New to casting world

[musicianofstark]

I decided to roll a Wizard. I do understand that a wizard is a difficult char to start in the casting world, but I've always wanted to roll one in old everquest..so I did.

Anyway, I'm finding myself running out of mana extremly quick...and of course mana regain takes forever...I'm lvl 11.

I am just wondering what equipment I should be keeping an eye out for. Maybe take up tailoring for my own use? And is there any potions I can find that will help.

I guess what I'm asking is for any wizards advice to one who is aspiring to be a good one.

Thanks,

Merthus

[knottyb0y]

Basically as a wizard you are going to want to build your int and +mana items to get as big a mana pool as possible as far as armor, get raw silk till you can replace every item with a +mana or +int item. You are best suited in groups where you can cause burst dps and just tear caster mobs a new one, but you can solo with several techniques. As far as mana regen wizards eventually get Harvest but it isn't the be all end all and I don't recall what era it is from. In my opinion your best exp rate will be found in groups (until you can quad kite but that has a very high death ratio).

In a group you have two roles
1. Burst DPS
2. Caster control

Burst DPS

Pretty simple, for your average fight you should cast 1-2 nukes, timing them so you don't take aggro too early, and don't waste mana by nuking too late. My suggestion is let your tank get good aggro, nuke once, chill for a second to make sure aggro is restored med, then the razzle dazzle is END THE FIGHT. Every wizard worth their salt should end atleast 50% of the fights. Time it so the mob is down to 15 or 10% hp or whatever your nuke does and drop the bomb. This will wow your group as they will see you shortening the duration of every fight, and you don't have to worry about aggro from dead mobs. Also wizards often pride themselves in being able to control "oh shit" situations. What I mean is say you pull too many or things are going out of control. Few other classes can as effectively end a creature. In other words when shit goes bad, drop root on one of the adds and bomb the bastard to death (then sit oom for like 5 minutes but hey your a ROCK STAR!).

Caster Control

Wizards have the tools to lock a caster down. when caster mobs are pulled you should make a point to drop a stun or two and a nuke (low hp mobs and big nukes are fun). The point is casters can really mess up a group, you have the ability to stop their casting for periods of the fight and end it. This is especially important with healing mobs, ALWAYS stun or nuke down a healer before they can drop a big heal on themselves.

Random Tip: As a wizard in a group you need to know when to blow your mana and when to conserve it. Always always try to make some sort of dps on every mob, but don't over do it and end up oom for several fights UNLESS necessary. Think of it like this, your job is DPS, if you spend 3/5 fights medding and not doing ANY damage i'd replace your meditating ass with a rogue or ANY DPS class any day because they won't run oom and be a non factor in fights.

Solo Techniques

1. Root and Nuke
2. Quad Kiting

Wizards can solo, they don't have a lot of options, but they can solo.

Root and Nuke

Pretty simple form of soloing. You find a creature and pull it, root it into a safe spot and nuke till root breaks, re-root, and repeat. Eventually the creature will be dead and you will be oom. You can get good xp from this method but the downtime SUCKS.

Quad Kiting

Quad kiting can be done with preparation. Some sort of movement boost (sow, Sow potions, or jboots) is pretty much required. You need to know the lay of the land and have the Bonds of Force Spell. Basically you pull up to 4 creatures (the max that can be hit by your pillar ae spells), bunch them up by running circles around them, get max distance then cast an AE spell. Its really fun to do and super dangerous, you need a wide open area but then you will be able to rack in the exp.

Overall wizards are fun, porting rocks, nuking is great and if you play in groups more than you solo you won't spend 40% of your time meditating. I personally am the type of person that likes to make groups and always be with others. Also I don't think i mentioned much about this but wizards are great in 2-4 man groups too. You can compliment another caster but you just have to be careful about aggro and what not

I hope this helps.

[guineapig]

I decided to roll a Wizard. I do understand that a wizard is a difficult char to start in the casting world, but I've always wanted to roll one in old everquest..so I did.

Anyway, I'm finding myself running out of mana extremly quick...and of course mana regain takes forever...I'm lvl 11.

I am just wondering what equipment I should be keeping an eye out for. Maybe take up tailoring for my own use? And is there any potions I can find that will help.

I guess what I'm asking is for any wizards advice to one who is aspiring to be a good one.

Thanks,
Merthus


Seems like your asking 2 different questions.

There is no gear in the game (besides manastone) that will help you regain your mana faster if that's what your asking.

The bigger your manapool, the longer it will take to fill it. So if your looking for more mana or int gear then you will find yourself meditating even longer once your manapool is empty.

Are you soloing or grouping? Do you sit down when ever you aren't casting a spell? And most importantly, did you train in meditate at your local guild?

[Stumpes]

Go to kurns or nro and join a few groups.

[StinkyGreenBud]

knottyb0y pretty much said it all. It can be a very frustrating class at times but if you stick through it i find it myself worth it at the end. Yes medding can be a joke but just go do something else while taking med breaks if soloing.

[guineapig]

Also, within a couple months Wizards will have access to Harvest which will help a little bit with mana.

[mitic]

good choice imo. just get into a group and cast a nuke every now and then ninja-afking inbetween and watching pron or doing something else productive irl.

if someone asks you why you arent doing anything at all just reply with something like you unloaded all your mana some fights ago and all is fine again

hope this helps!

[musicianofstark]

You guys rock. Thanks so much. Info helped great.

I'm lvl 14 now. grinding bb gnoll fangs. Its going great now that I have bind and some other stuff to offer.

[carrots]

remember to train meditate. i made this mistake and didnt train till level 20

[Foxx]

remember to train meditate. i made this mistake and didnt train till level 20

i heard in wow they train skills for you

[musicianofstark]

Way ahead of you guys. I trained meditate as soon as I was allowed to. It helps. I just pop on futurama while i'm waiting for mana to regain.

I'm wondering, though. WWhat equipment should I try to obtain. I don't have a great amount of money...mostly cause I save towards my spells. But is it a big concern at this point to worry about anything. I know to look out for int and mana complimenting equipment. But where should I look?

Thanks,

You guys are really helping me out tremendously.

[knottyb0y]

I'm wondering, though. WWhat equipment should I try to obtain. I don't have a great amount of money...mostly cause I save towards my spells. But is it a big concern at this point to worry about anything. I know to look out for int and mana complimenting equipment. But where should I look?



As far as equipment goes save up that plat and try to get some +2 or +4 int rings from a jeweler or someone who does not need them anymore. Here are a few other items that I can think of that you should be able to get pretty easily. Get a tailor to make you Raw Silk Armor until you get money. You can camp some gear but most of the stuff won't be accessible until around level 20+. Best bet until you decide to camp gear is to scrounge every piece of platinum, maybe find money spots that ALSO give you exp and make it happen. You can probably get a nice +int robe easily if you want. I could list a couple of camps if you want but not sure where you are hunting and how much you are willing to travel / make groups.

[guineapig]

As far as equipment goes save up that plat and try to get some +2 or +4 int rings from a jeweler or someone who does not need them anymore.

Completely disagree. As an enchanter you should be using fire opal rings. You want as much AC and hitpoints as you can get.

You have an animation that only attacks when you get hit and you have no way to heal yourself. Higher int isn't going to keep you alive or decrease your downtime.

[falkun]

Completely disagree. As an enchanter you should be using fire opal rings. You want as much AC and hitpoints as you can get.

You have an animation that only attacks when you get hit and you have no way to heal yourself. Higher int isn't going to keep you alive or decrease your downtime.

Except he's not a chanter, he's a wizard. Please tell me how that CHA is going to help him besides earning him 2cp more for vendored items?

[tristantio]

Keep in mind until around level 30 or so, most +mana items will be more useful than +int for increasing mana pool.

I believe around 30 (rough estimate just from previous experience, you can look up/research exact values) that 1 int/wis finally equals about 10 mana. At level 10 they end up almost at a 1 to 1 ratio (1 int/wis = 1 mana, maybe 2).

So if you have a choice between that cheap earring that gives +10 mana (name eludes me right now) and an earring with +2 int, you will be getting around 5x more mana out of the +mana earring at your level.

Also this may be harder to do if you do not have a dot ticking to show the 6 second timer, but in Everquest (at least classic like here) health/mana gains every 6 seconds. If you are sitting the gains are exponentially higher.

A great strategy while using a caster (at least while solo root/nuking) is to sit right before the 6 second timer comes up so you get the sitting mana regen rate. You can open your inventory and watch your HP ticks to keep track of it as well.

So, example:

Root monster and sit
Wait for tick of health/mana, stand up and nuke, then sit back down
Repeat

The standing mana regen rate is something atrocious like 1 or 2 mana while standing (meditate will not kick in while standing), while the sitting is way higher (8 per tick at level 12).

Obviously this strategy helps more at lower levels (or levels where nukes are outdated) and you have to cast 10+ times on the mob, as that would be 10 more times you could have gained mana. When you have powerful nukes and are fighting 2 shot mobs (nuke nuke dead) this is not really worth doing.

[Messianic]

Except he's not a chanter, he's a wizard. Please tell me how that CHA is going to help him besides earning him 2cp more for vendored items?

Fire opal rings don't give cha.

Plus, int is relatively pointless until 25+. The best investment he can make is golden jaded bracelets and fire opal rings - HP>int until quite a bit later.

My main is a wizard - trust me, his HP is more important than the size of his total mana pool until quite a bit later.

[falkun]

Fire opal rings don't give cha.

Plus, int is relatively pointless until 25+. The best investment he can make is golden jaded bracelets and fire opal rings - HP>int until quite a bit later.

My main is a wizard - trust me, his HP is more important than the size of his total mana pool until quite a bit later.

Bah, I apologize. I read "AC" as "CHA". Don't ask how.

[musicianofstark]

I really wish they would make class forums. This information is honestly kicking ass.

I am currently in BB hunting gnoll fangs so far. I am willing to travel/form groups for gear that will help myself out in anyway. Adventuring is what I'm here for in the first place. So any camps that your willing to tell me about is well appreciated. Thanks again for the info.

Merthus

[Messianic]

In my opinion your best exp rate will be found in groups (until you can quad kite but that has a very high death ratio).

I agree that for the most part your fastest exp is in groups, but I have died precisely once while quad kiting on p99 (pulled mobs with a sow that had like 30 seconds of duration left and didn't realize it till it fell, idiot moment, tried to gate but was bound in the same zone nearby and an ice giant killed me while trying to get to the ZL), but never when I had sow. I may have died once or twice on live, but I don't remember ever dying. Quad kiting is absolutely safe if you have sow or jboots.

Quad Kiting

Quad kiting can be done with preparation. Some sort of movement boost (sow, Sow potions, or jboots) is pretty much required. You need to know the lay of the land and have the Bonds of Force Spell. Basically you pull up to 4 creatures (the max that can be hit by your pillar ae spells), bunch them up by running circles around them, get max distance then cast an AE spell. Its really fun to do and super dangerous, you need a wide open area but then you will be able to rack in the exp.

A little secret is you can quad kite without bonds of force - although it's really not as effective as root-nuking for sheer exp/hour until 24, and bonds of force makes it incredibly easier and faster. Send me a PM if you want some good places to hunt around that level.

[baalzy]

If you're in BB then it's not terribly far for you to travel to Lfay.

My advice, do a /who all lfaydark every now and then, if you see a lvl 12-17 necro, mage, druid, enchanter, or wizard, send them a tell and ask if they're at the nybright camp. If yes, see if they'll let you know when they leave. Otherwise, get your butt over there. The sisters are rogues so they have very low HP, the one by the tree and the sister furthest to the south can be single pulled. Without lull (not sure if wizards get it) the remaining 2 sisters you'll probably have to root split. (root 1, kill the other, zone into nearby mistmoore if you dont have enough mana to finish the other). They should only take about 2 of your strongest nukes to get to low/dead and then maybe 1 lower level nuke to finish off.

It's a fairly well known camp now-adays cause of a leveling guide someone made, but if you can get the camp the sisters drop bronze weapons fairly often (dont pick up the daggers) that are worth 1-2pp each, there is also a vendor in zone that you should be able to use as a wizard. I'd recommend binding nearish the vendor so you can make fast returns (check to make sure you can sell at the vendors first). You can stay at this camp until lvl 17-18.

Alternatively, there are some aqua goblins near the docks in BB that I remember in live dropping goblin blood fairly often which sold for 1-2pp to vendors and some other random loot that was pretty okay money. The plus side to these camps is that you can pick up buffs from high levels who are waiting on the boat to FV fairly often. Though I think at level 14 many of the goblins are going to be green/light blue to you.

This'll be your best shot at getting some of the equipment you need, pick up a couple hundred PP to set you up with spells for a while and then head to EC and buy some cheap jewelery. Electrum bracelets (2ac 15hp/mana) are only like 30-40pp for a pair. I personally really like the 2str 4int earrings cause it lets you carry a bit more. I wouldn't worry greatly about equipment though, cheap jewelery would be the best thing to pick up since theres really no other way to fill those slots and the extra AC, HP and Mana help.

[tristantio]

Don't forget Clarity gives ~8 mana more per tick (standing or sitting), which comes down to 80 extra mana per minute (or 2400 more mana per half hour aka Clarity duration).

What I find to be worth it occasionally on my caster characters if I am soloing is to bind at a hunting spot near East Commons (for level 15 those would be Oasis or Lavastorm) and run to EC to snag a clarity and then gate back to my hunting area and have 30 minutes of low downtime killing.

I am not sure if the run would be worth it if you did not have SOW though (SOW pots help with this, or being a class that has SOW).

Edit: Since your mana pool is probably around 500 at your level and you most likely use most of it to kill a mob that is like 5 free kills per half hour with Clarity. If average kill/med time takes about 5 minutes the run is worth it imho.

[Raavak]

Some ideas of stuff that is attainable at lower levels if you save your coppers.

Slot-Name-Stat
Ear-Obsiden Bead Hoop (2)-3 INT ea
Rings-Moonstone Ring (2)-30 mana ea
Offhand-Stein of Mogguk-10 INT, 10 mana
Feet-Wolf Fur Slippers-20 mana
Neck-Sapphire Platinum Necklace-7 INT
Wrists-Polished Bone Bracelet-3 INT ea
Sleeves-Embroidered Sleeves-25 mana
Waist-Braided Cinch Cord-4 INT
Face-Sheer Bone Mask-3 INT
Shoulders-Embroidered Cape-20 mana
Hands-Dusty Bloodstained Gloves-25 mana
Hat-Batfang Headband-3 INT

[Dr4z3r]

If you're in BB then it's not terribly far for you to travel to Lfay.

Gnoll Fangs come from BlackBurrow, not ButcherBlock.

[baalzy]

Gnoll Fangs come from BlackBurrow, not ButcherBlock.

I kinda wondered about that :X. I've leveled every single one of my chars on Faydwer during their newbie levels, so BB has always meant butcherblock in my vocabulary lol.

[Knuckle]

picking a wizard is perhaps the easiest class to play in a group period. No one really knows when u should be nuking becuase you can oom in like 3 casts at low levels. Basically you can afk longer than any other class and just leech xp while you read a book or do p90x

[tocasia]

I haven't seen anyone mention this yet.

You should try to get your Staff of the Wheel quest done asap. Nothing really beats +10 int primary, and you will eventually need to turn in the staff to get the runes to research Ice Comet. Some of the rods for this quest are tough to get (lguk and everfrost) so it's best to do early so that if you die it won't take as long to gain back the lost exp.

Another quest you should do around lvl 29 is the Staff of Temperate Flux quest. You will use this from your inventory (you don't have to equip it) for an instant cast fire and cold resistance debuff. Not only will you experience fewer resists with fire and cold spells both solo and grouped, it makes a great pulling tool and range finder while quad kiting. You can also use it to help position mobs for root cc in groups if you are brave/have lots of hp. At 29 you will need help or a group to get the Heart of Fire from Sol A and the Rod of Bone from Lake Rathe, but you should be able to solo the goblin wizard in Permafrost for the Heart of Frost.

[tocasia]

Here's some more info, I hope it can help you!

Wizard Leveling - This is what I did

High Elf wizard, currently lvl 35
1-4 : soloed in gfay newbie area
4-8 : orc hill group
8-12 : crushbone wall group
12-14 : dervish group in WC
14-16 : solo by Najena in Lavastorm
16-20 : some Unrest grouped first floor, some orc highway in Oasis grouped, some Highhold Pass orcs grouped, Upper Guk spiders and scryer grouped (best place)
20-24 : Upper Guk scryer and undead zoneline grouped (very nice exp in here)
24-32 : Mistmoore pond grouped or solo entrance gargs if no one is around, Mistmoore gy and ce grouped at higher end of range
33-35 : gnolls near Paw spires in SK solo quads, Overthere grouped near FM zoneline

[Messianic]

Here's some more info, I hope it can help you!

Wizard Leveling - This is what I did

High Elf wizard, currently lvl 35
1-4 : soloed in gfay newbie area
4-8 : orc hill group
8-12 : crushbone wall group
12-14 : dervish group in WC
14-16 : solo by Najena in Lavastorm
16-20 : some Unrest grouped first floor, some orc highway in Oasis grouped, some Highhold Pass orcs grouped, Upper Guk spiders and scryer grouped (best place)
20-24 : Upper Guk scryer and undead zoneline grouped (very nice exp in here)
24-32 : Mistmoore pond grouped or solo entrance gargs if no one is around, Mistmoore gy and ce grouped at higher end of range
33-35 : gnolls near Paw spires in SK solo quads, Overthere grouped near FM zoneline

In that spirit, here's what i did:

4-8 - EC trash
8-12 - WC willowisps
12-16 - WC/Oasis/NK - ((It's helpful to be bound in the zone you fight, run back to EC, get clarity/sow, gate back, pwn mobs - that was reason enough to stick around EC))
16-20 - NK/EK
20-~25/26- Combination of NK and High Keep - I soloed Osargen for a while
~26-31 - discovered quad kiting mammoths in EF without bonds of force. Leveled like I was on crack because I always had someone there to sow me. They started to lblue out at 31.
31-34 - SK Gnoll spires
35-42 - Four NK Qeynos guards - two at the tower near gypsies, two at the bridge. Very good exp, very easy, and very consistent. Pull the ones at the bridge and just run all the way to the tower. Pull those. Run them in circles, quad them in the direction of the bridge. Profit.

And i'm stuck at 42 doing Dreadlands trash near the tunnel to the druid rings/wiz spires. It's faster exp than specs and I don't have to wonder if it's camped or not. Little to no play time lately = not a happy wizard