Solo wizard: Manaburn or Manashield first? [Archive]

Ezoob

12-26-2007, 03:36 PM

I put my first 8 ap in enhance magi's shield and was going to get manaburn and manashield next. Which one would help me out more at low levels? I only solo, never group. If you think I should do something else entirely, feel free to post that too. Thanks. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

Force Weaver

12-27-2007, 03:14 PM

<cite>Ezoob wrote:</cite><blockquote>I put my first 8 ap in enhance magi's shield and was going to get manaburn and manashield next. Which one would help me out more at low levels? I only solo, never group. If you think I should do something else entirely, feel free to post that too. Thanks. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></blockquote>What are you going for? Ease of xp, leveling, training, etc.? <MS> Or just named encounters? <MB> [Then again, why not spend your points elsewhere and buy the So-Ro diety miracle Wrath of the Burning Prince for the few times you actually need to take out X named Solo that you can't quite do normally.]If I had limited AA's I'd drop 10 in Magi's, 5 in the debuff and then max out any of the 3rd line Str, Agi, or Sta abilities which are all defensive before you respec for MS/MB which are Instanteous controls vs the continous defensive controls (3rd line abilities) or continous offensive controls (4th line abilities).8 pts in the 3rd line Sta really ups your mitigation and your time to take some hits. 8% flat parry does get noticed as well if you go that route. 10% in combat movement speed buff lets you pull away better or position more giving you more time before the get to you or less time that the are within reach of you as you move away. Again, do you like strawberry, vanilla, or chocolate milkshakes? There's tons of threads on this kind of sturff already and eveything that could be said almost has been.

Ezoob

12-27-2007, 05:45 PM

Thanks Force Weaver, what you said makes a lot of sense. I think I'll go down the STA line on the way to MS and get So-Ro miracle. I'd like to be able to kill names but really I'm just trying to level. It really helped. Thanks again.

Pathin Merrithay

12-31-2007, 01:35 PM

As a soloing wizard, you're doing yourself a huge disservice -not- taking Manaburn. If you're soloing, you should be root nuking as a neccesity, and manasheild should never even need to come into play.

Force Weaver

12-31-2007, 05:18 PM

<cite>Azrayel@Crushbone wrote:</cite><blockquote>As a soloing wizard, you're doing yourself a huge disservice -not- taking Manaburn. If you're soloing, you should be root nuking as a neccesity, and manasheild should never even need to come into play. </blockquote>I agree whole heartedly with Azrayel, if you're in the heroic name game on a regular basis pick MB. But if you quest you will want to get as many contested nodes simultaneously to speed things up. You know the kind I'm talking about "go get 12 monkey tails, 8 lion's paws,etc." and you're slowed down because there's more characters doing that quest than there are mob nodes! Soo if you're not in the mood to group up at that moment then there are options. Hate those plat farmers in the isle of awakening in barren sky and want to upset them in PvE? Well there IS something you can do about it for a run or 2 while you wait for the response of your /report and 2 or more GM's to show up._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Although MB can be used as outlined above there are some places in the game where you want some heroic named by itself and for whatever reason it comes with a couple of buddies that aren't linked. And the low side of 50 you're missing alot of control tools which would might mean MS might be more helpful for you. Yes, everyone knows that you can use concussive to pull a named by itself but sometimes there just isn't room to "walk it" so if you're missing Numbing Cold yet MS is your friend. MS can let you sit there while you whittle the name down and then run away or let the adds kill you. MS is a great training tool (pun intended) if you're trying to get across a zone and there's some see invis mobs while you get a location update or disco. MB will not help you get location updates as fast as MS would for instance in many crowded zones where the rate of MB kills vs repops would be =. The only thing you have to be careful of is snares from some mob types or excessive slows which aren't in all areas._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Really, if you're after a really pesky name, what once or twice a month tops then go Sol Ro. You'll use it like 5 times tops before you're 65 if you're leveling at some reasonable rate. If you're part of the FFA (future farmers ..) who kills named harvesting masters and legendary loot over and over and over then yes pick manaburn as it is the easy button. I hope for your sake you turn off your "generate events for this character" in your guild tab LOL.After 65 you don't really need MB, MS, or Sol Ro to do anything you couldn't just do the old fashion way anyhow. BTW I never rooted and nuked past 60, under 45 sure but not past 60. I root potential adds, stun the one I want with the 2 DD stuns and the DOT stun and when it gets cold AOE slow/snare it as I just back up and dance it down with stuns as it's slowed and I'm moving 10% faster. Some times it's a fancier sequence than that but no MB, MS, or Sol Ro needed. It's really just gravy anyways._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ For soloing, the PBAOE slow/snare (lvl 52) combined with the group root, single root, a selective use of the DOT stun, and the other 2 DD stuns, and the fire pet along with concussive/cease will allow you to juggle 6-8 solo white encounters (non-ROK, only 3-4 in ROK) simultaneously. If you need X birds, and Z zebras this is a great thing for grabbing up those contested mobs to finish a quest real quick and let the person specced MB (or that poor healer) wait and kill mobs 1 at a time as you take all 6-8 mobs in one shot/session and move on. I guess the moral is if you want "a" herioc name on a regular basis pick MB. If you mainly quest or do repeatables (like writs or ROK stuff with 8 monkeys and 7 gorrillas) then grabbing a bunch of contested regular mobs at the same time is your thing pick MS for if and when things get shakey. If you're over 60 then drop the MS but if you're in the defensive mood bump up the Str/Agi/Sta 3rd lines and use your tools you've got on you.I challenge any wizard to spec MB and juggle 6+ distinct non-ROK white solo encounters simultaneously (non-mentoring) and then compare a more defensive spec (there's many combinations). Heck, I used to do the 4x TT writs in KOS without the Magi's Sheilding ward buff from the EOF line since it didn't exist yet and pull those birdy's in huge groups just to maximize my writ run effiency. All that practice in KOS sure makes handling 3-4 distinct white encounters in ROK actually possible. Although I do see where our mez is useful now when you've got that last mob you're 1 on 1 with and you wish your big nuke was up but are waiting for that recast timer to bring it on line when you're on the wire._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Everytime a person ask this question about MB/MS I feel like I'm hearing the arguement about who's stronger. The person who can lift 500 pounds 3 times or they person who can lift 250 pounds 25 times. Really all the details that are on this board are just details. It really comes down to are you a powerlifter or are you an endurance althlete? Both can accomplish different things more effectively than the other since their training is different.I agree with Azrayel, if you want to be a powerlifter pick MB. If you want to be an endurance athlete under lvl 50 & 50 AA I'd consider whether or not MS would help you out for what you need.