Lvl 16 magician advice

[Berttwe]

Im confused now as to how to do the research of spells for a lvl 16, im new to this game completely so any advice will be appreciated. also wit the mage focus items what prices are we talking for the reagents? and do you need to be lvl 30's to hand in the quests or is that just mob level?
kind regards Berttwe

[Tann]

You can do the hand in for focus items at level 1, the main items for each runs around 200pp each, the other ingredients you can find on vendors or buy for as little as 10-20pp.

check the wiki on how to do research, the level 16 spells are not "research only" and can be purchased in OOT, you'll want to plan a trip out there anyway because to research the level 20 summons you need the level 16 scrolls.

the level requirement is what level you should be to handle the mobs solo, gators in CT for example drop the stein/broom/torch/shovel and are low 30's.

[Berttwe]

ah that explained so much :) thank you so much friend, i best get my self doing some serious grinding

[webrunner5]

I have all 4 Focus Items. And I agree it is about 250 plat if you are prudent in the Tunnel for each. So figure a 1,000 Plat for all 4. Well worth it in my mind.

All 4 pets have their uses whether solo or grouped. Plus the pets look cooler a LOT larger and have more HP. Welcome aboard. :)

[Berttwe]

wow at this time 1000 plat seems a long way away haha, and im going to mke that my aim any advice for the best place to be grinding to get plat atm im doing sisters and im lvl 16 any other places just as good or better?

[brecon]

The other option is to just get a few more levels and go solo in Najena. XP and get your focus items the old fashioned way, and maybe some epic pages as well.

In the meanwhile, maybe just try to buy only the focus item for the pet you solo with the most (which I assume is fire pet). Try to pick up the other 3 focus items in Najena.

I know mages who have leveled up basically naked except for the focus items, so you've picked a good class for your first toon!

[Berttwe]

ive been using the water pet mostly and the earth a little like so itl be those twop i got for first and im enjoying the mage very much so i know the i made the right choice haha. and with the research whats the deal how do you get it up without failing crafting the spells?

[Bodybagger]

Get torch first. Rest are useless. Gives the fire pet almost as much hp as your unbuffed earth pet, and he has an insane damage shield though does more dps than anything you've got, so long as he's tanking. Then once you have torch for solo and duo w/pet tank, and then form there I would suggest getting water pet, then air, then earth last.

Earth pet is pretty useless imo... you shouldn't be doing much of anything to draw agro if efficiently playing a mage, and the dps difference in an earth pet and fire with its self buffed damage shield is a spec compared to the 4x dps probably at lower levels (sub lvl 30, and even beyond, HUGE difference) even if you're buffing your pet with your own damage shield.

Torch of Alna is a 200-400p investment if you buy all parts, and can be handed in at level 1 and used to power level yourself to 30+ basically

also, learnt o time your med ticks and use your lower level pet heal, right from beginning of fight, don't wait for hp to get lower and start healing, you'll be too late. Just start healing at 90%hp or so
. if you sit and med, stand and heal right at med tick, then sit back down, you'll catch them all and heals cost next to nothing then. Also, only nuke with your level 1 or 4 nuke to get a single hit in for xp, and for best results find another caster to duo with so your fire pet can still tank but you get full xp. You can have your current best nuke out because you have free spell slots for it, but only use it to burn down healers or other casters, let melee mobs rage on fire pet's damage shield.

At 16 you should have burnout, make sure it's always on pet, and always make sure to give him a SWEET rusty 2h sword for that big boy damage. My level 16 mage with a burnout buffed focus fire pet with a rusty 2h sword could fully break and run all of the lower level of blackburrow. Including Lord Elgnub, a level 21-23 shadowknight... I did summon a second pet for that.

Also worth noting at lower levels it pays off HUGELY to chain summon for best pet, as they spawn different levels. Fire pet is easy to tell level because damage shield does more dmg on higher level versions. Also, save up money and be prepared for a trip to ocean of tears for pet spells. You don't actually need to research anything til lvl 24, unless you want cornucopia and everfont at lvl 20

[webrunner5]

Yeah, Fire pet for solo, Air Pet, or Water Pet in groups. Air Pet stuns, so good for areas that have Caster Mobs, MM comes to mind, and Water for Backstabs. So Water probably best bet overall if you have a real Tank. NEVER use a Earth pet in a group unless your pet is the Tank, ergo, no other real Melee in the group. And actually your Fire Pet can pretty much kill faster than a Tank. If you have a crowd control person in the group I would not lose much sleep if you didn't have one in say a Trio. In a Full group, yes you need a Tank.

So best Focus item is if you Solo a lot or Group a lot. Fire pet is not the best in a group. It will not get hit much so what good is the DS. And that is its only real strength. :p

[Dragonslayer]

You can do the hand in for focus items at level 1, the main items for each runs around 200pp each, the other ingredients you can find on vendors or buy for as little as 10-20pp.

check the wiki on how to do research, the level 16 spells are not "research only" and can be purchased in OOT, you'll want to plan a trip out there anyway because to research the level 20 summons you need the level 16 scrolls.

the level requirement is what level you should be to handle the mobs solo, gators in CT for example drop the stein/broom/torch/shovel and are low 30's.

Gators? in CT? Did I miss a whole mob drop transition when I was on live back in Kunark and Vel? My first character was a DE mage and when it came time to get my focus items, all items, broom,stein,shovel and torch dropped off the magicians in Nagena. After I finished mine I would farm these items and help lower lvl mages get theirs. I remember that place like the back of my hand and remember one day how confused I was to kill the Widow chic and wonder how the hell was she hitting me so hard =) just to find out the game had glitched and codded her duel wielding that procing dagger she dropped. What was wrong is it's unique and you can't even loot two with out handing the first off to your pet =).

[Bodybagger]

Water pet doesn't backstab til lvl 54 lol but yeah, Fire solo, fire if duo or grouped with pet tanking, water if grouped with a tank, air if grouped and fighting casters, earth if you want to try and do CC for a group, but never solo. If you're fighting stuff you need root for you are doing it wrong imo

FWIW, fire pet trades damage shield for bash/kick but otherwise does same dps as water, so no less efficient for group honestly, and you can offtank adds with him if not being crowd controlled for way more dps yet again.

[Bodybagger]

Gators? in CT? Did I miss a whole mob drop transition when I was on live back in Kunark and Vel? My first character was a DE mage and when it came time to get my focus items, all items, broom,stein,shovel and torch dropped off the magicians in Nagena. After I finished mine I would farm these items and help lower lvl mages get theirs. I remember that place like the back of my hand and remember one day how confused I was to kill the Widow chic and wonder how the hell was she hitting me so hard =) just to find out the game had glitched and codded her duel wielding that procing dagger she dropped. What was wrong is it's unique and you can't even loot two with out handing the first off to your pet =).

They drop in CT as well as Najena. Najena is easier and makes more sense. CT is glitch as hell on p99 and deadly

[Halius]

When you head to OOT for your pet spells, you could probably ask in zone if anyone has the toes you need for your focus items. There is a named Cyclops there that drops all the types of toes you need and there are usually people willing to kill it for you. That is what I did and was able to get the toes I needed for at least the water and fire pets. Look up on the wiki which ones you need and ask around in OOT. Actually I could just post here for you:

Fire Pet - Fire Giant Toes
Water Pet - Ice Giant Toes
Air Pet - Cyclops Toes
Earth Pet - Hill Giant Toes

[Bodybagger]

you can also get someone to kill oracle for robe of the oracle if he's up.

bring enough to buy extra copies of spells because lvl 24 pet IS research only made with lvl 20 pet spells, only earth pet can be bought at 24.

[Velerin]

All the pets have their uses. Fire tends to be best for solo with its high self DS but remember all of a mages flexibility is in their pets. We don't have any CC/stuns/etc of any kind on our own. There are times you will want to use other pets.
Perfect example is if you're soloing casters that you want to burn down fast. Use air for stun or more likely earth for high hp + root. In this case the fire pets DS isn't very useful and his lower hp will drop fast. (focused fire pet has hp of unfocused air pet. Earth still has significantly higher hp)
Another example is splitting 2 tough mobs. The fire pet will die too fast usually with his low hp. Earth pet allows you to root, pull back and fight 1 at a time (although for short times but still saves a lot of damage if you position well)
So if you want to just level easy mode on the bard diet, sure only buy your fire pets and make yourself another CotH bot but if you really want to play a mage use all your tools.

[Bodybagger]

casters still melee a ton and fire pet still does more dmg... the damage shield hits as hard as the pet does.... every single attack that hits it.. so it literally kills twice as fast as other pets for the most part... and on casters you can burn them, they have lower hp.

Higher hp means nothing almost as you'll have to a)chain summon or b)heal pet and either way an earth pet takes SO much longer to kill that you are less efficient from mana consumption standpoint, and also less efficient from time to kill standpoint, drastically reducing overall speed at which you are capable of leveling.


By all means, you can use any pet and succeed but a fire pet is the superior pet in 90%+ situations as you level solo, duo, and even often grouped unless you have good CC and never need offtanking.

Fire pet is also your single best mana/dmg spell to cast honestly anyways so I'd rather summon 4 fire pets than 2 earth pets and nuke if it honestly came down to that.

Best bet for mage is get fire focus asap and find a caster to duo with (enchanter, mage, necro all perfect duos with other pets) so you don't lose xp form pet doing most of dmg. insanely powerful combos and you are your own holy trinity played right... tank, healer, and dps. Plenty of ways to skin a cat, I just think that one gets you the best hide so to speak.

[Dragonslayer]

casters still melee a ton and fire pet still does more dmg... the damage shield hits as hard as the pet does.... every single attack that hits it.. so it literally kills twice as fast as other pets for the most part... and on casters you can burn them, they have lower hp.

Higher hp means nothing almost as you'll have to a)chain summon or b)heal pet and either way an earth pet takes SO much longer to kill that you are less efficient from mana consumption standpoint, and also less efficient from time to kill standpoint, drastically reducing overall speed at which you are capable of leveling.


By all means, you can use any pet and succeed but a fire pet is the superior pet in 90%+ situations as you level solo, duo, and even often grouped unless you have good CC and never need offtanking.

Fire pet is also your single best mana/dmg spell to cast honestly anyways so I'd rather summon 4 fire pets than 2 earth pets and nuke if it honestly came down to that.

Best bet for mage is get fire focus asap and find a caster to duo with (enchanter, mage, necro all perfect duos with other pets) so you don't lose xp form pet doing most of dmg. insanely powerful combos and you are your own holy trinity played right... tank, healer, and dps. Plenty of ways to skin a cat, I just think that one gets you the best hide so to speak.

Every one keeps making the point that Fire is best because of DS. Don't forget, Mages get castable FIRE DS and can add that to any pet or player they choose making all pets viable solo.

[webrunner5]

Bodybagger is right about the Water pet not backstabbing till level 54. I am so used to my high level Mage forgot. :(

So I would still say Fire pet solo, Air pet groups. But if you have a bad puller and a lot of adds I would say use the Fire pet to take on a single to kill. It really depends on how the group is or what mobs you are going against solo. And it is really VERY hard to get all 4 pets at the same level with the damn research thing that you are trading off a lower level pet at times to summon. Mage is at times easy and hard as hell at the same time.

And now with the latest patches I have found Pet agro to be pretty good. So Earth pet sort of works a little better now than say 6 months ago. So more options lol. :eek: But I would only use it in really ugly situations and that is probably not something you want to get into on a Mage anyways. :p

[Bodybagger]

Every one keeps making the point that Fire is best because of DS. Don't forget, Mages get castable FIRE DS and can add that to any pet or player they choose making all pets viable solo.

Lvl 20 is 9dmg you cast and spend mana om repeated vs 24+ focus fire pet has already... Its like powerleveling yourself. Its obscene.

[Dragonslayer]

Lvl 20 is 9dmg you cast and spend mana om repeated vs 24+ focus fire pet has already... Its like powerleveling yourself. Its obscene.

True but either way any can have DS if you like.. Been to long but I remember my DS being 24 at 55. I can't remember when I got that one.

[Bodybagger]

True but either way any can have DS if you like.. Been to long but I remember my DS being 24 at 55. I can't remember when I got that one.

Exactly. The fire pet is like having a 50+ mage around to D.S. your tank lol... vs spending tons of mana keeping an earth pet D.S.'d and being less efficient mana, dps, time, xp wise. *shrug*

Literally, with the torch, a lvl 16 max lvl fire pet with a rusty 2hand sword or scythe can drop 3-4 white-yellow cons with you just support healing, and does it quicker than a group of twinks. D.S. is the almighty DPS tool for low level grinding and you can give it to yourself. HACKS! lol

[Heavydrop]

Get torch first. Rest are useless.
No matter how many times I hear this I am always amazed by how wrong it is.
Sure, you can do it all with just fire but why go to war with 3 quarters of your arsenal missing?
I've solo'd in places (Mistmoore Graveyard, and others) thanks to my earth pet's root (used it to break up spawns) that I couldn't have done with fire.

Fire is great for soloing due to its innate DS but if you're grouping you'll want the whole range.
And why not group and negate that 50% exp penalty?
*boggle*

[Bodybagger]

So... You think there should be two mages with torches forming the ultimate alliance? I agree.

Others are useless sub lvl 24. Fire pet solos fuckig entire zones of anything not redcon...

[webrunner5]

I can tell you I USE all 4 of my pets a lot. At least 3 of them sometimes in a 2 or 3 hour solo, and probably 2 of them in a group setting. They all have a use in certain instances. If you only use the Fire pet you are really not taking advantage of half your ability to engage, split, CC etc.

A Mage is a lot harder to play well than most people think. It is not all send in the fire pet and sit on your ass like a LOT of people do on here if you really want to make a Mage really stand out. But I am not knocking people that do it, but they are missing the fun of the cat and mouse stuff you can do on a Mage. They are damn powerful played to the max. And if you are lucky enough to ever have the Epic, and The Burnt Wood Staff ,http://wiki.project1999.com/Burnt_Wood_Staff, Wow hold on. Killing machine.

[Velerin]

Yeah, fire pet DS is powerful and ideal for low blues that won't hit too hard but he's far from some kind of god. He has low hp so against tougher stuff or things that nuke he will die fast. You can use him to chain pets but keep in mind when chaining he doesn't recast his DS instantly and won't cast in combat. One way to get around that is if he hasn't casted yet you can keep /pet back off to unaggro him and eventually he will cast it on himself in between getting hit by the mob.

[webrunner5]

You can use him to chain pets but keep in mind when chaining he doesn't recast his DS instantly and won't cast in combat. One way to get around that is if he hasn't casted yet you can keep /pet back off to unagro him and eventually he will cast it on himself in between getting hit by the mob.

Good advice for people new to a Mage. Well done. ;)

[Falisaty]

Every one keeps making the point that Fire is best because of DS. Don't forget, Mages get castable FIRE DS and can add that to any pet or player they choose making all pets viable solo.

BINGO!!!

[Bodybagger]

I can tell you I USE all 4 of my pets a lot. At least 3 of them sometimes in a 2 or 3 hour solo, and probably 2 of them in a group setting. They all have a use in certain instances. If you only use the Fire pet you are really not taking advantage of half your ability to engage, split, CC etc.

A Mage is a lot harder to play well than most people think. It is not all send in the fire pet and sit on your ass like a LOT of people do on here if you really want to make a Mage really stand out. But I am not knocking people that do it, but they are missing the fun of the cat and mouse stuff you can do on a Mage. They are damn powerful played to the max. And if you are lucky enough to ever have the Epic, and The Burnt Wood Staff ,http://wiki.project1999.com/Burnt_Wood_Staff, Wow hold on. Killing machine.

ROFL "mages are way trickier to play not just chain pets BUT if you get epic and clicky nuke stick and just sit back and chain pets and click mana free nukes OMG WTFBBQSAUCE powerful.... :cool:

Cool story!

I would gladly take on any other mage sub lvl 30 with my fire pet only in a dps test to see who can kill faster and solo harder mobs. You will lose. It's pure simple numbers. You stand NO CHANCE. Solo it is no contest. Grouped yes there are options but no way solo. earth pet is junk. It's a meat shield and your nukes suck at mana efficiency harder than pet healing does. I can med and heal within med ticks and barely use mana before the second pet heal at 16 or 20... I have literally solo'd all of Blackburrow fighting groups of even con elites and stuff with a max level fire pet summoned with torch, and burnout on him, with a rusty 2h sword or scythe or halberd. Thing destroys everything.

I have also solo'd gargoyls at lvl 16 in OoT with the same pet at lvl 16. Go solo red con lvl 20ish gargoyls with any other pet and come argue with me.

I've also duo'd with many other casters. Generally a solid duo/trio will be another pet class with their taunt off, or anyone that can heal/buff pet with you. You are literally power leveling yourself. Plain and simple. The fire pet with focus torch is ungodly OP from lvl 1-20 and still very imbalanced til 30+.

Make no mistake. I have ALL FOCUS ITEMS. But I don't ever find use for the others except for group setting where water pet might do marginally better dps with addition of kick/bash and same nuke or air deals slightly less dps with no nuke, but has kick/bash and can interrupt casters. Earth pet is ghetto CC and I don't bother with it, I move on to something more productive if I find myself needing that root to save my bacon. 2 mages+ mages with torches splitting pulls would be insane (and duo is priceless for no XP loss!)

[webrunner5]

ROFL "mages are way trickier to play not just chain pets BUT if you get epic and clicky nuke stick and just sit back and chain pets and click mana free nukes OMG WTFBBQSAUCE powerful.... :cool:

Cool story!

I would gladly take on any other mage sub lvl 30 with my fire pet only in a dps test to see who can kill faster and solo harder mobs. You will lose. It's pure simple numbers. You stand NO CHANCE. Solo it is no contest. Grouped yes there are options but no way solo. earth pet is junk. It's a meat shield and your nukes suck at mana efficiency harder than pet healing does. I can med and heal within med ticks and barely use mana before the second pet heal at 16 or 20... I have literally solo'd all of Blackburrow fighting groups of even con elites and stuff with a max level fire pet summoned with torch, and burnout on him, with a rusty 2h sword or scythe or halberd. Thing destroys everything.

I have also solo'd gargoyls at lvl 16 in OoT with the same pet at lvl 16. Go solo red con lvl 20ish gargoyls with any other pet and come argue with me.

I've also duo'd with many other casters. Generally a solid duo/trio will be another pet class with their taunt off, or anyone that can heal/buff pet with you. You are literally power leveling yourself. Plain and simple. The fire pet with focus torch is ungodly OP from lvl 1-20 and still very imbalanced til 30+.

Make no mistake. I have ALL FOCUS ITEMS. But I don't ever find use for the others except for group setting where water pet might do marginally better dps with addition of kick/bash and same nuke or air deals slightly less dps with no nuke, but has kick/bash and can interrupt casters. Earth pet is ghetto CC and I don't bother with it, I move on to something more productive if I find myself needing that root to save my bacon. 2 mages+ mages with torches splitting pulls would be insane (and duo is priceless for no XP loss!)

You are sort of making some pretty silly statements with this post. Not really much help to someone new trying to learn how to play a Mage well. A lot has to do what zone you are in. Fire pet is not the clear cut pet for every one of them. Not all the time with every mob in them.

I will give you credit Fire pet is pretty much the go to at lower levels on average, but there is a reason the Devs gave us 4 pets even when soloing. :p

[Bodybagger]

You are sort of making some pretty silly statements with this post. Not really much help to someone new trying to learn how to play a Mage well. A lot has to do what zone you are in. Fire pet is not the clear cut pet for every one of them. Not all the time with every mob in them.

I will give you credit Fire pet is pretty much the go to at lower levels on average, but there is a reason the Devs gave us 4 pets even when soloing. :p

Who says the 4 pets were for solo? Obviously fire pet is for solo since he has DS and in a group with tank he's useless. Earth is for CC, air is for stunning casters in group, and water is for DPS in group if not offtanking, and backstabs at 54+.

That said, this leaves solo, any duo without a tank, and grouping when you pet offtank as the superior territory for the fire pet. Which means 90% of the time if you play like that (solo, duo with another pet class or caster, or grouped and help offtank/split pulls) the fire pet is superior because it is designed to be so. This has always been my entire point. By all means, get all focus items and pets but if you could only choose one, there is no way it wouldn't be fire. Best tank because of D.S. making it more efficient to heal or chain cast than earth pet and higher dps than any other pet, when tanking.

So I disagree, I think a new player, who may be lucky to have plat for 1 pet and other spells each level, and maybe spend and quest for 1 focus item, would be far better served by "just get the fire pet" (for aforementioned reasons) than to be told "they are all useful and necessary and you need them all". Honestly, if you get a mage his torch at low level he ONLY needs fire pet til 30+ at which point his fire pet can solo the cmaps to farm the pieces for the other focus items. Win/win

[webrunner5]

Who says the 4 pets were for solo? Obviously fire pet is for solo since he has DS and in a group with tank he's useless. Earth is for CC, air is for stunning casters in group, and water is for DPS in group if not offtanking, and backstabs at 54+.

That said, this leaves solo, any duo without a tank, and grouping when you pet offtank as the superior territory for the fire pet. Which means 90% of the time if you play like that (solo, duo with another pet class or caster, or grouped and help offtank/split pulls) the fire pet is superior because it is designed to be so. This has always been my entire point. By all means, get all focus items and pets but if you could only choose one, there is no way it wouldn't be fire. Best tank because of D.S. making it more efficient to heal or chain cast than earth pet and higher dps than any other pet, when tanking.

So I disagree, I think a new player, who may be lucky to have plat for 1 pet and other spells each level, and maybe spend and quest for 1 focus item, would be far better served by "just get the fire pet" (for aforementioned reasons) than to be told "they are all useful and necessary and you need them all". Honestly, if you get a mage his torch at low level he ONLY needs fire pet til 30+ at which point his fire pet can solo the cmaps to farm the pieces for the other focus items. Win/win

You still have no clue what you are talking about only using the Fire Pet to solo, Jesus.

New people. DO NOT listen to what he is saying please.

You do not use a Fire pet to farm high level trust me. I am not saying buy all 4 pets every level. Buy what you can afford, and learn how to play all 4 of them. Not just be level 30 and never used any other one, and be clueless as hell like you are suggesting.

[Bodybagger]

You are addressing new people then saying farming at high level... just how confused or fucking retarded are you exactly?

Do you understand the word CONTEXT? I said a new player, lucky to be getting spells, and perhaps lucky enough to get 1 single focus item.... obviously anyone wealthy enough or high lvl enough to get them all could situationally use them all etc. Bottom line is fire > all for solo, most duo, and a lot of grouping until above lvl 30 gameplay or so where situational pets can really start to shine in certain scenarios.

What part of this do you not get? You can't simultaneously address someone as a new player and discuss high end solo'ing and epics with them.... wtf is wrong with you?