So, should I just dump Season's Herald for now?

[CombatLibrarian]

My first impression on Season's Herald: "Wow...well that seems kind of lackluster. And very steep on prereqs with no customization or wiggle room." I thought about it for awhile, and then planned out a spell list that should work with it, and set up the prestige enhancement. Initially it was...well, as expected it was somewhat underwhelming. For all the hoops you jump through while using it, the returns are relatively small.

And then I realized it is even worse than I first thought.

I had thought, from reading it, that the effect would be a passive, always-on thing, and that the two enhancement abilities were just for the manual shift. I set up the PrE, and saw no buff, figuring out pretty fast that I had to kick it off by using one of the abilities. That's...well, somewhat annoying, because I'm hitting my 20 minute cooldown right off the bat, but okay, liveable.

And then I found out the effect does not persist through death.

Wow. So if you activated or shifted recently, and you die, you have to wait anywhere up to 19 minutes just to get ANY benefit from your prestige enhancement? This is an absolutely miserable PrE.

So, given that, should I just dump it entirely until it's fixed? Or is there something I'm missing here?

[Jaid314]

My first impression on Season's Herald: "Wow...well that seems kind of lackluster. And very steep on prereqs with no customization or wiggle room." I thought about it for awhile, and then planned out a spell list that should work with it, and set up the prestige enhancement. Initially it was...well, as expected it was somewhat underwhelming. For all the hoops you jump through while using it, the returns are relatively small.

And then I realized it is even worse than I first thought.

I had thought, from reading it, that the effect would be a passive, always-on thing, and that the two enhancement abilities were just for the manual shift. I set up the PrE, and saw no buff, figuring out pretty fast that I had to kick it off by using one of the abilities. That's...well, somewhat annoying, because I'm hitting my 20 minute cooldown right off the bat, but okay, liveable.

And then I found out the effect does not persist through death.

Wow. So if you activated or shifted recently, and you die, you have to wait anywhere up to 19 minutes just to get ANY benefit from your prestige enhancement? This is an absolutely miserable PrE.

So, given that, should I just dump it entirely until it's fixed? Or is there something I'm missing here?

that depends. there are some later enhancements which require the PrE before you can take them. if those enhancements are something you consider sufficiently valuable, then keep it. otherwise, well... either dump it or avoid dying i guess

[AtomicMew]

Depends. If you're pure caster focus, taking the PrE is still better than not taking it. If you do any sort of melee, just take Nature's Warrior. It's much better.

Also, try not to die 1 minute after activating your season. Druid is a very hardy class, so there's really not much of an excuse.

[CombatLibrarian]

Depends. If you're pure caster focus, taking the PrE is still better than not taking it. If you do any sort of melee, just take Nature's Warrior. It's much better.

Also, try not to die 1 minute after activating your season. Druid is a very hardy class, so there's really not much of an excuse.

Activation or shifting, it has the same cooldown. As for the rest...well, I pug alot, and excrement occurs.

[Terminus-Est]

The first tier is worth getting to get Spring Resurgence. (Autumnal Sussural has been meh)

After that? Well, I have to double check if it unlocks any other nice enhancements... but probably not ^_^

[LupusVai]

I've also heard reports that its dispelled by beholders (not tested it myself). So it could be even worse than terrible. Even if it didn't get removed by death or by being dispelled its still by far the worse PRE of any class i'd go so far to say. (yes and that includes deepwood sniper lol)

Yes, its truly an awful PRE. Natures warrior is marginally better although some of its features currently are bugged. The one saving grace of Natures Warrior PRE is that you can take reaving roar which is about the only Druid enhancement that's worth taking. (so no doubt due to be nerfed)

I really don't think the devs even marginally play tested either PRE because they seem blissfully unaware of all the problems with them both. Despite numerous bug reports and feedback on forums no comment has been made by them and they don't seem to be at all bothered to fix them.

[Chette]

Is it even working? When I did my druid life after the update I wasn't seeing any noticeable increase to my caster levels. I didn't waste a lot of time testing it, but it was not increasing the duration of my resist energy of the appropriate element. On the other hand, going into an elemental form, which gives bonuses and penalties to caster level for certain elements, certainly did change the duration of my resist.

[threefeetunder]

Spring resurgence and crown of summer are fairly good (requires season herald 1 and 2 respectively)

Spring Resurgence: Fill an ally with the vitality of spring. When that ally falls below 50% hit points, that ally and any other allies near him are healed by 20d6 positive energy, and receive a +2 primal bonus to attack rolls. Has I believe a 5 second cooldown.
.
Crown of Summer: A target of your choice is filled with the light and vitality of summer. That target gains a 15% enhancement bonus to healing amplification, and his or her weapons are enchanted so that they deal 2d6 extra light damage. Only one character can have the crown of summer buff at a time, and weapons can only have 1 enchantment at a time.

Beyond that, gotta admit that prestige is pretty bad.

[LupusVai]

Is it even working? When I did my druid life after the update I wasn't seeing any noticeable increase to my caster levels. I didn't waste a lot of time testing it, but it was not increasing the duration of my resist energy of the appropriate element. On the other hand, going into an elemental form, which gives bonuses and penalties to caster level for certain elements, certainly did change the duration of my resist.

Maybe a silly question. But did you activate it. Its stupid and clumsy mechanism, you have to actually start it running by clicking the icon to change seasons. Which then means you can't use it again for 20 minutes.

On the other hand you probably might not have noticed anything because its pretty rubbish even when it is running. ;-p

[CombatLibrarian]

Maybe a silly question. But did you activate it. Its stupid and clumsy mechanism, you have to actually start it running by clicking the icon to change seasons. Which then means you can't use it again for 20 minutes.

On the other hand you probably might not have noticed anything because its pretty rubbish even when it is running. ;-p

This is what finally made me shelve my caster druid until a patch or two into the future. You jump through a dozen hoops, many more than for most PrE's, and STILL the return is very lackluster, even with the potentially massive cooldown on death, even with the hefty prerequisites, even with the chase-the-dragon casting style you still get "well...I guess that hit a little harder".