Status of Wizards?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Aegnor Eldruin, Feb 23, 2017.

  1. Aegnor Eldruin

    Aegnor Eldruin Member

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    I'm contemplating trying out TAKP after having done most that Project 1999 really allows without losing your sanity for pixels. I'd likely recreate my wizard from P99 and probably play single boxed (maybe get a shaman to level 9 so I can self-sow).

    Just out of curiosity, how are wizards on TAKP? Have they gotten any of the buffs they receive after Velious (crits, improved damage to mana ratios, familiars, etc)? Or are they still their gimpy little selves that can't do much outside quadding, porting, and burning down raid mobs? It doesn't sound like Luclin or PoP are out yet, which is when they come into their own, but I know the server isn't 100% classic for the timeline it's currently in.

    Thanks!
     
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2017
  2. Darchon

    Darchon I Feel Loved

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    Wizards have Innate Criticals. They aren't exactly double DMG and they aren't extremely common but you will see a few per quad kite.

    No familiar yet, they are Luclin spells.

    Improved Damage focii exist currently but the ID3 focii are pretty rare. But if you've got a guild you can certainly acquire one!

    Other focii items are also around. Mana Pres/Spell Haste/Extended Range.

    They're a great class. On a server like this, one of their greatest strengths is you can box two wizards, lose almost no effectiveness and provide solid DPS. (Or 3 wizards). If you are set on single toon play that works as well and they're a good class even in Velious due to innate crits and focus effects (though focii typically don't work on Bane Nukes).
     
  3. Bastette

    Bastette Active Member

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    Innate crits are a variable percentage up to 50%. You can also innate-crit partial resists, so single digit crits are possible (and are quite entertaining).
     
  4. Ransom

    Ransom Well-Known Member

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    Wizards are fantastic here. Good class to solo play, as you can quad when groups are slim.

    In the long run you'll get familiars, AAs and improved damage items will get to be a bit more common. One of the best DPS.
     
  5. Tuluvien

    Tuluvien I Feel Loved

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    I watched some truly incredible wizard solo and wizard tank action on AK. Opened my eyes to what can be done with the class.
     
  6. Zubzub

    Zubzub New Member

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    Wizard tank action?? what do you mean??
     
  7. Tuluvien

    Tuluvien I Feel Loved

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    Gnostics could give lessons on wizard ac, used to watch him solo content while tanking on a wizard that I would not have thought about on my ranger.
     
  8. Elrontaur

    Elrontaur People Like Me

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    gnosvsrhag1.jpg
    Gnostica tanking Rhag 1
     
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  9. Aegnor Eldruin

    Aegnor Eldruin Member

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    Thanks for the info guys! Got my account set up and am currently working my way through level 2 on Aegnor the high elf wizard. So far so good!
     
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  10. Elrontaur

    Elrontaur People Like Me

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    I soloed a Wiz up to 50 during Alpha, I haven't had a lot of time to play my beta version Wiz, but when I do, it's usually solo.
     
  11. Bum

    Bum I Feel Loved

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    VT/EP geared any class can tank with healers, I explained that to gnos often. His main cause of tanking was his inability to control his aggro
     
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2017
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  12. Elrontaur

    Elrontaur People Like Me

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    Gnos held aggro pretty well through most of that fight, she got stunned badly during a quad and completely lost it for a bit, but won it back with chain stuns.
     
  13. Suriinya

    Suriinya Well-Known Member

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    Gnostica was a beast. Also very friendly and helpful.
     
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  14. gardnerjens

    gardnerjens People Like Me

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    Hey there, when I started on the server I rolled 3 wizards. And played them all the way to 60 all epic and pretty decent velious gear. So I can recommend playing 3 wizards. But my guild needed clerics so I rerolled 3 clerics.
     
  15. Neealana

    Neealana People Like Me

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    I wonder if part of Gnostica's power came from starting as an Erudite ( and being able to put way more points into STA, etc ) ?
     
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  16. necra

    necra People Like Me

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    With vt gear I could tank a lot on my necro using runes and also self heal with lifetaps. Just shows how good vt gear actually is along side aa's
     
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  17. Darchon

    Darchon I Feel Loved

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    Most mobs pre-PoP can be tanked by any class with enough healers.

    Wizard AC returns were so horrible it wasn't really worth itemizing like that. The majority of that tanking came down to not getting interrupted on your Force Shield and having hasted beneficial spells to 50% with a 30% focus and the AAs or BoR.

    Being able to block 750 DMG every 2.5 second cast is pretty powerful pre-PoP. Especially with the VT Robe or ToSR boots that saved you put to 40% mana per cast.

    Though if you're going to tank on a caster like this, enchanter has double the rune and can slow/hold aggro with tash.
     
  18. benoeb

    benoeb People Like Me

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    I love my wizard and he will always be my main, but mana regen in this era is atrocious for us. Once luclin comes out with familiars and AA mana regen, things will be much much better. Other than mana regen no complaints.
     
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  19. Aegnor Eldruin

    Aegnor Eldruin Member

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    Yeah, based on feedback it sounds like they're not a whole lot different than on P99 at the moment. I love my wizard there even if he's not a valuable casual group member. At least I have improvements to look forward to on TAKP. Level 4 and climbing!
     
  20. Ravenwing

    Ravenwing I Feel Loved

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    The prevalence of 3-boxing and our low population may mean groups are hard to come by no matter what, but when groups are out there to be found, I don't think you'll see people turning their noses up at wizards simply because mages or rogues (or, let's be real, enchanters) are more efficient for grinding through the most frogloks per hour. My experience is that the mindset here is typically more relaxed than that.

    (And among the ahmg must level FAST NOW crowd, wizards will always be popular in AE groups!)
     
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2017
  21. Darchon

    Darchon I Feel Loved

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    It's also worth noting the way EXP is modified based on group size:

    1 member - 100% / 1 = 100%
    2 members - 120% / 2 = 60%
    3 members - 140% / 3 = 46.7%
    4 members - 220% / 4 = 55%
    5 members - 260% / 5 = 52%
    6 members - 260% / 6 = 43.3%

    So a guy 3-boxing by himself is best suited, even for his own 100% selfish EXP purposes, by inviting a single player to join his group as the exp per mob ends up higher than it would've been if he stayed just 3 players.

    That's one of the reasons our 3-box limit here is cool. It allows for plenty of different interesting combinations but it also puts your group at the least efficient EXP-wise number possible (other than a 6 man group which of course makes up for the 3% difference in kill speed).
     
  22. Saskoris

    Saskoris Active Member

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    This thread made me want a VT robe.
     
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  23. Loraen

    Loraen Well-Known Member

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    Remember that TAKP is on Verant's Planes of Power resist system. Apparently this gets better at raid level, but for leveling up it's absolutely fucktarded. Everything lands all the time: my shaman can slow deep red NPCs on the first cast, while light blue goblins nuke my 100MR monk frequently for full damage. I even saw a high 50s enchanter nuke Lord Yelinak last night.

    So between lower resists and focus items (check the TAKP wiki; many are easily obtainable) and I *think* working rain spells and Wizards are at least 50% more sustained damage vs Project 1999. And since NPCs are so much better at running and casting here, the utility of their stuns and snares is also way up. I may be a bit biased here as someone who mostly boxes Monk/Shaman, but I think a Wizard could be quite effective in Sebilis. They aren't Enchanters, but then no one is.

    However, I've found finding groups here to be mind-bogglingly hard. Maybe it's my scintillating personality, but it feels like from 1-50 there is almost no one, and from 50-60 people are mostly grouping with their guildmates. The boxing doesn't really help either IMO.
     
  24. Bum

    Bum I Feel Loved

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    Not sure what you mean by low pop, we have plenty if not too many players

    One of the best things about AK was the low pop. I prefer going to a camp I need and not having to fight over it.
     
  25. Loraen

    Loraen Well-Known Member

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    Well, I think EQ progression servers suffer from a kind of catch-22: if you have enough players to make leveling in pickup groups easy and fun (e.g. P99) then the raid scene is miserably overcrowded. All things considered I'd rather have a less crowded raid scene than easy xp pickup groups, but it is an issue.
     
  26. Lenas

    Lenas I Feel Loved

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    I'd like to see a log of that
     
  27. Pithy

    Pithy I Feel Loved

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    Why would that be weird? Yeli has 115 MR and is level 70. After tash and malo, MR nukes should land just fine.
     
  28. Lenas

    Lenas I Feel Loved

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    I figured Yelinak would be above the hard level limit for a player in the 50's to land anything. Looking back at Torven's spell resist write-up, you're right, it's fine. Even using the old resist system (1.25*level), a level 56 would be able to land on him. So it's not even ludicrous with the old system as Loraen made it sound.
     
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2017
  29. Darchon

    Darchon I Feel Loved

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    I will say. Coming from P99 the ability to stick spells on red con mobs without any resist debuffs, especially in the lower-mid level range, always felt a bit criminal when my enchanter could lock down 4 red con mobs with mez without suffering a single resist. We make up for it with our less favorable root code though I think. Our Pacify Resist code does seem extremely generous though as well.

    Also worth noting, P99 still uses their hybrid derp system. They have mobs like Yelinak flagged 100% magic Resist to prevent him from being slowed, just like they did back in the Velious era. But they also have the slow immune flag and various other immunity flags on that server that should not exist in that era (though they certainly exist and work here as they should).

    The level differential for the top tier stuff does feel more accurate to the era. It was commonly pointed out on some like the necro forums that getting level 56 or 57 was a magic level to go from getting full Resists to landing spell frequently on raid mobs like Cazic Thule or Yelinak.
     
  30. Loraen

    Loraen Well-Known Member

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    Just to be clear, I'm criticizing Verant's original game balance, not Torven's recreation of it.

    Pithy let me tag along while he factioned one of Temerity's cleric bots in the arena. My L48 shaman was able to slow every giant there, including the L60 Protectors of Zek, with maybe a 25% resist rate after tash. His L60 enchanter then pacified Gkrean's guards. When you can slow and mez deep red cons with a 10% resist rate, why do they deserve a 'what would you like your tombstone to say' message? And I really don't see how bad root code helps the situation; it just penalizes root classes vs mez classes.

    Maybe this system is only tuned for Planes of Power? It kind of feels like Verant said 'whatever, we'll let all spells land and just have immunities for overpowered CC spells, except we won't go back and fix any previous content'. I just have a vision of trivially pacifying, snare splitting, and slowing my way through Temple of Veeshan :(