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#1 Jul 21 2013 at 2:45 PM Rating: Good
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For sake of info, I run a solo elf wizard and am at 60th level. Mainly I use the draught spells because I find the big damage spells draw too much attention to me, and waste too much time being disrupted toward the end of the spell; so I figure the draughts are the best line of offense- quick to cast, and disruption isn't as much of a timewaster as the bigger spells. I also have a cleric merc who stands around healing me which I find to be incredibly invaluable. I started off and went to 50th level with a brownie rogue merc before I realized what an incredible asset the healer is to me. Anyway any advice here is appreciated, and my questions (I have many but these are the ones that stand out to me):

1. /consider - The past two days I have encountered three light blue conned creatures that went like this:

Natimbi - everything here conned light blue and was not too much trouble at all. I roasted the natives with impunity. But not the restless souls or the animal life, just the warmongers and the nocs. I hate killing the animals isn't that odd?

Firiona Vie - everything in the city (dragoons and cliff golems) also con light blue. However, it would take me a full bar of mana and about 20 draughts to take down one golem. This is with a merc healing me constantly. Otherwise I would've been a red stain by the third or fourth draught. I started wondering why these were conning light blue to me and not, you know, red. Because without the merc I would be dead really fast by these.

Mines of Nurga - about the same as Natimbi UNTIL I tried to free a slave named Punjab. Then the cave filled with goblins (one a goblin sergeant) which all conned again light blue. Only this time, it would take me no less than 20 draughts to kill one goblin reaver, and no less than 40 draughts to kill the sergeant. I actually had to spend all my mana on nukes (at one point I just gave up and starting using the 2k superior sundering spell) then stand there for half an hour with him wailing on me and my merc healing me to go through the second bar of mana. Finally I just gave up and left.

My question here is, what is /con really telling me? Anything? Just an indication of level? These three creature groups all con the same to me, but are all radically different opponents in strength. Is there any way to know what creatures you can actually fight, and which you can't? Were the goblins really that powerful? That is almost 30k hps and somewhere like 40k for the sergeant; or are they all just super-resistant to spells? It just seems to me that con isn't really telling me anything important and usually tells me the opposite of what is true. (Cliff golems should say "This will wipe the floor with you!" Goblins in Punjab cave should say "These are nearly impossible for you to kill! Your spells are useless!"

2. Familar - Is there any way to just completely dismiss the familiar (hate the flap, flap, flap I flap and do nothing else but get in the way) permanently, without it respawning ever zone jump?

3. I carry in my main hand a dagger, in my other hand a recipe book from the Natimbi cook, and in my range, an Ornate Adept's Sphere. I always want the Orb to be displayed (I like the way it looks, plus don't like standing around with a book in my hand) but every time I zone I appear with the dagger and book in display, then have to remove/restore the Sphere to take away the dagger and book and just display the glowing Orb. This also causes my health to drop a bit as the additional health gained from the Sphere is lost, then restored; this causes the cleric merc to always begin casting full heal on me. So then I have to wait for her to cast her spell, then meditate to restore mana. It's a nuisance. Is there any way just to continually display the Orb and stop the dagger/book from being displayed after zoning?

Thanks for your input (and any other advice for a solo 60 wizard would be appreciated).
#2 Jul 21 2013 at 4:06 PM Rating: Decent
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/con ONLY informs you of the level of the mob relative to you. Nothing more. There are some DB mobs that are inherently weaker than normal and you sometimes see that message added to DB mobs. That's because some zones specifically have "weaker" mobs in the zone presumably intended to make leveling easier.

There is a command to make Flappy go away permanently without losing the buff. Have you tried summoning a familiar and then ordering /pet get lost? Watch to see if your buff effect goes away.

Hard for me to believe at 60 your merc spends so much mana on healing you once that you have to wait for the merc to regen the mana. I don't think there's any way to control what items are displayed as you desire. There are some "bugs" in terms of how things end up displayed when you swap items around between the primary, secondary and the range slots. Something we all have to live with.
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#3 Jul 21 2013 at 6:11 PM Rating: Decent
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Ah so that is what that means, I kept seeing "this creature looks dangerous" and under it "this creature looks relatively weak" and wondered at the paradox but now it makes more sense. There's just so much information about the game it's difficult to correlate it all.

Ordering the familiar to leave makes it go away until I zone, then it will respawn, and I have to make it go away again. Being the wizard class I make a lot of use of gates and so I am zoning a lot and so he keeps respawning every time. It's not that it's a major problem or anything, just would rather not have the pet at all and wondered if a setting existed commonly used to cause the pet part of the spell to stop spawning altogether.

What happens with the cleric isn't that she is using a lot of mana and I have to wait a long time for her to get it back, she is casting full heal on me oncce, using just a little mana (maybe 5% of her bar? maybe not even that much) and we are only waiting maybe 5-10 seconds for her to meditate and get the mana back. But this is happening every time I gate because I switch the Orb out-in which makes my health drop maybe 2-4% which I couldn't care less about (I usually have regenerated my health back to 100% before merc even finishes Full Heal). However this small drop causes the cleric to immediately begin casting Full Heal on me. So then I have to wait for her spell to finish, and her to meditate the mana back. Only about 10 second or so wait, but every time I gate (which is frequently often).

So basically everytime I gate, as soon as I zone in I have to dismiss the pet, remove/restore the Orb, wait for merc to finish Full Heal, wait for merc to meditate back to 100%, now we can move out. Again, no big deal, just wondered if there were a common command or setting to make things more permanent in the display. Doesn't seem so much like a bug or anything, but a restore of some default setting every time a player is spawned in a new zone.

Thanks for the help.

p.s. I know it can be like "just don't switch the Orb in-out" or "just start moving without the cleric she will catch up" but I tend to be a role-player and so things don't always work in the easiest mechanical fashion, as it were.

Edited, Jul 21st 2013 8:16pm by broonsbane
#4 Jul 22 2013 at 10:12 AM Rating: Decent
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Your merc must be set on REACTIVE. Experiment with the settings. I would suspect on BALANCED she won't respond to a small "loss" of HPs. Or, at worst, you could set her to PASSIVE (she won't do anything even if you're going purple!) before you gate and then re-set her back afterwards but, of course, that's a PITA as well, to some extent.

Re familiars you have to CLICK OFF the buff. Ordering the pet to get lost or leave does not prevent the pet reappearing after you zone.

I hear ya about RP. It's good to know some players still roleplay or try to. I'm on FV, "THE RP server" and we don't see all that much anymore. Or those that do RP tend to keep to themselves like some kind of secret sect for fear of being made fun of by the crass PLers and plat pharmers.
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Sippin 115 DRU **** Firiona Vie ****Agnarr
FV: 115 WAR ENC CLE MAG WIZ SHD SHM Master Alchemist ROG Master Tinkerer & Poison-Maker
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Agnarr: 65 DRU ENC SHD MAG CLE ROG WIZ BRD WAR
#5 Jul 22 2013 at 11:54 AM Rating: Decent
Sunderock Springs ports are availabe at lvl 60.

lvl 60 I leveled in Roost doing the quests to go higher on the ledges and Sunderock Springs wiz port has places to kite.

Pull mobs with Snar, root adds. the AA-Hastened Root will help any root to limit some breaks with DD.

keeping snar on is what is the win for soloing with out a merc.
#6 Jul 22 2013 at 3:44 PM Rating: Excellent
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The Orb situation is because its in your ranged slot and because it is every time you fight with your weapons or zone it switches back to the normal view of your primary/secondary slots. It isn't a bug.

Your mercenary should be in Balanced rather than Reactive, and a way to stop her from using the very LONG cast and very mana heavy spell of Complete heal is to block it in spells. She won't cast it, you don't have to worry about dying as much.

In regards to killing the mobs at the Firiona Vie city - most city guards aren't worth killing - this would especially be the case for the guards there. Since you most likely don't remember, there was an event that actually turned the city of Firiona (the event being called The War) from being Good to Evil when this happened the mobs there were beefed up considerably and the zone was forever changed (Lest the Gods of everquest (programmers) ever come back to change our world again.)


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#7 Jul 22 2013 at 3:54 PM Rating: Excellent
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Oh and zones to check out for leveling around 60.

https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/zones.html?zstrat=129 - The Maiden's Eye

https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/zones.html?zstrat=129 - The Hole
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#8 Jul 23 2013 at 12:37 PM Rating: Decent
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@Sippin

- I think it's because I'm a free account, but my mercs only have the passive/balanced options. I set them on balanced. Which brings up another question: my brownie rogue merc would attack but only after I first did damage to something. I figured then that this is what "balanced" setting meant. But the cleric does not attack at all- she will just stand there with goblins wailing on her and do nothing but face me waiting to cast heal on me. So now I'm not sure what this setting means in relation to the different mercs.

- Yeah, I was wondering if the buffs could be kept but the pet be caused to stop spawning in a new zone. No big deal, dismissing the pet each zone is a small price for me to pay for the buffs.

- To me the roleplaying, or just the immersion in the game environment, is necessary to my enjoyment of the game. I'm originally born out of D&D so that is just in the blood. It can hurt. For instance I am level 60 wizard and I have worn the Robe of the Evoker since about level 45ish. Because have you seen that robe? It's sweet as bee pollen. But it does nothing. I think maybe +6 to AC? But I got an Ornate Defiant Robe hanging in my robe closet. If only there were a way to switch the stats of items. You take the two items, and you cast Mordenkainen's Metatheurgic Juxtaposition- now your cool Robe of the Evoker has the states of the Ornate Defiant

Edited, Jul 23rd 2013 2:37pm by broonsbane
#9 Jul 23 2013 at 1:16 PM Rating: Decent
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@Larth

I did get that gate for SS, gated in, did a couple of /cons, and gated out. Looked to be a bit much for me right now. I'm still not able to do Corathus Creep. I mean, maybe technically I am, but everything in those places /cons dark blue to me (or worse) and whatever happens I end up getting swarmed, and it just triggers a gate-out. I am currently in a quest involving the Roost but have sidetracked over to Firiona Vie areas to build faction with Firiona Vie and Chardok (though I'm now "kindly looked upon" by FV, the Sarnaks are still looking threateningly.

Some of your jargon I'm not sure what it technically means. I've looked and tried to Google things but the info just doesn't seem to be there in a plain form. This site seems to be about the only place I find with information in a findable format. What is "Snar"? "DD?" I'm not sure how Root is used effectively for a solo Wizard. Or how kiting is successfully pulled off by the solo Wizard. Actually I'm not 100% on what kiting technically is. In Firiona Vie, I will go and pull a golem out of the city and into the forest; as he attacks me, pilgrims will swarm on him. Sometimes there will be two golems come maybe even with a Dragoon. These times I'll have to sometimes backpedal while I regain mana, and they will chase after me, meanwhile the pilgrims just swarm behind them hitting them as they go, eventually they drop from pilgrim power, or I regain enough mana to end it. I've heard the word "kiting" before, and as I did this action I thought to myself "this must be what the term "kiting" means because it certainly matches the idea of running along with a kite on a string. But the only place I've ever been able to do this with any success is outside Firiona Vie because of all the pilgrims helping me out. Anywhere else I've done this (maybe one or two other times before I said, this certainly isn't going to do anything but kill me) I just end up being the one getting swarmed

- right now I'm putting my AA into "make spells cost less mana" and "regain mana faster" as those seem to be crtical to me. Well, that and the "quick gate" hot key which was the first AA I got because gate is my life blood.
#10 Jul 23 2013 at 1:46 PM Rating: Decent
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@LuckyPoseidon

- Definitely not a bug, no. Not even a problem really, just me wondering if there were some default settings somewhere I didn't know about.

- Oh I definitely am wanting her to cast all the heal she feels necessary at all times; if that means waiting 10 seconds in a new zone no problem.

- Yeah I chalked the Dragoons up to "worthless" not long ago. I actively try to avoid them but they find a way to rear their ugly heads when I've got two golems on me. They bring back memories of Bog Rats in the Blightfire Moors. I've been playing about a month now so I have no idea of the history, which is what I am seeking out. I'm sorry I missed that event (sort of), that's pretty cool- I didn't expect the world itself would change in the game. That also explains why the map shows merchants and such in the city itself. Must be an map from before that event happened. I've tried to find histories of the different realms and such but have a difficult time. I've actively searched for FV history but find really nothing of substance. Because, I keep wondering, if this is an elven place, why are there all these old Iksar statues everywhere? I wonder if there's a way to make the changes revert back? I've been trying to think of a way to affect the actual game to get the pilgrims back into the city in a sort of pipedreamy way- has there ever been a hint of anything like this in the game?
#11 Jul 23 2013 at 1:48 PM Rating: Good
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Snar was suppose to be Snare which is a type of spell that decreases movement and stops them at very low health where their speed is naturally reduced. DD is direct damage or nuke is another term used for not instant cast, but instant duration spells that usually do alot of damage.

This post at https://everquest.allakhazam.com/fcluster/gotopost.pl?mid=123655651167915606 gives links to definitions and other EQ terminology.

For some more info on mercs, might try reading the threads at https://everquest.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=1&mid=133219935614211828#6 and https://everquest.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=1&mid=1312609276177414664

Specifically, Balanced means balancing between fast, maximum whatever (heal, damage, aggro, etc.) and maintaining resources (Endurance or Mana). Journeymen mercs have more options, so you can set the DPS to burn (to maximize damage at the cost of Mana or Endurance), warriors to aggressive (get aggro on everything) and whatever the cleric is called to heal no matter what, 'cause your expecting the mob (Movable Object also, generally called a monster, animal, etc.) to do alot of damage.

Non-cleric mercs will only attack when you have generated some aggro. You can cast non-damage spells and still get the mercs to attack, if the spell generates hate. An example spell is cancel magic, causes no damage, but angers the mob, because you dispelled a buff. Clerics never attack, as there only job as a merc is to buff and heal. This is also the primary job of a real player cleric, but they can do alot more. Mercs only stick to their primary job.

They have an AI that controlls them rather than having the owner control them like the better pets in the game. (Enc summoned pets tend to be stupid without AAs to give them some control over them).

I don't really have any advice on looks, as I never really cared. Didn't use dyes until 2005 I think. Being able to survive and win fights was more important. Although I do enjoy the immersion of the game, and used to love to role play, but it's not very popular any more, even on FV server I hear. There are ornaments to change the look of weapons, but nothing for armor yet, that I know of, in a manner you're talking about. There is the Hero's Forge ornaments but they're unique looking to themselves and nothing else looks like them. You also have to purchase the ability to use them with Station Cash. The weapon ornaments sometimes look like other things, sometimes not, it depends on the ornament and design. Some are player made designs.

Yther Ore.
#12 Jul 24 2013 at 11:02 AM Rating: Decent
https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/spelllist.html?name=&type=wiz&level=--N%2FA--&opt=And+Higher&action=search

kiting
Atol's Spectral Shackles wiz lvl 51 is your current snare - wiz only have a AOE snare. its good for pulling
Fetter wiz lvl 58 is your current root. - wiz only have single root spells

Corathus Creep lvl 50 - is a hot zone and if your doing well then might stay their for a while.
remember when they list the hot zones it for groups and you might need a lower hot zone to solo or molo in. molo is merc+you.
Bloodfields Portal lvl 55 - is a hot zone and you might try that since you have a group port
Bloodfields Portal wiz lv l55 group port- make sure to levate the group unless you plan to walk down or Evacute the to zone in see below.
Most the trash mobs are dark blue to level 61.


good luck

lvl 55 i did the hole, you might try that but I tink i used the merc tank and you cant kite in the hole.


if the mobs look to hard by the port in you can load the
Evacuate wiz lvl 57 can port you and your group to a place in the zone that is differnet the the wiz port to spell and in Sunderock Springs its at the zone in where the mobs are bears and might be eaiser. and Bloodfields its on the ground level at zone in.



Edited, Jul 24th 2013 12:05pm by Larth

Edited, Jul 24th 2013 12:06pm by Larth

Edited, Jul 24th 2013 12:07pm by Larth
#13 Jul 24 2013 at 12:35 PM Rating: Decent
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Larth wrote:
https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/spelllist.html?name=&type=wiz&level=--N%2FA--&opt=And+Higher&action=search

kiting
Atol's Spectral Shackles wiz lvl 51 is your current snare - wiz only have a AOE snare. its good for pulling
Fetter wiz lvl 58 is your current root. - wiz only have single root spells


Bear in mind I'm not technically sure what you mean by "kiting" and "pulling" so I'm having to presume the metaphor, as it were. So I imagine that kiting means I am running with something following me, and that by pulling I am causing a creature to move toward me from his location. I don't understand how the snare/root spells help in these cases. I've never really found a solid use for either of those spell types. When I try to search for these terms and things I come up with nothing substantial

Quote:
Corathus Creep lvl 50 - is a hot zone and if your doing well then might stay their for a while.
remember when they list the hot zones it for groups and you might need a lower hot zone to solo or molo in. molo is merc+you.
Bloodfields Portal lvl 55 - is a hot zone and you might try that since you have a group port
Bloodfields Portal wiz lv l55 group port- make sure to levate the group unless you plan to walk down or Evacute the to zone in see below.
Most the trash mobs are dark blue to level 61.


Yeah these seem to be the places I'm looking toward.

Quote:
good luck


Thanks.
#14 Jul 24 2013 at 2:40 PM Rating: Excellent
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broonsbane wrote:
Bear in mind I'm not technically sure what you mean by "kiting" and "pulling" so I'm having to presume the metaphor, as it were. So I imagine that kiting means I am running with something following me, and that by pulling I am causing a creature to move toward me from his location. I don't understand how the snare/root spells help in these cases. I've never really found a solid use for either of those spell types. When I try to search for these terms and things I come up with nothing substantial.

Yes "kiting" means running while things chase you. And "pulling" means getting a creature creature angry so it will come to you (so you can dispatch him).

Root spells give you a way to park a creature in a spot. Mostly so they cannot hit you (this is useful when you have more creatures angry with you than you want.. you can Root the extras and more away from them while you deal with the remainder). Also, as a Wizard, it is viable to Root an enemy, then blast them. Repeat, until dead.

Snare spells work well with kiting. They slow the speed at which your enemy can run. So you can run ahead, stop, cast a spell.. run some more.. repeat until dead. This allows you to kill an enemy without them ever touching you.

For bonus points combine these tactics. Find a creature that needs killing. Root it from a distance. Then Snare it. Then start blasting it with direct damage spells. If the Root breaks and they start moving.. move away.. you run faster than they do, because they are Snared. Root it again to stop it moving. Move to max range again and resume the blasting. This will allow you to kill an enemy safely from a distance.

"Kiting" in general terms is doing that without Rooting.. you just keep running between casts. Because as a Wizard you have Snares that effect multiple creatures that are close together and you have Nukes (spells that do immediate damage when cast) that effect multiple mobs that are close together it is common for Wizards to kite more than one mob at time. Four is a magic number for most of your levels, because of limits of many of the useful spells.. so Wizards often "Quad Kite".. and I expect you will hear this term (or find reference to it when you research). I would not suggest you start with four creatures.. just do one at time until you are comfortable.

There is a lot more I could teach you beyond that.. but those two techniques 1: rooting a mob and blast it to death and 2: kiting a snared mob while blasting it to death are bread and butter soloing techniques that will work on a creatures powerful enough to kill you, even with a healer healing you, because you never let them touch you. It's a rush fighting creatures than can gut you with a single swipe yet you are alone in silken pajamas.. and winning.

Edited, Jul 24th 2013 1:45pm by Felicite
#15 Jul 24 2013 at 2:52 PM Rating: Decent
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Snaring & Rooting

Find a mob, preferably one kinda isolated (so you can single pull) and best in an outdoor zone with wide open spaces. Get to an extreme range and cast your Atol's snare spell upon said mob. If he's out of range, keep creeping forward until it lands. He will get angry and start "chasing" you, albeit at slow speed. Commence nuking. Retreat between nukes to keep enough distance so you can get off the next nuke spell before mob reaches you.

You can use root for this too but unless you've bought the AAs which "improve" your root spells, each nuke is going to break the root so may not be worth the trouble. Of course, root is useful as an emergency spell if something goes wrong and the mob's about to whack you.

This is the single-target form of kiting.

Quad-kiting is one of the class-defining abilities of druids and wizards. In quad-kiting you snare 4 mobs and then "round them up" by running around them in progressively tighter circles. Once they're all following you elbow-to-elbow start casting your aoe DD range spells. For nukes look up your Targeted AE spells that do so much damage to the mobs around your target. The limit is 4 total, hence "quad-kiting." You don't want to use RAIN AE spells for this since those work differently and with moving mobs two of the 3 "waves" won't hit anything. I think Pillar of Flame would be your top spell of the right kind at level 60. Don't use the ones with a stun component since stunned mobs will stop moving and you don't want your quad splitting up.

Druids do NOT get an aoe-snare, at least not by 60, but their single-target ENSNARE can last as long as 14 minutes so this is the best spell for druid quad-kiting, Since wizzy aoe snare Atol's only lasts a couple of minutes, you'll have to recast it probably before end of your quad. Don't forget! It can be REAL hard to re-snare 4 angry mobs chasing you at full speed.

At 60 one fine place to practice quad-kiting, depending on your RP attitude (I don't know your race) would be Butcherblock Mountains quadding guards. Most are level 50 and they all drop some plat and fine steel items. Works best if you're a dark elf or an evil-tending gnome!

Edited, Jul 24th 2013 4:54pm by Sippin
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Sippin 115 DRU **** Firiona Vie ****Agnarr
FV: 115 WAR ENC CLE MAG WIZ SHD SHM Master Alchemist ROG Master Tinkerer & Poison-Maker
Master Artisan (300+) * Baker * Brewer * Fletcher * Jeweler * Potter * Researcher * Smith * Tailor
Agnarr: 65 DRU ENC SHD MAG CLE ROG WIZ BRD WAR
#16 Jul 24 2013 at 3:07 PM Rating: Decent
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Sippin wrote:
Since wizzy aoe snare Atol's only lasts a couple of minutes, you'll have to recast it probably before end of your quad. Don't forget! It can be REAL hard to re-snare 4 angry mobs chasing you at full speed.

This I should have said (in my defense, I've been playing a Druid lately.. and I am getting used to really long snares). It is crucial to you not going *smoosh* that you reapply the snare before it wears off when you are kiting.

If we're skipping the basics and straight to Quad Kiting, you should mention the Staff of Temperate Flux. Since it's instantly clickable it's the fastest way to pull. And you can click it while running to "range check" the mob chasing you.. once you get out of range you know to stop and cast on the mobs chasing.

When transitioning from running to casting you need to come to a complete stop. A simple trick to do this quickly is let go of the forward key, then tap the left or right arrow to turn slightly in place (just a few degrees). Then cast. If you just release the run button and then cast once you appear to have stopped moving the lag between the client and server will often disagree and your spell will be interrupted.
#17 Jul 24 2013 at 7:47 PM Rating: Good
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Let me also add that if you're going to use a merc to fight (ie: You are *not* kiting), at your level you'll probably be vastly better off using a tank merc to fight the mobs, while you nuke. Trying to tank mobs as a wizard is rapidly going to become inefficient (actually, arguably is already quite inefficient, you just haven't realized just how much so). While a healer merc can keep even a wizard alive, the only damage you can do is from your spells, and a lot of those will get interrupted while you're being beat on by the mob. So that's a lot of time and mana wasted. At level 60, the tank merc can fight and defeat pretty much any blue or lt blue mob all by itself. You nuking just shortens the time it takes to kill each one. You'll have to wait for your merc to regenerate his hps, but I suspect that's a lot less time than you're spending waiting for your healer merc to regen its mana the way you're doing things currently (and ironically, you're spending more mana as well, since the healer merc doesn't do any damage).

Ideally, you want to find the best balance, so that the amount of time it takes for you to recover mana is about the same amount of time it takes for your merc to recover. That will vary from mob to mob and zone to zone, of course. You also want to be aware that when using a merc, you're only getting about 60% of the experience per kill that you'd get not using one (it takes a share of the group exp). So using snare and root to defeat mobs without using a merc will net you more exp per kill, but may actually take enough additional time that it's not worth it (gathering a quad and kitting them sounds great until you realize how much time you can spend finding the right group of mobs in the right area, then gathering them up, all before you can even start doing damage to them). This will also vary from mob to mob and zone to zone. Pick the best strategy for where you are, and what you're fighting.

Edited, Jul 24th 2013 6:48pm by gbaji
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#18 Jul 25 2013 at 6:12 AM Rating: Decent
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At least give quadding a shot. It's challenging but a lot of fun and sure beats just running around nuking one snared mob for excitement. The key is to start off slow, many just with green or grey mobs and refine your technique. And remember being a wizard you can always use your "get out of trouble" card: evac!
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Sippin 115 DRU **** Firiona Vie ****Agnarr
FV: 115 WAR ENC CLE MAG WIZ SHD SHM Master Alchemist ROG Master Tinkerer & Poison-Maker
Master Artisan (300+) * Baker * Brewer * Fletcher * Jeweler * Potter * Researcher * Smith * Tailor
Agnarr: 65 DRU ENC SHD MAG CLE ROG WIZ BRD WAR
#19 Jul 25 2013 at 7:45 PM Rating: Good
GBATE!! Never saw it coming
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Sippin wrote:
And remember being a wizard you can always use your "get out of trouble" card: evac!
You misspelled ranger-gate.Smiley: schooled

Edited, Jul 25th 2013 7:46pm by Bijou
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#20 Jul 26 2013 at 1:12 PM Rating: Decent
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Just wanted to say thanks again to all the replies, this has been incredibly helpful. I'm at the Blackfeather Roost where the harpies are and yea verily now I understand the power of the shackles. I remember actually passing this spell up at the level because I was strapped for platinum (I had developed a economically crippling addiction to peridot). My only experience with the fetter spells was that they break when you used a damage spell and I made the mistake of assuming the shackles spell would also break if you damaged the target- but nope! Big difference that certainly makes.

About the merc; you know, I'm not really able to determine a mean for judging efficiency so I don't know how efficient the cleric merc is but I do know I love seeing my life bar going from 37% to 100% ; I tried a tank once for a few outings and he was cool; but those situations would inevitably arise THWACK! THWACK! my life is at 35% and rapidly dropping, my gate is too unstable, I look at the tank and he's just *shrug* "Alls I do is kill" /you have been slain! The cleric makes me feel very safe standing there in the background, sharing xp is no problem. Also if it weren't for her I'd still be popping peridots from a Pez dispenser.
#21 Jul 26 2013 at 3:37 PM Rating: Excellent
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A couple of things I'd like to add if thats okay (even if its not, I'll post anyways :))

A gold account allows access to journey 1 mercs.... and I'm not gonna lie J1 mercs beat A5 mercs easily, you'd be amazed by J5 mercs in comparison, just something to think about.

oh and


Welcome back.
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#22 Jul 30 2013 at 8:05 PM Rating: Good
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broonsbane wrote:
About the merc; you know, I'm not really able to determine a mean for judging efficiency so I don't know how efficient the cleric merc is but I do know I love seeing my life bar going from 37% to 100% ; I tried a tank once for a few outings and he was cool; but those situations would inevitably arise THWACK! THWACK! my life is at 35% and rapidly dropping, my gate is too unstable, I look at the tank and he's just *shrug* "Alls I do is kill" /you have been slain! The cleric makes me feel very safe standing there in the background, sharing xp is no problem. Also if it weren't for her I'd still be popping peridots from a Pez dispenser.


You're nuking too fast then. Honestly, learning how not to pull agro from a tank is a good skill to have, so practicing it with a tank merc is probably a good idea. Wait a few seconds between casts. If the mob turns to attack you, wait a few seconds. The tank will taunt the mob back to him. You shouldn't be getting hit that often (or at all) if you use a tank merc. The tank merc can probably kill that mob all by itself. The only thing you're doing is helping to kill it faster, which is basically you trading mana you have to regen for fewer hps that the merc has to regen. Find the right balance between those, and you'll max out your kill rate.

Take this as the honest help it is when I say that a wizard using a healer merc is about the least effective method to use to fight NPCs in this game. If you're kiting, ditch the merc since you shouldn't be taking any damage (or very little anyway), and it's taking 40% of your exp (and costing you money). If you're not kiting, use a tank. If you want to kite and use a merc, use a rogue or a wizard merc since they will add the most important thing to that method: damage. There's very close to zero reason to use a healer merc as a wizard (pocket healer for a group maybe, but then the tank will certainly have one anyway).
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#23 Aug 01 2013 at 2:48 PM Rating: Good
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gbaji wrote:
You're nuking too fast then. Honestly, learning how not to pull agro from a tank is a good skill to have, so practicing it with a tank merc is probably a good idea. Wait a few seconds between casts. If the mob turns to attack you, wait a few seconds. The tank will taunt the mob back to him. You shouldn't be getting hit that often (or at all) if you use a tank merc. The tank merc can probably kill that mob all by itself. The only thing you're doing is helping to kill it faster, which is basically you trading mana you have to regen for fewer hps that the merc has to regen. Find the right balance between those, and you'll max out your kill rate.


Okay I hear you about the "nuking too fast" and understand the aggro-drawing. It's a lot like playing D&D with a computerized DM, they make the same calls and sick the same NPCs on the same character types. I note the mobs will generally follow the steps of :

1. attack what is causing the most damage
2. attack what is healing what is causing the most damage

My problem with the tank scenario you mention is two-fold:

1. he's the one having all the fun and now I'm kind of helping the computer play the game- now I'm the sidekick.
2. things inevitably go wrong and the tank doesn't(can't) help stabilize the situation. It's all good until some wandering creature shows up (or, two) or something spawns, or something just happens and CHAOS! This happens frequently enough for me (not that it is always the case, but it happens enough to me to cause the merc choice to favor healer) to desire a healer around instead of a killer.

Quote:
Take this as the honest help it is when I say that a wizard using a healer merc is about the least effective method to use to fight NPCs in this game.


Okay but how are we determining effectiveness in this game? This is something elusive to me because I have such a small frame of reference. I only know what a Wizard can do- I have no idea what other classes can even do in order to determine anything (other than I know the basics, fighters do damage over time with weapons/healers heal hit points, wizard do damage instantaneously), so I can't tell exactly what effectiveness means: it's a lot like D&D when you ask "which class combo is most effective?" there's really no way to determine the answer since there are so many unknowns and so many variables. I know that I don't die very often at all, and I kill up to dark blue mob without a sweat. Two dark blue mobs and I sweat. Three dark blue mobs and I am frantically clicking yonder->gateAA->abscondAA; I do have to rest for my mana to regen, but I presume I will always be in that scenario fo waiting for X to regen.

Quote:
If you're kiting, ditch the merc since you shouldn't be taking any damage (or very little anyway), and it's taking 40% of your exp (and costing you money).


Yeah but something always pops up (not always, but frequently enough for me not to want the merc to go away, even if she's just otherwise standing there doing nothing but waiting for the unexpected to arise); for instance I was practicing the kite on some harpies on the "noble harpy" level of the Blackfeather roost a few nights ago. It was like shooting fish in a barrel so I dismissed the merc to save on XP, I mean, why not, right? Situation under control, right? That is, until *a harpy patroller cries for help!* *a griffon enforcer has been summoned!* SCREEEEEEEE! THWACK! 83% THWACK! 77% *you cannot cast spells while stunned!* THWACK! 70% THWACK! 58% THWACK! 49% *your gate is too unstable and collapses!* *what's this, a tasty morsel perhaps! a harpy partoller rushes to attack!* THWACK! 40% THWACK! 31% *your spell is interrupted!* THWACK! 22% *you are stunned!* *you cannot cast spells while stunned!* THWACK! 17% THWACK! 9% *your spell is interrupted!* THWACK! 5% *you regain your concentration and continue casting* THWACK! 1% ... ENTERING FIRIONA VIE... undismiss merc ... *You're no match for the Indigo Brotherhood!* *Dragoon M'Nyl rushes to attack!* *You cast mana burn* *Dragoon M'Nyl takes 12000 damage* *You have slain Dragoon M'Nyl!*

Quote:
If you're not kiting, use a tank.


Yeah but then the tank is really using me, out there doing the work and getting the glory while I shout from the sidelines, "It is within the scope of my abilities to put 12000 fire down upon the enemy right now; yet I will refrain myself for fear of their recompense upon me!" I like, "Here's 12000 fire in your face! Have a drink of lighnting to chase that down! Here's some torrent of jagged ice you like that? Come get some! Everyone invited!" *You have been fully healed!*

Quote:
If you want to kite and use a merc, use a rogue or a wizard merc since they will add the most important thing to that method: damage.


I did go all they way to about 50th with a brownie rogue merc. I tried the tank and everything would come at me as soon as I hit it with a draught (I rarely actually use "nukes"), so I figured, hey if everything is going to come at me, then I'm going to have a merc that enjoys attacking a back. The problem was that the damage the wizard does is so fast and much that the merc never really added much in the way of damage. Probably saved me a draught or maybe two, but that's it. So the damage she did just wasn't worth it.

But bear in mind that I'm coming from a frame of reference that is super limited, and so my "conclusions" will also be limited until I establish some form of robust frame of reference through which to substantially judge these matters of "what is effective?" but for right now, the cleric I have found to be the hands-down best merc for a wizard - if the player of the wizard desires to be the "active component" of the group. I've no doubt that the tank is best for just, barebones gaming toward xp for levels, etc. but again bear in mind that most of my enjoyment from the game is being derived through the roleplaying aspect. So I can't really look at the game as just a collection of mechanics then take the proverbial path of least mechanical resistance; I'm a roleplayer at heart and this is affecting my play- sometimes to the point that I'm taking the path of most resistance because that path is the one that my style of play leads me down.

Also just to say that (even though no one probably does, you know how you have to be careful to elaborate on your words sometimes because on the internet it's difficult to determine intent sometimes) I'm not in any way saying that role-playing is better than not, or any such thing- I know that everyone plays for their own reasons, there own way, with their own enjoymentyt, etc. and I'm all for everyone just having a good time, however that comes about. But this roleplaying aspect will cause me to go directions and make choices that a person who is coming from a non-role-playing perspective would find absurd.

But I really do appreciate what you've said, and there may come a time when I will absolutely have to go the route of the tank merc; but I know that day I will be sweating and missing the cleric.
#24 Aug 05 2013 at 3:54 PM Rating: Excellent
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I get the role playing thing. But you have to realize that if you ever group (and you'll want to at least periodically), your "role" is to dish out damage. But someone else's "role" is to be the meat shield who protects you and the rest of the party while they all contribute to the task at hand. Learning agro management as a wizard is a key skill to develop so that you can fill your role in a group setting. Itemization in EQ has made things far more forgiving for int casters that back in the day (My wizard has about the same HPs/AC at level 70 that my paladin did back when that was the highest level), and if blasting away while mobs beat on you is what you enjoy, then go for it. The game is about doing what you enjoy, so why not?

If you start to get frustrated that you're not killing stuff fast enough, of you're dying a lot, or things just generally get "hard", you might want to think about changing how you're doing things. Another way to look at it isn't that the merc is the lead and you're just sitting in the background helping out, but that the merc is your body guard. You hire him to distract the mobs, while you deliver your mighty magical death upon them. Trust me, you will be significantly outdamaging the merc, so it's not like he's really the lead here.


I also suspect you might not be setting the roles properly. If you right click on a member of your group in the group window (or yourself), where the bars with hp/man/end are, there's a menu for setting roles in a group. If you use a tank merc as a wizard you must set your tank to "main tank". If you don't, he'll attack the mobs, but wont make any particular effort to gain and hold the mobs attention. That might be why you were having problems. Set him to main tank, and he'll do everything he can to make sure every mob that's on the agro list (in the target box) is attacking him.

Some other tips:

- In your target box, right click one of them (top one's a good suggestion), and set it to "main tanks target". This way, you always know which mob the tank is currently attacking. You then click on that mob in that box and target it, so that your attacking the same one your tank is attacking, thus reducing the odds that the mob will peel off and attack you.

- If you can afford the cost, buy RoF (Or whatever the most recent expansion is). This will add agro numbers next to each member of the group, and your current agro on each mob in the target selection window. It's a *huge* advantage for any caster, since you can know if you are close to getting agro and wait a bit before casting. Numbers appear as percentages, and change colors from green, to yellow, to red. Actually, I don't know if this is a silver/gold only feature or not, so maybe someone can chime in here. I found it amazingly useful.

- Depending on what you're doing, set yourself as puller (or unset yourself). If you are not set as puller, any merc will follow you around and do whatever they're set to do against any mob in the target selection box (actually, they stay with the majority of the group, but if it's just you and a merc, that means that's you). Which includes running off to meet any mob that agros you. One trick when soloing with a merc is to pick a spot to pull to. Once you have your merc where you want him, you toggle yourself as puller. Now you can run off and find a mob, tag it, and pull it back to your merc. Once it's within a relatively short range (you kinda have to pull them *through* the merc), the merc will activate and help you. This is really important with a tank merc because otherwise he'll tend to move around and you end out fighting somewhere you might not wan to be (like in the path of a roaming mob).


You can exert quite a bit of control over your merc, but you have to learn how the various roles work and the merc behavior based on those. But trust me, once you learn how to do this, you'll find that you can manage a hell of a lot more than you're doing right now. And perhaps you might even find that it's even more fun.
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