State of the Magician

[Boarder981]

Hi all - I'm trying to get a friend to play P99. He doesn't want to play any class he played on live, and he's flat-out not interested in others. That leaves the following as potential options:

Wizard
Magician
Necromancer
Rogue

His first choice is Magician. Of course we'll try to group when possible, but he also wants the ability to solo when needed. I was under the impression that Magicians were strong soloers, but I heard their "solo XP was nerfed". Is this the case, and if so, how?

Keep in mind he'll be starting out fresh with a bit of help from me, but not twinked in any significant way. Will this be a viable path for him, or will it ultimately lead to frustration?

I appreciate any input and suggestions!

[bigjeff100]

Necro would be the far better option in my mind.. And will provide plenty of options for you guys to duo or whatever.. What class are you going to play? Necro has lots and lots of tools!

[stebbins99]

Magicians are a sweet duo partner! In terms of solo, magicians can definitely solo. That said, I believe the "nerf" you are referencing is this:

If a magician is fighting a mob and the magician's pet outdamages the player himself, the pet will "eat" half of the exp that the player otherwise would have earned.

As magicians' pets are the strongest in-game, this "half exp consideration" is more of an issue for mages when compared to necros and shamans. Ways to get around this:

1) Grouping - the entire "pet eats half exp thing" is not a factor as long as the magician is grouped with at least one other player. Makes them great for duos! Not a helpful suggestion for solo

2) Kill off pet / chain summoning - basically, you make sure that the magician pet dies *just-before* the mob dies, allowing the player to get 100% exp by finishing the mob with a nuke.

Though trickier at early levels, it becomes a viable strategy to "chain summon" pets at later levels as magicians' pets don't really cost more mana to summon as you get higher up-- summoning a lvl 29 pet costs just as much mana as a lvl 49 (only like 200 mana).

Thus, for harder solo battles, magicians can employ several pets over the course of one fight by timing out their summon spell with "pet go away" or the pet dying. For shorter battles, you can simply tell your pet to "go away" once the mob is low to nuke + finish for full exp.

Another nice factor is that the regeants for mage pets (ie the material item cost, like bone chips for necros) are quite inexpensive, especially as you get higher. This makes killing-off your pet in solo situations not quite as bad as it sounds.

Hopefully this insight helps! Also, even in worst case scenarios, killing off x2 mobs with the same pet (and pet eating half exp) is still an easier and faster solo route than many melee classes

[loramin]

For clarity, the "nerf" was very old in EQ's history. If your friend played on live past Luclin I highly doubt they'd even remember it as a "nerf"; they'd just remember pets always working that way.

[Boarder981]

That's how I remember it working as well.

@stebbins99 - very detailed response, thank you. I'm sure my friend will find this info very useful.

@bigjeff100 - not sure what I'm going to play yet. Maybe a Shaman, maybe an Enchanter. Hell, maybe even a Druid so we can explore more easily.

On that note, does Druid damage shield stack with Mage damage shield?

[kjs86z]

Necro is the best option for what the @OP listed.

[Snaggles]

Mages are fine but they don't any emergency parachutes. If your friend is willing to quad-kite a wiz that puts the Mage at the 3rd slot for xp soloing ability. Still a fine solo class (if all goes well) and a great group class.

I'd definitely go necro. The pet is just an extra dot rather than being the lifeguard keeping you from drowning.

[loramin]

Originally Posted by Boarder981 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

On that note, does Druid damage shield stack with Mage damage shield?

Sadly, as http://wiki.project1999.com/Buff_Lines#Damage_Shield shows, they don't (unless you count the Druid self-only DS line).

[Foxplay]

Necromancer is best option for OP's listed needs / wants

[Bardp1999]

Necro and Enchanter is an extremely potent combination for high level dungeon crawling. You boys can have a Charm hay day in HS, KC, Chardok, Sebelis, and many other areas of Norrath. Depending on the zone I like Necro/Enchanter better than Enchanter/Cleric.

Hell, the necromancers backstab pet isn't a terrible option vs a charm pet when you consider the "danger level" falls to 0 and you can keep him fully weaponized and hasted without fear of getting killed in 5 seconds.