How could a druid work?

vladious1977

I have played druid on DDO. Our current set-up would never allow a full utilization of a druid. How would one shape shift? It could not be on tab as tab powers are limited. Could not be a shift ability as that too is limited. When a druid changes form it is at will and until he decides it is no longer feasible for him to be in animal form. Considering we only have limited encounter spots they can not make it an encounter as it would severely gimp the druid. Unless they MAY be able to do something like they did For CW's and at level 10 an extra slot opens up where they can equip said ability maybe?

I heard people say druids would be the next class and I just can not find anyway under the current system it can be enjoyable and playable and bring to heart the druid class. So show me how this can be done so I can better understand it and maybe get excited about the possibility.Only thing I can think of is maybe making it like the hunters tab ability but once again that would only limit you to being either in humanoid or one animal form how would you chose what animal form?

oliboyph

I don't think it will be the DnD druid that we all know. After all the Pally here is no where near the Pally of the DnD world. For all we know druids will end up being a dedicated buffer/debuffer.

vladious1977

oliboyph said:

I don't think it will be the DnD druid that we all know. After all the Pally here is no where near the Pally of the DnD world. For all we know druids will end up being a dedicated buffer/debuffer.

Awwww man you are trying to make me cry right? Seriously I had a dream that one day I could turn into a doggy and go prowling around the night.

suicidalgodot

...common knowledge has it that mistletoe is a core component... :^D

vladious1977 said:

oliboyph said:

I don't think it will be the DnD druid that we all know. After all the Pally here is no where near the Pally of the DnD world. For all we know druids will end up being a dedicated buffer/debuffer.

Awwww man you are trying to make me cry right? Seriously I had a dream that one day I could turn into a doggy and go prowling around the night.

Then ESO could be your to-go game - there you can.

Here it'll IMHO probably become an HR-DC crossover. Snares'n'roots? Check! Lighntning? Check! Heals? Check! Barkskin? Check!

...though that might just leave room for a shapeshifter tree, which however might also be fairly stillborn like combat HR.

jobsalotofwork

Tab to shapeshift could work like HR. Not that it has to be that way you could have encounters that give you a set layout on your bar and tab cancels your transformation. Plus a bunch of spell DPS options as normal encounters. Ooo. You could have a tab slot for forms and set encounters and at wills for each form.

Regardless probably not going to be as flexible as ddo but different game type (30+ buttons vs 10)

ironzerg79

oliboyph said:

I don't think it will be the DnD druid that we all know. After all the Pally here is no where near the Pally of the DnD world. For all we know druids will end up being a dedicated buffer/debuffer.

What do you mean by that? The Oathbound Paladin is pretty much right out of the 5E Player's Handbook. So if you want to think about how a druid might work, I'd start there.

vladious1977

Thanks everyone for your answers. I am going to remain hopeful though the idea looks bleak.

ironzerg79

vladious1977 said:

Thanks everyone for your answers. I am going to remain hopeful though the idea looks bleak.

Not necessarily. Wildshaping is a big part of the Druid class in 5E. And the class system with Neverwinter has shown that it actually is extremely flexible.

The tab ability could work like the Ranger's weapon swap power that let's you swap between different animal or elemental forms, with encounter powers doing different things based on what form you're in. Maybe have class features dictate which two forms you could Wildshape to at any given time.

Anyway, it could work. Cryptic has shown they can be pretty creative with new classes, so don't write off getting a cool druid class just yet.

vladious1977

ironzerg79 said:

vladious1977 said:

Thanks everyone for your answers. I am going to remain hopeful though the idea looks bleak.

Not necessarily. Wildshaping is a big part of the Druid class in 5E. And the class system with Neverwinter has shown that it actually is extremely flexible.

The tab ability could work like the Ranger's weapon swap power that let's you swap between different animal or elemental forms, with encounter powers doing different things based on what form you're in. Maybe have class features dictate which two forms you could Wildshape to at any given time.

Anyway, it could work. Cryptic has shown they can be pretty creative with new classes, so don't write off getting a cool druid class just yet.

Well TBH I love the hr concept it has the most unique tab skill. IT makes for challenging game play. The druid concept will definitely stretch way beyond even the hr concept. It will either make Cryptic or break them depending on how they pull it off. Yet I think they now this and will not release this class until they know they can live up to the expectation of the fans with it. So IF such a class was to be released I am sure it will still be a couple years away and will be there crowning achievement.

pando83

How could a Druid work?

It would be a new NWO class, so i have a feeling it would work like almost any new class so far:

deal tons of damage
be immortal

jokes aside, would love a shapeshifting class. But the idea of playing another class with all the campaigns and stuff to re-farm makes me want to puke.

vladious1977

pando83 said:

How could a Druid work?

It would be a new NWO class, so i have a feeling it would work like almost any new class so far:

deal tons of damage
be immortal

jokes aside, would love a shapeshifting class. But the idea of playing another class with all the campaigns and stuff to re-farm makes me want to puke.

Not a BIG problem really if you are enjoying your class it just flies by. Also something tells me that in the future they are going to implement a way without buying to cut the tedious work out of the grinding or at least cut the time down to three or four days. Maybe by chaining certain skirmishes.

bioshrike

Here's how I'd implement it: Have each of the passives/class abilities associated with a particular animal. At level 10, you unlock a special 3rd slot for such a passive. While in human form, you gain the extra benefit of that slotted passive, and hitting tab shifts you into that form. While in an animal form, your at-will and encounter powers are replaced with a new bar, particular to that beast form. For ease of animation, they could have it where you simply roar/howl when activating a daily while in a beast form.

suicidalgodot

...on a technical level, it could also be handled as a daily, but with an time-dependent consumption like we know from Stamina or Unstoppable. Something like 25% max AP to shapeshift, 1% max AP per second (or an appropriate, low-ish fixed number), return to human form when depleted. One tree full of feats buffing this up to perma-shapeshift as keystone....

vladious1977

suicidalgodot said:

...on a technical level, it could also be handled as a daily, but with an time-dependent consumption like we know from Stamina or Unstoppable. Something like 25% max AP to shapeshift, 1% max AP per second (or an appropriate, low-ish fixed number), return to human form when depleted. One tree full of feats buffing this up to perma-shapeshift as keystone....

That would def not be how druids work though. they shape at will till they no longer wish to be in the animal form.

zeusom

Druid should work like when you drink alchemy unstable potions and turn into a bear/chicken/warthog/walrus, except you can attack stuff.

ironzerg79

vladious1977 said:

suicidalgodot said:

...on a technical level, it could also be handled as a daily, but with an time-dependent consumption like we know from Stamina or Unstoppable. Something like 25% max AP to shapeshift, 1% max AP per second (or an appropriate, low-ish fixed number), return to human form when depleted. One tree full of feats buffing this up to perma-shapeshift as keystone....

That would def not be how druids work though. they shape at will till they no longer wish to be in the animal form.

In the newer editions of D&D, Druids can only maintain their wildshape for a certain length of time.

But also to the general point, be careful with your expectations, to. What yardstick do we measure this by? If it's inspired by the current iterations of the D&D rules (like the Oathbound Paladin), then we can access it.

If it's being based on that really cool home-brewed Druid character you made 15 years ago...you're setting yourself up for nothing but disappointment.

vladious1977

ironzerg79 said:

vladious1977 said:

suicidalgodot said:

...on a technical level, it could also be handled as a daily, but with an time-dependent consumption like we know from Stamina or Unstoppable. Something like 25% max AP to shapeshift, 1% max AP per second (or an appropriate, low-ish fixed number), return to human form when depleted. One tree full of feats buffing this up to perma-shapeshift as keystone....

That would def not be how druids work though. they shape at will till they no longer wish to be in the animal form.

In the newer editions of D&D, Druids can only maintain their wildshape for a certain length of time.

But also to the general point, be careful with your expectations, to. What yardstick do we measure this by? If it's inspired by the current iterations of the D&D rules (like the Oathbound Paladin), then we can access it.

If it's being based on that really cool home-brewed Druid character you made 15 years ago...you're setting yourself up for nothing but disappointment.

No sir not a home brew type of thing. While others where playing dnd I was playing Magic the gathering. Final Fantasy the very very first one and Dragon Warrior for NES got me involved in RPG's then online with Ultima Online (The very very first game to be called a MMORPG). Never fell in love with DnD until DDO. So my expectations are sort of based on DDO. I understand that DDO is based off of an older rule set but not certain what has changed or how it has changed. I know I know I am a disappointment....

iandarksword

I see a wild shape Bear druid. Tab would cycle between your staff wielding humanoid form and your bear form. I also see a spirit animal summoner, like the barbarian druids in Icewind Dale. Pets and plants seem plausible for sources of damage.

zekethesinner

Bard, goddammit!

Now, about druid, couple of options, that one would look kinda good:

-Dailies(like only 2 + paragon one) grand u option to shapeshift into one of forms for 20s (heh, i see graphic and animation designers cry at this point, its 4 sets of animations and models beside default one)
-Encounters, if not in beast form, buffing only
-Collecting somthing like sparks while dealing dmg and using encounters, it would automatically consume it and extend daily duration when daily is active. while in normal form u could use them to boost encounters buffs (like 5 sparks means all 5 party members will get buff, or buff 10% stronger for each spark).
-Daily ends when u say so (second press, but at least 10s up) or when u run out of those "sparks", maybe call it WIld Power, whatever.

Thats what i come up after 5min of thinking.

Simplier option, just each encounter means diffrent and fast shapeshift, just for that one atk.

Plenty of ideas.

That said, i want Bard!

That said, Bard could have 2 stances just like HR, Sword stance would be dmg one, Melody (Harp) would be buffing/debuffing one.

Better, right? No need for 5 sets of animations. Only 2, so gimme Bard!

(Sin)cerely
Kain

vladious1977

iandarksword said:

I see a wild shape Bear druid. Tab would cycle between your staff wielding humanoid form and your bear form. I also see a spirit animal summoner, like the barbarian druids in Icewind Dale. Pets and plants seem plausible for sources of damage.

The animal summoner almost sounds like a lore master of lotro. That would actually be kind of cool. a new type of pet class to compete with the lock.

oliboyph

ironzerg79 said:

What do you mean by that? The Oathbound Paladin is pretty much right out of the 5E Player's Handbook. So if you want to think about how a druid might work, I'd start there.

Well for starters, here Constitution is number 1 stat, when it traditionally should be Charisma followed by strength or dexterity. 2nd defending shouldn't be the pally's number strength, pallys are supposed to be half caster offensive style tanks that depend on saves(which I would attribute to deflection here). Over here they have become healers or dedicated "damage-sponges". If you check 5e these characteristics I specified are there. I may be wrong about my impression of how Paladins are played in NW, but if i'm right, then NW OP does not match traditional DnD OP's.

rayrdan

There are many ways to achieve that goal, for example if shapes are more than just human and one animal you can do something like: pressing tab activates a circle on the ground like wheel of the elements and let you choise your animal form. After 10 seconds you are back to human, you cannot activate tab more than once every 20 seconds.

oliboyph

Although I just realized Minsc, has a skill where he shortly transforms to a wolf to charge. Maybe we will expect skills where the animation has the druid turning into an animal for a short time.

zekethesinner

oliboyph said:

Although I just realized Minsc, has a skill where he shortly transforms to a wolf to charge. Maybe we will expect skills where the animation has the druid turning into an animal for a short time.

Was that not boar charge from HR? Oo

My life is all lies?

(Sin)cerely
Kain

oliboyph

zekethesinner said:

oliboyph said:

Although I just realized Minsc, has a skill where he shortly transforms to a wolf to charge. Maybe we will expect skills where the animation has the druid turning into an animal for a short time.

Was that not boar charge from HR? Oo

My life is all lies?

(Sin)cerely
Kain

I have actually never seen an HR use boar charge

vladious1977

oliboyph said:

zekethesinner said:

oliboyph said:

Although I just realized Minsc, has a skill where he shortly transforms to a wolf to charge. Maybe we will expect skills where the animation has the druid turning into an animal for a short time.

Was that not boar charge from HR? Oo

My life is all lies?

(Sin)cerely
Kain

I have actually never seen an HR use boar charge

They may not use it anymore. It knocks you on your but with a Reeeeerooooo sound. Hilarious indeed. Mostly used by Combat HRs. Was more used when HR first came out and TBH have not seen it used a lot recently. I think people moved away from combat though I felt it was always the funnest. It was also back in it's time the strongest tree. That was back when they had a dedicated healing and buffing tree too which they should bring back. That was also back when they did the spamable fox shift too. Fox shift forest ghost reset there fox shift and bam foxshift again. IF you survived that long. Some HR's back then combat speced could rotate you dead in one shift. 1000 times more deadly than a TR. Unlike the TR it suffered a massive nerf.... Almost to the point you can not play a Combat HR effectively in PVP.

zekethesinner

Yeah it was mod3-4 combat HR in PvP.

My rotation at that time (tho i only played HR in mod3 when she was my main for while, good times) was marauder, boar and fox, it was crazy effective back then, ofc disturbing and forest ghost as dailies. ;p

Now nobody is using boar i think. trapper is simply way more effective and u want powers procing roots for trapper.

Not want to go offtopic, so...

No news about new class for now, and its 10 days till deadline, i rly dont want to say this, but if new class is a surprise, we r doomed, coz they ever test anything, and if there is no new class, they just broke they publishing circle (new class evry 2 mods), and thats grave news. tho they may consider mod6 as new mod0, so mod9 will be new mod2 and will have new class. Both options r sad.

(Sin)cerely
Kain

suicidalgodot

zekethesinner said:

[...]
No news about new class for now, and its 10 days till deadline, [...]

Sorry to bust your bubble: They've indirectly announced (not on the Forum, ofc) there'll be none: "No changes to classes" IMHO implies "No class additions"...

vladious1977

suicidalgodot said:

zekethesinner said:

[...]
No news about new class for now, and its 10 days till deadline, [...]

Sorry to bust your bubble: They've indirectly announced (not on the Forum, ofc) there'll be none: "No changes to classes" IMHO implies "No class additions"...

Oh yeah sure the druid class is still a ways off. MAYBE next year. Not even considering such a thing being done this year.

divot

"TAB":Once your animal'o meter is full, you can press tab to give you "aspect of the animal" for a short duration. aspect of animal:"shift key"is double as effective in this state." Takes form of some animal and gain different bonus on powers a shift key. shift: you deal 15% of incoming damage around you and moves 10 feet in any direction. Wolf: will grant you combat advantage, 25% movement and your shift now also rush your aimed target, bitting him causing a non-stack bleeding (15 range)