So how do I play a mystic?

[Kammy]

<p>I've been reading through these forums and the eq2flames forums for a while, but all I really see is end game stuff. I just started a mystic, only level 11 so far. People talk about using the dog. How? What should I spec for leveling and what is the most effective leveling method.</p><p>People say it depends on your playstyle. Well, I don't care for caster dps, and a lot of what I read is that mystics are decent melee damage and some people on my server said they are the best soloers out there.</p><p>Can someone please give me some constructive direction? I think the class can be fun, but I just don't know how to play it.</p><p>Thanks</p>

[Gahnand]

dont use the dog. go AGI line, then Weapon Mastery, then scoop litany of combat (the last 2 u can flip flop between, but i'd go mastery first). that should keep u busy for a while. auto attack is ur friend.

[Greggthegrmreapr]

<p>I think dog is worth getting.  It's free damage and has nice benefits.</p>

[Jemoo]

No matter what you do you HAVE to get the dog... Whether you spec to make it better or not is a different story. But no matter what you do with the dog it shouldn't be what you spec for first. Get your crit chance and CAs first like said above. Different people will tell you to get one over the other and there is always debate on it. Which you get first is totally up to you. After those two, I'd say get your reuse speed AA because even if you want to do melee dps over spell you are a healer first and foremost and shamans have the slowest casting and reuse of all healers. You need to get both those when you can at lower levels. Getting all those AAs will take you plenty of time. Until then get used to playing your toon and get a play style down that you enjoy. If you've read these forums then you've read that mystics aren't as cookie cutter with their specs as other classes, a lot of the AAs you can choose that will be beneficial to you and it all depends on your play style and experiences.

[Hene]

<p><cite>Kammy@Nektulos wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I've been reading through these forums and the eq2flames forums for a while, but all I really see is end game stuff. I just started a mystic, only level 11 so far. People talk about using the dog. How? What should I spec for leveling and what is the most effective leveling method.</p><p>People say it depends on your playstyle. Well, I don't care for caster dps, and a lot of what I read is that mystics are decent melee damage and some people on my server said they are the best soloers out there.</p><p>Can someone please give me some constructive direction? I think the class can be fun, but I just don't know how to play it.</p><p>Thanks</p></blockquote><p>Assuming you will be soloing for a while:</p><p>1) Pre-warding is a key survival technique if you are fighting harder mobs, make sure before you run in to fight anything moderately hard, that you have some wards on yourself.</p><p>2) Make sure that you have your dog dog up before you go in and fight anything, at low levels he makes up a very large portion of your dps.</p><p>3) Focus on close combat as a mystic; since your wards are so slow to cast, being able to get in very fast casting dps abilities will make a huge difference.  I would recomend that your AA points be assigned as follows (roughly in order):</p><p><strong>1 point in Dog dog</strong> (spirit companion, Shaman tree starter),</p><p><strong>1 point in Dazing bash</strong> (Shaman tree, stamina line - fast casting Combat Art that helps impair an enemy's dmg output),</p><p><strong>1 point in Phlanx</strong> (Shaman tree, agility line - fast casting CA and root),</p><p><strong>1</strong> <strong>point in Chilling strike </strong>(Mystic tree, spell-to-CA conversion),</p><p><strong>1</strong> <strong>point in Rabies </strong>(Shaman tree, intelligence line - nice damage over time spell),</p><p><strong>2 more points in Chilling strike </strong>(Mystic tree, spell-to-CA conversion - gives you a fast casting CA to use instead of the relatively slow casting spell),</p><p><strong>3 points in Plaguish strike</strong> (Mystic tree, spell-to-CA conversion),</p><p><strong>1 point in Circle of the Ancients</strong> (Mystic tree, spell-to-CA conversion),</p><p><strong>3 points in Enhance: Ursine avatar</strong> <em>**** These 3 points are wasted at low level so that you can access spell-to-CA conversion of Glacial flames</em> (Mystic tree, melee damage proc),</p><p><strong>1 point in Glacial strike</strong> (Mystic tree, spell-to-CA conversion),</p><p>Here you have 3 choices, chosing these in any order will work fine (but I would suggest taking option 1 first):</p><p>Option 1)</p><blockquote><p>Go for the next AAs in the Agility line in the Shaman tree for Auto attack multipier+crit chance</p><p><strong>3 more points in Phlanx</strong></p><p><strong>At least 4 points (preferably 10) in Ancestral Authority</strong> (Shaman agility line, auto attack multiplier)</p><strong>Preferably 10 points in Ancestral Spirits</strong> (Shaman agility line, increase in critical chance)</blockquote><p>Option 2)</p> <blockquote><p>Go for the Stamina line double attack and block chance</p><p><strong>3 more points in Dazing Bash</strong></p><p><strong>Preferably 10 points in Block Harm</strong></p></blockquote> <p>Option 3)</p><blockquote><p><strong>Now, scatter 9 more points into Chilling strike, Plaguish strike, Glacial strike, or Circle of the Ancients</strong>, this will give you more powerful CA attacks and open access to weapon mastery.</p><p><strong>1 point in Weapon mastery</strong> (Mystic tree, helps you and your pet become more effective at producing damage)</p></blockquote><p>Basically, the above AA suggestions get you lots of quick casting dps abilities fast.  As a low level mystic, you either have to chose a) slow casting spells or b) slow reuse combat arts.  So, a good choice would be to go with the slow reuse combat arts, but get a ton of them to make up for their long reuse.  Once you satisfy having enough buttons to press most of the time, increasing the damage from your auto attack and abilities will be the next logical step (Agility line then stamina line in the shaman tree).</p>

[Gahnand]

GUYZ. the points in UR CAs are not going to do anywhere near as much damage as ur auto attack even at end game with max points. WHATEVER U DO, start in the AGI line and MAX ur auto attack multiplier. As for the dog, yes ur going to get it right away and yes it's going to do damage (even tho very little) so have it up, but dont waste points on the STR line while u r just getting started. get urself a nice 2h plus ur auto attack and if u can get the endline Rage the double attack and haste is going to make things blow up fast.

[Hene]

<p><cite>Gahnand@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>the points in UR CAs are not going to do anywhere near as much damage as ur auto attack even at end game with max points. </blockquote><p>You seem to have it backwards; at lowbie levels, auto atk does very little compared to CAs and spells, whereas at higher levels, auto attack catches up to and passes your CAs and spells.</p><p><cite>Gahnand@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p> <blockquote>WHATEVER U DO, start in the AGI line and MAX ur auto attack multiplier. As for the dog, yes ur going to get it right away and yes it's going to do damage (even tho very little) so have it up, but dont waste points on the STR line while u r just getting started. get urself a nice 2h plus ur auto attack and if u can get the endline Rage the double attack and haste is going to make things blow up fast.</blockquote><p>Getting an extra 32% on your auto attack damage will do very little compared to swapping spells for CAs (gaining a great advantage in ability to dps while still healing by chosing combat arts over spells). But realistically, getting both should be your primary goal (it does not take <em>too</em> long to get to 50 AAs)</p><p>But you do have a point about rage, I can't believe I left that out >.< that should be taken as soon as you have the 22 points in agi</p>

[Gahnand]

I said CAs not CAs and Spells. If u put the points in the AGI line to maximize ur auto attack and use ur spells between auto attacks its going to be a million times more effective than filling up ur CA tree first. its not like just cuz u dont get CAs ur not going to do anything between swings

[Hene]

<p><cite>Gahnand@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>I said CAs not CAs and Spells ... its not like just cuz u dont get CAs ur not going to do anything between swings</blockquote><p>Right, but I can almost guarantee that you will get more from using CAs in place of spells at lowbie levels than you will from 32% added onto you auto atk.</p><p>Your CAs do so much more, proportionally, at low levels and because your casting speed will be so slow, you will severely reducing your damage output only using spells (at least when you are soloing, becuase of the time taken up with casting heals)</p><p>i.e. when you're soloing harder content, your heal spells will probably be cast a lot and that fills up your in-between-auto-attack-time plenty, leaving you not much (if any) room to cast spells</p><p>Maybe before completely filling out your CA line you could get the Agi line, but until you get some CAs, your dps will be hurting <em>big</em> time.</p>

[Miss_Jackie]

<p><cite>Kammy@Nektulos wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I've been reading through these forums and the eq2flames forums for a while, but all I really see is end game stuff. I just started a mystic, only level 11 so far. People talk about using the dog. How? What should I spec for leveling and what is the most effective leveling method.</p><p>People say it depends on your playstyle. Well, I don't care for caster dps, and a lot of what I read is that mystics are decent melee damage and some people on my server said they are the best soloers out there.</p><p>Can someone please give me some constructive direction? I think the class can be fun, but I just don't know how to play it.</p><p>Thanks</p></blockquote><p>If you're into grouping, they're great healers. I've main healed lots of groups without any problems. Dog dog has saved my butt plenty of times while out solo'ing; so I wouldn't listen to others about *not* using him. I don't really solo much because my preferred playstyle is grouping mostly. So, can't really give you any constructive advice there.</p>

[Gahnand]

it's not JUST your auto attack multiplier. It's more important than anything to get Rage. The added haste and double attack for a low level with a 2h is going to do more damage than the CAs.

[Hene]

<p><cite>Gahnand@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>it's not JUST your auto attack multiplier. It's more important than anything to get Rage. The added haste and double attack for a low level with a 2h is going to do more damage than the CAs.</blockquote><p>but keep in mind that you will have to spend 24 points to get rage while the CAs I list take only 11 points <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>and I was thinking in terms of where your points will offer the most advatage to a lowbie with 0 AA points as he is leveling (the OP was a lv 11 mystic, probably with very, very few AA points)</p><p>while rage + auto atk mult + critical chance is definitely going to add more dps than the CAs, point for point, I think CAs take the cake</p>

[Gahnand]

ur CAs at that low skill level are not going to equate to auto attack multiplier + ur spells unless u r just using app1s lulz the only way ur CAs are going to do more is if u dont have the right weapon, dont know how to time auto attacks with spells, or both.

[Hene]

<p><cite>Gahnand@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>ur CAs at that low skill level are not going to equate to auto attack multiplier + ur spells unless u r just using app1s lulz the only way ur CAs are going to do more is if u dont have the right weapon, dont know how to time auto attacks with spells, or both.</blockquote><p>The thing is, at low level (I don't know if you remeber back in the day, soloing at lowbie level) you cannot cast spells very efficiently while still healing and warding yourself.  With 0 casting speed bonuses, your CAs allow you to still do DPS but not sacrifice nearly as much time as casting only spells.</p><p>Keeping in mind that your auto attack will not be benefitting from dps mod, attack speed, weapon damage bonus (eth weaponry + battle prowess), the lowbie weapons are doing much lower damage compared to your spells and CAs than at end-game levels.  Since this is the case, even a small gain in dps from dps abilities will outweigh a moderate gain in auto attack multiplier.  i.e. lv 12 MC weap does like 14 dps, so adding 4 dps to that is likely going to do less than allowing you to more easily use your dps abilities.</p><p>Edit: for anyone who wanted to see the numbers</p><p>My blessed steel war mace does about 30 dps (avg hit of like 178 every 6 seconds, no DA or haste or dps mod, and at lv 25).</p><p><img src="http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/7049/mysticcaandspells.png" /></p><p>^^^ Is the screenshot of the spells (could only get expert for velium winds) and CAs</p><p>Even with numbers, it is hard to draw an absolute conclusion without going out and actually testing it on various mobs.   Since the CAs only require half or one fourth the time to cast that spells require, they fit inbetween heals and wards much easier, making them a great choice if you solo harder content (i.e. are spending most of your time healing).  If you are fighting easy solo mobs (i.e. spending most of your time dpsing), then gahnand is right and auto atk + spells is definitely the better way to go.</p>