Do you think druids are in a good place? My idea for more nature involvement

Dewey

I have no background in EQ so this opinion is just from a frequent fantasy reader, gamer and PnP enjoyer.
I am going to roll Druid main, but I think there's more room to lean into the nature and animal part of druids.

First of, charm seems contradictory to what druids stand for. Convincing a potential foe to change allegiance through "mind control" feels better kept for Enchanter. The fact that the charmed foe can break free leans into manipulation with nature instead of alignment and balance of nature. Enchanters should have charm for sure, whether it's in the right place is not my place to say, but druids leaning more into the serenity of nature and having a bond with the animals of Eth'ur would really sell the aesthetic.

The idea of bear companion sounded awesome, but I understand the bloat that were present for many classes. Since beastmasters exist, it makes sense they are unique in having a persistent companion.

I do think there is room for removing charm and for druids to call upon nature to be assisted by animals. If I were to be granted a chance to create a spell it would sound something like this:

It calls upon an animal companion related to the zone of the druid.
In Night Harbor it could be a beetle, in lush forests it could be a wolf, in a tomb it could be a spider, etc.
The level of the summoned companion should be same level of druid up until the max level of creatures in the given zone. Duration of the summon could be limited to 5-10 min. with a lengthy cooldown to make it matter when cast.
Something like this would give the druid the ability to seek help from nature when most needed, a fair exchange for the lifelong mission of preserving balance in nature.

I have faith in Niche Worlds Cult and their vision of the classes and I'm excited to see where the class fantasies are being taken to. Let me know what ya'll think. Am I a completely loon and druids are fine, or do you thinks some merit to my idea.

Fell

Dewey First of, charm seems contradictory to what druids stand for. Convincing a potential foe to change allegiance through "mind control" feels better kept for Enchanter ... The idea of bear companion sounded awesome

I've said this since they removed the pet. A friendly bumbling (but weak) bear companion felt a lot more druidic than a monstrous bloated evil spider you're forcing to fight against its own children.

Velthorian

eh, they still do too much dps for a priest.

Saff

To me, there doesn't seem to be a large difference between charming an animal in the zone temporarily, and temporarily calling one to your side that fits the zone. There are plenty of animals that kill and eat their own without being manipulated by an outside actor, so a fantasy character who is in tune with nature and wildlife being able to influence said wildlife doesn't seem like a huge stretch.

I wouldn't see these animals as having "allegiances" and considering you their "enemy", again because they are acting on instinct, not with higher intellect. If there are specific creatures in-world that contradict this, then I'd be inclined to agree with a case against being able to charm those in the same way. Just food for thought!

Fell

Velthorian Druids are now officially listed as a "jack of all trades" caster. They're far below a cleric in heal potential and, unless they have an enchanter in the group to slow mobs, they can't keep up with a shaman either. Given that, their only raison d'etre is the ability to function somewhat in both roles: healer and DPS.

Saff There are plenty of animals that kill and eat their own without being manipulated by an outside actor,

A fair point. Given that, though, druid charm should be more like the EQ druid charm that worked only on lower-level mobs, but didn't generate aggro when it broke.

Saff

Fell I can see the logic in that, though perhaps with a bit of nuance (though it may be more complicated than it's worth on a programming/game design perspective). If the animal did not natively consider the druid KoS, and the druid had not generated any aggro prior to the charm, I'd agree with the idea of the animal being non-aggro again upon break. If the animal is already aggressive though, I could see the release of the charm reasonably triggering a degree of aggro.

Interesting ideas!

Edit: I'll throw in that a resisted charm should be considered a failure at the attempt that would always trigger aggro.

Fangbang

Fell I keep saying that the “magical charm that makes animals hate you” was a weird choice. Either charm shouldn’t generate aggro or we should just get an animal pet summon instead.

Sadly Druid DPS is also sorely lacking compared to the other healer reworks, so our “hybrid heal and dps” role needs some adjustment after all the dot and charm nerfs. Direct damage has been an issue (mana cost too high to reliably farm) since the rework as well.

The mana costs for heals are also all over the place. I’ve gone into detail on all of this in different posts but we seem to be in a waiting period until all the classes get a balance pass at once (probably because any more Druid-only changes would cause a riot since people hate seeing this class in the patch notes).