Hey dark,
i thing the best is warrior mage druid.

Well I enjoyed necro for the activities, and I think I'd enjoy druid the same way, but apparently druid and necro as primary and secondary is a bad combo because of numbers of minians, though I don't really like the idea of having necro as a third class again sinse previously I wanted my minians to be stronger.
Actually i do confess when I see that 326 hours marker on my character for time spent it does sort of make me wonder if I can still do some good with thelok, but then again I'll never get to try druid that way.

It depends whether you want a better experience levelling up, or  at the endgame.

If the former, then necro is a great choice as first class; their minions make the newbie experience pretty easy, which is now complemented by the fact that powerful low level equipment has never been more easy to obtain. Some good secondary classes include mage (for offensive power while being able to use shadow fiends as tanks) or cleric (for healing in groups and for general utility). This is the setup for my character.

I'd recommend not choosing druid if your primary motivation is to get strong minions; their niche is equipment enhancement through runes (which you can get done for you by other druids) and working well in concert through their area of effect spells in groups.

Unfortunately, casters aren't viable at high levels (solo-wise anyway) because a lot of higher level areas got relevelled, so mobs are stronger. The caster minions were never updated so they're pretty much useless in a lot of high level areas (both damage dealing and tanking minions), nor have they received anything to increase their survivability. The balance has tipped towards melee classes being more powerful now (though that's another conversation).

Your best option long-term would probably be to have a caster class + thief or warrior as your first 2 classes, to get most of the benefits of both. The Melee classes have excellent offensive capability and survivability in high level areas (bonuses to shield block/dodge, armored skin, and evasion which allows dodging of certain spells).

If you are going to try druid, you're going to have to group to get things done at the higher end unless you feel like grinding for hours and hours. Druid minions aren't nearly as sturdy as necro minions so you'll spend extra time makking them, plus the best ones require supplies that you need to wait for such as starcatchers and suncatchers.  Unless you feel like buying them. Solo druid is arduous is all I have to say, the class itself is quite useful.

@Xoren: wow, you have an identical class build as me.

@Dark: you'll need either a lot of patience, or a bot to do lightcatcher farming. Druids are very dependent on them (especially suncatchers at lower levels). You'll probably be disappointed, as KeyWasFull said, if you choose druids purely for minions.

hi,
I'll recommend necro mage warrior cleric is excellent combo
don't go druid,  if you do,  you have to deal with these stuff
1,  druids cannot run solo lower levels with
if you want be druid you have to run with groups and get higher levels
but necromancers can run solo areas with lower levels
as i said,  that's good for me thought
here's is my example
i was druid before,  but i kept died these solo areas
i was level 26,  and i tried to run level 23 area
after resetting
i've been decided to try necro
i just noticed necro minions is very very powerful
compare to metal and liveoaks
we was running in group
just i keep watching their liveoaks going down
liveoaks can't stay longer alive
but my metal ghoul is did
and vampire is good minion too
don't get me wrong
druid are squish
i just died with my necro 2 3 times
but i died too much with druid
yeah one things suncatchers are being like a hell
you have to buy them somewhere,  or you can carve,  but will always expensive
that's my suggestions anyways

Well I've made my decision, I am now a druid mage, third will probably be clerric for the healing and hp, fourth will probably be warrior or thief, (warrior is tempting for basically being able to hit things, thief is tempting for pick locks and searching).

I decided on druid sinse they have a lot of fun extra skills like carving that it's good to play with. With balance and what people have said, I've actually heard pretty good arguements for virtually every class combo in the game accept perhaps primary clerrics (iironically what I was last time), so in the end decided to simply go with fun stuff and activities. I always wanted to try brewing potions just because I like exploring, and I like the idea of having more mana, hence mage as secondary.
I don't want necro as third or fourth again, sinse last time I had necro third and was always sorry my minians weren't tougher, so decided to give necro a miss this time around and try druid minians instead,  ---- sinse while people have said druid minians are not as good as necro ones, Brad S really isn't the only person I've heard argue the other way around, actually it seems most classes in game are extremely well balanced .

I'll say I'm enjoying myself at the moment, ducking behind my earth wall and alternating hurling destructive spells or elemental attacks, actually in terms of pure damage, I seem to be doing rather better than I remember doing as a clerric warrior which is nice.

Hopefully it won't take me too long to get back to where I was, though of course I have a little less time gaming these days, particularly because sinse MRs. Dark's computer went completely squish earlier on (just after I set her up an e-mail address), she's having to borrow mine intermitantly, but I still should get some time for a bit of creature slaughter occasionally.

Hi.
What would you guys recommend in terms of the two melee classes?  They both look a ton of fun to play as now, especially compare it with what other muds like to do with warrior and thief.  .  .  I'm not sure whether it would be best to put them together, or mixed with a caster class. I do like the idea of a hybrid if it's possible .

Ok ok, so I've been playing as a necro for roughly 6 years now... Still!  I've tried them all at least once and just can't wrap my head around many of them without grouping a little at the very least.  I don't care much for the melee classes.  Warriors seem to be either hitters or tanks; I don't know that I have ever seen one strike out on their own as a solo character.  Thieves?  Sneaking and hiding can be fun, but mostly I'd say they're good for making money, and leave it there.
My greatest beaf with druids is the massive amount of mana they consume; even gust of wind requires 8 mana, which is more than coldfire for necros at 7, or magic missile for mages at 6.  If necros had any area spells, druids would be toast, because I have yet to hear any argument for them that doesn't sound weak to me, having tried on three separate occasions to make a successfull druid by soloing.
That being said, there actually is one huge bonus I am jealous of; druids don't require druidcast level in order to maintain minions, which means that, unlike us squishy necros, taking off your druid equipment to regen in something else is a viable and even sensible option.  The resources and time required to make a druid work though seem like a bit much for me; calling animals takes far too long, producing liveoaks requires bottled light, walls and shambling mounds thrive only by being regularly reenforced and only truly serve well as temporary minions anyway, and area spells are mana guzzling monstrosities that can get you into trouble if you don't remember what you're fighting.
Of course, those who advocate for personal preference are honestly right in suggesting that it really depends on one's playing style, so I would like to see a successfull druid who actually soloed his way to at least level 30... That would indeed make me happy, and then I would never doubt it could be done.

level 28 druid, so I'm almost there... Several pains though. All that calling down the fury of a blizzard to shred your enemies? Hardly ever get to do it because most of the time, your in a building, or under ground. Ditto call lightning, hailstorm. Additionally, the rare times your above ground, the sun is always splitting the trees, and you have to burn through 300 or so mana just to sort the weather out for your fancy kaboom magic. gotta say thanks for the tip on druidcast and minions though, I can now expand beyond blowing stuff about and chucking rocks in doors.