Celtic Heroes

Has anyone offered different 'Druid - Templates' and the various methods or styles one might play their druid?

I.e.

Tank Druid - which may only be possible with the best purchased gear

Primarily Healer Druid - everybodys druid friend in a group - but bad solo

Balanced - decent in a group - decent solo

Root and toot Druid - is this even viable?

In EQ I had two methods to solo - I could root and blast with DD's - OR i could snare multiple Mobs and then 'kite' Damage over time spells or AOE DD's - not sure if anything like these methods are possible in this game.
In other Games Healers are so needed in groups to survive. This game I feel like a pariah. Anyone can KS my mob without a second thought and I am defenseless to do anything about it.

Every where I read about druids I end up with way more questions than answers. I have a level 50 druid (play time is not quite 3 weeks in this game) but feel as if my understanding of the class is only a fraction of what it could be. Any insight that can be offered would be appreciated.

sorry double post

It's a hard question to answer, specifically because the game you are playing right now does absolutely no favors to the Druid class. As a Druid, leveling up is a lesson in temerity and insanity in the current live game and yes you can root/toot with the DoT and the DD but it's really a singular path, now that said after you get all your warden gear and can barter for a amulet that gives you energy regen you can slide you stats to pretty much go hardcore on vitality and that allows you to legitimately take a hit... Will you float away from root later and go toward another spell, that's up to you, but I know many Druids in their later lvls that still use roots...I don't, but fair enough it's still a build.

The thing is, all this data is antiquated. The new system is widely stat based, you need TONS of focus and of energy, not just so you can not run out, but also because it powers the potency of your spells. And other than focus, you need to bolster your HP, because you now have both enemies in the zones and players that are gonna hit you in PvP with their DMG maxed by their stats.

DPS/PVP/Lvling
There is a DPS build in the 3rd Update, a build that chooses Storm's Touch, Lightning, Vines, Touch, and either Bark,Abundance, Roots or skill of your choice all at like 17/25. This is a lvling build, meant to push you quickly thru the zones, and maximizes your DPS. Focus/VIT breakdown can be settled on by the player, but check out my guide to see what I think about it. I don't really feel like handing out all the info in one post. PvP game etc, reasons to hold some chips to myself, I say this with full respect.

HYBRID/Grps&LvLs
There is a Hybrid build in the 3rd Update, a build that chooses Lightning, Vines, Embrace, Touch, Bark all at like 17/25. It can heal in a boss fight to an acceptable degree but it can't really lvl as quickly or efficiently as a DPS/Lvl Build. Again the Focus/VIT is a bit different, but you just gotta consider if you will be PvP'ing or if yer just gonna float in the PvE, and stat accordingly. It should be noted that a Hybrid Build could choose Rez as their 5th skill and perhaps make money as well as help their groups.

Healing Group Druid
There is a Group-Heal build in the 3rd Update, a build that chooses Lightning, Vines, Breeze, Touch(25/25), and a choice of 2 Wards(wards both at like 5-6 or like 60 resist) then al (cept for touch)l at like 17/25. It can heal in a boss fight to riddiculous degree I would argue that a Group Druid can out heal 2 DPS Druids. With Touch and Breeze spammed back-to-back. The thing is..a Group Heal Druid will level potentially worse than a live Druid, they will be awful.

A group Druid with Clan assistance could drop Vines and go Rez, but this is risky it puts you in a awful situation if you don't have a partner to lvl.

Dragon
There will be one last build for Druids over lvl 130, a Dragon-Fight Build. I know exactly what that is, but I really don't feel like talking about it, that's a major spoiler. Let Druids figure that out on their own. Not that hard to do.

At the end of the day, Update 3 gives you a wide berth of builds, not exactly like EQ (good to see another EQ player), but a wide berth of possible builds to invest in...but when you build any of these builds you need to know why...what for the next 10 odd lvls are you gonna be doing...how are you gonna be going forward..and what is your intention.

Now...I am using numbers relative to a lvl 90 not a lvl 50. You won't see 25/25 skills, your skills will be 15/15 still, but the point is, you can fit the point of what I say into your build and figure out how to achieve it.

One final point to this novel is this: it may be impossible for a lvl 50 to get Storm's Touch, Rez, Nature's Breeze and Wards. You may hafta lvl up to get the skills to really to build these builds. In the castle all classes will start quest lines to get new skills, initially logging in to the game many people may hafta deal with their current builds till they get their new skills, or partially make builds and leave 30-40 points out for the acquiring of new skills later.

The point is there are gonna be growing pains for everyone starting in about a week when this thing releases.

Best of luck,

Tea

Thanks, this gives me a bit more grasp on how to distribute my points. The insanity part I have - will need to work on the temerity. Just trying to get used to the mechanics of this MMO. Head is spinning from the various choices I will need to make as I level.

*ponders further*

i can relate to the insanity. when i made a healer type druid..it's a pain to have to wait for anyone to group with and train. most would prefer going solo and using potions/elixirs. and when in group, warriors cant seem to taunt and take aggro away. so i die often. i think i will be a little selfish when i log back in and change my druid into a dps one and just solo to lvl up. (forgive me my clan members)

thanks tea for the input. just one question, are the eyes melee or casters? i see them shooting magic. so perhaps bark is not that important at the moment if i lvl up on these 80-96 lvl eyes? and better make it abundance instead?

I opted for more of a balanced Druid build. I heal in the mid 500s which helps with boss fights. I can solo most of the eyes without too much trouble. I use both bark and abundance with the eyes. I will run into some issues once i get the new spells because i want breeze and storm to be at decent levels.