No love for wizards in groups?
 

Title says it all. I see a lot of hate on the forums for wizards (except raids). Whats the deal with that?

In my limited experience they do pretty great damage which I would have thought would be desirable in groups as well.

Only issue I see is they sometimes do too much damage and pull aggro from the tank.

I didn't experience much hate concerning grouping while I was leveling. I think the key is making yourself a valuable member of a group, which, for a wizard, is doing more than just damage.

We are the masters of the arcane; thus, we should show off our prowess. In a typical group, I'd perform the following functions: nuke (obviously), crowd control with root, nullify damage shields, and evacuate (which saved many groups). If I was in a group with no druid or magician, then I'd sometimes apply O'Keils as one damage is better than no damage.

Also, when my mana was drained (I avoided going to 0m once I was able to evacuate), I'd typically meditate to 50m or 60m and then start working again rather than waiting until I was at 100m. That seemed to keep me more effective, and inevitably there would be a chance to meditate to 100m when we'd have to take a break for a healer to meditate.

I think the lack of love for wizards in groups comes from two things: 1. a few suck wizards who afk forever to meditate (giving the rest of us a bad reputation). 2. ignorance concerning what our class brings to a group.

From a min max perspective, there are better choices for most grouping situations. People on the forums tend to only care about min/max. Whereas people in the actual game playing are more forgiving and mostly just don't want to group with asshats regardless of class.

Wizards are pretty great to have around in "oh shit" situations, assuming they are smart enough not to dump all their mana on random trash mobs. Not just evac, but all the things mentioned by Necabo above.

That sounds like a pretty solid explanation. Pretty much make use of all your tools and be smart about your mana to stay useful. Got it.

Wizards are notorious AFKers....rogues, monks and even extra warriors are much more reliable DPS

This. Brb AFK OOM for every 2 out of 3 fights.

Wizard sustained dps is weak in a fast pulling group and they die easily. Lots of good cheap weapons float around which make melee far better at low and mid levels. Their utility is too low to make up for their other weaknesses at high levels. They're good for raiding and Chardok aoe.

No need for any qualifiers. Forums are where you go for hate.

Wizards are great for hole groups so you can port out at the end. A wizard who aoe stuns a pull to help enchanters/healers out is a great addition. A wizard who single target chain stuns a really hard caster can prevent ice comets. Root is usually a good enough cc. I agree with not wanting a sit there and hit 1 button wizard (or any class really).

If you're min-maxing, a wizard is a pretty poor addition to a group. Luckily min-maxing in a seventeen year-old game is totally absurd and not that common at lower levels.

Join a group, use all your abilities, don't go AFK too much, and have fun reliving the good old days. Most people will be more than happy to have you along.