Like many of Vanguard's classes, the Druid will be a new take on an old favorite. Traditionally druids have had a difficult time being pinned into a specific category, possessing a variety of healing, regrowth, buffing, utility and offensive spells. In Vanguard the druid is currently placed in the category of arcane casters which would imply a shift away from the druid as a healer (though Talisker recently hinted that druids will retain some limited healing ability). Most druidic spells will probably come from nature and weather schools of magic and have a very primal feel to them, allowing the druid to unleash storms in an offensive fashion. Druids will also play an important part in travel, as they will be able to control winds, a crucial ability for any ship at sea.
Players should not expect druids to be excellent soloers, as Vanguard's focus is on group content. It is reasonable to expect that druids will have the same soloing capacity as most classes. The flipside is that druids won't be second-class citizens when it comes to raiding, possessing a variety of unique and sought-after abilities. They will not be crippled indoors.
It has been speculated that not all casters will be relegated to cloth armor. This fits in with the tradition of druids being able to equip natural armors such as hides and leathers.
"After implementation I balance, add new spells and make sure the class can do what it needs to. I work closely with Darrin the whole time to make sure the class stays true to the vision. My favorite feature of the Druid would have to be his ability to react to conditions around him. Such as, if he casts a lightning spell while his opponent has been affected by a water based spell, or storm, the lightning damage would be increased. This can lead to very interesting situations where the Druid can benefit not only from his actions, but the actions of those around him and even the actions of nature itself."
"The Druid is unique from other arcane casters in many ways. Not only does he have the ability to cast some of the highest damage spells in the game, he has a small healing capability and a strong line up of support abilities. On top of this he has the ability to summon natural elemental to fight for his cause. The elementals aren’t always around and go back to the earth once their fight is over, but it really pulls you into the feeling that you are actually communicating with nature and that is very unique."
"First of all, Druids bring damage to their group. They are an arcane casting class and excel at their role. Secondly, they bring a strong line of support abilities to their group. These abilities can consist of using natural energies that buff or heal group members, to summoning large swarms of insects to damage and lower the accuracy of opponents."
"Wonders and Calamities were a concept that Darrin brought up and designed in the original design of the Druid. The idea behind them is that a Druid has a certain amount of stored up natural energy, every once in a while he can release this energy to either devastate his opponents (Calamities) or bolster his allies (Wonders). These abilities are far beyond the normal scope of power that most classes even have access to. If a Druid calls down a Calamity on his enemy, it will be obvious to his enemy and to those around him, because it will be devastating. Calamities can take the form of a giant storm or searing rays of moonlight as well as many others. Wonders are the other side of the same coin. Wonders can be used to help preserve a Druid’s allies. These effects often come about by way of transforming allies into something a little more suitable for battle or by swelling up the natural energies around them and healing their health."
"Everything in beta is in a state of continual change and improvement. I can say that the base for the druid is there, but there is still much work to do. A lot of beta is not only getting the classes to function correctly (i.e. reducing bugs and balancing), but also getting the correct flavor down for the class. It is important to us that each of the classes has a different feel and play style to them that not only matches the archetypical goals, but also the specific goals for the classes. We want a Druid to feel as though they are in touch, part of and sometimes even in control of nature. There is still much work to be done."
"Some of the coolest abilities I will have to leave out in order to leave some excitement for the future, but I will say that they are going to be impressive and quite immersive. One that I can mention is the Druid’s ability to call forth a large earthen colossus that can attack your enemies and will fight to the death of your enemy or your death. This colossus will have many abilities at his disposal including stuns, smash attacks and the ability to draw aggro. This will be above and beyond the Druid’s normal capabilities of dealing damage."
"The Druids primary stats are wisdom, intelligence and dexterity. Wisdom will affect how much mana the Druid will have and intelligence will affect how much damage the Druid spell will do, finally dexterity will determine how often the spell will hit the target."
"The Druid does have pets, although not in the traditional sense. He can summon an earthelemental during a fight that will have a mind of its own and fights until the fight is over. You have no control over this pet, but it will follow you and fight by your side, it is sort of a fire and forget type of pet. You also have the option of summoning an airelemental that you can control, but only for a certain amount of attacks. These pets are very simple and are considered in the make up of your total damage output, but not as heavily as a controlled, persistent pet would be."
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