Okay, ya made a druid, congratulations, how super duper of you. There's still a lot of stuff you DON'T know, but basically you made this toon because you thought:
a) Awesome solo/PL class...I'll just PL my other chars with two-boxing POWAH!
b) Explore some new zones easy, considering you have ports, sow, lev, and camo.
c) "Druid" sounds kinda cool.
I've been playing EQ for nearly six years. Over that time, I've had a lot of experience with the druid class, since it was the first class I made.
SOLOING
Druids are practically built for this stuff ^^ We have Snare, Root, DoTs, Nukes, and Spirit of Wolf. There are several favorable methods, but two stick out.
Kiting: An old technique for druids, and probably the most famous. Make sure you have SoW on before you attempt to kite!! Snare the mob, cast a DoT on it, and run around. It will follow you, but if it manages to immobilize you, try to root it while it is a fair distance away and nuke it to make the roots drop. Snare will drop after about fifteen minutes, though I suppose it would depend on your level/mob's level, unless you debuff it. Eventually, the DoT will kill it and it's done.
Root 'n Rot: MY personal favorite! All you do is make sure you have SoW on, as mentioned before, and this: Root the mob, then snare it so if the root breaks you have time to recast roots before it runs up to hit you, then DoT and nuke it to your heart's content...from a distance, of course. You have the chance to meditate whatever mana you have lost, and no need to run around and have to med shortly after the mob dies. Piece of cheesecake :)
EXPLORING
Okay, you wanna see a new zone you've heard oh so much about, but aren't strong enough to handle the mobs that inhabit it. Well, if it's outdoors you'll do perfectly fine. Indoors takes more caution. Why? The answer is simple: SoW and Camouflage are outdoor spells, so if either(or both) fall off, they're gone until you zone or port to an outdoor zone. In addition to those being outdoors, some of our nukes and all of our harmony spells are outdoor as well! Anyway, back to business.
Your spell list should be a little something like this: Spirit of Wolf, Camouflage, Harmony, Snare, Root, Gate, Levitate and any extra spell of your choice for the last spell slot. If you are going to an indoor zone, just forget the Harmony, Camo, and SoW...be ready to port away, though, in case something goes wrong. Usually for extra slots I keep up battle spells like DoTs and Nukes.
If you're going to an indoor zone, bring Invis potions with you. SoW pots won't work, and I haven't heard of Harmony pots yet...
Cast Invis and SoW before zoning into a zone. If you're going somewhere like Dranik's Scar, where you need to get a Priest of Discord or whoever else to port, you can't cast Camo on yourself since you need them to talk to you for a port. Luckily mobs don't usually path at port-ins unless aggroed and trained there.
Feel free to explore, but be aware that undead mobs, and some living, can see through Camo and Invis Pots. When going somewhere like Unrest, just put wolf form up and the undead won't aggro. ALWAYS CON MOBS BEFORE WALKING WITHIN AGGRO RANGE!!
POWER-LEVELING
Time to PL somethin, eh? All right, then...you should be keeping buffs up like regen, damage shield, SoW, and an HP buff. To fill the last slots put in your highest heal spell and Snare.
When PLing someone, cast buffs on them before pulls. Then snare the mobs pulled. Keep the person you're PLing targeted, and if their health gets low, cast a heal. Try to keep them at atleast 80%. Usually, if you have more HP than the person you're PLing, you can snare-pull and tank the mobs for them. Keep yourself buffed at all times, and never hit any of the mobs unless they are below 30%.
If you are just doing the super-easy PL method where you snare-pull and tank while the person you're PLing runs up and hits them to get exp, keep a DS up so the mobs on you take damage, and when your buddy runs up to hit them, they only need to hit each mob one time to recieve exp. Keep an eye on your health and your buddy's, in case they grab aggro. They should NOT taunt!! Easy aggro-gaining tip: sit down. Sitting down increases your rank on a mob's hate list, as they see you as level 1(GM hint)and they are almost guaranteed to run back to you.
GROUP EXPECTATIONS
Your group expects you to backup heal(if there is already a cleric/shaman around playing main healer...if not, you are the healer most likely), snare, root, DoT, and keep the group buffed with the two major buffs a druid can offer: Regen/Chloroplast and a DS of some sort. If you are hunting in an outdoor zone, expect some fellow group members to ask for an occasional SoW.
Snare the mobs the tank pulls after the mob hits 80%, and be careful if there are adds. Should you somehow gain aggro, root the mob and back away. Same for other casters. If a fellow caster gains aggro, root the mob for them. DoT mobs when mana permits, but be aware that DoTs tend to make mobs VERY angry(probably as angry as snare makes them!)
Be sure to tell the group when you are low on mana or out of mana. Then again, that also applies to all other casting classes. THEY NEED TO KNOW!
BASIC DRUID INFO
Basically, the druid class can be selected by a Human, Wood Elf, Half Elf, Drakkin, or Halfling. All druids have the ability to forage and track(though track only becomes an ability at level 20, and is skill-capped at 125.)
Melee Abilities are: 1H Slashing, 1H Blunt, 2H Blunt, Hand to Hand.
No matter what race you select, your natural enemies are Dark Elves, Iksar, Ogres, and Trolls. However, it appears thar Ogres and Trolls don't mind wolves hanging around unless you whack a couple of them. (BEWARE: A patch at some point made your enemies as a wood elf/half elf, etc hate you while under an illusion, so this won't really work anymore. Everything that hates you in your true form will hate you in your normal form.)
CONCLUSION
If you have any questions about anything, feel free to let me know :) Hope this helps someone!
EDIT: Fixed that issue on here about the snare -- it so rarely drops that I didn't even think when I posted this. Sorry about that ^^; /sheepish
Edited, Sep 2nd 2007 5:19am by SilverDryad