[Dolalin]

Just from searching on the train, I found this thread which points to two issues:

1) Mage pets would run away from mobs more than X levels higher than them

2) Mage pets above 20 were perhaps all research only until some point (this squares with the GZ post I added earlier about mage spells only going on the vendors once enough people had "discovered" them)

5/7/99

Mitosis wrote in message <3732e4ac.6883423@news>...

>Now, I am currently playing on some newer servers, but I am wondering
>how useful a magician is to a group above level 20 or so? My lvl 8
>gnome mage on Rodcet Nife has been fun up until now, but I do not see
>that many spells which will be that helpful to the group in the
>future. I have also found that my pets will not attack mobs which are
>yellow or red to me. Thus, for all of lvl 7, I did not summon my pets
>in a group, and simply took the roll of standing back and casting
>along with the wizards.
>
>My basic frustration: My higher lvl offensive spells will not be as
>effective as the wizard, and my pet will run away from the red or
>yellow mobs my group is trying to attack. Can any higher lvl
>magicians comment on what they can do for a group? Is my coward pet
>only a problem with low level summonings? Will I use a pet with
>higher level groups?

At level 11 my pet would attack yellow creatures. I had the same problem as
you when I was level 7, so perhaps it was just our level 4 summoned
creatures. Strangely, now at 12, my pet will not attack willowisps. It will
fight them if they attack me, though.

>And no, I don't consider being the food supply for a group to be very
>exciting.

Your offensive spells aren't bad, and you can jump in and attack a bit also.
You can cast flame shield on the tanks too.

>Please help me decide on whether I should continue with my magician,
>or bit the bullet and create a gnome wizard?

Wizards do the most direct damage, but you need to play in a group at higher
levels. Magicians are better for soloing, IMO, and still contribute to a
group -- at least at level 12.

Mark Asher

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt....g/FEHU2VgBCvkJ

5/7/99

On Fri, 07 May 1999 13:23:32 GMT, neme...@remove.hotmail.com
(Mitosis) wrote:
>Now, I am currently playing on some newer servers, but I am wondering
>how useful a magician is to a group above level 20 or so? My lvl 8
>gnome mage on Rodcet Nife has been fun up until now, but I do not see
>that many spells which will be that helpful to the group in the
>future. I have also found that my pets will not attack mobs which are
>yellow or red to me. Thus, for all of lvl 7, I did not summon my pets
>in a group, and simply took the roll of standing back and casting
>along with the wizards.
>
>My basic frustration: My higher lvl offensive spells will not be as
>effective as the wizard, and my pet will run away from the red or
>yellow mobs my group is trying to attack. Can any higher lvl
>magicians comment on what they can do for a group? Is my coward pet
>only a problem with low level summonings? Will I use a pet with
>higher level groups?
>
>And no, I don't consider being the food supply for a group to be very
>exciting.
>
>Please help me decide on whether I should continue with my magician,
>or bit the bullet and create a gnome wizard?
>
>Meiosis
>Rodcet Nife

Magicians are screwed up after 20th level. Our 24 and 29 level pets
are research only (good luck finding all those words), and there is no
sign of any pets existing after those levels. Plus, as we increase
in level, what we can summon besides pets quickly starts to become not
more than worthless baubles and unsellable junk. However, with a
little tuning, the class will remain great after 20th, so don't lose
hope alltogether.

As for the pet running away - it's always a problem at the cusp
levels, but decreases in severity as you level - it's awful at 7th,
bad at 11th (they'll start attacking some red cons then), better at
15th... 8th and higher pets seem to almost never run from yellow cons
at the cusp levels at least. In higher level groups, your pet becomes
an invaluable, powerful DoT spell (weaker than necro's pets in
practice, which is ridiculous given all else necros get, but not
dreadfully so), an extra tank to absorb damage, a personal bodyguard
to keep the baddies off you when you start to burn etc.

I love being a magician, and would never even consider being a wizard.
If you are not sure, try both, see which you like - it was easy for
me, because I knew I wanted a magician before I even began playing the
game. Now, I still want to be one, I just want to be a magician and
still be viable after L20.

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt....g/FEHU2VgBCvkJ