Advice on strategy for a Wizard

[Kuch7]

Originally Posted by Troxx [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I just want him to know what he's getting into. Unless with friends he will have a hard time finding groups because a group would be better off adding literally any other class in most situations ... or just leaving that spot empty.

Most people don't have a calculator and a damage table set up by their desk. They might be better off, the real question is if they care or not. 99% of the time, groups aren't playing for efficiency; they're playing for fun. People usually don't care about efficiency to the point of class exclusion until higher levels (46+), and even then Wizards tend to be a welcome addition due to their ports and evacs. You're giving him an unrealistic perception of how the vast majority of EQ players operate.

Whenever I had a desire to join a group, I never had a problem finding one. This is especially true with the Wizard raiding scene, which is both much more fun and much more important than mid-level grouping. Find a good guild and you'll be fine. Like I said before, raids need Wizards more than they know.

[kjs86z]

Originally Posted by Troxx [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Perhaps I should clarify.

This server is notorious for class discrimination. Sit in groups long enough and you will see it come through when it comes time to replace people who leave. Of all the classes that struggle - wizards have it the worst. Hell, even necromancers who bring a whole lot of everything to the table don't get invites easily. My point here is we've got a guy new to this server who has experience with the wizard class from live. Wizards on live from luclin onwards just get better - to the point that they are a premier dps class both for raid burns and for standard groups. Wizards here are very different. The new guy should know up front what his challenge will be and why it will be a challenge.

The argument that wizards bring a whole lot of "other" to the table is just disingenuous. 3/3 priests, 3/4 int casters, 1/3 tanks, and 1 melee class get root. 5 other classes get snare. Multiple classes can stun. These extra jobs aren't even jobs a wizard does better, it's just an optional extra they can do. Druids for example, do everything a wizard does for a group on top of a wide range of buffs and heals. The only thing a Druid does worse is flat out nuke - and the math already shows us that outside of a burn even the best nuking class can't put down consistent damage pull after pull. Mages have the benefit of a pet that puts out more sustained by itself than most reasonably well geared and buffed melee in their 50s ... their nukes are just extra icing on the cake that's still close to what a wizard can manage over time.

It's a niche class. If you enjoy it, by all means play it. If you want so solo quad - they're good for that. If you want to burn raid mobs - again, they are good for that too. If you want to get groups outside of charity invites or hunting exclusively with friends ... you might just find the life of the wizard to be lonely and frustrating.

For the record, I have/had plenty of wizard friends and have a nasty habit of inviting random people lfg even if we don't need them or their class isn't ideal. The social aspect is what I enjoy about eq - and sitting lfg for hours sucks.

/thread

[Lhancelot]

Most important thing for any lowbie wizard to do is build a solid reputation as a non-AFKing douchebag which is the stigma the class carries.

If the wizard has any personality, that goes a long way too. Just being a fun groupie will make people more inclined to invite you as a wizard.

The technical aspects that can endear you to a group as a wizard is:

1. Know you have more than just nuke spells. Use roots to help tanks hold aggro better or just for CC purposes if you need to root/park mobs since you have bad CC or no CC in the group.

2. Use DS if it proves to be more efficient damage over the course of your fights.

3. Don't nuke the mob when it's at 70%, this only makes killing the mob harder because you will yank aggro off the tank, and have the mob running all over the place chasing you meaning the melee in group miss hits on the mob. Nuke to finish mobs off.

I only met 1 wizard who did all of these things, and he was able to find groups in KC np at 50+. He also organized his own groups, so that helped.

[Maxed]

Originally Posted by Kuch7 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The only complaint I have is the lack of money-making ability at later levels.

Yeah you can't make money porting or anything.
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[Kuch7]

Originally Posted by Maxed [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yeah you can't make money porting or anything.
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I'm sure competing with Dial-a-Port and making 200pp an hour is fine at level 30. Compare that to 800pp an hour a competent mage makes with Seafuries at 46+, and porting doesn't get you very far financially speaking.

[Ravager]

Originally Posted by Kuch7 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'm sure competing with Dial-a-Port and making 200pp an hour is fine at level 30. Compare that to 800pp an hour a competent mage makes with Seafuries at 46+, and porting doesn't get you very far financially speaking.

If you like to do sea furies on your mage, you really shouldn't encourage a wizard to come over.

Grouping in dungeons is quite profitable and way better than fighting 12 people for 6 spawns.

[Vexenu]

I used to quad Seafuries on my Wizard back when the island was less crowded. Every now and then you'd get a quad with gems on each cyclops. 500pp or thereabouts from a single quad - about 2 minutes of actual gameplay. Now that was good money. Too much competition for that these days, though.

I echo Troxx's sentiments about Wizards. Especially these days post-Chardok AOE nerf, you've got to be a masochist, a super hardcore raider or an inveterate and inexplicable lover of the Wizard class to play one to 60. They just aren't very good for much of anything besides dropping nukes on raid mobs. That's really it. They're most niche class in the game by a country mile. But in their defense, it's a pretty solid niche. A well-geared, level 60 raiding Wizard is a serious asset to any guild. But it's a hell of a long and boring road to get there.

[Kaezyr D`Shiv]

Once upon a late night Sebilis group, my group (started out mainly guildies) moved to Fungus King from NG. Then I, even as a 60 Wizard, had the opportunity to see the Myconid Spore King spawn, and drop Fungus Covered Scaled Tunic. I EVEN got to roll on said tunic!! Even being a wizard, despite everything everyone always says about wizards in groups, this new group with maybe only 1 guildy, didn't disclude me from the privelege of rolling on this highly sought after item.

Well, I lost the roll, and a monk alt (who already had one and had someone transfer it for him in EC on a mule) won the roll for it. (Thats P99 for you)

What can i say, your mileage may very. That said, i plan to try grouping in Sebilis again very soon as a 60 Wizard.

Will I, or any other wizard see a Fungus King group again? Your thoughts??

Btw, if you see me LFG in Sebilis pick me up please and thank you!!

[Lojik]

Get a flux staff. Might be questable at your level. It's great for tagging mobs for quadding and can also be used to to root park mobs out of LoS in dungeons.

[Sonark]

#wizardlivesmatter