Is it me or is wizzard by far the hardest class?

[Lordofdeath123]

I know that the mage is usually slightly harder in these sorts of games. In Kotar I/II the pure force jedi/sith was at start slightly harder then the rest. But in this game, it just seems a bit hefty. I made a wizzard and it was so difficult to play. But then I decided to reroll as a barbarian and boy is it easier.

 

Will it change later on? Is it worth to stick to wizzard after a while? ( I played with it a bit, got to lvl 5) The problem is that mainly the aoe abilities, which are the best, make so much friendly dmg if not aimed right and since it takes so long to cast them, the units move about and so you either hit an allie or very few of the enemies. They also get upclose and personal, so its double hard to aim. As a mele character though, thats not an issue, and I can just pummel them.

 

Also the fact fact that you have to rest in between is annoying, but I guess thats D&D, though I thought that Obsidian took some liberties from the classical foruma. But that I can deal with.

 

Also since the characters can't cast anything by themselves and there are no hotkeys (that I found) it takes so long to select each caster class and tell them to do this or that.

 

Did I just not understand how to play the wizzard, or is it meant to be more of an expert class?

 

Cheers.

[waretaringo]

iirc they're re-balancing the stats in an upcoming patch, but the details of what exactly that's gonna do for us are not released at this time. they didn't mention specifically altering any classes yet.

 

I will say that I don't think the wizard is useless, though they're probably the hardest to solo with. on easy/normal you can probably still get a lot of power and utility out of a well-built wizard - it's just that it's harder to get an equivalent bang for your buck than with other classes in a similar role.

[MasterPrudent]

Wizards are meant to be played with a party. As a general rule you need to lock down the front line with melee units to ensure everyone is going to stay in the same place before casting your aoe spells. Also if you give your wizard a high intellect they'll get a higher "edge zone" (which the ui displays as a lighter grey colour around the edge of the friend and foe damaging area) that will damage enemies without hurting your own characters.

 

You can in fact bind abilities to hot keys. Just mouse over the ability you want to hot key and hit the button you want to bind it to.

Edited April 2, 2015 by MasterPrudent

[Elerond]

Wizards are good class and they get better and better more game goes on as regards on other classes. Although they never get to be most powerful class in the game.

 

But they are best probably best ranged AoE throwers in the game, because of their blast talent that gives them ability to do AoE damage with implements (wand, rod, and scepter). And they have access to largest range of spells in the game (wizards are able to have access to all wizards spells in end game because of their ability learn spells from other wizards grimoires). Their spell selection has good single target and AoE damage spells and they have decent debuffs and some nice self buffs.

Edited April 2, 2015 by Elerond

[Teslacrashed]

It >seems< to me that Wizards are not best as "Glass Cannons" but instead as "God Casters" that manipulate the battle field, save your damage spells for after using your debuff or crowd control spells.

[Althernai]

The critical thing about Wizards is knowing the right spells. PoE is similar to the IE games in that there are a lot of spells which just are aren't very useful in general or are only useful for specific character builds and then there are other spells which are actually quite good. For example, try using Slicken, Fan of Flames and Chill Fog as your level 1 spells. Slicken does a good job of disabling the enemy, Fan of Flames does a lot of pure damage and Chill Fog is a mix of both with the additional benefit of being Foe AoE (i.e. it will not hit friendlies even in the "red" zone).

[Longknife]

TBH they're one of the best candidates for solo mode, I'd think. Moves like Slicken and some others buy them all the time they need to kill large groups of enemies, you'd just be spending lots of money on campfires and making lots of trips back to town.

They get stupid strong after level 8 when their tier 1 spells become spammable.

[Lordofdeath123]

Thanks both for the answer. Good to know that I can use hotkeys, that was annoying. It should be a nice improvement for my experience.

 

Btw. I am indeed playing in a team of 4 currently with my wizzard, but the thing is that the companions I got were wizzard, fighter and chanter in that order. So far I have no other and I dont want to hire andventerurers . So I can not block a line with mele units yet.

 

Also nice to know about the greyzone. I have a high int so thats a useful thing. Nice design I have to say.

 

Btw its not to say that I hate the fact that wizzards are maybe harder then others, at least at start. Sort of an elite class, that if you manage to play you get an epic dude kind of thing (which I am not sure will happen, will it? :D ) but maybe a small warning would be nice. If you basically sellect mage you get a small popup that says, its a bit harder then others to play.

 

Anyways, I am not very far into the game with the wizzard, so let me ask this. Would you recommend to reroll the character and start new, or will the wizzard be worth it later?

 

Cheers.

[PermTrouble]

I know that the mage is usually slightly harder in these sorts of games. In Kotar I/II the pure force jedi/sith was at start slightly harder then the rest. But in this game, it just seems a bit hefty. I made a wizzard and it was so difficult to play. But then I decided to reroll as a barbarian and boy is it easier.

 

Will it change later on? Is it worth to stick to wizzard after a while? ( I played with it a bit, got to lvl 5) The problem is that mainly the aoe abilities, which are the best, make so much friendly dmg if not aimed right and since it takes so long to cast them, the units move about and so you either hit an allie or very few of the enemies. They also get upclose and personal, so its double hard to aim. As a mele character though, thats not an issue, and I can just pummel them.

 

Also the fact fact that you have to rest in between is annoying, but I guess thats D&D, though I thought that Obsidian took some liberties from the classical foruma. But that I can deal with.

 

Also since the characters can't cast anything by themselves and there are no hotkeys (that I found) it takes so long to select each caster class and tell them to do this or that.

 

Did I just not understand how to play the wizzard, or is it meant to be more of an expert class?

 

Cheers.

For my npc wizard, I feel he may make fights too easy with his Foe AoE crowd control.  Sleeps and charms are so strong

[waretaringo]

TBH they're one of the best candidates for solo mode, I'd think. Moves like Slicken and some others buy them all the time they need to kill large groups of enemies, you'd just be spending lots of money on campfires and making lots of trips back to town.

 

They get stupid strong after level 8 when their tier 1 spells become spammable.

I hadn't considered rest-spamming as a strategy. probably because I find it boring and immersion-breaking. though I suppose it might make sense if you're playing, for instance, an ancient wizard with a failing body, who has to take a rest against the nearest tree every time he dispatches a common thug

 

but yes, this is typically how wizards were employed as supreme soloers in the old IE games; I guess it's fitting that this tactic is alive and well. gives you a use for the surfeit of gold you come across, too.

[demeisen]

Anyways, I am not very far into the game with the wizzard, so let me ask this. Would you recommend to reroll the character and start new, or will the wizzard be worth it later?

 

 

Lordofdeath123, I'm playing a wizard with the story NPCs in the group.  L5 so far.  I love the wizard!  He's an AOE damage monster, and he has a wide variety of types of damage and CC he can do, to attack different weaknesses of monsters.  He's very flexible; if something is invulnerable to fire, he's got cold.  If it's invulnerable to cold, he can attack dex.  Etc.

 

True the AOEs aren't just "blast away without consideration" like some arcade game, but that makes them fun.  You can tilt the balance of difficult battles with a strategically placed AOE crowd control or debuff.  Once you get Eder (fighter) in your group, I think he's kinda overpowered as a tank anyway, so he'll keep almost everything off your wizard.  And (on Hard mode) you get 2 camping supplies, so you have to strategically pick when and where to use your wizard's "big guns".  I don't "rest spam" - I play how it seems like they want you to play, by choosing which fights need the wizard's heavier spells, and which don't.  Even when they don't, he still kicks out a lot of damage with his two per-fight AOEs and the blast autoattack.

 

I might try another class for a future play through, but so far I'm happy playing the wizard.  Nobody else can really tell you if you find them fun.  It depends on the playstyle you want.  If you don't like the tactical side of "where to drop this fireball so it doesn't hurt my guys but hits as many enemies as possible", then it might not be for you.   But with the right mindset, they're a blast to play.

[Mungri]

I liek wizards. They have very useful spells.

[Bollockoff]

You should reroll that Barbarian and call him Kotar.

[Lordofdeath123]

Thanks all for the replays. I guess I will try a bit more to play with the wizzard, but as I said, it seems a bit harder. (And yes ofc its still possible, I was never arguing about that).

 

@bullokoff ... ty I wrote kotar and not kotor... good job to see it. You are briliant. Great contribution to the thread . Much thanks.f

[Archaven]

Playing as Mage or Spellcasters it's about aggressive, positioning and timing. If your spellcasters are timed and positioned correctly, after unleashing his/her AOEs to soften the enemy mobs a little, he can still retreat with some support from other characters that can AOE stun, tangle, blind for a short period.

[zultor]

Wizards are definitely not underpowered or the hardest class to play.    Their versatility alone makes they very easy to play especially since there aren't any restrictions on armor/weapons in this game.    Your wizard can where the best armor and use any weapon while at the same time casting spells (not recommended but doable).    Their aoe spells are very powerful so if your wizard gets in trouble he can blast/burn/whatever his way through many enemies, sometimes at the expense of his allies but whocares they are instantly revived anyways.

 

The way I use wizzies, probably not the best, is to use my 2 frontline tanks to set a line/engage the enemy then move my wizzie to the side (my customized formation makes him start close to there anyways) and using careful aiming decimate large groups of mobs.   If he gets aggro or in trouble he has many defensive spells to get out again.

 

Early in the game things were a little difficult since you don't have a full party or leveled companions but once you get tanks with +engagement and other companions the wizzie owns.

 

If you are specifically limiting yourself by keeping your party size low (or soloing) them the wizard just becomes more indispensable since it can cover the role of other classes (has crowd control, dps, buffs/debuffs, etc).

[FootDive]

I know that the mage is usually slightly harder in these sorts of games. In Kotar I/II the pure force jedi/sith was at start slightly harder then the rest. But in this game, it just seems a bit hefty. I made a wizzard and it was so difficult to play. But then I decided to reroll as a barbarian and boy is it easier.

 

Will it change later on? Is it worth to stick to wizzard after a while? ( I played with it a bit, got to lvl 5) The problem is that mainly the aoe abilities, which are the best, make so much friendly dmg if not aimed right and since it takes so long to cast them, the units move about and so you either hit an allie or very few of the enemies. They also get upclose and personal, so its double hard to aim. As a mele character though, thats not an issue, and I can just pummel them.

 

Also the fact fact that you have to rest in between is annoying, but I guess thats D&D, though I thought that Obsidian took some liberties from the classical foruma. But that I can deal with.

 

Also since the characters can't cast anything by themselves and there are no hotkeys (that I found) it takes so long to select each caster class and tell them to do this or that.

 

Did I just not understand how to play the wizzard, or is it meant to be more of an expert class?

 

Cheers.

They become absolutely filthy at late game as soon as they hit 4th level spells which is about 8th character level. Hands down my favourite class late game.

 

They start off much like BG1 mages do; spam Chilling Fog (Sleep in BG1) until they get some levels then blast everything once they get get several levels in.

 

My Battlemage/Spellsword Wizard outdamages everything and hits harder than any of my melee characters. A shame their Battlemage/Spellsword potential is realised so late in the game but it makes me look forward to the expansion(s). I've been playing on Hard and I roleplayed my stats so I didn't min max stats.