Druid Update Preview

[Drag-]

Primal Avatar's current damage output will be considered when it's adjusted as will how it compares to other builds. We know the attack rate will slow down when we make the tree animate properly but we can compensate for that with bigger damage numbers. We want the build to be competitive and keep it's thematic appeal, a big tree squishing it's enemies under foot.

But for now we have yet to determine our exact plan. We're running the numbers on a variety of builds, some for considerations outside of this pass. Once we figure out an approach we'll post it.

-T

Again what DPS are you comparing too? Full blown melee power monks? Probably not. Full DPS Fighters? Maybe atleast it would still be good dps. Crossbow Arty DPS? Sword and Board Pally DPS? Or are you just puling numbers out of your behinds?
Please explain what you expect "competitive" DPS is?

[Drag-]

We'll look at the tactics DCs on the melee attack style abilities. They really do need either that or a spell school associated with them to boost their DCs and the first is probably the better fit.

Wisdom to hit/damage was an option we considered, and haven't ruled out entirely. We're waiting to see how the pass pans out a little more first. Druids hybrid ability is to encouraged to a degree, but at the same time we don't want to create a top tier dpser that has full spell pool for nothing but earth quake and healing on the side because that will then eclipse many melee builds.

-T

I will tell you right now that running a top tier DPSer that still has top tier DCs for earthquake at endgame high level reapers is not possible.

[Torc]

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...ugs-(updating)

Some of these you have already addressed.
Will start working on a feedback post.

Ah this thread was long overdue for some love.

At first glance I see many bugs that should be quite fixable inside of the pass, and we'll look at some of the other stuff. I'm not sure we'll get to every lack luster spell listed, but it's good feedback. Thanks!

-T

[ThomasHunter]

I've been dreaming of Wisdom for damage on my druid for years! I'm thinking that wouldn't make him too powerful, then again, none of my toons are uber.

I can still dream though!!!! (kind of like you did for FvS!!!)

[draven1]

Spirit Refreshed: When shape shifting forms below 33% health you heal to full and cure all fatigue. This benefit can only occur once every 3 minutes. AP COST: 2 (new – applies to all forms now)

Could this work on reaper?
Full heal for every 3 min
If so, isn't it over-powered when others have significant self-healing penalty?

[SpardaX]

I don't know how possible this would be, but in regards to armor that druids can wear (not just at cap, and not just at specific levels), would it be possible to add an option in Giant Hold, in addition to the current dragonscale armors we can make, to use the Dragon Scales (and Epic Dragon Scales) to create a blank Dragonscale armor (of Cloth / Light / Medium / Heavy / Docent) at either ML 1 to be crafted on, or perhaps at the main AMLs for armors. (1, 4, 10, 16, and 22 requiring the epic scales), that we can Disjunct and craft on to.

These would go with the other armor types such as Skirmish / Feycraft / Spiritmail / Celestial, or the other names used for the other armors. Call them some dragon words perhaps But yea, it might work to cut out making a bunch of new druid usable armors, and instead allow us to make some blanks, and make our own.

It would mean that players would need to get to at least Giant Hold level and get some materials together before they would be able to get to work on them. But they would not be Bound to Character, so we would be able to make them for alts, or it might even re-invigorate Dragonscales as currency. especially if you lower the level required to get to GH, or some other strategy I haven't thought of.

[Avocado]

Another idea came up from a friend for wisdom to damage. At druid level 11+ or 13+ you have the option to give up an elemental form or animal form feat for wisdom to damage. This feat for wis to damage could add half your wisdom to damage in elemental form and full wisdom to damage in animal form (or full/half for both) with any weapon you are proficient with. Adding proficiencies from other enhancement that give proficiency with certain weapons makes wis to damage work with those weapons.

[AnubisPrime]

I dont suppose there will be any animation work done on the transition mask between character model to wolf/bear model done on this pass.... (cant play a druid because all the nice green sparkly transition effects that were put on to mask the model replacement give me a headache after an hour or so of watching them every time i have to use something or open a door, or climb a ladder, or scratch my back end.... granted I'm the only one I've heard make this complaint so I cant figure any work is being done on it, just asking for clarification while we're here. If not, while the post looks interesting I think I'll hold any comments on something that I'll never run because its painful to watch it.

https://youtu.be/WPHIfCstm5A?t=46

That's how it should be done!

[Torc]

[/LIST]

1. What are your design goals here? Are you improving or nerfing? IMHO, it looks like you are removing avenues of choice from players, and offering them ??? in exchange. For example:

A. Wolf attack speed. YES its exploity, and yes (it can be) crazy fast. But why wrap this fix in shiny christmas update paper? I know it HAS to be done, but whats the draw for players here? Yes the nerf will move them away, but what makes them decide to play this class then???

B. Is there an AC exploit you don't like? Why can't these stack? Would it REALLY be too high?

C. Elemental form ABSORPTION!!! YES, very very good! This is a great change... but then you say "bonus will not stack with... or Energy Sheath" I can see Fireshield not stacking, but Energy Sheath? EPIC DESTINIES SHOULD STACK WITH EVERYTHING AND EACH OTHER. Reduce the Elemental Form absoption to 55% if you need to, but it should always stack with energy sheathe.

Good luck fixing/updating this class. Its been broken for so long, and used for so long that people have an expectation of damage and speed stuck in their heads. You are (lets be honest here) basically starting OVER with this update. So ask yourself, why would anyone play this class? Why go pure? What makes it unique? What are the good splash points/levels?

It's like making a brand new class, but people are gonna hold all this time that druid has been broken against your changes. IE, they are gonna say: "hey, this was broke for so long and so wrong, and all they did was..." or they say: "insert bug is STILL broken...they fixed one thing but another..." ETC

Like I said, good luck!

Basic wolf form nerf, maybe...or net buff? mini nerf? mini buff? Like druids, we seek neutrality So a bunch of builds splash 2 druid to get that 30% attack speed currently, and perhaps they are taking advantage of combat styles which were never supposed to operate with wolf form (ahem), or maybe they are not, but they all have two problems. Their damage die and their weapons proc effects don't scale with loot upgrades. These problems were worth the trade certainly for a long time, but the base damage of legendary weapons and proc effects has expanded over the years, and it's going to keep expanding. Fix this, and throwing in new trees and well, if we didn't lower their attack speed they'd be in for an insane buff.

30% attack speed that stacks with all other sources of haste for 2 class levels strikes me as a godly bargain. 15% seems as a more reasonable bargain, but these numbers are just educated guesses until they are tested. Base wolf form might become 20% or it might drop 10%, it all depends on our dps tests once the pass is testable. We're not really looking to lower the DPS of wolf splash builds so much, but we're not trying to super boost them either. Breaking up the 2 wolf forms from each other gives us better control to account for the weapon boost everyone will be getting at different rates of druid commitment.

2) Bear AC and Mage Armor: This didn't start as so much about AC inflation as we want tank players who really don't like the idea of looking like a bear to have options that are for them and not also for the bear. It's about tank racing more than overall power creep, though it's nice to avoid that to really.

3) Absorption: Hrmmm. We kinda like to keep things simple on absorption because how the math works when these effects stack isn't intuitive. We'll noodle on this some more.

4) Fresh Start: I think it's a good way to think about it. Druids have been stuck a while being helped and hampered by a weird mash up of bugs. We are very sensitive that players do not like to be slowed down, but they do also like bigger numbers, and when the monster falls over that's what really counts in the end, so hopefully all of these adjustments will be positive or at least forgivable in the view of the pass as a whole.

[edrein]

A major revamp on druids is in progress! This our working plan at the moment.

GENERAL CHANGES

1. Animal forms will now use the stats of the player's main hand weapon for melee attack purposes, such as Base Damage, Critical Multiplier, Critical Range, all Enchantments, Material traits, procs, etc. The issue with the power level of certain effects not scaling will be resolved by this as well.

After looking at this; I was wondering if this will take all bonuses into account before the player shapeshifts? By this I mean the following effects:

• A Dance of Flowers
• Improved Power Attack
• Weapon Attachment
• Deadly Blades
• Dancing with Flames
• Combat Brute
• etc...

Additionally how will these changes interact with things such as weapon-based passives as opposed to active abilities which you stated won't work. Will for instance Bleeding Cuts or Double Daggers from Vistani apply?
What about weapon stances such as Sting of the Ninja?
Would the Deadly Striker competence bonus from Ninja Spy also acknowledge that animal forms are infact not handwraps/unarmed per the old coding and apply the crit bonus to a ninja druid?
How about Blood of Vol's ability The Blood is the Life, will the vampirism apply as you are technically holding a dagger in your mainhand?
Will Silvanus' Blessing of Silvanus apply the threat range as you have maul equipped?
What about Flame Blade or Celestia; will these apply their unique damage type effects, will you deal fire/light damage instead of normal damage types?
How about Occult Slayer, with the barbarian bonuses in the guardian tree will the game identify my weapon for the purpose of that tree's benefits?

Will we finally be able to use Sundering Swing, Momentum Swing, and Lay Waste? Will Wolves be allowed to use Volcano's Edge? Bears be allowed to use Lightning Mace or Anvil of Thunder? Is there any form of backend changes here to make use of these? Will a bear have access to Pulverize, or if you equip an axe in your mainhand will you get the benefits of Headsman's Chop?

A lot of these things can affect potential use and DPS effects for wildshaped druids. I know that personally I'd be saddened if half the things listed by myself didn't work, certainly on the base weapon damage end. Although no functional cross over between vistani and druids would be the final nail in the coffin based on what I understand of the rework to identify you've got a weapon in your hand before the shapeshift.

[lifestaker]

Just for the tanking build you fall far too short for druid tanking.

• Bear form attack speed penalty currently is about 30% based off BAB. Updated to 15% pen that can be reduced to 5% pen with capstone. Fighters/paladins have no pen, and can gain up to a 20% increase to attack speed with cores in vanguard. This still leaves the bear 25% slower then current tanks, with no additional hate over their counterparts. This is a lot better then the current 50% slower attack speed, but still hurts the builds viability.
• Current bear AC is able to reach about 430 if built around it, while non bear tanks should be able to reach 450. IMA not stacking lowers max bear AC to about 380, and has no effect on non bear builds.
• Defensive stance of fighter or paladin is +10 PRR/MRR +50% bonus hate but can not be used while rages. Natural is +8 PRR/MRR, can be used while raged. The 2 points is not much, but 50% hate should be added.
• Overall hate generation still renders the bear into a intim tanking only build.
• Fighter/paladin can choose STR as a major stance improvement. Natural tanking can grant +9 MRR (3 points less then the lower tier improvement.

There are many other shortcoming with the "bear" tree. The improvements do not make the bear into a viable tank, and are only slightly helpful to wolf builds. The spells added via cores only help bear builds, and only first 3 cores are worth anything to a wolf, this hinders the versatility of builds having a viable DPS mode.

Going forward we are looking at lower max AC, lower PRR, lower attack damage, and poor synergy with multi-class building. Gains include minor HP gain, MRR gains, and increased spell damage. Add in removal of shield feats working in animal form you drop even more defenses making bears even more dead then they currently are.

Sorry but for a caster to focus on pulling its magical energies from the world around it to enhance a magical form around itself for protection this falls very far from target. Those who desire to build a druid, holding true to the strict and gear depriving oath should not also fall far behind other tanking classes.

---------------

Additional failures IMO:

• Animal casting times being a capstone for 1.5 hurts druid animals. Multiclass animal forms currently can choose that cool down at level 12 with just 5 levels of druid. Now they need to be pure to achieve it.
• Baiting Bite pulls from spot, but snapping jaws enhancement pulls from bluff checks.
• Not sure if oversight or what, but requirements seem amiss in NW tree. Mainly seems like four good legs no longer requires dodge.
• Jaws of the Great White Wolf references 'jaws of ice' one could assume it references jaws of winter the level 7 druid spell. A spell that one would not even have at level 12 when the enhancement can be taken.
• Armor of winter HP lines up well with ES, but I fail to understand why it is only good for 60 seconds. I see no reason to not match the duration, timer, and costs with shining though. 60 seconds seems a bit low, 10 minutes seems high, how about somewhere in the middle for both of them (and any future temp HP enhancements along these lines)
• See no way to change between seasons, but wording says that form change will force season to become respective of elemental form. Does not explain if season stays locked while in that elemental form.
• was wand and scroll master so OP to remove it entirely from the enhancements?

There are many other changes I would have liked to see, and some have already been touched on. Just feel this is falling far short of my expectations, seem to hinder the class, and almost comes across as a fix to animals being overpowered (by use of things not working correctly in form). A pure built bear or wolf is looking at lower numbers (not taking into account of the weapon change) at first glance. I can't say all too much about elemental builds, but bear is only getting hurt by the additional 'bear' tree, and wolf seems about the same with lower MWP, attack speed (wolf), and versatility in builds.

[Torc]

Spirit Refreshed: When shape shifting forms below 33% health you heal to full and cure all fatigue. This benefit can only occur once every 3 minutes. AP COST: 2 (new – applies to all forms now)

Could this work on reaper?
Full heal for every 3 min
If so, isn't it over-powered when others have significant self-healing penalty?

The devil is in the details here and the description should probably be more precise. Say the effect healed for your "current max hp value", but then reaper scaling took effect. So, if your on 10 skulls, that's only 4% of your max health. This ability will probably still be very nice in reaper 1 - 5. Good healing amp might keep it effective in 6 to 7.

-T

[redmage761]

over all I love the new reworks for the druid class. I just have one thing that would make it better give druid players the option of picking though a list of animal companions other then just a wolf at all times

[Hollowgolem]

its nice to see druid updated however. i dont know if i can aggre with the two handed weapons working normaly in shapeshifted form, if no other combat bonuses will work then two handed will be forced upon anyone who intends to build a shapeshift melee druid due to the best benefits.

It looks like the alternate, if you have a wooden or stone shield, is sword-and-board. So you trade the damage from a quarterstaff for the survivability of shield Sheltering. I'd say it's a fair trade.

btw, did i miss cleric and fvs pass or its on hold?

Happened months ago. Clerics got Domains, FvS got a pat on the head.

[Nandos]

I like the updates to the existing Druid trees, but honestly I'm disappointed that the new tree is so similar to the existing tree. I was hoping the third tree would include stuff not in either tree like bonuses to using Druid weapons and heals.

Could you please slip in a box somewhere that improves Druid healing, especially the Vigor spells?

Thanks

[Gargoyle69]

A major revamp on druids is in progress! This our working plan at the moment.
<snip>

Hi Torc & Steelstar.

First off, THANK YOU SO MUCH for doing this !

Second, some questions from me:

1) Since handwraps were recoded as actual weapons, and druid animal forms will be recoded to work with actual weapons, will unarmed monk / animal form druids still be viable ? Is there "much crunch under the covers" to work out how to make this work, or will it be pretty straight forward now that wraps are actual weapons ?

2) Do you have a comment on the vision of druids basing their build concept on using the Flame Blade spell ? I love the flavour of this spell so much, and the ability to have wis to hit and dmg is incredible for build options, but the fact that this doesn't really scale, and with the new vision of using actual weapons, I'm wondering where this fits ?

3) Spring's Resurgence, the cd reduction is nice but the real issue with this ability isn't the cd it's the bug. When this ability activates (regardless of who it is cast on), only the druid and his wolf receive the healing, the healing doesn't land on anyone else. If this could be fixed, this would be a wonderful ability !

4) Separating the "wolf and bear tree" into a "wolf" tree and a "bear" tree is an interesting idea, and I get that it lets you make specific things for dps and tank roles to a much greater extent, but many (incl myself) were hoping that when the 3rd druid tree came along it would be a healer / support tree, as Season's Herald offers mostly caster dps and not much for the healing / support playstyle (although, see 3, if Spring's Resurgence is fixed that will certainly help!). Can you please share your design vision here ? Do you feel that Regenerate + Earthquake already give druids enough in that role and that they would outshine other support classes if the role if given more breadth / options ?

5) Love the changes for fire / water elemental but am concerned they might fall a bit into no-man's land in terms of role, not enough dps to be a dps, not able to tank, not offering much to help support / healer .... perhaps you could share your intentions for these forms ?

Thanks again, loving what I'm seeing so far !

[J-mann]

Ah this thread was long overdue for some love.

At first glance I see many bugs that should be quite fixable inside of the pass, and we'll look at some of the other stuff. I'm not sure we'll get to every lack luster spell listed, but it's good feedback. Thanks!

-T

While you are looking at bugs, heres 2 that are bothering me now, Favored soul hp falling off if you die until you rezone, and loosing blitz in RL portals......

[J-mann]

We'll look at the tactics DCs on the melee attack style abilities. They really do need either that or a spell school associated with them to boost their DCs and the first is probably the better fit.

Wisdom to hit/damage was an option we considered, and haven't ruled out entirely. We're waiting to see how the pass pans out a little more first. Druids hybrid ability is to encouraged to a degree, but at the same time we don't want to create a top tier dpser that has full spell pool for nothing but earth quake and healing on the side because that will then eclipse many melee builds.

-T

Tactics in general need an overhaul and have for a long, long time, its part of why melee is less desirable in the current meta. As for these spells they need to be able to add tactics dcs to them or else they will never have attainable dcs by a melee druid.

You seriously need to do wis to hit/damage and or add a wis based divine might like ability as the statting requirements of your proposed druids is flat out insane (you need FIVE of the six stats to effectively build it). Further, a "top tier" dpser will NEVER be able to cast spells like a caster, they are mutually exclusive as you cannot gear for casting and melee at the same time. Heck, melee cannot even fit all the things they want/need NOW as they have by far the most effects they need to slot (on top of having more stat needs than casters ie casters are main stat and con, most melee need at least 3 stats and some 4+, this is why you need to consolidate it on druids or they will not make it past meh dps). Also how are you testing your dps? does the mob get to swing back? because kobold tests are horribad indicators of your effective dps in a dungeon because dead dps does NO dps.

Also if you are worried about healing and melee, how come casters/ranged can get that and still be top tier in dungeons but for some reason the devs seem to think thats bad on melees? Seriously, why is it ok on a ranged/caster toon with great cc to be able to heal and do great things in a quest but not ok for a melee?

Edit: Further going animal form nerfs your casting cds. I cannot see where and how the devs are worried about an op casting/melee hybrid here. It really isnt possible due to feat, style, and gearing restrictions. For example, a full melee built druid, even with max wis, will be at least a dozen dc behind caster druids with 1.5x the cds. And those caster druids can heal themselves perfectly well too (and so can artis now too.....). So again, I do not see the point in gimping melees if you are not going to do the same to ranged toons.

[Silverleafeon]

QUOTE=Torc;6065092]A major revamp on druids is in progress! This our working plan at the moment.

Thanks, looking forward to reading!


GENERAL CHANGES

1. Animal forms will now use the stats of the player's main hand weapon for melee attack purposes, such as Base Damage, Critical Multiplier, Critical Range, all Enchantments, Material traits, procs, etc. The issue with the power level of certain effects not scaling will be resolved by this as well.

This is exactly the right approach.

• Somewhat hand-wavy Lore Explanation: The weapon is used as the magical source to enchant and create the properties of the claw or tooth of the druid. It's magic....so it works that way....yeah...
  
• Design Explanation: We want druid's melee attack progression to scale with loot normally so the druid's melee attack progression is easier to balance going forward.
  
• Primal Avatar will be given some kind of damage boost to maintain its hard-hitting style with this change. It will also get Cleave animations to fix a bug with Cleave attacks caused by lack of animations.

Nods.
Be bold and make things right.


2. Existing combat style bugs are being fixed.

• No combat style specific bonuses will function while in animal forms aside from Natural Fighting, and any bonuses native to the form (no duel wielding, glancing blows or single weapon attack speed).
  
• Using a two-handed weapon still grants the 1.5 damage from your modifying stat, and Power Attack feat adjustments in animal form as well, for its additional bonus.
  
• Attacks that require a specific weapon to be held in your hand will still not work in animal form (cause you don't have hands!)

This is definately the right approach.
Well done.

You can always adjust and control the trio of Natural Fighting feats.
Would suggest:

Natural Fighting {insert buffs here} : Requirements: Wild Shape any
Improved Natural Fighting {insert buffs here} : Requirements: Natural Fighting, BAB +6
Greater Natural Fighting {insert buffs here} : Requirements: Improved Natural Fighting, BAB +11

This leaves open a possible NoN Druid wildshaping class later on.


3. Wolf form attack animations are being adjusted.

• We are reducing the Basic Wolf Form attack speed bonus to 15%. Winter wolf remains about the same speed at 30%. We are also fixing some flaky behavior in the attack chain.

This is very good, making Winter Wolf > Wolf rewards deeper investment in the Druid Levels.


4. The Bear attack animation chain will be improved to make its attack rate match other weapon styles.

• This will result in an approximate 15% increase in attack speed.

A welcome and badly needed change


5. Bear & Dire Bear form's AC bonus is now typed Exceptional.

• Improved Mage Armor will also be typed Exceptional.

Typing the bonus is way to control it, and allows you to be more generous.


6. Water and Fire Elemental form will now grant 65% Absorption to their element, instead of Damage Reduction, and 15% Vulnerability to their opposite element.

• The bonus will not stack with Fire Shields or Energy Sheath.

This is very welcome and favorerful.
Druid Spellcasters rely heavily on absorption, as their ref saves are poor.
This makes one interested in adjusting to the dungeon.

I assume one can cast Energy Sheath in a different energy than the current fire/cold form and still benefit from both?

Obviously that is important for raids/dungeons that contain electric dangers?
If so, that is fine not stacking cold shield with fire form OR fire shield with cold form Or fire sheath with fire form Or cold sheath with cold form.



7. Existing Enhancement Trees revamped and new tree "Nature's Protector" added. - Found below in this thread:

Thanks for working on this massive project.


8. Specific Spell Changes:

• Reincarnate's casting time and cool down will be put on par with Raise Dead.
  
  Thank you, that is very generous.
  
  
• Baiting Bite bluff skill check will use the player's spot score instead of their bluff skill, wisdom bonus applies of course.
  
  Very thematic.
  
  
• Call Lightning Storm and Storm of Vengeance will have their damage progressions and values change to be an X per caster level to better benefit from increasing in caster level and max caster level effects.
  
• Call Lightning Storm now does 1d10 every 2 druid levels, max 15.
  
• Storm of Vengeance's Acid damage now scales at d8 per 3 druid levels, and its lightning damage 1d10 every 2 druid levels. Max of 25. Duration is 30 seconds. (duration will not scale with level, which didn't work anyway)
  
  Muchly appreciated.
  Call Lightning Storm & Storm of VEngeance will be much more usable now.
  Since Lightning Storm is techically a self buff, it should be considered for Extend to be applied to it, just a Body of Sun allows extend to be applied to thus. This would make a more efficent spell.
  
  
• Rising Fury's cooldown will be reduced to 30 seconds and the extend meta magic will work on it. (new)
  
  Nice.
  
  
• Produce Flame Projectile speed is being increased (new)
  
  Very welcome changed as this spell is often used even at level cap.
  
  
• Creeping cold and Greater creeping cold will now stack with each other when cast by other druids (two can each have their own copy on a target now) (new)
  
  Thanks. Be sure and fix these two spells overwriting Niac's Biting Cold.
  
  You also need to fix the following spells:
  
  Word of Balance needs to have its Spell Penatration check removed.
  Reasons why: No other Alignment Spell has a Spell Pen check.
  No other direct damage Spell that I am aware of in all of DDO has a Spell Pen check.
  Spell Pen checks lore in D&D / DDO are used for spells that incapacite foes or instant kill foes.
  
  Pack aptitude - Only grants +4 to an ability.
  {It should be +6.}
  
  
  Body of Sun needs to have its graphic effects toned down.
  The Pale Master's aura had a similar strong color aura and washing machine sound,
  but was fixed within months. This has been years ~ shame on DDO Devs for waiting this long.
  
  THIS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED A HEALTH HAZZARD AND GIVEN PRIORITY.
  {Insert picture of torches and pitchforks here.}
  
  In the meantime, might I recommends a pair of orange computer glasses from players to wear such as:
  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...e?ie=UTF8&th=1
  
  
  Anger of the Noonday Sun has very poor benefits, please upgrade to some sort of scalable effects such as:
  [I]Valid Forms: Fire Elemental. You are enveloped in the anger of the noonday sun. The targets of your fire spells suffer a (caster level/3)% fortification penalty, and a -(caster level) penalty to fire resistance.
  Or simply use higher numbers when a toon is in epic levels.
  
  
  Spells that I would like you to consider changing but as not as urgent:
  
  Flame Blade and Elemental Toughness do not scale well into Epics.
  
  Enveloping Swarm does not apply Max to itself nor does it do much damage.
  It does not scale well either.
  
  Firestorm's effects could be speeded up, its very slow to land.
  If you cast Firestorm then Flame Strike right after, they hit at about the same time.
  Considering Flame Strike is also too slow...and could be speeded up too...
  {This is a change that would benefit Clerics, Favored Souls, and Druids.}
  
  
  Spells that thematically do not make sense:
  
  Sleet Storm should be affected by Gust of Wind.
  
  Earthquake should not be affect by Gust of Wind.
  
  
  More spells listed here:
  https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...ugs-(updating)
  
  

  Spells:
  Lvl 2: Roar - the discription implies that it casts an imediate intimidate check, it does not.
  Lvl2: creeping cold - see greater creeping cold (lvl 6)
  Lvl 3: Salt ray - this spell does not grant helpless condition (it should its a stun)
  Lvl 3: sleet storm is not cleared by wind spells.
  Lvl 4: Enveloping swarm - maxize/empower and spell power do notimprove the spell dmg. 
  Lvl 5: Harrowing pack - knockdown does not trigger on pets or player.
  Lvl 5: Call lighting storm - this does 5d10 dmg/strike when i should be doing (1d5+5 per caster lvl). Can’t Be extended. Does not trigger often enough.
  Lvl 5: Pack aptitude - Only grants +4 to an ability.
  Lvl 6: fire seeds - quicken causes only 2 seeds to fire.
  Lvl 6: Greater creeping cold (and lesser creeping cold): these 2 spells over-right and prvent the wiz/sor spell niaks bitting cold (lvl 5) from applying. Crushing wave (from weapon’s) over-right the damage. Only one druid may cast these spells on a target, a second druid’s spells have no effect. The primal avatar’s winter cold guard overrights/prevents these spells (nead confermation!)
  Lvl 7: Creeping doom - this spell does not have loaded dice. It should use 1d5+5 instead of 1d10. This spell is typed as posion damage when it should be pysical or untyped damage. This spell is over-writen by the primal avatar ability insidius spores. 2 druids may not both have creaping doom on a taget.
  Lvl 8: howl of terror - this spell should make the target helpless, it does not. Draconic Presence (in draconic incarnate epic destiny) does not give +3 DC to this fear-bassed spell.
  Lvl 8: ice flowers - it has a 8 second duration but only damages one time, it should hit 4 times.
  Lvl 8: Earthquake is cleared away by wind spells. Earthquake causes other players screans to shake. Some players claim earthquake creates lag effects.
  
  *Mantle of invulnerability prevents these spells when it should not be: sunburst (lvl 8) and its SLA, Sunbeam (lvl 7), Word of balance (lvl 5) and its SLA, and Wall of fire (lvl 5) - wall of fire is also a lvl 4 wizard spell. *note* i tested these 3 years ago, if they were fixed disrecard this.
  *All of the vigor and regeneration spells break invisibility (while normal heal does not).
  *The lightning strikes of druid spells in an environment of mist or fog effects causes the entire screen to brightly flash white.

  
  

9. Cosmetic Changes: (new)

• These may come AFTER the pass, time permitting. This is stretch goal stuff.
  
• Either or some combination of new Wolf & Bear forms Appearances or dyes.
  
• Nature’s Veil: A Toggle Feat that suppressed the texture swap used for fire/water elemental forms but keeps the vfxs.

The appearance and dyes for Wolf & Bear sounds like fun.

If one want to overwrite the fire/elemental form, all one has to do is cast a stoneskin scroll.
After the effect wears off, one is in normal armor/robes until one changes form.
But its a nice thought to have the toggle.

10. Removing pets damaging the druid/artificers on death (new)

• We’re going to be cutting the death penalty for pets and are discussing give a few more pet rez charges at certain levels. The arty enhancement that touches this will be reworked to something else.

My Druid seems to have about 20% of Full Spell Points removed every time the wolf pet dies.
That gets very expensive and unaffordable.
In other words, if my Druid has 51% of her spell points and the wolf dies, then she now has 31% of her spell points.

Thank you very much for making Pets usable again.

I usually just cast a Resurection Scroll on my wolf, but adding more pet rez charges would be nice.
Suggestion of adding 1 additional Rez charge each time one gains an additional wild shape.
Or add +2 rez charges when one gains Improved Wild Empathy.

Note: Druid pets will be reworked in a separate pass with Artificer pets.

That is completely understandable.
I would much rather have these changes made sooner than waiting for pet changes too.


ENHANCEMENT TREES

NATURE'S WARRIOR

CORES:

1. Nature's Warrior: every point spent in tree gives 1 hp, and every CORE; gives 1 sneak attack die in wolf form, and +1 base melee damage while in all animal forms

Smart assigning each core and making the tree more interesting.

2. Natural Senses: Your attacks penetrate 10% of your enemies fortification, +3 to listen, spot and search

Nice.

3. Nature's Bounty: While in animal form, the cooldown penalty for non-animal form spells is reduced from 2.5 times the usual length to 2.0. Does not stack with Nature’s Protector cores.

I like your moving this out of Tier 5, and make it multi-step.

4. Nature's Hunter: In wolf or bear form you gain a +1 competency bonus to crit damage multiplier on your weapon. Requires a weapon to be equipped.

Nice to see a Crit bonus in play.

5. Howling Frost: Casting Howl of Terror now grants you "Winter Hunt" for 10 seconds which grants +10 double strike and, 25% bonus to spell crit and 50% to spell crit damage to all cold damage spells. This will only occur once every 30 seconds.

Very flavorful, you are going to make the animal forms much more interesting to play.

6. Avatar of the Hunter: You have mastered the art of wielding divine magic in animal form, and using it to empower your body in physical combat. While in animal form, the cooldown penalty for non-animal form spells is reduced from 2.5 times the usual length to 1.5. Does not stack with Nature’s Protector cores.

Passive: +2 strength and wisdom and +10 to double strike and physical resistance

Looks good.

TIER 1

Nature's Empathy: 3/3, increases use of animal empathy, 5/10/15 increase to positive spell power. AP COST: 1

Nice

Snapping Jaws: Whenever you bluff or use an ability that triggers a bluff check such as baiting bite your target is debuffed losing -2 AC and you gain a stack of "Snapping jaws" for +2 AC for 15 seconds. Stacks 1/2/3 times. AP COST: 1

I like. Creative and Interesting.

Take Down: Increase trip DCs by 1/2/3, AP COST: 1

Very Welcome.

Bestial Nature: Increase reflex fort saves by 1/2 (no longer a toggle) AP COST: 1

Nice

Athletic Hunter: Bonus to move silent,hide, jump and swim, tier 3 grants one charge of wild empathy 1/2/3 AP COST: 1

Nice

TIER 2

Flight: Gain an uncapped dodge bonus of 20% for 10/20/30 seconds, costs 1 wild empathy to activate, 30 second cooldown. AP COST: 1

Improved Dodge: +1/2/3 Dodge. AP COST: 1

Nice Dual changes to Dodge, well done.

Ghost Wolf: Requires wolf form. Activate, gain 50% incorpreal defense for 30 seconds, cooldown 5 minutes. Passive: Gain ghost touch while in wolf form to your melee attacks AP COST: 2

Very Cool effect.

Prey on the Weak: 8/15% Damage Bonus against helpless targets AP COST: 1

Definitely thematic, and I like your changes to tier two.
Bloodmoon will not be missed by me.

Action Boost: Double Strike: Activate to gain a +[10/20/30]% action boost bonus to Doublestrike for 20 seconds. AP COST: 1

Nice

TIER 3

Fight: increase melee damage and AC, 1, 2, 3 in wolf or bear forms AP COST: 1 (requires: flight)

Brother Wolf: While your wolf pet is alive and within 40 meters it gains 5/10/15 hps every 12/9/6 seconds and 10/15/20 mrr & prr and you gain 1/2/3 to hit and damage AP COST: 1

A better version than Blood Moon, thank you.
Would be nice to see some bonus for being in Epic Levels?
Say maybe Triple Healing Effect?

Stalking Prey: Staying in stealth gains you a damage bonus to critical hit damage (before weapon multipliers) every 3 seconds. Effect lasts for 10 seconds and can stack up to 3 times. or a total of +[3/6/9]. AP COST: 1

This I like a lot.
Could have some interesting strategies.

Essence of Nature: If you score a crit hit in melee you are granted 10/20 temp spell points for 8 seconds. Your pet has a 10% chance to proc this on its base attacks. Passive: + 5 Positive SP/10 AP COST: 1

Hmm...could be interesting as a melee multi-class will be lacking as much sp.

Strength or Wisdom AP: 2 (new)

Typical

TIER 4

Fatal Harry: Killing an opponent grants a +3 moral bonus to double strike bonus for 12 seconds. Can stack up to 1/2/3 times. Weaker opponents may not trigger this effect. AP COST:1 (new replaced stand your ground)

Hmm...very interesting.
I am liking your changes to this tree.

Four Legs Good: You become immune to most knock down effects in animal forms AP COST: 2

Yes!

Ferocity: You gain +2/4/6 attk power in bear or wolf form. This bonus is doubled when under the effects of true rage (rage that prevents spell casting) AP COST: 1

I assume you mean melee power?
Looks nice, and I like the rage bonus as we needed more of this sort of thing.

Great White Wolf: +10/20/30 cold spell power, while in winter wolf form you gain 10/20/30% cold absorption. AP COST: 1

Definitely nice to add flavorful absorptions throughout Druid.

Strength or Wisdom AP: 2 (new)

Typical

TIER 5

Alpha Strike: AOE Melee Attack - Requires animal form: You fight for leadership of the pack. Area damage melee attack dealing +2[W]/+3[W]/+5[W]. This attack can doublestrike. On targets above 85% health it reduces their attack, range and spellpower by 25 for 15 seconds. Activation Cost: 12/9/6 sp, Coodown: 18/15/12. AP COST: 1 (requires: fight)

Nice
An attack worthy of tier 5.

Nature’s Swiftness: Wolf forms gain evasion. Armor restrictions apply. AP COST: 2

Definitely Thematic and well deserved in tier five.

Throat Rip: Requires wolf form, Stealth Melee Attack. +6 sneak dice, On Sneak attacks: Against living targets silences target for 15 seconds on Fort save 10 + Druid level + Wisdom negates and inflicts a bleed that causes 6d6 damage every 2 seconds for 12 seconds. Bleed Scales with melee power. Against bosses the silence is replaced with a 25 pt spell power debuff. 15 Second cool down. AP COST: 2

Nice
Another attack worthy of tier 5.
Love the anti-caster effect, many players don't realize how powerful null magic effects are.

Jaws of the Great White Wolf: The spell Jaws of Ice now grants gain temporary hps equal to 10 times your character level. AP COST: 2

Wow.
That will get players to use their spells.


Strength or Wisdom AP: 2

Out of place, as Ability Scores are usually found in tier 3 & 4, likely a copy/paste work over.
However, I don't object.

NATURE'S PROTECTOR - new bear tree!

Finally, some True Love for Bears!

CORES:

1. Nature's Protector: +2 hp for every point spent in the tree, and 3 MRR for every core in the tree.

Nice

2. Nature's Defense: Defensive Combat Stance +8 phy and magic resistance while any wildshape forms. Cannot be active with other defensive stances but can be used while raging. (new – elemental forms can now use it the base version and vase upgrades)

Ok...unexpected but interesting.
I assume this does not affect spellcasting?

3. Magical Beast: Gain heavy armor prof. In addition while in animal form, the cooldown penalty for non-animal form spells is reduced from 2.5 times the usual length to 2.0. Does not stack with Nature's Warrior Cores.

Nicely done.
Bears would be expected to have heavy armor options.

4. Big Claws: Adds Great Maul to your spell book. This is a version of the maul spell with the same cost and stats but stuns instead of causing a bleed on it. Shares cool down with maul. Stun DC: 10 + Druid level + Wisdom + Stun Modifiers.

Stun & Trip are the bread and butter of good fighters.
Nice addition.
I assume a Bear/Wolf could use Improved Trip & Stunning Blow if they purchased such?

5. Big Bear: The Tremor spell now deals 5-8 blunt damage per druid level in addition to it's knock down effect. This damage scales with melee power.

Very nice. Well Done!
Makes my elemental caster jealous enough to ask that Earthquake be give scaling damage even if in minor amounts?

6. The Great Bear: Your attack speed in bear form is increased by 10% combat style bonus.
+4 str, +4 con.
While in animal form, the cooldown penalty for non-animal form spells is reduced from 2.5 times the usual length to 1.5. Does not stack with Nature’s Warrior Cores (new – mirror spell casting benefit from wolf tree and updated stats.

I like.

TIER 1

Rage of the Beast: Activate to rage gaining +4 strength and Con, +2 will saves, -2 ac for 40 seconds, but disallowing the casting of magic. Requires bear or wolf form. This ability shares cool down and charges with Barbarian class rage. Effects that modify barbarian rage also effect Rage of the Beast and using it counts as a use of barbarian rage and vice versa. Effect persists through shape changes Can be used 1/2 per rest. AP COST: 1

Very nice addition.
Would love to see Barbarian Bears!

I assume this will auto grant the feat "Dismiss Rage"?

Fey’s Blessing: Gain +2/4/6 MRR AP COST: 1

Nice.

Improved Nature's Defense: Competence bonus to one of three, Increase Threat by 50/100/150%, PRR MRR 4/8/12, Saving Throws by 1/2/3 AP COST: 1

Nice. I like triple choices. Threat is important for Tank builds.

Bloody Claws: Using Maul grants a stack of "Killer instincts" granting +1 damage for 15 seconds. Stacks 1/2/3. AP COST: 1

Does this apply to Great Maul as well?


Animal Brutality: Gain a +1/2/3 bonus to intimidate, swim, jump AP COST: 1

Very Bear like, and typical of tier one.

TIER 2

Primal Beast: Gain an additional +1/2/4 strength when raging in animal form. At Rank 3 Gain one more use of rage. AP COST: 1 Requires Rage of the Beast

I assume this stacks with Barbarian Bonuses?

Thick Hide: Nature Armor Bonus 2/4/6 AP COST: 1

Nice for tanks

Improved Nature's Defense: Competence bonus to one of three, Increase Threat by 50/100/150%, PRR MRR 4/8/12, Saving Throws by 1/2/3 AP COST: 1

Good as all three are useful. This gives one options when climbing up the tree.

Sharp Bloody Claws: Shred now also applies killer instinct AP COST: 1

Ok.

Defense Boost: Action boost grants 5/10/15 ac 7/12/20 mrr for 20 seconds. 30 second cool down. AP COST: 1

Looks good.

TIER 3

Undying Beast: While raging in animal form you gain immunity to death effects and energy drain. Gains one more use of rage. AP COST: 2 Requires: Primal Beast

I like.
Again, make sure you grant the feat "Dismiss Rage."

Spirit Refreshed: When shape shifting forms below 33% health you heal to full and cure all fatigue. This benefit can only occur once every 3 minutes. AP COST: 2 (new – applies to all forms now)

Very interesting, might even be attractive to a Caster Druid.

Improved Nature's Defense: Competence bonus to one of three, Increase Threat by 50/100/150%, PRR MRR 4/8/12, Saving Throws by 1/2/3 AP COST: 1

Ursa Protector: While in bear form nature's defense now does one of these, +2/4/6 con, +3/6/9 MRR, +15/20/25 % to max hp AP COST: 1

I like this.
It gives an alternative to Combat expertise.

Strength OR Wisdom AP COST: 2

Typically expected.
Would prefer you leave Wisdom available as a choice and not changed wisdom to constitution, especially since you are attracting spell casters towards this tree.

TIER 4

Enduring Beast: while raging Increase healing amp by 10/20 in any animal forms. At rank 2 gain one more use of rage. AP COST: 1 Requires: Undying Beast

Nice.

Spirit Renewed: When shifting forms below 33% health you heal to full and benefit from a restore spell. This can now occur once every 2 minute. Still removes fatigue. AP COST: 2 Requires: Spirit refreshed

Definitely interesting, melee and spell casters are likely to shift forms more often.

Savage Roar: Using the Roar spell with 1 stack of killer instinct active now triggers a burst of sonic damage around the druid for 1d3 per rank of wilderness lore. Scales with melee power. If you have 2 stacks it also stuns at DC: Wilderness Rank + Strength Mod At 3 stacks the damage is 1d10 per rank of wilderness lore and stuns. AP: 2

Will the Stun have bonus effects applied to it?
It should have equipment & enhancement bonuses.
Nice thematic effect.
I assume this does not clear the stacks?

Ursa Protector: While in bear form nature's defense now does one of these, +2/4/6 con, +3/6/9 MRR, +15/20/25 % to max hp AP COST: 1

Nice Chain of bonuses for the defensive stance that extends into tier five like fighter trees do.

Strength OR Wisdom AP COST: 2

Prefer not to bring Con into here.

TIER 5

Beast unleashed: Gain one additional uses of Rage of the Best per rest. While raging you gain 15% double strike. and while in bear form 50% increase in threat generation and 15% bonus to your armor class. AP COST: 2
Requires Enduring Beast

Nice Tier Five ability.

Spirit Bear Charge: Requires bear form Charge forward inflicting +3W and knocking down enemies, reflex save vs DC 19 + Wis + Trip Bonuses. 15 second cooldown. AP COST: 2

Woot.
Please make sure this works right.

Lightning strikes the Mountain: Activating calls down a bolt of lightning that strikes the druid granting a 100% bonus to threat and MRR for 15 second. 20 MRR / 40 MRR in nature’s protector stance. Nearby enemies take 1d8 in lightning damage per wilderness lore rank. Scales with melee power. SP Cost: 15. 30 Second cooldown. (new – Replaced/Improved Great roar)

Love this.
Consider adding a bonus if Call Lightning is already active?

Ursa's Protector: While in bear form nature's defense now does one of these, +2/4/6 con, +3/6/9 MRR, +15/20/25 % to max hp AP COST: 1

Force of Nature: You gain 10/15/20% resistance against force damage and 2/4/6 con. AP COST: 1

Interesting defense.
As you can see there is plenty of +con already in your tree.
Suggest you don't reduce dps by removing str from your tier 3&4 ability choices.

SEASONS HERALD

Yah!
My favorite tree in DDO!

CORES:

1. Child of Summer: You gain the ability Child of Summer: Activate to grant +5 Spellpower when casting fire, force, light, sonic and positive spells. This seasonal Spellpower is multiplied by one for every Core enhancement possessed in Season's Herald (starting with this one), up to +30 when you have all six Enhancements. Lasts until death or change of season. Fire Elemental form changes you into this season automatically.

Very much approve of removing the random cycling.
Very much approve of auto entering this when you become a Fire elemental.

Passive: +1 Universal Spellpower per AP spent in this tree.

Always welcome, especially since Druids only have one caster tree.

2. Child of Winter: You gain Child of Winter: Activate to gain +5 Spellpower when casting water, acid, earth and electric spells per core in this tree. Lasts until death or season change. Water elemental form changes you into this season automatically.

Waiting till level three to get this is fine.
Frankly level 1 DRuids pick up a Qstaff, cast shillelagh and go to town, regardless of their Str scores.

Passive: +1 caster levels to spells in your active season.

Nice, thanks. Now that we can control our season, this is very nice.

3. Nature's Wellspring: The effects of your shillelagh are doubled. +1 max caster level in your active season

At level six, a druid is starting to question whether the Qstaff approach is still working.
Its also about the time that a Druid begins to seriously work on spellcasting.
Grant shillelagh a bonus will help the Druid get to level 8 wherein Call Lightning becomes a Reaper Killer.

4. Sun Burst: Gain Sun Burst as an SLA, SP: 4, Cooldown: 20 seconds (new – lowered cooldown)

The lowered cooldown is Greatly appreciated. Thank you for each and every cooldown reduction here.
Druids have a lot of SLAs but their cooldowns were too long. Thank you.

5. The Storm of Change: Gain Storm of Vengeance as an SLA, SP 20 cost. 2 minute cool down.

Any chance we can reduce this cooldown slightly?
No biggie...

6. Hierophant: You are wise and skilled in the art of wielding divine magic to summon aid and change the world around you. +4 Wisdom +4 Con +10 Universal spell power. Your Conjuration and Evocation spells gain +1 DC, +2 caster level and +2 max caster level. (new – increased wis/con bonus)

Wow, you sure listened to our feedback on this capstone.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

TIER 1:

Beguile: Whenever you attack or cast a spell on an enemy, there is a 50% chance to Beguile an affected enemy [1/0-2/0-3] times for [3/0-6/0-9] seconds. Beguile: -2% attack speed, -2 Spellpower. Beguile stacks up to 25 times, and one stack fades every few seconds. Up to one enemy affected each second (by up to [1/2/3] stacks). Does not affect bosses. AP COST: 1

Looks to be the same as before.

Shared Spirit: Your wolf pet gains 3/6/10% bonus to hps. Passive: You gain 1/2/3 spell power. AP COST: 1

Very nice. When I have all my essentials, then I look for things like this. Actually, since 1 point spent = 1 spell power, this enhancement grants +2 total spell power per point spent.
Oh, and more hp for wolfie is nice too.

Wax and Wane: +2% critical chance with spells associated with your current season.
Winter: Acid, Cold, Electric, Earth, and Water
Summer: Fire, Force, Light, Positive, Force and Sonic
-AP COST: 2

First nerf of the tree, since Seasons repeated itself and made this apply to both seasons at once.
But its a bug and we are finally fixing bugs.
What I do like is the possibility of less lag from overlapping Season applications.
Anyway, expected and welcome.

Produce Flame: Spell Like Ability: Produce Flame. Cost: 6/5/3, Cooldown: 10/6/4 AP COST: 1 (new – lowered cooldown)

Love SLAs. Lower cooldowns are very nice.
Wow, you cut the cooldown in half!
Thank you! I use this one a lot.
Interesting you dropped this to tier one, thank you!
Maximize for the win!

Druidic Wisdom: Gain a +1/2/3 to heal, spellcraft and diplomancy skills. AP COST: 1

Another double spellpower enhancement. Good for those extra action points to spend.

TIER 2:

Efficient MetaMagic: Reduce the cost of a meta magic, empower, enlarge, maximize, quicken AP COST: 2

Efficient MetaMagic: Reduce the cost of a meta magic, empower, enlarge, maximize, quicken AP COST: 2

Interesting, you removed Spell Pen and replaced it with Spell Point conservation.

You make your own theory that Efficiency > Spell Pen, which says to me that you think Druids don't need Spell Pen as much as other Spell Casters since there are only two spells that require Spell Pen: Finger of Death (which is a save or die spell that deserves Spell Pen) and Order Wrath (which I have already asked you to remove the Spell Pen check from). Removing Spell Pen from Season's Herald is telling me you want to remove the Spell Pen check from Order's Wrath.

Wax and Wane: +2% critical chance with spells associated with your current season.
Winter: Acid, Cold, Electric, Earth, and Water
Summer: Fire, Light, Force, Positive, Force and Sonic
AP COST: 2
Requires previous tier.

Nods Sagely

Creeping Cold: Spell Like Ability: Creeping Cold (Cost: [6/5/3] SP. Cooldown: [12/10/8] seconds) AP COST: 1 Requires produce flame

And again you surprise us by moving Creeping Cold downward to tier two.
Its ok for this to have a higher cooldown, because it has a duration of 12 seconds.

Action Boost: Spell Power: Action boost grants 10/20/30 spell power for 20 seconds. 30 second cool down. AP COST: 1

Nods Sagely

TIER 3

Autumn Leaves: Toggle ability: Leaves always seem to blow around the druid. Grants feather fall, +2 dodge and 5% proc chance on a gust of wind knock down anyone hitting you in melee. Costs: 15 SP Lasts until death or toggled off AP COST: 1

Very creative and interesting.
Well done.
I like thus.

Efficient Heighten AP COST: 2

As before.

Wax and Wane: +2% critical chance with spells associated with your current season.
Winter: Acid, Cold, Electric, Earth, and Water
Summer: Fire, Force, Light, Positive, Force and Sonic
AP COST: 2
Requires previous tier

Call Lightning: Spell Like Ability: Call Lightning (Cost: [10/8/6] SP. Cooldown: [12/8/6] seconds) AP COST: 1 Requires: Creeping cold (new - lowered cooldown)

And again, you moved an SLA down a tier and reduced its cooldown from 8 seconds to 6.
I suppose asking for a 5 second cooldown would be greedy?
Thanks for reducing it by 25%.

Wisdom +1 AP COST: 2

As expected, anyone this deep in the tree only wants wisdom.

TIER 4:

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. (Lasts 5 minutes or until triggered.) (Activation Cost: [8/6/4] Spell Points.)
Cooldown: [8/4/2] seconds) AP COST: 1 (new – lowered cooldown to make buffing party easier)

Thank you for the lowered cooldown.
I appreciate that.
Druids have a lot of single target buffs to cast upon entering a dungeon.
Are you going to add a casting animation to thus?
Currently this ability has unlimited range, can be cast underwater, and is difficult to tell whether the spell even went off.

Strength of the Solstice: +1 to the save DC's of your Evocation and Conjuration spells AP COST: 2

Oh...very nice, and in a tier four spot.
Thank you.

Wax and Wane: +2% critical chance with spells associated with your current season.
Winter: Acid, Cold, Electric, Earth, and Water
Summer: Fire, Force, Light, Positive, and Sonic
AP COST: 2

Nods Sagely

Salt Ray: Spell Like Ability: Salt Ray (Cost: [12/10/8] SP. Cooldown: [12/10/8] seconds) AP COST: 1

WOOT!!!!!
I love this.
Finally I can afford to Heighten/Meta this spell and actually make it work at high levels.
Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you!
After all, Druid Casters will be taking most all the Metas due to having so many nice SLAs.

Wisdom +1 AP COST: 2

Nods

TIER 5

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 10 melee power and 5 ranged power. (Activation Cost: 1 Spell Point. Cooldown: 6 seconds) Only one target can have the crown at a time. AP COST: 1

Oh, the melees are going to love this ~ stacking melee power.
Also no longer a conflict with overwriting Deady Weapon Buff since this is now a personal buff not a weapon buff.

Master of the Elements: Gain 5/10/15 spell power in your season. Passive rank 3: If the character has 17 druid levels they gain anger of the noonday sun or mantle of icy when changing in the appropriate elemental form. This effect costs 8 spells points when it occurs.

This is much better than Winter's Heart.
I love the auto Season + Mantle when you change forms.
It will make adapting to the dungeon even more interesting.

Time and Time again: increase your caster level and max caster level by +1 AP COST: 2

Hmm...this is not season dependent.
Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you!

Word of Balance: Spell Like Ability: Word of Balance (Cost: [12/9/6] SP. Cooldown: [20/15/10] seconds) AP COST: 1 Requires: Salt Ray (new – lowered cooldown)

Very nice, lowered cooldown.
Thank you.
Now if we could only convince you that direct damage spells do not deserve spell pen checks?


Armor of Winter: Gain 8 times your wisdom in temporary Hit points that lasts 60 seconds. (Cooldown: 30 seconds, Sp Cost: 12) AP COST: 2 (new – moved spell power and allow it to work in any elemental form/season)

Hmm...interesting.
Nice for reaper dungeoneering.
Definitely not overpowered as Druid are superior healers anyway.

Overall, I am very impressed with your work here so far.
Well done!

In summary, very nice but would like to see some additions:

Remove Spell Pen check from Order's Wrath

Consider granting Druids another Acid Spell of some sort.

Allow Extend to work on the self buffing Call Lightning Storm as I tested thus and the Lightning Storm does move with the character.

Make sure Creeping Colds do not overwrite any spells including Niac's Biting Cold.

Correct Pack aptitude to grant +6 to an ability instead of the bugged +4.

Improve Anger of the Noonday Sun in some way.

Make Flame Blade scale into Epics better.

Speed up Firestorm.

and please reduced the graphic effects of Body of Sun by at least 50+%
(you could simply trim off the outer edges of the effect since they are the strongest).


Thanks Torc, good job.

[Silverleafeon]

Also of interest, a long-ago discussion about the many possibilities of the third druid tree:

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...t+tree+project

Please feel free to cherry pick ideas and theories therein.