me Molo extremely well. As a Beastlord I'm very familiar with being mana starved. But the groups I have been in haven't resembled an automated group where we spend 99.9% of out 2 hours play session in combat. Only takes 3 minutes of OOC regen to go from 0-100% How do you figure? I haven't once mentioned anything resembling their toolkit or spells or abilities. I haven't set a benchmark for DPS that I'd like to do. Haven't mentioned wanting a slow or Melee oriented buffs. My main is a beastlord and I love it. But with that I've experienced enough of the shaman cross over abilities. I feel a shaman would be too similar and I'd get bored with it. And I like the theme of a Druid
One thing to consider is that your beastlord is a very strong, independent class and you can achieve pretty much anything on your own. A druid will not be capable of some things. You may or may not like looking for groups to get stuff done. You can absolutely contribute. It seems you will enjoy the class so I would say go for it.
Grouping isn't a problem for me. It's kind of the reason for this character (I've played tanks in the past. This is a newer experience for me). Im also not above having to drop back to easier content if im.forced to if groups are unavailable
If you are just curious - go to Deepshade and fight mobs in there. Expect LS Tier 1 mobs being exactly the same in terms of HP/damage. If you do acceptably in Deepshade - you'll do the same in LS.
I'd have to make a Druid and level him and get into NoS lol. At that point I wouldn't be turning around
