Wizard, when do they turn the corner?

[Stonewallx39]

I've always heard that Wizards are back loaded as far as power. As in the first 20 levels are very difficult and a Wizard will be under powered but eventually catch up and surpass other classes.

At what point does this happen?

I've heard Wizards have a better resist modifier but a lot of spells seem to resist fairly regularly. Unless there is a unseen factor it seems other classes will always outshine Wizard in terms of utility and sustained dps.

Are wizards destined to a life of taxi service and soloing or do they start to offer some real value later down the line?

[RDawg816]

Ports to hate, translocates, and burst dps. They can't chain cast without dying or going oom though. Mages have great sustained dps that doesn't rely on clarity. All classes have their purpose.

[Raev]

Originally Posted by Stonewallx39 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Are wizards destined to a life of taxi service and soloing or do they start to offer some real value later down the line?

At 60 wizards are a great raiding class; they are critical for mobilization and do a huge amount of damage without being as gear dependent as a monk or rogue. They are also pretty relaxing to play. What sucks is 1-55 (56+ you can do Chardok).

[Morningbreath]

Originally Posted by Stonewallx39 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I've always heard that Wizards are back loaded as far as power. As in the first 20 levels are very difficult and a Wizard will be under powered but eventually catch up and surpass other classes.

At what point does this happen?

Sometime in 2005 when SOE closed half of EQ's servers after the launch of World of Warcraft. It was the "OK we're listening now, 5 years later" patch.

Classic:

Flame Shock
1 : Decrease Hitpoints by 102 (L16) to 110 (L20)
Mana 75

Post-server merge:

Flame Shock
1: Decrease Hitpoints by 103 (L15) to 275 (L26)
Mana: 65

[Pyrion]

In a group a wizard can do some weak CC (stun/root), snare if its needed and nuke down dangerous mobs faster. Almost everything that wizard can do, a druid can do almost as good or better with a lot of added utility. And even druids have a hard time getting groups at later levels. But still, thats the reason you see about 10 times as many druids as wizards.

If you make a wizard it should be with raids in mind where they are actually usefull.

[RDawg816]

If your wizard wants a group, hit me up. I group with them all the time. Don't let the hive mentality force you into soloing. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Daldaen]

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

At 60 wizards are a great raiding class; they are critical for mobilization and do a huge amount of damage without being as gear dependent as a monk or rogue. They are also pretty relaxing to play. What sucks is 1-55 (56+ you can do Chardok).

Dealing with the people that inhabit Chardok is worse than quadding through 55...

29-54 isn't too terrible once you can quad. You really want to get a Flux Staff quested early and some SoW potions or JBoots to make quadding easy. Quadding though is a lot of downtime medding inbetween. If you have work or chores or a book/movie inbetween pulls that's perfect but if you want to play actively the entire time you're online wizard isn't the best.

Wizard is really a raid class. It's not great if you don't raid. And as with any raid class you need to be level 60 to fully participate.

Bane Nukes, Lure of Ice, Concussion all make wizards fantastic in most fights. There are a few in ToV like Eashen who can't be baned or cold nuked so you're left with Lure of Flame at which point you may just AFK cause 640 DMG for 320 mana is sad.

However on the Lords and Ladies you can nuke for 2000 unresistable each cast. Some fights getting upwards of 20-25k damage assuming you concussion enough and have a deep enough mana pool.

[Troxx]

It depends what you mean by turn the corner.

From a dps standpoint, outside of raid burns they never turn a corner. Sustained dps in groups will always be poor (worse than a bard meleeing over time). If you can play to your other contributions (root cc in a group that could benefit, having evac, ports) you can make yourself useful.

Wizards are efficient solo'rs if you find non-eq productive stuff to do while soloing (long led breaks).
Wizards are amazing on raids for fast burns.
Wizards port.

Aside from that, your sustained dps will always be limited to your mana regen via meditate, clarity, and bard song if available. Mages have nukes that are nearly as efficient but pets that give steady sustained (relatively high) dps. The same is true for necros. Druids have the added benefit of buffs, dmg shields and heals that can be used along with nukes.

In classic, wizards just get the shaft for grouping.

Make some close friends and get in a tight-knit guild. Finding groups shouldn't be terrible if you do that.

[Vallanor]

What you've heard here is pretty much dead on. Wizard sustained dps is really poor in a traditional group unless you get a nice clicky dd robe (rend robe from VP or conflagration robe from Velk) and those really aren't available pre-60. We're great on raids, and I found quadding to be pretty enjoyable, but don't expect much love in the grouping scene.

[Stonewallx39]

It's too bad. Wizard looks like fun to play but I would want a little more firepower from a class that's so specialized.