As a Wizard, you are the most mana depenent class in Everquest. While Wizards have two tiny damage shields, our output in combat is limited to direct blasts, whereas other casters have pets, buffs, debuffs, powerful damage shields, and other effects that persist while they are totally out of mana. This difference is the reason for such small effects as Harvest and the slight mana efficiency advantage Wizards have in our direct damage spells. Wizards without mana add nothing to a group past around level 4, meleeing is nearly without any effect whatsoever, and if you have no mana, you must be sitting and meditating or you are wasting the group's time. This means two things: the Wizard has to be as effective as possible when they do have mana (in order to make your presence in a group justified) and the Wizard must use his mana very carefully.

The first thing to learn is how much mana your spells use. This seems kind of funamental, and it is, but it is a good place to start. Watch your mana bar carefully, as you cast keep track of what it uses and how long this will take to recover. This is your base line for grouping, it lets you know how much you can burn in a group before you begin to run dry and can no longer help out. So learn how much mana each cast of your spells uses and you will have the first of the tools you need to hoard your mana carefully.

One of the cardinal mistakes poorer casters make is to cast an attack spell when it isn't needed. This is the number one way you can conserve mana, by not spending it frivolously. When a monster is snared and running away, it stops fighting and stands there motionless for the hideous beatdown to begin. Never, EVER cast when this happens, because the monster will die. Yes, sometimes it takes ages for the melee guys to take it out, but they enjoy it and it won't turn around and start fighting nor run. You should be doing one thing then: Sitting and meditating. If you have full mana and no mana problems you can show off and slam the door on the creature, but only if it will never, ever create down time for the group.

Another time you shouldn't cast is when the monsters are dying easily and safely. If the monsters aren't harming the melee types much and are dying quickly, your input is really not needed very much. Cast a few stuns or smaller blasts at most, but don't bother with the big kill shots. You will be needed for your mana in more important fights, these little creatures are beneath your notice, not worthy of your mana.

Keep your cool. There will be times that the monsters annoy you so much (usually due to resistances or really annoying behavior like Grav Fluxing you) that you cut loose on the creature to punish it for its audacity. Certainly there are times that you can do this and its worth it, but in general all you do is waste peoples' time with meditating when you shouldn't have to, plus you also use up mana from healers that should be saved for other targets. Don't kill off the monster at the expense of your party's down time, its much more fun fighting something while you meditate than sitting around waiting while you meditate, and fun is what it's all about.

Watch mana efficiency. In general, the higher level the spell is, the more mana efficient it is. This means that it takes less mana per point of damage that it does, even if the base mana cost is more. For example, Frost Shock at level 24 does 187 damage max for 110 mana, while Inferno Shock at level 29 does 250 damage for 135 mana (1.7 versus 1.85 damage per mana). This means that for the mana, you have better effect using bigger blasts, even though you might use more mana. In this way you can cast one big blast that does x damage for less mana than 2-3 little blasts that do x damage. This is a minor issue, but something to keep in mind.

Most of these are basic ideas most Wizards should understand early on and be comfortable with, so I would hope little of this will be a big help to any experienced Wizard.