Advice on Wizardry

[Mirakk82]

Well, I checked out the server pop numbers in another thread recently, and Wizards are about where I expected (damn near last). I played one to 34 or so back in the day but that was during LDoN or somesuch. I know it's probably a lot more brutal in classic.

I'm not a diehard poopsocker or anything, so I'm not looking to get into the high end raiding scene, or try to be the first to hit level cap or whatever.

Should I go for it? How are people currently playing Wizards finding the server thus far? Are you getting passed up for groups?

Any advice from people who've played a Wizard in this era is greatly appreciated.

[fugazi]

Don't. People won't invite you to groups unless you form them. And with most camps taken, good luck with that! You're a gimped magician who, until he dings 50, has very little to offer. Yeah, people will want you to port them around, but they also will shun you when it comes to grouping.

But if you like going afk for extended periods of time like, always, go for it!

[Widan]

It's a great class to play while at work. Use whole mana bar to nuke one mob, med for 10 minutes and do some work, repeat.

[Cen]

Its not even that bad a DPS class in classic. It's in fact not a DPS class at all. You have a job to delete threats with burst damage. You are an artillery piece. Artillery isn't something you roll into the castle to take it, and you don't roll it up to a hill to take a hill.. but you do blow the fuck out of things so that the other pieces can take the territory. Its not thought of properly in an MMO setting usually. In a raid, that's pretty important, and in a group environment, deleting a mob can often be more effective then a very wide mez dance an Enchanter is struggling to hold.

Their function weakens in Kunark and Velious, but its still there anyway.

I'm really pro wizard.

[clacbec]

Artillery isn't something you roll into the castle.

[Irfzero]

Its not even that bad a DPS class in classic. It's in fact not a DPS class at all. You have a job to delete threats with burst damage. You are an artillery piece. Artillery isn't something you roll into the castle to take it, and you don't roll it up to a hill to take a hill.. but you do blow the fuck out of things so that the other pieces can take the territory. Its not thought of properly in an MMO setting usually. In a raid, that's pretty important, and in a group environment, deleting a mob can often be more effective then a very wide mez dance an Enchanter is struggling to hold.

Their function weakens in Kunark and Velious, but its still there anyway.

I'm really pro wizard.

This.

[Balimon]

It's not for everyone, but if you're going to play a wizard, now is the time.

[fastboy21]

It's a great class to play while at work. Use whole mana bar to nuke one mob, med for 10 minutes and do some work, repeat.

Its like you lived in my house while I was in graduate school...

[Videri]

• Many groups take wizards. I got plenty of groups leveling up as a wizard on Blue this year, though I opted to quad or otherwise solo more than I grouped. Green might be even better, as a naked wizard compares better to naked melee than it does to twinks.
• Use your CC spells foremost; nuke if CC is not needed. Stun healing mobs at 40%; stun wizard/cleric mobs to prevent dispels, AE nukes, or other annoying spells; root adds; snare and then root adds. And yes, it’s not crazy to use your snare on a single mob even though it’s an AE snare. You can even snare on inc, kite and root, then sit back down. Get your flux staff (not available yet on Green) because it’s great for forcing a mob to come to you so you can root it away from the group. Why do any of this? To save healer mana by preventin mobs from hitting anyone. Keep your rune up so they don’t need to heal you. Keep a stack of reagents. Totally worth it.
• Learn to park caster mobs around corners and root them so they can’t freecast on your group. Also park healer mobs far enough away that they do not heal allied mobs.
• Form your own groups or send tells to existing groups. You are not allowed to complain about lack of groups unless you are doing this!
• Bind near your hunting area, port yourself to places like WC or EC (via NRo) to get clarity or POTG, and gate back. This noticeably improves your output of damage and CC.

[Ripcord]

im doing the solo wiz at work thing, pretty fun actually

[Dolalin]

Just keep in mind that Verant was really hard on wizzies at launch. Rend wasn't added until July 1999 and Ice Comet quest wasn't added until that time either. You will be using your 44 nukes for awhile until enough people kill Vox/Naggy/Alizewesaur.

[Thievery]

I am one of the higher level Wizards on the server at the moment. Making friends and being social is key when you actually do find groups etc. When players I am not friends with are not on I usually spend upwards of 6-8+ hours LFG each night with no invite and just log and go to bed.

The other issue is that resists seem to be very harsh on the server currently. I often find myself having to find very very low blue cons to kill. The reality is that even a mob 3 level lowers than me often resists enough nukes that I do not have the damage to kill it and will have to Gate / Zone.

All that said, I love Wizards and there is always a need for some in the community! Go for it!

[Mirakk82]

Hey, thanks for all this. I really appreciate it. I know being a Wizard right now is going to be a giant pain, but I didn't come to P99 and consider the class because I wanted my hand held.

And for the folks saying it's great to play while at work, I hadn't really considered that much, but there's a fair amount of time I have at work to get a few hours in that way, so thanks for that.

Thievery, your insights as a higher level wizard are super-appreciated as well. Resists are a giant pain in the ass, and it seems like grouping is going to be the name of the game in that regard.

[Tecmos Deception]

Imo look for camps with spellcasters. Wizards may not have good sustained damage, but stuns and big nukes go a long ways, especially at low levels, to taking care of otherwise very difficult NPCs.

A wizard dervish cutthroat in oasis can do a shitload of damage to a group with just a couple nukes. But a PC wizard can kill it before it can run halfway to the camp! An orc cleric in oasis can heal itself for more hp than it initially has max. A wizard hitting it with a nuke when it's at 50% drops it into "I better run away slowly from this group" mode without it using mana on heals. Etc.


Of course... good luck convincing some groups that makes you a worthwhile addition.