Caster Mobs

[Ozzlar]

Not going to argue, or break it down into a debate..

I just think the caster mobs that can blind, root, and dot like a shaman should not be able to double attack for 25 dmg when they're level 15. Not a big deal to me now because I know which caster mobs to just not bother with and I move on to the melee mobs near them that grant the same experience, with no hassle.

 

[Nuncio]

Heres the deal.
Caster mobs may seem overpowered to a soloer or duo team, but they fall MUCH faster to a full group. Take elds for example.
With the wizards and guards there, I try not to duo the casters, or i use my shammy to dot the hell out of so they die really fast, because those 600 and 1100 nukes can really wear you down if they are allowed to live for very long.
The guards, not a problem. They take a bit longer to kill, but their damage output is relatively low compared to the wizards.
That all changes in a decent group of 4 or more though. Wizzies die so fast they can get one, maybe 2 nukes off before they are dead, they are really quite easy with a group. The guards still take time to kill with the same group.
The situation changes, basically, with the amount of damage a group can do.
It's impossible to balance then for a solo/dou situation without making them totally trivial to a group, much more so than non-caster mobs.

Also, use the right tools for the right job. Scrounge up or buy some resist gear if you know you are going to be fighting caster mobs. Switch out your resist gear with your regular gear when needed. My tank does. On live, i carried around 2 whole sets of armour and gear, one resist, one HP/AC. It helps. With good resists, you can beat those caster mobs down like a read headed stepchild.

Cliff notes:
Regular mobs easier than caster mobs in solo or duo situations
regular mobs harder than caster mobs in group situations
Balance requires that the casters appear overpowered to a solo or duo team.

 

[Thinkmeats]

I solo 75% of the time because I don't like getting stuck in newbie groups, and I NEED full mana to POSSIBLY take a caster that's three levels lower than me when I can take a melee of the same level and type with 30-50m.

This is probably because your class better at killing melee mobs than caster ones. If you took a generic warrior mob, increased his base speed to SoW speed and lowered his hp to 3/4 of normal, wouldn't that make him harder for you to solo? That same change would make him *easier* for many other classes to solo.

From my own experience, I prefer to solo caster mobs to warrior ones. The caster will ofttimes stop hitting my pet to cast at me, I resist almost everything he throws, I can relaibly interrupt him, I can steal his mana and just drain away what I don't steal, and otherwise completely manhandle him. Hell, I don't even bother slowing caster mobs since they spend so much time with sparklies coming out their hands only to end in "A_foo's casting has been interrupted!".

This is no different than the fact that some classes have an easier time with others in pvp, sort of papper-scissors-rock style; when comparing classes 1 to 1, you're gonna end up with that situation pretty often.

 

[nuven]

from my personal experience so far on WR caster mobs can melee way too well for their level... that is about it... their health isn't so bad... simple observation... sorry to interrupt the flow of discussion <3

 

[Devook]

I solo 75% of the time because I don't like getting stuck in newbie groups, and I NEED full mana to POSSIBLY take a caster that's three levels lower than me when I can take a melee of the same level and type with 30-50m.

This is probably because your class better at killing melee mobs than caster ones. If you took a generic warrior mob, increased his base speed to SoW speed and lowered his hp to 3/4 of normal, wouldn't that make him harder for you to solo? That same change would make him *easier* for many other classes to solo.

From my own experience, I prefer to solo caster mobs to warrior ones. The caster will ofttimes stop hitting my pet to cast at me, I resist almost everything he throws, I can relaibly interrupt him, I can steal his mana and just drain away what I don't steal, and otherwise completely manhandle him. Hell, I don't even bother slowing caster mobs since they spend so much time with sparklies coming out their hands only to end in "A_foo's casting has been interrupted!".

This is no different than the fact that some classes have an easier time with others in pvp, sort of papper-scissors-rock style; when comparing classes 1 to 1, you're gonna end up with that situation pretty often.

My experience has been that caster mobs are much more annoying to fight across the board. Nobody wants to pull a mage because the pet likes to beat on the casters. Nobody wants to pull a cleric because - eventually - they CH along with chain-stunning and nukes. Nobody wants to pull a chanter because they AE stun the melees and mez the cleric while they pound the tank down with double-attacks or worse. Sure if you have a paladin, cleric, chanter, wizard, and two dps in your group you should be able to handle a caster easily, but WR groups are composed of whomever you can find to put together a group. This isn't EQLive where at any given time there are 3 of every class LFG; you take what you can get.

 

[Thinkmeats]

:words:

The vast majority of those problems can be solved by having decent resists, mostly just decent MR. If you aren't a class that can cast Resist Magic, buy one of those infinite clicky MR scrolls. There's a reason so many people have 'em. The only thing that can't fix is the cleric CHing hisself, but that comes out to about a wash. Most fights he stops swinging early and spends his time uselessly leaking white circles, but sometimes he goes for round 2, and it's about the same time overall.

It's all good, though. I'm not gonna argue theoryquest; just go with what works. I personally doubt caster mobs will be weakened any further, but it isn't my call.

 

[Fenilin]

Casters don't bother me much. I just chain stun em while beating them down. They hardly get any spells off at all.