A Druid is the wonderful combination of the Marc Singer character in the movie Beastmaster (1982), the little orange fuzzball the Lorax, and the loveable bear Baloo. Part humanoid and part beast, the Druid’s bond to nature is so deeply intertwined that it is the embodiment of the natural world that it lives in. In ancient history, Druids were quite high up the food chain and were as powerful as the noble caste of the Gaul people. They were responsible for overseeing religious practices, had the power to exile, and even were in charge of human sacrifices. Stonehenge is what most people associate with Druids within our current culture, but their history reaches back further than that.
So how does the Druid of Dungeons & Dragons grow and change throughout the editions, and how does it compare to the grove dwelling denizens of our historical past?
OD&D
The Druid is first found in the supplement Greyhawk (1975), but nature lovers shouldn’t get too excited since the Druid is only presented as a monster, not a character class. Creatures of the forest, these neutral fellows were not someone you want to mess with at lower levels, and even at higher levels, you need to be prepared for a challenging encounter. They are compared to evil high priests but are much more powerful than them. An evil high priest is usually a 4 or 6 hit die creature. The Druid is a 7 hit die creature. Their armor class can be significantly higher than a priest’s as they can wear armor, with no restrictions as to what armor they can wear. Their spellcasting ability makes them an admirable foe since they have up to 7th level magic-user and 9th level cleric capabilities, which gives the Druid access to 4th level magic-user spells and 5th level cleric spells. We don’t see the Druid casting a fireball in the middle of the forest but the 4th level cleric spell turn sticks to snakes was a great spell in this edition.
In addition to having to deal with a bunch of spells being cast at you, you also have to worry about the animals around you. The Druid can change its shape up to three times a day and assume the form of a reptile, bird, or animal, each once per day. They are limited in that their maximum size is that of a small bear for their new form, which sadly means no t-rex, but they make up for it by having a ton of friends, like up to fifty fighters who will defend them and their forest. Maybe the Lorax would’ve been more formidable if he had an army at his beck and call.
The release of Eldritch Wizardry (1976) brought the introduction of the Druid as a subclass of the cleric.
The need for a holy symbol is replaced with the mighty mistletoe, which holds a place of status over other plant life because… well, that’s not really explained. Unlike the cleric, the Druid does not pray to a specific deity but is one with nature, serving and protecting it, and treats nature as a whole as their deity. Angering a god has always seemed like a bad idea, but upsetting the entire planet you live on seems worse, unless you want to take up residency in the Astral Plane. Their abilities and spells revolve mostly around things that can be found to help the Druid protect those who live in nature. It’s a big responsibility since we’re talking about all the animals and plant life in the world. Even if the forest has been corrupted or the chipmunks have become pure evil, a Druid will try not to kill them if they can. Trees are especially sacred to a Druid, and they will protect them over other plants and animals if forced to choose. But Druids are not the rush in and fight as they would prefer to seek vengeance. This means they aren’t going to save a deer a poacher is hunting, but rather kill the hunter and, if the deer happens to be injured, allow nature to run its natural course.
If the above makes you excited to get in touch with your nature side and want to play as a Druid, you are going to need a few things first. Druids can only be humans, so if you had hoped to be a tree-hugging elf, well too bad. After that, you need a Wisdom score of 12 or higher and a Charisma of 14 or higher. Once you’ve gotten the prerequisites out of the way, you can now start envisioning your character and all the fun things they’ll do. We hope cutting mistletoe is at the top of your list because it is required to cast any of your spells.
In fact, mistletoe is so important that characters are given specific instructions on how a Druid is expected to gather up this important item. You need a golden sickle and a golden bowl, and, if at all possible should be cut on Midsummer’s Eve. If you gather mistletoe on a different night or don’t use a golden sickle and let the mistletoe touch the ground, it loses its efficacy and the DM may decide that it makes your spells less powerful because apparently the ground is coated with an anti-magic field.
Druids do have a wider range of weapons and armor available to them than a magic-user, but not as much as a cleric. A Druid can only wear leather armor and use a wooden shield and are incapable of using metallic armor for whatever reason. To us, it seems weird that the Druid can only wear leather armor seeing as how they are not allowed to kill animals, but who are we to judge their choices. Weapons they are allowed to use include daggers, sickle or scimitars, spears, and slings. Druids fighting ability is similar to that of clerics and they get access to almost all of their magical items unless it is written down. Apparently, they hate written words or maybe they just hate paper? Life has to be confusing for a Druid with all of these restrictions.
While the Druid is a subclass of a cleric, they are unable to turn undead, which is kind of a big deal in this edition. Instead, the Druid obtains a slew of minor abilities at 2nd level; they can identify pure water, identify plants, identify animals, and pass through overgrowth like briars without any problem. Right about now, you’re probably thinking that turning skeletons to dust sounds a lot better than knowing what poison ivy looks like, but if you can hold on to 6th level, then you’ll be much happier.
When you become a 5th Circle Druid, which is the 6th level title for the Druid, you can change shape in the same manner as the Druid monster from Greyhawk. There is very little information on what you can do when you become a gecko or small brown bear. There are no stat blocks for such creatures, and we’re pretty sure you won’t be wielding your club while you’re a hawk. Since there is no time limit for how long you can be an animal, we suppose that means you can just hang out as a sloth in your forest for the rest of your life.
One thing we do know is that when you change into a beautiful peacock, you lose up to half of the damage you have taken. It’s a strange way to say you regain hit points and it feels like it’d just be easier to say that you have different pools of hit points when in animal form. In addition to shapechanging, you are now immune to charm spells used by creatures found in nature which is pretty handy seeing as you are going to want to hang out in the woods all the time. Plus, if you want to talk to other like-minded treehuggers, you get your own language, which is going to be important if you ever want to level up.
For a Druid to get higher than 10th level, they have to find other Druids, beat them up, and take over their title. There can only ever be four 11th-level Druids in the world, and if you find an 11th-level Druid, give them a wedgie and steal their funny hat, and have enough experience points, you can then become an 11th-level Druid with the title of… Druid. Well, it’s not a great title and you’ve probably been calling yourself a Druid for your entire career in being a nature lover, but now it's official. Of course, if you want to get stronger, you’ll have to find an Archdruid, and since there are only two Archdruids in a world, you may have to search through a few forests to locate them. Again, you must beat them up with your perfectly harvested mistletoe and steal their title from them. Once you get enough experience points to become 13th-level, the final level for a Druid, you’ll have to find the Great Druid, clobber him until he gives up, and steal his antler crown. You then become a 13th-level Druid and are constantly watching with a wary eye at your two Archdruids who probably want to beat you up and steal your crown.
If you lose a match against one of your Archdruids, you then immediately drop in experience points to the start of 12th-level, and then you have to worry about one of the four Druids seeking to become an Archdruid and you might lose even more! It’s a tough life out there and we recommend just killing all Druids below you so you don’t have to worry about losing your position as king of the forest.
Basic D&D
It takes a while, but the Druid finally shows up in Basic D&D in the BECMI Companion Rules (1984) with some additional information found in the BECMI Master Rules (1985). The subclass, as it still falls under cleric, is all about nature, but now the Druid is tasked with maintaining the balance between law and chaos. Humans and elves use the title Druid, but you'll be called a shaman if you’re a different race, though this edition continues the tradition that only humans can be player characters that are also Druids. Druids are always true neutral, and if their alignment changes, they are stripped of their powers until they can regain their neutralness.
If all this strikes your fancy, and you want to immediately create a Druid, you are going to be disappointed. To become a Druid, you must first reach 9th level as a neutral cleric who travels across the world. Once you get to 9th level, calm down because we aren’t even halfway there yet. You have to be neutral. You have to be a traveling cleric as opposed to a land owner cleric. And then, you have to make your best Henry David Thoreau impression and spend up to 4 months in the wilderness as you study and meditate. Only then will a 25th level Druid approach you, teach you how to be a Druid, and bring you into the realm of Druids.
Once your training is complete, you can officially call yourself a Druid. Well done! If you embrace the Druid life and ascend to the 29th level, you’re stuck until you beat up another Druid. There are only nine 30th level Druids allowed to exist at one time, so you’ll need to hunt one of them down and pummel them into submission in unarmed combat. Lose, and you're waiting 3 months for another title shot. Win, and you’re now the true Lorax, with a slew of 29th level Druids looking to usurp you.
Now that you are one who speaks for the trees, you’ll be living in the forest for the remainder of your life. No more big city life for you. The forest area you reside in is under your protection, and you are directly responsible for its care. That is not to say that the Druid is the ‘owner’ of that section of the woods, only it’s caretaker. Trees are significant to the Druid way of life, and every tree under their care is a sacred object. Cut down a tree to make shelter or craft yourself some arrows, and a Druid will probably understand. Druids are also protectors of all woodland animals in their territory, though they understand that creatures need to eat, so killing a deer or two for dinner is no big deal. On the other hand, don’t get too excited if you tend to a little bunny’s broken leg, as they won't be swayed.
The last thing we feel we must go over is the Druid and their relationship to weapons, armor, and everyday items. Druids hate metal and stone, and they hate pretty much anything that can’t be labeled as organic. When you turn your back on your god as a cleric and become a Druid, you lose access to the metal armor you once wore and now must garb yourself in leather or cloth. This is because Druids hate “dead” things with a passion, which is stone, metal, and other non-organic or living material. We’ve always assumed metal is a part of nature, but the fact of the matter is that it doesn’t fall under nature because it was never alive. Leather armor and wooden shields are perfectly fine because they come from once-living things, like Bambi and Treebeard.
It’s fine for a Druid to go out in their woods, get a deer and gather up some freshly timbered lumber and make some new armor for themselves. We are working under the impression that making leather armor falls under the ‘use the whole animal’ philosophy, though we would’ve thought that Druids would probably be fruitarians or vegetarians, thus refraining from killing animals to begin with. On the other hand, using wooden shields seem a bit much. So much for the sanctity of the trees and how holy they are as it is repeated constantly through this class. You’d think the Druids would want to protect as much nature as possible and only use “dead” objects so that they can’t hurt what is living.
1st Edition
The Druid appears in the Player’s Handbook (1978), and sadly it remains a subclass of the cleric, though it doesn’t share anything with them except their spell list, weapons, and armor… so long as they aren’t metal because that would be icky. This edition goes out of their way to describe the Druid as a being focused on nature and balance, that they are the keepers of nature like ancient Druids of Celtic lore. Druids are always neutral alignment, as the balance of all things in life is paramount for them. To them; good, evil, law, and chaos are all needed in the world for nature to stay in balance and for it to stay in harmony.
To become a Druid, you must have a Wisdom of at least 12 and a Charisma of 15 or more. There is no reason given why you’d need such a high charisma, but you do. Being a Druid must mean that you have to a handsome individual since charisma in this edition is the measure of the character's combined physical attractiveness, persuasiveness, and personal magnetism. We can only assume the high charisma is because if you get to the major leagues and become important, you have to have underlings whether you like it or not.
Similar to past editions, the Druid isn’t overly concerned about people gathering firewood from their favorite trees or hunting down a few rabbits in their woods. That’s nature, and they are fine with it. Instead, they get rather bristly with arsonists, poachers, and the encroachment of civilization as it is seen as unnatural. A Druid will stay out of most situations unless they feel as if the shift of balance is moving towards one end or the other, though that doesn’t make them stupidly following around behind good creatures and being evil to set things ‘right’. More than they are sensitive to those supernatural forces and aren’t likely to strike down evil creatures so long as the evil creatures aren’t harming their lands.
While many character classes get cool titles as they increase in level, like the magic-user getting to call themselves a Thaumaturgist at 5th level, the Druid is mostly known as an Initiate of the Circle and doesn’t get the title of Druid until they are level 12 and have kicked out one of the nine Druids from this level. That’s right, this edition also has weird restrictions on how many Druids there can be. Only nine 12th level Druids are allowed at one time, three Archdruids at 13th level, and only one Great Druid at 14th level can ever plague the natural woodlands at any given time. If you want to increase your level, you have to start cracking heads together to rise through the ranks. It’s hard being a Druid and we don’t see clerics fighting over themselves to gain their god's favor, maybe nature is just a harsh mistress.
It’s not until the release of Unearthed Arcana (1985) that we find out that your Great Druid title doesn't make you the champ, and in fact, we learn that there is always a bigger fish. If you wish to continue down the path of nature and power, you are going to have a tough go of it. To get to 15th level, you must find the Grand Druid and steal their seat of power. Being a Grand Druid, simply put, is quite grand. You get an extra six slots of spells that can be used to gain an additional 6th-level spell slot or six 1st-level spell slots or some other weird combination of your choice. In addition to that, you also get three 13th-level Archdruids to act as your personal assistants and do your bidding.
Once you get bored of only being 15th level, you can give up your crown and find a successor. Doing so moves you to 16th level and you begin a new process with the title of hierophant until you finally get to the 23rd level and become the Hierophant of the Cabal. All while you are getting stronger, you aren’t gaining additional spell slots as you max out at 6 spell slots for each of the 7th level spells you can cast. Instead, you gain new powers that are strange but can be quite powerful.
The most mundane of these new powers is immunity to all nature-based poisons, but trust us, it gets better. Your life is extended by taking your current level and multiplying it by a decade, so at the 16th level, your time on the planet is extended by 160 years! To maintain such a long life, you learn to take really long naps in the form of hibernating. You can alter your appearance at will, becoming any humanoid you want of any age. Since you are granted this longevity through the powers of nature and not magical means, no one will be able to see your true form short of truesight. At 17th level, the elemental planes are your playgrounds, and the creatures that live there are some of your closest friends. As you get stronger and stronger, you can start instantly teleporting yourself to the elemental planes, starting with earth, then fire, water, air, the Para-Elemental Planes, Plane of Shadow, and even to the Plane of Concordant Opposition, better known as the Outlands - the afterlife for all true neutral creatures.
Dragon Magazine covers a slew of material regarding the Druid. In Dragon #71 (March 1983), we are introduced to several new spells for the Druid. A quick reminder, everything published in Dragon Magazine was seen as ‘official’ material, so anyone playing a Druid immediately had access to these spells. The iconic spell, goodberry, was introduced here and has a fun reversed version known as badberry, which made the berries look normal and delivered 1 point of poison per berry eaten. Dragon #100 (August 1985) has an interesting article about how a character could reconcile the alignment issues that may arise if you played a rangeDruid. Introduced by Gary Gygax in Dragon #96 (May 1985) as a multiclass option and the rules lawyers came out of the woodwork, howling this was an illegal combo. If you recall, Druids must be purely neutral, and rangers had to be of good alignment in this edition. Frank Mentzer’s article, All About the Druid/Ranger, did a great job of logically explaining how the multiclass could be played as a neutral good character without betraying the Druid's core tenets since Druids themselves see the work they do as ‘good’ and beneficial to the world at large.
Dragon #119 (March 1987) had an entire special section on the Druid with Carl Sargent’s article, Underestimating the Druid, an excellent dissertation on how the Druid can be used in ways that players often overlook. Druids were an unpopular class during 1st edition, as the game was still very much a dungeon dive game, so people assumed that a Druid would be a horrible class to play. The article goes to great lengths to explain how such spells like detect traps, animal friendship, detect snares and pits, and transmute rock to mud was incredibly useful in a dungeon setting. John Warren’s article Is There a Doctor in the Forest, provides players with a healing-focused variant, while the authors William Volkart and Robin Jenkins write an extremely in-depth article about the Druid’s journey between the 1st and 14th levels in On Becoming a Great Druid. Finally, Rick Reid introduces nature-based cantrips for the Druid in Cantrips for Druids, Naturally. None of the cantrips have survived the editions, but maybe we still have time for cause rash to make an appearance.
2nd Edition
The Druid appears in the Player’s Handbook (1989) and there are very few changes from the previous editions. A Druid still needs to be neutral alignment, but it is made very clear that they could care less about most of the complications that come with the world around them. What a Druid worries about is the cyclical nature of the world maintains this internal process. Kingdoms rise and fall, wars are fought, and cities are built, but none of this concerns the Druid. Only when the natural balance of the world is compromised does a Druid feel a responsibility to get involved.
Becoming a hierophant is still the life goal of all Druids, but it’s less exciting now as you can only travel to the four Elemental Planes instead of the Para-Elemental Planes and the Plane of Shadow. Mistletoe remains the holiest of all the plants, and the requirements of harvesting your own are somewhat loosened. To be fully effective, a Druid must harvest their mistletoe in the light of a full moon with either a golden or silver sickle. If the Druid fails to treat their mistletoe nicely, like harvesting it during the day or with their bare hands, the effectiveness of their spells that require mistletoe is cut in half.
That’s pretty rough for a Druid, especially when they abhor all metal and will refuse to use metal weapons. They have to grasp the object they hate so much and cut off some twigs for their spells. It’s gotta be hard having so many inconsistencies in your life that you have to follow to the letter or suck in combat.
The Druid gets a huge amount of information in this edition all bundled in one book, The Druid’s Complete Handbook (1994). The first few pages are a recap of everything we already know, but then we go down the rabbit hole and learn more about the Druid than you ever wanted to. The Druid gets a ton of different subclasses based on what landscape they travel in, even though the Druid is already a subclass of the cleric. Eight landscapes get their own specialized Druid, from the Arctic Druid to the Desert Druid, each discipline has its requirements and unique abilities. The Grey Druid is the only one that isn’t tied to an actual type of landscape, as they inhabit the shadows. Their focus is on the molds, oozes, and slimes that live in such areas and can be found in dungeons and caves throughout the world.
There is even a section on what happens when a Druid decides to befriend the locals and gets involved in farming. It’s a strange thing to add into the game, but there are two pages full of information about farm performance, various modifiers and events that affect the season’s crops, and how much money you’ll get for your bounty. We guess if you get sick of dungeon diving but don’t want to live in the big city, this is one avenue for your Druid to explore.
Specialty Kits are also introduced for the Druid, these kits act as different archetypes for the Druid, allowing you to further customize what type of nature priest you are. Fourteen kits allow you to create your perfect Druid, though we aren’t going to go over all of them, just our favorites. The Avenger Druid lives to mete out justice to those who have farmed the trees and animals. The Guardian doesn’t get out very much, as they are tasked with protecting a specific location such as a sacred grove or dryad’s lair. If you’re into bugs, the Hivemaster is the kit for you as you can control and befriend insects and arachnids. The Lost Druid is a sad and forsaken soul who lost their way after the destruction of the forest they were charged with protecting, their life is now filled with days of wandering the land in search of dark magic, all the while plotting revenge. Finally, the Wanderer Druid travels throughout the lands, absorbing the knowledge of the lands they travel.
There is much more in this book, including new backgrounds, spells, magic items, herbal magic, and details behind the Druidic order, their language, and sacred groves, but we need to move on. If you have a chance and are really into the Druid, we recommend finding a copy and giving it a read.
3rd Edition
The Druid appears in the Player’s Handbook (2000/2003) and is later given a few updates in the Player’s Handbook 2 (2006). We’ll start with the good news first, it is now its own class! As for the bad news, well there isn’t really any. The Druid remains as much as it was before, but it can finally crawl out from under the shadow of the cleric and make a name for itself.
As much as everything stays the same, there are several changes to our tree-loving friend. Their spells are still based on all things natural, but they are clearly defined as divine. The spells do not come from a deity as much as they come from nature itself, which channels its power through you, granting Druids the ability to cast spells. Metal is still the bane of the Druid, so most armor, unless it is made of wood and reinforced with special spells, is also useless. That doesn't mean a Druid would explode if they put on a suit of metal armor, but they would lose all of the druidic powers until they take it off and for an additional 24 hours just as a subtle reminder that they shouldn’t do that ever again. It’s probably not worth doing ever unless in real dire circumstances. This does bring us to what types of weapons a Druid may use, which are the club, dagger, dart, quarterstaff, scimitar, sickle, short spear, sling, and spear. So while metal armor is out of the question, metal weapons are kosher for woodland spirits.
Like before, Druids still have their language known as Druidic though if you ever teach anyone the language, you immediately and permanently lose all your power until you can atone for such a foul deed. We aren’t entirely sure if they lose their power because the forest overheard their teachings or simply because Druidic language is their source of power, but it seems a bit extreme. The greatest new power a Druid gets isn’t that they can no longer physically age but rather something to make every ranger jealous.
The Druid now gets an animal companion right off the bat! The druid can choose a badger, camel, dire rat, dog, riding dog, eagle, hawk, horse, owl, pony, snake, or a wolf as their best friend, and the DM is free to expand this list to similar creatures, like a dolphin if the campaign they are running would involve a different ecosystem. As the Druid gets stronger, they can get stronger companions, like a tiger, a giant octopus, and even a t-rex at the highest levels for them. Your friend is your loyal companion who will follow you into the depths of hell if need be, of course, you may want to leave them at home, and that is ok too. When the Druid advances in level, its companion also gets stronger with additional hit points, an increase to its armor class, and new traits such as evasion and multi-attack.
Wild Shape is in this edition, and while you have to wait until 5th level for it, it’s pretty awesome once you do get there. No longer are you forced to be a bird, reptile, or mammal each once per day, now you can be any small or medium animal for a number of hours equal to your level once per day. Alright, so maybe it isn’t as cool as the unlimited number of hours you could be shape changed, and you only get one use of it immediately, but as you get stronger, so does your shapeshifting abilities! By the time you have reached peak Druid at 20th level, you can change into an animal six times, stay in animal form for 20 hours, and assume the form of a huge animal! That’s not all either, by 12th level you can turn yourself into a plant, and we don’t mean a useless daffodil either. You can transform into a powerful shambling mound or an assassin vine! If that isn’t enough to get you excited, by 16th level you can turn yourself into a large elemental. So that’s pretty neat too.
In the book Complete Divine (2004), we learn about all things divine, and now that the Druid is under this umbrella, there is information to be gleaned. We learn that if a Druid turns away from or loses their connection to nature, they can turn down a dark path. They could become a Blighter, an individual who seeks to destroy all that is green and lush, always looking for the largest forests to lay waste to. There are a few other Druid-oriented prestige classes, though it is typically for multi-classed Druids who dip into bard, sorcerer, or wizard for different reasons.
While various Dragon articles provide some Druid feats, spells, monstrous animal companions, and more; our last look at this edition is in the Races of the Wild (2005) book which brings us an old title. The Hierophant is back as an Arcane Hierophant and is a prestige class for Druid and wizard multiclass who are looking to bring the arcane into nature. While you lose a familiar, if you had one from being a wizard, you can keep your animal companion and you gain the ability to channel your magic through non-animate plants and your companion! This is great for sending bursts of lightning originating from trees, allowing your animal companion to position themselves in different ways around the battlefield, and utilizing your nature spells to more devastating effects. Of course, hierophants are quite jealous of their power and keep an eye on any who would try to learn their secrets, ending those who might try to use this power for evil.
4th Edition
The Druid shows up, but sadly it takes a step back in terms of progress and doesn’t appear until the Player’s Handbook 2 (2009). This edition introduces several a new concept known as Power Sources, where each class gets their power from. The first Player’s Handbook (2008), was focused on the traditional sources of Arcane, Divine, and Martial which meant the classes in that book were Wizard, Cleric, Fighter, and a few others. The Player’s Handbook 2 was focused on the primal power source where spirits and nature give the class their power, while the final book, Player’s Handbook 3 (2009), is focused on the psionic power source.
The Druid appears alongside the barbarian, shaman, warden, sorcerer, bard, and others and retains a lot of the flavor from previous editions with some changes here and there. Druids believe in the primal beast, the spirit of the world’s original predator. Seen in visions and dreams, the primal beast appears as a shapeless mass of fur, feathers, beaks, and claws. Druids are called on to take a specific aspect of the primal beast, with the first options between the Guardian, who becomes tankier, and the Predator, who becomes much faster. As your Druid gets stronger, they get access to more and more powers that help customize your character to your specific playstyle as well as augmenting your primal powers.
The other major ability a Druid gets is their ability to Wild Shape. You can transform in and out of being a beast as often as you like with no time limit to your transformation. You are restricted to transforming into a beast of a similar size to yourself, like a panther or wolverine, but otherwise, there aren’t many restrictions as transforming doesn’t mean you can suddenly breathe water or fly through the air. The beast you transform into has the same statistics as you, but you get Druidic powers to make yourself more powerful as a beast and giving you powerful martial effects that a Druid focused on spellcasting won’t get. Most people will probably assume the shape of a natural or fey beast, but some can choose such exotic beasts as an owlbear or a giant crocodile, as suggested in the book. But why stop there? If we want to be exotic, we’d reach deep and turn into a massive spider or a great penguin!
Once you’ve been a Druid, and have reached 11th level, you get access to one of the four provided Paragon Paths, powerful archetypes that offer unique abilities to characters that follow them. The paragon paths for the Druid are the Blood Moon Stalker, Guardian of the Living Gate, Keeper of the Hidden Flame, and the Sky Hunter. If traveling the path of the Blood Moon Stalker, you are someone who just loves being in beast form and you get abilities to compliment your wild shape. As a Guardian, you track down portals between the Material Plane and the Far Realm. Your hatred of the aberrants that come through these portals drives you to kill them and close the portals. Flame Keepers are focused on maintaining the hidden flame inside of them, blowing on it and burning with rage while they are in battle. The last path, the Sky Hunter, loves to fly and when in wild shape can swoop across the battlefield, attacking distant enemies in an instant.
Several books build on the 4th edition Druid with Primal Power (2009) including new builds, powers, and paragon paths. You can choose to become a Swarm Druid, which is focused on the resiliency of insect swarms and summoning forth insects. The next new build is the Summoner Druid which is focused on the ability to call beasts to your aid. Sadly, having an animal companion is outside the abilities of the Druid in this edition and is given to the shaman class.
There are several more books in this edition that bring in new powers, abilities, builds, and more for the Druid with the next one being the Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms (2010). It introduces the sentinel, a Druid subclass that is a leader and is focused on encouraging their allies to push themselves further in combat. After that is the Heroes of the Feywild (2011), where we find the Protector Druid, a subclass that uses their natural surroundings as defensive weapons. While the Protector Druid loses their wild shape ability, they make up for it by getting a Druid Circle that provides new abilities and allows the Druid to summon different spirits to their side. The last book, Heroes of the Elemental Chaos (2012), features elemental-themed Druids that can augment their beast form with elemental matter. Druids of the Elemental Chaos wield powerful magic fueled by the chaos, striking out with the power of primordials.
5th Edition
The Druid returns in the Player’s Handbook (2014), which is a good thing seeing as how 5e only introduced one other class this edition. If it had waited, we’d pry never get it. The Druid is the preserver of balance, though there is no alignment restriction for this class. You can be chaotic evil and still speak for the trees, though you probably only speak for the evil plants like poison ivy.
Starting your journey as a Druid, you don’t get much. You can cast Druid spells and you can speak Druidic, which isn’t super exciting but at least you won’t lose all your powers for teaching others the language. Starting at 2nd level, the real fun begins and you gain access to wild shape, allowing you to transform into weak beasts, though they get slightly stronger as you get stronger, but don’t get too excited. Unless you specialize in wild shaping, you aren’t going to be much more powerful than a giant eagle or toad when you reach 20th-level as a Druid, all the while the wizard is summoning burning meteors from the sky.
The next exciting part about being a Druid happens at the same level, you get to join a Circle which harkens back to a lot of the history of the Druid. The first two subclasses your Druid can become are the Circle of the Land or the Circle of the Moon, each taking different focuses for the Druid. The Circle of the Land is geared towards a specific terrain that grants unique spells and the rest of its abilities are basically what the original Druid was. You are immune to the charms of elementals and fey, you can easily stride through natural difficult terrain like briars and thorns, and your ties to nature are strengthened beyond other Druids. Luckily for you, you don’t have to beat up other Druids to level up, so that’s a nice departure from before.
The other option, the Circle of the Moon, is a powerful circle that allows you to have greater use of your wild shape ability. You can transform into more powerful beasts, though you are tied to the same limits as other, lesser Druids. You can’t be a swimming creature until 4th level and if you want to soar through the skies, you have to wait until 8th level. Eventually, you’ll get powerful enough to transform into elementals, though you’ll never get stronger than a giant shark or a mammoth.
Druids get a boost in excitement with the release of Xanathar’s Guide to Everything (2017), which provides two new Circles for Druids to join; the Circle of Dreams and the Circle of the Shepherd. The Circle of Dreams is all about your connections to the fey and kind of has a mish-mash of abilities like healing your allies, making a sphere to help you sleep at night, teleporting, and casting certain spells that are somehow connected to the dreamscape but it’s a bit of a stretch. We’re not sure we see the appeal for this subclass, or even what it has to do with the fey. The Circle of the Shepherd also takes a weird direction, and one would’ve thought they’d at least get an animal companion. Instead, they act as the shaman for this edition, summoning the spirits of animals to come save them during battle and help regenerate your allies when they get hurt.
All is not lost for the Druid in the form of weird subclasses as Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything (2020) brings in three more subclasses; the Circle of Stars, Circle of Wildfire, and the Circle of Spores. The book also introduces a new way to use your wild shape ability by casting the find familiar spell, which is neat except your animal companion only lasts for so long and then disappears, forcing you to reuse your ability over and over to keep it going. It’s a strange choice for a class that is flavored on communing with nature that no matter what, no animal ever wants to be around you for an extended period.
As for the new subclasses, the first one is the Circle of Spores which allows you to get closer to mushrooms and bad trips. You can infect people with spores, rot their skin with fungal infections, and even animate creatures into zombies. It’s a strange subclass geared towards hanging out with mushrooms until they become sentient enough that you are altered by them, becoming stronger by their presence. After that is the Circle of Stars which is about drawing your power from starlight and constellations, seeing hidden truths within the cosmos. You are given a star map to hold, which grants you power, take the map away, and you lose the power until you can spend an hour making a new map of the stars. You can even become stars, turning your body into a constellation that helps you in battle, though it’s gotta be pretty trippy for everyone else watching you. The final subclass is the Circle of Wildfire, geared towards rejuvenation through fire. You get a fire elemental as your animal companion, though they only stick around for an hour before they run away, again we don’t quite get why no creature wants to hang out with a Druid. Your new powers are focused on healing your allies or burning your enemies as you call upon the spirits of fire. All in all, it’s a pretty good boost for the Druid this edition.
The Druid has gone through a wide variety of transformations across the editions, from forcing you to be a bird once a day to not allowing you to take flight until higher levels in later editions. It’s been a give and take for the Druid as they search for balance and preserve nature from creatures who would destroy it, but they’ve always been there, watching and waiting for their revenge.
I feel like Red Dead Online in general has highlighted some worrying trends in regards to Rockstar's design philosophy and I am concerned about the online experience in their future titles such as GTA 6.
I don't expect this post to have any massive impact on the future of RDO, but I wanted to share my expectations and attitudes as a consumer in hope that it might help Rockstar gain a better understanding of their audience. After all I have money that I am willing to spend and they seem to be after, there just hasn't been a reasonable incentive to do so.
For a long time GTA:O was my main source of entertainment and I used to regard Rockstar Games as the best video game publisher in terms of quality and value of the experience their games provided.
When RDR2 released two years ago, I was excited by the massive step-up in terms of complexity and immersion from GTA:O. I was also quite burnt out with GTA so I was prepared to turn RDO into my main source of entertainment.
I didn't own a console so instead I decided to save and build a high end PC in time for the game's PC release. I was prepared to commit 100% to this game.
October 2019 came, my PC was ready and I pre-ordered the Ultimate Edition.
I got the game, played Story mode through all of Arthur's chapters, but stopped when I reached the Epilogue - I was excited to get into Online and see how it felt. And then it all fell apart.
Meh, the game felt a bit GTAish at the start, but I didn't mind it so much. I think I experienced some bugs or technical issues that made me take a break from the game and wait for a fix.
I was away for the holidays and then travelling for work so I get back to the game in late January. I finish John's story too and then head back into online. At this point I'm greeted with a message that Outlaw Pass season 2 is in progress.
"Great, so I've already missed one?" I tell myself. I was not aware at that point in time that Steam PC players didn't even have access to Outlaw Pass season 1. But this was already starting to become a deal breaker for me and I'll elaborate on it further:
What is the appeal of Rockstar's games? Let's take a look at GTA:Online, Rockstar's most financially successful title, success which they are probably trying to replicate with Red Dead Online.
I don't know what goes through the minds of other players, so I'll share my personal experience.
Before I stumbled upon GTA:Online in 2017 I had been mainly playing World of Warcraft for 3 or 4 years, but I was at a point in life where I just started my first full-time job and no longer had the time to pour into an MMO. I remember I used to describe it as "I come home from my job and have to log onto my other job" on raid night. I was also fed up with 90% of the game's content becoming irrelevant whenever a new update came along. it was just the same gameplay loop in a different packaging.
So what was so special about GTA: Online?
The biggest aspect for me was the
Sandbox experience. It's an open world environment, you can fuck around freely, there is no linear gameplay imposed upon you or other restrictions that limit gameplay for the purpose of "balance".
You are also free to experience the game at your own pace. There is no FOMO (fear of missing out) mechanic dictating that you play now or risk being locked out of content permanently.
Another big element of GTA Online that appeals to me is
Customization options for the purpose of immersion and roleplay. The game contains so many references to Hollywood tropes and it allows you to act almost any persona that crosses your mind: Pablo Escobar, killer clown, every Charlize Theron role I can think of, the list is endless...
One thing that GTA Online did well and I used to praise them over other games for it was the inclusion of
Universal Reward/Currency. Any activity you carry out in the game rewards the same currency, it's always meaningful progress towards your next goal. You had the ability to purchase it via Shark Cards, but the microtransaction served as an alternative in order to save time, not as a means of unlocking content behind an exclusive paywall.
With the Arena Wars and the Casino DLC it looks like Rockstar has been experimenting with new ways to milk both "player engagement" in the form of time spent grinding secondary currency and revenue in the form of microtransactions. They can go claim to their shareholders "our playerbase is more active than ever and also spending money on the game". It just feels very limiting and at least the Arena Wars currency comes across as an artificial incentive for people to engage in gameplay that R* is not confident about it being popular on its own.
So I've established what were the most appealing elements of GTA:O as a consumer: 1.Freedom of Sandbox environment 2.Immersion and Roleplay in the form of customization options 3.Unique Currency serving as the means of progression
Now let's take look at Red Dead Online. You've got a Rockstar title that is expected to play out as a sandbox, but displays the characteristics of a live service game.
Here's a definition of a live service game, see if it rings a bell In my opinion, time-limited exclusive content should have no place in a sandbox game. I like the Outlaw Pass as an idea, it gives people something to work toward. I am just not a fan of the thought that development time goes into creating the rewards, they're added to the game, take space on my drive, but they are just locked forever with no means of obtaining them.
It just diminishes my perceived value of your product. "Oh great I didn't play from the start? Time for an incomplete experience." Not to mention the fact that PC players are getting an incomplete product by default because Outlaw Pass 1 was never available on their platform.
Some would argue that it's rewarding players who have been playing from the beginning. At what cost? It's also penalizing new players. Players that would've easily spent money on the pass, they just picked the game up too late, so now they are locked out of features forever.
As someone who has missed almost 3 Passes worth of content, this is my biggest gripe about the game and what's holding me back from committing to the game to the point where I'd be willing to drop real life money on it.
And I'm not arguing about getting the rewards for free. I am arguing for making that content available through other less efficient means. I didn't play the game when I was supposed to play it and now there's less content available for me. Oh sure, that'll definitely bring me back to the game and not make me abandon it on the spot. You can still reward players who buy the pass by unlocking the rewards for them, but why lock content forever and devalue the experience for any future player that buys your game? You could add them on a rare rotating stock for a ridiculously high gold bar price. There's a gold sink for you right there, now you're giving people a reason to spend money on your game. Or I don't even know, sell the passes again at some later time. You probably have the technology to allow players to purchase multiple passes and keep one active at a time. Just make old passes no longer reward gold or whatever.
Rockstar, you're concerned with reducing people's means of obtaining gold while also falling behind on delivering meaningful content. That's cause you're digging your own hole with your shortsighted approach on FOMO, working on adding content to the game only to then lock it away. But most importantly, you're establishing your stance: "Monetization by all means, screw player experience, screw a quality integral product, pay us right now or risk the game becoming more incomplete."
Some would argue that the Outlaw Pass is just cosmetics. I would totally get that point if this were a MOBA or a FPS or any other genre where gameplay is the predominant feature. But have a look at what's the most popular GTA content on Twitch: roleplay. Immersion and Roleplay have always been defining features of Rockstar games. Time-limited exclusive content just detracts from the value proposition of a sandbox game. If not cosmetic options, what else is there to work towards in RDO? It's not supposed to be a competitive game. K/D has no meaning, high scores have no meaning, It's a Club Penguin with guns and horses. Also the whole point falls apart because with Outlaw Pass 4 and 5 there are actual gameplay upgrades that are featured as time-limited exclusives,
The perceived loss of value from missing one outlaw pass was what made me drop the game again back in January. I picked it up again a month ago and I was actually enjoying it to the point where I was prepared to buy gold for the Outlaw Pass. Inaccessible content was a minor issue that I was willing to overlook since it didn't look like I missed out on any gameplay impacting features from previous passes. But oh boy, Rockstar, you didn't even try to be subtle in the latest update. You just reinforced the statement that you're after my money at any cost. I get that daily challenges had to be addressed, but at least the nerf didn't lock away access to content. But now you're taking gameplay impacting upgrades and holding them hostage behind a time-limited paywall. To me that's a sign that you're willing to compromise the quality of gameplay for a Q4 financial boost. It's very hard to justify spending money on this game at this point when there is no sign of good will from its developer.
GTA Online didn't need all these extreme incentives of monetization and look how well it performed. RDO feels like monetization came first and the game was build around it. Every feature feels like it was designed to psychologically entice me into spending and that's its biggest flaw. Everywhere I look I see a price, but I don't see value.
Scripting in PES is real, it exists, and Konami wants it here to stay. Yes, PES is scripted.
I ask you to read this post as it regards to the biggest problem with the current PES; the unethical scripting and gameplay manipulation which go against all ethics of sports & fair competition. It may seem long, but it will take you less time to read than playing 1 match on myClub yet it concerns EVERY SINGLE match you play on myClub.
Let’s start off by defining some terms. Scripting is technically different from momentum, handicapping, dynamic difficulties, and artificial balanced playfield but scripting is just a short summary word that encompasses all if them. Every game has a predetermined narrative(not final result but a storyline from Konami), decided in matchmaking, of the general direction that your next game takes. Due to live human input, dynamic out-of-user-control events occur trying to ensure the flow of the game isnt drifting away from Konami's specific narrative. The definition of scripting is those out-of-user-control events in the previous sentence. Few of MANY examples can be the ball being scripted to hit the post to avoid a bigger goal difference, or the ball going through your DMF’s legs for the opponent’s striker to get the ball. Handicapping is artificially helping one player and sabotaging the other. Dynamic difficulties is live action script adjustment. Momentum is an artificial surge of constant scripted events and handicapping occurring artificially in favor of one side throughout a period the game. Artificial Balanced playfield is using scripting to lower the skill gap between two players.
Scripting doesn't mean a predetermined result.
There are momentary events that are dynamically HARD-CODED to occur regardless of button input. The severity & amount of these moments for you and/or against you throughout a match have a major & UNCONTROLLABLE impact on the result.
We got that out of the way so let’s continue.
If scripting did not exist, a lot of people would realize they are no where as good as they thought including players, who in actuality are not very good, that complain about the scripting.
If scripting did not exist:
-casuals and even many people in this forum would find it difficult just to get out of their own half against any player 200 points higher in rank than them. Casuals do not realize that during scripted games/moments(which occurs very frequently and more frequently than people think) the higher rated opposition's defenders are faced with invisible force fields and play the game on-rails(where the casual player with the ball, and the opposition defense are on two separate train tracks so stealing the ball becomes very difficult and almost impossible). Without scripting, better players (who were trained for years in the game and are good at timing super cancel to block passing lanes, and using square for pressing the player on the ball) would pressure casual players very hard the whole game without even gegenpress advanced instructions or going Red in attack. Casuals would complain in this forum and on facebook and all over about how "overpowered" pressure defense is.
-casuals and even many people in this forum would find it difficult to team defend against any player 200 points higher in rank than them. Against a genuinely good opposition in a game without script, every offensive strategy could be seen as "overpowered". If the better player wanted, he can play with 80% possession in the casual's own half and toy with him if he is sitting deep, if again there was no scripting. You see, without scripting, proper football could be played so if the casual player presses the better player by just moving forward and pressing square in all red with no football intelligence like they do these days, the game could end 15-0 if scripting( which slows down passes, prevents one touch passes, prevents natural and smart runs for strikers, slows down first touches, artificially forces killer through balls to be blocked and so on and so on) didn't exist. That would force the casual player to sit back and defend which again, would lead the the casual player never getting out of his own half the whole game(especially when combined with the pressure defense point made above). Casuals would complain in this forum and on facebook and all over about how "overpowered" counters are and how "overpowered" possession is or how "overpowered" one touch passes are or how "overpowered" one-two passes are. Same could be applied to crossing game or other offensive game plans in a game that isn't scripted. Anything and everything would be considered "overpowered" if there was no script. Casuals would not realize that it is the superiority of the other player that would make things seem "overpowered" in a game that was not scripted. If there was no script, the better player would take advantage of the knowledge he has of the shooter's abilities including weak foot accuracy, curl, kicking power and skills like midrange curler, outside curler, long range shooting, and while taking advantage of angles of the goalkeeper's positioning, the superior player would rarely miss a shot with a striker that has 95 finishing+ if he has a good look. There wouldn't be many games where the better player has over 10 good shots on goal but at the end only scores 1 or 2 goals. The casuals would not be able to comprehend that and say that "shooting is overpowered" when in reality the better player worked up for that good position to score and using his fingers technical skills to shoot properly. The casual would not realize that the better player would not make it look so easy if the game was played between two similarly good and high ranked players. There are complaints of these things being overpowered already WITH script, now imagine how it would be without scripting.
-casuals and even many people in this forum would find it difficult to defend against a good dribbler controlled by a player 200 points higher in rank than them. Messi in the hands of a player 200 points rated higher than you would make the casual think that dribbling is "overpowered" and the casuals would complain in this forum and on facebook and all over about how "overpowered" dribbling is. Casuals would not realize, in a game that was not scripted(which did not purposely add heavy input delay), how the better player would know how to use the Messi's movement momentum, his balance, correct presses of sprint, the correct timing of full stops, and the mastering of skill moves to dribble like a highlight video. Casuals would not realize it was the superiority of the other player and the casual's poor and predictable defense would make it seem dribbling was "overpowered". The casual would not realize that the better player would not make dribbling look easy if he was playing against a similarly high ranked and good player.
Without scripting, the game would be very much pay to win as the player stats would actually matter and combined with the points above, casuals would stand no chance. Yes, there is some moaning here and there occasionally about pay to win but if there was no scripting, and you give an actually good player(not a player with a decent win ratio and rank points due to the artificially scripted steroiding) a team full of maxed of featured players, the internet would be flooded with complaints of pay to win. Casuals would complain in this forum and on facebook and all over about how completely unfair it is that "someone could just buy better players". Casuals right now do not realize how currently the game technically SHOULD be pay-to-win very, very significantly but in actuality isn't pay to win due to scripting and the artificial play-field that is balanced to keep every player competitive, and usually disregards player attributes.
And by the way, the question is not "if scripting was so strong, how come the top players are so consistent" as the question should be why isn't the goal differences of made and conceded of the legitimate top and best players significantly much, much higher. Also, the top and very best players report scripting as well.
The question should be why do the legitimate(by legitimate I mean not cheating) top and best players struggle against much, much, weaker players sometimes? I don't just mean the better player having 30 shots and the weaker playing having 2 shots and the game ending 2-1 as yes technically that can happen in real life but this is a video game. It is much, much, much easier to press a button and score in your bedroom then to kick a ball at a professionally trained goalkeeper in front of hundreds of thousands. Without scripting, the scoreline in a game between a good player and a casual player would look so "unrealistic" even though it is deserved and warranted. That "unrealistic" scoreline would happen very infrequently when a good player plays another good player. There are those unaware of the effect of scripting(even worse is, there are people aware of the effect of scripting yet for whatever reason they have, try to deny it) that will point out that an unrealistic stat sheet due to scripting/handicapping of a lower-rated player drawing against/winning against/barely losing against a much better player and say something to the effect of: “It happens in real life too! It’s not scripting! Just last weak, a 3rd division team had a similar stat sheet against Real Madrid(or any other big club)!” What those people will fail to notice or admit is that no one is saying that it can’t happen, but it’s exceptional in real life while it’s typical in PES. Also, did Real Madrid lose because Kroos couldn’t constantly make 3 yard passes, or the ball inexplicably went through Casimero’s legs multiple times, or did Benzema hit the post 4 times, etc?
Again the question should be why do the top and best players struggle against much, much, weaker players sometimes? And again, I am not talking about just the shots of goal but how sometimes casuals with weaker teams will dominate a better player (who has hundreds and even thousands of points higher in rank) in the middle of the pitch, in offense and in defense... just outplay him completely. That would never happen or very rarely happen in a game like Tekken or Counter-Strike for example.
If in the next patch, scripting was removed but it was unannounced, casuals and even many people people in this forum would cry, moan and send so many emails complaining and reporting that the game is "broken". Many, many people, even including some of those players who are actually anti-script but aren't really good as they think they are, would say that the patch ruined the game. That this or that is overpowered. They would consider the game unplayable.
So Konami thinks there needs to be scripting or the user base would significantly shrink. The problem is that the scripting is too strong. Players who say it isn't cannot talk for someone else's experiences because what good players who are complaining of scripting are technically saying is that everyone has a different gaming experience. So someone cannot tell the other person complaining about scripting that he is wrong because that's the script complainer's whole argument, that the casual does not experience the quantity and quality of scripted gamplay that he did! So the script deniescript downplayer(aka casual aka offline player aka a player who started playing from PES 2019 or higher aka a lower rank player aka a player with a win ratio under 60% aka a player usually under the age of 21, and the aka's can go on and go on) cannot say the script complainer is wrong because the script complainer's whole argument is that they have vastly different gaming experiences so theoretically, the script deniedown-player cannot refute the complainer’s claims at all.
Konami already established that they can adjust how your team behaves using Team Spirit so they can very easily adjust your Team Spirit and/or your team’s AI level in the background according to who Konami’s algorithm decides should benefit or be handicapped.
Do you want to know the best analogy of DDA and scripting when it comes to people not understanding or believing how much it messes up your game? Did you ever watch Batman Returns?
In Batman Returns, Penguin(Konami) rigged the Batmobile, and Batman(the PES gamer who is being handicapped/scripted) tried his best to take control over the Batmobile. The citizens of Gotham(people who do not fully understand the effect of script, and casuals) think Batman is driving the car improperly but they do not realize what is going on in the background: that Penguin(Konami) is taking control away from Batman(the PES gamer who is handicapped/scripted against). (If you never saw Batman Returns, and you are interested in watching the scene, you can YouTube: Oswald takes control of Batmobile.)
Actually no one exactly knows what triggers scripting as scripting can happen in a game between two good players who have around the same amount of games played, same win ratio and same team strength.
So yes, Konami thinks the unfair scripting is here to stay because good players are the minority. It’s just a shame that it is so heavy and ridiculous. There are some games are 'Tier 1 High level elite scripting' where it is 99% impossible to win against a player who is even just somewhat decent because at its strongest, scripting leads to gameplay that is "on rails", and again script deniers/down-players cannot refute that because the argument is that they never experienced it.
Skill gap is lowered every iteration and currently, it is at all time low. A good player with multiple champion badges over the years playing since ISS, can lose several times a week to players who just picked up the game with this iteration because of the unnatural things the scripting does.
And due to all of this, proper football cannot be played. During scripted games, if you are leading by more than 2 goals and the lower rated and skilled opponent is still sitting deep, it is more difficult than is should be to hold the ball because your passes become artificially slower and less accurate. During scripted games, if a lower rated and lower skilled opponent is pressing you hard, it is difficult to quick pass with one-two's and then do a killer through ball. During scripted games with bad referee calls, the game does not reward you for possession play in the opponent's half because fouls aren't given, and the closer you are to the opponent’s net, the less accurate your passes are and the less accurate your agility is. During scripted games, if the lesser skilled opponent crowds the middle of the pitch to defend, it is hard to punish them with wing play because crosses are intentionally floaty and inaccurate. During scripted games, it is hard to press a weaker opponent who has a team with not a lot of technical players because of invisible force-fields, on-rails offense/defense, and inconsistent interceptions. It is no longer a football game, but a card collecting game of direct passing, running horizontally, shooting, shielding the ball at moments and waiting for the game to decide who benefits. The game does not allow the player to punish the opposition's mistakes or flaws or weaknesses at a consistent rate due to the strength of opposition's AI and the weakness of yours. The game does not allow the player to punish the opposition's mistakes or flaws or weaknesses at a consistent rate due to the terrible collision, terrible referees, the terrible intentionally added input delay, the terrible intentional inconsistent game play and so on and so on.
I say terrible collision system and referees and input delay and inconsistent gameplay, and I do not use the word broken. Because it is not broken, it is exactly how it was made to be.
Also, quickly, obviously FIFA is scripted as well(but FIFA is no longer scripted as much as PES is).
Makers of PES and FIFA definitely and most certainly put a lot of energy into gameplay. The gameplay is programmed very well and exactly as intended: scripted/balanced/rigged to lower the skill gap and have more players “engaged” and increase the retention rate of weak players who are now(thanks to scripting, handicapping, Dynamic Difficulty, etc) competitive in almost every single match they play. Konami and EA smile and bake cakes whenever high profile streamers and/or gamers criticize the gameplay for nonsense like “good/bad gameplay”, server problems, brokeness, bad AI, collision problems etc, etc instead of focusing attention on dynamic difficulty, scripting, momentum. Scripting is the biggest problem in PES, and all other issues are secondary. Makers of PES and FIFA have very talented developers and it’s not that it’s poorly programmed, again, it’s programmed beautifully (in a sick way) for exactly how they want it: rigged.
PES had some scripting since years, but until PES2019, it was never this severe and it was in a small enough dose that it didn’t ruin the basics of football, the enjoyability of the game, and it didn’t effect the skill gap much. But PES19 introduced the beginning of this outrageous amount of scripting. PES20 was the most scripted game in video game history. PES21 Season Update added even more & heavier scripting than PES20!
How many times have you seen this scripted scenario?: You lose the ball in an unfair, scripted way and then the opponent goes on a counter, shoots, hits the goalpost, bounces off your keeper's back, and then an opposition player taps in the rebound.
How many times have you seen this scripted scenario?: You manage to steal the ball with a great opportunity to counter, you make a good through pass to an open forward who is finally making a smart, dangerous run but the ball just bounces off the forward's heel and goes back to the opponent.
How many times have you seen this scripted scenario?: you input a skill move but the player slows down and does not perform the move until a defender is in a position to take the ball away, and THEN the game finally registers the skill move.
How many times have you seen this scripted scenario?: you have a big opening in front of you and you double tap sprint for a speed burst but your player just almost jogs in place until the opponent's defense is organized.
How many times have you seen this scripted scenario?: an AI teammate is making a run but stops EXACTLY when you press the pass button? Or stops a moment before an obvious pass should be made?
How many times have you seen this scripted scenario?: your player moves backwards in a defensive stance instead of attempting to retrieve a loose ball that is right in front of him.
How many times have you seen this scripted scenario?: you through-ball pass to a striker and the ball is a centimeter away from the striker's foot, but instead of latching onto the ball, he just lets it roll in front of him and the ball goes out.
One thing about scripting is that most people say that scripting doesn't predetermine a winner, that it just makes it more difficult to win. I somewhat disagree because there are a few games where if the opposition at least knows how to pass and shoot at even a mediocre level, the game gives you no chance to win because your defense becomes training ground cones for the whole game. Again it does not happen often, but very occasionally if your account is tagged for scripting, you have those nearly impossible to win games where your players consistently cannot even come in physical contact with any of the opposition on defense.
And the scripting can work in the higher ranked player's favor too at times. And that win is no fun, and the goals you scored are not exhilarating at all.
But an objective of scripting is to artificially balance the playfield and try to artificially make things more competitive, which naturally punishes higher skilled players.
And here lies anther big problem because of scripting. No personal satisfaction and no sense of progression. Did you win the game because of your skills or did the game help you just enough to win? Did that comeback win when you were down 2-0 at the 85th minute happen because of your composure and perseverance, or did the game just do manipulative things to make that win possible such as handicap the other player?
And because of scripting, the gameplay is inconsistent so the gameplay itself, the rules of physics, and even the rules of the game( thanks to bad calls) change from game to game. So you never know if you are getting better as a player or getting worse. You don’t know whether if specific tactics are working or not due to you making intelligent or bad decisions, because something that works in one game may not work in the next because of scripting, even under very similar conditions.
The current game is a mess.
If there are two players: A) a skilled player who played for many years and B) A new player who casually plays: The more the game has bad collision system, the more the game has missed calls and fouls, the more input delay is in the game, the more that there are goalkeeping errors, the LESS chance the skilled player has to express his superiority, and helps even more with the "balanced" playing field. The game is not broken, it performs as intended. It’s the same reason why a wet, muddy pitch that has not been properly maintained would give Barcelona a disadvantage when playing a 3rd League team, even though they are playing under the same conditions.
PES used to kinda be the Virtual Fighter of sports games, but now it is much more like Mario Party than it is anywhere near Dark Souls.
Anticipation is not rewarded because the ball is already scripted to go to a specific playelocation when the ball is already in the air, so even if you even manage to guess where the ball will land, it will just go through your feet and go to its predetermined destination.
Watch the pros actually play. They are severely handicapped this year. If you don’t look at the result and win ratio, you will have a hard time knowing sometimes who exactly is the pro based on how the play.
And stop with this RNG excuse. RNG is needed in sports games. The problem isn’t RNG. The problem is stuff ISN’T random. Ball trajectory, rebounds, first touches, ”loose balls”, passes/shots/dribbles, interceptions are scripted many times. There is no problem if it was true RNG that was based on button input and player stats. True RNG is faiconsistent.
RNG stands for Random Number Generator and is needed in sports games in order to try to replicate the NATURAL unpredictability involved in sports. The problem in PES isn’t RNG. The problem is that there are aspects of the game that aren’t random that are based on unbiased RNG formulas.
There are some ball trajectories, rebounds, first touches, loose balls, passes/shots/dribbles, player movements, interceptions and other aspects of game mechanics altered outside of user control in order to try to facilitate a narrative that Konami wants to apply to the game at a given moment. There wouldn’t be a problem if it was true RNG that was based on button input, player attributes and other consistent aspects as long it does not demonstrate intentional bias, doesn’t add artificially produced drama/momentum shifts, or is not dynamically adjusted to favor a certain gamer. True RNG is fair, consistent and isn’t applied to intentionally favor a player in an unfair way. Players should play under the same parameters without any of Konami’s non-impartial interference.
And stop with the internet connection excuse. Obviously a bad connection will add lag and stuff. However the problems that scripting causes to the gameplay occurs OFFLINE versus COM as well. Konami added single player difficulty techniques into online matches vs a human opponent. Also another reason why connection cannot be blamed for the problems that scripting causes is because older PES games(where we had slower internet as we do today) had LESS advanced connection systems and DIDN’T have the scripting problems that we see current PES have.
And a new engine doesn’t mean that the outrageous levels of scripting will be reduced. For example, PES16-18 used the current engine yet still didnt have the level of unethical scripting that the current PES has. Scripting is not an engine issue, it a design decision Konami purposely implements.
When Konami’s algorithm decides that it is a good time for your opposition to score, it will be very hard to get the ball out of your own half. Your passes will fail, balls will go through legs, weird ball bounces off bodies will occur, manual goalkeeping won’t work and opposition AI will make amazing player runs when a through ball is made.
I am not saying that Konami shouldn't try to make the game more approachable and accessible to a wider audience because that can benefit everybody. There are other ways to do that. But Konami’s current “solution”, which is high levels of scripting and handicapping, is not only too heavy but also ridiculous, unrewarding, experience-destroying and most importantly, it is so unfair. In the PES games in the past, there could be mechanics that could be considered overpowered(such as crossing in some games) but those mechanics were free to be used by anyone: novice and veteran. It was an even and fair playing ground. And that is what people against the script want the most, an even playfield. Little tricks and/or Meta tactics that can be considered overpowered in a game WITHOUT script doesn't ruin the even/fair playfield because those tricks/tactics would be open for anyone to use. But instead we get artificial handicapping that can be for you and against you. The problem is that the game is artificially benefiting one team and handicapping the other, either throughout the whole game or in moments.
But this year is just too blatant. The scripting is so bad at some games that I am surprised that all PES forums on the internet aren't flooded with complaints of scripting even moreso than the amount that the casuals currently think is a lot(which is certainly isn't considering how bad the scripting is). And I see so many posts and created threads in this forum and others that just scream "I AM A CASUAL!"(though nothing wrong with being a casual, especially a casual that does not expect immediate success in the game). So the money-spending casuals are satisfied and busy with their shiny card collections, unaware and unconcerned with the real problems of the game. But...
In the end, Konami feels the need to script because casuals outnumber the genuinely good players. Ideally there would be a better match making system but none of us really know the pinpoint exact reasoning and logic and trigger and algorithm of PES and FIFA's scripting. Konami wants to ideally keep everyone competitive so they artificially manipulate events in the game to do so. If a casual picks up the game for the first time, gets dominated bad for his first 5-10 games and barely scores a goal, he will just delete the game which means one less player who can potentially buy coins. Or scripting is for other reasons such as deeper psychological tools that Konami thinks will make people play and spend more. It is just a shame for competitive players and it is a shame in the name sportsmanship because scripting and artificially balanced playfield and artificial manipulation of the game goes against the ethics of sports and any sort of competition.
-Edit 3 What about morally? It’s not about just being a video game. It doesn't matter what context it is in: effort & work is effort & work. A player's effort & exertion should not be squandered with scripting/handicapping in order to make his inferior opponent feel competitive.
There is no way to officially prove all of this without having people review Konami's coding of their games. However there are tons of empirical evidence as well as countless gamer testimonies that are suggestive of and demonstrate conspicuously unfair gameplay mechanics
Remember that naturally the casual gamers and inferior players outnumber the superior players that the scripting/ handicapping is targerting. Therefore there will be some gamers who do not realize that the scripting is going on and deny it(usually it is those gamers who the scripting favors). There are many popular PES streamers, national PES champions, world PES champions, thousands of gamers, video game media members, and others who report of these unfair, unsportsmanlike type behaviors that goes on in PES. It is very conspicuous.
Edit: A response reminded me that the scripting does not have to be just due to make games more competitive and balance out the play field (definitely a big part), but Konami can be using psychological methods and patterns based on your gamer history and profile to fix try to manipulate a match based on what Konami think's will make you play and/or spend more(especially considering the 5th win streak handicap).
TLDR: one of the best posts on scripting and...
PS: Dear Game developers & those who trivialize scripting, it's not about it just being a game/inconsequential pastime. It doesn't matter what context it is in: effort & work is effort & work. Don't squander my efforts and exertion with scripting just to make my inferior opponent feel competitive.
Edit 2: just to make this post even longer, here is another very good example/explanation of what the handicapped player experiences which I found from the comment section on
https://www.naguide.com/efootball-pes-2020-scripting-works/ “Ive been playing since n64 ISS but finally had enough with PES 19 and did not not buy 20. I have 78% wins on Online Divisions and 63% on Myclub so its not about losing, the game is just pointless to play due to being completely fake. You are holding or fighting the controller while a match narrative is forced on you. Despite my ratings putting me in the top few hundred players, I can be forced to chase shadows against a 25% winrate player with a weaker team, unable to get out of my half or even get close enough to slide tackle foul. I often play the same match over and over, my opponent is allowed to dominate until eventually they sabotage my defence enough to allow a goal sometime in the second half, then suddenly it flips and im able to create a clear chance and equalise with 4 or 5 passes. I then have a slither of a chance to be clutch and win the match with the last kick of the ball or its a draw. Its completely transparent in its fakeness. I could write a lot more but im just sickened by it and its not going to change, its got worse every year since micro transactions and they have completely killed gaming for me. Scripting has always been in PES, but for a long time it was a reasonably fair test of football IQ and the better player would win, the skill gap is now non existent. The power of the handicapping is such that you can put a bad player against a good player and make them appear unlucky not to win despite seemingly dominating the game. Thats the funniest part, when you take your tiny window of opportunity at the end of the game they think theyve been hard done by, they have no clue the game was crippling me for the full match. The CPU absolutely bossing everything, closing lanes and intercepting for them, while ignoring my own interceptions for the lanes I had to close myself. Players dont make runs when you have the ball, you have to use manual to make them run, and then they are always an inch offside”
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