I have just started a lvl4 mage and before i get any further i want to know is the mage worth the effort of trying to research his spells or getting equipment. What equipment is best for a low budget mage i can probaly afford 5-15pp per piece of armor
and how hard is it to solo and is the mage wanted in groups?
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Is a mage worth the effort?Follow
I stopped playing my mage at 20, this was 3 years ago, due to the question of researching spells.
Today it is much easier to obtain spells and gear in the bazaar. Today if I still had the mage I would probably be playing him again.
For low buget mages, look for ac, intell and manna on your gear. There is lots of stuff out there, again due to the bazaar.
Mages are wanted in my groups, and they can solo as well.
Today it is much easier to obtain spells and gear in the bazaar. Today if I still had the mage I would probably be playing him again.
For low buget mages, look for ac, intell and manna on your gear. There is lots of stuff out there, again due to the bazaar.
Mages are wanted in my groups, and they can solo as well.
Do your newbie armor quests in your home town, that will gear you up very nicely. Also work on your pet focus items ASAP.
Mages have problems in the very high end, but are a solid class.
Mages have problems in the very high end, but are a solid class.
Ive talked to nearly every npc in Erudin and i cant find the person who gives out the newbie armor quests so far all i have got quest-wise is the gloves u get by handing the trolls head in. And what are these pet focus items what do they do and where do i get them?
Playing a mage is a great deal of fun, for they have a good amount of soloing ability in the lower levels and offer a group quite a bit of DPS (due to both offensive spells and the pet). Spell research should be approached with the attitude that it is also fun and just another exploratory aspect of the game. When making your spell combines it's always a good idea to have multiple components on hand, for you may want to make several copies of the spell. Many of the higher level pet summoning spells require the lower level spell, thus if you have a copy already in the bank it makes producing the higher level spell easier. You can also sell extra inventory.
Some helpful hints for spell research.
1) Save your training points and once you are around level 19 or dump as many points as you can. Your maximum research level is (Level - 15) * 5. At level 16 you will have a max research level of 5, while at 19 you will have a max level of 15.
2) You can advance your research skill further by either making practice runes or successful combines. Normally you will want to skill-up on practice runes, for the spell combines can sometimes use rare components that are hard to find.
3) Make a list of all the Words and components that you need and keep this handy. Frequently search vendors (especilly in POK) for Words, for these often are sold at quite a reasonble price. Becoming a packrat is a good thing.
4) For the practice runes I normally skip the practice runes and just dump enough training points into it.
6) Start with the the Training runes (skip Apprentice since the froglock eyes are hard to find). Pixie wings, and wasp wings are very easy to find in Kelethin. Buy stacks and put in the bank. Horde as much zombie skin as you can find or kill them in Oasis, EC, or N Ro. Burned out lightstones can be found off of wisps in EC or WC. Rawhide armor can be found off of orcs in Oasis, or the ogres in Timorous Deep.
7) The Study rune is a little tougher, but easy once you know where to hunt. The giant snake fang drops pretty frequently off of asps in Oasis. The giant scarab eye drops off the sand scarabs in Oasis as well. Ringmail can be fairly easy to find off of gnolls in Highhold Pass. Check the vendors at the Keep as well, for they frequently have tons. The giant batwings can be found off of the bats in Butcherblock.
This should give you a good head start
Some helpful hints for spell research.
1) Save your training points and once you are around level 19 or dump as many points as you can. Your maximum research level is (Level - 15) * 5. At level 16 you will have a max research level of 5, while at 19 you will have a max level of 15.
2) You can advance your research skill further by either making practice runes or successful combines. Normally you will want to skill-up on practice runes, for the spell combines can sometimes use rare components that are hard to find.
3) Make a list of all the Words and components that you need and keep this handy. Frequently search vendors (especilly in POK) for Words, for these often are sold at quite a reasonble price. Becoming a packrat is a good thing.
4) For the practice runes I normally skip the practice runes and just dump enough training points into it.
6) Start with the the Training runes (skip Apprentice since the froglock eyes are hard to find). Pixie wings, and wasp wings are very easy to find in Kelethin. Buy stacks and put in the bank. Horde as much zombie skin as you can find or kill them in Oasis, EC, or N Ro. Burned out lightstones can be found off of wisps in EC or WC. Rawhide armor can be found off of orcs in Oasis, or the ogres in Timorous Deep.
7) The Study rune is a little tougher, but easy once you know where to hunt. The giant snake fang drops pretty frequently off of asps in Oasis. The giant scarab eye drops off the sand scarabs in Oasis as well. Ringmail can be fairly easy to find off of gnolls in Highhold Pass. Check the vendors at the Keep as well, for they frequently have tons. The giant batwings can be found off of the bats in Butcherblock.
This should give you a good head start
p.s. (Almost forgot). Check the Mythrian Tower web site for full information on spell research. It's a little out of date, but the tutuorials are pretty good. Simply click the Research link on the Allakhazam sidebar.
Research is a curse and a blessing. When I first started researching there wasn't a bazaar. Any time a research component dropped I would check to see if it was for a mage spell or necro spell. Also, anytime you buy or sell anything check the vendor for research components.
Getting gear is very easy with the bazaar. When you go in there just use the /bazaar feature and start searching based on what you want. As posted before, at lower levels you'll want to look for:
+mana
+hitpoints
+int
+armor class
Newbie armor quests are great if you're into quests. However if you'd rather not do quests there's other routes you can take if purchasing gear is more your style. Shar Val, Everfrost, Innothule Swamp, Feerrott and Nektulous Forest are all pretty nice when it comes to spider and spiderlings. The silks on those two sell for a pretty penny (currently around 15pp each/300pp a stack on Saryrn) which would allow you to get some very nice upgrades for your level.
Mages can solo to 65 but there are other classes that can solo better. At the high end (elementals/gates) a mage will get waxed fast if they try and solo. However with the right tactics I can solo in Bastion of Thunder fairly well.
Groups are a mixed blessing/curse. If you play well and get a good reputation then groups come fast and easy. I know a few mages that impress the hell out of me and from talking with them, it's a very rare day they're LFG for more than 15 minutes or so. There are mages at the opposite end of the spectrum that will go a week or more with the LFG tag up. This may be simply because nobody knows that particular mage, but there's one mage on Saryrn that has a very bad reputation and rarely gets a group.
Something you may want to check out is http://forum.magecompendium.com/
Fair warning about that site/board. There is a lot of whinning and complaining going on. If you can deal with that and sift through it you can find a great deal of very good information.
Getting gear is very easy with the bazaar. When you go in there just use the /bazaar feature and start searching based on what you want. As posted before, at lower levels you'll want to look for:
+mana
+hitpoints
+int
+armor class
Newbie armor quests are great if you're into quests. However if you'd rather not do quests there's other routes you can take if purchasing gear is more your style. Shar Val, Everfrost, Innothule Swamp, Feerrott and Nektulous Forest are all pretty nice when it comes to spider and spiderlings. The silks on those two sell for a pretty penny (currently around 15pp each/300pp a stack on Saryrn) which would allow you to get some very nice upgrades for your level.
Mages can solo to 65 but there are other classes that can solo better. At the high end (elementals/gates) a mage will get waxed fast if they try and solo. However with the right tactics I can solo in Bastion of Thunder fairly well.
Groups are a mixed blessing/curse. If you play well and get a good reputation then groups come fast and easy. I know a few mages that impress the hell out of me and from talking with them, it's a very rare day they're LFG for more than 15 minutes or so. There are mages at the opposite end of the spectrum that will go a week or more with the LFG tag up. This may be simply because nobody knows that particular mage, but there's one mage on Saryrn that has a very bad reputation and rarely gets a group.
Something you may want to check out is http://forum.magecompendium.com/
Fair warning about that site/board. There is a lot of whinning and complaining going on. If you can deal with that and sift through it you can find a great deal of very good information.
edit: removed original question.
Is a magician worth playing? I think they're a very fun class to play. Easy to play, but important and a bit tricky to play well. A magician with poor pet control can cause a lot of trouble for their groups or themselves.
Summoning goodies is an irritant to some, but frankly it's fun feeling like Mary Poppins reaching into her magical, bottomless carpet bag and producing whatever item was needed in any situation.
It really boils down to whether or not you enjoy the way magicians play. You're not going to get a really good feel for that for a few more levels. I remember feeling much more powerful when I hit level 12. That's when I started really feeling the difference between this class and any other I'd tried.
Do you like having pets who are specialists? Do you like nuking things? Do you like to solo? Do you like to play in groups? Do you like having a department store at your fingertips?
There are weaknesses too. Past our mid fifties it becomes increasingly difficult to solo for experience. Our pets simply can't withstand the amount of damage mobs dish out. Many magicians simply switch to grouping. We have no real defensive ability, like root, or mez. We do have one mez summoned spell at 63 and a charm summoned spell at 65. I've read that our pets' weapon procs are often resisted on post 65 mobs so our DPS suffers at very high levels.
Despite the problems, there are some of us that simply find the class more fun than any other.
I'd say give it a few more levels and the question will answer itself.
Edited, Wed Jun 9 19:41:02 2004 by Yanari
Is a magician worth playing? I think they're a very fun class to play. Easy to play, but important and a bit tricky to play well. A magician with poor pet control can cause a lot of trouble for their groups or themselves.
Summoning goodies is an irritant to some, but frankly it's fun feeling like Mary Poppins reaching into her magical, bottomless carpet bag and producing whatever item was needed in any situation.
It really boils down to whether or not you enjoy the way magicians play. You're not going to get a really good feel for that for a few more levels. I remember feeling much more powerful when I hit level 12. That's when I started really feeling the difference between this class and any other I'd tried.
Do you like having pets who are specialists? Do you like nuking things? Do you like to solo? Do you like to play in groups? Do you like having a department store at your fingertips?
There are weaknesses too. Past our mid fifties it becomes increasingly difficult to solo for experience. Our pets simply can't withstand the amount of damage mobs dish out. Many magicians simply switch to grouping. We have no real defensive ability, like root, or mez. We do have one mez summoned spell at 63 and a charm summoned spell at 65. I've read that our pets' weapon procs are often resisted on post 65 mobs so our DPS suffers at very high levels.
Despite the problems, there are some of us that simply find the class more fun than any other.
I'd say give it a few more levels and the question will answer itself.
Edited, Wed Jun 9 19:41:02 2004 by Yanari
I started a gnome mage for fun...got him up to level 8 in 3 hours because someone was giving away pet toys in PoK when I was passing through after getting my level 4 spells. Did you know that you can get 20% normal experience for killing a red con mob in Paludal? 
Although it was fun, since my main is a beastlord I'm much more of the "fight alongside the pet" school of thought, and it's hard to shed that. I do love being a pet class, though, so I thought I would enjoy playing a mage. I'm vaguely considering trying a necromancer out too...I do appreciate their versatility and mana regeneration abilities. From what I understand, that's the basis of a lot of the whining that mages have...the lack of self-cast mana regeneration compared to pretty much every other pure caster class. (Yes, they can mod rod, but it costs them more to cast than they get back from using. I think.) And I think they're the only pure caster class that don't get a simple root, snare, or fear spell...they have to use their pets as crowd control. It definitely seems like mages are becoming as rare as monks nowadays.
Anyway, back to the original question, definitely give it a few more levels before you decide to shelve your mage or not. There's only so much you can decide for yourself from 4 levels. In the end, if you're having fun playing it, then it's worth the effort for sure.
Game on,
The Oneiromancer
Although it was fun, since my main is a beastlord I'm much more of the "fight alongside the pet" school of thought, and it's hard to shed that. I do love being a pet class, though, so I thought I would enjoy playing a mage. I'm vaguely considering trying a necromancer out too...I do appreciate their versatility and mana regeneration abilities. From what I understand, that's the basis of a lot of the whining that mages have...the lack of self-cast mana regeneration compared to pretty much every other pure caster class. (Yes, they can mod rod, but it costs them more to cast than they get back from using. I think.) And I think they're the only pure caster class that don't get a simple root, snare, or fear spell...they have to use their pets as crowd control. It definitely seems like mages are becoming as rare as monks nowadays.
Anyway, back to the original question, definitely give it a few more levels before you decide to shelve your mage or not. There's only so much you can decide for yourself from 4 levels. In the end, if you're having fun playing it, then it's worth the effort for sure.
Game on,
The Oneiromancer
Research is a pain for magicians as the pet spells need the previous levels pet spell scroll as a component. Normally this is fine since you can usually buy the ones you need, except sometimes you have to research the previous one (Lvl 29 water for example). Sucked when I was 29 as the only focus I had at that time was for water, and I failed the research 6 times in a row.
Prepping when you first log in can get old. Pet, armor, weapons, jewelry, sit for 5-10 minutes. Lose a pet? Do it again.
Grouping is 50/50. Essentially if a group could use a wizard, a mage will do the job fine. For lower levels the pet can off-tank so you can do a form of limited CC on bad pulls. Then you'll find the groups who last grouped with a mage who only had earth pets and hate all mages now. (Earth pet=proc root=break snare=bad, nevermind root agro pissing off the cleric). No pick up group I've seen has ever gone out of their way to look for a mage, but they don't do that for wizards or necros or rogues either.
Soloing can be rough as you can only hunt stuff that you can get in singles as you have zero CC/Lull ability.
Bolts can drive you insane. Especially the players with ants in their pants who jump around all over the place and block you.
Still think they are fun although haven't gotten one past 50 yet. Much more interactive than wizards, except maybe for quad kiting.
Prepping when you first log in can get old. Pet, armor, weapons, jewelry, sit for 5-10 minutes. Lose a pet? Do it again.
Grouping is 50/50. Essentially if a group could use a wizard, a mage will do the job fine. For lower levels the pet can off-tank so you can do a form of limited CC on bad pulls. Then you'll find the groups who last grouped with a mage who only had earth pets and hate all mages now. (Earth pet=proc root=break snare=bad, nevermind root agro pissing off the cleric). No pick up group I've seen has ever gone out of their way to look for a mage, but they don't do that for wizards or necros or rogues either.
Soloing can be rough as you can only hunt stuff that you can get in singles as you have zero CC/Lull ability.
Bolts can drive you insane. Especially the players with ants in their pants who jump around all over the place and block you.
Still think they are fun although haven't gotten one past 50 yet. Much more interactive than wizards, except maybe for quad kiting.
Would it be fair statement that a Mage is not a good class to play if your a new player<under 4 months>? Or, if not a fair statement, at least a Harder class to play V.S. other classes in the game? What about V.S a Necro or a Beastlord?
Quote:
Ive talked to nearly every npc in Erudin and i cant find the person who gives out the newbie armor quests so far all i have got quest-wise is the gloves u get by handing the trolls head in.
Try looking here
I'm sorry but how hard was it to do what I just did?
Quests>By Zone>Erudin Palace
All just a little to the left.
And you can go a long way without the horrors of research.
As far as gear goes you have the advantage of being able to summon focus items almost from the start. By the time you are 8 or 12 you will be filling several slots with items you summon at the start of the session.
Wherever I go - there I am.
Healer
All depends on your play style. IIRC, my first character was a ranger. Played him for a couple hours, died and lost my corpse. Made an Iksar monk, played him for a month or so then got bored. Tweelis was created in September 2000 and I haven't looked back. Although I have alts, Tweelis is my main and will probably stay that way until I leave EQ.
All depends on your play style. IIRC, my first character was a ranger. Played him for a couple hours, died and lost my corpse. Made an Iksar monk, played him for a month or so then got bored. Tweelis was created in September 2000 and I haven't looked back. Although I have alts, Tweelis is my main and will probably stay that way until I leave EQ.
Scholar
33 posts
Got my mage up too 56 and love it.
I can allways solo anything with a sow potion on your side. I can remeber soloing cyclops and giants at early levels using item with distance effect and bolting thing will pet attacks.
Most of all you personally have to have take small step and solo things that do not have a large arggo range. caster realm i best for giving u ideas where too go even if it has not been updated at all
I can allways solo anything with a sow potion on your side. I can remeber soloing cyclops and giants at early levels using item with distance effect and bolting thing will pet attacks.
Most of all you personally have to have take small step and solo things that do not have a large arggo range. caster realm i best for giving u ideas where too go even if it has not been updated at all
As I said, my very first character was a mage. I loved it until I hit 22. I did have some friends on the server to ask questions of, or at least Elne Clare had the friends I could question.
Thanks for all youre info i have a new question what is more important for a mage wis or int or are they both equaly needed?
Intellegence is, wisdom is worthless to a mage. Your a Int. caster, druid/shaman/cleric are the wisdom casters.
Magicians, Enchanters, Necromancers, and Wizards are all Intelligence based casters. Wisdom is a stat that is pretty much useless for these classes, for even tradeskill advancement will be based upon intelligence (assuming that it is higher than wisdom - which almost 100% guaranteed).
Quote:
Would it be fair statement that a Mage is not a good class to play if your a new player<under 4 months>? Or, if not a fair statement, at least a Harder class to play V.S. other classes in the game? What about V.S a Necro or a Beastlord?
Our fighting style is pretty straight forward. Send in pet or pull with a spell, wait a few seconds, nuke, heal pet if needed, continue until mob is dead.
The degree of difficulty partly depends on how much you enjoy it. Doesn't it seem easier to learn a class when you are having a ton of fun playing it? Then the learning is more of a discovery than a boring lesson.
In my opinion a beastlord is pretty easy to learn and a necromancer has different methods of murder available. I find them more difficult (but quite rewarding, from what I've heard.)
My mage was my first character, and I was a complete newb. I had read about mages online, but later discovered that much of my information was outdated (mage guides written in 2000, 2001) and that improvements have been made to the class since then. It's not the easiest class in the game, but it's not that difficult to learn, and it's a lot of fun. I'm level 40 now, and still enjoying it. So, I would say it's quite possible for a newbie to create a mage and do just fine. :)
Playing a mage is very dangerous and takes a lot of carfully placed nukes. I switched to necro because if I got and add or got agro I was in big trouble. I also didn't have the patience to sit down and med while the necro has mana regen. I'd say if you want a pet class go either necro or beastlord as they both get mana regen spells and wont go down as easy is they get agro. There are those who like to play mage though so to each his own. They do get to summon cool items for thier pets at high levels (weapons and armor) one that adds 500 hp, but beastlord gets to have slow spells that allow them to solo post 50 and necros can agro kite or slow undead.
DruidofEQ wrote:
Playing a mage is very dangerous and takes a lot of carfully placed nukes.
If you don't learn agro management, you're going to suck as a magician. Hint to new magicians, if you always use an earth pet, chances are you are not going to develop good agro management skills.
Quote:
if you want a pet class go either necro or beastlord
Yanari is absolutely correct on this. I have a level 48 magician alt, where I was primarily using the earth pet (largely due to it's higher HP and rooting capabilities). After following her advice (quite a few months ago) I switched to using the water pet, which has better hp regeneration and easier to heal. If you are able to control your nukes and let the pet keep aggro, it simply costs less mana per encounter than when I was using the earth pet.
Naturally the type of pet that you want to use differs on a case by case basis. When you are in an area that is very dense with mobs (the surrounding area around the Luggald Fort in Gunthak comes to mind), having the earth pet to keep the mob from running and getting adds is a must. When I have the magicain 2-boxed with my pally I often use the fire pet for the extra DPS. The real "art" in learning to play a magician is learning what pet to cast in what circumstance and then learning to control over-nuking.
Naturally the type of pet that you want to use differs on a case by case basis. When you are in an area that is very dense with mobs (the surrounding area around the Luggald Fort in Gunthak comes to mind), having the earth pet to keep the mob from running and getting adds is a must. When I have the magicain 2-boxed with my pally I often use the fire pet for the extra DPS. The real "art" in learning to play a magician is learning what pet to cast in what circumstance and then learning to control over-nuking.
Scholar
39 posts
My Mage Fizbiz is 59 on his way to 60. Really a fun class to play. Yes learning to use your pet is really important. Soloing is easy up to 50's then you generally need to group. But I have guild friedns who are 65 mages and they can solo almost anything that is not a Raid level monster.
Improvements have been made to mage summoning focus's that really empower our pets. Also when the new Mage epic comes out you likely see a effective killing machine. I have really enjoyed grouping more and always dish out more damage than wizards in the group. My nukes are smaller but I can chain nuke will in group with little fear. Mages also have an advantage over wizards because we have elemental draw and the phantasmol protection line, which give us 8-10 mana a tick more than a wizard can get. More mana regen = more nukes. Mages also help control situations by using pet to tank added mobs , etc.
I will take a mages in a group anyday over a wizard. In fact a group with 2 mages tends to own the battlefield. Our air pets are able to stop spellcasters which which is a huge blessing in itself. Once our pets are buffed we really will rock. Get the AA that allows you to put do critical damge and control your pet.
I have NEVER done any research and have gotten all the spells I wanted for minimal price. so don't sweat research. After 60 you have to kill and get tokens for spells anyways. Also Spell Drops are much more common now and really make it easier to attain spells.
So yes they are fun, and easy to solo or to find groups with.
Hope this helps you.
Fizbiz
Mage of the 59th Year
Bristlebane
Edited, Tue Jun 22 10:07:38 2004 by Smeegill
Edited, Tue Jun 22 10:08:27 2004 by Smeegill
Edited, Tue Jun 22 10:09:58 2004 by Smeegill
Edited, Tue Jun 22 10:12:36 2004 by Smeegill
Improvements have been made to mage summoning focus's that really empower our pets. Also when the new Mage epic comes out you likely see a effective killing machine. I have really enjoyed grouping more and always dish out more damage than wizards in the group. My nukes are smaller but I can chain nuke will in group with little fear. Mages also have an advantage over wizards because we have elemental draw and the phantasmol protection line, which give us 8-10 mana a tick more than a wizard can get. More mana regen = more nukes. Mages also help control situations by using pet to tank added mobs , etc.
I will take a mages in a group anyday over a wizard. In fact a group with 2 mages tends to own the battlefield. Our air pets are able to stop spellcasters which which is a huge blessing in itself. Once our pets are buffed we really will rock. Get the AA that allows you to put do critical damge and control your pet.
I have NEVER done any research and have gotten all the spells I wanted for minimal price. so don't sweat research. After 60 you have to kill and get tokens for spells anyways. Also Spell Drops are much more common now and really make it easier to attain spells.
So yes they are fun, and easy to solo or to find groups with.
Hope this helps you.
Fizbiz
Mage of the 59th Year
Bristlebane
Edited, Tue Jun 22 10:07:38 2004 by Smeegill
Edited, Tue Jun 22 10:08:27 2004 by Smeegill
Edited, Tue Jun 22 10:09:58 2004 by Smeegill
Edited, Tue Jun 22 10:12:36 2004 by Smeegill
My first character was created over 5 years ago and he was an erudite mage. I am glad I created him instead of any other class. I do play 5 other characters but my mage was the first to reach 65. He did so by soloing some, grouping some in full groups or just duoing with another PC. As a mage you learn things that most other classes just don't ever realize. Like when a mob is about to jump over your pet and come at you. You can see him shift or face you for just a second. I have seen other classes pull agro from the tank and amazed that the other group members don't.
Mages are good solo players. Can we solo in every zone? No, but no other class can claim that either. Are we the best out there? No, but that is always debated for some reason. Do we add to a group? Yes Between our pets, nukes, summoned items, and assorted AA abilities we add a lot of DPS. Some players don't see it that way because they are ignorant about what mages can do. They think of them as soloers only. The cool thing is that you don't need a group if you don't want one or can't find one. You CAN solo at any level easily.
Mages are good solo players. Can we solo in every zone? No, but no other class can claim that either. Are we the best out there? No, but that is always debated for some reason. Do we add to a group? Yes Between our pets, nukes, summoned items, and assorted AA abilities we add a lot of DPS. Some players don't see it that way because they are ignorant about what mages can do. They think of them as soloers only. The cool thing is that you don't need a group if you don't want one or can't find one. You CAN solo at any level easily.
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