Just started raiding, heeeelp!

[Mareth]

I'm a level 55 wiz, and well, I haven't been grouping a lot since level 50, so my T6 stuff isn't all that. I just found a really nice guild though, who hits T5 raiding zones now and then.Yesterday we were in Spirits of the Lost (I think, CT raid instance), which had mobs from 52x2 to 56x4.Our MT was a bruiser that was mentoring down to 67 (to get stuff the right colour) and there was just 9 or 10 of us in the raid. We did quite good, only mob we didn't manage was Venekor (it did lead to some quite amusing wipes tho').So now I've got lots of questions for you <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />I have no FT items, I'm working on both the Efreeti boots, and hoping more guildies do speak like a dragon so we can get Fire and Ice going, but anyway, even while being grouped with the coercer I was oop after 2 minutes or so.I was also a bit confused at how stuff works, we had the MT, and the Main Assist, whom I was told to target through. When I did so, I couldn't cast Frostshield on the tank, and since the MT was busy holding aggro on several targets, I managed to get aggro from the one the MA had targetted a few times (despite two necros doing a lot more damage than me, I was the one who pulled aggro).Which brings me to my next question. I used Icy Winds and protoflame all the time, Fiery Surge too, on a few fights where there was no AoE (or it had just triggered, I'd run forward and cast Forge of Ro and Inferno, but on the most optimal fights (several targets, no aoes from them) I managed to cast all my aoe's, Comet a few times, and the fights was over just as I was oop, I did nearly push 500dps.The two necros and the bruiser was way over me, but they were 5-13 levels above me, so that's to be expected. But is this good dps at this level, or should I go hide in a corner of shame?<div></div>

[HomeChicken]

<DIV>dont be shocked to have a bruiser or necro outparse you, they are both classes that can do insane damage, not really sure if 500 dps is good or not in t5 fights, not to sound rude but it sounds a little low, but its been so long, and for the majority of t5 raiding wizards dps was terrible in most cases due to immunities to either heat or cold for most mobs, but i do remember spirits of the lost was one of the raids where wizards could shine tho due to the mobs NOT being immune heh, if nothin else the fact that you are watching the parses and paying attention to what your casting is good, if your just getting started cant expect to come out the gates knowin everything about it, just refine your casting, try different combinations of spells, im sure you will get it figured out what works best for you <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[3C HAVOK]

Here is some adivce i can give you  As for power Some nice FT items will help but there is a lot more you can do to keep from going oop. The first one is get your mana regen spells upgraded and use them often. Dont wait till you are low on power to use them use them at the start of the fight after you cast a few spells and continue to use them the whole fight. If you have conjs and necros make sure they give you dark hearts and power shards. I have a macro that i can click on that will call out that i need new ones, Use them as often as you need also.   As for damage. If you are new to raiding and using an ma on trash mobs with muliti encounters be carfull of your ae spells. the ma wont have a lot of hate on the mobs and you can strip them easy from him. Play with you cast sequence till you get one that works for you and you can get high damage with lower aggro. For me my casting goes something like this  <font face="Courier New" size="2">Fiery Convulsions(i have it at master one and keep it on the mob at all times) Rending icicls, Fridgid gift, glacial winds, ice nova, inferno surge, Iradiate, Ball of lava, surging tempast protoferno Ice nova(if its up) then Catalyst/freehand and fusion if i can get in clear, I will make a judgemnt call at the end on if im going to use cat/free with Ice nova or try and get in and use it with fusion. If i cant get in and use it with fusion i will wait the one min refresh and then go in with fusion, Some of these spells you dont have yet at level 55 like fusion so you can just take that out of the line up the rest you will have to look and see what the equivilent spell you have and use it. This is what i am comfortable using and im sure there are people who will think its a good cast sequence and some that will think its a bad one, it works for me and if i a troub in my group on the raid i can parse over 1k on just about every fight. Also throw in your deaggor spells. I have cease and concusion macroed togetehr so i hit one button and it will cast cease then the other one and i use it on Bol Ice nove and alwasy on fusion. Those 30K fusion hits can pull some aggro <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />   I aslo suggest getting up to the int cap even if you have to buy potions to do this. It will increase your damage. After you hit the cap on int or if you are well above it then you can start to look for wis/resist gear or Sta gear to get your hp up.       </font><font face="Courier New" size="2"> </font><div></div>

[BlackAdderDr]

Very  nice post Kena.  As a wiz/alchemist I must say I sacrifice gear for FT items and use int potions to keep me  at cap.  Even the t5 legendary int potions is +46 int and you can have it made rather inexpensively.  Apothecarys Elixir of Intellect is the name of it and requires decanoid loam(although Im not sure if after LU24 that the loam names have changed or not).  Each loam will yield 10 potions or 5hours game time of +46 int.  There are also mana regen potions Apothecary's Essence of Clarity is the t5 power regen for 216 total power.  I tend to use that early in the fight as the re-use timer on potions is fairly high.  Frigid gift is something I also use at the very beginning of a fight against multiple mob encounters, as all other casters in your group will benefit on the first strike.  Additionally Frigid gift is a great tool for pulling a mob slowly to you when soloing or allowing the person pulling with a spell to pull a mob slowly.  Use your maintained window to see wether or not you need to recast a dot like fiery convulsions... dont waste mana recasting a dot if its not done and that is very easy to do with fiery convulsions in particular.-Acelia 70 Wizard of Nektulos<div></div>

[Mareth]

Thanks for the tip, I must admit I haven't been using Feat Convultions or Icebound Gift at all, cheap masters for those though (T5 versions), so I'll buy them at once! <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Got an alchy in the guild who've given me some stuff, and with the new crafting, I'll be making one myself when I see how handy those potions are <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Buffed up in the raid the other day, I had 600 int, which is quite above the cap, so <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> normally just a bit above 300 though, which isn't all that good.I use my mana-cannibalism spells all the time (also got manastone, which I've found I can use while being stunned by that one mana-spell).Any tips on using Fiery Inferno and Forge of Ro on mobs with AOE? Shall I just try to dash forward when the aoe has jsut gone off, cast them, and retreat, or? Or should I just not use these much at all?<div></div>

[BlackAdderDr]

You ahve the basic idea,  commonly its reffered to as jousting.  Well like all other classes you wil need to decide if you want to joust in there to lay down Forge of Ro, Fusion and other short range spells.  The FoR is great for your DPS due to its long dot effect and big heat debuff.  I am cruel in that if they dont say in vent when the AOE is going to fire, Ill joust in when the scouts start dropping like flies around the raid target. Sometimes I goof and get wiped but most of the time I can lay it down there.  Additionally if you ask the tank where he is going to hold the mob you can lay down FoR prior to the pull.  Its dot should not get you agro off the bat.  You can also tell when the AOE fires if your dumbfire pet gets wiped,  similar to the canary in the mining tunnel..  when it drops suddenly youll know it safe to go in for a bit.<div></div>

[3C HAVOK]

Use proto to judge your jousting if need me. Most mobes int he game either have a 30 sec 45 sec or one min aoe. Once proto gets killed by aoe rush in. Now they catch is some mobs have two aoes on diffrent timers and the like and you need to know what mobs those are so you dont rush in there as a small one took out proto and you get hit by the big one. For now being new to raiding i would say just stand back and nuke. Get to know how raids work and who does what before you worry about jousting. Its a learning process hell im still learning and i have raided all t6 content excep DMP and most of T7 (killing tarinax tonight god [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] it! <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> ) some of the stuff here is just to get you started the rest is up to you.  <div></div>