A wizard is you...

[Haledan]

So I'm getting started here on P1999 and thought I would say hello. I played a shaman named Haledan on Xev back on live during late Kunark up through Luclin, then popped in and out a few times over the years. Never reached level cap once during all my play time because I'm easily distracted by shiny things and just kind of did whatever I felt like doing and in a game like EQ which always had a huge amount of things to do this really slowed down my leveling progress.

As I return here I could use a little advice on picking a class. I've considered shaman again but decided I'd like to try something different. After trying out a few characters and leveling them a couple of times (rogue, monk, bard, and wizard) I thought I would ask what the general thoughts on wizards were here. Is this a class that is easy to start from scratch with? Will I be able to find groups that want or need me? I soloed too much with my shaman when I played on live and I think I'd like to try grouping more this time around. Will I be able to fill my spell book to a reasonable extent? It seems like it is expensive to gear up melee classes but also pretty expensive to get a hold of important spells too.

I guess I haven't ruled out bard or rogue yet but am leaning toward wizard and was wondering if there are any major reasons to not play one as a main.

Thanks!

[Castcalm]

Spellcasters are, generally speaking, easier to start out with naked than melees. Monks being the near-exception to that rule. Rogues and warriors are particularly gear-dependent and will have a struggle at the start.

That being said, wizards are one of the more difficult first-character spellcasters. They are not particularly efficient soloers until 29 when quadding becomes possible. You'll have a lot of meditating and short (but very doable) fights.

Groups do not generally seek out wizards, so you may have to be proactive and outgoing to secure yourself a spot.

Overall, wizards are tougher at the start but begin to really shine later on. Once you get into the 29-44 range, quadding provides a more efficient leveling method, and you can easily make decent coin by offering teleports. Since velious is out, you have translocates to look forward to. Wizards are very desired at the high end due to their usefulness in raids and relatively low population; they are one of the less popular spellcasters. (Druids, necros, enchanters, and shaman are the very popular ones)

[curtischoy]

Unfortunately wizards get a bad name because of the people that will get play them that get in a group and burn the first 3 mobs a group pulls and then afk until they are fom. That is being a bad wizard. If you use your mana wisely you can ghetto mez mobs by root parking them, help get a mob off the enchanter/cleric/whatever by stunning them, or you can selectively burn mobs down. I say selectively because sometimes burning a mob is appropriate and sometimes it is being a bad wizard (see above). Say you are fighting hags (http://wiki.project1999.com/A_festering_hag) in unrest, they are wizards and their spells hurt, they also have low hp. As a wizard you can save the cleric valuable mana by burning them down as fast as possible so that they cannot get off nukes (You can even use your dd/stun to interrupt them while doing good damage!)

Players of all levels hate it when mobs flee at low health, this is why snare is so nice to have in a group. At lower levels people tend not to snare because you kill too quickly and then waste all of your mana on a snare. So instead of stopping them form running by someone snaring, you can stop them from running by starting a nuke late, say 50% mob health, and it might land at 25% health and then kill them right infront of the tank. People love to see that in groups and it makes your dps seem impressive. Get the timing down right and you will land your nuke for full dmg and have the mob barely be able to move when it begins to flee.

They have a lot of tools, people just need to be made aware that not all wizards are afk.

Welcome to P99 :)

[Haledan]

Thanks for the advice so far! I tend to have pretty good situational awareness and like to be active so I think playing in a way that is just burning down the first few mobs and then afking a bit isn't a trap I would fall into. Timing nukes, rooting, stunning, these are all things that sound pretty fun to me. It took a couple of days for this to get approved so I might have another welcome post on the way ( sorry about that :( ) but since then I've leveled my rogue and wizard both and was starting to lean a bit toward the rogue. I think because I understand low level rogue items...ie. banded, best piercer i can afford, those 5ac 55hps rings if i can afford them.

I think this thread has helped me decide on trying my wizard first. I've never leveled or twinked a wizard in any past life so other than cloth and a dagger (and those 5ac 55hps rings?) is there anything cheap I should be looking to acquire at the start? Because I have had a bit of altits going on I've managed to build up 100ish pp across various characters through questing and was going to pool it all on to the one I decided to main. I've got a dagger, and cloth, and some alligator tooth earrings and limestone rings from the Qeynos aqueducts atm because I knew where to camp them but I don't know where to camp any low level +mana gear.

Thanks again :)

[Vheran]

My main's name has always been Helfdan, so i had to look at your name a few times

[curtischoy]

5/55 rings are really good until high 50s when you can reasonably replace them. I do not think I have anything better on any of my characters. 110 extra hp to a low level silk wearer is amazing. I believe they are around 220-250 each. For some int http://wiki.project1999.com/Stein_of_Moggok these maybe go for around 250. Check out the quest and see if you can do that instead of buying it if you don't have the cash.

I would also save some money to buy gems that you need for reagents for your rune line of spells. This line will save your life.

[Haledan]

My main's name has always been Helfdan, so i had to look at your name a few times

That's pretty good...I'm pretty sure Haledan came right from SOE's name generator as I wasn't good with coming up with names. My wizard is named Wizode...yup not good with names. Level 8 Erudite bound in Qeynos currently.

Getting the 55hps rings would nearly double my hps atm and make me a lot more durable so I'll see what I can do. The stein is nice but I don't think I'll have the ability to get past the ogre faction requirement so I'll probably have to buy one. I had forgot how expensive spells can be so I've got to account for that too. Figure I'll do at least to lvl 12 in the Qeynos area and maybe up to 16 for invis if I can find groups to level with. I think I'm going to be missing the SoW of my shaman and the sneak and hide of my rogue right up until I start getting my ports.

[Charlievox]

5/55 rings are really good until high 50s when you can reasonably replace them. I do not think I have anything better on any of my characters. 110 extra hp to a low level silk wearer is amazing. I believe they are around 220-250 each. For some int http://wiki.project1999.com/Stein_of_Moggok these maybe go for around 250. Check out the quest and see if you can do that instead of buying it if you don't have the cash.

I would also save some money to buy gems that you need for reagents for your rune line of spells. This line will save your life.

Stein of Moggok is pretty much an Enchanter quest. You need to be able to do illusions or else spend a lot of time doing faction work in some unsavory places. Dark Elves can do it at level 8, others need level 12 for Illusion Dark Elf.

And what are theses 5/55 rings?

[curtischoy]

what people always forget about the stein is that u can turn in items while invis. this forces you to eat a death from the final turn in NPC (clurg? been a while) but you can absolutely get it without any faction work.

5/55 rings (http://wiki.project1999.com/Platinum_Fire_Wedding_Ring)

[Haledan]

what people always forget about the stein is that u can turn in items while invis. this forces you to eat a death from the final turn in NPC (clurg? been a while) but you can absolutely get it without any faction work.

5/55 rings (http://wiki.project1999.com/Platinum_Fire_Wedding_Ring)

Do you do this by giving the item and clicking quickly before they notice and kill you? I suppose I would be willing to give this a shot but I don't get invis until 16 so I'll have to wait until at least then. I am currently smiting wisps in Q hills and saving up lightstones and greater lightstones for quest turn ins out in north karana as I remember that being pretty good exp and cash.

I think I'll buy my important lvl 16 and lvl 20 spells then see how much if anything I have left over to spend on equipment. I've got a few stacks of bone chips and 3 or 4 hq bear pelts to sell, are these hard to find buyers for over in the east commons tunnel? Haven't done any group play yet but the levels are slowing down and the mana regen times are picking up so it is time to start looking.

[Swish]

Haledan, is the thread title drawn from this?

http://d1w7nqlfxfj094.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/A-Winner-Is-You-620x310.jpeg

+1 if so!

Hope you're enjoying the wizard. He'll be highly raid desired at the higher levels but it'll be a bit of a struggle to get a group at times.

[Haledan]

Haledan, is the thread title drawn from this?

http://d1w7nqlfxfj094.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/A-Winner-Is-You-620x310.jpeg

+1 if so!

Hope you're enjoying the wizard. He'll be highly raid desired at the higher levels but it'll be a bit of a struggle to get a group at times.

This is exactly what I was thinking when I titled the thread lol. It just seemed to fit. I am digging my wizard so far and am hoping my next 10 levels are as fun as the last 10. Good to hear there is some desire for the class on raids but that will be a long climb for me :eek:

[webrunner5]

Ahh, just save up about 20,000 Lightstones and buy you a Manastone. :eek: You can port back to Classic zones and be FM in no time. :cool:

[Zuranthium]

You need Epic + Manarobe (Manastone is good for a select amount of content) or a Veeshan's Peak clicky nuke item in order for Wizards to be worthwhile, preferably both. Otherwise they just suck for PvE, aside from quad kiting. Unless you are going to be getting access to those items, leave this class behind.

[Haledan]

Aw is it really so bleak? I'd love to have an epic some day but I was reading wizards had pretty long waits here. I couldn't find any info on the manarobe either...what is it?

[Erazmus]

Get jboots.

[Swish]

Access to epics is much easier on the red server, but if pvp isn't for you then that's all good.

[am0n]

You need Epic + Manarobe (Manastone is good for a select amount of content) or a Veeshan's Peak clicky nuke item in order for Wizards to be worthwhile, preferably both. Otherwise they just suck for PvE, aside from quad kiting. Unless you are going to be getting access to those items, leave this class behind.

Good to hear there is some desire for the class on raids but that will be a long climb for me :eek:

The important thing to ask yourself is A.) are you having fun right now and B.) look at your past history with games. Do you stick around for years? If not, then play what is fun and don't worry about what is needed for raiding.

[Haledan]

Access to epics is much easier on the red server, but if pvp isn't for you then that's all good.

Well I'm not opposed to pvp. I had great fun in DAoC and Warhammer Online and I play GW2 solely for WvW but EQ PvP is different so I'm not sure how willing I am to commit to it. I'm also not sure what I think of the balance of PvP in EQ.

The important thing to ask yourself is A.) are you having fun right now and B.) look at your past history with games. Do you stick around for years? If not, then play what is fun and don't worry about what is needed for raiding.

As for my past history it is hard to say. When I really commit I do tend to go all out. I was doing high end raiding EQ2 last time I played it (it was the velious expansion there too :) ) in a guild that was doing server firsts but not world wide firsts. I have always wanted to raid EQ but I'm not sure if I'll be able to devote the time needed. I guess I don't know yet and will find out along the way. I am having fun though and am actually planning on sticking to my wizard until that stops at least :cool:

[Nextwave]

Wizard is very fun. Just make sure you carry a lot of reagents for absorb shields.

[Charlievox]

The nice thing about EQ is that there are enough options that there is no reason to continue playing a character that is not fun for you.
Keep doing what you are doing until it stops being fun.

[Zuranthium]

Aw is it really so bleak? I'd love to have an epic some day but I was reading wizards had pretty long waits here. I couldn't find any info on the manarobe either...what is it?

Manna Robe, drops from Trakanon, can be traded. Essential for a Wizard's general PvE efficiency, when combined with the Epic. Still useful even without the epic although not nearly as much.

However, I just realized you can't med-while-casting on Blue server, so I wouldn't want to play a Wizard there at all. You're losing so many med ticks when using long-cast effects, such as Wizard epic, VP clicky nukes, and Sunfire. ICK.

If you want to do a Wizard go Red server, definitely. Wizard on Blue is stupid.

[SamwiseRed]

Medding while casting is a bug btw.

[Zuranthium]

It's a much needed bug, so hopefully it is never removed.

Both options should be in the game, though. Ducking should cancel spells and sitting should allow the spell to proceed. No reason casters shouldn't be able to both, in an "ideal" EQ.

[Rekrul]

Medding while casting is a bug btw.

Hail classic enforcer warrior-prince sam

[Haledan]

Well I certainly appreciate the info on the robe as well as the warning on the wizard class. I started playing at the beginning of Velious and really don't remember any talk about wizards being so unwanted but that was a long time ago. I've got a bard I've played up to 12 now too and will probably work on him some as well especially when then hybrid exp penalty drops. I've never done swarm kiting and would rather use him in a group so I don't plan too. I still plan on playing my wizard though even if it is a bit of a dumb choice. I want to get some ports at least before I give up on him :)

[Sorn]

Don't listen to these guys. A wizard is always the best choice if you love making things go boom.

[Haledan]

Oh its all good :) better to have an informed idea of what you are getting yourself into than walk into it blind. Got myself half way through 15 now thanks to wisps, lions, wolves, and beetles out in NK just 5 more levels until some self ports! Think I may try checking out befallan or perhaps kurn's after I level. I know Icy wands are super rare but might as well have a shot at one as I try leveling. Probably hit up EC to try and sell off a few hq bear pelts and other lowbie staples and gear up as much as I can with the proceeds.

[nina]

I play my wizard. Its 53, without clicky nukes, mana robes or any of that stuff. Dont listen to the min-maxers, I like to make things go boom. I have jboots and am able to quad as well as port and am never an afk wizard in groups.
In saying that, wizards get the raw deal because they have a bad name and can be out damaged over time by melee DPS classes and when they run out of mana (which happens no matter how conservative you are) you are pretty useless.
Can be a lot of fun, easy to get disheartened but a good guild will help you out with that.

[Swish]

I play my wizard. Its 53, without clicky nukes, mana robes or any of that stuff. Dont listen to the min-maxers, I like to make things go boom. I have jboots and am able to quad as well as port and am never an afk wizard in groups.
In saying that, wizards get the raw deal because they have a bad name and can be out damaged over time by melee DPS classes and when they run out of mana (which happens no matter how conservative you are) you are pretty useless.
Can be a lot of fun, easy to get disheartened but a good guild will help you out with that.

good post

[Pringles]

However, I just realized you can't med-while-casting on Blue server, so I wouldn't want to play a Wizard there at all.

How are people medding on red while casting?

[Swish]

duck/cancel isn't supposed to be in on blue yet, sometimes these things are just "there"

[gekkonidae]

The power is YOURS.

[Zuranthium]

How are people medding on red while casting?

Red rules, blue drools.

[Raev]

You want to play an enchanter. If you play a wizard well (stun casters/charmed pets, help with CC, have that evac button ready) you can be . . . wait for it . . . mediocre in an average leveling group. And because P1999 is populated exclusively by min/maxers, you won't get groups anyway. I couldn't even get groups on my *bard*, one of the best grouping classes, because people were afraid of the hybrid penalty. Personally I find unusual class combos to be fun, but everyone wants Warrior/Monk/Rogue/Shaman/Cleric/Enchanter because they can faceroll their keyboards and still level up pretty fast.

TLDR: enchanters are a superb group class and also one where you can control the action. Wizards are for quadding/chardok to 60 and then being parked out for raid content.

[Pyrion]

You could use a druid. Nuke damage & efficiency is less, but not much so. But you will have a ton more utility and quadding is also a viable option, just like for wizards.

So you can play that druid just like a wizard if you want with only a little bit less efficiency. If you want efficiency (way more than wizard pre 29) you can just charm kill or root/rot. The only other things a wizard can do that a druid cant are translocates and stuns that also work indoors. The things a druid can do that a wizard can't are a lot: Buffing, Healing, PLing, SOW and wolf form (which also gives faction opportunities), DoTs, Charms, Tracking, foraging...

I think that wizards really need a buff. Of course that's not going to happen.

[Haledan]

Looks like the thread has looped back around to don't play wizard :) It's cool guys I understand perfectly why wizards are bad here. I mean you can only sustain as much damage as your mana regen allows and mana regen just isn't that great.

Dinged 16 turning in my lightstones and GLS out in NK last night and managed to get a sow from a nice troll murdering some guards. Then I invised up and ran through the gorge (is this route not faster than hhp?), stopped to sell some bear pelts and bone chips in Rivervale then made my way too east commons. Picked up a couple of golden jaded bracelets and want to grab a couple of golden fire wedding rings before I head out to adventure more. I'm thinking 16-20 is probably going to slow down some for me now that I'm moving past a lot of the low level quests I know of that give good exp. Are there any quests in the 16-24 range that give decent exp on top of exp for killing the mobs? With some hps rings and the bracers I've been considering trying to aoe down wisps and turn in more lightstones but I'm not sure how well that works after 16.

[Sorn]

The lightstones will still give a surprising amount of exp into the twenties, but you might want to consider traveling farther afield by then. 25+ you can kill mammoths in Everfrost, or do crag spiders in EK. My wizard basically took up residence in EK during the twenties. You can also give SK and Lake Rathetear a go in the early twenties. I remember just grinding through it.

After GLS there are not really any easy quests for exp/money that are level appropriate. If you can get into a Highhold Keep group you can get left goblin ears, I think.

[Tuljin]

Your best bet is to refamiliarize yourself with the mechanics and gameplay a bit then figure out what you want out of your class. Everybody on this server is so min/max crazy that everybody forgets what they actually want out of their gameplay experience and they just roll the "best" class before really learning the mechanics and content of the game.

Wizard isn't an awful first toon but know that you won't be invited to groups. You can earn some money when you get some ports and if you are intrepid you can have fun and be very useful in the notoriously tricky and dangerous mid-level dungeons that nobody really goes to because nobody can really stay alive that well even with a total faceroll group composition. Anybody else who knows content and the mechanics well are usually on their 4th toon and blowing through their levels either by powerlevel or by knowing where the best XP is.

The only classes that are let into groups without reluctance are Warrior, Cleric, Shaman, Enchanter, Monk, and Rogue. With any others you will face difficulty finding a group. There's a serious sickness on this server in regards to the more odd classes and its not going to change. The truth is every class is capable of great contributions in a group in the hands of a skilled player, however that is a huge caveat.

No matter how much people want to theorize and crunch DPS numbers, a dead group gets no XP. Remember that Iksar Monk you that wiped your pickup group the other night? How about the Cleric that instead of hanging in there for a tough fight he just gated and left everybody else for dead? Remember those 2 caster mobs that that Warrior pulled and they wasted him before he even got back to camp then they proceeded to waste the rest of your group with comical ruthlessness? PUGs wipe all the time, no matter the composition. I have seen horrors few would even believe.

Also know that Chardok powerlevel has been mostly abandoned at this point so that is no longer a viable option for getting yourself through the high 50s.

If you're having fun on Wizard keep going, just make sure you get your flux staff as soon as you can. If you're having fun playing and want to roll another toon you can pick another toon when you have a more informed idea of what you really want out of the game.

[Morlaeth]

Keep going man. I've enjoyed reading your progress.

[Pyrion]

In spite of what i said earlier i too want to encourage you to keep going as a wizard. If taken as a challenge, it can be good sport. I think its not the right class for a beginner though, mainly because you wont experience much group play and that is where the fun is (at least for me).

[Haledan]

Keep going man. I've enjoyed reading your progress.

Thanks! In the past I haven't been much for posting progress and things like that in forums so it has been a bit of an experiment for me! I've had too much work and spent too much time in EC tunnel trying to sell what little I have the last couple of days to work on leveling any. I will say that after getting jumped by a blue kodiak in WC it is apparent that things are going to be tougher going forward. I didn't really have any problem turning him into dust but he had a lot more hps and took a lot of mana.

In spite of what i said earlier i too want to encourage you to keep going as a wizard. If taken as a challenge, it can be good sport. I think its not the right class for a beginner though, mainly because you wont experience much group play and that is where the fun is (at least for me).

I do see it as challenge for sure but it might be too much of a challenge for me in the end. I've always been heavy on alts so I might start playing my rogue some as well. Having a character I'm playing more solo and one I play more for grouping fits my play style better anyway as there are going to be times I want to play but just don't have time to group effectively. Although I suppose if I picked the right class (like my old shaman or maybe an enchanter) I could do that with one character. There has been some really great discussion in this thread and it is funny just how much thought you can put into something as simple as picking a class in a video game but the shear amount of time investment required to level in Everquest makes it pretty important.

edit: spelling/grammar

[Zuranthium]

I play my wizard. Its 53, without clicky nukes, mana robes or any of that stuff. Dont listen to the min-maxers, I like to make things go boom.

You can't "make things go boom" as a high level Wizard because everything has a shit ton of HP and higher resists. Your biggest nuke will do an average of maybe 10% health off a typical high-end group target, after taking 7 seconds to cast and if it doesn't get too resisted in the first place, and if you try to chain nuke in order to actually "make something so boom", you will just pull aggro and take too much damage.

Wizards can just hope to do a steady stream of DPS, no different than anyone else. Constantly chaining Ice Spear of the Solist + Concussion + Rend Robe is the best sustained output for a Wiz, about 100 DPS if the spells are always hitting max. That's good but there is better. If you don't have the best items, then it's a bit sad or very sad.

If you want real action and nuke potential as a Wizard, go Red server. As a low 50's Wizard, using Draughts against people in range who don't have good resists is very fun. You have actual quick kill potential, something you will not get in PvE at those levels. In terms of quick kill potential in PvE, Wizards peak at level 12.

[Haledan]

If you want real action and nuke potential as a Wizard, go Red server. As a low 50's Wizard, using Draughts against people in range who don't have good resists is very fun. You have actual quick kill potential, something you will not get in PvE at those levels. In terms of quick kill potential in PvE, Wizards peak at level 12.

I could see how wizards could make players go boom in pvp for sure. Even at lvl 16 I could tell that mob hps scaled much faster than my nukes did so I believe the part about peaking at lvl 12 lol. Not sure if I'm ready to try the pvp server though.

I had a little bit of play time over the last couple of days and am now around 1.5 bubs of exp through level 17. I found some ry'gorr leggings on a vendor and managed to sell them in EC tunnel for a profit which was cool but I'm still a long way from having enough to pick up a Solist wand or any other fun wizard stuff. I trained my research skill but it wouldn't let me put additional points in it past the 16 it went to when I trained it. Even after hitting level 17 I couldn't put more training points in it. Is this a skill I can level with training points or is it all done through crafting? I did find some runes for both my level 16 spells and got someone to make them for me because I don't trust crafting anything that isn't very trivial (my apologies to the person that helped me I totally forgot to give you a tip :( ).

I recreated my rogue and now have a level 1 barb rogue named Knifewizard (knife wizards have a few spells...sneak, hide, etc. but mainly they cast Stab) I'll probably use a bit of my ry'gorr plat on some golden fire rings and a cheap Knife so I can level him a bit some too. Overall still enjoying the server and getting my classic EQ fix!

[Kalex716]

I'm about to hit 55 and i share your story.

I started a few months back, with no friends or any relationships on the server at all. I had some experience from original EQ but other than that, it was a solid newb experience. No gear no nothing.

I don't regret my choice at all. I leveled up mostly in groups till about 45. Groups were not as hard to get at all as people suggest until you hit 40. I would get on lists, and assert the fact that I could port back at a moments notice etc. Go solo until you get called. Once I outleveled mistmore grouping at about 40 however, It gets tougher to get them big time.

I scored a few good groups here and there in City of Mist, but I honestly started just doing better solo kiting around dreadlands anyway. I could just keep getting clarities regularly from KC and work around the castle easy. Did that from 45-53. Been doing velious stuff since then solo still.

I enjoy groups more, but by the time it gets hard to groups, quad kiting is a very real, and very good option. I like kiting too, so the mix of pace of all kinds of things to do as a wizard, coupled up with our porting abilities mean we can be all over the place and be very flexible.

One more piece of advice.... Score whatever newb gear that makes sense on the cheap, but save save save every plat you can for Jboots. Its the best investment you can make for a long time as a wizard in my opinion.

[Haledan]

I'm about to hit 55 and i share your story.

I started a few months back, with no friends or any relationships on the server at all. I had some experience from original EQ but other than that, it was a solid newb experience. No gear no nothing.

I don't regret my choice at all. I leveled up mostly in groups till about 45. Groups were not as hard to get at all as people suggest until you hit 40. I would get on lists, and assert the fact that I could port back at a moments notice etc. Go solo until you get called. Once I outleveled mistmore grouping at about 40 however, It gets tougher to get them big time.

I scored a few good groups here and there in City of Mist, but I honestly started just doing better solo kiting around dreadlands anyway. I could just keep getting clarities regularly from KC and work around the castle easy. Did that from 45-53. Been doing velious stuff since then solo still.

I enjoy groups more, but by the time it gets hard to groups, quad kiting is a very real, and very good option. I like kiting too, so the mix of pace of all kinds of things to do as a wizard, coupled up with our porting abilities mean we can be all over the place and be very flexible.

One more piece of advice.... Score whatever newb gear that makes sense on the cheap, but save save save every plat you can for Jboots. Its the best investment you can make for a long time as a wizard in my opinion.

Awesome post! Good to hear a story from someone who has rolled a wizard pretty recently! I've definitely had jboots on my mind when I'm buying and selling so far. They are a long way off for me but they are an item I never had much need for on live (mained shaman) but always coveted for my rogue and mage alts. I can see how they are almost a must for a kiting wizard.