Wizard dps vs melee in groups?

[Broot]

I played a Wizard on both Live and have a 49 on Classic. I love this class.

People tend to get caught up in ideals and believe "rogue is better because it has the best sustained damage". Let's compare what both classes have to offer, because they fill different roles with the dps role -

Rogue = Highest consistent dps and good aggro management with Hide / Evade.

Wizard = Damage on a throttle. Crowd control (turbo roots). Evacuate. Snare. Agro management (Concussion line)

In an ideal situation with nice pretty single pulls, a good tank and no adds, rogue will be the better choice hands-down. No contesting this.

When the group finds itself in deep trouble, and the Wizard has managed his/her mana properly, the Wizard has a few tricks up his/her sleeve that a rogue does not:

1.) Completely melt a mob with dps that cannot be matched by any other class and isn't dependent on having the mob's back open. (Resists must be factored, but in exp groups they are often blues)
2.) Plant the mob at a distance for a LONG root.
3.) Evacuate the entire group to safety.
4.) Agro-Snare kite up to 4 mobs (not very plausible in most dungeons, but sometimes this is viable)

Rogues don't have many options at their disposable to handle situations gone poorly. They can CR really well, though.

Damage control is also very important in raid encounters. A wizard can more or less choose exactly how much damage they do and at what point they do it. Best for full burn situations. Best for shorter encounters. I like doing the math involved in "How do I go from 100% to 0% mana on this boss fight without getting myself killed but still getting the most mana to damage (yea I'm a nerd).

I think people overlook how both these classes deal damage. Being able to throttle damage exactly to how you want to deal it is what makes Wizard a situationally better DPS. Don't let it get you down you aren't ideal for the perfect situation grind group - you fill a great and important niche and you could surprise a group and make them really happy they have you around.

If you don't mind sitting down a lot [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] LOTS of sitting. I get a lot of chores done when I'm soloing.

[Grozmok]

Yeah, Wizards are totally useful. Not going to argue that. I thought we were just talking melee DPS vs. wizzy DPS, though?

Also, being able to blast mobs that run/gate is super useful as well. It's a form of crowd control, really.

[Broot]

Yea, that's true, if we talk about ONLY dps, then Wizards don't add up well. Maybe with C2, epic buff regen and Bard song they will be uber- but that's not realistic.

It's narrow sighted to only talk about DPS so I wanted to bring up the CC / insurance roles that a Wizard also brings in some depth.

But like Groz mentioned earlier - play what you think is cool in your heart of hearts. Don't let the min / maxxers get ya down [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Rais]

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

Seb/HS keys aren't soulbound?

Keys are soul bound. In Kunark keys weren't soul bound. It made Seb, HS and Vp even harder than it was. That forced groups to be with a evacer most of the time. Thus it included Druids and Wizards, and dragged VP on for weeks on first kills, and not just 1 night.

[clacbec]

hmm ? a thread about Wiz ? what about a thread about gnomes ? a thread about people talking, a thread about slackers Etc .. what a LOL
G'

[Slave]

All those talking about how Wizards are useful because of their escape capabilities, remember that when you have a Wizard in your group, you are relatively understrength and may need that capability more often, leading to a self-serving prophecy.

[Splorf22]

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

Wall of text about how the wizard saves the group in bad situations.

Reality check: no, they don't. A L60 wizard has 3000 mana and can do perhaps 12k damage in full burn mode. A L50 mob has 10k hp. If you pull 4 krup shamans, the wizard is not going to blast them all (or even two of them) away, or kite them with aoe snare. Is the wizard useless in such a situation? Of course not. But if you replace the wizard with a good enchanter, that pull is suddenly not only no problem, but good xp.

The simple fact is that I have no idea why there is an advertisement for a new PVP server on a thread about why wizards are . . . underpowered . . . in XP groups.

[Grozmok]

Originally Posted by Splorf22 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I have no idea why there is an advertisement for a new PVP server on a thread about why wizards are . . . underpowered . . . in XP groups.

Because the dwindling, crybaby (ironic, I know), red population are mad that they've scared away all the lambs that were tired of getting slaughtered.

Who wants to log on to a game that already takes a lot of time to play and get their ass bind camped?

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[Lazortag]

Originally Posted by Splorf22 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Reality check: no, they don't. A L60 wizard has 3000 mana and can do perhaps 12k damage in full burn mode. A L50 mob has 10k hp. If you pull 4 krup shamans, the wizard is not going to blast them all (or even two of them) away, or kite them with aoe snare. Is the wizard useless in such a situation? Of course not. But if you replace the wizard with a good enchanter, that pull is suddenly not only no problem, but good xp.

The simple fact is that I have no idea why there is an advertisement for a new PVP server on a thread about why wizards are . . . underpowered . . . in XP groups.

A typical exp mob at higher levels has much less than 10k hp (mobs in HS north/west wings have like 4-5k hp, mobs in chardok have about 6k I think, mobs in seb/KC are about the same I believe).

[Slave]

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

A typical exp mob at higher levels has much less than 10k hp (mobs in HS north/west wings have like 4-5k hp, mobs in chardok have about 6k I think, mobs in seb/KC are about the same I believe).

I would say that 10k hp at 50th level is quite accurate.