Mage fun to play anymore?

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Zuchero, Feb 4, 2020.

  1. Zuchero Journeyman

    HI everyone.
    Im trying to find my way into Tov and maybe i start to realize
    that the mage is not fun to play these days.

    First the earth or air pet cant take 2 mobs in Tov...unless
    you are a raider with EM 27 you're mostly screwed.
    I am boxing and i dont have any CC so im leveling my bard but i dont know
    if i still have the patience to wait for that being done. Ive been out for about 6 yrs and i dont see how i can get into a nice raiding guild with all requirements of today. I have 20k aa and T1 Tov gear all the way on all toons.

    My guild dont have lot of high end players and anyway most stick to Gmm or EW in tov.

    I tried and look for enhancement of my mage playing and saw many hotkeys system. I have some good hotkeys but "if" i have to go throught all those on the forums
    and use them, it means to me that mage is not a fun anymore, ITS A TECHNICAL JOB.
    Technical crap that kill the fun. Keep the focus on your pet HP while a T2 named or 2 slowed trash hits too hard for 2 mercs with most their AA.
    I use to be able to kill most of the nameds on the highest tier of groupable zones but its now some past. TBL will be doable by non raiders at 115..
    80% of this game is now for raiders.
    People have to cast many many things to protect their weak pets. I have Gmm 21EM and its not good anymore unless you stick to EW. But dont try any dracoliche...and Wolfpunch will kill pet if you dont watch.
    I know some peeps will answer to my thread stuff like: man you're wrong i do just fine now.
    Or leave it if you dont like it ..ect ect..still the pet cant take 2 slowed mobs in that expac is some crap. Oh and this is with 2 mercs up with most of their aas and me taking care of him.
    Ok i said that before. I like the game with some challenge where you need to watch your pet
    but this is not funny.

    Where is my dps if i have to keep my pet alive all the time with 2 good mercs? and anyway ill have to evac. So ill try to reach reqs for a raiding guild but im far ..no Gina ect ect..
    Whats the pleasure for an courageous comebacker?
    Zucchero of Povar
  2. Tolzol Augur

    Don’t really have an opinion on if a mage is fun or not as i do not play one. But i will say this, the “technical crap” that you and many other people find not fun and seem to be very against trying really is not as time consuming as people make it out to be and is pretty much required to play any class at the top end. Parsing yourself to try what works best and what doesn’t will make the game more enjoyable for you in the long run when you are able to do more with your character even if it seems tedious at first. Of course this is just my opinion
    FawnTemplar and Duder like this.
  3. Suffer Lorekeeper

    Pet tanking in ToV without a Raid earring and only 20k aa will be tough. This isn't a bug. I would tell you to forget ToV for a bit and get those aa's way up. The pet will get stronger with aa and when you get 2 mobs maybe you can unload on the first mob killing it before it eats your pet.
  4. Ashian Augur

    Have you considered offtanking adds with Riotious Servant or swarm pets? Mages have a number of non-traditional tools to help with survivability. This means the mage has a lot of potential but requires advanced tactics to really play it well in a solo/molo situation.
    menown likes this.
  5. Zuchero Journeyman

    I have to add i just slowed and pet tanked 2 skells in EW sucessfully. lmao
  6. bigpapa Augur

    ?? you know with COH you can pull very efficient . either with snare . root , stun , punt ect , from your other toon.
  7. Cicelee Augur

    Magicians are overrated.
    OldCa61 likes this.
  8. eqgamer Augur

    Coh pull for the win
  9. Zuchero Journeyman

    Thanks for caring friends.
    Earlier in Kael i snared a wolf , evac , and campfire which was just aside the camp and got it single while the giant walked away but it didnt work for the next pulls ..and it cant be used for all our pulling purposes :)
    Coth can be an option but would need enough space. I am talking bout earth pet btw which i feel is tougher than the previous air. I dont mind the dps i want it to stay alive for few seconds till i slow mobs and debuffs correctly.
    GD is said Tier 1 but air pet couldnt take a named. He would die in seconds. Single trash were easy but i still had to watch my pet.
    Get more aa will not help the pet on every side cause there is no passive aa to add. The problem is the basic toughness of the pet. The activated ones have timers so they are not always up. But they can help if maxed before i pull the named if i have the dps to burn before the aas wear off.
    If i dont split a giant and its wolf (kael) someone in the group will die or a merc real quick or the pet. A bard is getting up for that purpose but our pet still have to be able to take few hits. Its my tank jesuff criff. Yesterday a named in Kael killed my pet in no time. the earth 114. evac for the win.
    Maybe im not a skilled boxer..also a few years ago an EM earring of the last expac was doing the job for most nameds and today it seems harder than that. Back in EW in the last hour i can tell the earth pet was a good upgrade from the air. Thats what i feel of it. I really need to raid i guess :)
  10. Petalonyx Augur

    Mage pets are just fine. I was able to tank all TBL with them. They continue to serve well in ToV.

    A couple things:

    >Prebuff your pet with the two AA runes and the low HP auto heal buff.
    >If you know things are going to get tough or you are pulling named, start with Pet Fort AA.
    >Use two healer mercs
    >Prebuff with Theft of Essence by casting an Of Many nuke on your party.
    >If you are coth pulling while alt tab boxing like me, there is merit to the longer cast time group coth, or a delayed single targ coth macro. Set up, start casting coth, then swap back to puller and quickly do your things.
    >AA matter, A LOT. Max pet defensive. If you are still having trouble tanking, consider the AA that support pet runes, theft of essence etc.
    Trick likes this.
  11. Eaedyilye More stonehive bixies.

    I love playing my mage. For the most part TOV is pretty easy. Use you RS pet to off tank. And max you all your pet AA's, that makes a huge difference.
    Whulfgar likes this.
  12. Windance Augur

    Anyone who's been gone for years is going to find it hard to jump into the newest expansion even if you pick up the T1 gear.

    My suggestion would be to pick up where you left off and go do some of the quest arc's in the previous expansions. You should find them fairly easy to do with the newer gear and give you an opportunity to relearn the finer points of player your character.

    I suspect that once your back in the groove and have more of your pet AA's flushed out you'll find the newer content much easier.
  13. Zuchero Journeyman

    Of course i need to max some aa and try to use some new tricks.
    The pull thing wont be a problem soon ..Bard will mez adds, he can up to 100 now.
    You guys have given few nice things to try. I thank you all heartfully since i feel a little bad about the game. Im not gonna give away and try to get into a raiding guild of povar.
    Btw i dont have any friend thats killing T2 named with his pet tanking.
    All group i see have tanks. I even saw some good casters try it and go back to T1.
    A few of those.
    Theft of essence can help and the pet toughness will be more efficient with all things maxed
    as you all said.

    Last night in Kael; just before the emergency patch; we pulled Drendar Blackblade.
    My necro partner has maxed aa, EM27, raid gear, his merc maxed aa too. We got him once at 42%, another attempt at 3%, then emergency patch. We were better if casting away from him , this way less aoe reach us. I am hell of a tactician haha!! Hell of a fight , would have been a bit proud if he dies. Boxing Shm and bard(bard is being PL'ed so hes away from fight or dies at start) Campfire near the fight so we could camp back in. Died 2 times myself. Necro survived till 3%. i had cast about 30 pets.

    When necro pet died we got summoned. His merc was dead for most of the fight..if he doesnt die, we win.
    I saw groups in TOFS kill everything, they had a real tank too.
    Even if im old player of the first year of eq, i dont think i am a skilled one so you are probably all better players than i.
    But because our last fight i still think: Real tank for the win in T2 unless you have a real cleric to take care of your pet. Dont take it bad guys lol.
    Thanks for all advices friends, the good side of this game is finding a friendly community.
    respect and affection.
    Zucchero of Povar
  14. Zuchero Journeyman

    Just got back into Kael ..Zone is crowded of high end raiders groups../ooc Just being curious, anyone killed those nameds with pet tanking and merc healing? no answer.
  15. Zuchero Journeyman

    I got better with those hints friends...thanks much.
    Im getting to kill some that were giving me trouble.
    Will see when im back to Tier2 ..and sorry for my EQ depression lol
    im getting better.
    Zucchero of povar
  16. Vumad Cape Wearer


    Mage pets can tank named in Kael and at a minimum trash in ToFS. I am pretty sure all of these mages have maxed out fortification etc with TBL raid ear (EM27 I think). I know in TOFS my group was using 2 cleric mercs on trash. I think in Kael the same was true but I wasn;t there for any mage tanked named kills.

    My mage I box is 114 using EM21. I think she has 3-4 ranks of fortification above autogrant. My pets only have my ENC and cleric buffs (I 3-box). That rogue pet can tank kael giant trash without any problems with ENC slow, my cleric and 1 merc cleric. I haven't tried taking down any named in Kael, but if the rogue can tank the trash, I speculate that my earth pet with 2 or 3 clerics can tank the named.

    Best info I have for you.


    I 3-box ENC (Main, raid), CLR (strong group) and MAG (newer, lacking AA and augs, L114).

    I enjoy having my mage. I haven't played her as a main except on 1 mission. Nothing I have played subs my ENC play style so that can't be considered a reflection on mages.

    The nice thing about the mage is all I need are fortification AA, weapon summon and a EM earring. All tanks are eventually stronger than mage pets but only after a substantial amount of work. A SK wont out tank a basic mage pet, and as a time investment for obtaining augs, armor and spells, the mage pets are stronger than the real tanks. As a casual player the mage pet is going to out tank real tanks. Also if you buy an ultra rare, you only need the one earring to boost your tank, not a full armor set.

    The other benefit to playing a mage is that they sub tanks but don't replace them, so they are welcome in groups with tanks. If you don't have the time to main a powerful tank, you can stand in with a weak mage, and then jump into a group as DPS easier than a tank trying to tag along with another tank.

    Also when boxing the mage pet does its magic. You can make a hotkey /assist main /pet attack and hit that button on the pull with your ENC (bard, w/e). As soon as your ENC gets to camp the mage pet will jump in allowing you to focus on the ENC for crowd control, then you can start your DPS. Tanks can do something similar but mage pets have no recast delays and will chase down a mob that jumps aggro requiring much less input.

    The above are the main reasons when I added a 2nd box (3rd toon) I went with a mage over a knight.

    Bards can AE mez. ENC need to target to AE mez. If you put the mage pet in Xtar 1, and make an ENC hotkey that is /xtar 1 /cast AE mez then you can using a single cast to AE on the mage pet, or if you use a tank you can use the tank name. Then you never have to worry about where the mobs are.

    I could just as well box the MAG and ENC without the cleric, and if doing it again, I'd likely box a druid but the cleric is 15 years old and I am not changing her out.

    Just some thoughts. Good luck.
  17. bigpapa Augur

    that named is pretty tough can hit for 82 K .
  18. Maedhros High King

    Holy crap, you guys need to stop taking about mages.
    Figure out how to play. There are a ton of informative posts in the caster forums.
    Marton and Sancus like this.
  19. Tucoh Augur

    Don't take it personally, EQ is so busy that any time people spend talking is time they're not spending killing, so when you try to talk about a fairly complex topic of "are mage pets viable", people who have enough information to give a complex answer are going to pass. These forums are better platform for that conversation anyway, with better experts than you'd find randomly ingame.
  20. Balthozzar Elder

    I'm not sure I'm understanding this. Are you saying that you hit the assist/pet attack macro before the puller brings the mob back to the camp and the pet will jump in later, when the mob is in the camp?

    Currently, my druid/enc/mage box team (110,110,109) is using a merc tank, 2 healers, and the druid pulls. The tank will wait to jump on the pull if the druid is set to puller, but I didn't think that a pet would obey that and would just go as soon as it is told to attack.

    My current problem with this group is the lack of dps. All 3 toons were heroics and currently have less than 20k AA. The Darkness Howls GMM mission takes forever (~3-4 hours depending on any wipes) since I have to be so careful with pulls. And I've only managed to kill Grash once out of 7 attempts. I parsed him as having around 160mil hps the one time I did manage to kill him. It took long enough for illusions of grandeur and some other AAs on my team to refresh.

    Doing EoK progression is certainly more doable with this team, but the xp/AA is pretty slow. This is the problem I am seeing in the game at this point. When you hit or approach 110 (for those working up new toons or weren't already maxed out), you're going to be way behind on AA, but I'm just not seeing a decent way to grind it out to catch up to do TBL or ToV that doesn't take way too long.