Current Druid Issues

[Erek_Stormraven]

I finally finished XP capping my druid, and while I do love playing the class, there's a few things I noticed that I believe either aren't working as intended, or should just be changed in general.

1. Crown of Summer (BUG) - if the player you cast it on DCs, or if you cast it on your pet and he gets bugged out so that you have to re-summon him, you cannot cast your crown on anyone until you re-log. While the benefit of the crown is marginal (IMO), it's still annoying.

2. Reincarnate (BUG) - the Reincarnate spell takes FOREVER to cast, and doesn't seem to be affected by Quicken Spell at all. It makes it tough to try to raise anyone if the rest of the party is still taking damage.

3. Mass Cures Not In Spell List - The scrolls list all the Mass Cures as castable by druids (without UMD), but it's not in our memorizable spell list. I don't think this is working as intended - either we can cast them, or we can't. Right?

4. Season's Herald - Winter / Summer thing (POOR DESIGN) - I think this was implemented horribly, with having to kick off the summer / winter thing with a timer - which goes away when you die, and needs to be reset. How about implementing two enhancements in Season's Herald - call them Herald of Summer, and Herald of Winter (mutually exclusive) - and make them work without the rotating?

5. Creeping Doom - (POOR DESIGN) - This spell has a number of problems. First off, it has an exceptionally slow get-to-the-target time. If the target dies in the 9 hours it takes to get there, the spell is wasted. If the target moves too far, again - wasted. And lastly, it's "poison" damage (read, untyped) which we get absolutely no line of enhancements to improve. ... why?

6. Fires of Purity (IMPROVEMENT) - can we get a cold version of this spell? Pretty please with a cherry on top? As a caster / water elemental druid, this would come in awfully handy.

7. Mass Death Ward / Mass Protection From Elements - can we get these, please? Casting death ward on each and every party member at every shrine is getting.. well, cumbersome.

8. Druid / Exalted Angel destiny (IMPROVEMENT) - Could the Aura from the EA destiny work with our crown of summer (affecting whoever gets the crown)? I like the idea of the aura, but I don't necessarily want all that aggro on myself.

Okay, so that's maybe more than a few things. The class does seem unfinished but feels like it has a lot of potential.

[Expalphalog]

Animal forms really need a casting animation. I can never tell if Jaws of Winter landed, missed, or bugged out and never fired (unless of course it succeeds in freezing the enemy).

[jortann]

2. Reincarnate (BUG) - the Reincarnate spell takes FOREVER to cast, and doesn't seem to be affected by Quicken Spell at all. It makes it tough to try to raise anyone if the rest of the party is still taking damage.

This^^ 10 second casting animation... really? Really? It is the longest casting duration of any spell in the game by far.

Plus...

Body of the Sun has a 3 second pause between the end of the casting animation and appearing. The casting animation ends, it shows up in your buff bar with 30 seconds and when the counter hits 27 the spell shows up.

Body of the Sun animation must be bugged. Because no one in there right mind would make it so obnoxious. PLEASE TONE THIS DOWN!

[Quetzacoala]

I finally finished XP capping my druid, and while I do love playing the class, there's a few things I noticed that I believe either aren't working as intended, or should just be changed in general.

1. Crown of Summer (BUG) - if the player you cast it on DCs, or if you cast it on your pet and he gets bugged out so that you have to re-summon him, you cannot cast your crown on anyone until you re-log. While the benefit of the crown is marginal (IMO), it's still annoying.

2. Reincarnate (BUG) - the Reincarnate spell takes FOREVER to cast, and doesn't seem to be affected by Quicken Spell at all. It makes it tough to try to raise anyone if the rest of the party is still taking damage.

3. Mass Cures Not In Spell List - The scrolls list all the Mass Cures as castable by druids (without UMD), but it's not in our memorizable spell list. I don't think this is working as intended - either we can cast them, or we can't. Right?

4. Season's Herald - Winter / Summer thing (POOR DESIGN) - I think this was implemented horribly, with having to kick off the summer / winter thing with a timer - which goes away when you die, and needs to be reset. How about implementing two enhancements in Season's Herald - call them Herald of Summer, and Herald of Winter (mutually exclusive) - and make them work without the rotating?

5. Creeping Doom - (POOR DESIGN) - This spell has a number of problems. First off, it has an exceptionally slow get-to-the-target time. If the target dies in the 9 hours it takes to get there, the spell is wasted. If the target moves too far, again - wasted. And lastly, it's "poison" damage (read, untyped) which we get absolutely no line of enhancements to improve. ... why?

6. Fires of Purity (IMPROVEMENT) - can we get a cold version of this spell? Pretty please with a cherry on top? As a caster / water elemental druid, this would come in awfully handy.

7. Mass Death Ward / Mass Protection From Elements - can we get these, please? Casting death ward on each and every party member at every shrine is getting.. well, cumbersome.

8. Druid / Exalted Angel destiny (IMPROVEMENT) - Could the Aura from the EA destiny work with our crown of summer (affecting whoever gets the crown)? I like the idea of the aura, but I don't necessarily want all that aggro on myself.

Okay, so that's maybe more than a few things. The class does seem unfinished but feels like it has a lot of potential.

Another annoying issue that I have with the druid class is the annoying implementation of the elemental spell power lines.

[Erek_Stormraven]

Another annoying issue that I have with the druid class is the annoying implementation of the elemental spell power lines.

Yes, that's also pretty annoying.. why are the spell-damage lines so darn expensive?

[MrCow]

Creeping Doom - (POOR DESIGN) - This spell has a number of problems. First off, it has an exceptionally slow get-to-the-target time. If the target dies in the 9 hours it takes to get there, the spell is wasted. If the target moves too far, again - wasted. And lastly, it's "poison" damage (read, untyped) which we get absolutely no line of enhancements to improve. ... why?

To further expand on issues with Creeping Doom:

When poison types were changed, they were supposed to strip full immunity to Poison and implement Poison Resist for mitigating damage from Poison. However, enemies that were previously immune to Poison are currently still fully immune to Poison Damage (which includes this spell), instead of taking less damage from Poison.

[Angelus_dead]

When poison types were changed, they were supposed to strip full immunity to Poison and implement Poison Resist for mitigating damage from Poison.

The underlying problem is that Creeping Doom wasn't meant to be a primarily poison spell. It summons thousands of insects that attack with their mandibles and eat your enemies down to the bone.

[Erek_Stormraven]

To further expand on issues with Creeping Doom:

When poison types were changed, they were supposed to strip full immunity to Poison and implement Poison Resist for mitigating damage from Poison. However, enemies that were previously immune to Poison are currently still fully immune to Poison Damage (which includes this spell), instead of taking less damage from Poison.

Yeah, I won't even go into how much I can't stand the changes to poison and disease.

[moriedhel]

I finally finished XP capping my druid, and while I do love playing the class, there's a few things I noticed that I believe either aren't working as intended, or should just be changed in general.

1. Crown of Summer (BUG) - if the player you cast it on DCs, or if you cast it on your pet and he gets bugged out so that you have to re-summon him, you cannot cast your crown on anyone until you re-log. While the benefit of the crown is marginal (IMO), it's still annoying.

2. Reincarnate (BUG) - the Reincarnate spell takes FOREVER to cast, and doesn't seem to be affected by Quicken Spell at all. It makes it tough to try to raise anyone if the rest of the party is still taking damage.

3. Mass Cures Not In Spell List - The scrolls list all the Mass Cures as castable by druids (without UMD), but it's not in our memorizable spell list. I don't think this is working as intended - either we can cast them, or we can't. Right?

4. Season's Herald - Winter / Summer thing (POOR DESIGN) - I think this was implemented horribly, with having to kick off the summer / winter thing with a timer - which goes away when you die, and needs to be reset. How about implementing two enhancements in Season's Herald - call them Herald of Summer, and Herald of Winter (mutually exclusive) - and make them work without the rotating?

5. Creeping Doom - (POOR DESIGN) - This spell has a number of problems. First off, it has an exceptionally slow get-to-the-target time. If the target dies in the 9 hours it takes to get there, the spell is wasted. If the target moves too far, again - wasted. And lastly, it's "poison" damage (read, untyped) which we get absolutely no line of enhancements to improve. ... why?

6. Fires of Purity (IMPROVEMENT) - can we get a cold version of this spell? Pretty please with a cherry on top? As a caster / water elemental druid, this would come in awfully handy.

7. Mass Death Ward / Mass Protection From Elements - can we get these, please? Casting death ward on each and every party member at every shrine is getting.. well, cumbersome.

8. Druid / Exalted Angel destiny (IMPROVEMENT) - Could the Aura from the EA destiny work with our crown of summer (affecting whoever gets the crown)? I like the idea of the aura, but I don't necessarily want all that aggro on myself.

Okay, so that's maybe more than a few things. The class does seem unfinished but feels like it has a lot of potential.

that's about my experience as well, i wish they at least fixed all of the bugs with the class and remove/rework the useless spells

however since mass regen and mass vigor stack afaik, and they also stack with the shiradi regen ability, adding mass cures is something i don't see them doing anytime soon

[Mark2422]

I finally finished XP capping my druid, and while I do love playing the class, there's a few things I noticed that I believe either aren't working as intended, or should just be changed in general.

1. Crown of Summer (BUG) - if the player you cast it on DCs, or if you cast it on your pet and he gets bugged out so that you have to re-summon him, you cannot cast your crown on anyone until you re-log. While the benefit of the crown is marginal (IMO), it's still annoying.

2. Reincarnate (BUG) - the Reincarnate spell takes FOREVER to cast, and doesn't seem to be affected by Quicken Spell at all. It makes it tough to try to raise anyone if the rest of the party is still taking damage.

3. Mass Cures Not In Spell List - The scrolls list all the Mass Cures as castable by druids (without UMD), but it's not in our memorizable spell list. I don't think this is working as intended - either we can cast them, or we can't. Right?

4. Season's Herald - Winter / Summer thing (POOR DESIGN) - I think this was implemented horribly, with having to kick off the summer / winter thing with a timer - which goes away when you die, and needs to be reset. How about implementing two enhancements in Season's Herald - call them Herald of Summer, and Herald of Winter (mutually exclusive) - and make them work without the rotating?

5. Creeping Doom - (POOR DESIGN) - This spell has a number of problems. First off, it has an exceptionally slow get-to-the-target time. If the target dies in the 9 hours it takes to get there, the spell is wasted. If the target moves too far, again - wasted. And lastly, it's "poison" damage (read, untyped) which we get absolutely no line of enhancements to improve. ... why?

6. Fires of Purity (IMPROVEMENT) - can we get a cold version of this spell? Pretty please with a cherry on top? As a caster / water elemental druid, this would come in awfully handy.

7. Mass Death Ward / Mass Protection From Elements - can we get these, please? Casting death ward on each and every party member at every shrine is getting.. well, cumbersome.

8. Druid / Exalted Angel destiny (IMPROVEMENT) - Could the Aura from the EA destiny work with our crown of summer (affecting whoever gets the crown)? I like the idea of the aura, but I don't necessarily want all that aggro on myself.

Okay, so that's maybe more than a few things. The class does seem unfinished but feels like it has a lot of potential.

While I would love to have ALL of these changes. I have to disagree and be honest.

Crown and Reinc are a bug so yes they need to be fixed and I am sure they will be.

Seasons Herald - I don't really think it should be changed completly. At the end of the day it gives you +30 spell power to half your spells for 5mins and then +30 to the other half for the next 5mins. +30 spell power is a lot and if you improve this you risk it being over powered and unfair to other classes who get no such thing. Having to activate it and getting the timer is a bit harsh though and I would like that to be altered. Maybe when first activating it we should not get a timer to switch. Also I think the AP cost to get it is abit steep for what it gives us. But thats just my opinion.

Mass Cures, mass dw etc - Not really sure about the scrolls, but under no circumstances should we be given access to the actual spells, nor should we be given mass death ward and prot for elements. If we had these things then the FvS may aswell retire because we already beat them in group dps and cc. If we had mass heal and mass buffs to. We would be overpowered and it would be unfair.

[Archangel666]

9: Finger of Death. While this is a nice spell on an Arcane, what in the nine hells is it doing on a Druid? Druids are guardians of Nature, protectors of the balance. Necromancy is so far from nature that it's considered one of the greatest perversions of nature. Why would a Druid have this spell?

10: Eminence of the Hoarfrost. This Enhancement Line gives ## to Cold and Acid spells. How many Acid spells does the druid get again? Ah yes, now I remember... One! (Storm of Vengance).

11: Eminence of Life. This enhancement line gives ## to Positive and Negative spells. What Negative spells? You mean that one and only spell Finger of Death, that Druids shouldn't even have?

12: Basically missing a crapload of spells. The fact that there are just enough spells to fill level 9 spell slots and no choices you can make, (meaning every druid has the exact same spell layout). The level 9 spells that Druids do get don't even use spell components! The fact that Druids get TWO Light spells (Hello Eminence of the Sun Enhancement Line), ONE Acid Spell etc.

*edit*

13: Druids are supposed to be THE pet class (As evidenced by the Spontaneous Casting of Summons, Animal Companions, Charm and Dominate Animal and Improved Wild Empathy, yet because Summon's don't scale with caster level they're all but useless. (Also if Druids are supposed to be a pet class why no Mass spells as stated in the OP. if ANYONE should have Mass Protection from Elements it should be the Druid so they can protect the hoard of animals they're supposed to have around them). Same goes for Mass Deathward.

The list goes on.

[Angelus_dead]

9: Finger of Death. While this is a nice spell on an Arcane, what in the nine hells is it doing on a Druid? Druids are guardians of Nature, protectors of the balance. Necromancy is so far from nature that it's considered one of the greatest perversions of nature. Why would a Druid have this spell?

Death is part of nature. Note that simply killing someone is nothing at all like raising a zombie. Druids have had Finger of Death for more than 40 years.

12: Basically missing a crapload of spells. The fact that there are just enough spells to fill level 9 spell slots and no choices you can make

That is a real problem, but it's a situation DDO's Clerics have been in for years.

13: Druids are supposed to be THE pet class (As evidenced by the Spontaneous Casting of Summons, Animal Companions, Charm and Dominate Animal and Improved Wild Empathy, yet because Summon's don't scale with caster level they're all but useless.

Level scaling is irrelevant, since you get a new Summon Nature's Ally spell every 2 levels.

[dennison_brillo]

Mass Cures, mass dw etc - Not really sure about the scrolls, but under no circumstances should we be given access to the actual spells, nor should we be given mass death ward and prot for elements. If we had these things then the FvS may aswell retire because we already beat them in group dps and cc. If we had mass heal and mass buffs to. We would be overpowered and it would be unfair.

but that's is the thing a Druid should have mass heals it was a part of the class before it was put into DDO. there Are lots of spells the druids should have http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spellLists/druidSpells.htm but most of them just do not work in this game. seeing how these spells are already in the game they should get them.

[Mark2422]

but that's is the thing a Druid should have mass heals it was a part of the class before it was put into DDO. there Are lots of spells the druids should have http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spellLists/druidSpells.htm but most of them just do not work in this game. seeing how these spells are already in the game they should get them.

I understand what your saying. With me and my posts, remember that I never EVER played P&P and I look at DDO from a pure MMO game point of view. The D&D universe means nothing to me lol. From my view point we should not have them because of the reasons I stated. But if druids have them in PnP, DDO is supposed to stay true to that and thus we should have them...

[Irongutz2000]

Just wanted to add that the acorn spell ( i call them acorns of death!) missfires alot. It only hits a target about half the time, its a decent spell , if it would work..........

Also the enchanment line that adds a random proc of extra cold damage to ice spells is centerd onn the druid...not the spell.....so makes it useless in alot of situations

[Zachski]

Yeah, um, druids have Finger of Death in 3.5 (and also Pathfinder where it was nerfed into a damage spell)

So, yes, they should have it. And as mentioned, they aren't raising the dead. Death is a part of nature. Druids are not tree-hugging "save-the-animals" hippies, they're "Nature is brutal, it will devour you, and I'm going to make sure it does" priests.

[Archangel666]

I'll concede the FOD thing. Though it still feels wierd that a Druid would have any Necromancy school spells.

Still doesn't justify giving Druids enhancement lines for two elements (and thus only half of what a single element can get) and then only giving them ONE spell of one of those elements.

[Diyon]

I'll concede the FOD thing. Though it still feels wierd that a Druid would have any Necromancy school spells.

Still doesn't justify giving Druids enhancement lines for two elements (and thus only half of what a single element can get) and then only giving them ONE spell of one of those elements.

Something to note here: In 3.5e D&D, necromancy isn't classified as evil. Many of the spells ARE considered that (For example Create Undead, Animate Dead, are Evil subtyped). Many aren't. Necromancy spells are just spells that deal with the realm of death. For example, the PnP spell, gentle repose, is a necromancy spell. It preserves a dead body.

Others that aren't undead making/kill stuff:

Disrupt Undead
Halt Undead
Touch of Fatigue
Cause Fear
Chill Touch
Ray of Enfeeblement
False Life
Bestow Curse
Fear
Undeath to Death
Clone
Astral Projection

DDO druids do need some more spells though. One acid is kind of silly. But the dual lines are kind of nice in that they wrap in some other spells when focusing on one thing (My wolf druid greatly appreciates that acid spell power from taking the enhancements for ice storm and creeping cold)

[dennison_brillo]

Something to note here: In 3.5e D&D, necromancy isn't classified as evil. Many of the spells ARE considered that (For example Create Undead, Animate Dead, are Evil subtyped). Many aren't. Necromancy spells are just spells that deal with the realm of death. For example, the PnP spell, gentle repose, is a necromancy spell. It preserves a dead body.

Others that aren't undead making/kill stuff:

Disrupt Undead
Halt Undead
Touch of Fatigue
Cause Fear
Chill Touch
Ray of Enfeeblement
False Life
Bestow Curse
Fear
Undeath to Death
Clone
Astral Projection

DDO druids do need some more spells though. One acid is kind of silly. But the dual lines are kind of nice in that they wrap in some other spells when focusing on one thing (My wolf druid greatly appreciates that acid spell power from taking the enhancements for ice storm and creeping cold)

they have two: contagion (Slimy Doom-Infects a living enemy with Slimy Doom, which causes an enemy to turn into an infectious goo from the Inside Out and deals 6d6 acid damage every 6 seconds. http://ddowiki.com/page/Contagion) and Storm of Vengeance they still need more.

[moriedhel]

Still doesn't justify giving Druids enhancement lines for two elements (and thus only half of what a single element can get) and then only giving them ONE spell of one of those elements.

I suppose that at least it has synergy with Shiradi as those double rainbow procs and the Rain of Arrows amongst others do all kinds of elemental damage... My pure druid caster in Shiradi is pretty decent, 3 stacking HoTs and crazy random AOE elemental damage from all the AOE spells you can stack on a group of mobs while they are earthquaked, with the ice elemental debuffs on top for good measure.

If not going pure caster however i'm beginning to think that splashing 1 wizard for the cheap 1 ap = +40 spell power and free feat is much better than dumping AP in the actual druid spell power enhancements. Still haven't tried a melee druid build yet though...