Secrets of Mage-y goodness

[tuxqueot]

Ok, some pointers.

Level. It's stupid easy as a mage as long as you keep escape paths open and dont try to keep too much clear solo. I could post some pointers on where to go at what level but it's really not that hard.

Get JBoots. As a mage, this is stupid easy to do from level 40 on. Just need to find the AC camp open.

Get the Focus. Sol Ro temple, Phinny/PoHate drops, whatever you can get your hands on. Period, nuff said.

Farm the permafrost goblin jailmaster. He drops a net with 3 charges of instant cast root. Not even lore so I usually have 2 or 3 on me. It's a good save your ass kind of thing. I've missed the timing on chaining a pet on Allizesaur or noxious spider due to BSing or something and popping a root gives me time to recast pet.

When soloing, unless I get a client crash, I rarely die. I keep gate up, escape paths open, chose my game play carefully. I also keep Arch Shielding, Levitate and JBoots on at all times, when possible.

As for mage DPS, here are some hard numbers.

With the fire staff from PoHate, the level 49 fire pet maxes at 45 self DS. Hits for up to 58, quads. Four chains of this bad ass puppy usually takes down Allizesaur in OOT, five on the outside. Throw out a low level nuke for full exp if you're not maxed 50. And that's like the highest level non-raid/group encounter in the game right now. Some mages prefer the earth pet since it lasts longer, but fire pet kills faster due to self DS and all in all takes less mana to chain in new pet, throw it a burnout and turn it lose. With the earth pet you gotta also cast DS on it, which takes more mana and means more downtime.

Mage best nuke, lava bolt, 300 mana, 810 damage. 2.7 damage to mana ratio.
Wiz best nuke, ice comet, 400 mana, 1120 damage, 2.8 damage to mana ratio.

So as you can see from a pure nuking standpoint we're like 3.5% on the damage to mana ratio under a wizard. But add in pet DPS and we blow wizards out of the water. This trend continues through out the game, my level 85 mage I used to play on live was usually top first or second (third if I phoned it in) DPS on any given encounter during raids.

True, we can't quad kite. But we can kill just as fast as a quad kiter with out all that running around and dying.
True, we can't port or evac, just means we gotta play smarter.
We are what we are, a tank and spank class with the ability to be the tank, the healer and the nuker all rolled into one. Me and Jobantik, all the group we need.

[Lazortag]

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

Mage best nuke, lava bolt, 300 mana, 810 damage. 2.7 damage to mana ratio.
Wiz mest nuke, ice comet, 400 mana, 1120 damage, 2.8 damage to mana ratio.

So as you can see from a pure nuking standpoint we're like 3.5% on the damage to mana ratio under a wizard. But add in pet DPS and we blow wizards out of the water. This trend continues through out the game, my level 85 mage I used to play on live was usually top first or second (third if I phoned it in) DPS on any given encounter during raids.

This is so clearly nonsense. If the mage's best nuke were a 30 mana spell that did 81 damage your argument would be the exact same. Ice Comet is more than just 3.5% better than Lava Bolt - you have to factor in the fact that Ice Comet actually just does a shitton more damage at once, regardless of damage to mana ratio.

[tuxqueot]

simple math dude.

You have 2400 mana, I have 2400 mana.

You cast Ice Comet 6 times and are out of mana. You did 6720 damage.
I cast Lava Bolt 8 times for 6480 damage and still have a pet doing more DPS.

Sure, you did 240 more damage nuking than I did (or about 3.5% more), but which of us did the most damage over that fight?

[Lazortag]

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

simple math dude.

You have 2400 mana, I have 2400 mana.

You cast Ice Comet 6 times and are out of mana. You did 6720 damage.
I cast Lava Bolt 8 times for 6480 damage and still have a pet doing more DPS.

Sure, you did 240 more damage nuking than I did (or about 3.5% more), but which of us did the most damage over that fight?

simple math dude.

You have 2400 mana, I have 2400 mana.

You cast Ice Comet 6 times and are out of mana. You did 6720 damage.
I cast a spell that does 81 damage for 30 mana, 80 times, for 6480 damage and still have a pet doing more DPS.

Sure, you did 240 more damage nuking than I did, but which one of us did the most damage over that fight?

[rioisk]

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

simple math dude.

You have 2400 mana, I have 2400 mana.

You cast Ice Comet 6 times and are out of mana. You did 6720 damage.
I cast a spell that does 81 damage for 30 mana, 80 times, for 6480 damage and still have a pet doing more DPS.

Sure, you did 240 more damage nuking than I did, but which one of us did the most damage over that fight?

Your logic is sound but the differences in number of casts radically distorts what is actually going on. Mages may have to cast a few more times, not 80 times a wizard, to do the same amount of damage, but that doesn't matter in the long run during a raid where a wizard is constantly medding to do 1 more nuke while a mage's pet is constant DPS. Sure the burst fire is a slightly better on a wizard not to mention the base resist modifier is slightly better but overall the argument is that the slight reduction doesn't offset the pet DPS.

[tuxqueot]

I am simply comparing wizard best nuke to a mages best nuke. I have no idea what you are trying to say. But okay, we'll run with it a bit, see how far it goes.

You cast Ice Comet 6 times. takes 6.3 seconds to cast, 2.25 seconds to reset. assuming you can chain cast with out aggro, your 6 casts take a total of 51.3 seconds and you are out of mana with nothing further to contribute.

I cast Lava Bolt 8 times. Takes 7 seconds to cast, 2.25 seconds to reset. Again, assuming I can chain cast with out aggro, takes 74 seconds and I am out of mana.

That gives you 23 seconds or we'll even be generous and give you a full 24 seconds or 4 ticks to regen some mana back while I am still casting. 4 ticks. Thats what? 80 mana regened? 100? Hell, I'll even be generous and say you get the full 400 to cast another Ice Comet (which is ridiculous, but hey, lets run with it).

So, you get a 7th cast of Ice Comet. Total damage, 7840. My total Damage, 6480 from nukes, plus my pet which as I said hits for up to 58, and quads. I'm still willing to bet my pet does more than the 1380 damage difference betwen you nuking and me nuking.

All I'm saying it's like the rabbit and the turtle. steady damage over time will out beat burst damage most of the time. And the mages pet makes up for and surpasses any lack of damage we may have in the nuking department.

[cured]

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

simple math dude.

You have 2400 mana, I have 2400 mana.

You cast Ice Comet 6 times and are out of mana. You did 6720 damage.
I cast a spell that does 81 damage for 30 mana, 80 times, for 6480 damage and still have a pet doing more DPS.

Sure, you did 240 more damage nuking than I did, but which one of us did the most damage over that fight?

Simple math dude.

You have 2400 mana, I have 2400 mana.

I cast Ice Comet 3 times and stop because you are dead.

[tj218]

/flamesuit on

For the original question: Mages quite simply are very OP. IMO Their abilites don't allign with Verant's vision (social / group focus) as they can make it 50 faster than any other class without ever having to group. (Guess you can tell I have mage envy here)

Really it doesn't make sense for hybrids to get a huge xp penalty while they still need groups to level effectively. Yet clases that can easily solo (Druid, Mage, Necro) in some cases get xp bonuses due to race selection. Mages/Necros should have to share the xp from a kill with their pet.

I still insist that the pets on this server are far more deadly than they ever were on live from 99-01.

[Amra]

Ya they should include all the bugs that went with pets on live and the horrible trains they cause and it would be about equal =P

[Bubbles]

Originally Posted by tj218 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I still insist that the pets on this server are far more deadly than they ever were on live from 99-01.

Not even close. Pre-nerf 49 necro pets on live with two fine steel daggers would absolutely level Lower Guk deadside... with extreme prejudice. On here caster pets are still heads and tails above PC melee, but i mean.... if you didn't witness actual mage and necro pets in early 1999, I don't know what to tell you. Words don't describe. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]