Wizard Solo XP Level 59

[Daldaen]

Because grouping is boring.

People want easymode groups where every mob must be slowed and single otherwise they wipe.

Wizard is also the most one sided of all classes. Yes, you have stun and root, woopty fricken-do. So do five other classes. Still you're a detriment to the group's exp. You will only slow down their exp rate, never increase it unless you have the high end items like epic/manna robe or rend robe to keep DPSing when oom. In the face of that reality, I have no interest in slowing down other people's exp for a slightly increased kill rate. They're much better off not filling the last slot.

Wizards are a raid or solo class, grouping just doesn't suit them.

[Tuljin]

And that my friend is why *good players* and *good friends* are the key caveats to making groups.

If you have a developed a good network of friends that are willing to go play dungeon content in unorthodox group combos and not a full group the game is fun and the bar moves just fine.

Of course people want easymode groups with slowed mobs and mez and want to fill them instead of limiting them to 4 or 5 to maximize XP. This is part of the P99 Bluebie Broscience (coining that term officially right now) that continues to propagate and will only get worse as the server grows. Believe it or not there are a few of us on this server who like to get together and crush dungeon content with odd class combos and get plenty of XP and drops. There is a reason excellent players are the vast minority on this server.

And you are absolutely right that without AOE mez and CH people on this server wipe. Believe it or not a Wizard can do a lot to keep a group alive and keep the XP bar moving.

There's nothing slower than being dead and not moving the XP bar at all. This lack of damage and lack of XP bar movement (as I have also mentioned a million times) is never factored into these absurd DPS calculations and spreadsheets that people love to create that are passed off as worthy of publication in a scientific journal but are really just incredibly basic arithmetic and pseudo-science.

[Daldaen]

Wizards really aren't going to save your group a wipe though. If they did, some other excellent player screwed up, and the wizard evac'd. Beyond stunning a gater, rooting a runner and evaccing from a train, Wizards can't do much to prevent wipes. Stuns can be cast by Paladins, Clerics, Bards, Druids (outdoors or everywhere in Velious) and Enchanters. Roots can be cast by every caster (except Mage) and Paladins, Rangers. Evacs are somewhat unique, but Druids also get em. It's very rare you're in a group without another player who can stun or who can root. Even the unorthodox ones. You're going to have a caster healer of some variety and it's likely they can stun or root.

I love me some non-orthodox groups. But a wizard just doesn't fit in anywhere at the high end. At least, for me personally, in any situation where he would fit in, my Druid main fits in much better and then some, with the extra utility of heals, DS, regen, and AE Root. Druids are just too damn good :/.

[Tuljin]

See I agree that Druids are great in groups. Most people would (do) think you're nuts for saying that. You are also one of the few that would even consider a Druid for a high level group, as am I.

Its also not about saving a wipe - its about PREVENTING a wipe. Its about stopping nasty spells to save the healers mana and ensuring that Superior Heal and Regrowth of the Grove are sufficient to keep the group healed. Its about keeping an eye on adds and not being afraid to agro and park adds safely, facilitating the chain pull. Wizard can also stop broken charms which takes a ton of stress of the charmer, saves mana, and prevents wipes. Wizard is also excellent at pulling (bluebie broscience says otherwise)

Mobs shouldn't run at all if you have snare. Druids Wizards and Rangers are rare in groups, most people play without snare, a vastly underrated ability. Also, stopping gating mobs is nothing trivial. Its actually an incredibly powerful and useful ability. One spell for 65 mana (or 30 if you're cleric or pal) will save 30 minutes of lost XP bar movement. And again we start these "what ifs" and theoretical statements. Sure Paladins can stun - whens the last time you grouped with one, let alone seen one use stun efficiently? Most Clerics sadly don't even keep a stun in their bar and are frightened to pull any type of agro. Most Clerics on this server don't (and won't) even root. Druids are great sure - but nobody groups on them, even though they are great for groups and adventuring.

Shamans can't stun, and at high levels they're too busy soloing and bitching about having to buff people to be grouping (which is really a major part of the class.) Clerics don't root or stun, let's get real. I have been on this server for years and I can count on one hand maybe two the clerics I would want to play with. Druids can't stun but they can root. Then again, you don't see high level druids. in fact it has the highest number of rolled toons yet the lowest population of 60s as a percentage.

Wizard/Druid is a surprisingly complementary caster combo for a group. Both have very strong roots (Fetter is in a league of its own), great nukes, and Wizard knocking out nasty spells over the course of the group saves the Druid tons of mana and allows regen and Superior Heal to do the job. Depending on the zone a Necro or an Enchanter is a sufficent 3rd caster, and you can have a monk or some type of tank be the 4th. 5th player melee optional, 6th unnecessary. The DPS in this 4 man group, especially with a hasted weaponized pet, IS COMPLETELY FUCKING FINE FOR FOUR PEOPLE TO GET DECENT XP AND HAVE FUN PLAYING THE GAME.

Really we can "what if" all day. The point is, those of us who got our Wizards to 60 before the days of the AOE machine (very few of us now) had to work hard for it - either by being patient and not dying all the time quadding, going out in groups and dungeon crawling by actually putting in effort to make groups because you can't post up /lfg and get one, or a bit of both. I can name some very prominent Wizards that were leveling at the same time as me and we would run into each other often out and about in the world and in dungeons. We are a small tight network, and we weren't bitching about maximum XP efficiency and worrying about cutting into others' XP flow. We did what we had to do and made friends and had fun doing it.

And again its impossible to remove subjectivity from a term like "fun" or "boring" but thinking that quadding greens at level 59 is a "less boring" option than going out and playing some dungeons a bit with some friends makes very little sense to me. Tomato tomahto I suppose.