So I've been trying to teach myself how to play a wizard. This is a group geared wizard without max'd AA's, so I know the DPS won't be way up there, but it just seems very low at the moment. I'm also having severe mana issues. Two mobs and I'm basically toast for a while. My setup has been to have a multi-bind of: Claw > Fuse > Skyblaze > Incandecense. Then I have a hotkey with the 3 Force AA's and Banstrike on it that I hit when the spells refresh. I'm really not positive when to use Cloudburst and I'm kind of stumped on just how to properly link any type of Burn AA's. Right now, just kind of hitting everything and hope for the best. So I'm really just a hot mess right now with the massive mana issues and I know my Burns aren't working. Any help is definitely appreciated.
im no wizard. but from what ive seen on most parses it looks like its just Claw + 3 ethereals with your Force AA nukes inbetween Global CD's of spells buffs are silent casting, improved twincast, 2nd spire, Frenzied devastation, arcane fury and manaburn also use the hedgewizard brew potions they add to your nukes Freelance forums have some basic write ups that should point you in the right direction for most things.this is the link to the wizard one although a expansion behind im sure its somewhat in general. http://forums.eqfreelance.net/index.php?topic=3595.0
When you get a little more familiar with the class and want to take it to the next level, you can also check out Kizant's Wizard/Magician DPS tool here: http://eq.kizant.net/ Its a website that "simulates" DPS based on spell rotation, burns, and ADPS. Pretty comprehensive and will get you pointed in the right direction for spell optimization if you put it to good use. Will help you understand where to put Cloudburst in your multi-bind, for example, and what nukes make for the "best" lineup of spells. If you're finding yourself running low on mana, you may want to remove the "Force of X" nukes from your lineup. Their mana cost can be taxing for Wizards with small mana pools. Good luck!
This is pretty much what Im doing, I would add "arcane destruction", fury of ro/kerafyrm under buffs though. When you get the focus AAs, add shocking vortex to your spell weave. Dicho is only used with gom-procs(or when you need to reduce aggro, and concussion/mindcrash-AAs are on cooldown) frostbound alliance is rarely used in groups as it requires multible wizards on the same target to work. For mana-management I assume you are using harvest(spell+AA, for raids use gambit) and robe clickie. Improved familliar also works. You could also try to get some items with mana-return procs: tome of obulus, proc augs like "the heart of narikor", "the murderer's heart" are examples(avoid the ones from UF!!). Otherwise stack up with fire-DD procs.
Agree with pretty much everything posted so far but I'll add a few comments. Make sure you buy your type3 augs and note that Irae Faycite Shard: Skyblaze works for all 3 of your ethereal nukes. The Claw of the Oceanlord aug also works for Flameweaver so don't skip that one thinking you only want to use fire. The names are dumb and since you're new that might not be obvious. You're better off using Rimeblast instead of the old fire nuke especially once you put a few points into the focus AA. In any case whichever spell you choose for that slot should be your least used nuke outside of when AD/FD/ITC are running. For starters you could probably stick with two lineups. Normal: vortex, claw, fuse, cloudburst, skyblaze. Burn while FD/AD/ITC are up: vortex, fuse, skyblaze, rimeblast. At least until you get used to things. If you're in a group and don't have have to snare/root then try magmatic burst to save mana. It's still better than than skyblaze, dps wise, if you have no real ADPS running. Especially if you haven't max'd your crit rate AAs yet. You could put it anywhere from right after claw to before skyblaze in your normal lineup. Like in Brohg's thread I don't recommend pyromancy either even if that's what you see most often. Arcomancy is much better when solo or in a group with not too many casters. It should proc plenty if you're using vortex and cloudburst. A splinter of potency will also help with your mana problem and use Distilled Mana Tonics if you can afford them. They last pretty long. Avoid Improved Familiar unless you're really desperate or have a bard. You should do well using gambit every time its up and claw will refresh it fairly often if you're using it enough. Don't save twincast spell for a burn. Use it as often as possible and with claw to keep it going.
Some really great info and links. I feel like I have a true path to understanding now. Thank you very much!
I'd also suggest to add spell harvest as your last spell in your multibind, when grouping... that way, each time a mob dies and you lose it as a target, just continue hitting your multibind key, and it will automatically cast harvest if it's available. Which, with refreshes from claw, it will be, a lot.
This is just a personal opinion, but if you want to finely adjust your mana-usage during gameplay on the fly, depending on the situation, then I would advice against relying on a single multibind spam-key. Switching to "manual" and including less expensive spells in your spell-weave on the fly, can help you maintain a "mana-reserve" more efficiently. Of course you can just prepare another multibind tailored for mana-efiiciency, and switch between the 2 multibinds, but manual control gives access to everything in between "max-dps" and "max mana-efficiency", sometimes you want a middle-ground. This assumes you focus on a single character, and aren't trying to box many chars at the same time.
Prima facie, "switching to manual" automatically saves you mana because you're casting less spells - and dealing commensurately lower damage.
