Feel like I'm not contributing much as a Wizard

[jesters]

Hey guys. I never played Everquest before but heard good things about project 1999 so decided to give it a try. I didn't read any class guides before hand (my mistake?) and went with wizard.

I'm level 31 currently and the experience hasn't been so great. I feel like I'm LFG longer than almost every other class and have become extremely reliant on the friends I've made to help me get into groups. Even then when my friends try to get me into groups sometimes they flat out reject it and say to look for another class because Wizards only slow down experience.

I try to play the class as best that I can, but even in groups I can tell that other classes are doing more damage than me and contributing. It's a bit depressing especially when grouping with other classes like magician and seeing their pets outdamage me while the magician gets to nuke as well, and the fact that magician nukes are only slightly worse than mine seems crazy.

I really do enjoy playing my wizard but having groups specifically not want your class is a bit discouraging.

Anyways, just wondering if it ever gets better or if I made a mistake in choosing what seems like the worst class in the game.

[Irfzero]

Maybe not ideal for a first class trying to make friends.It can be a harsh life as a wizard while grouping, they are better suited for end game raid content then the leveling / group experience.

If you make it to 50 you'll enjoy it i'm sure!

[M.J.]

January 3rd you get http://wiki.project1999.com/Bonds_of_Force I've been told. So you'll be able to quad and snare in dungeons, and AE snare to boot so you'll pull aggro and fulfill your wizard duty of tanking!

[Octopath]

I’ve noticed on my ranger that when I sit with LFG on.. I hardly ever get tells. However, if I do a /who all “zone”, send anyone around my lvl a tell to see if their group has space or a list, I will eventually get in. Sometimes you have to do extra work unfortunately.

[Cen]

As a fellow wizard main on blue let me be the first to welcome you to the ranks of heavy artillery. Keep in mind that while the artillery is extremely useful it has a specific purpose. You don't roll the artillery on to the point that you wish to take that's for the DPS classes and the footman respectively. You do blow gigantic holes in fortifications however. I don't have an analogy about your super awesome ability to make people Get Zapped from one end of the world to the other so I'll just say that you didn't pick the best grouping class but you did pick an extremely strong solo and raid class. I love Wizards and want to see more of them. They still have uses in a group for General crowd control and deleting threats

[Ivanix]

I’ve never done a P99 raid. Can someone explain why wizards are better than other DPS classes at raiding, other than for their ports?
I totally get that wizards can deal damage the FASTEST, but that’s provided that they have mana. They’re just going to turn their whole mana bar into damage and then sit there medding while everyone else either catches up in damage or even surpasses them, right? (I’m assuming a raid fight lasts long enough for this to occur, no??)

[Fawqueue]

Wizard leveling is the hard part. You don't slow down the group, but there is a stigma that you're being lazy because you aren't blowing pulls up every 10 seconds. That being said, I can't count how many times I've been janky groups with double clerics, or a Paladin and Shadowknight that are by no means more efficient or ideal than having a Wizard. You just have to muddle through the middle, because in the end you'll be desired by guilds and have a purpose on raids. And then in Kunark, it's even better because the quad-kiting is amazing and AoE groups are even better.

[Swish]

Wizards are their own worst enemies, throw a small/medium nuke at 80% and one that'll really take the edge off the last 30% of a mob's health... be active, root adds if there's no CC.

Mana burning and declaring "OOM" (possibly after drawing aggro) so you can afk for 5 minutes and carry on watching Netflix is the reason nobody wants a wizard around.

It's the same with necros in groups...stay busy (HoT, 1 dot if the mob survives longer than 30 seconds, mana transfer to cleric, CC an add if there's an overpull) and they're actually a good class to have around. Sending Jobobn in and going back to Netflix every 60 seconds isn't going to cut it.

[cd288]

Wizards are their own worst enemies, throw a small/medium nuke at 80% and one that'll really take the edge off the last 30% of a mob's health... be active, root adds if there's no CC.

Mana burning and declaring "OOM" (possibly after drawing aggro) so you can afk for 5 minutes and carry on watching Netflix is the reason nobody wants a wizard around.

It's the same with necros in groups...stay busy (HoT, 1 dot if the mob survives longer than 30 seconds, mana transfer to cleric, CC an add if there's an overpull) and they're actually a good class to have around. Sending Jobobn in and going back to Netflix every 60 seconds isn't going to cut it.

You leave Jobobn alone

[Vizax_Xaziv]

I have a 54 Wizzy on Blue99 and I can say that LFG-time as a Wizard really is the most unfortunate aspect of the class. You're like to be spending a lot of your time soloing once the next patch hits and you get your "Bonds of Force" spell. To that end, I strongly suggest getting JBOOTS. On the other hand, I will always welcome Wizards in my groups. They actually offer quite a bit to a group insofar as the ability to root-CC and chain-stun caster mobs. Also, of course, the ability to simply burn down a bunch of mobs in the event of a bad pull. This is quite useful on Green/Teal where players are untwinked. I think LFGing will get a bit better once Chanters have the ability to give you Clarity.

Grouping aside, once you're able to quad-kite you will be one of the faster leveling classes. In fact I have trouble grouping my Wizzy on Blue not because of the "LFG-time" but more because group XP is just ssssooooo slow compared to quadding. And this is to say nothing of PBAE groups. Burning down 25 mobs at a time in zones like Skyfire is incredible XP and feels really great as a Wizard.

Additionally, you will be highly sought after by raid guilds and Wizards are a relatively underplayed Class giving you essentially your pick of the litter when you start guild-shopping. Those Mages won't be able to use pets on raids and their nukes will never land on raid mobs either. As a Wizzy you will be the best raid-DPS during Kunark. In Velious, once you have your Dragon/Giant-bane, you'll be incredibly powerful as well.

[Jimjam]

If you go to the source material of the source material (Everquest->Dungeons and Dragons-> Lord of the Rings) you'll see that the role of wizards is forming groups.

[Dolalin]

The gap between wizard and mage is supposed to be closer.

* Sword of Runes shouldn't have a proc yet
* Mage pets should not be dual wielding or wielding weapons at all for that matter
* Mage pets should have only just recently gotten spells, and the Earth pet isn't supposed to get root until October 1999

If this were the case, wizards would be closer to mages in utility, with wiz having a snare once they get BoF and the mages still lacking a root.

Hopefully in place for the next iteration of Green.

[Natewest1987]

January 3rd you get http://wiki.project1999.com/Bonds_of_Force I've been told. So you'll be able to quad and snare in dungeons, and AE snare to boot so you'll pull aggro and fulfill your wizard duty of tanking!

where is future patch stuff listed? need to know what to look out for lol

[uygi]

Wizards legitimately are very bad sustained DPS. An XP group wants nonstop pulling and killing of merbs, and wizards suck at that. There are roles they can perform, but nothing that can't be done a lot better. Is a wizard better CC than a paladin? I dunno... they have slightly better root but they can't take a hit, and that paladin at least has a chance to lull first and still tanks decently as well. Obviously an enchanter is a better CC and the best DPS in the game. Wizard nukes better than druid/mage, but wizards' biggest advantage there is in cast time, and in an XP group that doesn't matter cus you aren't trying to empty your mana bar, and you'd draw aggro if you did. Blasting out a mana bar as a wizard is only for raid mobs that the tank has a full mallet into.

Yeah, terrible group class. I say this as a guy that leveled 2 wizards on blue purely for raiding purposes... cus that's what they're for.

[semioldguy]

As a wizard grouping can be rough. Are you part of or have you considered joining a guild? Wizards are fairly desirable to guilds. Guild chat can also be a good place to find and look for a group, and as a Wizard traveling to groups is less of a concern.

[stewe]

If u arent active for every mob you arent playing a wiz right, there are these nice spells called stuns that you should be throwing out, you arent just there to press your highest lvl nuke, if that is all you are doing then you arent a very good wiz, a 50 wiz without IC still nukes for over 784 dd a pop, even 1 nuke is nothing to laugh about, by the time most other dps get that amount you already should have regened most if not all the mana u just blew, ppl that diss wiz dont actually know how a wiz works, get a good wiz in a group and watch the exp per hour go up

[Dolalin]

a 50 wiz without IC still nukes for over 784 dd a pop,

Not until Rend is added in July 1999.

[Smellybuttface]

If u arent active for every mob you arent playing a wiz right, there are these nice spells called stuns that you should be throwing out, you arent just there to press your highest lvl nuke, if that is all you are doing then you arent a very good wiz, a 50 wiz without IC still nukes for over 784 dd a pop, even 1 nuke is nothing to laugh about, by the time most other dps get that amount you already should have regened most if not all the mana u just blew, ppl that diss wiz dont actually know how a wiz works, get a good wiz in a group and watch the exp per hour go up

Can we get some punctuation??

[Videri]

I’ve never done a P99 raid. Can someone explain why wizards are better than other DPS classes at raiding, other than for their ports?
I totally get that wizards can deal damage the FASTEST, but that’s provided that they have mana. They’re just going to turn their whole mana bar into damage and then sit there medding while everyone else either catches up in damage or even surpasses them, right? (I’m assuming a raid fight lasts long enough for this to occur, no??)

If you’re talking about clearing hordes of trash in Fear or Hate or ToV, then yes, wizards are low DPS. But if you’re talking about burning down a 32k hp Kunark raid mob with a nasty AE, it’s helpful to have several wizards to make the fight shorter. Once you have a certain number of wizards, if they all use up a full mana bar, that’s a ton of damage, delivered faster than other classes can do it.

[Vexenu]

Don't group on a Wiz for XP, ever. You're just screwing everyone over, including yourself. Quadding is best, but even single target root-nuking is better. You have the advantage on a Wiz of making very fast kills. So most of your "XP time" is actually medding, during which you can do other things. It's a much more efficient use of your time than being the worst member of every group you join.

That being said, Wiz is one of the best classes for raid-focused players. This holds true all the way through Velious. If you enjoy raiding and contributing to a guild's progress (like other raid-focused classes like Warrior, Cleric, Bard, Rogue) but like a more independent playstyle and don't want a lot of in-game responsibility, Wiz is the perfect class. Pretty much no guild ever says, "We have too many Wizards on the roster."

[jesters]

Don't group on a Wiz for XP, ever. You're just screwing everyone over, including yourself. Quadding is best, but even single target root-nuking is better. You have the advantage on a Wiz of making very fast kills. So most of your "XP time" is actually medding, during which you can do other things. It's a much more efficient use of your time than being the worst member of every group you join.

That being said, Wiz is one of the best classes for raid-focused players. This holds true all the way through Velious. If you enjoy raiding and contributing to a guild's progress (like other raid-focused classes like Warrior, Cleric, Bard, Rogue) but like a more independent playstyle and don't want a lot of in-game responsibility, Wiz is the perfect class. Pretty much no guild ever says, "We have too many Wizards on the roster."

Thanks for this. Yeah I should of done more research instead of just blindly picking a class. Still an incredibly shitty feeling to know that I'm a drag on groups no matter how well I play.

[sebastin]

Unfortunately wizard as use alot of Mana for their spells, leaving alot of downtime. It's a long road to 50 but worth it. You'll be geared and rich.