Wizards...what were they thinking?

[JackFlash]

I've played a wizard since 2000. I couldn't disagree with you more. If you want to see more of your spells in action take chances, think outside the box, and get levels. Good luck!

[phacemeltar]

just because the noobs u group with dont want you to ae doesnt necessarily mean you shouldnt. just add a /w to the enc saying "im about to break all ur mez" to your ae macro

[stewe]

"So what do you do when there's no groups available as a wizard? You try to solo. With only root--no pets, no sow, not even snare. You would think a cold spell would at least have a slowing effect!"

wizards get an AoE snare called bond of force at level 29.

[gotrocks]

dude. wizards are awesome. granted, I'm playing mine on r99, and if I had to level one on blue without xp bonus i'd lose my mind (ONLY if I didn't have jboots or sow pots), but i'm having an absolute blast with mine, and that's not counting pvp. I can't wait to drop an ice comet on someone xping after sneaking up on them invis.

[JackFlash]

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

I'm playing mine on r99, and if I had to level one on blue without xp bonus i'd lose my mind

I'm doing it now....it doesn't seem nearly as bad as it was on Live. But yeah, wizards are awesome. OP wants a wizard that can heal, buff, CC, and give you a happy ending.

[Picked]

Had a Wizard on live, played him for 8 or 9 years. Have one on P99. And I understand what you mean that some spells have little to no use. But that doesn't mean the class is useless and that they made them wrong. There are ways to utilize those spells if you really want to do something other than root/nuke.

Wizards are weak at low levels. Hell they are weak at high levels. But it doesn't mean they don't serve a purpose. And a rather nice one. Virtually they were the kings of DPS for quite a long time in EQ. I remember being the top parser and trading spots with a fellow Wizard on tons of parses.

They are glass cannons. Our job is to do high amounts of damage, generate a lot of aggro, and port. That's it. Just like a clerics job is to heal, a pal/sk/wars job is to tank. We DPS. Why should we carry 2 or 3 different roles? We aren't hybrids.

[Splorf22]

Between lures and ports Wizards are one of the best raiding classes. On top of that they can level to 60 pretty easily with quad kiting. On the whole I think Wizards are much stronger than Druids, but they are much more specialized and a little boring. The problem becomes if you want to play a wizard and have any sort of social interaction before 60 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Also from what I hear Verant continued to have balance problems pretty much through the whole length of the game.

[Splorf22]

If wizards put out rogue-like sustained damage in XP groups, in addition to root/stun/ports/higher burst damage, there would be no reason to play a rogue. Edit: Just to recap a bit:

1. Wizards are probably the easiest class to level to 60 in terms of time actually spent in front of the computer. 1-29 is rough, but then you can quad kite and do homework or chores or whatnot while you med up. Once you hit 56, you can go to Chardok.
2. Wizards are the single best raid class for Kunark, bar none. Only Rogues with Avatar, Duellist, and some luck can come close for pure DPS, and unlike Rogues Wizards are critical for mobilization. Velious will make them a bit weaker, but bane spells will keep them in the hunt for top DPS, and they still have the mobilization ways
3. Ports are a huge convenience.

So sure, a necromancer or a magician is much better in a duo or an XP group. They can also solo reasonably well. But when was the last time you heard a raid guild say WE NEED MORE NECROMANCERS! Or, compare vs a rogue. Rogues are great in groups . . . but they can't solo at all. Nor can they port.

Again: Wizards are not a weak class. They are very specialized and kinda boring, but not weak.

[Lojik]

Originally Posted by Splorf22 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If wizards put out rogue-like sustained damage in XP groups, in addition to root/stun/ports/higher burst damage, there would be no reason to play a rogue. Edit: Just to recap a bit:

1. Wizards are probably the easiest class to level to 60 in terms of time actually spent in front of the computer. 1-29 is rough, but then you can quad kite and do homework or chores or whatnot while you med up. Once you hit 56, you can go to Chardok.
2. Wizards are the single best raid class for Kunark, bar none. Only Rogues with Avatar, Duellist, and some luck can come close for pure DPS, and unlike Rogues Wizards are critical for mobilization. Velious will make them a bit weaker, but bane spells will keep them in the hunt for top DPS, and they still have the mobilization ways
3. Ports are a huge convenience.

So sure, a necromancer or a magician is much better in a duo or an XP group. They can also solo reasonably well. But when was the last time you heard a raid guild say WE NEED MORE NECROMANCERS! Or, compare vs a rogue. Rogues are great in groups . . . but they can't solo at all. Nor can they port.

Again: Wizards are not a weak class. They are very specialized and kinda boring, but not weak.

Apparently none of this matters because they are not strong relative to other classes in a traditional experience group

I'm still waiting for your "many" examples where wizards are better than other classes in groups.

I never said that.

Like I said before, there are many other situations besides your traditional exp group where wizard is one of, if not the ideal class

A traditional experience group ie a tank,healer,cc,dps etc. is only one of the many situations you can find yourself in on this server, and usually is slower than soloing, especially as a wizard. I didn't try to group until aoe group level because the exp was much better soloing. Other situations you might find yourself in: solo exp, duo exp (wizard + bard or wiz + rog can be great duos), standard group experience, aoe group exp, raiding. I'll leave out farming but wizards do ok, probably in the middle of the pack for farming money camps. But of those thats what, 5 situations? Wizard holds its own for 4/5.

Everquest is a game. It's not the jr high gymn class where we pick on the new kid with low self esteem. Wizards didn't need to be "hazed", they needed to be balanced as a solo caster or buffed to the level of damage that melee were putting out in groups. It's as simple as that.

You still won't answer my question as to what level your wizard is. Life is hard at lower levels, but better at higher levels where frankly life kinda sucks for leveling for most classes.

[Vadd]

First class to 50 on EQ Live was a Wizard, no? With like Lvl 24 spells... I heard.