I've been away from EQ2 for a year. I had a lv 77 wizard when I left. I dont recall it being all that hard getting her to 77, but I'm having an absolutely terrible time this time through. I'm trying to do Fens but dying over and over. Root is resisted or fails early, the mob gets to me and... I'm basically dead. Either mob hits for 964, 1135, 832, 1043 all at once and I'm dead, or it stuns me for many seconds and I'm dead, or I get in another root, which is resisted and I'm dead. I have never ever in any game anywhere anytime died so much. This is not fun. I actually started a paladin, just to have the comfort of plate and heals for a bit. But wiz is my love and I want to make her work. I would gladly go to another zone but I have no further solo quests anywhere. Everything remaining in all other zones is heroic or grey. So either one of two things is going on... either things have changed in the past year, or I'm playing really really badly. The latter is likely LOL. But how did I cheerfully get to 77 a year ago? My aa's are in agility and wisdom, with magi shielding and rest of wiz in frost. My equipment is solo quest stuff, but that worked fine in the past. I guess I need to know a couple things. Is wizard now meant just for groups? Is there a zone alternative to Fens for early 70s? Has wizard changed or have mob dynamics changed in the past year? Should I give up and raise that pally? And while we're at it... just how do you kill stuff? Maybe I'm just doing it completely wrong
You can upgrade your gear at lvl 72 to the next MC set. For AA, if you are struggling you may consider dropping WIS for the STA line. It will give you more hp, mitigation, less spell resist, and a oh **** button (mana shield). Also, toss your extra AA into STR to get the spell crit. If you plan on grouping/raiding, get an AA mirror so you can spec for DPS while not solo. As for the spell order, I usually FH + BoI to one shot any solo mob. If those are down, I'll pop Iceshape + VG and max range nuke. The mob will die before it reaches me from the slow effect. Another tactic I use is to open with ST, follow with a root, then nuke/root cycle. The extra knockdown from ST ticks have saved me before. I have no problems soloing, it just takes some effort to learn your strengths. I can usually train groups of solo mobs with my SK and AE them down. I can't do that with my Wiz, but my SK struggles to take down named yellow con ^^^ that my Wiz excels at.
Title says your Wizard is 71, but the post is about 77. Anyway, if you are 71 with old-world gear, Fens is not a place for your clothie. Run all Kylong quest lines first, get some more gear from them and harvest/purchase some rares (you must upgrade your 71+ spells to Adept 3 asap). Get some Legendary gear from broker, suitable for your Wizard. There are many good armor pieces you can purchase for the money you will get just running Kylong quests. Important: get some Dispersion gear (at least 2 pieces can be purchased from broker - wrists and waist, both Legendary, namely Runed Bracers of Diffusion and Sash of the Nathsar Tribe). Then you will be ready for Fens (75+ I would say if you have really outdated gear). You should be able to kill stuff easily by this time. I had no problems soloing some heroic quests as well. If you solo most of the time, get AA from STR (crit %)+STA (mitigation and Disruption) +AGI (spell haste)
I was in Fens at 71, however I was in Mastercrafted with full t7 Adept III's and Masters. If you're in Apprentice 1-Adept I, It's going to be a little rough since RoK is a much more challenging expansion than previous expansions (solo wise that is). I put both of my roots on a mob and use direct damage spells. As soon as one root or the other breaks, I reapply it before nuking again. Try something like that as well as upgrading your roots (at least) to Master/Adept III
Root, nuke. I'm the definition of casual player and I'm working through the Fens right now. My gear sucks, quested treasured gear entirely as I don't group or raid. I am a sage, so I've got a few Adept IIIs (root) and a couple Masters I found cheap on the broker (ice comet). Root always has the chance to break, work on your distance, though by your 70s this should be normal for you. Nothing has changed in difficulty, things should not be hitting you. I open with ice comet, root while they're stunned, back off and nuke. If root wears off, either stun (chamber) or slow (icy flame or whatever) and re-root. Back up and nuke. If playing conservatively, don't nuke after re-rooting, wait for your control spells to refresh first, then re-apply root and nuke. Solo mobs in the Fens are not a problem, I've done a few nameds while they were yellow, too, but iirc they're ^ only. The solo stuff is easy.
Thanks for reply all. I'm 74 wiz now, almost 75. Things have improved immensely over lv 71. However, my original post still holds. lv 71 was just about the most miserable time I've ever spent in an mmorpg. I raised wiz a year ago and did not have this misery. Clearly either resists have increased or mob hits have increased or... something. At anyrate, I'm past that. Tips for other wizzies hitting this low spot... go back to KP and grind to 72, which is what I did. Also, avoid the fens fishmen at all costs. They are a terrible undercon and are largely responsible for me dying over and over and over. Also, head to KJ just as soon as you can. Mobs there start at 74, you can do it at 72. And they are FAR easier than same level mobs in Fens. Now about resists and mob hits... root resisted 4 times in a row on a blue mob. Mob then stuns you and hits for: 1156. 1074, 1214, 720. I actually started keeping notes. This is unbalanced and unfair and just terribly unfun. I'm not sure what the idea is here... weed out the casual players? weed out the solo players? weed out the casters? weed out the idiots LOL? Also, the mines of nurga... I did this with my previous wizard and actually enjoyed the challenge. It is now basically not doable solo for wiz. (I know some wiz is going to say, "I just did it and it was fine...". Well I did it too a year ago. I know then and I know now. It is not fine.) EQII population keeps dropping and SOE wonders why. Perhaps the answer is that some zones, classes, levels are totally frustrating to the point of impossible. One final note. In utter frustration I started a paladin. She headed to TD, took on a quest to kill scorpions, waded in to slaughter them all and... promply died. LOL.
Hmm... I never experienced any of the troubles you describe in ROK EXCEPT FOR resist rates. They increased very much in both PVE and PVP, no matter what developers say. And they keep saying they "tweaked" it for raid bosses only. No way. M1 spells got resisted all the time is a sad reality , so try up your Disruption (nuke resists) and Subjugation (root/stun resists) as much as you can (STA AA line). Be sure to spend 70 points in Sorcerer AA tree (aka KOS tree). 71 is a great time to quest in Kylong, not in Fens. Period. Monsters hit like trucks in ROK, so be prepared. Dispersion gear I mentioned in my post above is a MUST HAVE if you want to win some challenging battles. As for monsters stunning you... it's nothing new. Haven't you ever been killed in Feerrott over and over by insects that stun and interrupt you all the time? So do not be frustrated with your Wizard. It is a great class, being able to solo some stuff other classes can only dream about approaching solo. Try all the things I have outlined for you in my previous post then return here and tell how it worked for you. By that time you will probably hunt in Jarsath Wastes, killing 82^ wurms in Skyfire Mountains (they are in no way nicer than fishermen in Fens). Also let me know what server you are on. If that does not work for you, I'll eat my class hat. If you are not on Nagafen, you will at least hear me chewing it.
Pibly wrote: Usually when I see this type of posting is when I move on... but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. All I can say is while I have had my wizard in particular at 80 for awhile now, I did not have the above mentioned problems aside from maybe my first hour or two in RoK. I recently (within the last two weeks) took another character through the KP/Fens/JW quest line. I did notice a bump in difficulty from KoS zones, but nothing at all that was out of hand or just a repetive death fest. Things to consider... • Each class has their strengths and weakness in relation to mobs. Example, as wizard is better tuned to a non-range, non-root immune, single target. Yes, you can take on multiple targets, ranged, etc., but your strength is a single target you can lock down with a root. Don't try to attack groups, mobs with ranged attacks, heroic (up arrow), etc. until you master your single target. • Resist are boosted in RoK, but not out of hand by any means. Upgrade your roots and main DD spells. Find gear with +disruption and +subjugation. Either buy or farm the rares for MC. If you don't have the above, sorry but you will get resist and you'll have to live with it. RoK was designed around you having access to better gear. ToS is even scaled higher. • Many, many, many players have gone through the RoK quest line. While L2P post are generally a lazy and unthoughtful response, my point is many people have done it with many classes. The lowest common denominator suggest you are doing something wrong in either gear choices, spell quality, or spell order. If you think you have it all right and still have problems, type '/' and send a /tell to someone else in the zone. Most people are happy to pair up to kill mobs faster. Wizards have great potential to solo mobs many classes can not. The balance to that is you will have pulls where everything gets resisted and you can not absorb many hits, so die. It is a well known fact that wizards die often, and generally for no reason. Live with it or pick a less fragile class (i.e. not wearing cloth).
If having severe problems, go for battlemage! End sta line then follow up with the ward line in EoF tree. That there is plenty. Then slap on a choker and root nuke mobs. No worries your regen wards will eat up the dmg from the choker ;p
