Finally down to two, Rogue or Wizard?

[slowpoke68]

I wanted to say how much I have enjoyed playing P99 and thanks to all for being such a great community...both in game and on these forums.

Also thanks to the dev staff for all their hard work making this possible. I donated and will be doing so monthly.

Now down to the nitty gritty. After a month of goofing around with different classes and races and restarting endlessly, I think I am down to two choices now.

Dwarven Rogue or Erudite Wizard.

I have read the guides on the wiki and asked quite a few higher levels in game for advice. As I understand it, Rogue has an easier time finding groups, but cannot solo at all. Wizards are often shunned for groups but can solo effectively during those times that can't find a group or are waiting on finding one. I'm new and don't really want to twink at all. I would like to group as much as possible, but it is nice to be able to solo if you need to. Having bind sure is nice. Long runs back to your body as melee. Although at higher levels you will usually have a cleric in group for res. On the other hand, bonus 9% xp for rogue, negative 10% for wizard. Also, with wizard you get ports and evac which is handy.

Played at launch for a few years so am pretty comfortable with the overall mechanics of the game. Also, I will like my role in game playing either toon. Played a cleric on live which I enjoyed, but want to do something different.

Any advice from anyone as to things I may not have thought about in making my pick? I am pretty set at this point on one of these two toons though. Also liked my Barb Warrior but being new to the server, and not wanting to twink, I'm not sure that is a good idea. Maybe if they do that new server at some point.

Thanks much for any input [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[B4EQWASCOOL]

Because no twinking, wizard. If twink, rogue.

[PVP Cleric]

They're both cool classes.

Rogues get dual wield and double attack spam, big backstabs, disciplines, hide, sneak, poisons, and some other little tricks to keep you interested. They're stellar DPS in both groups and raids. But they can't solo, and they don't fit well into too many duos or trios; you need either snare+fear or tank+healer to function. And while rogues are desired by groups, since ALL the rogues are LFG it can be harder to find a spot in one than you would expect.

Wizards get big nukes, bigger nukes, and biggest nukes. They can do (nearly) unresistable damage, they get ports and evacs. They're as great on raids as rogues, and they can also solo pretty well. Plus, AE groups. And they get big improvements in Velious (translocates, bane spells, flowing thought items). But they don't play too well with anyone else while XPing. Duo, trio, full group... they'd all prefer someone other than a wizard.

Don't mind the XP difference. It's pretty minimal really. You won't really notice any XP penalty unless you're playing a hybrid. Also, they'll both have their struggles without twinking. Rogues moreso, although at least you only need a weapon and a haste item to do your role unlike other melee who need full sets of gear to take hits too and such. Wizards without twinking will lack jboots and clicky staff and the mana pool to do quadding sometimes.

[Tuljin]

For a non-twink nub toon Wiz is a far better choice. You can travel easily, bind wherever, and when you start porting the plat that trickles in adds up nicely. Int casters in general also really don't need any gear, whereas a Rogue is highly gear dependent.

Its tough to get a group on Wizard if you don't put them together yourself, but a Rogue is shackled to groups and has really no solo options. There aren't a ton of Rogue mains, they are all twink alts (4 years worth of twink alts lol) and really you are at the mercy of whatever nubs are responsible for CC in your group, which can be incredibly frustrating.

On Wiz you have root, stun, and snare, giving you the ability to defend yourself and "make plays," whereas on Rogue you're pretty much screwed if you catch agro and your worth is only your Ragebringer and sneaking for the countless corpse runs you'll wind up doing playing with the fine players of this server.

[Pscottdai]

Having played a wiz on live from launch until just 2 years ago, understand that in classic as a wizard you are going to be sitting - A LOT. Because once you are OOM, you are useless. Wizzies are a great class and fun to play, especially if you play it well and use all of its tools but you are still useless once your mana is gone.

Also, realize that there are things you can do to help a group besides nukes. If you do not have good crowd control, and you have a staff of temporal flux, you can easily peel off mobs and ghetto CC them with root. Finally, if you were never a druid or wiz before, learn to always save just enough mana (if grouped) to have an evac ready to go. Then, learn when the right time to use it is. Some groups will wait far too long (or never) to call an evac and others will call it way to early. Ultimately it is your call, so always to anhd keep an eye on everything hat is going on. Lastly, a dead wizzie is more useless than an OOM wizzie - Learn to control your agro. Determine what spell rotation optimizes your DPS while keeping your agro just below the main tanks. This will vary slightly depending on your tank but overall it isn't to hard to determine once you have the played the class for awhile.

Most of all, have fun - wizzies are a blast to play.

[Gumbo]

I actually quit playing EQ Live back in 2002 because I played a Rogue and could never find a group. I made it to level 40 and I hit zone after zone and would have LFG for 2 hours before I finally said screw it and logged out. Rogues are great in a group but than you also have some who complain about bringing in a Rogue because they want to accuse you of pickpocketing in combat.

When I decided to come back to P99, I decided to go with a Druid and Shaman because I know both classes can group and also also if they can't find a group.

[ObooReturns]

You will have a lot more fun if you start both. Take the rogue to very common grouping spots with good exp where rogues are wanted and camp it there. Keep the wiz everywhere else. Use the wiz who has far more mobility to solo or group and make money to support them both. Move rogue every 5-10 levels as necessary.

It can be very frustrating to play just one character. Even the most highly desired classes can sometimes not find a group. Play both and switch when it suits you.

[Faited]

I main'ed a rogue on live & my main here on p99 is also a rogue. I've played druids but never a pure caster. What everyone has said thus far is fairly accurate. You can solo as a rogue but only if you're pretty heavily twinked. I was never twinked, had crappy gear while leveling up but did just fine finding & making groups.

They're both GREAT dps classes both in groups & raids. What you're really deciding between is the ability to move around unseen in most places vs. the ability to teleport (aside from the obvious mdps vs. rdps). IIRC, a lot more things saw thru rogue invis in Velious than they did in Kunark (tho i dunno how it'll eventually work on this server) on live.

Wizards in Velious seem VERY fun cuz they get to teleport to all those out of the way spots (which can be dangerous, mind u!) but they get the abilitiy to Translocate- being able to send someone to their bind point without you, the porter, going with them. With Velious comes HUGE ass zones so getting around quickly becomes super important. Folks sometimes forget about Abscond/Evacuate (Egress/Succor for Druids) & they're HUGE time-savers when traveling.

As a DPS class my main advice is to be aggressive in forming groups. Too many times I walked into Seb w/8 ppl LFG & I'd just get a group going w/those folks who weren't afk. The group makeup wasn't always perfect but we saw action & our xp meter rose.

[slowpoke68]

Thank you much friends! Have a level 5 rogue and a level 5 wizard now. Will stick with the wizard I think and see how it goes!

[Faited]

Originally Posted by slowpoke68 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Thank you much friends! Have a level 5 rogue and a level 5 wizard now. Will stick with the wizard I think and see how it goes!

Gluck & enjoy the ride!