Druid Shapeshifting

[Primal]

I'm currently playing a dr/cl/ma/wa, and I'm curious when the druid shapeshifting will be more effective for solo xp than being non-shifted. I'm currently at level 10/2/0/1, and solo stuff with -2.4ac and a holy sword, which is definately stronger than my shapeshift.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Tap]

At much higher levels, you will find shifts to be pretty powerful. The drawback is that mana drain keeps the fun down. If you plan on shifting much, you will need to get a set of shapeshiftwear eq to help downplay downtime. Otherwise, forget about shifting and go with eq to aid other classo. I think after level 40, shifts get somewhat entertaining but it could ge higher.

[13]

Wurm level 38 is ok to play with but the real fun starts with Dragon at 3x40.
After that it's pretty lame until SeaDragon 32 tard and Piasa 40 tard. Some
shift eq will help.

[Primal]

There doesn't seem to be much in the way of shift eq for lower levels...actually, I've only found two pieces (1 hit belt and the newbie robe), and I've found shift in general to be pretty much useless at low levels.

With mage tert, will blasting be out of the question also?

[Tap]

Not really, only it will take longer to get high enough levels to get the better blast spells. Besides missing out on the mage prime only spell(s), you will have decent mana-regen, even more so with eq and possibly high mana total. Your in luck though,with cleric secondary, you will likely be stuck in healo hell so not like blasting is gonna be something you do much unless you plan on soloing alot.
Enjoy

[Avatar]

It's unfortunate that low-level shift forms are so weak. I guess they balanced it compared to other low-level new people who might not understand how AC works. If you understand to wear some armor, and use a holy sword, it'll be awhile before your shift forms will be comparable. Once you do start using shift to solo, it helps to make the most of items you can use while shifted - orange potions, armor potions, and moldy scrolls might be the most useful.

Mage tert does mean you'll be higher level (40, 40, xx, yy) before you get some of the most powerful blasting spells. Still, once you get them, they'll be effective. You'll have a lower max to your spelldamage than a mage prime, but that is usually a pretty small difference.

[Assirian]

Low level shifts is not so useless.. Playing dr/ne/ma/mo on VK shows thats hawk has good blind chance and AC about -3 (correct me) and asp's poisons seems to be amusing.. this allows me to kil some autumnal staff like miki for finite time
but, shapeshift is only a supply here - most time i spent in AC (-6)
thats all my imho

[Avatar]

I agree they're not "useless", but if you have an AC mode of -6 then the low level shifts are going to be less AC as well as less natural hps. That will likely put a limit on how much you shift

I guess the next thing druids need is a skill that lets them shift directly from one form to another. It would be nice to use a spider's web ability, then shift directly to an asp to get the poison, then shift directly to the hawk to finish it off. That would give druids who shift some flexibility that they otherwise lack. Currently, once you shapeshift you pretty much have to stay in that form until the end of the run. The lag forced by shifting and the initial mana cost for a surge both make frequent shifting very expensive to the druid.

[13]

I agree 100% Charles.

[Medios]

I offered the skill polymorph some time ago, where you could shift between forms. Mana cost would be the same as shifting from human form into said form. I think its a good idea and guess that the coding is the problem.