Celtic Heroes

well, the update has kicked in, and, in my opinion i think a thread on stats and skill level needs to be started! so, here it is!!!

now i would be lying if i said i loved the update, but hey, takes me a while to warm up to new things:) so to help all my fellow druids, main character or not! i am going to post what has been working for me.

first things first, stats as of level 98 druid, with heroic gloves, heroic boots, diamond totem/icon, golden bodkin, heroic energy ammy, and the rest cosmic gear, is,
st 5

dex 10

focus 280

vit 220

with this setup, i am finding it quite tough going, i have experimented with vit and focus but with no real benefits from either, as for skills, i have maxed nothing, this includes nature touch, as the energy drain is bordering on ridiculous:) So with this i heal 699, more than enough for solo, just about cuts it for boss fights, so this could probably do with a little tweaking, (with the aid of rings it is currently at 25/25)
Any ideas on this are more than welcome!

The best skill i have found is embrace, a much over looked spell, this has been nerfed post update (healing 81 a tick before, 64 after at 15/25) but the saving grace seems to be it is interrupted a LOT less. In fact i may even increase this to 20/25, again input people:) what has been working and what has not:)

lightning is lightning, what can i say about it, as important as the air you breath, still, felt kinda silly putting to many points into it since i can only use it solo, as i have to use meditate for boss fights, i have left at 20/25

strangling vines, same as lightning, but i left at 16/25 might bump it up a notch or two, but only as my level increases

now we get down to the brass tacks of druid stats, where to go? since i have not gotten the "storm touch" spell i can't comment on it, so straight on to

group heal, i put this bad boy at 15/25, nice heal level at 250 or there abouts, long casting time, but has come in useful enough,as expected!!! another dark horse that might benefit from higher points as my level increases

meditate, has been very important in boss fights, although a pain to put points into, as it takes away from solo abilities, mine is at 10/25, this is, i think quite a lot, but it keeps up with healing nicely, although i am unable to do any fighting or cast any damage spells, guess that's what a mage is for:) Maybe as my focus increases i can scrape some of those points back, but i doubt many

Bark, i am undecided on bark, so it is currently at 10/25, i had it maxed and found no real difference, tanks have such high armour any way, and rogues, rangers and mages are like wet paper, bark will only add so much their defenses it's pointless to waste a lot of points on it, so if you find it worthwhile stick a reply at the end!!!

These are my main arsenal of skills, i have found nothing else to be effective, i played around with roots,and found it to be a waste of energy, when agro range for mobs is so high, i dropped it back to 1/25
abundance i have found useless to (although a good argument might change my mind on this), maybe gives an extra hit from a mob, so really i found no use in it, i think i left it at 1/25, this is the same as all other druid spells, like calm, howling wind( which before i really liked, is almost just a waste of precious energy) so anything that can be added, good or bad, please do leave a reply!!!!

oh and one more thing, how in sweet baby jebus' name can i stop from getting interrupted so much!!! as far as i know, dex does not work for this, and interruptions seem to have been ramped up quite a bit. Fighting a ashborn wanderer, i was interrupted 8 times in a row!!! lol!!, i suppose as my abilities go up, interruptions go down, just one of those things! I should just stop being a little girl! at least i got that damn tree:)

fishstick

I agree with the roots thing. When I got it, it was solely for the purpose of being able to keep my enemies in 1 place and not hit me. Now with the evade ability, that's not a certainty anymore, it's probably only about 75% of the time. Now it's just a points drain and I regret using my free book of alteration before I found out about evasion

yeah it was a pain XD how about stats and skills? what's working for you? trying to make this update a little bit easier until abilities start to be less of an embarrassment:)

I have 20 in strength and dexterity, and all the rest of my points balanced evenly in focus and vitality. Whenever I level up first I put 3 in focus and 2 in vitality, then the next level up I balance them out again. This is subject to change since I haven't made it to the Otherworld yet, so I'm still able to constantly heal myself while fighting the mobs I'm killing, but I also seem to be losing energy quicker since the update. I have 15 per tick worth of energy recharge, which is enough for Stonevale, so I don't have any points in meditate. I have Nature's Touch, Nature's Embrace, Shield of Bark, Lightning, Strangling Vines, and (unfortunately) Grasping Roots all in the 9-11 range. I recently got Calm and Abundance, I don't have any points in those yet, but they seem like a better investment than Grasping Roots at this point. I don't quite know how Calm works, is it worth putting more points in it?

Hey Fish, good comments.

I to have dumped roots. Just not reliable enough and the root technique is a very slow way to kill things.
I have gone more DPS just to level faster. Down the road I will rebirth and become a healing god.

Str-5
Dex-60
Foc-270
Vit-190

Lightning 25/25
Vines 25/25
Bark 25/25
Touch 18/25
Embrace 3/25
Abundance 5/25
Breath 2/25
Meditation 5/25

I have three +25 totem rings and a +5 bark to help me level. I think Bark is the best place to invest points. It helps with leveling and it helps the tank in boss fights. Vines is our best DPS. Over time this spell really helps take down a mob when soloing. Having a 18/25 Touch still gives me a 562 heal.

My biggest frustration is the time it takes to cast. I have found that when using an XP pot time is you enemy. So to cast a Touch in fight to heal gives me 562 health, but the mob has hit me twice for over 200 damage and I have lost two hits with my Totem for 160, which allows the mob to heal more and inturn take longer to kill. So when I do use an XP pot I found if I need it a health pot allows me to keep swing. The Devs need to give us gloves that decreases our casting time allowing us to cast faster. Warrior and Rouges get speed gloves, they should balance it by giving us speed casting glove.

The big question for me is points in Dex. I had 30 and hated it. At 60 I do see less interruptions with casts but it is still not a 100%. I may put a feww more point here and see but unsure.

good points perl!!
i would love to see speed cast gloves for druid, or maybe even a charm drop! nothing major, just a little boost so its not too overpowered.

So its looking like strength and dex are pointless on a druid again, in as much as we are a healing class, beta testers or admin who are reading this, might a change in the basic stats be a more beneficial way to go, since builds pre update where thought to unimaginative, dumping points into one or two stats?
Keep with the focus and vit, but change the other two too something else? This could work on all characters and give extra depth to the game? For example, a speed stat for casting spells? a little bit outlandish, but you get my point, something specifically devoted to druid. So imagine a fast healing druid, points would be taken from vit and focus so the heal would be weak, maybe to the point of bandage, but super fast!

Anyway, back to stats and skills! I am now at a point where it's looking like putting anymore points into focus may be a waste. It currently sits at 300 (this is with bonuses from gear and weapons) and although I might throw a few more into focus so i will be getting more power, I believe the points would be better put into vit.

On the skill front, I am still waiting on them to drop. Group abundance dropped today, but went to the other main druid in the clan, and this looks worth putting a few points into. I did however get ward of ice, nothing special, as there are not many ice casters out there!(I have kept away from pvp, since I get whooped by a strong breeze:)

keep the replies coming, we will end up with great builds if we stick to it!!!

Fishstick

I have 20 in strength and dexterity, and all the rest of my points balanced evenly in focus and vitality. Whenever I level up first I put 3 in focus and 2 in vitality, then the next level up I balance them out again. This is subject to change since I haven't made it to the Otherworld yet, so I'm still able to constantly heal myself while fighting the mobs I'm killing, but I also seem to be losing energy quicker since the update. I have 15 per tick worth of energy recharge, which is enough for Stonevale, so I don't have any points in meditate. I have Nature's Touch, Nature's Embrace, Shield of Bark, Lightning, Strangling Vines, and (unfortunately) Grasping Roots all in the 9-11 range. I recently got Calm and Abundance, I don't have any points in those yet, but they seem like a better investment than Grasping Roots at this point. I don't quite know how Calm works, is it worth putting more points in it?

I took points out of calm and abundance, they were just not worth it in ow. As for rejuv, you will most definitely need the full 30 a tick to compete and stay alive!
If the points in strength are working for you, stick with it and let me know, I preferred to use the points in focus (since it ups our power on spells) or into vit.
appreciate the input!!!!

Fishstick

I have the points in strength because every now and then I have to go afk for like a minute or so, and it's just to make sure that I can kill the enemy I'm on just with my totem once it's about halfway dead before it can kill me and before all my buffs wear out. So I guess it's mostly just because of the circumstances under which I play, and that I've accomodated for it. I've heard about the resurrection skill, and suspect that I won't be able to get it until the Otherworld. How do you get that skill once you're there, and what advantage does putting points in it give you? Also, how do you get the "ward" skills?

I have the points in strength because every now and then I have to go afk for like a minute or so, and it's just to make sure that I can kill the enemy I'm on just with my totem once it's about halfway dead before it can kill me and before all my buffs wear out. So I guess it's mostly just because of the circumstances under which I play, and that I've accomodated for it. I've heard about the resurrection skill, and suspect that I won't be able to get it until the Otherworld. How do you get that skill once you're there, and what advantage does putting points in it give you? Also, how do you get the "ward" skills?

the res skill as far as i know is dropped from ow bosses. The benefits of this skill don't really seem too good to be putting any points into it. The energy cost is huge, with a massive cool period, making it a no starter in my opinion. And since res idol have no cool down and zero energy cost whats the point?
The ward skills are dropped from ow bosses.

So as a now level 58 Druid, I'm probably not going to be getting in on Otherworld bosses for a while, so it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and get a book of alteration and take out the points of grasping roots and abundance since I won't be getting any new skills soon, is that what I'm hearing?