Mages: Yay or nay on the Burnt Wood Staff?

[Vexenu]

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

1. If I'm soloing with a max level, buffed, and armed pet and keeping him alive from one fight to the next, it seems like it would be difficult to outdamage him so that I get full experience. 13.5 is a long casting time and at level 46+, how many casts do I need to get off, especially counting for resists? If my pet is getting smacked hard and I need to heal him, that's going to make it even more difficult to get enough damage off with the staff before the mob dies. Using the staff in this situation seems like it would be less ideal than using a level appropriate nuke to guarantee full experience.

You should not be soloing like this to begin with because it's mana inefficient. You're better off in almost every case summoning a 49 Earth pet, DSing it and spamming the staff for added DPS. You can kill mobs that give XP to 60 (i.e. ravishing drolvargs, forest giant ancients) this way in under a minute using only a single pet and 1 cast of DS (320 mana minus whatever you can reclaim). The staff allows you to throw an extra 1k -1.6k of damage on the mob for zero mana (or more accurately, for the opportunity cost of not medding for let's say one minute - about 200 mana without clarity. 1480 damage for 200 mana is very good).

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

2. If I'm soloing via chain casting... 13.5 is a loooong casting time. How can I possibly integrate the staff into that scenario without fubaring my chain casting? I suppose I could use it for the finishing blow once a mob starts fleeing, but wouldn't it be more efficient to just use a fast casting lower level nuke and finish it off quickly instead of waiting for one or more casts from the staff, and possibly risking picking up additional aggro?

See above. Also, there's no real point to using a memmed nuke to finish off the mob after reclaiming. That's just more mana to med back, and you will lose kills to your pet by trying to get mobs down to under 2 or 3% health when he quads them at low health. Better to reclaim when the mobs are at 5-10% for a nice buffer and finish them with the staff.

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

3. If I'm grouping, I could see it being somewhat handy in providing mana free damage in situations where it takes a long time to kill each mob. Otherwise, most good groups are going to kill each mob so fast that I'd have trouble even getting the bolt off before the mob dies.

To be blunt: what the fuck else are you going to be doing in your group? If you've got a max level hasted pet positioned correctly, you're DSing the tank and you've summoned whatever items the group needs, you have nothing else to do but toss in nukes for extra DPS. The staff allows you to sustain DPS in excess of what you can achieve by regular medding and nuking (as I pointed out before, the staff does 1480 damage over the course of a minute - 10 ticks - during which you could meditate for 200 mana. 1480 damage for 200 mana with the staff? Or 800 damage for 300 mana with a lava bolt? You decide.

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

4. There's also the stat loss resulting from equipping a 2 handed staff and losing my slots. As of right now, that would mean the staff's stats are actually -15 INT, and minus some hit points and resists as well. That's a big chunk.

Your max mana is basically irrelevant as a mage in most situations (the exception being if you need to chain a LOT of pets for some reason, which you will not be doing in an XP group, and which you would not be using your staff for anyway).

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

5. And finally... it's a bolt. If I move or try to use it in twisty areas or multiple elevations... it's going to strike out anyway.

It's really not bad at all unless you're standing at the bottom of a hill trying to hit a mob above you. It's very usable in the vast majority of XPing situations.

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

All in all, it seems like a lot of sacrifices to be made for a questionable return.

Is there something I'm missing here regarding the utility of this thing?

Any firsthand experiences you can share would be great.

Yes, you're missing it entirely. It's 1480 damage at the opportunity cost of medding 200 mana. This is far more efficient than any other damage spell you have. Anyone who says not to use the hell out of the staff (at least until you get the superior Velious clickies) doesn't know what they're talking about. The staff really shines at 50+ while duoing or trioing (i.e. Mage/Cleric or Mage/Shaman/Warrior). When mobs have more HP at these levels and you don't have the benefit of a group's worth of DPS, the extra damage and efficiency of the staff are very apparent.

[Thugnuts]

Vexenu-- very compelling response. I'm going to give it a shot and see what happens.