VS Monk VS bard

[lordlitch]

So I came to DDO many many years ago, got a bard to level 4, and stopped because I just find that bards arnt that fun without the ability to RP. I tried a monk last year or the year before just to see how they were, again level 4 and stopped. Now Im back (again) and I see that druids are finally in the game and I was wondering, how do they stack up? Im used to playing a druid in WoW as a feral tank, are the DDO bear druids similar in any way? If my friend that Ill mostly be playing with plays as a warrior or a rogue would I be able to add anything to the group as a shapeshifter?

[torand]

I have played around a lot with my druid (Currently level 14), and I can give you my impressions so far. I originally decided I wanted to play a bear (I really like bears), so I started a druid. At first I was really digging it, and your pet does some ******** damage early on (Around 7 is when I started noticing just how much).

As I leveled though, my damage didn't scale at all, and I was just a meat shield (And not really the best one). When I got high enough to start getting good nuke spells (Flame Strike, Fire Wall) I started doing some damage, but the druid spell enhancements kind of suck, and I couldn't afford to wear a scepter for spell damage, so it still didn't scale all that well.

When I got 8 or 9 to get Reaving Roar (Stance when you kill an enemy you do 13d6 sonic damage AOE around you) I was really impressed. As I leveled though, it became harder and harder to get killing blows because I myself did terrible damage (Other than the reaving roar damage) even with imp shield mastery, natural fighting, and power attack.

At around level 13 I decided to respec my enhancements to focus on wolf, and realized that you can use reaving roar as a wolf (There is also a fatal harrier stance meant for wolves, but I think reaving roar is better). I did this, and love it. I do tons of damage as a wolf and get tons of AOE from reaving roar. My pet does a ton of damage as well, and have a huge earth elemental CCing things (Druids get a lot of hireling/pet/summon buffs).

Finally I looked forward to see what continuing to level as a druid would get me, and was not impressed. The only enhancement I wanted going forward was the capstone, and 2d6 sneak attack and less cooldown on spells (Which I don't want to spam anyway). I would get some more mana, but most of my mana is spent on buffs and animal attacks (Most of which are cheap) anyway. So I decided to start taking levels in fighter, and picked up imp critical bludgeoning, which makes my crit 17-20 x3 (20% chance to do 3x damage), fighter melee haste boost, and a couple other things. Now I am loving my druid again.

TLDR Version:
Wolf is WAY better than bear.
Druid spell enhancements suck, so don't depend too much on spell damage.
You can take Reaving Roar as a Wolf, which is amazing AOE damage.
Very little reason to go above level 13/15 (You get 'Heal' at 15 in druid), multi-class into fighter/rogue/monk.

I got bored and found reasons to get re-interested in my druid several times. It sounds like the first time you get bored you will probably stop playing again, so following these steps might help prevent you from getting bored .

[AzB]

I think druids and rogues have a certain synergy together. Rogues are quite possibly the most underplayed character in DDO, as they really only fit one role for zergers, and that's eliminating traps.

But if you play a party that enjoys taking their time, and using some imagination to solve issues, a rogue is an immensely useful and fun character. Their natural stealth and situational dps lends itself to ambushes and planned multi point attacks. And this is where they work well with a druid. The druid has healing and AOE spells (hopefully un-nerfed soon as they are a bit weak right now) and these are two areas the rogue needs help with sometimes. A druid can be built to be fairly stealthy, and with the various pets and summoned creatures can help fill out a normally two person party. Especially at lower levels, the extra bodies can be real force multipliers. (Although the pet damage will be nerfed Monday apparently)

It's a subtle play though. It's not a "go ring the doorbell and let the monster know we're here so we can commence hacking and slaying" style of play.

Wizards are also good companions for rogues as well, although you will probably both need to take cleric hires at lower levels.

Bear vs. wolf; Ok, both are simply fun to play. I still feel like a 5 year old playing either one. The uniqueness has not worn off yet. Bear: more damage, slower. I also play with a 3rd person view from slightly behind and above to get better bearings and keep my eye on peripheral threats, etc. This is a problem with the bear because it's body is so big it blocks the view immediately in front of you. Kind of like when the caster in your party summons a large earth elemental and he always manages to stand or walk right in front of you. Not a problem for people that prefer a 1st person view. Wolf: less damage, seems to crit slightly more, quicker and more nimble. It's also cool at lower levels to have your pet wolf, take wolf form, and summon a grey wolf. You've got your own little wolf pack right there. Not much use after 3rd level, but fun anyway.

I would really like to see a better save against being tripped while in wolf or bear form. Even the original PnP version of DnD stated that druids take on the form in it's entirety, with the accompanying traits and abilities... while retaining the characters hps and spell capability. Even if your character is completely spastic in it's human form, you should at least get a modifier to the save to reflect having 4 legs. A knockdown against human sized or smaller creatures from the bear would be nice too, as just having that kind of weight and bulk would give you some advantage in a melee. You do get sunder in bear form though. (And takedown in wolf)

Be prepared though, much of the higher level druid stuff sounds really, really exciting on paper but is pretty disappointing once you get there. The spell list is absolutely astounding until you start casting them, and then they're mostly just disappointing. Lightning? Awesome damage... but everyone saves. And I mean everyone. Even orcs at 5th level. And as far as melee goes, at lower levels the animal forms will almost always be better and at higher levels prepare for your damage to be less than devastating. In many cases you will barely annoy the monsters. Getting aggro from damage is almost exactly opposite a sorc or wiz. I can cast 1 or 2 spells and get almost all the aggro in the room with my wiz, but the druid can stand there and hack and cast spells for 2 dozen rounds and never get any aggro because the damage is so weak. Even my bard is a much better fighter, although the druid has about twice the hit points, and that's a nice plus.

Edit: Reaver's roar is pretty useful.

And spells cast from animal form are excruciatingly slow, making animal form a lot less attractive to a caster. Most melee spells are cast so slow that monster dies of old age and/or boredom before the spell gets cast. And the cooldown period makes rapid healing and rapid fire impossible. There are some feats and enhancements to speed this up a bit, but it's easier just to use those abilities somewhere really useful and just do most of your casting in human form.

[MaxwellEdison]

So I came to DDO many many years ago, got a bard to level 4, and stopped because I just find that bards arnt that fun without the ability to RP. I tried a monk last year or the year before just to see how they were, again level 4 and stopped. Now Im back (again) and I see that druids are finally in the game and I was wondering, how do they stack up? Im used to playing a druid in WoW as a feral tank, are the DDO bear druids similar in any way? If my friend that Ill mostly be playing with plays as a warrior or a rogue would I be able to add anything to the group as a shapeshifter?

May be tricky to hang in there that long, but they can be kinda fun at level 5 and beyond.