Disclaimer: If you can't be bothered to read my drivel but are prepared to anser a short question then please skip to the section entitled Question ^^
Hi there everyone, i'm new to WoW. I've been a hardcore FFXI player for a few years now but my Xbox360 recently died and while i'm waiting for it to be repaired i picked up a trial key for WoW to keep me entertained, and to let me get a look at what the other %50 of the MMO world is enjoying.
My trial key ran out this morning and i'd liked the game enough to wander down town and buy a full copy of the game and a subscription card. Anyways while i wait for the game to install and download the update/s im here to indulge my tendency to ramble textually.
From the start, Druid was the class that appealed to me, maybe it's my English heritage or maybe i'm just an animal at heart but a night elf druid is where it's at for me. I'm about to make a new character and before i start i wanna make sure im taking the right route.
I've read a large amount of the stickys and some random posts but theres a few things i still need clarifying and some advice that i'd like to receive. Inevitably im gonna cover ground that you guys have discussed to death but im not quite up on all your abbreviations and such yet so please forgive me if i do.
I'm specifically going to try to make a "solo PVE druid" with maybe some small scale partying later on, my reason for this is simple. I dont have very much RAM on this crappy laptop, the game runs nice when running around single player but as soon as i go anywhere with a high volume of players it starts to chop graphically and lag like a syphilitic asthmatic camel trying to service an elephant.
So...
Bear and Moonkin are things im not going to use, basically because they look gay. When i change to bear form and that huge clumsy grey hairy *** pops up on my screen it makes me want to go play another class/game, and when i've fought Moonkin's they look like deranged fat voodoo turkeys on crack, which is not the look i normally try to roll. Cat form i havent seen yet and im hoping that is something which ill enjoy more.
Now ya may be thinking at this point, "why the fark is this guy playing druid if he hates it?" but i dont hate it ya see, i love all the buffs and spells just not the above mentioned obese bestial gayness.
Question:
I want a druid thats stays in "human" form and uses dual wield daggers/swords, all the magics and possibly cat form.
Is this possible or are bear and moonkin forms so integral to a druids play style that to do away with them renders him pointless ?
Can a druid even dual wield ?
.......
I do intend to participate in large scale raiding etc once i upgrade my RAM to cope with it so i need this build to be viable later on.
Ugh ! Update still at %88 downloaded.
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Well, welcome to WoW. A night elf druid is a good choice (they have better looking cat forms - lions with fangs never appealed to me). A druid is an awesome choice. They are one of my favorite classes in the game. Very versatile and highly capable of doing many things. They are masters of none, but a very close second in everything: bear tanks lag behind only protection specced warriors, and cat form druids are only slightly inferior to rogues. And neither of these pure classes can heal or buff. Advantage - druids.
Since you don't like bear form or moonkin, you've basically X-ed yourself out of one of the game's best tanks and a fun ranged DPS (Damage Per Second, or "a whole lotta damage") build. What's left is a healer build, where you can turn into a walking tree, or a pure melee DPS build - the cat. Both are highly capable and depending on whether you like killing or healing better, you'll choose one or the other.
Since you don't like bear form or moonkin, you've basically X-ed yourself out of one of the game's best tanks and a fun ranged DPS (Damage Per Second, or "a whole lotta damage") build. What's left is a healer build, where you can turn into a walking tree, or a pure melee DPS build - the cat. Both are highly capable and depending on whether you like killing or healing better, you'll choose one or the other.
As a former player of FFXI, I welcome any bretheren that arrive here. That being said, the previous poster had it right. Without Bear form (Level 10 quest) and Moonkin form (Balance Talent) you're left with NE form, Cat form and if you spec down the resto tree you'll have the Tree of Life form.
Solo PVE you're pretty much looking at Feral tree or Balance tree. Both are dps but the Feral has more versatility in terms of choice. Feral which has been quoted as the fastest solo leveling build, is usually the best choice for an initial player. Little or no down time due to your mana regenning while you're in an animal form (still spend mana though to change in and out.)
Which basically means you can kill things easier and faster and take more hits than you normally would and then heal up and resume with little or no downtime.
Couple of other things
Bear Form - Quest
Aquatic Form - Quest
Cat form - Obtain at 20
Moonkin Form - Balance Talent
Tree of Life - Restoration Talent.
On to your questions:
I want a druid thats stays in "human" form and uses dual wield daggers/swords, all the magics and possibly cat form.
Druids can't dual wield and can only use daggers, mace, 2h mace, and staff. They can only cast spells in Main Form which in your case as Night Elf. However Moonkin can only cast "Balance" spells while Tree of Life only allows you to cast Healing over Time spells.
Is this possible or are bear and moonkin forms so integral to a druids play style that to do away with them renders him pointless ?
The nice thing about Druids is there is not really integral, it all depends on your play style and spec. They have spells and abilities that can cover all bases. Bear form is the Tank form for druids, and Moonkin is your Casting DPS form. If you want to stick to just Cat form, and caster form and possibly tree of life that's fine. But the beauty of the Druid is you can change up your game as much as you like. Just costs Gold to respec so you're not SOL like what merits you took as a 75 in FFXI.
Can a druid even dual wield ?
Sadly no.
Solo PVE you're pretty much looking at Feral tree or Balance tree. Both are dps but the Feral has more versatility in terms of choice. Feral which has been quoted as the fastest solo leveling build, is usually the best choice for an initial player. Little or no down time due to your mana regenning while you're in an animal form (still spend mana though to change in and out.)
Which basically means you can kill things easier and faster and take more hits than you normally would and then heal up and resume with little or no downtime.
Couple of other things
Bear Form - Quest
Aquatic Form - Quest
Cat form - Obtain at 20
Moonkin Form - Balance Talent
Tree of Life - Restoration Talent.
On to your questions:
I want a druid thats stays in "human" form and uses dual wield daggers/swords, all the magics and possibly cat form.
Druids can't dual wield and can only use daggers, mace, 2h mace, and staff. They can only cast spells in Main Form which in your case as Night Elf. However Moonkin can only cast "Balance" spells while Tree of Life only allows you to cast Healing over Time spells.
Is this possible or are bear and moonkin forms so integral to a druids play style that to do away with them renders him pointless ?
The nice thing about Druids is there is not really integral, it all depends on your play style and spec. They have spells and abilities that can cover all bases. Bear form is the Tank form for druids, and Moonkin is your Casting DPS form. If you want to stick to just Cat form, and caster form and possibly tree of life that's fine. But the beauty of the Druid is you can change up your game as much as you like. Just costs Gold to respec so you're not SOL like what merits you took as a 75 in FFXI.
Can a druid even dual wield ?
Sadly no.
mathewgurney wrote:
Can a druid even dual wield ?
No.
And they can't use swords either. (daggers, yes)
ETA: You know, from what you're talking about it sounds like you might be happier as an enhancement shaman...
Edited, Apr 11th 2008 2:17pm by Celcio
Ditto what Celcio said. Also, just for reference, from an October 2007 report: WoW had 26% of the total MMO market share, FFXI had 1.4%. I've seen more recent data that favors WoW even more, but I can't find it right now.
I played FFXI long enough to get RDM, WHM, and BRD to or close to the level cap. When I left, it was like WoW without instances and with every world mob past level 10-15 being the equivalent of a dungeon elite. And class balance? DRG and DRK could log on and spend 2+ hrs in LFG and not get a party.
Well, now that I've ranted about FFXI, I should say again, look into an enhancement shaman. You can't dual-wield until level 40, but you're arguably the best buffing class, you can be a good healer (Resto spec), and you put out amazing damage. If you don't want to buy the "Burning Crusade" expansion, you have to roll a Horde Orc/Troll/Tauren. Once you get the expansion, you can be a Draenai Shaman Alliance-side.
I played FFXI long enough to get RDM, WHM, and BRD to or close to the level cap. When I left, it was like WoW without instances and with every world mob past level 10-15 being the equivalent of a dungeon elite. And class balance? DRG and DRK could log on and spend 2+ hrs in LFG and not get a party.
Well, now that I've ranted about FFXI, I should say again, look into an enhancement shaman. You can't dual-wield until level 40, but you're arguably the best buffing class, you can be a good healer (Resto spec), and you put out amazing damage. If you don't want to buy the "Burning Crusade" expansion, you have to roll a Horde Orc/Troll/Tauren. Once you get the expansion, you can be a Draenai Shaman Alliance-side.
Scholar
38 posts
Oookay...Don't like the bear 'cause it is "gay" (assuming that you mean "the substandard bear visuals are graphically unappealing..."). I'm afraid it is a bit more complicated than that.
I 'spose you could just not take the Bear quest, but gay or not, the Bear is badass. It is the first form you get, and the slog to 20 (Cat) will be pretty miserable without its gay butt polluting your screen at some point.
Moonkin is a balance form, so you will most likely not have to contend with its particular brand of gayness if you don't want to. However, if you were fighting one on a trial account, (I assume on a PvP server), then I also guess you noticed how that gay-crazy crit-chicken was murdering folks with Moonfire.
Druids only dual-wield one thing: Claws.
Bear is integral to the Feral tree, Moonkin is kinda essential to the Balance (nuking) tree, so the only non-gay option left is full Restoration tree. Now to me, the gayest of ALL forms is the Tree of Life (well, there is that mutant seal thing), so that may trip the gay-scale too much as well. Besides that, full resto is a rocky road to 70 unless you have a lot of friends to play with.
Edit: If you want to see how the Druid's forms work together in PvP (and get a chuckle), look up "Druid Boy" on youtube.
Celcio is right on. You will need to use all of your basic forms as a Druid, even the gay ones. Enhancement Shammy is a versatile, dual-wielding, in-your-face beater (much fun) and might be more the style you are looking for. I've never heard anyone call a Shammy gay, so you are covered I think.
Edited, Apr 11th 2008 4:16pm by SCNecron
Edited, Apr 11th 2008 4:24pm by SCNecron
I 'spose you could just not take the Bear quest, but gay or not, the Bear is badass. It is the first form you get, and the slog to 20 (Cat) will be pretty miserable without its gay butt polluting your screen at some point.
Moonkin is a balance form, so you will most likely not have to contend with its particular brand of gayness if you don't want to. However, if you were fighting one on a trial account, (I assume on a PvP server), then I also guess you noticed how that gay-crazy crit-chicken was murdering folks with Moonfire.
Druids only dual-wield one thing: Claws.
Bear is integral to the Feral tree, Moonkin is kinda essential to the Balance (nuking) tree, so the only non-gay option left is full Restoration tree. Now to me, the gayest of ALL forms is the Tree of Life (well, there is that mutant seal thing), so that may trip the gay-scale too much as well. Besides that, full resto is a rocky road to 70 unless you have a lot of friends to play with.
Edit: If you want to see how the Druid's forms work together in PvP (and get a chuckle), look up "Druid Boy" on youtube.
Celcio is right on. You will need to use all of your basic forms as a Druid, even the gay ones. Enhancement Shammy is a versatile, dual-wielding, in-your-face beater (much fun) and might be more the style you are looking for. I've never heard anyone call a Shammy gay, so you are covered I think.
Edited, Apr 11th 2008 4:16pm by SCNecron
Edited, Apr 11th 2008 4:24pm by SCNecron
Quote:
I've never heard anyone call a Shammy gay, so you are covered I think.
I don't know. Considering what he thinks about the look of bear and moonkin forms I can only imagine what he'll think of male draenei.
75 Rabbit/75 Sheep/75 Coeurl/75 Eft/75 Raptor/75 Hippogryph/75 Puk
75 Scorpion/75 Wamoura/75 Pixie/75 Peiste/64 Sabotender
51 Bird/41 Mandragora/40 Bee/37 Crawler/37 Bat
Items no one cares about: O
Missions no one cares about: O
Crafts no one cares about: O
75 Scorpion/75 Wamoura/75 Pixie/75 Peiste/64 Sabotender
51 Bird/41 Mandragora/40 Bee/37 Crawler/37 Bat
Items no one cares about: O
Missions no one cares about: O
Crafts no one cares about: O
My best advice is, if cat is the only form you want to use, play a rogue.
the strength of a druid isnt in using one specific form or style of play. its being able to incorporate all aspects of the class into a coherent whole. call it the gestalt of the druid if you will.
as teacake said, if you want to do one thing and one thing only, then go with another class. just being a cat druid sells the class short. likewise, just staying in caster form casting also sells the class short. each end can be better served under the auspice of another class, in this case rogue and shaman respectively.
as teacake said, if you want to do one thing and one thing only, then go with another class. just being a cat druid sells the class short. likewise, just staying in caster form casting also sells the class short. each end can be better served under the auspice of another class, in this case rogue and shaman respectively.
I just recently rolled a Druid to level with a Warlock and it is a great class, but as has been repeated quite often, it is the versatility of the class that makes it work. You have to be able to shift from form to form to survive and kill as quickly as possible.
If you do upgrade your memory, then perhaps you want to look into going into your career as a Resto Druid. It works very well and you still have decent damage abilities, but you shine in group play. You are one of the best single target healers and have the ability to offer buffs and utility, but you will never do as much damage as a feral spec.
Also, Shamans are not a bad choice if you learn how to play in a group. The toughest issue for a Shaman is that they often are aggro whores and pull aggro easily unless you learn patience up front, which you won't necessarily do in a solo career, but they are good fighters and can pwn most up until the 50's or so when they lose some of their survivability in PvP, but that is my opinion.
If you do upgrade your memory, then perhaps you want to look into going into your career as a Resto Druid. It works very well and you still have decent damage abilities, but you shine in group play. You are one of the best single target healers and have the ability to offer buffs and utility, but you will never do as much damage as a feral spec.
Also, Shamans are not a bad choice if you learn how to play in a group. The toughest issue for a Shaman is that they often are aggro whores and pull aggro easily unless you learn patience up front, which you won't necessarily do in a solo career, but they are good fighters and can pwn most up until the 50's or so when they lose some of their survivability in PvP, but that is my opinion.
Excellent, thx for all the responses.
I'll definetly be trying out the Shaman class as it does sound a little more like the self-buffed, spell casting, dual wielding melee style im looking for, Orcs look pretty hardcore, i might try one of them. Meh rogue.
I wont be leaving Druid tho, i've got enough time to play Shaman as well.
I need to see for myself whether i can make Druid work without bear and moonkin form at least for solo PVE where my gimpness wont bother anyone else. Good to hear that night elves get a decent cat form.
I'll do that until i get the RAM to participate in the more group oriented stuff then maybe respec to make myself more useful to partys, or not if not necessary ^^
I've got samurai and monk at 75 on FFXI, i agree LFG can be a pain sometimes, FFXI doesnt have the same option to as "easily" solo exp as WoW does "unless ya got real skillz" so ur kind of limited to either waiting for a party or making your own, although campaign battles are to an extent changing that.
But FFXI is still my first love when it comes to MMORPG's, i think the subjob facet is what really seperates it, being able to combine jobs makes for more options to customise your playstyle exactly how you want it.
As far as those market share stats someone mentioned go, i don't think that a larger market share really reflects the quality of a game in all cases. I mean %90 of human beings are retarded drones who should be exterminated while maybe %5 are worthwhile intelligent organisms deserving of life. The other %5 are hot chicks who are also retarded drones but deserving of life for less altruistic reasons :D
I only mentioned FFXI and WoW kind of splitting the MMO world equally because i don't really know of any other major MMO's out there. I'm a console player by trade and the PC games available are a largely unknown quantity to me.
Anyway it's 2am and i better stop talking before this turns into a "FFXI is better than WoW" flame thread :D
Catch y'all laterz, thx for the info. I'll post back and let you all know how my druid experience goes. /bow, peace, out
I'll definetly be trying out the Shaman class as it does sound a little more like the self-buffed, spell casting, dual wielding melee style im looking for, Orcs look pretty hardcore, i might try one of them. Meh rogue.
I wont be leaving Druid tho, i've got enough time to play Shaman as well.
I need to see for myself whether i can make Druid work without bear and moonkin form at least for solo PVE where my gimpness wont bother anyone else. Good to hear that night elves get a decent cat form.
I'll do that until i get the RAM to participate in the more group oriented stuff then maybe respec to make myself more useful to partys, or not if not necessary ^^
I've got samurai and monk at 75 on FFXI, i agree LFG can be a pain sometimes, FFXI doesnt have the same option to as "easily" solo exp as WoW does "unless ya got real skillz" so ur kind of limited to either waiting for a party or making your own, although campaign battles are to an extent changing that.
But FFXI is still my first love when it comes to MMORPG's, i think the subjob facet is what really seperates it, being able to combine jobs makes for more options to customise your playstyle exactly how you want it.
As far as those market share stats someone mentioned go, i don't think that a larger market share really reflects the quality of a game in all cases. I mean %90 of human beings are retarded drones who should be exterminated while maybe %5 are worthwhile intelligent organisms deserving of life. The other %5 are hot chicks who are also retarded drones but deserving of life for less altruistic reasons :D
I only mentioned FFXI and WoW kind of splitting the MMO world equally because i don't really know of any other major MMO's out there. I'm a console player by trade and the PC games available are a largely unknown quantity to me.
Anyway it's 2am and i better stop talking before this turns into a "FFXI is better than WoW" flame thread :D
Catch y'all laterz, thx for the info. I'll post back and let you all know how my druid experience goes. /bow, peace, out
Scholar
23 posts
I can understand where you are coming from. I just left Steamvaults (an upper end dungeon) and almost broke my keyboard because I can't see around the dang bushes and my fury fat ***** So many wonderful textures in game but for some odd reason everyone decided to phone it in on the first pull past the giants.... Anyway....
I did the Rdm/Nin thing back when it was cool. I also started doing the Bst thing. Your question hits me along the same lines as a BST that doesn't use a pet. Completely playable but making things much more difficult on yourself. The great thing about WOW is that you are only rarely forced to rely on others prior to end game. Each class has a way of surviving ***** ups. For the druid, bear is that way.
I can go into all the numbers and mitigation graphs but what really is important is that in cat you will get hit for what we will call for simplicities sake, "normal". Now in bear form normal is reduced to next to nothing. This gives you the capability of taking on multiple opponents without having to switch gear, use a potion, or switch to cheetah and run for your life. Coming from FFXI I know you can appreciate the ability to stand up and fight for yourself every once in a while. Additionally, no game in the history of the world is as much about being a stat junkie as FFXI. The stats of bear require you to use in when things go bad.
Just like subbing whm made me want to puke, there will be times when you have to hit the fat bear button because you gotta do it. As you learn to play to your strengths you will find you only have to hit it when you want to or when no other "o, $#!t" button is available.
I roll a Enh shammy as well and can say there are times that I feel like walking doom. Shammy has a smoother ramp up of power than druid in my opinion but that is just me. Till you gear out as druid at 70 I felt really behind the power curve. Shammy felt more like bard with the ability to beat the holy hell out of something.
Nuff rambling. Play on playa and find your path. You will be happy you did.
I did the Rdm/Nin thing back when it was cool. I also started doing the Bst thing. Your question hits me along the same lines as a BST that doesn't use a pet. Completely playable but making things much more difficult on yourself. The great thing about WOW is that you are only rarely forced to rely on others prior to end game. Each class has a way of surviving ***** ups. For the druid, bear is that way.
I can go into all the numbers and mitigation graphs but what really is important is that in cat you will get hit for what we will call for simplicities sake, "normal". Now in bear form normal is reduced to next to nothing. This gives you the capability of taking on multiple opponents without having to switch gear, use a potion, or switch to cheetah and run for your life. Coming from FFXI I know you can appreciate the ability to stand up and fight for yourself every once in a while. Additionally, no game in the history of the world is as much about being a stat junkie as FFXI. The stats of bear require you to use in when things go bad.
Just like subbing whm made me want to puke, there will be times when you have to hit the fat bear button because you gotta do it. As you learn to play to your strengths you will find you only have to hit it when you want to or when no other "o, $#!t" button is available.
I roll a Enh shammy as well and can say there are times that I feel like walking doom. Shammy has a smoother ramp up of power than druid in my opinion but that is just me. Till you gear out as druid at 70 I felt really behind the power curve. Shammy felt more like bard with the ability to beat the holy hell out of something.
Nuff rambling. Play on playa and find your path. You will be happy you did.
With the three talent trees for each class, and the option to focus on one tree or split your points between two or all three trees, I think WoW has more class variety than FFXI.
Look for some people who switched out the Bear and Moonkin sprites if you hate them so much. Then just switch their sprites in-game. Voila.
Yeh RDM/NIN still rocks Apophosis, and yes i am a stat ***** on my SAM but i do tend to wear slightly sub standard gear if it's got a better style than the pimp stuff ><
Just got to lv11 druid on Ghost"something" server, started again once trial ended and i got the full game, about to go grab the bear in Darkshore now.
Going to experiment with it a bit more this time around and try to find some merits that outwiegh the huge model and lunging handicapped movement ^^
I like the power of bear i'll admit that, those clawing moves do some nice dmg.
Swapping the sprites is a good idea if i can figure out how to do it, game runs bad enough without me ******** with stuff like that tho :D
Put my first two talent points into the balance tree and im regretting it already. Feral tree seems to get better stuff early on, balance tree gets crap to start with, meh natures grasp or a 0.1 faster cast time ^^. Thinking i might go feral tree until i've got enough points to respec and get to the good stuff in balance tree all at once without sitting thru level after level of poor talents.
Unfortunately that means getting a whole 1 gold together >< Haven't got the hang of the auction house yet, just been npc vendoring everything and im poor from buying nice leather armour and some H2H weps :D
Spent the last hour wandering around wellspring lake trying to find lady sathra the spider nm for "tears of the moon" quest, came on here to check if there was info coz she wasn't spawning, knew i shoulda checked the other side of the river, so im gonna go back and kick her ***.
Laterz
Just got to lv11 druid on Ghost"something" server, started again once trial ended and i got the full game, about to go grab the bear in Darkshore now.
Going to experiment with it a bit more this time around and try to find some merits that outwiegh the huge model and lunging handicapped movement ^^
I like the power of bear i'll admit that, those clawing moves do some nice dmg.
Swapping the sprites is a good idea if i can figure out how to do it, game runs bad enough without me ******** with stuff like that tho :D
Put my first two talent points into the balance tree and im regretting it already. Feral tree seems to get better stuff early on, balance tree gets crap to start with, meh natures grasp or a 0.1 faster cast time ^^. Thinking i might go feral tree until i've got enough points to respec and get to the good stuff in balance tree all at once without sitting thru level after level of poor talents.
Unfortunately that means getting a whole 1 gold together >< Haven't got the hang of the auction house yet, just been npc vendoring everything and im poor from buying nice leather armour and some H2H weps :D
Spent the last hour wandering around wellspring lake trying to find lady sathra the spider nm for "tears of the moon" quest, came on here to check if there was info coz she wasn't spawning, knew i shoulda checked the other side of the river, so im gonna go back and kick her ***.
Laterz
If your going balance you have to get the crazy deranged fat voodoo turkeys on crack. It's a requisite to being successful at balance.
Can you say "Cookie Cutter" ? -.- How depressing.
mathewgurney wrote:
Can you say "Cookie Cutter" ? -.- How depressing.
Avoiding a hands-down best option because it's "cookie cutter" is what we call a Snowflake. I believe the FFXI term is Buttersheep.
If you are going to go balance, caster dps, moonkin gives you extra crit and enough armor to survive.
If you are going to go feral, Bearform is your tank, giving large life, massive armor anf high threat (not big when soloing).
There's no real way around it. If you want those roles (especially tank) you need to use those forms.
Lol, i've been playing FFXI for about 4-5 years, never heard of a Buttersheep, interesting.
I just kinda get disillusioned knowing the only way i can play a class is the same way everyone else does, kinda kills the RP aspect for me.
I think my main problem with bear is my RAM lol, think i'd enjoy it more if things were running a bit smoother, have to have to graphics turned all the way down and that makes the bear look like a large grey sponge with eyeballs stuck on it.
I've been using it "bear" extensively these last few levels, "lv 14 now" and yeh it is effective, nice to get 3 aggros and be able to live thru it, it just doesnt look like bear damnit lol.
Anyway, bear discussion over, im gonna use it lol.
Not sure when i get Moonkin but i guess i'll be using that too, at least it looks vicious n crazy. :D
Respecced my talents now, "damn saving up that 1 gold sucked" and put all 5 points into resto tree "mark of the wild". Liking the +87 armour and the +2 to stats.
Not sure what to do next, that "clearcasting state" talent looks quite good, probly gonna aim for that.
Shame we can't dual-wield, im using hand to hand, pretty weak, but the claw and blade weapons look good later so im gonna stick with it.
Not levelling up very fast but not dying too much either so i guess im about on schedule. Just about to finish up the Auberdine quests then its off to ... ?
We shall see.
I just kinda get disillusioned knowing the only way i can play a class is the same way everyone else does, kinda kills the RP aspect for me.
I think my main problem with bear is my RAM lol, think i'd enjoy it more if things were running a bit smoother, have to have to graphics turned all the way down and that makes the bear look like a large grey sponge with eyeballs stuck on it.
I've been using it "bear" extensively these last few levels, "lv 14 now" and yeh it is effective, nice to get 3 aggros and be able to live thru it, it just doesnt look like bear damnit lol.
Anyway, bear discussion over, im gonna use it lol.
Not sure when i get Moonkin but i guess i'll be using that too, at least it looks vicious n crazy. :D
Respecced my talents now, "damn saving up that 1 gold sucked" and put all 5 points into resto tree "mark of the wild". Liking the +87 armour and the +2 to stats.
Not sure what to do next, that "clearcasting state" talent looks quite good, probly gonna aim for that.
Shame we can't dual-wield, im using hand to hand, pretty weak, but the claw and blade weapons look good later so im gonna stick with it.
Not levelling up very fast but not dying too much either so i guess im about on schedule. Just about to finish up the Auberdine quests then its off to ... ?
We shall see.
So hold on, i seem to be gravititating towards moving up the resto tree right now, that's where i see the most talents i like.
Does a resto druid stay in this "Tree of life" form most of the time or could he conceivably stay in "humaoid" form and fight with H2H while healing/buffing party ?
Coz i think i remember seeing that "tree of life" cant cast balance spells and i want to be able to that as well.
Anyway back to levelling ....
Does a resto druid stay in this "Tree of life" form most of the time or could he conceivably stay in "humaoid" form and fight with H2H while healing/buffing party ?
Coz i think i remember seeing that "tree of life" cant cast balance spells and i want to be able to that as well.
Anyway back to levelling ....
Scholar
29 posts
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I just kinda get disillusioned knowing the only way i can play a class is the same way everyone else does, kinda kills the RP aspect for me.
I played ffxi for a long time...and never have I seen players forced to stick to a way of playing a class the way ffxi does.
mathewgurney wrote:
So hold on, i seem to be gravititating towards moving up the resto tree right now, that's where i see the most talents i like.
Resto is the healing tree, mainly for those who party. It's a slow way to level, which is not to say you can't do it, of course, but as you say you'll be playing mainly solo, I just want to caution you that you'll be missing most of the upside of the spec.
Tree of Life is situational.
There are also Resto/Balance hybrid builds that I believe some people have good luck with - someone with a clue will chime in to say so.
I admire your tenacity in sticking with the druid, since, yanno, they rule, but based on what you've said here in terms of what appeals to you, I predict you'll enjoy your shaman much more.
I hate to say it, but Improved Mark of the Wild is probably the worst 5 talent points in any druid tree, and top 5 for worst talent in WoW.
With enough talent points, you can pick up the three talents in the Balance tree that help with healing (Dreamstate, Moonglow, and Lunar Guidance), as many resto talents as you still have points for, and have a decent hybrid caster. Healing and offensive magic, somewhat similar to a RDM (yeah, it's a stretch).
If you want to stick with druid as a melee/caster hybrid, I would reccomend Balance. You can't actually cast healing spells in moonkin form, but you can cast your HoTs before the fight starts, then shift forms. You won't do a lot of damage with your melee attacks, out of feral form you're still basicly a caster. You melee mostly for the moonkin ability to regen mana when you hit something.
With enough talent points, you can pick up the three talents in the Balance tree that help with healing (Dreamstate, Moonglow, and Lunar Guidance), as many resto talents as you still have points for, and have a decent hybrid caster. Healing and offensive magic, somewhat similar to a RDM (yeah, it's a stretch).
If you want to stick with druid as a melee/caster hybrid, I would reccomend Balance. You can't actually cast healing spells in moonkin form, but you can cast your HoTs before the fight starts, then shift forms. You won't do a lot of damage with your melee attacks, out of feral form you're still basicly a caster. You melee mostly for the moonkin ability to regen mana when you hit something.
Nah, i'm gonna leave Shaman for a while and keep plugging away at Druid, Shaman looks good but i can't take the Orcs, Trolls and Tauren seriously and i don't have the new expansion yet, not that i particularly like the look of those Dranei things either lol.
Blood elves look cool im gonna make a job with one of them once i get the expansion, dont know if they can be Shaman or not.
I'm starting to enjoy the flexibility of Druid and am appreciating Bear a lot more now, guess i just should have seen more of the game before i started judging stuff.
My plan for the next few levels is to keep my 5 points in resto and put 5 each into both feral and balance, keeping my Druid even all round seems like a good idea based on the "adaptable" nature of the job that im learning about.
Going to try to pick the talents from each tree that effect more than one tree if you know what i mean.
Yeh i don't deny that FFXI does have some aspects to it that force "unimaginative" players into cookie cutter roles, but there are definetly options to play unusual or original job/sub combos as long as you really focus on making it work effectively then party's are happy to accomodate you.
I'm sure this game has the same kind of flexibility i just haven't got deep enough in to see it yet lol.
Druid lv16 now, one spell behind buying schedule, need to get some cash flow goin on.
Actually need to maybe grind exp just outside Auberdine for a while, most of the mobs further down the road where my next quests are, are a bit rowdy "lv18-19". Want to roll on them when im a bit more hardcore, can combine that with some farming to set me up for the next section of the game.
Blood elves look cool im gonna make a job with one of them once i get the expansion, dont know if they can be Shaman or not.
I'm starting to enjoy the flexibility of Druid and am appreciating Bear a lot more now, guess i just should have seen more of the game before i started judging stuff.
My plan for the next few levels is to keep my 5 points in resto and put 5 each into both feral and balance, keeping my Druid even all round seems like a good idea based on the "adaptable" nature of the job that im learning about.
Going to try to pick the talents from each tree that effect more than one tree if you know what i mean.
Yeh i don't deny that FFXI does have some aspects to it that force "unimaginative" players into cookie cutter roles, but there are definetly options to play unusual or original job/sub combos as long as you really focus on making it work effectively then party's are happy to accomodate you.
I'm sure this game has the same kind of flexibility i just haven't got deep enough in to see it yet lol.
Druid lv16 now, one spell behind buying schedule, need to get some cash flow goin on.
Actually need to maybe grind exp just outside Auberdine for a while, most of the mobs further down the road where my next quests are, are a bit rowdy "lv18-19". Want to roll on them when im a bit more hardcore, can combine that with some farming to set me up for the next section of the game.
Damn, missed that post above ><
Now ya tell me that "mark of the wild" is the worst talent lol.
Why ?
Plus 87 armour and a +2 bonus to each stat is pretty nice no ?
Must admit i was hoping the stat bonus would increase, was kinda dissapointed when it didnt but i like the armour bonnus.
Now ya tell me that "mark of the wild" is the worst talent lol.
Why ?
Plus 87 armour and a +2 bonus to each stat is pretty nice no ?
Must admit i was hoping the stat bonus would increase, was kinda dissapointed when it didnt but i like the armour bonnus.
well, the thing about the armor bonus is that its relative value compared to furor is almost nil. 87 armor at max level is nothing, considering a tank specced/geared druid will have over 30,000, and a pvp geared druid will have around 20k. if that wernt enough, imp MotW twists the knife a little bit more thanks to the fact that the armor gained is magical, which means it isnt affected by the bear form (or moonkin form) armor multiplier.
furor on the other hand is a talent full of win and waffles. its a guaranteed instant bash or feral charge on shifting into bear, and the ability to maim instantly on shifting into cat (assuming the target has cp's on em). you can even abuse furor to get a temporary boost to cat dps at the cost of hemmorhaging mana (literally). compared to that, imp mark is just a waste of a talent.
Edited, Apr 14th 2008 5:42pm by Quor
furor on the other hand is a talent full of win and waffles. its a guaranteed instant bash or feral charge on shifting into bear, and the ability to maim instantly on shifting into cat (assuming the target has cp's on em). you can even abuse furor to get a temporary boost to cat dps at the cost of hemmorhaging mana (literally). compared to that, imp mark is just a waste of a talent.
Edited, Apr 14th 2008 5:42pm by Quor
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