druid balance

[Nerva]

Hey! how about make use of the pet when it dies it lets off a big nuke or an ae heal(i actually had a dream about mages that had pets they would send in and would ae heal when they died or nuked depending on the pet lmao)

Tal

that's a nice idea actually!

Heck, since Druids already have a main pet line (even if it rather sucks), you could make these suicide pets into spell-summoned swarm pets, like the necro Soul Theft line. They'd punish bosses for AoEing and improve DPS at the same time!

If the boss doesn't AoE, then they're some okay DPS until they naturally time out a minute or so later. If the boss DOES AoE, he gets the pants nuked off him or heals everyone else in melee, depending on whether the pet suicides into a PBAoE nuke or a group heal.

The healing version would be handy for ensuring that the rogue, 'zerker and mage/necro pets survive rampage!

[Stickybuds]

the pet was great while leveling up to 70, but id rather it not be involved in high end and raiding. Even if it did do dmg or heal on death. A heal would not be worth it, it would only be 1 heal when we are already pumping hundreds of heals per boss. As for a nuke, even an extremely large nuke, as it would only be once. And even then, again a wizard is pumping hundreds of nukes during a boss fight, 1 nuke would be nothing.

that said, keep the ideas coming! appreciate the brainstorming. Save the druids! even if there are only a handful of us =)

Can any of the devs comment if the target of target thing works on emu? Nuke the mob and heal it's target?

Regards,
Sticky

[Nerva]

the pet was great while leveling up to 70, but id rather it not be involved in high end and raiding. Even if it did do dmg or heal on death. A heal would not be worth it, it would only be 1 heal when we are already pumping hundreds of heals per boss. As for a nuke, even an extremely large nuke, as it would only be once. And even then, again a wizard is pumping hundreds of nukes during a boss fight, 1 nuke would be nothing.

Ah, Sticky, you forget! Swarm pets generally aren't just a single creature! They're usually a small gang, anywhere from 1-4; hence the name "swarm". So yeah, if you get a nuke-on-death swarm pet, it's not just a single nuke. It's several. And they deal DPS with their melee attacks before they explode, too.

They're also excellent interception tools. Got an add coming for you, don't have anything to intercept it right away? Throw some swarm pets. Sure, they'll get pasted in under a minute each, but that just causes them to explode. By the time the mob finishes off all the swarmers, it's been nuked 2-4 times and held off for a good 10-30 seconds; long enough for you to finish off your current target and turn your attention to your newly-softened-up victim and finish it off with more conventional druid tactics.

Lots of people really underestimate the kind of utility a solid swarm pet can provide. They're little fire-and-forget disposable buddies, and if you get suicide-bomber swarms, you can really put the "cannon" in "cannon fodder".

On a personal note? If you do get suicide-bomber swarm pets, I'm gonna be jealous. I want swarm pets that contribute by dying like chumps!

BTW - if you're not clear how swarmies work, just lemme run an LDoN with you and I can show you a few things about 'em. I believe you'll agree that they're awesome if they're allowed to be strong enough and are used right.

Can any of the devs comment if the target of target thing works on emu? Nuke the mob and heal it's target?

The devs will have to comment on whether that exact functionality exists, but Necromancers already have something similar in the form of the Touch of Saryrn series. This spell places a "reverse damage shield" on the target; anything that hits it recieves a small heal in return.

If it is impossible to do the "nuke the mob, heal the mob's target" thing, perhaps a nuke/reverse damage shield combo would make a good substitute?

[ChaosSlayer]

Finally someone appreciates my Touch of Saryrn
of course for high end levels its probably not as useful as it was for pre-70 solo runs
Maybe few more raid level ranks could be added

[Nerva]

Finally someone appreciates my Touch of Saryrn
of course for high end levels its probably not as useful as it was for pre-70 solo runs
Maybe few more raid level ranks could be added

Not to derail the thread, but honestly, this would tickle me several shades of green. Especially if it can be given a stronger resist mod or made Disease/Poison so it can be Scented. I always thought it sucked that Touch of Saryrn stopped at 65.

However, I hear Clerics have a line of spells similar to Touch of Saryrn, so having raid-quality reverse damage shields would kinda eat into their niche. I suppose that would apply for druids if they got 'em, too.

[ChaosSlayer]

I never understood why SOE gave those to clerics in the first place - cursing a target to drain life out of it seems to be something you do with a necromancy rather than holy powers

Nerf clerics

[Taladome]

I got a picture in my head of druid swarm pets.....brownies LOL

I realize this wasnt a pet thread and sorry if my mention of pets threw things off but I can think of some cool encounters that could only be won by having pombs© (pet bombs) yea its mine copyrighted and all hahaha


Tal

[Firenze]

you took ur pills today ?


concerning pets , it's a good idea.
Druids only need a Class specific super cool buff

[Stickybuds]

while i would love to have a super cool useful buff instead of the useless animal attunement one, what i really want is what we lost...dps.

We need our dps back, be it via better nukes/dots, or another form of melee dps like the Vow of Victory + ward of reprisal combo.

[Stickybuds]

So...my Sk got the T8 nuke today, and it was another sad sad day for Sticky the druid. Not only is the base dmg higher than the druid's T8 nuke, it has a 0.5 sec cast speed vs a 6.5 sec cast speed for the druid =(

not pointing this out to say the SKs need nerfed, i think they are fine. but just more proof of the sad state that druids are in.

Sk nuke - webtools/spell.php?id=9429
druid nuke - webtools/spell.php?id=9235

Even spear of storm, the SK nuke they can get at lvl 70 from PoStorms, is 2400 base dmg vs 2482 of the druid's T8 nuke. It too has a 0.5 sec cast speed. So even a SK with some LDON points for a focus and a spell from PoStorm can out dps a T8 Druid with top end raid gear.

spear of storm - webtools/spell.php?id=9006

Regards,
Sticky