Wizard vs Coercer (PvE)

[Nekroghoul]

Hello all, I have recently rolled a wizard and a coercer and leveled both to 20. I am looking to play one of these toons primarily as a soloer, but also want to be useful and wanted in groups. So far, both seem fairly similar in their soloability, each having their set of pros and cons. The biggest challenge I see for each so far, is with the wizard roots seem highly resistable and break very easily, and with the coercer the charm often breaks mid fight. On the wizard, when the root breaks and/or is resisted (usually happens in that order) I find it highly irritating. On the coercer, when the charm breaks, mez seems to do a good job, though I have the other mob to deal with, and this seems like more involved gameplay. Because of this I have found the coercer a bit more interesting and am leaning a little that way.My question is this, from level 20 on and particularly post-60, which of these to classes do better at the following:1) Soloing heroic named2) Fast kills3) Survivability vs grouped mobs4) Complete quests the quickest (and have utilities that help with that such as invis, fast travel, etc)4) Survivability when the poo hits the fan<div align="left">To give you an idea of how I like to play, my first toon (born the day EQ2 went live) is a 62 warlock. He is exclusively an alchemist now. I got tired of the useless roots that are oh so incompatible with his arsenal of DoTs. Now, my main is an SK who is in his 70s. My primary alt is a 55 brigand. I love playing both these toons, but I still want a finger waggler. So far, I am really torn between the two, though as I said I am leaning towards a coercer. Please help me decide which of these two toons to max and which to axe. Thanks!</div>

[Teh_Person]

Alright, to address your concerns let me say this. Resists suck at lower levels, simply because they are FAR more frequent than later on. You'll probably re-experience the frustration to a lesser extent when you hit Kunark zones (I know I did.) But you'll find as you get higher up, your roots and mezzes will land more and more reliably, and both classes become much better at subjugation in general.Now then, as to the questions:1. Wizards and coercers both excel VERY well at this compared to most classes. There's never a clear victor because it depends on which named specifically you're talking about. Although on longer fights in general the coercer has an advantage just due to power saving abilities (though wizards have a few of these themselves), wizards tend to make heroic fights a lot faster. You can take whatever you like here.2. Fast kills are wizard territory, hands down. It's what we do, and some would argue it's all that we do. If you're talking about soloing, I'm confident there's no class that can out dps us (on similar terms of gear and spells of course.)3. Survivability vs group mobs is like fast kills for a wizard. It will always go to the coercer. There's a reason people call them "crowd control." The more monsters you throw at us at once, the more likely the coercer is to come out alive compared to the wizard.4. Completing quests the quickest probably goes to the wizard. Having much faster kills, invis, evac, portals, and other such abilities, wizards will just flat out move more quickly when soloing.5. Survivability goes to coercers in almost any situation. Wizards have an emergency mez (that none of us really use and gets resisted a lot), evac and manashield (if you go for sta line AAs.) Coercer has mezzes charms stuns power drains, group mezzes, and more stuff I'm not even sure of because I quite honestly don't play one. Suffice to say a coercer has a lot more tools to help out in an emergency, whereas a wizard's options are mostly mez/manashield then evac/run away.Both of the classes have their strong and weak points, so if you're leaning toward one, just pick whatever you like. Wizards are suited to those that enjoy seeing big flashy BOOM numbers, coercers are for those into control and sapping the life out of their enemies. Play whatever you know you'll have fun with.

[SacDaddy420]

I have an 80 wizard (main) decked out in the best gear on the server i raid with.I have an 80 coercer that i have cleared heroic rok zones with ( chelsith, CoK) solo.Hands down, my lil farmin alt coercer in legendary gear owns my fully fabled wizard in all aspects when it comes to solo play.   Chain stuns, well chosen caster pet, stackin reactives...dps between the two classes on heroic nameds can be surprising similiar if done right...cept on the coercer, the mob has no chance at all to hit/cast/generally do anything at all while i destroy it.

[Ticker123]

<p>Coercer is fustrating as double hockey sticks to play. Just deleted my level 29 for a new wizard. sheesh</p>