I played a wiz in the original classic era and, it was pretty tough going, but like anything in EQ one man's hell is another's fun. I had a great time with the class and, even though conventional wisdom was that mages way out DPSed us, I never had problems with groups anymore than anyone else did at the time.
Ironicly, the thing that put me off of the class and caused a reroll around the time Kunark came out and I was closing in on 50 was the fact that I pretty much had him maxxed out INT and as much +mana as I could get with readily accessible gear (200 was the stat cap then...here?) and anything better I either couldnt afford to buy and certainly never could win a roll for. I succumbed to "grass is always greener-ism" because of bad luck, basicly...the whole time I never could win rolls or afford the few upgrades I could get, my melee friends were having the time of their lives upgrading every slot every other week, it seemed. This got old after months and months....I think the best item I ever won a roll for on that toon was a Sup Pack in Guk and 3 people in the group already had one....On a toon that had 90 days /played on his first birthday. So while I had fun playing him, EQ is a gear-centered game and never getting any useful gear really knocks the fun off fast...
So I twinked and rolled up a SK who remained my main until luclin. I said "Ironicly" above, because, while I loved my SK also, I got him levelled up just in time for the dark days of hybrids during Kunark, when it became known that we brought a 40% exp pentalty to the group. Plus the perception at the time was that warriors were better group tanks than knights anyway, so why would any sane group bother with them when exp was at a crawl as it was? Meanwhile, wizzes were really coming into their own during that era, and even getting OP abilities nerfed, if I recall correctly.
I get into all of that, in case any of it sounds familiar....If you aren't enjoying your wiz, really have a look at why. Is it really the class, or just where it fits into the game at this particular time? Or some other reason like my bad luck that just exaserbates the fact that classic era isn't really the golden age of wizzes in this game, but little more than that? Regardless, I would examine it from a personal gameplay standpoint rather than comparisons to other classes. Other classes are always going to do things better and other players of the same class may also...What's important is how much fun you are having with it.
|