So the necro/mage thing?

So, I know everyone power rolls mages when these new servers open up to rush to name camp/plat farm and then twink out lower lvls and what not.

My confusion comes in with why then, when I google "Best solo class for TLP servers", are all the articles I find VERY heavy on the pro necro for best soloer.

Then why the rush to run mages like madmen....am I missing something. Is it because mages are better at mass farming with pets and nukes...so they can farm plat faster? Id think necros mana regen would allow less down time even though I know they are not as good at dropping trash mobs for loot and have to work with DoT's and snares/fears.

Fill me in, I'm thinking about rolling a solo class because sometimes I just simply cannot find a group and cant look for too long as my time is limited...was thinking Necro for utility and fun...but I enjoy the mage's casual, easy, laid back style of send pet, nuke, med.

Just because my main is a monk so I'm always very on it as puller for groups. Solo mage seems to be nice laid back change of pace.

Anyways, what am I missing folks, clue me in please

P.S. I am open to either, not really too picky, just seems Necro has more to do so alittle less boring, while mage seems a little tougher to grind out mobs for drops or plat...maybe I'm wrong, happens a lot my wife says..../smh

Thanks again!

It's because necro soloing requires more skill. They have a wider toolkit and a pet that doesn't tank as well, which means soloing manifests in having to know the inner dynamics of threat generation for the necro AND the pet, so that you can effectively overagro and take kiting or tanking measures into hand when you successfully identify that your Skeleton pet will lose the fight. Mages are pretty much idiot proof. They dont really have the tools to kite or tank when their pet is losing a fight so its alot more cut and dry.

Mages as well are better to ks/defend your kill as they can burst down mobs. Necro has a lot better self utility though so just depends if you wanna faceroll or have more options available

Mage pets are pretty beefy despite defense nerf to them, and they can nuke for fast kills. They are pretty good for camping mobs for loot that are green and grey and such. They kill faster than a necro easily.

Necros however, can kill much more powerful enemies. Necros require more room to do their best as fear kiting and DoTs are an incredibly powerful combo. So, camping a named in a confined spot where you risk lots of adds... fear is a no go. Due to the slower nature of Necro DoTs, it becomes more likely the pet (already weaker than the mage earth pet) won't survive the battle.

So, for farming some light blue con for epic item #5, my mage beats a necro. For killing some red con in an open field, that necro easily kills the target while my mage dies a horrible death.

TL;DR version: Soloing isn't Farming.

Mage pets are better for AFK killing mobs (more damage and beefier than necro pets), while Necros are better at soloing in general due to their utility.

Conversely, a mage can do camps in dungeons with limited space a necro cant. Both classes are about equal when it comes to killing things of value and lose to a shaman.

Necros are the better soloers because the way the class has an incredible spell lineup for self utility. A good necro has little fear of ever dieing in most any situation and can pump out damage forever without with little interruption.

necro main here that solod from 38 to 50.

saw plenty of bards and druids in oot / the hole but never saw any mages soloing.

i saw plenty of mages LFG for oot though

That is about what I had gathered from the two classes. Now IF I was to roll say, a druid/shaman instead for some solo and farming, and being able to group when soloing becomes boring.

Who wins NOT counting ability to port for farming...I just find it too easy to get ports as needed...shaman could get them as easy as druid could cast...insane how easy ports are these days.

So I know druid are outdoor zone limited in some ways but not counting ports, shamans win for simple reason of debuffs/mana regen = easier soloing and less down time?

Obviously I know druids can charm IF and WHEN they can find mobs, so just trying to really separate the two classes str/weak kind of like we did with mage and necro.

Thanks again!

/Debate on!

Shaman will more popular in pop due to slow i reckon

you dont have to be slow you have sow

2 main reasons.

1. Faster AFK farming by mage pets, by a significant amount. Mage pets can solo things that deplete necro pets, and require the necro to stay more active.
2. More burst

Necros are "better" in just about every other conceivable way. Sadly, the game has devolved into primarily a kill stealing competition, and it's hard to beat a mage for that.

Echo a bit of a Magician is commit to stand and fight w/o as many tools. Other night I was watching a Necro work some tough for their level MOBs. They landed a ton of DOTs quickly and got aggro so the pet didn't die to being over matched, it just followed along behind the MOB hitting it from behind while it chased the Necro. Then the pet pulled aggro and the MOB turned on it. For a brief second I thought 'Now they've done it!' Necro feared the MOB, it took off snared, DOT'd, with a pet hitting it from behind. The Necro continued to put the hurt on the MOB so when and if fear broke, it would chase them again and no squash the pet. I give that Necro kudos for spell line up and situational awareness.

Some of this can ~sort of be done by a Magician in some situations. You either have to buy SoW potions, get a SoW cast on you, or team with someone that has a snare. Some can't be handled by a Magician, for instance if the Necro gets an add, they can just fear it or root it and handle it later. Adds for a Magician mean you are zoning or summoning another pet.

Necro is an interesting class. I've only run up two in my entire EQ career but they were fun and powerful. I still prefer a Magician for mindless slaughter, utility, and farming.

It's really pretty simple.

Mage armies = camp domination

Solo necro = able to solo kill (very slowly) most dungeon loot mobs

So, when a server first starts out, you want the ability to dominate camps. Hence you see a bunch of mage armies running around. But, in the long game, as a single solo necromancer, you can go get what you want and need on your own. You just wont be able to contest camps as well as a group of mages, and a group of mages will out DPS a group of necromancers in the early game.

As expansions open up, and people spread out more, you will see more necromancers soloing camps and less mage armies. The mage armies wont go away so to speak. They will just have moved on to the more lucrative (aka newer) camps.

This sums it up.

6 mages is the power equivalent of 1 necro.

Mages cannot solo anything worth a damn in later expansions. Their pet isn't going to tank spiders in PoFire, but I'll be in there earning an AA every 30 minutes... They can farm all the classic era junk they want. I'm just working on tradeskills...

I had a necro on classic and revert-kiting one the easiest way to kite, you ask pet not to taut , you snare and keep agro from dot and also from sitting.

It is much better than fear kite since you dertermine where the fight is going ....

The weakness of necros is that they are not really good if there is very little space, pet cannot really tank anything higher than low blue.

Pet is really squishy unless you get him buffed (virtue, temperance, shammy bufs).

This. So, in dungeons we either have to root/rot or pet-tank. Which is why we generally xp outdoors. Outdoors I was solo'ing red HG's at 28-29 (albeit with some difficulty), but most classes can't do that.

Later on, when we get our undead line of slow spells (and mezz), we can do quite well in undead zones with pet tanking.

Just for clarification which high end camps are mages soloing?

Or does none of this pertain to level 50?

Everyone covered most of it. However, I disagree with the "close quarters" stuff. I love my Necro in dungeons. For low level farming it's all trivial so who cares if it's a bit slower than a mage. For higher level dungeons, it can be very risky being a mage, no root except earth pet, no snare, no CC, and gate is your only escape.

A necro can pet tank, or partial pet tank, root/rot, mez, charm, fear kite in certain area, and FD if it goes south. So while they aren't as free as they are outdoors, I still like them better than a mage.