Wizard bad as they say?

[Rhambuk]

I will be leveling from 1 minor twink so please keep in mind.

Is it really that hard for wizards to get groups on this server? I hear people don't like them due to the mass of downtime they have, nuke nuke nuke sit for 10 minutes or do people actually not mind.

Is solo the way to go? I don't see or hear of wizards soloing at least until velious, when you get the ae snare right? up until then its just root n nuke? is that even worth it?

I know at later levels its a different story but from 1-50 is my main concern.

Thanks casters!

[Obwin]

http://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39704

[Rhambuk]

thank you much

[Rhambuk]

That read was pretty disheartening =/

[Obwin]

I play a wizard and enjoy it so far. I don't really expect many groups though. Great for raids, probably won't get groups unless it's with pals. Steady predictable exp and long afk med breaks. If this sounds bad, should probably reconsider.

[Rhambuk]

im pretty casual and troll the forums a lot so, kill a few mobs sit down troll for 10 minutes repeat. sounds okay to me hehe. Thanks for the info.

[Estu]

Wizards can solo fine. Not as well as a bunch of other classes, but perfectly adequately, especially if you can twink to start quad-kiting early. Root-nuking is pretty awful but what you can do is get solist's icy wand for early levels and then quad early with jboots or sow potions. We have AE snare in this era already: http://wiki.project1999.com/Bonds_of_Force

Grouping, well, you can get into groups, though you're not as desired as lots of other classes. Two exceptions are AE groups - 56ish and up, you'll enjoy the best EXP in the game at those levels - and bard duos - you can use staff of temperate flux to be an excellent puller and/or low-hp kiter. You gather all the mobs along with the bard (or alone), then one of you gets low HP and the other kills the mobs.

Wizards certainly have options, but they're a very boring class and even versus raid bosses they are not necessarily as good as a rogue in every situation. The reason for this is that rogues have reliable tools to manage their aggro (i.e. evade), but the only tool wizards have is concussion, which will straight up fail to land 100% of the time on some raid bosses (but can be used reliably on others - it all depends on level difference and magic resist). Without being able to remove aggro, you will be forced to perform low DPS on a boss mob in order to avoid taking aggro.

[Rhambuk]

Decided to give it a go, I played a wizard up to mid 30's during pop era and I did enjoy it but Flowing thought etc.

I have play cash so can get jboots, I really like the idea behind the wizard and in most games they are great but I just see wiz in eq as only casting 1-2 spells that are direct damage. I Know there is more to it than that but it looks plain.

I have hopes of being pleasantly surprised!

[Estu]

Decided to give it a go, I played a wizard up to mid 30's during pop era and I did enjoy it but Flowing thought etc.

I have play cash so can get jboots, I really like the idea behind the wizard and in most games they are great but I just see wiz in eq as only casting 1-2 spells that are direct damage. I Know there is more to it than that but it looks plain.

I have hopes of being pleasantly surprised!

Don't say I didn't warn you~

[Rhambuk]

well it really boils down to druid/wiz

I need a class I can sit in ec and help people with, done shaman, done druid and at 39 it was horrible couldn't solo at all useless in groups etc.

wiz I can solo, group to a degree, and still port people in my offtime.

[falkun]

How can you not solo at 39 as a druid? Charm killing (http://wiki.project1999.com/Druid_Charm_Kiting_Guide_by_Angelhawk) only gets more efficient as you level.

[Rhambuk]

it was a loooong time ago, prekunark there really wasn't anywhere to charm kite that I can think of off the top of my head.

Dots were so weak soloing was crap, my damage and healing was useless in a group and I had just gotten a manastone!

it just wasn't working for me, probably a lot different now in kunark but I still have a sour taste in my mouth

[Estu]

well it really boils down to druid/wiz

I need a class I can sit in ec and help people with, done shaman, done druid and at 39 it was horrible couldn't solo at all useless in groups etc.

wiz I can solo, group to a degree, and still port people in my offtime.

No offense meant, but if you couldn't solo a druid at 39 you must have had no idea what you were doing. Druids are strictly better soloers than wizards. Actually, they're one of the best soloing classes overall. They can quad-kite just like wizards can (it's actually easier for them since they don't need to worry about getting SoW/JBoots and they have a single-target snare which can be more handy than just an AE snare), they can charm animals (which, if you do it right, is better EXP than quadding; druids are arguably the best charm class in the game if you can find good areas to do it, because of being able to use snare and SoW to manage aggro between themselves and their pet), and they can always go root-dot in a dungeon if all else fails (with harmony to help manage pulls), which isn't as efficient as either but can have its uses. Also, druids are definitely more useful in standard EXP groups than wizards: they have extremely useful buffs like the skin like wood line, strength, regen, and damage shield; they can heal; they can snare (again, single target snare is more useful here for the most part) and root; they can harmony; and they can nuke. Druids have some nice duo options as well (e.g. aggro kiting with rogues).

I would 100% recommend a druid over a wizard if your goal is soloing and standard EXP groups.

[Rhambuk]

thanks estu, I just remember it being extremely slow root rotting.

I prefer groups anyway but its always nice having a solo option

[Raavak]

Two exceptions are AE groups - 56ish and up, you'll enjoy the best EXP in the game at those levels ...

a very boring class and even versus raid bosses they are not necessarily as good as a rogue in every situation.

to manage their aggro ... wizards have is concussion, which will straight up fail to land 100% of the timePBAE groups are the schiznit. You can PBAE group at lower levels but few organize these.

Stun and silence on some boss mobs sucks, but so does ae slow from like Gorenaire for rogues. In general the wizard is almost as valuable as a rogue on raids. I don't think we outdamage the rogues but it gets close.

Concussion becomes more useful in Velious, where it both works and is needed because of the huge amount of hps the mobs have. In Kunark you wait until the tank has aggro and then just unload until you or the mob dies. You only get aggro yourself if you are low HP (healer fail) or the tank dies.

[Daldaen]

it was a loooong time ago, prekunark there really wasn't anywhere to charm kite that I can think of off the top of my head.

Dots were so weak soloing was crap, my damage and healing was useless in a group and I had just gotten a manastone!

it just wasn't working for me, probably a lot different now in kunark but I still have a sour taste in my mouth

Learn2Kedge.

Druid is an awesome class then.

Re-Wizard, they kinda blow until you get snare at 29. Wizards are a pretty common class to get requests to PL due to this.

[Pyrion]

Wizzie can be nice in a group, but i think most wizzies don't even know that their stuns can really help with caster mobs and that you can do effective CC with aggroing/leading away/rooting a mob. Don't be that wizzie that only does his DD.

[Tuljin]

^^^^^^^^^^^ this also saves the healer LOTS of mana. i rarely cast elemental nuke on caster mobs, i always use my two stuns and draught of jiva interrupt nuke.

stun is also excellent to help out your party members who get charm breaks, you can stun out their pet and they won't get raped and will successfully get their charm off =) also good if a caster in your party gets some agro - you can stun it and then use the agro to have him follow you and you can park him in a safe spot.

wiz is also very good at pulling if you use your flux staff and do root pulls etc, can also help FD classes with splits that are very tough with flux staff.

snare is a very powerful ability in dungeons and at high lvl they get fetter which is OP.

you do have to be a bit creative though - when i was lvling in seb i would never post up LFG i would just sit at zoneline and invite all the odd people waiting LFG and always managed to scrounge a group together. i would pull mobs down to the camp and also pull the camp itself. someone posted up LFG at zoneline i could evac back to zone and pick him up. through stunning nasty spells, cc, and good pulls its easy to get by with a shaman or druid healer. can also evac if shit hits the fan. nobody ever complained about not getting absolutely wrecked by krup wizards and shamans! =)

if you post up LFG nobody is going to invite you, that is definitely true!!!

[JackFlash]

^^ Great post. This is how to play a wizard. Not just DD. Be creative, make your own groups. Show people you know what to do. Earn Respect.