🔮 **Wizard**

[earnest pagoda]

🔮 Wizard

Pure casting power. Elemental and Arcane spell mastery.

For those who love:

• Big spells and damage variety
• Tactical ranged spellcasting
• A traditional wizard fantasy with depth

Cast spells. Bend reality. Leave your mark in arcane runes.

[hexed kraken]

almost level 7 on my wizard, excited to dig in further this weekend.

mana flux has been very strong, hardly ever went oom except on a bad pull.

curious to see if skilling up divination increases invis duration

[urban gazelle]

I'm almost level 5 on my wiz. Here's what worked for me so far soloing even level enemies or one lower than me.
Before level 4: Open with Flame Shock (DD), cast Mana Flux as the target closes in, melee until it's dead.
Level 4: Open with Bolt of Embers (DD+DoT), root it with Freeze, cast Mana Flux, sit and meditate until the root is about to break, cast Flame Shock, chase the runner down and finish it with melee.
I'm eager to hear what is working for other solo wizards.

My only problem at level 4 is that I can't get the fire gloves from a summoner and am burning the crap out of myself if I try to cast Bolt of Embers twice in the same fight.

[hexed kraken]

haven't played much solo- though i remember the guildmaster saying you can buy a pair of the fire res gloves from the summoner guildmaster for 1 silver

i couldn't really find her and the self damage wasn't terrible when in a group

[urban gazelle]

For those who love:

• Big spells and damage variety
• Tactical ranged spellcasting
• A traditional wizard fantasy with depth

• and pondering orbs

[obsidian elm]

Does Fiery Redress protect you while casting fire spells?

[urban gazelle]

I always have Fiery Redress on. I don't know if it has fire resistance, but I don't think so.

[obsidian elm]

Did you buy the spell, or do a quest for it?

I haven’t played Wizard yet, will this test.

[urban gazelle]

I don't remember, I had rolled my wizard in the previous playtest.

I can tell you that the spells look mostly the same in game as what is on https://ecopedia.miraheze.org/wiki/Wizard, but this last flash test had the levels changed and spread around. Not just every 4 levels.

[obsidian elm]

I already saved that info, thank you

[urban gazelle]

And Meditate was free if you talk to the head honco wizard and follow his newbie questline.

[hexed kraken]

i don't think fiery redress has fire res no

not sure though

[obsidian elm]

Yes, I bought meditate as a cleric, was free as well. So probably for all casters.

Without fire resistance, say you do 20 fire damage to a mob, do you also take 20 damage?

[urban gazelle]

I don't think it was 1:1. In fact, I forgot about it at level 2 and 3. It wasn't until level 4 with my new damage spell that I was like "oh yeah, fire damage hurts me too".

[obsidian elm]

Hehe ok

[hexed kraken]

i never did the math but at level 6 i was taking about 1% self damage from fire shock (L1) and 8%~ self damage from fire bolt i think maybe less

it was super easy to rip aggro in both groups i was in, one with a hex knight one with a warrior

so i'd wait until 80-75% mob hp, use fire bolt, then use a couple ice strikes to prevent self damage

most of the time i would get final kill, the mana bonus from mana flux is strong, i spent most of the time full on mana lol

[obsidian elm]

Nice

[visual sonnet]

Currently, it’s fire resistance on gloves that protects from damage from the fire nukes. Not from buffs or any other slots. Your class quest, and the caster tradeskill gloves are great options.

[obsidian elm]

Thank you @visual sonnet yes I saw level 14 tailor gloves have +4 Fire Resistance.

[fathom steppe]

I generally open with ice bolt (forget the exact name) and it snares the mobs significantly and lasts like 12 seconds or so. then flame shock, and kite. get in mana flux at some point. ice bolt, flame shock, ice bolt, flame shock. many mobs will never catch you because of the snare. Was able to kill level 7 mobs at level 5

[azure plaza]

Any plans with higher level Wizard to have an ability to mitigate the fire damage with a passive you unlock as you level?

[fathom steppe]

I'm pretty sure it has to do with the fire resist on gloves only. i think i was level 8 and didnt see anything. could be totally wrong tho

[visual sonnet]

I’m not a dev. As a player it seems like the mechanic is “get better gloves” as you go at the moment. I’m sure they will keep an eye on performance and satisfaction.

[azure plaza]

To quote Johnnie Cochran “If the glove don’t fit, you get burned 🔥 a bit”

[obsidian elm]

My guild leader said the summoner GM Reliza could sell me a pair of gloves for a silver. But she will not offer me anything.

[visual sonnet]

Just give her the 1 silver

[obsidian elm]

Thank you @visual sonnet

[urban gazelle]

Ohhhh, I didn't know that either. I've been burning myself. 😦

[azure plaza]

Thanks, created a wizard like 30 seconds before the servers went down

[drowsy yew]

please tell me theres no wizard melee incentives, gtfo my face with gandalf

[azure plaza]

Seems different than MnMs Wizard melee mechanics. So far I’ve only seen spell options for Wizards.

[azure plaza]

https://ecopedia.miraheze.org/wiki/Wizard

Not a melee skill in sight lol

[obsidian elm]

Has anyone used Ember eyes yet? Curious to see how night vision looks. Eventually hope to get a staff, won’t be able to carry a torch then.

[fathom steppe]

im curious about taht too. need another level before I get it on the wiz. nighttime is rough

[foggy canyon]

Does anyone know where exactly the Radiating Spellstaff needs to be activated within Pellegrin's Point for the final trial? Already had one staff disappear on me :X

[gentle hill]

any wizards travel to Alards fork looking for Aldrus Denton, I cant seem to find him

[olive trench]

anyone know where the third bandit camp is for book quest?

[foggy canyon]

It's the camp just south of the Alder building if you're headed north along the road from Leont

by alder building I mean monastery thing

[silver coral]

yep if leaving leont via the path you’ll encounter a tower, go left. right before crossing the bridge go left there’s a small camp of bandits

what do people think about wizards?

[hexed kraken]

Wizard is dope so far, level 7, I can’t play much this weekend but hopped on for the recent stress tests

Mana flux is a huge addition to wiz mana supply

[urban gazelle]

I mained a Wiz in EQ for top tier (on server, not world) raiding. I could top damage meters but never get groups outside of raids. So I'm concerned about desirability in groups in AOA.
I like that AOA Wiz has Doze for CC, but I doubt anyone who plays other classes knows it.
I would feel better about it if Wiz had a buff to give others. There's Ember Eyes, but that doesn't seem attractive enough.
Just my $0.02 so far.

[hexed kraken]

I share this sentiment about exp grouping, usually mana supply is an issue, I thought mana flux at level 1 was a direct supplement for that. Even if you don’t get the final hit you get mana back. So far I’ve only had trouble with mana on bad pulls , though time will tell whether that stays true beyond alpha testing levels

Between sleep, ports, and invis, wiz does bring some utility to the table as well. Though I didn’t realize at first invis was self target only, hopefully there is a higher tier spell for group members as well.

And maybe we get cast speed buff?

[azure plaza]

I agree, I liked when wizards got clear mind as well for consistent mana regen. With spells like resurrection being spread to Druid & Shaman, would love to see Wizards get both Clear Mind & Mana Flux to really lean into being masters of magic and provide more group utility.

[silver coral]

theyre kind of geared towards being strong single target or ae damage casters with ability to snare, root and gain mana back with mana flux rather than utility support role filled by other classes.

but in a pinch they can cc with snare, root, doze. Should be strong solo class and nice addition to boost group dps without being dependent on weapon

[hexed kraken]

Yeah as long as mana isn’t a big issue we shouldn’t be undesirable for exp

Though in the spirit of balancing I don’t want mana management to be unnecessary either personally

Right now it feels just right. Mana back on every single mob tagged, bonus mana on kill is super fun and rewarding. Still may go oom or low on a scuffed pull or train

I’ve never quaded in EQ, has anybody here tried it yet with the column spells?

[obsidian elm]

How do you memorize more than 8 spells? Or remove one that was memorized early? Can we only have 8 memorized at a time?

[gleaming fern]

You can only have 8 at a time, try right-clicking on one in the vertical spell bar to forget it and replace it with something else.

[obsidian elm]

Ok thank you

[olive trench]

could anyone tell me how to salvage

[obsidian elm]

Buy a salvage kit

Provisioner shop next to town gate sells them

Leont town

[empty pilot]

@here anyone know where to get the staff for the last trail of the wizard quest?

[obsidian elm]

Made my first bank box, 20 slots. Hope I can move, weighs 140 pounds. 😀

Walk slow

[static sand]

Afternoon folks I am playing wizard got to level 6 and loving the class Ive been just grinding in groups but haven'

Done any quests should I go and do the quests and if I do will I start getting gear for my wizard. I have very little gear and I am using a dagger can wizards use other weapons because I haven't see anything different if we can

[silver coral]

doing the quest for gloves to reduce damage received from fire spells helps. to be honest what really helps is 1. money for spells 2. bandages you can bind wound while you med 3. camp fire and supplies. Campfire buff provides hp mana stamina regen. Anything else is really just sprinkles on top

and if you really wanted you could make a level 4 enchanter box so you always have clear mind

[fathom steppe]

anyone that's completed the spellstaff. where did you find the frostflower?

[fathom steppe]

nm. found one in mountains

[fathom steppe]

Charged the staff finally and it just disappeared..no staff or mats in the inventory after the charging. Anyone else have that happen? I assume that's just broken?

[warped jacinth]

Same thing happened to me.

[silver coral]

thanks for the feedback on the staff they’ll eval for next time

[silver coral]

did you guys like wizard playstyle?

[obsidian elm]

I did. The majority of the test, I mainly gathered resources and crafted. Did most of the professions. Crafted 6 eight slot bags and one 20 slot bank box. Only crafted silk gloves, only had one essence of magic, the whole test. Only got my Wizard to level 6, mainly fighting mobs when had to, to obtain resources.

The last eight hours of the test, I created a summoner to test out. While strong with elemental pets, I thought the playstyle was boring. Spam your two pets, until mob is dead. Cast your own ( weak ) offensive spells. I could fight one level above me, easily. Two levels, was 50/50, I live or die. But I only got to,level four, today, just before the test ended. I was not able to test the stronger level 2 summons. My level one offensive spell damage, versus level 4 or 5 mobs, was only 7 points of damage. If my summons die, I’m dead. 😀

I prefer the Wizard, more spell options.

I enjoy solo, my main priority is being able to craft my own gear. I like grouping, but usually fall behind, due to gathering and crafting. I do believe the game would be more enjoyable in groups. Groups are able to progress much quicker, doing much harder content, versus a solo player.

[somber ether]

I'd like to get the ability to chain cast, avoiding the global delay for nukes. Some of my favorite moments from EQ wizard were the clutch moments chain casting nukes non stop. I'd suggest leaving individual spell recast delays as is, but skip the global delay to cast a different nuke next.

Another alternative could be to 'master' a spell skill, which reduces the global delay limitation on that spell.

[fathom steppe]

that 2 second global cooldown is a bit annoying for sure

its just shoot and scoot gameplay. which is fine, but kind of unwizardlike

[fathom steppe]

the quest was actually pretty fun for the spellstaff. good amount of adventure and gathering. just the end was broke

[warped jacinth]

I really enjoyed playing wizard. In a group it felt good using rain of fire and the ice aoe. Any extra mobs we pulled I could just freeze it in place. Solo felt fun as well. The journey to get the frost flower and make the staff was so epic. I was rushing to get it done before the test ended and laughed when it went away haha. I clicked on it in my inventory and it was gone. All and all it was a very good time and am excited to see where this game goes.

[hexed kraken]

hit level 9 between the stress tests and a bit over the weekend:

• mana flux is AWESOME (does not stick if another wizard is in the group and has applied their flux on the mob though)
• tried ember eyes out at lv 9, it was pretty good in town but couldn't take it out for a spin in time
• the damage of the mainline shock spells feels really good. i feel like i'm putting out consistent dps without going oom every other fight (see mana flux)
• doze is great, love having a sleep cc option to fill in that role in group. stam usage seemed a little rough but i understand the balancing there
• haven't tried the aoe spells but i feel like the quadding kit is there which is pretty awesome

i never got to getting the spell staff, i spent most of my time grouping and exploring a little bit, that will be my goal next test alongside getting the crafted fire res+ gloves

[obsidian elm]

I kept thinking about it, but always forgot to try during fights. If you cast invisibility during a fight, will it cause the mob to drop aggro on you? Otherwise there’s not much use for an invisibility spell that only last 17 seconds. I constantly recast the spell, to increase the school’s magic level, hoping it would increase the duration, sadly it did not. The only real use I found for the spell, was to repeatedly cast, to lower my mana pool to zero, so I could level meditation. It worked great in that regard. 😀

Also, did anyone raise bind wounds with bandages to a high level? Wondered if at some higher level, it increased the healing amount, or just decrease the channeling time? That was the only way to heal as a mage, besides sitting. I know you can build a fire, but you have to stay near it for its effects. I did not build any fires, how long do they last? I suppose if they last several minutes, you could build one, and return to it, if nearby to regen health quicker.

[warped jacinth]

Invisibility did not drop aggro for me.

[hexed kraken]

yeah i never tried to go invis in the middle of combat, i just assumed if you were already aggroed it wouldn't work

[hexed kraken]

curious, how high did you get your divination skill? i was trying the same thing but never got past like 20 or something lol

[lean zephyr]

Bind wound heals 7% per bandage. Once you raise skill to 30, you get a 10% chance to heal double.

Camp fires last a few minutes when you place them, but you can add fuel via sticks, logs, sap?, coal? To extend duration.

[fathom steppe]

bandaging works fine while medding

one other thing I realized for efficiency, is that you can go to a resource (log, flower, copper node) and sit/med, then start your resource collecting. gaining mana and health while actively gathering/mining felt nice

id try and do that while soloing. kill a few mobs and use up my mana, then mine while medding. kinda 2 birds one stone

depending on whats around you of course. doesn't always work depending on your camp

[obsidian elm]

@hexed kraken mine was somewhere between 15-20. I quit paying attention to it, once I saw that it did not increase the duration time of invisibility.

[hexed kraken]

yeah i was thinking maybe at 50 skill or something it would bump, here's to hoping it will at a later date!

[grizzled elk]

For anyone else who is struggling to get gloves from summoner guildmaster, you just hand him 1 silver, he won’t talk with you.

[obsidian elm]

M&M Wizard spell Invisibility last 10 minutes. It’s very good for exploring hostile environments. Our invisibility only last 17 seconds. It’s not very useful in that regard. Also in Pantheon, invisibility says it’s last for 10 minutes, but at the 5 minute mark, it usually drops.

I’m having difficulty remembering some spell effects between the 2 games. Does Magelight, drain our mana, while it’s being used? I cannot remember. In M&M it last 10 minutes, but you have to buy a core to hold the magical energy. Cost 25 copper. One use, throw away item.

I know in Pantheon, Magelight does drain mana, while in use.

[fathom steppe]

do we know for sure that it doesn't increase by level? i mean if it was only like 5 seconds per level, that's still pretty lame

but i wonder if it goes up significantly at higher levels. it could be good

[obsidian elm]

Nope, so far, duration did not change. Think I was 6th level. Stay at 17 seconds each level.

[gleaming fern]

There's clearly a significant design departure here when it comes to invisibility compared to other classic-era style MMO's - and not just for Wizards.

Our invis is self-only, long cast time, extremely short duration. Barely enough to sneak you past 1 mob in your path basically. Compare to EQ where can cast it on any group member and it lasts many, many times longer (with risk of early drop of course, it should be noted).

But look at other comparisons too. Fewer classes have access to invis at all - I'm not sure even Enchanters get it, let alone classes like Bards. And even the Rogue ability to be stealthy requires you to keep your distance and watch enemy facing, compared to EQ's Hide+Sneak where you can walk right up to an enemy's face and remain unseen even at level 1.

To me this is evidence that there was an intentional design decision to be stingy with invis in this game. Side note: with all the talk of how M&M seems to lean more "hardcore" than AOA does, I find it interesting that this is one case where AOA chose to make things more difficult, whereas invis is actually even more readily available and effective in M&M than it was in classic EQ.

I've been wanting to pick the devs' brains on why this is, but been waiting for when they seem less busy. Obviously its nearly impossible for a whole group to get to a camping spot deep in a dungeon with using invis with how limited it is - would need to fight their way down. Perhaps this is the desired effect of making it so rare?

[obsidian elm]

Thank you, Invisibility spell duration has been increased from 17 seconds to 60 seconds. 😀

[fathom steppe]

That's reasonable. 17 was crazy.

[obsidian elm]

Yep

[wooden roost]

Beyond: Tether - definitely need to add a confirmation window for this. Tested it on a group-mate and it instantly ported them to their bind

[obsidian elm]

The Wizard teleportal from first level of Tower, to the top is a welcome improvement. No running up the very long stairway. 😀

[drowsy yew]

I like the class design for the most part but the fire resist stack self nuke mechanic is dumb and unnecessary. Mana flux debuff mechanic is pretty annoying too, I feel like that could easily be passive

[fathom steppe]

i like it a lot too. one thing that I dont like is how new spells are pretty hard to use because of their damage per mana cost

anyone else feel like it was just far more efficient to use lower level nukes?

[lean zephyr]

I had an interest in wizard, but didn't have a chance to explore it last weekend. Does anyone have insight into the gameplay, solo or group, beyond level 3?

[fathom steppe]

i played solo til level 8. its a fun class. pretty basic early mage feel. the ice nuke at 4 is nice for the short snare. so you basically ice bolt, fire bolt, and kite. you can kill higher level mobs by a level or so prettty easily on one bar of mana. with the mana surge spell, you get a lot of mana back as well once you kill something, so downtime is minimal, and kill time is pretty decent

[obsidian elm]

I was level 6 from the previous test in June. I was too tired to play this past weekend. Only logged in for about 15 minutes, to check a few things. Hopefully next test won’t be too far away, maybe 2-4 months…

[dusk raven]

This was the case in eq as well, when you got a new spell it often had a level based range and was inneficient to use until you got enough levels to lower fizzle rate and for it to scale up some. I think it's good if spells are designed in a way that you will have times when you want to use a lower teir spell.

It's definitely true in wow that downranking spells can be more efficient, esp for healers

[left karma]

I think it would be cool if they had some mob types that were much better dealt with burst damage rather than DPS. For instance, you could have it where a certain mob does way more damage below 1/3rd healh. Or a mob that procs a regen when they drop low / lifesteals when low. A mob can have an ability that eats his own health for increased regen so if timed right a wizard can finish it off during the HP dip. There's lots of scenarios where burst can damage can come in handy.

[half robin]

I know wizards have Flux, but do they also have a clarity (mana Regen) type buff still? I thought I saw this on enchanter recently

[half robin]

Ie: what are Mind Expansion and Clear Mind lines of spells?

[unreal saffron]

mind expansion is int I think

[feral copper]

Did anyone get to mess around with the wizard heal line this last flash? How was it?

[lean zephyr]

I saw that you gain + mana Regen benefits at certain break points of wizarding skill.

I think the first was at 50 you get + mana Regen while meditating.

[lean zephyr]

I didn't this time, but saw on the spell vendor that it's the cauterize wound spell that war-wiz get at level 4.

If that's the case, it does a small bit of damage, then heals shortly after.

I didn't realize it's effectiveness on my war-wiz, and didn't utilize it much.

Excited to give it another go.

Was able to go from L3 to L5 last night.

Flare is a fun qol spell.

The L4 fire DD/DoT into L5 ice DD/snare would take an even con mob down to like 20%, and then I would melee it for the remainder. Felt good.

[fathom steppe]

with sow especially its not bad. you can kite around pretty easy and get a lot of mana back so uptime is decent.

[sonic lark]

anyone know where the third book is for the mossbandit book quest

[upper grove]

could anyone help me with the location of the spell staff in the gnoll fort?

[civic radish]

I myself am in the same dilemma. Found the 2 but can't find the 3rd.

[boreal kestrel]

Did you end up finding it I can't find it

[upper grove]

Nope

[north tendon]

Has anyone done the anchor quest? I'm at the right place, but can't figure out what I'm supposed to do with it.

[pale mesa]

Did you find it? I have been looking with no luck yet.

[upper grove]

nope

[upper grove]

Update: The spellstaff is in the guard tower and doesnt look like a staff at all. Its just a collectible sprout looking icon thing on the ground

[finite meteor]

Wiz is cool here. The fire damage to self and glove interaction seems kinda pointless, wonder if they could swap it for some other mechanic

[feral copper]

The hurt yourself with fire is just there to piss your healer off and have him not heal you when you are actually getting clobbered by something.

Its also good for working on bandage skill

[unkempt haven]

Has anyone here done the quest to get the staff from the gnoll camp in Pineyearn Forest?

[deft drift]

Is there a way to reduce the ammount of resists you get from mobs?

getting so much resists and partial resists on offensive casts even on lower con mobs

[unkempt haven]

I think jsut by increasing the casting skill of that spell, Evocation for example

[cerulean solar]

@north tendon I've done the anchor quest. Did you get everything figured out or did you need help?

[north tendon]

I got some help in-game. For anyone else stuck, you don't dig, you just drop the horseshoe on the ground where you get the text.

[upper grove]

@unkempt haven if you are still looking for the staff

[unkempt haven]

I found it finally haha but thank you!

[boreal kestrel]

Do I need a shovel to bury these anchors for the gate spell?

[boreal kestrel]

I don't. If anyone has the same question you just need to walk over the area with them

[unkempt haven]

@boreal kestrel thank you I just ran into that quest

[unkempt haven]

@boreal kestrel do you remember where the spot in alards fork is? I am having trouble finding it

NM i found it

[last shale]

does anybody remember where book 3 is?

[glass viper]

Seems kind of to ease you into higher level fire spells doing alot more damage to you so you can nuke faster. Of course this will make mobs angry and that creates more interesting group gameplay

[boreal kestrel]

South of the alder house on the road to allards fork, in the woods near there.

[feral copper]

the king of crits needs their own int and charisma buff line IMO, or flat crit % if that’s easier to balance.

[glass viper]

Wizard feels too generic. I'd like something like a "heat" gauge where the gauge fills up as you cast/consume mana. Makes you take more damage, cast faster, and do more damage as it builds up until you go kaboom (like a certain horde shooter out there)

I'm only a low level still maybe it's different later?

[feral copper]

I wouldn’t hate the heat gauge, build it with your other spells, unleash nasty fire spells to cool off. Use your fire resistance gloves to lessen the damage caused by the rapid heat dump through your hands.

Would also give you a reason to use other spells over fire all the time.

Also need more lightning spells

[north tendon]

Just riffing off the idea of a heat gauge, you could have a heat/cold gauge. Being full fire increases damage dealt, and damage taken. Being full cold lowers damage, but increases mana regen. Being dead center gives you half the bonuses, but no maluses from either extreme, strongly encouraging you to have a real rotation instead of just spamming the biggest nuke.

[glass viper]

That's a cool ass idea

So like, cold/fire stance, and maybe an earth/lightning stance 😂. A grounded vs energized gauge where being grounded gives increasing AC and max hp and decreasing run speed, but maxing it out gives you an extended self root.

Sounds fun TBH

[cerulean solar]

This is long, but can I have some fellow wizards give their thoughts here? I get a bit sassy towards the end but this derives from a place of love, I promise.

Lol I did not think it would forward that much of the message...

[fathom steppe]

One thing that you didn't touch on is their AE ability. It's kinda nuts how good it can be. I was playing duos with a bard and doing crazy things killing 10+ mobs at a time. You have good thoughts tho. It's just got a bit more going on with the class with the AE ability

[cerulean solar]

This is fair. I never had the opportunity to get into a group where that playstyle was an option, so this is a blind spot for me. I'd love for AE to play a bigger part in full group scenarios. Leveling in Hillshade, I can say that 9/10 times AoE'ing the mobs caused more trouble than it was worth ^^

Thank you for the feedback

[fathom steppe]

It definitely is not really worth the trouble unless it's an AE focused group. I can see AE groups being extremely effective and efficient though. I'd gamble that a few wizzies with that intent can do some special things

The frost nova PBAE range is super low but does have the snare but the ranged rain of fire is crazy powerful

[slow stratus]

Manaburn that cyclops down for the J-Boots item!

[feral copper]

Wiz felt only good for a couple things while grouped. Rooting extra pulls was useful and ending mobs once they got below 50%. The rest of the time I felt like I was waiting on very slow mana regen.

Could just be a low level thing was only 6, but having only 2 spell schools got a little stale. I need me some lightning bolts from the heavens!

[boreal kestrel]

I was giga blasting with wizard it felt great

If you play the mana flux minigame well it is really hard to go oom

There was a moment 5 - 10~ where I did need to downrank a spell from time to time but most of the time I was max rank absolutely blasting

[feral copper]

I do love flux

Though it having a cast time and a travel time and it’s on the global cooldown didn’t feel great

[edgy canopy]

Curious seeing that this class tab has the least discussion in it. I'm wondering what makes Wizard stand out?

Other classes deal damage, other classes teleport places, those classes often have many other upsides to them too. Is there anything that only a Wizard does, or has that not yet been fleshed out?

I got a Wizard to 7 and I was having fun with it, but I'm reminded of EQ's Wizard, which was one of the least popular classes.

[visual sonnet]

Mana flux has a global cooldown?

It shouldn't and we should get that fixed

[edgy canopy]

I don't think it did. I was able to cast right after completing the channel.

[feral copper]

I am pretty sure it was cooling down same as my other spells, like I couldnt instant cast stun then instantly start flux

[edgy canopy]

It gets hit by GCD, but it doesn't trigger GCD.

So if you lead with it, you can get a cast out quickly afterwards.

[feral copper]

ahh dont think I ever lead with it, was easier to send a fireball from farther range to have time for snare or root

[crude sleet]

wizard is top AoE damage. Level 8 is when you get rain of flames

the wizard in my group had crits that were 500 damage per target when we were level 16 or so

Wizard stack was pretty strong, but I don't know if there is enough camps to facilitate it. It didn't feel as good in dungeons as it did outdoors.

[edgy canopy]

Oh yes, crits! They're the only critical spellcaster, that was fun.

Yeah I can imagine burn groups being fun too.

[feral copper]

Wizard, come for the crits, stay for the ports.

[boreal kestrel]

The crits are insane value

I need to do math and see when you want to pivot to more CHA

[feral copper]

Will probably depend on if they have gear with flat crit %, if not then prob stacking cha all day every day is the way.

[glass viper]

It had a one or two second CD as I recall

[fathom steppe]

Ae wizard groups are going to be a thing. Much like wow mage groups. They are so powerful and can have massive up time with their flux.

[feral copper]

They dont have any of the kit a wow mage has to keep them alive. No ice block, no aoe snares, no barriers, no blink. I think you will see aoe groups, but probably not full wizard only groups, since they are still very squishy they will need a tank or a way to kite.

I could be wrong, but I dont recall any wizard only EQ groups that did much of anything. Maybe a pair of wizards quad kiting for speed and safety?

[fathom steppe]

It's not limited to 4 targets. They do have aoe snare with the ice nova thing. It's pbae but with the way targeting works you can do it without getting targeted if you manage aggro. I was doing a duo group with a bard. He rounded up 10+ undead melee mobs and trained em around with the AE dot for like 15% of their life then wiz ice novas a couple times. Still not taking aggro then rain of fires and blows em up. It's running and gunning but that's just a 2 man. If you did that with 4 wizards. The bard could easily snag a ton of them and they all die in one rain of fire from each mage. You are right that their toolkit isn't as varied as wow mage but their AE is not limited like an eq wizard too

I was level 8. He was 10. Was getting 13% of a level each pull. Was super fun

Level 9-11 mobs

[feral copper]

Yeah im just saying EQ wiz had a 4 target snare which allowed you to kite. You dont have that here that I saw, but if a bard can control that many mobs then yes aoe groups could be a thing if you can find enough spawns

[fathom steppe]

Yeah it is all about the spawns. If casters or ranged dudes are around. Forget it

[feral copper]

Yeah that is true too

[fathom steppe]

Need some pygmy goblin camps

[feral copper]

I do have hope though that we can make some aoe madness work. Just need a good group loot system so the bard doesnt hog all the loots!

[feral copper]

Hope they sequel that movie, I enjoyed it

[fathom steppe]

That was one of my fav movies semi recently. Had zero expectations for it and it was just really good. Great story. Acting. Humor. All around solid

[feral copper]

I think we need a wizard weekend and make everyone play fresh wizards. Let’s see how fast groups can blast stuff and how far they can get.

[flint laurel]

i actually thought about silly tests like that the other day because i was thinking that a lot of the classes must be giving very little feedback and data to the devs since barely anyone plays them. wiz and enchanter were bottom 2, we need more bodies to break the game!

[fathom steppe]

So down. That being said. You need a good puller to gather em up and get them together before blasting. A wiz would be bad at that. Bard did great in my experience

[flint laurel]

in eq wiz could get an instant cast no mana cost clicky for a weak tash that you'd use for pulling a lot of stuff on the move, maybe there's something like that in AoA somewhere in the world 😛

[green wraith]

I mean 1121 enchanter and 1128 wizard players isn't nothing to sneeze at. Sure, it's not even the number of druid players even if you combine the two, but in comparison to other classes that had better representation, it's not like 'barely' anyone played wiz or enchanter. I'm sure they got significant data.

Would it be better if they were able to get more data, probably :) Better spread would help

[feral copper]

Where did you see those class numbers?

[feral copper]

Thank ya. Some of those are surprising.

[flint laurel]

Those numbers don't tell the whole story though, because that's just a total that counts even alts that barely made it past lvl 1. There's like 20k+ characters in there we only ever had like 1700 concurrent. I'd be curious to see what the stats look like if you only pick the most played character per account and gave it a threshold of lvl 4+ or something. But yes, obviously they still have some data and feedback.

[green wraith]

I definitely don't disagree there are other factors to consider here. 😜

[feral copper]

You could argue that the bottom 6 are pretty group dependent for the most part, solo isn't real fun on any of them. Though I have not tried charm chanter solo.

Pally and Shaman can solo pretty safely its just slow killing anything that isn't undead as a pally. At least its possible while LFG. I did have a ton of fun duo'ing with my rogue buddy once his backstab came online. Shaman and monk was a decent combo, but monks take a lot of mana to heal.

Hex-Knight was pretty fun once you got some armor and a decent weapon. Same with warrior. Both were great in a group and good while LFG.

Ranger was pretty dang good at soloing stuff once you got a good bow and hamstring.

The top 4 are just OP solo machines compared to the rest. I gave up on beast warden after 6 levels or so because it was just stupid easy to kill anything not red. Even yellow named stuff dropped pretty quick if you had a full stamina bar.

Wizbang was frustrating solo, felt like a lot of resists even vs blues. Resists combined with a fairly small feeling mana pool made it kinda boring outside of a group. Flux is amazing though and blade turn is pretty damn nice too.

[azure plaza]

I was able to play a wizard during the most recent test and absolutely loved it. I’m so excited for the Wizard’s mana mechanics, increased mana regeneration, ports, and inclusion of a clarity like spell.

One of the things Wizard’s in EQ were always lacking was mana efficiency, sustained DPS, and group utility.

[azure plaza]

Either through lure spells or possibly an innate chance to reduce resists it will be cool to see how that gameplay aspect id handled for Wizards in AoA.

[edgy canopy]

Oh that'd be a neat buff to have, resist reduction.

[last shale]

I'm probably in the lone camp of liking a mana-intensive, burst damage class. Sustain has to come at the expense of damage, and to me the wizard class plays better as an unsustained damage dealer

[edgy canopy]

I like that style as well! I can't wait to see how big the gap is between normal swings and Wizard nukes as the game goes on.

[feral copper]

I also like big hits and bigger crits. I hate the resists. Wonder if a partial resist system would feel better?

[flint laurel]

i agree but you have to strike a middle ground somewhere so you don't end up with EQ wizard, unwanted everywhere except raids and relegated to soloing all the way to max level in the most semi afk and lonely leveling experience ever (though it was quite fast and efficient)

[edgy canopy]

Partial resists do exist :D

[grim arrow]

Last test, wizard to level 6.
My thoughts/feelings,
I felt that the mana management via "Mana Flux" detracted too much from the class as it was currently tuned. At these low levels a wizard's mana pool is so small that it was mandatory to cast this spell against every monster.

When solo, Mana flux as a bolt spell meant you could cast it, then start casting a regular nuke and have the nuke land just slightly after the bolt landed, allowing you to get a bit of damage in before the monster would get to you. Killing a monster would typically take more than half your mana bar, so in terms of efficiency you need this up on every target. Which it turn slows down your damage dealt (casting mana flux is a dps loss) & causes you take more damage in return as you take longer to kill.

At level 4, you get "Bolt of Embers" which is a very long cast time bolt spell, you effectively can't cast it in combat due to its cast time. If you pull/start a fight with BoE, then try to mana flux, the target will be beating on you in melee range before you really get going. So the two bolts are really at odds with each other. BoE costs triple mana compared to flameshock but only does double damage upfront. Its mana efficiency is questionable even if the dot lasts full duration, if you clip even 1 tic of the dot before the monster dies you were definitely better off not casting it at all.

Freeze (root) is a fun spell, but mana being as tight as it is would often mean if I cast freeze I wouldn't have the mana needed to finish a fight. IMO mana was so tight that it got the point where I wouldn't start a fight unless I had full mana.

When grouped, you would have to mana flux, target next mob, mana flux, target next mob, mana flux, then start doing damage, if not you'll spend half the time doing nothing waiting on mana regen.

I'd like to see the wizard's mana pool increased at low levels. Put a cooldown on manaflux & retune regen/mana efficiency to compensate.

[boreal kestrel]

Casting mana flux is not a DPS loss it is done solo prepull. It lands maybe a quarter second before your next cast will when you cast it with a bit of distance between you and your target.

In groups you have extremely high burst and the best AOE in the game so it is very easy to get snipes and high mana value out of the spell.

One flux can return 25 - 30% of your mana on a snipe and like 10% when it dies to another group member. It completely enables you as a DPS class so you aren't just sitting all the time. When you get good at the minigame in groups you only sit while a puller is gathering monsters and otherwise you are absolutely cooking monsters with max rank spells constantly.

If the mobs are dying quickly and you don't end up dealing damage because you are casting so many fluxes then you almost certainly don't need to cast as many fluxes as you are doing and should instead just focus on casting one or two and killing those targets.

---

Aside from disagreeing with you, I think something a lot of wizards need to do pre 10 is mem both their low cost fire bolt and their most recent rank in groups. This allows you to more easily snipe but also have more uptime until you get a large enough mana pool to dump max rank bolts all the time.

I think the dot is also a trap on non bosses and pre-10 when you get the mana discount CD

It's better to just send bolts and kill things faster and keep the flux rolling

In solo kiting situations low level I found when we got the frost bolt it was fairly consistent to cast one slow and then run during your GCD and then cast a firebolt and repeat.

[last shale]

Kited wyverns for 11 levels alone. #rich

[glass viper]

It's practical to say wizards should memorize a.lower.spell, in some ways. But in reality you're saying you have to self nerf to make the class playable. I think we all know that's not a good solution for a game in active development 😉. Wizard needs some love, for certain.

[boreal kestrel]

What? Optimizing for damage per mana is the entire class. It also isn't strictly required.

That being said I don't think anybody thinks the class is perfect - I just think many people haven't put the effort in to be optimal. By level 10 you are spamming absurd damage with no downtime the class is crazy good

[glass viper]

Coming at it from a optimization point of view optimizes the fun out of things tbh. The class needs flair. Besides that having to take lower tier spells just seems like an issue on the design side of things.

[edgy canopy]

It's for not overspending mana when a mob is low and can be finished off with very little.

[edgy canopy]

But yes, more flair is nice too :D

[feral copper]

I go math nerd when playing wizard. Hit it with a spell, see how much damage it did, estimate what % that took off their hp, estimate total hp, then knowing what each spell does for damage I can estimate when I can smash it with a spell or two. While I’m doing that I toss in flux and smaller nukes to help get that hp bar to finishing level.

[fathom steppe]

MMo's are mostly math with pretty colors

[glass viper]

I mean, isn't that all video games 😂. It can be more than just clicking followed by RNG though. I remember a very cool but not greatly executed concept in "Age of Conan". The combo system. It didn't work well because you had to be stationary.

Casters also had a "spellweaving" minigame where you had to input keys increasingly quickly to gain increasingly huge buffs, or get massive DoTs/debuffs on you. It also looked cool as fuuuuuck.

I guess what I'm getting at in this little conversation is that yes, the reality is that at a certain point players are gonna optimize the shit out of every class, but for wizard right now, that's kind of all they have going as far as the class fantasy fulfillment goes. What do they have that's uniquely "wizard" in the game.

[edgy canopy]

Yeah that's what I was asking not too long ago. They're great AoE but that's a strange class identity.

[glass viper]

https://youtu.be/Jsd_WQg3ALQ?si=w5Q3rh_brAuWUY_E

A clip of one of those classes performing "spellweaving". Even though multiple classes can do it, when you see them, they're undeniably one class or another. The effects are uniquely tied to the class identity

Firstly I acknowledge that their budget was insane. Secondly I'll point out that while the game didn't survive, their art/sound direction was insanely good. Also the fantasy fulfillment was on point.

I think indie devs like the AO guys can pull off anything because they have what AAA studios don't (passion/love of the game/elite ball knowledge), so I don't think it would be unfair/uncalled for to say there's some room to improve 😁.

[feral copper]

I don’t care about how big of a chuck of hp I can take with any other class. As melee I just use my best stam to damage ratio ability and ignore the rest trying not to run out of stam while auto attacking. Kinda the same with summoner. The rest it’s just mana conservation. As any other class I’m not actively trying to plant a mob and give myself some cushion if I crit, so as not to waste it.

It’s kind of a mini game every fight unique to wiz

[last shale]

I think I look at the burst more about group resource management. As healer mana goes down, or tank sustain goes down, I’m increasing my dps to provide a quicker ttk and reduce resource drain.

In a trivial group where you’re just mowing through content it matters less but it can be an important play decision