new player druid question & which weapon are you using?

Nothing is stopping you from using a mace/shield as a druid. Nothing is stopping you from using a quarterstaff and using 'monk' skills as a druid- in fact druids are one of the most flexible classes in PoE2 so far. The oracle specifically can do just about anything well when you have all the ascendancy points.

When druid was released, a few new spells were added that were druid themed. Entangle, thunderstorm and thrashing vines are the kit that plant druids often use.

That's the beauty of the game, you can use any weapon on any class as long as you meet the stat requirements for the item and for the skills.

That said, the Druid's design was somewhat intended to be a caster/shapeshifter combo, and it's a strength/intelligence hybrid character as a result. The "primal" spells usually have a long duration, so you'd cast it and then switch to animal to either trigger a spell effect, or use the spell to supplement your melee/attack damage.

You can supplement your animal skills with mace skills, for sure. The Druid nodes should have plenty of damage for pure melee, and you have the Warrior nodes nearby if you want to path a little bit to unlock mace-specific nodes.

Use whatever you want leveling. Hell you can use whatever you want endgame too. Try every weapon you find.

The character you choose determines the starting point on the passive tree and what ascendancies you take (sub class). Otherwise, you can do whatever you want

I have found the wolf talisman skills are amazing for leveling. Bear is good as well.