are wizards gimped?

[odizzido]

Wizards overall are one of the weaker classes. Instead of making a long post I will just put some points down

The bad
1)Lowest sustained DPS of the DPS classes under most conditions


The good
1)Root for CC.
2)High burst damage(a good wiz will save a decent amount of mana to burn down targets quickly during harder battles)
3)DD with spell interrupt built in for fighting casters. Spells like force shock, thunder strike, force strike. Plus the clash line.
4)Ports.


Of course when looking at a mage, the bad is gone and they can do points 2 and 3 fairly well.




Anyways wizards are pretty weak in classic, but played well they can be at least okay. Especially if you are in a place where you are fighting many casters.

[Striiker]

Originally Posted by neem [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

druids have a DD that does 900+ dmg. the difference is around 200 dmg, is it worth the difference?

The difference is 1) Mana pool and 2) Mana cost. Wizards are much more efficient and capable when it comes to unleashing damage.

[Gadrel Amon]

I put together and run experience groups every day. When I'm looking for a dps a wizard is my first choice, a rogue my second. When played right a wizard's dps is sick. The only thing that approaches it is a twinked rogue.

[jettoki]

Gadrel has the right of it. When you invite a skilled Wizard into your group, expect to see mob health drop a lot faster - especially when it matters most. Caster mobs that would normally be spitting out hundreds of damage are usually taken down in a few seconds.

Sustained DPS is important, but burst DPS will save you from wipes time after time. I cannot begin to tell you how many times my Wizard saved his groups in classic. The healer is OOM, the tank is nearly dead, and things start to run or scatter and attack the cloth-wearers.

Conflag! Conflag! Tishan's! Ice Comet! Everything is dead in about 10 seconds. It's always hilarious to see your group standing there dumbstruck like, "What just happened? We survived?!?"

[Striiker]

People are getting it right. Wizards, as with most classes, need someone who is skilled to play them. Yes, you'll sit meditating a lot but you'll also help the group when it counts most (especially when you have clarity on you).
1) Casters. Wizards can take these guys down fast. With knock-back spells, stuns, and massive DD, a wizard can save the group downtime (killing healer mobs or damage type casting mobs quickly).
2) Runners. a Wizard can finish these guys off before they get near their friends.
3) Evacuate. Save your group from a wipe by yanking them all out to a safer place.
4) Teleport. Get your group (and friends) to where they need to go quickly.

I played a wizard to 50 before Kunark came out and I never felt gimped. I did see a lot of complaining from others which led to the mudflation of adding features to Wizards, nerfing abilities, and enhancing other classes to compensate.

[xorbier]

It's funny to hear all the mages bashing wizards. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Keep thinking wizards are an underpowered class, it's quite amusing. The fact that they are one of the highest demanded dps classes in raids should speak for itself. Clearly some of you have forgotten kunark and velious. What's even funnier are the Mages, Necros and druids making comments. Personally I'd rather be nuking then spending time being a mana battery, making rods, or spot healing during an encounter. That's just me though.

Tell me a group that's more powerful than 1 enchanter and 5 wizards. I challenge you.

[Skaff]

Originally Posted by xorbier [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Tell me a group that's more powerful than 1 enchanter and 5 wizards. I challenge you.

Well you obviously baited me to answer this question... 1 enchanter and 5 mages! [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I played the wizard quote a bit on live (more luclin->pop) and still had complaints when it came to grouping and generally leveling in content. I could not offer as much consistent damage as a mage but I did bring other utilities to the table (which have already been covered). A wizard will shine of they make use of these additional tools.

Will I take a mage over a wizard in a group situation? It really depends in my opinion. Am I going to be in an area which is fairly open and easy to escape if shit hits the fan? Sure bring the mage. Am I going to be going somewhere deep in a dungeon and very few groups are in the area? I might bring a wizard first.

However it is impossible to ignore the power that mages bring in the current era of the game. Pets throw out huge sums of dps and nukes are thrown in on top of it. Also the need of lure based nukes is less needed. The wizard is one class that evolved over time.

[Skope]

Originally Posted by xorbier [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It's funny to hear all the mages bashing wizards. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Keep thinking wizards are an underpowered class, it's quite amusing. The fact that they are one of the highest demanded dps classes in raids should speak for itself. Clearly some of you have forgotten kunark and velious. What's even funnier are the Mages, Necros and druids making comments. Personally I'd rather be nuking then spending time being a mana battery, making rods, or spot healing during an encounter. That's just me though.

Tell me a group that's more powerful than 1 enchanter and 5 wizards. I challenge you.

You have to understand why necros were forced into being mana batteries. They are consistently the #1 DPS class in the game, but because in raid situations the clerics are spamming the 10 second mana-burning complete heals, the necros ability to regen mana at an uncanny rate and spread it around tops even the fact that they can out-DPS any rogue/monk/wizzy in the raid.

Though, with all that said, my first char here was a wizard before i went necro. I've never leveled a quad-kiting class and always love seeing big numbers flash across my screen. Sitting down to med for long periods of time can actually be a benefit, depending on whether or not you tend to afk a lot. But I ultimately wanted a class that can farm for twink gear and PL extremely well (necro offers probably the best PLing in the game, move over druids) and a class that I can go afk for 5-20mins on a moment's call without worrying about a CR later.

[Bumamgar]

In true classic (pre-2002) raiding, Necros were very gimped due to DoT stacking issues (ie: they didn't stack with other necros). This meant that having more than one Necro along on a raid was a waste, unless you could put them to other uses (ie: mana battery).

Prior to the patch on Sept 2nd, 2002, (right before PoP), The same DoT cast on a target by multiple players would not stack. I'm not sure how it is setup here on p99, but this, coupled with pet agro issues pre-'pet hold', caused a lot of raid leaders to favor Wizards vs. Mages and Necros. Since there aren't any stacking issues with straight up nukes, and they don't depend on pets for DPS, Wizards were considered the best form of caster DPS for raiding prior to this patch. A token Necro and Mage brought along for utility was often it [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Skope]

I've tried the DoT stacking, and it actually works here, with the exception of the snare-line, though not sure about asystole :P I do know that both fire, disease and poison do stack