The Wizard is one of the more difficult classes to play, since they lack many advantages that other classes have. Very little armor is available straight spellcasters such as a Wizard, and weapon skills are very limited. In addition, the Wizard has little variety, fewer options available to them that other spellcasters have. Wizards do not have a 'pet' to protect them, and of the six first-circle spells learned, half are damaging. This focus on attack leaves the Wizard with few choices of action for many levels, which can become frustrating. In a certain sense, the Wizard is the opposite of the Warrior, excellent at doing one thing, with few other options.

As such, any player thinking about a Wizard should choose wisely, this class is not for everyone. It requires careful management of mana and play, and an understanding that while you are able to deal out a terrific amount of damage, this does not readily become apparent for many levels. Wizards have more ways of damaging, with slightly faster casting and recovery times. It is not until the late twenties in levels that the raw power that a Wizard can display becomes apparent, and this can be very discouraging at lower levels. There is some discussion and work in place by Verant to adjust Wizards, but this should not be taken as a discouragement of the class. Rather it should be seen as a challenge. And when it comes down to it, when a wizard comes into his prime, nobody can deal out death as fast and furious and reliably as a Wizard. The question is, do you want to wait that long to see it happen?.

WIZARD ADVANTAGES

1. Wizards have the best range of different attacks. This prevents you from being reduced to (for example) a Warrior, where you hit auto attack and every once in a while push TAUNT and KICK. Wizards can mix up their attacks, blasting with cold, fire, lightning (at higher levels), using an area effect spell once in a while if there are controlled groups. This not only looks spectacular, but is more interesting, requiring some thought than having only 1 or 2 options, although it does boil down to doing 1 thing in several flavors.

2. Wizards can teleport. The lowest level teleports are random, so you don't really know where you will end up, but they are often rather amusing. In a safe area, it is fun to end up on top of that tower that everyone wonders about or to show up next to someone suddenly. It also has tactical uses. While you cannot use it reliably to escape as most people assume when they read about these spells, they can be handy. Is that monster wayy too pissed off at you and ignoring the tanks? Teleport away, it typically will turn on them now. In addition, the ability to gate and bind and teleport to portals is a BIG time saver (NO BOAT AGAIN HOT DAMN!!!) and you can head to your home to sell rather than being at the whim of the local merchants. Better deals!

3. Vision spells. Wizards have a wide line of scrying and vision spells. While Glimpse and Gaze etc are basically worthless when you first get them, you will find that scouting with them is sometimes fairly useful in wide open areas such as Lake Rathe, Dagnar's Cauldron, and the Karanas. Eye of Zomm mysteriously is recognized as yours and the monsters ALWAYS know where you are, but this can be used to your advantage, by pulling creatures safely. Bind Sight can be useful to see where the tank is going, give assistance, help explain what is happening to the rest of the party, and even learn the dungeon a little better. It will even allow a Wizard to 'look around corners' by looking through a monster's eyes.

4. For the bulk of your life as a Wizard (roughly 12-40) you are the one of the best at pulling people out of the fire. When your group gets too many people on it, when your tank miscalculated and is dying rather than his target, the Wizard actually has a chance to shine. Most combats, he seems to have little effect other than making the creatures die slightly faster (same as any other caster class). But in this occasion, the wizard can really unload the mana. The monsters die fast because you can do slightly (or significantly, depending on the level) more damage, and do it faster and with less mana than anyone else, with greater precision. You save lives, sort of like an aggressive cleric. This does not come up much but it feels very good.

5. Group teleports allow you to go with your friends to nice hunting spots, saving time and effort. Evac spells cast quickly and do the same thing, but can do so in an emergency. This will save lives, and makes the party appreciate you more.

WIZARD DISADVANTAGES

1. Although Wizards do more damage than other classes at most levels (not true for the first 12 levels and occasionally still not true), and although wizards do cast somewhat faster with Damage Spells than other casters, this is our only trick. In other words, the slight advantage we have in damage is not a sufficient offset for having no pet, no DOT, no damage shield, no heal etc.

2. Related to the above, when we hit the '6+ cap (the increase in resistances on any monster of 6 levels or higher than you - or 1.2 times your level, whichever is higher)' we have nothing to offer the group, all other classes have some way to contribute, all we are reduced to is poking with whatever pathetic weapon we have or if high enough level, gating the group away. This is the equivalent of a Warrior being reduced to using his hands to kill the monster because no weapon of any kind will work on a power level.

3. At lower levels this is much more significant. Without a pet to protect our wimpy selves, we are reduced to hoping we can out damage the target beating us to death until we get root. Then when we DO get root it is highly unreliable and does not hold long enough to actually kill a target (shooting the target often makes it break free). By the time we get good enough with Alteration (80+ or so) to make the root last, most monsters are so resistant to magic that it does not tend to take hold. Note that all other INT based classes actually are 1 1/2 a PC, carrying an expedable tank along with them.

4. Lacking a pet, we are unable to solo very effectively, which is fine with me, I'd rather group. But since we can't solo well, you would expect there to be a corresponding advantage in grouping, which we do not have (see above).

5. Like magicians we have a pathetic list of spells to choose from, which is not so much a balance issue as just frustrating and annoying (oh boy, 2 more AE spells to commit suicide with, 2 blasts, and a useless vision spell).

6. The self Teleports were weakened to the point of being nearly worthless in any area that is not flat and wide open, since they are blocked by trees, buildings, and cannot teleport UP any more. This severely limits their usefulness and ability to actually escape damage. Furthermore, since their coding tries to drop you were monsters are not, this is often in the water. Since monsters do not have the same limitations in water as you, this generally means you die in the water and have some fun getting your corpse back.

7. Being limited to Direct Damage in combat means that Wizards have a slight advantage in the worst method of damage in the game. Neither masters of Magical damage, nor (despite the description of Verant) being without rivals in Direct Damage, Wizards have a slight edge in casting speed and damage. But having no pets nor any other method of indrect damage, Wizards have to land highly taunting, easily resisted mana chewing blasts on foes or do nothing at all. This greatly limits the Wizard's ability to help their group and even solo.

8. Wizards are one of the least group-friendly classes in the game. Aside from See Invisible and Evacs, Wizards really bring nothing to a group that other casters cannot. The damage they do is significant, but is not a grouping ability. Even spells like IR vision that other classes can cast on others, Wizards cannot.

9. Wizards take longer to 'mature' into what they were designed to be than any other class in the game. While all other casters and many other classes start out with the basis of what they will be and simply grow at that, the Wizard starts out very very weak and poorly equipped to help a group or solo and must struggle for many levels.

10. Nobody dies more than a low level Wizard. You have the fewest tools to deal with problems and your blasts are not very efficient, so you will find yourself out of mana and low on life running a lot for many early levels. Because of this reliance on blasts, by the time you get to the one before your next spell level, you will often find yourself very weak and the going very very slow.

There is, believe it or not, a lot of strategy that goes into being a successful Wizard. While those who do not play the class may see it in terms of hammering your most powerful spell hotkeys as fast as possible with root thrown in, nothing could be further from the truth. Verant has said that Wizards are not difficult to play (check the character creation screen when you make your Wizard), but in fact it is a challenging class to succeed at. The difference between a good wizard and simply a Wizard that gains experience is significant. Below you will find the link to a Strategy page, which will give you some ideas on how to best play your Wizard.