Thinking of Starting a Wizard

[ldunver]

So, I started a monk, but I am also thinking of starting a wizard to group with my two friends. They seem to get a really bad rep. Is it just due to them not being very solo efficient solos? Or what?

I am looking to get into them, cause they seem useful for raids, but I am curious as to people's opinions. I am new to this server so twinking isn't really possible either.

[Exmo]

The bad rep Wizards have is that they are good burst DPS, but pretty shitty exp group dps. In order to not go oom, they can only cast 1 nuke per fight basically, so you wind up not doing much damage compared to say a rogue or even a mage (Pets help a lot).

Also, Wizards need to constantly med means it looks like they AFK a lot, even if they don't.

But, they are tons of fun in raids if you like seeing big numbers.

[ldunver]

So it might be better to role an enchanter or something? Just the feedback from the people on the forums seems pretty negative.

[Exmo]

Play what you want to play. Just be aware those choices come with play style differences. Enchanters can almost always find groups, and if they can't, they can charm solo. Wizards will have trouble finding groups but 29+ can Quad Kite for Exp.

They are just different and fulfill different roles. Play what you enjoy. If you want to do DPS and port and throw up big numbers, roll a wizard. If you want to buff, charm, etc. roll a chanter.

[Raavak]

Wizards are pretty much forced to solo. They do pretty good at quading, but its a lonely life.

[Swish]

Netflix your way to 60, do it the wizard way :p

[Rhambuk]

Netflix your way to 60, do it the wizard way :p

going through trailer park boys for the second time leveling my wizard.

I get groups without much issue for the most part, only 23 right now though. having the option to solo when there are no groups is nice though.

[Swish]

If you want to quad make sure you have plenty of int/+mana items :)

[Nytch]

Also Jboots and Flux Staff, bout 9-10k for both MQ's

[Estu]

Don't roll a wizard unless you're sure you want to play one. They're very one-dimensional and boring. You will spend most of your time meditating. Even in raids, rogues are often more useful than you are in terms of DPS against bosses (due to aggro issues).

[Darkyle]

Even though it's true you are mostly going to be casting one nuke per fight, there is ways to make yourself more useful. For example rooting mobs when multiples are pulled / you have a warrior that is struggling to hold aggro. Also it's great to use your stun line of spells on runners, casters.

I did full groups and duo'd all the way up to 34, where I decided to quad because its retardedly fast exp to not quad. I enjoy my wizard, whenever grouping I tried to keep a good conversation going and to make a lot of banter.. you get invited back to a lot of groups that way and when I was logging in I frequently got tells of where am I looking to form a group today :D

Don't listen to the bad rep, EQ is what you make it.

[Jimjam]

I've been levelling up a wizard recently, they make a good chatter class in groups :).

You can help out encs with charm breaks by throwing in a tishan's clash and t-staff click, I just wish we got a damage-free stun like clerics do! It's good to root a mezzed mob too; if everything but the mob you are fighting is mezzed the engaged mob will run on low hp unless any of those mezzed mobs are rooted. Also if mez fails the mob can't go running over to paste the enchanter!

Try to root additional casters outside of Line of Sight of the group. Learn the behaviour of caster mobs, often you can predict their casts before they even begin casting; use this to interrupt those painful nukes.

Take a break from grinding xp occasionally to enjoy some quests. Acumen mask, staff of the wheel and T staff are both really easy to acquire and you get to travel Norrath with your ports to complete them. You can probably pick up a couple of Bracelets of Woven Grass, Obsidian Bead Hoops, a savant's cap, some dusty bloodstained gloves and a ring of goblin lords while doing this, all have +mana or +int.

I don't have much soloing advice... at level 1 it is fun to grab clarity and regen then run huge trains around in west Freeport working them down with numbing cold. Obviously that doesn't last long though!

Try to keep your defensive skills maxed as you level. They make a big difference and they are hard to get caught up if you let them fall behind.

A good bind at level 24 is gargoyle island. When you are between groups (or while waiting on a rez ;)) this is a decent enough spot for cash and xp and your ports can mobilise you to anywhere but Kunark pretty decently. Also pretty easy to pick up a cheap robe of the oracle here. Use bone chips you saved up at low levels to bribe necros killing sea furies to kill the oracle for you. Make sure you leave a gargoyle up when you exit the island; this gargoyle will kill any greater skeletons that spawn ensuring whoever arrives next gets an island full of gargoyles.

Things I've learnt from my recent experiences levelling a wizzy without Jboots.

[Tuljin]

Get a Solist's Icy Wand, it will get you through 29 with lots of mana-free damage until you get snare and can really start quadding.

If you think of wizard as just a DPS class in exp groups you will be very limited. Wizard has excellent CC between snare, root, and stun. You can stun off a charm break until the mob can be recharmed, and you can also deal with runners well. Wiz is also great at pulling with flux staff and LOS root pulls on casters etc, also can split up incoming mobs with root if someone else is pulling. Flux staff can also be used to help FD classes with tags on tough splits.

Also, especially at 51 when you get another DD stun to put in your bar, wizards are awesome at interrupting casters. I always have 2 stuns and an interrupt nuke in my bar when I play to make sure that nobody gets wrecked by nukes and dots, and also making sure I knock out shaman, cleric, druid, and pal mobs when they start healing between 30-40% - usually with an interrupt nuke so they drop under 20% and start running while snared :)

Look at it this way - - rogue does very high DPS but has no magical powers and no other abilities (of course theres sneak and lockpick yadda yadda) Wizard does DPS but also has roots, snares, stuns, caster interrupts, etc. No other class in the game has a DD stun, root and snare. This combination is extremely powerful in dungeons, and at high lvl you get Fetter which is OP.

Also, wizard nukes are VERY powerful in your 30s and 40s compared to in your 50s. If you are 30something, you can snare a mob at 50% and nuke him once and he'll be pretty much down to 20% and then the rest of the damage dealt to the mob is with impunity.

Wizards are one of the most misunderstood classes in the game, and as a result wizards have an incredibly tight wiz-wiz support network haha - if you roll one and need any help /tell for advice people are usually very helpful!

[hopped]

This thread makes a wizard actually sound appealing, I might have to try one.

[Lojik]

Wizards are awesome and a lot of fun to play. Just remember the rule of opposites...and the safe word is banana.

[JackFlash]

R.I.P Graffe's Wizard Compendium. Use the wayback machine. That was the place if you wanted to talk wizard.

*** I guess this site still exists somewhat. Not in its original glory but the "Library" has a lot of good info.

http://www.graffe.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?5-General-EQ-Discussion

[sox7d]

playing a wizard made me really good at guitar

[fishingme]

Netflix your way to 60, do it the wizard way :p

lol i tried this, 2 pulls per 45minute tv show... made it to 29 and then re-rolled a chanter and mage and got them both to 30 in probably a third of the time it took me to get my wizard to 29 hehe. all twinked though. I still want to go back and try to get 34 for new quad spell on my wizard but man it's difficult...

I strongly suggest unless you have lots of plat lying around do not MQ jboots or anything until you hit 34. Make sure you like the wizard class before you invest in no drop items. and don't bother with MQ of staff of temp flux, it's easy and you're going to be leveling right next to the zones where all the pieces drop.

[Aaron]

Don't do it.

You'll be happier with a mage or druid to group with your buddies.

[thieros]

purchase druid pl time till 16, purchase bard pl time till you get to proxy levels, proxy till you get to AE DPS levels, AE till 60 and never play your char again except for planar ports & dragon burning... at least thats my plan to level my stupid wizard

[Raavak]

Even in raids, rogues are often more useful than you are in terms of DPS against bosses (due to aggro issues).In Kunark and with all the clicky aggro available wizards don't have an over-aggro issue on boss mobs. But still, they are basically one-dimensional. But it is fun kicking ass dps-wise!

In Velious concussion becomes useful and wizards will take a bit more skill to raid with.

[Aborath]

purchase druid pl time till 16, purchase bard pl time till you get to proxy levels, proxy till you get to AE DPS levels, AE till 60 and never play your char again except for planar ports & dragon burning... at least thats my plan to level my stupid wizard

Not OP, but I've seen this term popping up lately: what is meant by "proxy" in this instance?



Also to OP: I've recently returned to my wizard, who is 43, and I'm really enjoying him. You've got to become more active in groups (read: stun, root) because eventually you'll want to hang yourself (more likely, your wizard) if you just med and nuke. Also, gather info on quad kiting (tip: learn to love the max-zoom, free-camera perspective).

[Rhambuk]

proxy is what they call chardok ae pl.

[Zoolander]

wiz epic + manastone (+manarobe) and you'll never look back