Each season is represented by a buff, which can stack up to a maximum of 10 (having more stacks does not increase the intensity of the buff, however). As you cast spells associated with the current season, you add to these stacks. Casting spells of the opposite type removes these stacks. When the season’s buff counter hits zero, the season ends and you transition into the next one. You start each new season with six stacks of the seasonal buff.

A dedicated main healer can stay in Summer as long as they focus on healing, while a dedicated DPS can anchor in Winter the same way. A Druid who leans toward one role but wants to weave in some of the other should aim to anchor in Autumn or Spring. The system rewards short-term commitment to a role without locking anyone out of switching.

We’ve found it to be a pretty intuitive system once you play with it. Since the seasons shift based on what you’re casting, you tend to automatically gravitate toward a season that matches your current play style; and every 20 minutes, you can reset your Season by casting one of the Mantle spells.

Druid Spell Lines

Now that we’ve gone over seasons, let’s take a look at the updated spell lines for Druids.

Damage

Druids aren't typically a dedicated DPS class, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have the tools to be one. They have access to powerful direct damage spells, multiple DoT lines of varying elements, and an AoE option for outdoor encounters.

Ray of Sun

• Expose your target to a ray of sun, dealing Fire Damage.

This replaces the Moonfire spell line.

Swarm of Gnats

• Engulf your target in a swarm of gnats, dealing Poison Damage every few seconds.

Burning Embers

• Ignite your target with burning embers, dealing Fire Damage every few seconds and decreasing their Armor Class.

• This spell requires a Fire Beetle Eye.

This spell line no longer stacks up to three times, but it does provide extra damage when used with the Winter’s Chill line. We’ve also tweaked the damage values a bit.

Gust of Wind

• Buffet your target with a gust of wind, dealing Magic Damage and interrupting their casting.

Gust of Wind doubles as an interrupt, which gives it value beyond raw damage in fights.

Lightning Strike

• Strike your target and those around it with lightning, dealing Electric Damage.

• This spell can only be used outdoors.

While this is the only AoE in the Druid's kit, it’s a strong one at the higher ranks.

Heals

Druids are a healing class first. They have a strong range of spells for keeping their party alive, covering everything from fast spot heals to long-duration regeneration.

Heal

• Heal your target, restoring Health.

This is your standard heal. Nothing fancy, but it's reliable and available in all seasons.

Touch of Nature

• Bestow the touch of nature upon your target, restoring Health and additional Health every few seconds.

The Touch line’s healing is split between an initial burst and a short heal-over-time. It’s good for targets who need help now, but aren't in any immediate risk of dying.

Regeneration

• Regenerate your target, increasing their Health Regeneration.

This is a long-duration regen that keeps ticking between pulls and during fights.

Retained Spell Lines

Many of the Druid’s buff and utility spells were retained through the update, and their general functionality remains unchanged. That said, you may see some changes to their values and their lines expanded with additional tiers.

Here’s a (not so) short list of them:

Utility

• Soulbind

• Enduring Breath

• Camouflage line

• See Invisibility

• Sense Magic

• Speed of the Wild

• Pack Speed

• Wolf & Jackal Form

• Speed of the Predator

• Polar Alignment: North

Buffs

• Woodskin line

• Brambly Barrier line

• Cold Protection & Resistance

• Fire Protection & Resistance

• Poison Protection & Resistance

Debuffs

• Element Break line

Cures and Dispels

• Dispel & Abolish Magic

• Cure & Cleanse Disease

• Cure & Cleanse Poison

Snares and Roots

• Snare & Ensnare

• Snaring & Ensnaring Vines

• Twisting & Encircling Roots

• Grip of Nature

Escapes and Teleports

• Gate (Self)

• Ring of Evershade Weald & Sungreet Strand (Self)

• Circle of Evershade Weald & Sungreet Strand (Group)

• Exodus & Sanctuary (Self)

• Sanctuary: Evershade Weald & Sungreet Strand (Group)

Beast Spells

• Lull Beasts (This has been expanded into a line of spells)

• Nature's Calm line (This replaces Unity and has been expanded into a line of spells)

• Charm Beasts line

• Fear Beasts

• Invisibility versus Beasts

• Preservation (Revive a target beast corpse, returning it to life)

Removed Spell Lines

Druids had a lot going on. While working on this update, we wanted to focus on keeping them strong and familiar, but thin down some areas that felt unnecessary. Here are the main things that were removed with the update:

• Whispers of Eth-es - We’ve added mana cost reductions to the new Mantle spells and faster mana regeneration with two of the seasons. We’ve also tuned spell costs for sustained play. With these changes, we felt that Whispers of Eth-es wasn’t really needed anymore.

• Nature’s Respite - As an instant heal on a five-minute cooldown, this spell felt out of character for the Druid—like a leafy Lay on Hands. With the addition of the Summer’s Warmth line and the seasonal buffs, Druids will be more than effective healers without this in their toolbox.

• AoE Lull, Irresistible Lull - We talked about this in a recent update, but generally speaking, lulls have been overly-powerful and diminish the danger we’d like to see in the game. Druids still keep a strong outdoor lull and a beast-specific lull, though.

• Tree Form - We’ll be adding this back in the future as a quested spell. It’s a cool and thematic ability for Druids, but we’d like to do more with it than just sell it on a vendor.

• Bear Pet - Somewhere along the way, we ended up with more pets than we ever intended. Ultimately, this didn’t feel like a key part of the Druid class, but we may still revisit it in the future as we know players love pets.

• Animal Resurrection, Beast Speech, Strength Buff, Summon Cureberries/Food/Drink, turning other players into animals - These didn’t make the cut as Druids already had a broad spell selection.

• Brambly Tunic - This line of self-only damage shield buffs was merged into the Mantles, so the separate versions were removed.

• Cure Blindness - We’ll be removing this from other classes as well. Blind spells are often short in duration and don’t pose a great threat. We’ll reconsider this in the future if we decide to add a dungeon full of blinding creatures. Say, that’s an interesting idea…

Thanks for taking the time to look this over, and for your participation in our ongoing Beta. We look forward to getting the Druid update launched very soon for you to try out!