My bro is looking to make a pet class..

[gobbosnobbo]

I'm not familiar of the two, at least, not in depth, yet I Know necros can make better soloers than mages, or at least at first?

I'm not 100% familiar with them both, and I've read the wiki but it gives information thats a bit too generalist to be helpful.

FOr you mages, or necros, out there, what are some things that he should consider about making the class.

To my knowledge, outside of raids and chardok AOE groups, I dont see much use for a mage in solo or group play other than to fill a spot where no rogue is available.

[Wonka11]

There is no reason to play a mage over a necro unless you want CoH for raids.

I apologize for laying it on hard like that, but its true. At any point in this game, there is nothing a mage can do (oh wow you can tank high level mobs with your pet for a little before the mob ultimately crushes your pet, then you) that a necro do can't better.

They do have one of the best epics in the game, but lets be honest, unless you're filthy rich, you're never going to see that epic.

[gobbosnobbo]

It can't really be that severe. There has to be some upsides to mage that make them competitive with necro.

Arent dots a problem later in raids as there is a limit to how many dots can be on a boss from a certain class?

[Ossigor]

This is from someone that played mage to 52 in classic/kunark, and only a necro to 20ish and are just opinions.

I ways always envious of necros ability to root, mez, and FD but in group situations they are equal in my opinion if they're played well. I never raided much, so I can't speak to that. I P99 I chose magician because I see way too many necros around, and it's just fun to play my old main class again.

As far as leveling I'd consider them close to equal. Necro might pull ahead in the later levels? Necros do a lot more juggling when they exp though-- snare, fear, DoTs, manage lich, etc whereas Magician is more laid back... send in fire pet, heal it a few times OR nuke if you're trying to claim the full exp. Fire pet DS does damage no matter what, can't be resisted. Necro can get some bad strings where snare is resisted 5 times in a row and you have to just zone or juggle mana.

For camping higher end items necros have an easier time, and will get around dungeons with more ease (but magi can as well) I think necros can just break into camps easier at a lower level than magician due to fd/mez/root. Magician is brute force (short of zone line/earth pet trickery that only works in certain zones) and will need to be higher level for the same camp.

Everyone will tell you, he should play what he likes. If you "like" more power then I'd probably go with necro. If he just likes the magician lore/feel more then go with that. Magicians are really a one trick pony but I'm having a blast leveling mine again. Their pets really are superior but that loses its value later in levels (40+?) when mobs are hitting for a crapload.

[Estu]

You shouldn't discount druids or enchanters as pet classes, or forget about necro charming ability. Charmed pets are leaps and bounds more powerful than summoned pets.

[ghost182]

on raids it's basically summon mod rods vs twitch. In solo and group necro can be all your CC especially in places like Befallen, unrest, city of mist, howling stones. Feign death is sweet. The ability to charm, mez, root, snare, dot, fear, lifetap, and awesome regen of mana and HP beats out nukes and damage shield. I like both classes though. Mages COH and mod rods are so important though

[fishingme]

If blue server wasnt dominated in the raid scene, I'd say mage because you could get the mage epic. Mages are fun, they bring some nice DDs but i hate to say that they are pretty much on par with rangers with what you are able to do in p99 version of EQ. Necro is quite a bit more of a versatile class where mages just get cool looking pets and focus items, then 50+ the focus items are just a bitch to get because noone wants to do Kedge keep. no one wants to do kedge keep at all really. A lot of wimps on this server.

[Nazareth73]

Play both

[Nagash]

For having played both on P99 (mage 52, neccro 53) and raiding a wee bit, here's my point of view:

Solo (xp): both fare really well although the mage is much more laid back. My mage felt like it leveled much faster than my necro although the necro is an iksar so this is one major difference. I still feel the mage leveled faster despite this.

Solo (item camp, BGH): necro has the upper hand, hands down (pun intended ;)). The difference is so staggering, it's not even worth getting into the details.

Group: the mage has a pure DPS role (pets, DS, nukes) with a bit of support (summoned item, mod rod and at later level CotH to summon a replacement for a departing group member). The necro does some dps (pets, loosy nukes (except vs undead) but is first and foremost a support class (root, mez, twich, heal).

Raid: life in raid is boring for the majority of the attendants (except maybe for the pullers) but the exitment from raiding comes from downing a big boss with your mates so it is mostly a matter of doing whatever is sked from you. For a mage it will be mostly to send your pets in (vs non fearing boss) and to summon more mod rods than you can count for other members to use their mana (forget about your nukes, they won't land most of the time). For a necro, mostly sending your pet (same as mage), twiching and DoTing. However, necro DoTs don't stack so a couple of necros is enough to have the whole range off DoTs covered.

Hope this helps.