Bard/Druid/Wiz vs Bard/Druid/Mag?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Szev_Nightshade, Aug 24, 2021.

  1. Szev_Nightshade

    Szev_Nightshade New Member

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    Trying to figure out the benefits of bard/druid/wizard compared to bard/druid/mage. The former is more quad kite oriented for sure, but I wonder whether it will not be able to take down as much content compared to the trio that includes mage over wizard, especially indoors? I also wonder what mage mod rods and magic resist debuffing brings to the table in addition to pet at later levels?

    I guess my question ultimately is what are pros/cons of wizard in a trio vs mage?
     
  2. Yaximus

    Yaximus Member

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    107
    There is almost no pro for the wizard in comparing the two examples. Pro's for a wizard are easy to box and port. But mages are also easy to box and you have a druid for ports. The mage will offer more consistent dps for grinding, mod rods as mentioned, malo as mentioned and coth for splitting difficult camps.
    From my perspective the obvious choice is bard/druid/mage, assuming these are the two choices.

    EDIT: I guess if you were set on quad kiting, a wizard would be better obviously. But outside of that I can't think of any benefit.
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2021
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  3. prattrs

    prattrs Active Member

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    I haven't played much bard, but I have the rest.

    Quad kiting -- not really a big thing on this server as far as I can tell, probably because it's not necessary to xp a wizard here (or just not optimal). It's also a mostly solo thing, unless you count other group members buffing, finishing of runners and such. You can't do it again just any mob, and that's a real problem when people want the most xp for the time and a little loot on the side maybe. If you're looking for a high risk, high reward xp route for casters you want charming instead.

    You won't be able to take down as much content as a traditional trio.

    You can technically quad indoors, but I wouldn't want to, and the venues would have to be pretty rare.

    Mages -- Mod rods and MR debuffing don't mean a whole lot I would say. Mod rods are raid only, and are a really marginal benefit in the era of MGB Paragon of Spirit. MR debuffing (mala, malasini) is sort of situationally useful. These days, now that I have gear, I routinely click sini on the mage neck and ro's on the druid arms to debuff each mob to FIRE (not magic). That right there is a strong argument for pairing mage and druid.

    If you can make it to the end game, the final pet is truly a monster. It draws a lot of comments when people meet it the first time in a group or a parse.

    Lack of root never bothered me. Earth pet is good at it and I'm happy to tank on the mage.
    Lack of snare is somewhat annoying, which makes my druid very important to me. I also have the snare neck for my cleric, snare weapons for my warrior, etc.

    Call of the Hero can be very rewarding as a support spell, although I'm sure people complain about having to cast it all the time at raids. You can really help people out of some weird situations with it (lava in ToV for example), and you get to interact with all the other members of the raid regularly, if that's important to you.

    Wizards -- This is a raid class. You appear out of thin air with minimal fuss, sit around for an hour till the boss shows up, put the rogues in their place, then port out. Your tasks include picking out which element to nuke the boss with and not dying. On TAKP, this is a perfect box class. Easiest to play, best burst DPS, snares and ports for free.

    Druid -- You're better at everything than you have a right to be, while not being outright the best. Like, they get 80% of a Wizard, 70% of a cleric, and 10% of a ranger on the side. It adds up to 160% but it plays well so the designers went with it. The karmic energy from the monk nerf when into making druids stronger, sadly.

    This class has so many high points it's hard to list them.

    - a ch that is better in some sitautions that cleric ch (less agro)
    - pretty much the same ports as wizards
    - stronger nukes than mages, in a wider array of elements
    - best ds in game
    - lots of essential buffs
    - Ro's: debuff fire resist for mages and wizards and they will love you
    - DoTs: I like mine mana-free, which druids get a ton of
    - can snap agro with ensnare and tank about as well as a monk
    - Innate Camo AA
    - Quick Damage AA
    - (edit) and of course charm, DC AA, and summoned pet, cause why not?
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2021
  4. Faults

    Faults I Feel Loved

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    Bard/druid/mage is the way to go, I speak from experience of boxing both the trios you speak of and bard/dru/mag consistently held up over time and I was able to down some of the trio targets with said trio.
     
  5. Szev_Nightshade

    Szev_Nightshade New Member

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    Could you elaborate on the kind of tactics you used with this trio to take down big baddies? I assume this requires mage epic pet?
     
  6. Faults

    Faults I Feel Loved

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    Yes it takes mage epic pet and pretty solid gear on the druid to maintain CH's but pretty typical stuff - play resist song/ds - send mage pet - CH with druid freely. If possible start nuking around 60% hp with mage.
     
  7. thucydides

    thucydides I Feel Loved

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    wizard will do better with root rotting, kiting and with rolling mez on stuff and nuking on the song pulses. i think they are much more than just a raiding class.
    that said, mage pets are pretty OP at lower levels, and being able to summon focus effects is nice before you get good gear. if you ever want to charm animals on your druid, having the mage will be very nice.
     
  8. Pithy

    Pithy I Feel Loved

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    For a first trio, I'd probably go mage. Pets are strong, especially compared to undergeared PCs.

    Having a pet in the mix will also help the druid and mage nuke without stealing aggro. Bard aggro sucks on its own, but if a mob hates pet > casters > bard and only the bard and pet are in melee range, then the mob will keep hitting the bard.

    Mages get some okay quad spells; quadding's an option with bard/dru/mage too. It not really a power tactic in the Luclin end game, but it's pretty good in PoP with high-level non-summoning mobs in areas with huge ZEMs.
     
    Last edited: Aug 25, 2021
  9. Szev_Nightshade

    Szev_Nightshade New Member

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    Thanks all. I went with mage for now and perhaps one day will level the wizzy, especially once PoP is out! Appreciate all the feedback!
     
  10. Auyster

    Auyster People Like Me

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    Never go wizard unless you really want to play a wizard. Druids are just ridiculous in this era, level 58 you get a 3k HP heal which is more than enough.
     
  11. Ripwind

    Ripwind People Like Me

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    Already said a bunch here, but wizards really add nothing to a trio. They add to raids, for sure. But a mage + pet will likely end up doing more DPS (and in a more sustainable fashion) in general group settings. Esp. if you already have ports with a druid (and great choice over cleric, btw!)