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Shammy or Druid

Started by Akuna, September 29, 2004, 10:31:49 PM

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Akuna

Hello

I have just recently upgraded and bought a new computer. I have tried it out and 2boxing is possible now. My main is a 46 bst and on another account i have access to a 40 druid or 42 shaman, both equipt and ready to work. I have never 2boxed before and after reading articles here about which combo to use i am confused as to which approach to use.

Shaman is the mother class of the Beastlord and offer mostly the same abilities but with, i would say more DPS via dogdog and poison DoTs than a Druid.

Druids have everything a bst doesn't have. Snare, ports, Dots, better healing at 58.

Both have buffs but the Shamans are better. Although Cabbage is a nice buff at 59.

I cant decide and would love information on anytihng i may be overlooking.

Liga

One thing I will bring up for you to ponder:

When camping items for your bst, many of them will be bst/druid/monk.  Therefore, you can give the excess ones that arent upgrades or are duplicates to your twink druid.  However, on the flip side, you might have a loot table with chain/leather/plate/silk and have two options(50%) should you have a shaman partner.

Take a look at what you would like to use this for.  See if maybe some of the things you had in mind would make outfitting easier for a sham or druid.  It just might be the catalyst in your decision.

Oneiromancer

I haven't done any boxing yet...but I have thought about it several times.  (If I could get EQ to run on my laptop I would probably be doing so already...but it's old enough to have a video card that's not compatible with Directx9 I think, and using special drivers didn't work.)  Anyway, I would avoid a Shaman if I were you...enough of what they can do utility-wise is covered by us, although to a lesser extent of course.  But one of the reasons for 2-boxing is to do things that you couldn't do solo, and so I think it makes more sense to choose a druid or cleric as the 2nd box.  Then the choice is between better healing/rez and more utility.  At one point I was dead-set on having a druid be my 2nd...but now with OoW I am more seriously considering the cleric.  Origin means I don't have to worry so much about using the druid as transportation back from a camp spot, except for evacs of course.  I need to look into it more...but a Beastlord will really benefit from a Shaman so much less than pretty much any other class in a 2-boxing setup in my opinion.

Game on,
EQ: Predator Jaede Antemanx -- 68 Vah Shir Beastlord on Kane Bayle, Retired
EQ2: Lenon Cartney -- 23 Half-Elf Troubador on Befallen, Retired
WoW: Grishnakh -- 60 Orc Hunter on Malygos, Retired

negrismorte

I have a shaman that I boxed for a while.  Almost the entire time, I wished my druid was on that account.

The shaman's buffing is a little better, haste is better, and  slow is much better - for a while.

However, there were many more occasions where the succor, heal, SNARE! would have saved me.

To me, the shaman offered convenience only while the druid was actually a viable partner.

bham

I dont box either a druid or a shaman but I suspect the druid would be superior. Druid healing is considerably better at higher levels and ports are fantastic, not to mention snare, bot9 etc.
Bham - Cleric - Mage - Wizard - Tentrix
Bertox

Akuna

Thanks all for the advice! Ok, Druid is in, although i was really kinda leaning towards him anyways. The only thing that kept me thinking about it was the haste/slow factor of a shaman. (no haste till 60  :(  ) Oh well, hopefully the damage shields and such make up for the lost dps.


And thanks Liga for your insightful post. Didn't even realize that most of my gear i upgraded a Druid can wear...lol.

Incite

Quote from: AkunaThanks all for the advice! Ok, Druid is in, although i was really kinda leaning towards him anyways. The only thing that kept me thinking about it was the haste/slow factor of a shaman. (no haste till 60  :(  ) Oh well, hopefully the damage shields and such make up for the lost dps.


And thanks Liga for your insightful post. Didn't even realize that most of my gear i upgraded a Druid can wear...lol.

Yes, but after 60th ...

Given the choice I'd say druid all the way.  The shaman does not bring as much to the party as a druid does, it's that simple ... the overlap of abilities between shamans and beastlords is moderately large, but the overlap of abilities between beastlords and druids is basicly nil.
http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=993776">http://www.border.plus.com/images/Incite1.jpg">

No bounce, no play.


chuteshock

I 2 box a beastlord and a shaman and though I do agree the 2 can overlap they can also take on 2 different roles as well and compliment each other.  I think this depends on what your style of play ismostly but for me I like the shaman buffs/beast buff combo over  9.  IF your worried about snare well IMO thats what hobble is for. Druids do have better heals and they can evac but  AE slow, Malos, FA,  sham pet, swarm pets, and faster mana regen  make up for that personally.

EciBeastlord

Go with the Doodad... From personal experience. I have had a 50ish Beastlord and a 40ish Druid group and they ruled together... My stepdad has a Shaman... Now if there is any possible way of finding someone that you can always group with anytime (like a really good eq friend or something) thats a druid then go with shammy... if it is a shammy then go with the druid... I hope this helps.  :)
E'ci
Correy Drusk *Epic*
51 WoodElf Druid ~Tunare~
<The Brethren>
-------------------------------------------------------
Kaime
10 Vah Shir Beastlord (going to be gaining levels quickly during the summer)
-------------------------------------------------------

pongu

Not to sound like a know it all, but prior to getting my thirs system, I two boxed Druid/Beastlord and Shaman/Beastlord.

I did this to the point that the Shaman who started from scratch is levels above the druid now!

Mobs seem to die faster, and Beastlord doesn't take nearly as much damage with a shaman as he does a Druid.

Do not get me wrong, my first toon was a Druid <looks shamed>

I still use druid to level him now that I three box, but I have a chanter in third spot for hastes/slows, mind buffs.

negrismorte

I have to change my position now.  I wrote a while back that I wished my shammy was druid.  At that point, I was focused on the druid's spell line up and it helped at the time.  Now however, I am using the sham again because I need Malo to land my spells for effectively.  I still primary slow, but I malo first.  This has been very helpful in OOW content.  The runners are still a prob, but root sticks most of the time.

feralize

If it was any class other than a beastlord I would say go shaman. Because you already have slows covered however, I'd say go dr00d.
[65 Feral Lord] http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=750138" >Feralize (Iksar) 163aa : [65 Arcanist] http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=758777" >Kikagoki (Froglok) 39aa : [62 Warlock] http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=679674" >Bonekasta (Erudite) 29aa : [62 Warder] http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=846383" >Traku (Human) 6aa : [56 Troubador] http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=986526" >Twotonic (Vah Shir) 3aa : [51 Crusader] http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=865632" >Ubinusan (Erudite) : [51 Brawler] http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=1045121" >Drolthar (Dwarf) : [44 Shaman] http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=986554" >Jikkorak (Iksar) : [40 Druid] http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=1045106" >Ceggan (Halfling)

Atropine_BB

Personally I like druids as my 2 box companion.

I haven't every played a shaman though and cannot say they aren't as good as druids for a 2 box player.

Anyway, I just love the mobility and flexibility a druid provides.  Being able to port all over the place is probably the best thing.  No matter where I am... farming xp or loot, I can always port back to PoK and rebuff if necessary, sell, bank, whatever I need to do.  Then, the druid usually has a group port that takes me relatively close to where I was before.

I guess it's a convenience thing for me.  The healing is easy post 58 when you get your first CH.  Snare is a beautiful thing.  Druids get great dots and dd's for damage output.  Damage shield is also really useful.  I like my druid being able to invis me without fizzling.  Regen is nice, wolf form adds atk and sow.  They get better str buffs than beasts.  Evac has saved me many a time.  Their heals just get better and better all the way up the line.  You get additional mana regen at level 59 with your hp/ac buff.  

So, if you are into convenience, go for the druid.  The tie breaker for me would be being able to port all over and having snare with CH's being the icing on the cake.
Elder Atropine Invictus
Beastlord Bard Ranger || Cleric Druid

Stumps_Bertox

A decently geared druid and BL can be an extremely effective combination. Ive gotten to the point now where I can duo normal ldons f(flipping between screens)....druid pulls, ae root,  back off, pick off etc. If you can get it down with hotkeys for assist XX /pet kill etc...  its really hard to find a better combo imho.
The only advantage I really can see with a shammy is being able to malo targets for slow.  the druid can nuke better, snare, evac, harmony, ae root for ugly pulls, and has some decent short duration dots (imm of ro, clicky SD and VoT is 800+ a  tick for me with 0 recast delaybetween spells).
Druids have very nice DS's as well, with advanced heal 3 the 64 ch heals for 5975 for 600 mana, plus you hvae the fast cast heals.
If you decide to aggro kite, being able to snare is huge, plus druids own at fire debuffs, cast spriit of flame + 2 flaming swords on pet etc....
The reasons can go on and on, ive tried almost every class with my druid over the past 5 years, and the BL by far is superior for an all around partner for me...plus it gives me the abilitly to play either Stumps OR Gogbuk as a main depending on the situation....but because the classes compliment eachother so well, I play both equally at the same time more often than not (i swear my Alt+tab keys are gonna break!)
Khylan  70 Draenei Mage of Malygos
EQ Toons (retired)
Gogbuk Beastlord of Bristlebane
Gogsbot Druid healing machine

Giledorm

I dualbox a druid, and I don't know how many times having that quick evac or snare has saved my tail.  Hehe, I like him so much, I finished his epic just so I'd have another DoT!  :P
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