No Druid? Why?

[Ecosword]

I come to DDO with a history of playing the D&D tabletop as I think a lot of people who enjoy this MMO do as well and something is kind of bugging me and it is the absence of one of the original basic classes. They have every single on from the 3.0/3.5 Player's Handbook (even if you have to pay to be a Monk) except for Druid and I am wondering if Turbine ever gave a reason for this? Hell, I was surprised to see that they even brought in the Favored Soul which was an additional basic class from the Book of Exalted Deeds but they still haven't put in the Druid.

Now, I can sort of come up with several plausible reasons why this might be. One could argue that with the majority of places being Dungeon crawling, it doesn't really fit but I would argue that they still included the Ranger fine. Another might be that they had a hard working in the Druid spells and since the Ranger only had a limited amount, it didn't affect them as much and quite another would be that the shapeshifting aspect was hard to do or maybe because they thought the Druid would be a bit OP since it was the best multi-role class in the table-top, imo.

Whatever the reason, I just feel it to be a shame that is missing since they bring in the parallels of the other classes with Wizard/Sorc paralleling the relationship with the Cleric/Favored Soul and they would have the Cleric/Paladin paralleling the Druid/Ranger relationship.

Also, Druid was one of my favorite classes to be since they could do so much. I am still going to continue to play DDO but I just want to know why the Druid wasn't included at all and if Turbine has said anything with possibly maybe adding the class sometime.

[Trillea]

I come to DDO with a history of playing the D&D tabletop as I think a lot of people who enjoy this MMO do as well and something is kind of bugging me and it is the absence of one of the original basic classes. They have every single on from the 3.0/3.5 Player's Handbook (even if you have to pay to be a Monk) except for Druid and I am wondering if Turbine ever gave a reason for this? Hell, I was surprised to see that they even brought in the Favored Soul which was an additional basic class from the Book of Exalted Deeds but they still haven't put in the Druid.

Now, I can sort of come up with several plausible reasons why this might be. One could argue that with the majority of places being Dungeon crawling, it doesn't really fit but I would argue that they still included the Ranger fine. Another might be that they had a hard working in the Druid spells and since the Ranger only had a limited amount, it didn't affect them as much and quite another would be that the shapeshifting aspect was hard to do or maybe because they thought the Druid would be a bit OP since it was the best multi-role class in the table-top, imo.

Whatever the reason, I just feel it to be a shame that is missing since they bring in the parallels of the other classes with Wizard/Sorc paralleling the relationship with the Cleric/Favored Soul and they would have the Cleric/Paladin paralleling the Druid/Ranger relationship.

Also, Druid was one of my favorite classes to be since they could do so much. I am still going to continue to play DDO but I just want to know why the Druid wasn't included at all and if Turbine has said anything with possibly maybe adding the class sometime.

This is a question that we players have been asking since day 1, and the excuse that keeps getting fed to us is that they are having problems with the shapechanging tech.

I am hoping that they will show up soon, but as I have been waiting for years now, I am starting to wonder if they will ever show..

[dkyle]

Hell, I was surprised to see that they even brought in the Favored Soul which was an additional basic class from the Book of Exalted Deeds but they still haven't put in the Druid.

What book something came from in PnP is completely irrelevant to DDO. FvS got put in because it was easy to do. Its spells are already there, and leap of faith is just a reskinned abundant step.

Druid isn't in yet because a direct implementation would be insanely complicated, and redesigning a class takes time. I expect DDO's Druid to resemble 3.5's Druid about as much as DDO's Monk resembles 3.5's Monk.

[underpants]

I think the druiids would be hard to incorporate into this game. What would you do with one that a cleric /ranger /favorite soul can't do there arn't a lot of animals or druid friendly environments yet. Classes need to have a uniqueness in this game

I personally think shape shifters are the way to go for a new race / class

[shores11]

I come to DDO with a history of playing the D&D tabletop as I think a lot of people who enjoy this MMO do as well and something is kind of bugging me and it is the absence of one of the original basic classes. They have every single on from the 3.0/3.5 Player's Handbook (even if you have to pay to be a Monk) except for Druid and I am wondering if Turbine ever gave a reason for this? Hell, I was surprised to see that they even brought in the Favored Soul which was an additional basic class from the Book of Exalted Deeds but they still haven't put in the Druid.

Now, I can sort of come up with several plausible reasons why this might be. One could argue that with the majority of places being Dungeon crawling, it doesn't really fit but I would argue that they still included the Ranger fine. Another might be that they had a hard working in the Druid spells and since the Ranger only had a limited amount, it didn't affect them as much and quite another would be that the shapeshifting aspect was hard to do or maybe because they thought the Druid would be a bit OP since it was the best multi-role class in the table-top, imo.

Whatever the reason, I just feel it to be a shame that is missing since they bring in the parallels of the other classes with Wizard/Sorc paralleling the relationship with the Cleric/Favored Soul and they would have the Cleric/Paladin paralleling the Druid/Ranger relationship.

Also, Druid was one of my favorite classes to be since they could do so much. I am still going to continue to play DDO but I just want to know why the Druid wasn't included at all and if Turbine has said anything with possibly maybe adding the class sometime.

Druid's are an overpowered class that should have never been introduced to D&D and hopefully will never be introduced to DDO. The Druid has been discussed ad naseum for many years in DDO and I am hoping it is wisdom that has kept them out of the game.

[Teldurn]

I personally think shape shifters are the way to go for a new race / class

Form of Owlbear! ('''\(ò¿ó)/''') "RAWRR!!"

[dkyle]

Druid's are an overpowered class that should have never been introduced to D&D and hopefully will never be introduced to DDO. The Druid has been discussed ad naseum for many years in DDO and I am hoping it is wisdom that has kept them out of the game.

They're certainly OP as presented in 3.5. But the concept for a class is reasonable, and I think Turbine could do a decent job bringing a better designed version to DDO.

Form of Owlbear!('''\(ò¿ó)/''') "RAWRR!!"

+1 for awesome

[Symar-FangofLloth]

I expect DDO's Druid to resemble 3.5's Druid about as much as DDO's Monk resembles 3.5's Monk.

Likely truth.

Druids are compliCated with a capital C. I'd expect to see Wildshape more along the lines of PHB2/stance toggles, but even then you have animation issues.

I also heard, back in the day, that whomever was supposedly working on halforc/halfelf/druid wasn't really working on them and subsequently fired. No idea how true that is or not.

[PopeDX]

I just don't think anyone's thought of the idea yet. Druids, you say...

[Ecosword]

Ah, I thought it probably would be something with the shapeshifting mechanic. And as people said, the Druid in 3.5 definitely was OP but I think Turbine could put a model into it.

And well, now people put up another question that has been itching me...the reduction in the basic races. Where are the Half-orcs, Half-elves and Gnomes? Putting them in game definitely is easier than making a complete new class with difficult mechanics. Hell, they put the Drow in which you couldn't be without incuring heavy penalities because of their uber bonuses to stats and the warforge was an interesting choice to be included.

[Freeman]

They probably haven't been able to get the shapeshifting ability correct, both technically and from a design POV. On the one hand, if you turned into most animals in DDO, you would be insanely underpowered. On the other hand, turning into an air elemental at higher levels would be insanely overpowered. They have to first figure out how to to it, then how to do it in such a way to make shapeshifting a reasonable alternative to spellcasting for druids. Finally, they have to keep the shapeshifting from being too powerful. I'm not sure if they'll ever release druids, and if so, I doubt the shapeshifting will be anything like it is in PnP.

[dkyle]

And well, now people put up another question that has been itching me...the reduction in the basic races. Where are the Half-orcs, Half-elves and Gnomes? Putting them in game definitely is easier than making a complete new class with difficult mechanics. Hell, they put the Drow in which you couldn't be without incuring heavy penalities because of their uber bonuses to stats and the warforge was an interesting choice to be included.

Half-orcs and Gnomes I'm not sure. Probably just decided to prioritize the iconic Tolkien races first, plus Warforged so they could legitimately call it eberron. Drow came later, maybe to satisfy all those Drizzt fans. Half-orcs are coming pretty soon (U7 I believe). Gnomes I haven't heard anything about.

Problem with half-elves is that they're plain awful in 3.5. Nothing worth giving up the bonus feat for vs. Humans. They'll need a little help to get them up to speed in DDO. I'm hoping they'll take a page from 4E (yeah, yeah, boo-hiss) and make them the consummate jacks-of-all-trades. Maybe let them multi-class four-ways? Ignore alignment restrictions on classes?

[Ecosword]

Well, here is something else I was thinking about with adding the rest of the basic races is possibly adding more of the Houses featured in Eberron. I hope they add Half-orcs, oddly enough they were one of my favored races to be besides elf.

[woundweaver]

i was reading the stuff about the new red fens area. if you think about it, they seem to be paving the way for them. mobs in the new area use spiked growth for a spell. theres the plant slaying kama from mindsunder. several things point to druids being added in the future. but how long, is the question. we will definately be seeing half orcs before druids, but i really dont think it will be long after they will make an appearance in ddo

[Akrilus]

New Races > New Classes

Clerics that don’t heal others and rogues that cannot deal with traps;
Barbarians with low hitpoints and mages who do not use spells;
Bards that do not buff others and rangers that pull agro and then run away;
These are a few of my favorite things.

Clerics that rush into melee and rogues that try disarm a trap and are killed by it;
Warforged barbarians without healers friend and sorcerors without firewall;
Fighters without fortification and Barbarians with very low AC;
These are a few of my favorite things.

and people that want a new class when they cant even play the ones we have already properly?

[Teldurn]

<snip>
Problem with half-elves is that they're plain awful in 3.5. Nothing worth giving up the bonus feat for vs. Humans. They'll need a little help to get them up to speed in DDO. I'm hoping they'll take a page from 4E (yeah, yeah, boo-hiss) and make them the consummate jacks-of-all-trades. Maybe let them multi-class four-ways? Ignore alignment restrictions on classes?

Yeah, that's one thing that always bugged me about Half-Elves in 3.x; they are the worst of the two races they originate from. They fixed this in 4e, where Half-Elves are the best of both worlds. I wonder how they will be implemented in DDO, assuming they ever are.

[der_kluge]

There's talk Druids may make it into the game eventually. I don't know that I've ever seen a definitive answer here.

Half-orcs are definitely coming soon, though.

I'd rather see more PrE's first, though.

[Uskathoth]

Considering that there is no Fly spell, no one can climb walls, talk to animals, teleport freely and similar limitations regarding how you can interact with the environment I assume druids are absent so far because they would require a lot of animation work and all the shapeshifting would do would change some combat stats. You'd turn into a bear that would attack pretty much the same as a lion or a giant eagle with some numbers moved around. People would then complain.

I think that if they want to introduce druids they need to drop the shapechanging, since it will inevitably suck, and make druids a summoning-focused class that summons actually useful stuff. But people would complain about that because it is different than a P&P druid (but whatever they do will be different than a P&P druid so they are in a bind).

[Symar-FangofLloth]

Yeah, that's one thing that always bugged me about Half-Elves in 3.x; they are the worst of the two races they originate from. They fixed this in 4e, where Half-Elves are the best of both worlds. I wonder how they will be implemented in DDO, assuming they ever are.

Maybe they can go take a peek at Pathfinder and use Half-elves from there...
They're not bad there. Two favored classes of your choice, and a whole slew of alternate bonuses to take for being in a favored class (normal bonus is +1HP or +1Skillpoint), as well as Skill Focus: your choice as a free level 1 feat.

But 4e Half-elves aren't bad either, and I'd expect to see some of those features in.

I just hope if we ever get them, and they have a unique model, the half-elf NPCs in game will be upgraded to it.

[Ecosword]

Maybe they can go take a peek at Pathfinder and use Half-elves from there...
They're not bad there. Two favored classes of your choice, and a whole slew of alternate bonuses to take for being in a favored class (normal bonus is +1HP or +1Skillpoint), as well as Skill Focus: your choice as a free level 1 feat.

But 4e Half-elves aren't bad either, and I'd expect to see some of those features in.

I just hope if we ever get them, and they have a unique model, the half-elf NPCs in game will be upgraded to it.

Transfer the fixes to Half-elves into 3.x and then it would be awesome. So that is what I am hoping they do if they ever feel like putting half-elves in.