1 reply to this topic

[Razilly]

Are Wizards really that bad?

I've read and reseached a lot of threads regarding the Wizards, there are a lot of different opinions about the class. The general opinion of the Wizard is that the class has potential as a good damage dealer, however the Sorcerer is preferred for their utility and almost matching output of damage. Then why Wizard over Sorc? Personally I use the philosophy that consistency is the key to the Wizard's success. In the longer run, Wizards do have more damage output than Sorcerers, however the way to achieve that requires a lot out of the player.

The rotation is boring.

When you level up, you find that you hit your rotation wall really quick, at level 3 you can find yourself using almost the complete end-game rotation. You see a lot of new players complain about the very simplistic rotations of a Wizard and it often deemed as a Two-Button Wonder, I read a lot of posts that says that they want the developers to re-vamp the Wizard for more "fun gameplay".

I disagree, don't touch the Wizard. I like the way Wizards are today and I guess that would be the purpose of posting this. I do agree that Wizards may need a slight buff in damage but not through a complete rework. You will find that eventually every class will turn "boring". That is the plight of MMORPGs in general, it is not a problem with the Wizard, the problem is on a higher level. The Wizard is just unfortunate enough to hit the repetitive-streak quite early in the game.

Consistency is key to your heart!

The simple rotation we have gives us an incredible advantage. Since our only job is to do as much damage as possible, it gives us time to be aware of our positioning and through animation-clipping we can somewhat move while casting. The only way you're going to deal as much damage as possible is to always be channeling spells and we possess the tools to always be at the right place at the right time through the animation-clipping and Teleport.

It may seem very pointless to have to tell people to always be channeling spells, but I've seen a lot of Wizards not really embrace it in the right way. Of course avoiding mechanics in raids is always important, the ABC of raiding will always tell you to 'Stop casting and move out of the fire' that goes for Wizards as well, but with the advantages we have we can push this rule to the limit more than other classes. With consistent damage output the Wizards can deal a lot of damage, to get there you need to utilize your positioning and ability to teleport.

Flame Explosion, Friend or Foe?

Flame Explosion is an interesting spell, mostly because no one has any idea what Gravity was thinking when they implemented it. If you have read Xafir's post about the math of Flame Explosion, the spell seem to be viable, now I have personally tested the Flame Explosion vs No Flame Explosion builds and even though the math tell us that Flame Explosion is required to reach the maximum output of damage I did not find this to be the case. Flame Explosion has all the tools to be a very strong spell, it has burst, a lot of damage and a stun, but when included in a DPS rotation against a raid boss I find this spell to be incredibly distruptive, it feels very lackluster and I often struggle to find a good opporunity to cast it.

I'm not sure if it's related to stats but I have more damage output with Level 5 Pyromaniac than I do with Level 5 Flame Explosion. Maybe I'm using the rotation wrong or there may be faults in which I use the spell but I've tried to optimize it to my best ability and I just can't match it with the basic Firebolt-Fireball rotation. I think it is important to say that you need to try both builds to find which fits you better, obviously there are people who do better with Flame Explosion than without but I feel like it has something to do with playstyle and personal preference so find which suits you better.

I suck at PvP

Wizards play a small role in PvP, since our builds aren't very flexible we always have to pick between a PvE or PvP oriented skill build, the Flame Explosion build mentioned earlier do cater to PvP very well and the Wind Arms build gives us more burst we're kinda stuck being the unwanted child when it comes to PvP. We'll always be there but we won't possess the threat that other classes may have. We don't possess the burst and survivability of the Sorcerer or the mobility of Rangers.

--------------------------------------------

For reference I'll leave my relevant base stats here together with Dragonology and Level 5 Fire Arms.

HP: 6177

Bonus Stats Distribution

+41 AGI
+41 INT

2963 Magic Power
15.93% Haste Rate
15.93% Vigor Rate
34.90% Critical Rate

5x Poisona Cards

--------------------------------------------

Maybe it's a rant, maybe it's not. If you agree or disagree with me I'd love to hear why. I just wanted to share some of the insights I've had playing the class and I hope this post will help people not get too scared of going Wizard.

[Xafir]

Flame Explosion is a bit tricky and using it to it's full potential may require you to change your rotation and/or the way you use it. For instance in my personal experience the math in my thread aside I get the most DPS out of the Flame Explosion lvl 5 with lvl 1 Pyromaniac spec and I tailor my rotation around 2 very important things:

1. to achieve maximum DPS it is very important that your Fireball DOT be up as much as humanly possible, this DOT alone will hit for 60% of your Fireball damage which accounts for quite a large chunk of damage and surprisingly the extra cast time does not hurt nearly as much as it feels.

2. Cast as many Flame Explosions as you can!If you only cast Flame Explosion when Pyromaniac is about to expire then it's usefulness is greatly diminished as you are losing out on many potential casts. Also since you can move while casting Flame Explosion if you can time it to when you know you are going to need to move out of an AOE it becomes even more useful (you can even full on turn your back to the mob or move out of range of the mob it does not matter).

Other than that you nailed it on a boss fight is where a Wizards consistent DPS really shines and the fact that you are consistent is important since so long as your rotation is set and you are not AFK you will do good damage.