Mages, let pets kill or do 51%?

[Kich867]

Heya, managed to convince a friend of mine to join P99, he's playin a mage.

He's level 12 now, just got his new spells. How much do you guys just say fuck it and let those little ballers slap shit for you and how much do you try to take the 51% for full xp?

So far, it seems like to us its simpler/faster to just let the pet kill shit and eat the 50% xp loss.

Also, feel like I've seen differing opinions on this of water vs fire pets for soloing. One guide says bluntly that fire pets are terrible and you should just use water pets when soloing, but the natural DS on the fire pet and nukes seems nice? And I've seen some sentiment that maybe later on the DS carries a bit harder and its easier to get 51% of the XP since the DS is neutral damage.

[Dogz]

Me personally, I don't worry about the 51%. I max summon fire pet and just have it murder stuff. Fire is by far the best solo pet sub 49

[Balimon]

Heya, managed to convince a friend of mine to join P99, he's playin a mage.

He's level 12 now, just got his new spells. How much do you guys just say fuck it and let those little ballers slap shit for you and how much do you try to take the 51% for full xp?

So far, it seems like to us its simpler/faster to just let the pet kill shit and eat the 50% xp loss.

Also, feel like I've seen differing opinions on this of water vs fire pets for soloing. One guide says bluntly that fire pets are terrible and you should just use water pets when soloing, but the natural DS on the fire pet and nukes seems nice? And I've seen some sentiment that maybe later on the DS carries a bit harder and its easier to get 51% of the XP since the DS is neutral damage.

Up to level 20/24 it's fine to just kill fast and eat the loss you won't notice it as much. Past that you will definitely want to get all the exp and it's easy to reclaim the pet when the mob is at 5% and nuke the remaining HP yourself.

Where did you read about water pets being best? They're literally the worst solo pet. Get a torch and a shovel and use fire and earth for solo play. Summon a torched fire pet, burnout if needed, reclaim at mob 5%, nuke, rinse repeat. Fire pets are the fastest leveling you'll see 29-55.

[Jimjam]

Have your irl pet dog box a level 1 halfling rogue.

Not only will you lose the pet penalty, a combination of the low xp on the rogue, their racial/class xp bonus and how xp is divided you'll end up with more xp than you would do solo.

[kjs86z2]

Make a new char and level with him and you don't have to worry about it.

If you don't have an enchanter, druid or necro yet, now is the time.

[Kich867]

Where did you read about water pets being best? They're literally the worst solo pet. Get a torch and a shovel and use fire and earth for solo play. Summon a torched fire pet, burnout if needed, reclaim at mob 5%, nuke, rinse repeat. Fire pets are the fastest leveling you'll see 29-55.

https://wiki.project1999.com/Afid%27s_Beginner_Magician_Leveling_Guide_(1-20)#Choosing_a_Pet

Also, speaking of the fire pet, suppose I've never paid attention to this before but is it possible to stack DS's? Like does the one you cast go on top of its own natural DS or is it just whichever one is stronger?

[loramin]

Up to level 20/24 it's fine to just kill fast and eat the loss you won't notice it as much. Past that you will definitely want to get all the exp and it's easy to reclaim the pet when the mob is at 5% and nuke the remaining HP yourself.

Where did you read about water pets being best? They're literally the worst solo pet. Get a torch and a shovel and use fire and earth for solo play. Summon a torched fire pet, burnout if needed, reclaim at mob 5%, nuke, rinse repeat. Fire pets are the fastest leveling you'll see 29-55.

It really depends on what you're fighting. 29-55 I often found the earth pet much better than fire pet for leveling. But yeah, water is better for groups/raids (and I mainly only used air in Plane of Sky).

[Crede]

It really depends on what you're fighting. 29-55 I often found the earth pet much better than fire pet for leveling. But yeah, water is better for groups/raids (and I mainly only used air in Plane of Sky).

How so, you need like 1-2 nukes to get full xp for fire pet. the ds just destroys them paired with torch focus hp boost. I only switched to earth at 55 because the mobs just had too much hp for DS to make as much of a difference.

[Vexenu]

The fire pet is really nice for leveling with the torch focus. The extra HP makes all the difference. With good mob selection (they key is finding low blue cons, preferably ones with low HP for their level) you should be able to use one fire pet per mob, dismiss it when the mob gets low, and finish with a nuke. This avoids the 50% XP penalty from the pet and is very mana efficient. I was able to do this consistently on my Mage until level 50ish.

Alternatively, if you wanted to level alongside your friend it would be a great opportunity to level up a Cleric bot. Mage/Cleric is an extremely strong leveling duo and is dead simple to play (if anything some people might find it too boring because it's so easy). With decent twinking the Cleric can melee and tank well enough 1-40 to add DPS and level up the defense skills. After that you just get a max level pet, buff it to the gills, and keep it healed while it chainsaws through everything (Burnt Wood Staff on the Mage helps a lot 50+). The Mage brings tanking and damage, Cleric brings heals and CC. It's a less powerful but way more relaxed version of Ench/Cleric, and one that can easily level 1-60.

[Balimon]

https://wiki.project1999.com/Afid%27s_Beginner_Magician_Leveling_Guide_(1-20)#Choosing_a_Pet

Also, speaking of the fire pet, suppose I've never paid attention to this before but is it possible to stack DS's? Like does the one you cast go on top of its own natural DS or is it just whichever one is stronger?

I like that guide and I used to use it, and it's out of date. It's not that the water pet is bad, it's just that the DS or root is so much better. The DS's do not stack, and the fire pet's natural DS is always higher than what you can cast.

It really depends on what you're fighting. 29-55 I often found the earth pet much better than fire pet for leveling. But yeah, water is better for groups/raids (and I mainly only used air in Plane of Sky).

Personally I prefer the earth pet too, I love having root control and it's just so beefy. Playing with the fire pet is literally playing with fire you're always riding the edge with that guy. It's faster and riskier :)

[Crede]

The fire pet is really nice for leveling with the torch focus. The extra HP makes all the difference. With good mob selection (they key is finding low blue cons, preferably ones with low HP for their level) you should be able to use one fire pet per mob, dismiss it when the mob gets low, and finish with a nuke. This avoids the 50% XP penalty from the pet and is very mana efficient. I was able to do this consistently on my Mage until level 50ish.

Alternatively, if you wanted to level alongside your friend it would be a great opportunity to level up a Cleric bot. Mage/Cleric is an extremely strong leveling duo and is dead simple to play (if anything some people might find it too boring because it's so easy). With decent twinking the Cleric can melee and tank well enough 1-40 to add DPS and level up the defense skills. After that you just get a max level pet, buff it to the gills, and keep it healed while it chainsaws through everything (Burnt Wood Staff on the Mage helps a lot 50+). The Mage brings tanking and damage, Cleric brings heals and CC. It's a less powerful but way more relaxed version of Ench/Cleric, and one that can easily level 1-60.

To sum up, clerics are OP. Best class

[loramin]

How so, you need like 1-2 nukes to get full xp for fire pet. the ds just destroys them paired with torch focus hp boost. I only switched to earth at 55 because the mobs just had too much hp for DS to make as much of a difference.

I like that guide and I used to use it, and it's out of date. It's not that the water pet is bad, it's just that the DS or root is so much better. The DS's do not stack, and the fire pet's natural DS is always higher than what you can cast.



Personally I prefer the earth pet too, I love having root control and it's just so beefy. Playing with the fire pet is literally playing with fire you're always riding the edge with that guy. It's faster and riskier :)

Exactly.

Plus, maybe I was fighting the wrong mobs or something, but I often found the fire pet wouldn't even last a full fight. I'd wind up having to recast the pet mid-fight, so by the end it'd be beat up (and I'd have to either summon yet another one, or go into the next fight with a damaged pet ... ensuring that I'd be summoning it's replacement even earlier). Or else I'd lose mana some other way (eg. nuking).

In contrast, my beefy earth pet almost always lasted until the mob was running, so I never needed more than one per fight (no nukes required).

But again, I think it has a lot more to do with what you are fighting ... I don't think any one pet is always best.

[Botten]

I think they said most classes with Spirit of the Wolf can solo an ice burrower. (Maybe not rogues - Edit: nope, apparently Rogues can do it too from reading.)

In fact watched recently a ranger and a warrior do it.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

I think they said most classes with Spirit of the Wolf can solo an ice burrower. (Maybe not rogues - Edit: nope, apparently Rogues can do it too from reading.)

In fact watched recently a ranger and a warrior do it.

Ice Burrower's don't summon, and run at normal speed. Every class should be able to kite them indefinately with Jboots and/or SoW Pots. Some classes would just take longer than others. Rogues could use archery to kill one, for example.

[kjs86z2]

y tho

[DeathsSilkyMist]

y tho

I agree lol. I killed an Ice Burrower on my Shaman once. Probably won't do it again. But people like finding weird things to do after years of playing on the same box.

[Kich867]

Pretty sure these were supposed to be in the other thread.

[TheBlob]

It would seem so!

[Snaggles]

If you use a coldain crossbow or similar it’s way better to just keep killing. There is a small range of levels mid 50’s on while camping a couple spawns where killing a pet makes sense, otherwise you will start the next fight with a damaged pet. It’s just more efficient to let the pet do most the work and clean up at the end when it’s running.

[Zuranthium]

Where did you read about water pets being best? They're literally the worst solo pet.

Water pet can definitely be the best if you're not doing pet resummoning. Fast health regen makes a big difference. Even besides that part, it's at least better than the air pet if not needing the stun to interrupt casters.

[Dogz]

I miss the glory days of the air pet during PoP / OoW when it was the ultimate. I know it's still good at mitigation for your tank if fighting stunable mobs, but I miss those beast days

[Eagish]

I'm pretty lazy and I don't try racing thru the levels, for what's it worth.

When I was leveling my mage, I generally summoned max level earth, kept it buffed and ds'd, and slaughtered hordes of low blues to level while I meditated and cast a nuke now and then.

It was pretty casual and the ds usually did enough damage on enough of the mobs that experience flowed tidily in. It got even better with the shovel and then the fast regen. But I'm sure it was all very inefficient.

[Duik]

I see it as mainly expectation, many cannot play unless 100% max play reward.
Very few can just play for the pleasure anymore. Although the appearance of SSF threads here mean it isnt everyone, just the sweatiest of sweats trying to enforce a min/max is the only way mindset on the rest of us.

[Snaggles]

I used whatever pet I could buy from the vendor. They all work fine, fire just needs to be watched more closely. At 49 it’s fun to get all the pets for spellbook completion sake. The focused earth will have a situational purpose to level 57 when you get the upgrade.

If I was doing it again, I’d use more Coldain Crossbows. I used a lot argent defenders and would keep a pet alive as long as possible. At level 4 when your pet is hitting for 60 life is good. It might be fun to start a necro with your buddy; it’s not the absolute best duo but they synergize very well.

[Kich867]

I used whatever pet I could buy from the vendor. They all work fine, fire just needs to be watched more closely. At 49 it’s fun to get all the pets for spellbook completion sake. The focused earth will have a situational purpose to level 57 when you get the upgrade.

If I was doing it again, I’d use more Coldain Crossbows. I used a lot argent defenders and would keep a pet alive as long as possible. At level 4 when your pet is hitting for 60 life is good. It might be fun to start a necro with your buddy; it’s not the absolute best duo but they synergize very well.

Yup, getting him up to 16ish so I can duo with my necro, we did a bit and it felt pretty busted.

Pull -> pets on -> snare + fear, chill.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

I see it as mainly expectation, many cannot play unless 100% max play reward.
Very few can just play for the pleasure anymore. Although the appearance of SSF threads here mean it isnt everyone, just the sweatiest of sweats trying to enforce a min/max is the only way mindset on the rest of us.

I haven't really seen people force min/max upon anyone. If someone asks a question like "which camp has the best XP?", there are objective answers to that. I guess you could say some sweat lords in game kick people from groups who aren't playing well, but I've rarely seen that personally.

I do agree that gamers in general these days are more min/max focused. I think that is more of a general shift in how people play games, rather than specific sweaties.

The generation of gamers that grew up on Everquest were much younger in 1999, and had more time to play games at their own pace. Those gamers have grown up and have responsibilities, so they tend to min/max to save time. I do agree that this mentality can reduce the fun you are having.

If you use a coldain crossbow or similar it’s way better to just keep killing. There is a small range of levels mid 50’s on while camping a couple spawns where killing a pet makes sense, otherwise you will start the next fight with a damaged pet. It’s just more efficient to let the pet do most the work and clean up at the end when it’s running.

Yeah at lower levels especially, you can level quickly even with the pet penalty. On my Enchanter I still get good XP when I do not break charm before the kill. Leveling from like 1-40 or 1-50 is pretty fast for an experienced player.

[Duik]

I haven't really seen people force min/max upon anyone. If someone asks a question like "which camp has the best XP?", there are objective answers to that. I guess you could say some sweat lords in game kick people from groups who aren't playing well, but I've rarely seen that personally.

I do agree that gamers in general these days are more min/max focused. I think that is more of a general shift in how people play games, rather than specific sweaties.

The generation of gamers that grew up on Everquest were much younger in 1999, and had more time to play games at their own pace. Those gamers have grown up and have responsibilities, so they tend to min/max to save time. I do agree that this mentality can reduce the fun you are having.

Necro + Mage sounda pretty cruisey...



Yeah at lower levels especially, you can level quickly even with the pet penalty. On my Enchanter I still get good XP when I do not break charm before the kill. Leveling from like 1-40 or 1-50 is pretty fast for an experienced player.

Piffle. You see quite a few peeps see a "what class/rave should I play as a total casual that will never see BIS gear" thread and immediately say BIS warriors/rogs/pal/sk make no difference. Pick the prettiest model.
Assuming min/maxing and shitting up the thread. You have seen it surely. You are clever enough.

Im glad you agree that min/maxing can take away the fun of playing for some people.
Playing a druid leveling while making tattered then studded then reonforced armor, did it make much difference? Probably not. Was it fun? Hell yeah. For me..

A min/maxer may be lvl 35 by then. Good for them.

[Jimjam]

Piffle. You see quite a few peeps see a "what class/rave should I play as a total casual that will never see BIS gear" thread and immediately say BIS warriors/rogs/pal/sk make no difference. Pick the prettiest model.
Assuming min/maxing and shitting up the thread. You have seen it surely. You are clever enough.

Im glad you agree that min/maxing can take away the fun of playing for some people.
Playing a druid leveling while making tattered then studded then reonforced armor, did it make much difference? Probably not. Was it fun? Hell yeah. For me..

A min/maxer may be lvl 35 by then. Good for them.

That sounds sick. I recently have been playing a warrior, working his armour up through studded to reinforced and now, by 35, wearing almost a full set of vendor bought plate. If Everfrost / Permafrost stop offering xp I think I’ll go make friends with the giants in kael and get that full set of Drakkel Steel.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Piffle. You see quite a few peeps see a "what class/rave should I play as a total casual that will never see BIS gear" thread and immediately say BIS warriors/rogs/pal/sk make no difference. Pick the prettiest model.
Assuming min/maxing and shitting up the thread. You have seen it surely. You are clever enough.

Im glad you agree that min/maxing can take away the fun of playing for some people.
Playing a druid leveling while making tattered then studded then reonforced armor, did it make much difference? Probably not. Was it fun? Hell yeah. For me..

A min/maxer may be lvl 35 by then. Good for them.

Again, not sure where you've seen people be forced into min/max. If someone wants to be casual, they probably wouldn't be posting questions asking what is best. They'd just roll whatever and play.

If you want to force posters to never provide insight into the min/max options, that is obviously silly. My philisophy has always been give as much information as possible, and let the reader decide how they want to play.

As an example, forcing min/max would be a scenario where groups/guilds won't let Human Monks join because they don't have Iksar Regen. I've never seen that happen. The closest I've seen/heard of is groups kicking players for playing poorly, but I've only seen that a few times personally over the 10 years I've been here.

[bcbrown]

That sounds sick. I recently have been playing a warrior, working his armour up through studded to reinforced and now, by 35, wearing almost a full set of vendor bought plate. If Everfrost / Permafrost stop offering xp I think I’ll go make friends with the giants in kael and get that full set of Drakkel Steel.

I've been goofing around with a ranger, up to 20 now, and just made most of a set of banded to replace my tattered and bear-hide armor. It's fun occasionally to level a twinked-out toon but leveling untwinked lets you see so much more of the world and the game.

[Crede]

I've been goofing around with a ranger, up to 20 now, and just made most of a set of banded to replace my tattered and bear-hide armor. It's fun occasionally to level a twinked-out toon but leveling untwinked lets you see so much more of the world and the game.

Ranger has a lot of cool old quests like orc impaler and short sword of Morin.not sure ivy edged is even worth it? Seems like that 2h from runneye is the way to go. And def get panic animal at 22.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Ranger has a lot of cool old quests like orc impaler and short sword of Morin.not sure ivy edged is even worth it? Seems like that 2h from runneye is the way to go. And def get panic animal at 22.

Yeah SSF Ranger may have the most items available to them compared to other melee classes. It's very nice thar they can get Ceremonial Iksar Chestplate, Swarmcaller, 17% Haste via Hangman's noose, Tantor's Tusk, etc.

[Balimon]

Water pet can definitely be the best if you're not doing pet resummoning. Fast health regen makes a big difference. Even besides that part, it's at least better than the air pet if not needing the stun to interrupt casters.

I don't believe the water pet having fast regen and disease resistance is something that ever happened here on P99. All the pets regen at 30hp/tick past level 39 regardless of type.