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jad_hoven
I vaguely remember some tidbits of advice on the new expertises and hometerrains from the old forum but can't find them any more.

I tried a wood-elf hunter once, I loved the power of the combo but couldn't enjoy trying to RP a wood-elf for the life me, so going Felar or Svirf this time.

The two main classes I am interested in are the Explorer and Animist expertises. I have played a wood-elf hunter swamp ht to near hero before so I am pretty familiar with that setup (if you need a baseline to compare to.)
So questions

1. What are the main ups and downs of the Explorer.
1a. Specifically how does wanderlust work, you get some bonuses in terrains other than your home, is this just stuff like better wilderness fam, camo, herb, and creep, or does it extend to automatic skills like pursuit, bramble pit, mountaineer bearcharge, sure footing, ect?

I've already posted on this somewhere, but it basically makes terrains act like your home terrain much of the time. (You will notice it in your prompt, if you put terrain type in your prompt.) I seem to recall that it only really did this a lot when perfected, but it goes up fast.) As far as I can tell, it does not extend to spec skills like pursuit though. (I played a plainsrunner explorer.)

1b. I remember hearing somewhere that explorers don't get fast camo. Is there anything to this any hidden disadvantages to the kit?

I had fast-camo as a gnome explorer.

2. Questions on Animist.
2a. About how much does symbiosis heal at hero? Is it out of combat only?

It was quite a lot if you get it right and use it on yourself. As in, if you use it in a room full of wild creatures, you heal a lot (as a wood-elf, anyway). If you use it on others, it heals less. If you use it in a room with no wilds creatures, it doesn't heal much. I -think- it was out of combat only.

2b. How good are spirit guardians/ in a straight up fight?/ utility for warning?/how much control over them do you have?/Can you keep one up all the time or is there a long downtime between callings?

They are ok for a fight, but nothing special. For warning, they are excellent. (They start swimming in circles or whatever if there is someone in your pk near.) I think you can keep them up. They are also able to do lots of stuff, like talk. THere's a funny JAguab log (I think), where his dolphin talks some people who don't know what it is into handing over the staff of wonders.

2c. How big of a boost do you get to terrain based spells (like boreal winds), compared to a non animist?

Not sure. I was a plainsrunner when I was an explorer. However, I think spirit whatyamacallit that acts like spellcraft acts... like spellcraft.

3. Any big advice or suggestions on hometerrains?

Well, I did animist mariner. It worked ok although not so well against ragers or outdoors types. If I were to play another animist, I'd probably go with mountaineer.

Thanks in advance for any advice.