Hello all! I have been away for a few years and I'd like to come back. I used to play a mage and at the time the level cap was 105 and the mage was... in my humble opinion... Over powered. My mage was able to tank all current and end game content other than raids. He tanked named mobs easily and cleared quickly with a cleric merc and my Mage/Necro/BL combo wrecked everything. I came back when the level cap was 115 and found that both the air and earth pet weren't able to tank "current" content, even after getting decent gear. I struggled leveling as the pets would get gibed consistently(I use Air to tank until I get the latest Earth pet). I was told that mage pets were nerfed and this was fairly obvious to me at the time as even with decent gear and a good EM focus my pets would get roflstomped quite badly, especially by named. I was told to make a warrior(latest and greatest tanks). I did pretty well and was able to tank almost everything for that expansion. The question is... Have mage pets been restored? Are they able to clear all current end game content of the most recent expansion with raids being the only exception? My Mage has roughly 18k AA's with 0 auto granted and my warrior has about 15k AA's with auto grant. Both are level 115. I'm trying to decide which one to main. I'd love to hear from some high level warriors and mages please.
The pets from at least the latest two expansion should be table to tank everything in group game, given the corresponding EM earring. But 18k AA ist not really much. I would guess that you are missing a lot of pet related AAs, so that would explain your experience. AA max for a mage at 125 is about 71k AA (ok, includes all TS AA and foci from spells that you probably never will use). You shoud be able to autogrant AAs up to ToV and level 115. That should be somewhere around 30-40k AAs.
I can't recall mage pets being anything but monsters for the past several years, I'd assume that extends back to 115 as well. They are definitely monsters at current lvl, even more so since the group em focus was brought much closer in power to the raid one for 121+ pets. Warriors are also still great but their damage cap issues that the devs refuse to look at are starting to become more and more transparent. A real tank also gives you more flexibility as I'm sure you're aware, but is a lot more work. So just play which ever one makes you the most happy.
Pets were never as powerful as you remember. Yes a mage pet could single tank anything. Warriors could do that without wearing half their armor. Warriors can tank 3-5 things at once consistantly - obviating the need for pulling and crowd control. Pets are incapable of this as they have no aoe agro tools. Tanks loved to cry foul and beg for pet nerfs pointing at how a pet can single tank something, while ignoring that single tanking anything is soo boringly easy for any tank.
Main magician for over two decades here... Given appropriate pet focus, mage earth/air can tank one single current expansion mob just fine. Two or three, going to need a raid pet focus, pet AA max, some skill and ability. Four or more is most likely death for many magicians. A warrior starts to feel a bit stressed when you reach four mobs. Use a disc, maybe consider a shield for some lower AC characters, etc. I have been in a group game with a warrior tanking 8 current expansion mobs and we survived. If you can guarantee single pulls all the time, two at the most? Mage pet is perfectly fine in the group game. If you want to maximize and pull 3-6 at a time? I would go warrior 10 out of 10 times.
My mage at level 121, the earth pet can tank T1 and T2 rares in Laurion's Song zones fairly easily once slowed. It can tank 2 trash mobs unslowed at the same time with some healing help from the mage with a cleric merc in the group. At 3 mobs it gets dicey until crowd control kicks in.
Yes and yes. A pet (mage, necro or beastlord) properly geared and buffed, summoned with a raid-focus EM earring can tank anything in the group game. Including mission bosses. What they can not do - hold reliable AE aggro. Which means when you fight more than 2 mobs you'll have to push some buttons to redirect pet's attacks to maintain pet's aggro level. Tanking a named with an add - not a problem for a pet. Holding aggro from 3 trash mobs - is a challenge. And holding aggro against melee'ing beastlord - not a problem unless the beastlord burns. In your group with 2 good pets you should be able to easily tank 4 trash or a named with 2 adds even if you replace a necro with a bard and lose a third pet. And you'll still do decent dps. On a side note - group pet focus requires much more healing to keep pets alive than a raid pet focus.
Good advice. Don't get me wrong, I love pet classes. But a real tank is a real tank. Pet will never replace that. Play what you like. Ideally both .
I feel its unfair to consider raid tier pet focuses. Raid gear breaks all content which isn't a raid. Its just soo OP, cause it was all tuned for group gear. While the difference between raid and group pet focuses has decreased a bit with the current expansion, before last month the gulf was gigantic.
Why not consider raid tier pet focus? It's just 1 item. It takes 12 raid wins to collect raid coins to purchase the earring from the merchant. Start attending open raids and in about 3-4 weeks at worst you can have it. Open raids on BB (for example) are not as "cut-throat" as competitve guild raids and not as strict on attendance. If you are online on the night of the raid - attend. If offline - skip. In under a month you can have your raid EM earring. Tanks are in a way worse situation regarding raid armor.
Because a raid geared ranger can tank anything outside of a raid. Who needs a tank when your raid geared rogue can molo named? The differences between classes lose alot of relevance when in raid gear.
A ranger with a single raid item can tank anything outside of a raid? A rogue with a single raid item can molo named? The difference between classes lose alot of relevance when wearing a single raid item? I seriously doubt that. Somehow, in my opinion, only pet classes can really enjoy a single raid item bonanza.
Your intentionally ignoring the obvious. That raid gear trivializes group content. You also know that a raid pet focus is equivalent to a full set of raid gear to a melee. A raid pet focus is the single most powerful item in the game. Nothing else approaches them for power given by a single item. Yet you are pretending all items are the same. However you already know all this, don't you?
The mage Earth pet has been beast for several expansions when it comes to tanking. Get a blood soaked earring with EM 29 if you don't raid and it will tank better then a warrior in group gear. If your going to have a raid geared war then that will out tank the Earth pet. Off topic a little has anyone seen a memoryforged earring with EM on it?
Thank you everyone. You've solidified my decision to come back full time on the Mage and I'll back him up on my BL. Especially since EM focus is so much easier to obtain this time around. Ya'll are awesome! Thanks again!
