Why so few mages on P99?

[Tuljin]

I don't buy the whole "mage is boring" argument.

I have played with lots of Clerics, and 99% of them do absolutely nothing besides sit and click CH. Absolutely nothing else. I can't imagine that anyone would consider this "not boring", and there are many clerics on the server. Their XP bars are moving with minimal effort, however, and its very easy to get a group. They are not sitting there saying "wow, this is so much fun." They are AFK half the time.

This is also mind numbingly easy. As is root rotting melee mobs with JBB.

Moving the XP on a mage - not easy. Soloing on a mage - certainly not as easy as it is on other classes. I think many people on P99 confuse the words "boring" and "hard"

[Estu]

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

Moving the XP on a mage - not easy. Soloing on a mage - certainly not as easy as it is on other classes. I think many people on P99 confuse the words "boring" and "hard"

I don't understand where you're getting that solo EXPing a mage is hard.

1) Go to an outdoor zone and find a safe spot to pull to.
2) Summon fire pet.
3) Send pet at monster.
4) Keep a good distance away from monster. If pet is dying, recast and /pet go away as the new one is about to pop.
5) When mob is fleeing and almost dead, reclaim pet, nuke monster with a cheap nuke, get full EXP, repeat.

It's one of the simplest ways to EXP in the entire game. Maybe if you're high level and trying to do difficult cash camps, there's some strategy required, but for most of the mage's solo EXPing career, it's incredibly simple and easy. I have a lot of alts and my mage is one of the ones that I can just never stand to play for very long because it's so goddamned boring. Even quadding on my wizard was more exciting for some reason (although it's similarly straightforward).

Of course, you could say the same for a lot of classes - a solo monk is very straightforward to EXP. Really, any class other than a bard or a charmer (druid/enchanter/necro) is pretty simple. But some of those other straightforward solo classes (say, shaman or monk) have some interesting things to them. Shaman, even soloing, has to think about whether root-dotting or meleeing makes more sense, has to consider which buffs and debuffs to use, how to use his pet and to what extent it's worth keeping it buffed, is busy cannibalizing a lot of the time, and all of that is solo EXPing. In group situations, shamans juggle a whole lot of roles. Monks, when grouping, have to think about pulling, and there are cool things to learn like sneak pulling and the mechanics of feign death and so on. But mages, both solo EXPing and EXPing in groups, are incredibly one-dimensional, and yes, are easy.

Maybe I'm ignorant - I admit I haven't played mages an enormous amount because I find them so boring. How is solo EXPing a mage difficult and complex? Are you just exclusively doing dungeons when leveling and relying on things like root nets and earth pet for CC? When you say they're hard to EXP, do you mean that they level more slowly than other classes, or that there is actual challenge involved?

[Tuljin]

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

Maybe I'm ignorant - I admit I haven't played mages an enormous amount because I find them so boring. How is solo EXPing a mage difficult and complex? Are you just exclusively doing dungeons when leveling and relying on things like root nets and earth pet for CC? When you say they're hard to EXP, do you mean that they level more slowly than other classes, or that there is actual challenge involved?

The fact that a Mage can't root makes it more difficult than the other soloing classes first of all. The pets are also weaker than the charmed Enc or Nec pets. Also, there is no AOE stun and AOE mez at their disposal to deal with adds. When you get into soloing/breaking cash camps, it requires a lot of finesse with a limited toolset to help with adds and other problems. Charmed pets present their own set of challenges, however without root nets Mage can do very little about adds. Necros and Encs have way more options.

The other reason why its hard to move the bar is because nobody wants a Mage in a group. There are many enchanters who hit 60 that never solo at all - - in fact they don't even charm pets in groups. However, they can post up anywhere and get a group very quickly, and they end up riding the xp train all the way to 60. Same with Shamans. Same with Monks and Clerics. This difficulty moving the bar has less to do with skill than it does the general ignorance and OP-class-fanboys of the server.

People don't want Mages in groups because, as Raev said, they are horribly played. Why are they horribly played? Because they are hard to play well. If it were easy you'd see way more lvl 60 Mages, and you'd see way more Mages around kicking ass. Even these days you can hit 56 and AOE train to 60 if you really want, but the majority of DPS in Chardok are Wizards. There are plenty of great Mages who have chimed in on this thread, and it definitely takes a good bit of skill to get shit done.

The thread is "why so few mages." There are a ton of 60 Shamans, Clerics, and Enchanters on this server because it is ~easier~ to hit than it is on Mage. There are more options for moving the XP bar, and you don't get griefed the entire way.

For a number of reasons, its difficult to get a Mage to 60. I think most players would agree that nubs need not apply.

[Vyal]

Ask someone who knows what happens to all the mages...
They play forever get bored then join a guild who has the ability to go after every FFA Inny and get their staff. Once they get their epics they just quit playing, thats what happens to the mages.

The mage epic is boss. Let me put it this way, you can take the mage epic into solb solo and wreck all the imps and banish the ele's then solo frooti without all the fancy debuffs and dots shamans have. Totally 100% beast pet..

A skilled mage can literally single pull anything in the game. I don't care what it is, it can be single pulled through an entire zone. Mages are also the best class for making trains [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
I know lots of guilds rather have a bard or monk or a freaking ranger pull mobs but thats kinda dumb, in the end the puller might end up dying 5 times before they even get the mob. Or you could work your pull team around a mage tag coh pull & have it first shot.

I mean what so hard about making a lvl 4 fire pet tagging a mob say Talendor, run back to your group have it attack once it's in sight coh and have the tank run in or if there is adds have someone sneak tag it out.

Mages are a bit complicated and very expensive to play but once you got it down, high level mages are beast. Toss in that epic pet if your lucky enough to have one & you have a unmatched DPS, God/Dragon puller class / CoH machine...

Plus you can put your water pets on guard next to a mob have it attack then hit back then attack again and it will backstab non-stop toss in it's proc and give it two 100+ dmg proc weapons. Your pets doing something like 1k dmg every 10 seconds or so =)

[Zulen]

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

Plus you can put your water pets on guard next to a mob have it attack then hit back then attack again and it will backstab non-stop toss in it's proc and give it two 100+ dmg proc weapons. Your pets doing something like 1k dmg every 10 seconds or so =)

I cant try this on live, but i couldn't get it to work on the Beta server. Water pet didnt backstab any faster like i'd hope.

[Tann]

Most classes are boring:

Clerics heal, Wizards pew pew, Rogues stab stab, Monks herp derp, Warriors slash slash, etc.. Everyone is either dps, healer, tank, or bard/enc.

Play whatever pew-stab-herp-slash-heal/buff you want.

[Tuljin]

^^^^ This exactly

[iruinedyourday]

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

Most classes are boring:

Clerics heal, Wizards pew pew, Rogues stab stab, Monks herp derp, Warriors slash slash, etc.. Everyone is either dps, healer, tank, or bard/enc.

Play whatever pew-stab-herp-slash-heal/buff you want.

shaman click click

but enchanter... Juggles 50 spinning plates and DOMINATES THE UNIVERSE [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[iruinedyourday]

ok - one very important feature for a mage that seems to be overlooked is... Skittles.. holy crap... skittles... taste the magebow.. the rainbow that is a mage.

What do I mean? I mean an epic mage.. is the coolest looking darkelf (yea cus darkelfs are cooler than all) in eq. look how these pixles add up and let it paint a picture in your mind of the coolest looking bawler on our server, the darkelf mage.

1. Robe of the elements/CT robe - a rainbow in its self, very magical
2. GEB's yea simple, yellow.. magical
2. Gloves of Fire - ok now were getting unique, that bawse ass orange glove?
4. Ip Big ass classy lookin yellow shield
5. Epic - dayum rainbow on a stick?
6. that orange plate hat /drool

that shit, all that together on the blue skin of a dark elf? AWESOME, almost worth the ugly pets (not a fan of the class gameplay tbh) but god damn a mage can look cooler than any other caster, other casters can come close.. but those gloves + the epic.. so purty.

yea so tl;dr mage can look like a bowl of skittles and it is bawse.

[Tann]

^^^ unless you're in TMO/IB or play on R99 acquiring said mage epic is about as easy as having a 3-way with a couple Kpop idols on a plane going into space piloted by NDT who is also having a 3-way.