Playing a Wizard in a group

[Videri]

This thread has some worthwhile info for wizards and would-be wizards. Please don't be discouraged - look how many people level their wizard to 60. And it's an awesome class. The epic is really good - and not terribly hard if you are willing to join a raiding guild. The mobility, the quadding/medding/AFK playstyle for solo (lift some weights), the raid mob damage, the gear options...pretty special class.

As for me, I'd always invite a wizard to my group, especially if they are a guildmate. I will benefit when my wizard comrade gets to level 60, so it's in my best interest to help him and make the journey more enjoyable. The best part of this game is socializing. Wizards need to socialize too. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Jimjam]

If the group is going pretty good, you got nice CC and cleric, but u lacking xp mobs you can just accidently load and port up to PoHate [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[pokishi]

I was extremely lucky to have leveled all the way to 60 grouping though it wasn't easy. The truth is that a Wizard is not ideal in a fast, well oiled xp group. No sustainable dps and lack of great utility puts you at the bottom of priority classes.
Take everyone's tips on group contribution. Look to execute low health mobs with big nukes, have root up and ready (fetter is such a wonderful spell) and always have a stun memmed.
Something I did that helped me get into groups was that I was willing to pull. Granted this was at KC where doing that on a Wizard is viable but it can be possible in other zones I suppose. If you have CC, then splitting shouldn't be an issue and if you don't then root, snare and eye goes a long way to controlling the number of mobs you bring in at a time. Epic, flux staff and gcd will make this endeavor much easier.

[Toxigen]

yep nothing wrong with stepping up and pulling as a wizard, prob the most useful thing you can do tbh

[blackrock]

Originally Posted by knottyb0y [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Any tips on being effective as a wizard in a group?

Do you drop your mana via chain nukes then afk med for 5 min? :P

How do you consistently contribute to DPS? Avoid over aggro?

Should I use ae spells or rains?

What other roles and abilities should I look for to maximize the group experience? root cc? burning down casters or something?

I've played a wizard mostly with root & nuke, and quad kiting and that's fine. I am not sure how to be effective in a group situation, particularly xp grinds where you see chain pulls etc.

Depending on how high, usually it is a good plan to have one stun memorized for the complete heal. Hatred is always a factor but a CH can at some levels add 50% encounter time to the NPC

[redgiant]

I disagree about not using rains, and sometimes PBAE.

Rain spells are our single best dps tool for contributing noticeable damage without getting low on mana. A wiz can cast a rain, then sit while it tics, wait for the (short) cd, then do it again. There are even a couple special rain spells that can be cast simultaneously with the other "normal" rains, to have 2 rains tic'ing at the same time (this is mainly at higher levels).

A group that understands wiz rains and tailors pulling strat to use them has an advantage; mobs will appear to drop as if hit by an extremely strong dot. Just keep in mind the easy rules of rain spells:

• rains hit on and closely around the target mob - keep any mobs you don't want to hit parked a bit away (you get a feel for how far this is quickly)
• 1 mob gets all 3 tics of dmg
• 2 mobs get 2 tics each (this is the "sweet spot" as the only way you get a 4th tic)
• 3 mobs gets 1 tic each
• 4+ mobs gets 1 tic each on the target mob and 2 next closest mobs only

If a group is supposed to be using rains, and a mob gets inadvertently hit that shouldn't be, don't blame the wizard, blame the cc for not doing it away from the kill area, or the tank from not walking the kill mobs back from a late cc that happens to be too close. The wizard's job is to simply target a kill area mob and rain on them and those around it per group strat; they cannot control which mobs around it get hit.

The TAE spells that are point-blank centered on yourself (aka PBAE) that hit unlimited targets all at once, like Cast Force or Circle of Fire. These are useful when the group is structured to pull 3+ mobs at one time and not cc-parking them to kill them later. Since they are centered on yourself, the added danger of needing to be close to the mobs gives them higher dps than the "safer" TAE that are centered on a remote target (the infamous "Al'Kabor"-style TAE spells that frankly nobody uses, at least I never do). You have to have a group that knows what they are doing wrt color stuns and such, to keep mobs taunted/stunned so they never attack you though, which is why the group needs to have the right classes with the right mindset to do this correctly. Btw, this is how most high level PL services pull and kill an entire zone; they pull with a bard to gather a ton of mobs, clump them together and the enchanters start overlapping color stuns (which are also PBAE and affect unlimited nearby mobs) in rapid succession while the few classes like wizard use their PBAEs to kill them all in a few chain casts.

[cd288]

It's a great point on the Rains, if we were in ordinary classic EQ world. These days structuring a pull and CC to make use of Rains is possibly more inefficient than just mezzing and burning down one at a time. Plenty of twinked Rogues, Monks, etc. plus Enchanter charmed pet DPS just melting mobs mean the Rain strategy is likely more trouble than its worth.

In a certain group comp or on a more fresh server though? It's a good idea.

[Jimjam]

Pretty fun having 3 rains loaded and just unleashing them all at once [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I've been playing my wizard again recently (this thread got me hyped) and have found loads of opportunities to use rains, even in groups with an enchanter.

WTB blue Pillar of Flame.

[Toxigen]

honestly your best bet as a wizard is to find a bard to duo with

[Duik]

Well blow me down. I both misused and misunderstood rain type spells. Our group from 10 - 55 on live had the trinity of war clr enc with rog mnk and wiz.
Live we prolly did alot wrong hey.
Now with a group of top tier players on twink alts that strat sounds dangerous/profitable.