Suggestions For Wizards

[Groo]

Before Kunark came out, I remember a time when wizards were getting a bad rap for being lazy and/or not helpful in groups. And most that I grouped with deserved it. But then came this one guy who turned everything around for me. His name was Payce, I think. It's been years. He did everything. Crowd control, stopping runners, area effect when practical, stunning NPC casters...you name it. And to top it off, he managed his mana usage very well. And even more than that was, he knew how to defend himself. He would attract mobs all the time, but he knew how to use root, stun, shadow step, shieldskin...everything in his arsenal so that the healers could focus on keeping the main tank healthy. He used root and stun a lot more than any wizards I've seen so far on p1999. These spells generally don't cost too much mana, so you can cast them repeatedly, and still contribute greatly to group success.

I'm making this post because I believe wizard is much more than just a "nuker" class. You have to use all of your skills. For example, as a cleric, I'd prefer that you consistently stun casters & healers rather than burn out your mana on melee mobs that our own melees can grind down. Or, if you're OOM and everything is going south, you still might be able to med enough for a root to help a dying melee escape to the zone line. Instead of trying to med up for a DD that's not going to finish off the mob(s) or save your teammate.

Anyways, if you want people to look for you in groups, you have to do something to make yourself stand out from the norm. You have to sell yourself by showing your potential to contribute to the group. You should do more in combat than just blow stuff up and meditate. I'm not trying to tell people how to play, but rather that there's a reason why some people don't necessarily want you in groups, and you have the ability to change that if you use all of the tools that you have at your disposal.