Notable druids? 
Posted: 28 February 2008 06:47 PM   [ Ignore ]
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I saw Anesthesia’s post about why druids are better than everyone else (which made me chuckle), and wanted to know from the community what druids you think were notable in MD.

The first one that came to mind was Pagan Iznogood.  I remember he was the only druid with lions back in the day.  I think he might have been the first aristo druid as well.

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Posted: 28 February 2008 07:42 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]
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Neo Fight.  I remember a story Hematite told me about a newbie.  Said newbie couldn’t see in the dark and was shouting about it, so Neo glowed him.  The newbie went on his way, extremely pleased by Neo’s selflessness and the efficacy of the glow/faerie fire spell.

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Posted: 28 February 2008 11:15 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 2 ]
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Heh, I remember Neo.  I think he was part of the clowns.  Another guy I remember is Mud Primus (the first one).  He used to get the Blue Laen ring at level 14.  14?!?  Yup, 14.

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Posted: 29 February 2008 03:58 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 3 ]
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I’ve gotta give credit to the early crop of aristos in this version (to my knowledge, Ylyndar, Kira, Croc). The class has received some significant improvements since then, but it is still very difficult to gain traction in the number of players. We must have had a dry spell of 3-4 years without a new aristo druid after those guys.

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Posted: 29 February 2008 08:51 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 4 ]
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Agreed, Neo funny, and cool as hell, Mud was good.. but Ylyndar would be my pick for best druid tho.

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Posted: 01 March 2008 05:28 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 5 ]
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Kira was the best druid, hands down.

Gal

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Posted: 17 April 2008 01:27 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 6 ]
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I’d have to agree with Hoax with Pagan, and the original Mud Primus.

There aren’t that many druids in the realms, but more recent memory I’d say Ylyndar, for sticking with a class that nobody else played...he was the first true pioneer of the druid class after the big conversion.

Kyra (the druid, not the monk) and Croc later on became successful with the class…

Now I’d have to say Anesthesia, who I vote P.R. spokesperson for all the tree huggers in the realms!

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Posted: 05 June 2008 10:52 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 7 ]
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In truth, druids need a recode.  All these little patch-fixes don’t address the main issue, which is they’re an entirely unoriginal and unabashed bastardization of mage and necromancer...with the power of neither and the worst weaknesses of both. 

The original vision, if i may speak for Scythe in his absence, were totemic shamans.  Certain animal totems, chosen by the druid upon classing, would grant certain powers or bonuses.  Even the armor/weapons restrictions would be totem-based.

These are just basic ideas, but I can expound if there’s interest:
Bat:  Infravision, resistance/immunity to disease, evasion, infectious disease
Snake:  Resistance/immunity to poison, poison and suffocation damage
Bear:  Higher str/con/ac combat-related bonuses, less weapon restrictions (perhaps 2 handers only), stun resistance

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Posted: 07 June 2008 06:46 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 8 ]
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i like the idea smile

why not follow a zodiac like the chinese one or some other one.. and follow the individual characteristics of it… and make it evolve and improve as the druid levels up?

e.g. bat starts out with weak disease and evasion, then gives resistance at lvl 10, and then etc

could we also have 1 of the 3 summons to be a stable (non random) animal that levels up as you do? (this way druids wouldnt have to worry as much about bad summons nor would their fighting ability fluctuate so much)

e.g. bat totem = baby bat summon > bat summon > bat creature or something?

hehe i feel like im stealing malal’s idea raspberry

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Posted: 08 June 2008 11:33 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 9 ]
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I firmly believe that shrines need to be removed for two reasons:  First, it is a mana sink, pure and simple.  It’s quite clearly the druid equivalent of a collective mage ‘brains’ spell, for which I’ve already expressed my distaste.  Secondly, it creates difficulties in balancing the class.  A player’s combat and spell power should not be limited to the numbers of your class available to contribute to a mana sink.  As no one is prescient and perspicacious enough to determine future playing trends, one would be unable to effectively tweak druids as necessary, thus obviating druid shrines.

In regards to Tyrande’s summons idea, different totems could have different effects in regards to the summon spell.  Personally, I wouldn’t want druid combat to revolve around summons, as this is too reminiscent of necromancers.  Bat-totem Druids might summon a swarm of bats that increases in number in level.  Bats could cause debuffs like confusion and fear.  Snakes cause fear, poison and entanglement, etc.  It’s limited only by your imagination.

Also, I think the easiest approach would be akin to the Cleric/Pally bifurcation that Belly, praise be unto him, rahmatallah, peace upon him, is working on.  A certain set of powers is available to all druids upon classing.  After 10th level or so, the druid chooses a totem, unlocking shapeshifting/summoning powers and augmenting powers previously learned.

An interesting thought I had would be a mini-crafting system, specific to druids (sounds like it might work for barbs, too) which allowed them to use sinew, bones, and teeth of their enemies to create talismans (apart from normal wearable slots) with beneficial effects.  Perhaps these talismans can be made stronger through the use of barbarian skins and heartblood.  This could even be used to make barbarians and druids ‘paired’ party members, like priest and paladin combination.

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