Druids: An Informative Write-up

[threefeetunder]

(I'm on a roll so far, may as well go all the way)
for people interested in how forms look like, here's screenshots:
Wolf

Winter Wolf

Bear

Dire Bear

Water elemental

Fire elemental

[Culver.Civello]

UMD fixes any issues with using weapons with alignment restrictions, and Druids get 4 skill points per level.

Meh. Always an option.

Drow do not get any bonus to their Wisdom score. Period. No race currently in DDO does. Drow get bonuses to INT, CHA, and DEX. They will actually be 1 DC behind a Human or Half-Elf, depending on gear, as those two races get +1 WIS from enhancements.

Doh' That is what I get for writing up that part at 5am. >.<

[Culver.Civello]

(I'm on a roll so far, may as well go all the way)
for people interested in how forms look like, here's screenshots:
Wolf

Winter Wolf

Bear

Dire Bear

Water elemental

Fire elemental

:P Well, saves me the trouble of needing to do it. Haha. Oh.. you got the Winter Wolf and Wolf mixed up while titling them.

[threefeetunder]

:P Well, saves me the trouble of needing to do it. Haha. Oh.. you got the Winter Wolf and Wolf mixed up while titling them.

Yeah, retook them them since I wanted more of a close up and mixed first screenshots with the second set of screenshots. fixed
Ps: the elemental screenshots were taken whilst naked (ingame that is), your armor does show whilst in elly form.

[Culver.Civello]

Yeah, retook them them since I wanted more of a close up and mixed first screenshots with the second set of screenshots. fixed
Ps: the elemental screenshots were taken whilst naked (ingame that is), your armor does show whilst in elly form.

Haha. Well, passed you a +1. You totally deserve it. Added a link in OP to those images.

[Metathron]

Hi.

First, being an old returning(?) player I love the work Turbine is still putting into DDO, however I find the wolf-form combat animations to be extremely unsatisfying. Especially when moving you get basically no feedback at all that you are attacking, and sometimes it feels like I have to wait two seconds after I have stopped before it starts attacking the intended enemy at all(!?). This is not minor cosmetic issue to be shrugged off, it severely impacts how combat feels. Combat is supposed to be one of DDOs strengths, and currently it just doesn't feel right. Part of it might be lag, but there is a very clear difference between how combat in-form and out-of-form flows. Has anybody else encountered this?

I suggest:
-Add some kind of sound feedback when you are attacking when moving. Currently there is nothing at all, and you can't see any visual cues from the player POV.
-I like the snarl sounds on the attacks in wolf form, but they seem out of sync with the actual attacks. Can we also get some kind of standard "slash" sound when it actually does damage? I think most would rather have slash sounds than the snarl if you can't do both.
-The case where the animations get stuck 2 seconds before attacking needs to be fixed.
Speculation: As I understand it the animations tie into the actual attacks in DDO, so I guess there might be some animation in the movement or something that doesn't end when you hit attack?

EDIT: I tested this out some more, and the case where it seems like you get stuck 2 seconds is actually because the server still registers you as moving and gives you the running-attack animation, which is probably not new, but as mentioned has no sound effect and little visual cue (key issue: sound effect). To excarbate the issue the moving attack is like half as fast as the regular attack chain, which feels weird. Some unscientific timing tests show that it most likely about 30-40% slower than the regular human moving attack animation. I realize THF feats don't proc while moving either, but that is a much smaller penalty, and as far as I remember TWF did proc so I don't see why wolves get disproportionally penalized (probably ~60% dps reduction) by moving. Aren't wolves supposed to play as rogueish flankers? Playing rogue style is very painful when you have to be perfectly stationary to not kill your dps for upwards 2 seconds. DDO is a fast moving game, as it should be.

Recommendation:
-Increase animation speed when moving to make it at least on par with human, and preferrably the stationay wolf attack speed (you still get the to-hit penalty like rogues).
-Put sound effects on all strikes, both when moving and stationary. Lose the growl on stationary if you have to (though it would be nice with both). Actually, you could play the growl on one attack in the chain and manually mix in a slash if the engine doesn't permit two sound effects.

[AylinIsAwesome]

UMD fixes any issues with using weapons with alignment restrictions, and Druids get 4 skill points per level.

The Unyielding Sentinel thing is based on alignment.

If you're Good, you get +3d6 Holy damage while you 'Stand Against the Tide'.

[Goobermans]

-Monk Past life feats DO work in Animal form.

I tested this last night and it did not work(assuming you mean Past Life: Disciple of the Fist). Actually, it hurt my damage.

It drops Winter Wolf to 1d6 damage, and neither Wolf nor Winter Wolf get any increase. This is damage testing, ignoring the bugged character sheet. I removed the feat and Winter Wolf gained damage back.

Have you tested this recently? Would be nice to have some confirmation on what I see.

[Zio_Kose]

If u have arcane archery feat, equip bow, and go in animal form the attak roll rest based on wisdom, is a bug or is wanted to work?

EDIT: Zen Archery i mean

[threefeetunder]

If u have arcane archery feat, equip bow, and go in animal form the attak roll rest based on wisdom, is a bug or is wanted to work?

This is interesting, didn't think about that feat. Probably not wai though it's not really a bug. Animal form allows feat based to-hit changed like finesse, and zen archery technically qualifies too, though it's probably not what the devs had in mind.

[Xyfiel]

This is interesting, didn't think about that feat. Probably not wai though it's not really a bug. Animal form allows feat based to-hit changed like finesse, and zen archery technically qualifies too, though it's probably not what the devs had in mind.

Not overpowered because it limits you to Bows, prevents shields, and costs a feat. Most previous named/epic bows were powerful due to extra damage or crit range, which is useless in form. You would be limited to greensteel and alchemical basically.

[Culver.Civello]

I tested this last night and it did not work(assuming you mean Past Life: Disciple of the Fist). Actually, it hurt my damage.

It drops Winter Wolf to 1d6 damage, and neither Wolf nor Winter Wolf get any increase. This is damage testing, ignoring the bugged character sheet. I removed the feat and Winter Wolf gained damage back.

Have you tested this recently? Would be nice to have some confirmation on what I see.

Hmmm... Last I knew, it was. I'll have to go check it out myself. If it isn't, I'm pretty sure it might be a bug. It is suppose to, last I checked.

If u have arcane archery feat, equip bow, and go in animal form the attak roll rest based on wisdom, is a bug or is wanted to work?

In Animal form, you aren't using a bow... You are using your natural fighting. You only get the stuff from the bow. Not even Flame Sword spell works with Wisdom in Animal form.

[AylinIsAwesome]

In animal form, which Improved Critical feat doubles your critical range?

[Culver.Civello]

In animal form, which Improved Critical feat doubles your critical range?

Bludgeon.

It isn't listed, but Bludgeon also includes Unarmed... which is what Animal form is considered.

[Zio_Kose]

In Animal form, you aren't using a bow... You are using your natural fighting. You only get the stuff from the bow. Not even Flame Sword spell works with Wisdom in Animal form.

For now work, i tested it, but unfortunately bow strength dont work.

[Zio_Kose]

Bludgeon.

It isn't listed, but Bludgeon also includes Unarmed... which is what Animal form is considered.

In animal form u do slash/piercing dmg, why they have decided for bludgeon? is not very meaningful

[Mubjon]

In animal form u do slash/piercing dmg, why they have decided for bludgeon? is not very meaningful

Wolf form is slash/pierce, Bear is Slash/Blugeon

So bear is good for boney undead

[AylinIsAwesome]

In animal form u do slash/piercing dmg, why they have decided for bludgeon? is not very meaningful

Improved Critical doesn't check what kind of damage it does, it only checks to see if it is an "approved weapon". Improved Critical: Piercing gives you double the critical range with Sunblade even though it does Slashing damage because it is considered to be a shortsword.

[ThreeEyedBob]

Nice writeup!

Just to add my few cents on druids... I played/prefered a caster style druid but spell points are a bit tight. So I had a long good look at taking an artificer level vs druid capstone. I think it pays off in the leveling process (for a caster style druid at least, animalform druids are probably better off staying pure) as you can fall back on the repeater when sp gets tight.

From lvl 7 I started using a (selfcrafted with masterful) Improved Cursespewing heavy repeater (that -4 to saves is nice) and a Wounding of Puncturing repeater (-con/-con proc). On elite diff solo I use the Imp Curse mainly followed up with a lightning strike. Worked wonderfully and made soloing very very much easier. I know the elemental enhancement effects are not supposed to stack and will be fixed at some point but right now its just an added cherry on top. And if at later levels the arti splash is a waste, there is always the option to do a Reincarnation :-)

Also, I found the druid pet to be somewhat iffy. The hp/sp penalty if it dies hurts when soloing elite. Often I leave it behind in case I should die myself to do a stone recovery to shrine.

[Matuse]

UMD fixes any issues with using weapons with alignment restrictions, and Druids get 4 skill points per level.

UMD will not fix this issue.

Unyielding Sentinels, IF THEY ARE GOOD ALIGNED, can take ED abilities that give Pure Good and Holy to their attacks. That's on top of whatever your base weapon is giving you.