Quote:
Originally Posted by Danth
[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
I think the folks who play Wizards are a big part of the problem with that class. Most of the Wizards I grouped with while leveling would blow their mana bar on one or two monsters then go AFK for upwards of 10 minutes (often with unsolicited mention of how high/stoned they were). Rinse and repeat.
|
This is really the chief problem with Wizard players. Most people roll a Wizard with the expressed interest of wanting to AFK, and having a misconception of how to play from the beginning. Comically enough the majority of Clerics have this same mindset and have a very similar playstyle, however CH is OP and they can get away with it, despite how much you'll bitch when the tank doesn't get his heal till he is under 10% health.
Adding to the depth of the Wizard hate dilemma is the Chardok AOE phenomenon. Not only do you have people who roll a class just to AFK, you now have a class that rolls just to AFK and get easy XP in Chardok only. There is a mass proliferation of players who don't see any dungeon time, and when they crank out to 60 they just portbot or park their toon for raids.
Really its just a bunch of hot air being blown around and the P99 hivemind regurgitating buzzhate. Wizard really is only "weak" in dungeons against Kunark mobs. Up to level 50 Wizard actually deals huge damage relative to total mob HP, and the stun/snare/root CC (along with Evac) is very helpful in the notoriously tricky 30s-40s dungeons.
Even in your 50s against mobs which have relatively high HP, you can still do fine contributing to a group by keeping up the chain pull by pulling with Flux Staff, dispelling, chain interrupting key spells from caster mobs (Seb in particular), utility CC (Snare is very important in dungeons) and dispels (who the hell is is gonna do it lol), stunning and getting agro off of people who shouldn't have it (charm breaks esp) and root parking (LOS for casters) and if you pace yourself your DPS really isn't for nothing. Fetter is really the best CC tool for Howling Stones, and if you are 58+, you can contribute to pulling the 3 and 4 split rooms very effectively. There are very few bona fide caster mobs there, reducing the need for mesmerize as CC. Wizard is also excellent for pulling on a Hole dungeon crawl with Flux Staff.
Really the point is Wizard is only as boring as you make it. EQ is a fun game and its the dungeon crawls and mob behavior that make the game exciting. I have a lot of fun playing Wizard and I played one way before it was cool, and got him XP to 60 in dungeons without Chardok AOE and without the help of a tiny guild where everybody was already 60. It requires a serious paradigm shift in your playstyle, however. With stun/snare/root/concussion you really shouldn't have anything to fear when it comes to tagging a mob with Flux staff and parking it somewhere, or tossing a stun out to get some agro off someone who shouldn't have it. Just make sure you have a stack of Jaspers and keep casting Steelskin =)
At level 60 its a different story - not only are you very effective CC and utility in planes/dungeons, your mana bar also becomes a devastating weapon against all the odd level 60+ mobs around Norrath that need muscle to be killed. Last nite I was part of a Paladin/Wiz duo that showed up to save the day on a very serious mob - - the two "shittiest" classes BTW.
TL;DR - If you can pull your own weight on Wiz and you learn how to play the game you can make friends and they will have no problems playing with you