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View Full Version : Suggestions for Druid class improvements



AzB
01-03-2014, 12:18 PM
The druid class is in a pretty good place overall. There are a couple of things that I would suggest for improvement.

1: Get rid of the bloom animation when a druid in animal form opens a door, chest, or whatever. I imagine it was put in place to cover up the awkward transition from animal to human and back again, but it's horribly blinding and slows my computer down. This is a problem in combat as it takes 2-3 seconds for the lag to end. It also effectively blinds me, similar to the glitterdust effect and is again a problem in combat, but also just plain annoying.

2: More spells. Specifically, more 9th level spells. There is almost no reason to go pure druid, even as a caster, as there aren't even enough 9th level spells available for use without memorizing spells that many pure caster types would never use... such as those that are based on animal form. The animal form spells are fine for people that use them, but pure caster types need something else to choose from.

3: Animal based run speed. It's pretty ridiculous that a wolf (after all a druid in wolf form is for all intents and purposes a wolf) with a 30% striding item can be outrun by practically every class in the game. For reference purposes, a mundane, earthbound wolf can run 40mph for sustained distances. But yet, in game, just about every other class has some sort of run boost that allows them to leave the wolf in the dust. By a large margin. The wolf's run speed should stack with items. As for bear, they are a lot faster than most people think as well. They can also run close to 40mph for short distances. They need a sprint boost while in form. Yes, I know it's a magical world, but why would a magical beast be slower than it's mundane counterpart, even with magic items boosting speed?

Those are the biggies. In the future I'd like to see a few more animal forms. A fish for swimming, a bird for flying, (yeah, I know. Never gonna happen) and maybe some way to customize the animal form so that all the wolves and bear don't look alike.

MadGardener
01-04-2014, 01:24 AM
scaling damage for the animal melee attacks, it is the same damage at lv 8 as it is at lv 28

AzB
01-04-2014, 09:42 AM
I play mostly caster based druids, so that doesn't come up on my radar much. Not to mention that my caster druid can still drop into wolf form and with no combat feats or spells other than frostbite, still take down the training dummy in 10 seconds.

But I will concede that melee based druids need some damage boost for epic levels. It would also be nice if the main melee damage boosting abilities were not spells that can be dispelled.

Miow
01-04-2014, 09:51 AM
I like all these suggestions

AzB
01-04-2014, 11:49 AM
Another suggestion regarding Druid (and arti) pets:

I understand the big limitation is AI and there's little or nothing that can be done about that. But how about some pet gear? Mainly, having some items with 4 or more augment slots so we can get the little buggers set up with heavy fort, resistance, dodge, etc. Right now, it's pretty tough getting more than 2 defense slots at a time, while still keeping the collar geared towards offense or crowd control. And we have collars just for pets, so let's see some interesting stuff for them... it's not like it'll be misused by other toons or anything. Only pets can wear them.

I know it's ultimately pretty pointless, but I've grown attached to the little bugger having run through 80 heroic levels with him and find it a bit sad that I can't take him out in Epics without him being a huge liability.

So let's see some pet gear... named collars, armor designed for pet defense, etc. Let's try to make pets epic!

Lonnbeimnech
01-04-2014, 12:07 PM
They should change the wolf movement rate bonus from an enhancement bonus to a racial bonus so that it stacks with striders/haste etc.

And ya know what, bears run pretty fast in real life when they want to. Why are they so lumbering in this game?

Lonnbeimnech
01-04-2014, 12:09 PM
So let's see some pet gear... named collars, armor designed for pet defense, etc. Let's try to make pets epic!

More gears slots for pets. It's just impossible to fit all the different buffs on one gear slot and one weapon slot.

Memnir
01-04-2014, 12:43 PM
1: Get rid of the bloom animation when a druid in animal form opens a door, chest, or whatever. I imagine it was put in place to cover up the awkward transition from animal to human and back again, but it's horribly blinding and slows my computer down. This is a problem in combat as it takes 2-3 seconds for the lag to end. It also effectively blinds me, similar to the glitterdust effect and is again a problem in combat, but also just plain annoying.This.
This more then anything has been annoying me as I've tried to make a Druid build I enjoy. The effect is annoying, and detrimental to my PC's graphical performance. The effect is so resource intensive, it makes my whole game chug even after a few seconds after the door is opened/chest looted/lever pulled/ladder climbed. Yeah, I know it's my PC more then the game... but the game inflicts that effect on my PC with no options to tone it down.

A toggle of some kind to turn it off, or a slider to lessen it's graphical intensity would be simply fantastic. I really wouldn't mind at all if my Druid stayed 100% in animal form while activating something or climbing, so long as it was an option I could turn off while those who like the effect can leave it on.