Magician Dark Elf? Should I have gone gnome?

[Xanthos]

Hello everyone! I'm kinda of new to p99 and Everquest but I have a general question.

After reviewing the classes and trying out a few, I've been having some fun with my Magician. He is currently a Dark Elf. I tried the Necromancer but I prefer the nuke spells the Magician has. I just like ramping up that damage and then watching the explosions. Plus their pets look really cool. On a side note, I wish Magicians would get pets at level 1 or 2. I don't understand why it was set to level 4. But that's another matter entirely.

Anyway, I'm having some doubts about the current race I picked for him though. I've never really played an evil race in Everquest and from what I've been reading it can be extremely frustrating. I didn't really like the High Elves or Humans. So my only choices were Gnome, Dark Elf and Erudite. So I went with Dark Elf. Figuring that they look really awesome and would be kinda cool as a Magician. I even liked their starter city.

I've been playing for awhile now. I've noticed there really isn't that many Dark Elf Magicians and majority of them seem to pick the good or neutral races. In fact, I see mostly Dark Elf Enchanters and Necromancers for the most part. I even asked a player in game and he said I should have gone agnostic gnome. He said it would have made things a lot easier for me and honestly there is nothing to gain as a Dark Elf Magician. He said I'm wasting my time and unless I wanted some armor or something associated with Dark Elf that I should reroll. Since gnomes apparently get tinkering or what not and the stats are relatively close. Also I would have issues with factions. I didn't think it would be that bad picking Dark Elf as an evil race. Is this a poor class combination or something? I'm confused. I now feel like the oddball picking Dark Elf for a Magician.

So here are a few of my question. Did I just shoot myself in the foot by picking Dark Elf Magician? Are they really that bad at being a Magician? Is that why there aren't many of them around? Is being an evil race going to be such a pain that I should just remake him a gnome? Is it true that I gain nothing really by being a Dark Elf Magician over a gnome?

It kinda sucks if that was the case. The only other options I had was Gnome and Erudite and I'm not liking the idea of being a short race. If anything Erudite and I'm not a huge fan of their hooded look.

Any pros and cons and or advice would be great.

[Gatorsmash]

DE- hide, best racial night vision vs graphic bug that allows gnomes to crouch and see past walls around corners and in rooms.

Just an FYI- good races vs evil races the quality of life stuff as a good race shouldn't be underestimated. Its 9 cities vs 3 and all the xp and stuff quests that go with them

[Xruptor]

I had a similar situation. Though I was also thinking of doing a High Elf Magician. In the end I just stuck with my DE Magician for looks. The evil race thing can be an issue but its easily worked around. Though to be fair I was heavily thinking of switching to Gnome. It's still a possibility since he is so low in level. lol. :)

If you want to have more city flexibility and such then I would suggest going gnome though.

[Balimon]

Dark elf magician's are great! While hide isn't that useful for us, ultravision is. Neriak is a great city and with small faction work you'd be welcome in many places. It is also the most convenient spell library in game IMO. Ak'Anon and Erudin are so out of the way.

To me, the biggest perk so far (41 so far as dark elf magician), is that I don't need to care about faction. You can kill almost anything you want.

[Xruptor]

To me, the biggest perk so far (41 so far as dark elf magician), is that I don't need to care about faction. You can kill almost anything you want.

Oh yeah, forgot about that. Being a Dark Elf you can pretty much kill anything you want and just laugh very evil like.

[Tecmos Deception]

Oh yeah, forgot about that. Being a Dark Elf you can pretty much kill anything you want and just laugh very evil like.

You can do that with any race though.

[Xanthos]

DE- hide, best racial night vision vs graphic bug that allows gnomes to crouch and see past walls around corners and in rooms.

Just an FYI- good races vs evil races the quality of life stuff as a good race shouldn't be underestimated. Its 9 cities vs 3 and all the xp and stuff quests that go with them

That's what quite a few people have told me. That I should ditch my character and pick gnome or another race. This should smooth out my leveling experience or so I'm told. So far I only ran into issues in Freeport, but if I was a gnome I guess I wouldn't have issues there. This whole situation kinda sucks big time. I like the Dark Elf but not all the baggage with it.

I had a similar situation. Though I was also thinking of doing a High Elf Magician. In the end I just stuck with my DE Magician for looks. The evil race thing can be an issue but its easily worked around. Though to be fair I was heavily thinking of switching to Gnome. It's still a possibility since he is so low in level. lol. :)

If you want to have more city flexibility and such then I would suggest going gnome though.

How easy is it to get around? Do you have issues getting to banks and merchants? Hmm you suggest going to gnome to make things easier or flexible as well. I'm assuming that's why you are thinking to switch to gnome.


Dark elf magician's are great! While hide isn't that useful for us, ultravision is. Neriak is a great city and with small faction work you'd be welcome in many places. It is also the most convenient spell library in game IMO. Ak'Anon and Erudin are so out of the way.

To me, the biggest perk so far (41 so far as dark elf magician), is that I don't need to care about faction. You can kill almost anything you want.

Holy! Level 41 Dark Elf Magician! This is awesome news as you have some experience. When you said small faction work I'm assuming you mean reputation grinds? What kinda of cities can I expect to have access with with some work? I really do like Neriak and the city is quite big.

It's good to know that I can kill whatever I want. Somehow I think this will make npcs hate me even more in certain locations.

Ugh what a terrible spot to be in right now. To stick it out with Dark Elf or switch to gnome.

[Xruptor]

How easy is it to get around? Do you have issues getting to banks and merchants? Hmm you suggest going to gnome to make things easier or flexible as well. I'm assuming that's why you are thinking to switch to gnome.

It really isn't that terrible getting around as one of the evil races. Just takes you a bit more effort but nothing absolutely awful. The only place that you may have problems with is on Faydwer. On that continent you won't have access to a bank without some faction grinding and even then some race/diety combinations are very hated. There are I believe two vendors on the continent you can sell too. One at or near the druid circle and a vendor at the center of dagnor's cauldron.

Other then that you have access to Neriak, Grobb and Oggok. Freeport can be done with a little faction work and a few tricks. The rest of the cities will pretty much hate you unless you do some faction work with them. In terms of the good cities, unless you have a specific reason for visiting them, you don't really need to go to them. Technically yes you have more access to quests in the good cities, but the evil towns have their own quests as well. I'm not entirely sure if there are more good quests than bad. Someone else would have to answer that.

[Snaggles]

Rerolling should just be done for personal reasons (liking your looks is 90% of the game). From a racial advantage perspective magicians suffer less than almost every other class.

If you like the dark elf I’d learn the city. You are in the middle of the best stuff, three great dungeons in Lavastorm. Highkeep is pretty close as is the tunnel for buying/selling.

I’ve started a number of gnomes and erudites. The first thing I do is get a port and never come back :).

Ps: you can bank in Freeport around the wall (F9). Also the Highkeep banker won’t attack you at lvl 33 or so. Kill enough goblins and while the cleric/Druid/rogue guilds in Rivervale will kill you banking and vendoring is possible. Buying food can be done in the EC tunnel but your a mage. Summoning is kind of your thing.

[Xruptor]

Oh if you are going to create a new magician. You can get to level 4 pretty quick following this.

At level 1, kill even cons
At level 2, kill fire beetles and decaying skeletons only
At level 3, focus on fire beetles or other level 2's
At level 4, focus on any potential level 3-4 mobs like large bats, and fill it in with fire beetles.

Don't stick to only level 1's at level 2-4 thats where people don't think of the experience formula per level they are too focused on the con color

https://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3047402


This can't be stressed enough -- you absolutely need to kill "HIGH LEVEL BLUE CONS" or even White cons as long as you possibly can. Think about this. A level 1 mob gives 75 XP without any ZEM Bonus. Level 1 takes 1000 XP to complete. that is 10 mobs. If you kill the same level 1 mobs when you are level 2 (7000 XP to complete) it's gonna take you 93 kills. Where as Killing level 2 whites will take you 23 mobs. It's all numbers.

Bottom line -- kill high level blues. That means mobs that are white cons to you when they are too hard at like level 4, make sure you target these mobs at level 5, high blues will be substantially better than even a mob that is 1 level lower. If you're a caster class, sometimes you can even get away with white/yellow cons depending on class and pets and stuff.

https://www.project1999.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3050169&postcount=28

[Crede]

Don’t reroll, Hide is awesome. I have a dark elf wizard, enchanter, and mage pretty much for that reason. Being able to safely afk while medding is one of the most useful racial abilities IMO.

[Erati]

hide is terrible for a mage as it kills your pet

only useful if you are literally afk for long time w no pet but just log out maybe at that point

[Crede]

hide is terrible for a mage as it kills your pet

only useful if you are literally afk for long time w no pet but just log out maybe at that point

Why would I log out when I want to med 0 to full for a 10+ min afk with hide? If you’re doing solo xp as a mage losing a pet doesn’t matter as you’re reclaiming and not worrying about a max pet.

[Erati]

Why would I log out when I want to med 0 to full for a 10+ min afk with hide? If you’re doing solo xp as a mage losing a pet doesn’t matter as you’re reclaiming and not worrying about a max pet.

right thats my point

extremely niche situation where its useful as a mage as majority of the time youll have pets out

its only useful to afk med w no pet which I guess has its moments but that shouldnt determine your race...whether you can afk meditate or not

[Crede]

right thats my point

extremely niche situation where its useful as a mage as majority of the time youll have pets out

its only useful to afk med w no pet which I guess has its moments but that shouldnt determine your race...whether you can afk meditate or not

Who are you to say what should and should not cause you to pick a race? I guess you might as well not pick an ogre for FSI, or a troll/iksar for regen while we're at it too.

For those people out there like myself who want to afk med while doing other stuff irl and not having to worry about getting back to the keyboard at a certain time and dying, Hide is one of, if not the most useful racial ability in classic eq.

[Xruptor]

Don’t reroll, Hide is awesome. I have a dark elf wizard, enchanter, and mage pretty much for that reason. Being able to safely afk while medding is one of the most useful racial abilities IMO.

Dark Elf ability to Hide is probably one of the coolest factors about picking that race. I've gone afk countless times using Hide. It's very useful.

Lets not forget Neriak's proximity to many nearby hunting spots and dungeons. It one of the many reason which I went DE with my Magician. Looks was also a huge factor in it as well. The only downside is that your playing an evil race and that brings issues related with faction and being KOS in a lot of places.

Being a gnome will allow you to wall hack pretty much and use tinkering. You'd be neutral, so you'd be accepted in many cities over a Dark Elf. (If you're Agnostic even more so). Your gnome would be tiny and to many a 'cuteness' factor associated with it.

You could always just make another toon and give it a try as another race to see if you like it?

[Erati]

Who are you to say what should and should not cause you to pick a race? I guess you might as well not pick an ogre for FSI, or a troll/iksar for regen while we're at it too.

For those people out there like myself who want to afk med while doing other stuff irl and not having to worry about getting back to the keyboard at a certain time and dying, Hide is one of, if not the most useful racial ability in classic eq.

Agreed it is one of the best racial traits 100%. Hide is useful from 1-60.

The reason I am poo poo ing it as a major factor in racial selection tho is it seems silly to focus on an attribute that benefits you the most not playing the game. FSI and regen are both active abilities that happen while you are playing, to make use of hide you have to have legit AFKs.

Seemed odd to me that we are saying “Hey focus your choice on which race helps you AFK the safest versus which race helps your game time play better”

thats my 2 cents, Im a gnome mage and feel this is best. You can look tru all walls, never need shrink pot to send eyes to zone in and can still loot Guise for DE ultravision and looks.

:)

[Man0warr]

There aren't any game breaking racial decisions for the Magician class like there is for tanks or a class like Necromancer. Choose what you thing is coolest.

[aspomwell]

Ps: you can bank in Freeport around the wall (F9). Also the Highkeep banker won’t attack you at lvl 33 or so. Kill enough goblins and while the cleric/Druid/rogue guilds in Rivervale will kill you banking and vendoring is possible. Buying food can be done in the EC tunnel but your a mage. Summoning is kind of your thing.

The Highkeep banker will not kill you as long as you stay on the right side of the counter. Go behind the counter (in the room with her) and she will attack you.

Guards will roam to the front part of the counter though. For necro's it's easy enough to FD bank, for mages I'd suggest being quick!

[Xanthos]

Thanks everyone. I'll stick it out with my Dark Elf Magician for now. I still think it may be better for me to go Gnome for convenience and ease of gaming. There are lots of gnome mages apparently. Worst case scenario I can make a gnome magician and see how that is.

[Xruptor]

Thanks everyone. I'll stick it out with my Dark Elf Magician for now. I still think it may be better for me to go Gnome for convenience and ease of gaming. There are lots of gnome mages apparently. Worst case scenario I can make a gnome magician and see how that is.

You should be okay with the DE. Besides Dark Elves are great! :) Yeah like I mentioned before if you still have doubts just level up a gnome for a bit. Not a whole lot, but just enough that you get a general idea of you want to play as one or not. I know you didn't mention playing the other races, but it's worth making a few of the other races to see if you like them or not. You never know!

[Kron]

Stick to DE and here is why.

You can do 25-40 with High Keep guard farming... Man the exp is amazing and you can bank serious cash in there. Each guard drops a FS swords sells for 5p and you will be killing soooo many guards. Plus the vendor that sell the Ench spells is neutral so you can sell all the guards swords to him.

I seen plenty of High elf and Gnome magicians in there wrecking away at guards so you still end up messing up the FP faction.

Second you have Guk which is a great place to do 14-25 and Lower Guk 35-50 and you can use the Oger city right next to Guk... So you can bank and sell while the good guys have to run like 5 zones over just to bank.

Halfling guards is another great plat/exp far spot in your high 20's mid 30's. Can't do them if you're hung up on been a good guy.

Been an evil race removes a ton of restrictions when it comes to farming and some of the best money early on is guard farming.

[Christina.]

I am a 60 gnome magician from the red server an one kill away from my orb of mastery (epic). I'd say to you just pick whatever race you feel looks the Coolest cause that's really what it comes down to in the end game. P.m me anytime and I can give you a guide for the easy life as a magician all solo :)

[liquidki]

The Highkeep banker will not kill you as long as you stay on the right side of the counter. Go behind the counter (in the room with her) and she will attack you.

Guards will roam to the front part of the counter though. For necro's it's easy enough to FD bank, for mages I'd suggest being quick!

I've played a lot of DEs and if you pick the right places to hunt early on, you can repair your faction (while leveling) for Qeynos, Highpass, and Kaladim which gives you easy access to banks and vendors all over the world, while still having access to the evil cities when adventuring near Grobb (and Guk is one of the best dungeons for leveling up).

I'll also echo what others have said: Learn about the races, classes, and how they interact in the world and play what you like. There's few if any race/class combinations that are truly terrible and can't be fixed with a little factioning or gearing. So ultimately it mostly comes down to do you enjoy playing a particular character.

P.S. If you do feel like doing a bit of faction work, mage is one of the easiest to do it on with your pet.

[Endorra]

Yes.

[Piemur]

for what its worth, agnostic gnomes are safe in most of Neriak. You could continue to go there with your gnome. I am bound there as a Gnome Wizard.

[Christina.]

All the races are good :)

Humans are the rarest mages but us gnomes are the coolest cause we are tiny lol

[jolanar]

+1 for hide. It makes Dark Elf the best mages. Pretty sure wall scouting can be replicated with shrink potions in must have situations. Nothing replicates permanent invis. Faction is irrelevant 99% of the time and if you choose agnostic you will actually have surprisingly decent faction anyway.

[Nagoya]

tldr; none of the 73 class/race combination is wrong and all are highly playable.

[Frug]

Just an FYI- good races vs evil races the quality of life stuff as a good race shouldn't be underestimated. Its 9 cities vs 3 and all the xp and stuff quests that go with them

On the other hand, that's 9 cities of *targets* vs 3 for an Evil.

[bradsamma]

Gnomes are by far the best mage race for coh