Wait... why is Heavy for essential

[gurgar78]

I think at the point where a person says both that heavy fort shouldn't be considered a necessity and that wizards are the hardest class to solo with that you have to assume they're trolling for a reaction and not at all serious.

[Yazston_the_Invoker]

Wizard is the hardest class to solo... i am not soloing

Wait...WHAT?

I have solo'd quests on my wizzie that I wouldn't even DREAM of on my fighters and barbs. Heck, some quests are easier on my human wizzie than on my human FvS...

I'm not going to say it's the easiest, (18/2 WF wizzie not withstanding) but it's right up there. Methinks perhaps you just haven't yet realized your full potential. Perhaps if you got some heavy fort and did something to draw some aggro...

[k1ngp1n]

You wait til 14

Many brand new players do not necessarily know to, immediately at level 11, have 20 taps ready and waiting. They also probably don't have the plat on hand to pick up a stack of 20 once they're told. I give them the benefit of a doubt for 2-3 levels out of 'niceness' I suppose, since HF is not a 'your char is gonna die' until Gianthold. Somewhere around there I start showing no mercy.

Personally my characters all get HF at level 8.

[justagame]

As someone who plays divine casters a lot, I can answer the OP's question from a healing perspective.

Healing in high level encounters is all about managing the timing of cool-downs (and resources). I can't tell you how many times I've been healing a massed group of melees, and suddenly the wizard gets low on health. So I quickly change targets, zap the wiz with a heal, and get back to the melees. Many things can delay my getting to the wizard: The melees need another quick mass cure, I am in the middle of a long mass heal animation, the wizard is blocked -- you name it. Sometimes I'll scrollheal for the one-offs, to preserve mana for the mass heals (and scrolls take longer to cast, and can occasionally be interrupted).

What this means is, if the wizard can't survive more than a few seconds without being healed, he endangers the party's chances of success. With fortification, damage is more predictable -- I can see the rate that someone is losing health. Without fortification, many toons can be two-shotted. (It will of course be the cleric's fault that they got 2-shotted, but I digress...) So now I have to choose between a lengthy rez of the wizard, during which time the melees might need healing, or let the wiz stay dead and miss out on his (often valuable and necessary) contributions. Heavy fort can mean the difference between a quick death, and staying alive long enough for the party to keep fighting.

It's not just wizards, and it's not just heavy fort, it applies to hit points, and damage and aggro mitigation strategies. Excluding hero tank situations, any time 1/6 of the party requires 3/4 of the cleric's attention, and can't survive more than a few seconds without it, it isn't going to end well.

[Rodasch]

The simple answer is this: If you don't have Heavy Fort and have never had it...instead of arguing about it, go get a heavy fort item and try it out for a few days and see how much more survivable you are. I guarantee that if you're not a complete fool you'll be sold on Heavy Fort by the end of that time.

[Ebonta]

~Snip
Wizard is the hardest class to solo... i am not soloing

Wizard is one of the easiest classes to solo with. I can solo quests in Amrath on mine.

[moops]

Except for Dueragar in elite Relic of a Sovereign Past, I can't think of many things that will one-shot you with a crit. Arraetrikos in Shroud Elite can't even do 200 damage with a melee crit, neither can elite Suulomades or Epic Lailat, and Horoth can only just do it on Normal (that's an extra high damage crit). Epic Velah and Elite Horoth are the only raid bosses that can crit for 250.

It's more that you die to quick unexpected bursts of damage without fortification.

If you take five hits from Mummies in Epic Wiz-King in rapid succession, that's about 300-350 damage with heavy fort. Survivable every single time on a typical Wiz20.

If you don't have heavy fort, sometimes none will crit and you'll take 300-350 damage and live. Sometimes one will crit and you'll take about 400 damage, and it will be dicey. Seldom three will crit, and you'll be a bloodstain on the floor. Three crits only seldom happens, but it DOES HAPPEN. Just like Vorpals proccing - it seldom happens on a given roll, but over a quest, it happens a lot.

Dotn forget that in the mid level ranges even up to lvl 16 some casters are running around with less than 100 HP- Many at 70-80-- My TR cleric is currently lvl 14, and im watching alot of flesh casters get one shotted.

[stille_nacht]

there is only one kind of wizard that can survive more than a few seconds when being beaten on, a WF wis, find ANY elven or drow wizard specced for enchantments and see how long they last against anything. If your wizards consistantly not standing behind you and doing what wizards do, nuke/hold from the back, then you probably shouldnt heal them. It does not take crits to drop a wizard fast in epic i assure you -_-. If they are wf pale masters, its a different story.

i dont have 300 hp, i have 276, like i said, surrounded by anything on higher end quests, im a goner.

note: i dont have WF :[ (being the reason why my wizard is hard to solo)

also, i picked up an ancient band yesterday and decided to wear it , so yeah i have heavy fort now, just dont understand why it was uber-essential, its never been a problem before...

[Talon_Moonshadow]

there is only one kind of wizard that can survive more than a few seconds when being beaten on, a WF wis, find ANY elven or drow wizard specced for enchantments and see how long they last against anything. If your wizards consistantly not standing behind you and doing what wizards do, nuke/hold from the back, then you probably shouldnt heal them. It does not take crits to drop a wizard fast in epic i assure you -_-. If they are wf pale masters, its a different story.

i dont have 300 hp, i have 276, like i said, surrounded by anything on higher end quests, im a goner.

note: i dont have WF :[ (being the reason why my wizard is hard to solo)

also, i picked up an ancient band yesterday and decided to wear it , so yeah i have heavy fort now, just dont understand why it was uber-essential, its never been a problem before...

Uhmmm....that's not true.
And it doesn't really take a lot of HP either.

A Wiz should be loaded down with buffs. Stoneskin, Displacement being the two biggies for melee attacks.

Then there is just getting out of reach (or you could shield block too)
Jump Haste.

And last (or first) is Crowd Control.
The Wiz should be able to stop them from beating on him.
Hypnoi s great for doing that so you can move away. Otto's for a single opponent is fabulous. Mass Hold eventually. Or charm them......all kinds of options.

Soloing is a little different of course. But some of the best soloers are Wizards. And WF just has a couple immunities and few more HP. (and Self healing) Nice but not such a big deal. Mostly is just makes for cheaper faster healing.

[Bilger]

there is only one kind of wizard that can survive more than a few seconds when being beaten on, a WF wis, find ANY elven or drow wizard specced for enchantments and see how long they last against anything. If your wizards consistantly not standing behind you and doing what wizards do, nuke/hold from the back, then you probably shouldnt heal them. It does not take crits to drop a wizard fast in epic i assure you -_-. If they are wf pale masters, its a different story.

i dont have 300 hp, i have 276, like i said, surrounded by anything on higher end quests, im a goner.

note: i dont have WF :[ (being the reason why my wizard is hard to solo)

also, i picked up an ancient band yesterday and decided to wear it , so yeah i have heavy fort now, just dont understand why it was uber-essential, its never been a problem before...

Was going to leave this post alone and refrain from answering because many already have and it is plain stupid not to have hf.

Especially on a wizard as if you are not getting aggro and just standing in the back you are pure useless.

Now I have a Pale Master Wizard Human and can solo easily and healing is so easy. 30-70 ticks every 2 seconds from death aura is beautiful

I run ahead in my groups usually getting aggro and letting people pull everything off or blocking and letting them kill while my aura and other spells heal me. Saves sp on healer and usually makes quest extremely easy with no usage to healer.

Seriously HF is essential if I tried that without it death would be quick especially with the aggro I pull

[Sirea]

there is only one kind of wizard that can survive more than a few seconds when being beaten on, a WF wis,

http://my.ddo.com/character/ghallanda/sohryu/

She actually has 417 base HP now wearing the Epic Robe of Shadow, but myDDO is still not updating.

I will be happy to take screenshots if you still doubt my drow's survivability.

[stille_nacht]

Was going to leave this post alone and refrain from answering because many already have and it is plain stupid not to have hf.

Especially on a wizard as if you are not getting aggro and just standing in the back you are pure useless.

Now I have a Pale Master Wizard Human and can solo easily and healing is so easy. 30-70 ticks every 2 seconds from death aura is beautiful

I run ahead in my groups usually getting aggro and letting people pull everything off or blocking and letting them kill while my aura and other spells heal me. Saves sp on healer and usually makes quest extremely easy with no usage to healer.

Seriously HF is essential if I tried that without it death would be quick especially with the aggro I pull

i am, as repeatedly stated above, not a pm. i have stated that the arguments dont apply to pm. pm gets heavy fort automatically anyway. pm have more hp, and self heals. pm are different from archmages.

to poster above, i only managed to get my wiz's hp up to 262 :[, but if you have >400 hp, wouldnt heay fort be even less useful? even 2 crits in a row wouldnt kill you, and i assume you arent drawing aggro intentionally? unless you are a pm.

also, i have 25 tapestry pieces (thanks cheese!), but the guy keeps saying i need 20 when i talk to him -__

[Inferno346]

You will need to take the taps out of the tap bag for the minos-giver to give you the minos.

[IgorHackNSlasher]

So yeah, i always figured that- get hit 6-10 times, you are dead already anyway.

as a wizard, i should never have the mob's aggro in the first place. and in those few cases i do, just normal hits, not crits are the big issue.

why then, is Heavy fortification consider so uber- needed for wiz?

note: if you have a 479 hp palemaster who melees, the above does not apply to you

At higher levels if you dont have the mobs aggro your doing something wrong. As soon as you get FW the arcane is the main damage dealer in a lot of groups. The difference from GH up is if you take 80+ on a crit or 300+. So to avoid getting one shotted EVERYONE needs heavy fort.

[Sirea]

to poster above, i only managed to get my wiz's hp up to 262 :[, but if you have >400 hp, wouldnt heay fort be even less useful? even 2 crits in a row wouldnt kill you, and i assume you arent drawing aggro intentionally? unless you are a pm.

My wizard is 2 1/2 years old, rolled way before the wizard prestige enhancements. She only fairly recently became a Pale Master, and I was resistant to the change at first because I rarely had problems with survivability. She has none of the subtle spellcasting enhancements, if I pull aggro, oh well. I don't intentionally NOT try to get aggro. She's always had Toughness, not just because it's a Lich form prereq. She's always had heavy fort, to protect against those moments when sh*t hits the fan. Heavy fort increases survivability, period, and I wear it even while in Lich stance because I like drinking the Yugoloth favor +2 INT pots whose side effect is -50% fort.

I think I hit all your points and then some. If you would like a HP breakdown for Sohryu I can do that too.

[Oran_Lathor]

Your caster is squishy and badly made. Others aren't. Live with it, or take the advice offered in answer to your question and fix it, OP.

That's all.

[Emili]

there is only one kind of wizard that can survive more than a few seconds when being beaten on, a WF wis, find ANY elven or drow wizard specced for enchantments and see how long they last against anything. If your wizards consistantly not standing behind you and doing what wizards do, nuke/hold from the back, then you probably shouldnt heal them. It does not take crits to drop a wizard fast in epic i assure you -_-. If they are wf pale masters, its a different story.

i dont have 300 hp, i have 276, like i said, surrounded by anything on higher end quests, im a goner.

note: i dont have WF :[ (being the reason why my wizard is hard to solo)

also, i picked up an ancient band yesterday and decided to wear it , so yeah i have heavy fort now, just dont understand why it was uber-essential, its never been a problem before...

My level 20 elf wizard is just over 400hp and does fine - yes she old - the nice thing about WF however is self healing, I'll assure you I torq all the time and get hit a lot in the iterim - easily more than a few seconds. Two things to remember about arcane classes - 1. HP are more important on them then on a barb... 2. They are arguably by far the most versitile class (due spells) than any in ddo - they adjust to situations well.

[Battlehawke]

I would never run a toon w/o Fortification, and always upgrade to the heavy ASAP. Heavy obviously is much better than Moderate, but if you are really against it, or want to to prove a point, make sure that you announce to every group that you join that you do NOT wear ANY fortification items because you think they are unnecessary. You may be suprised by the reactions that you get..... You may find that eventually people will stop rezzing you.


.....ultimatly...play the way that you enjoy it....

Thanks
Battlehawke

[Zachski]

You may find that eventually people will stop rezzing you.

Assuming that they rez you in the first place.

[Requiro]

Assuming that they rez you in the first place.

Assuming that they won't kick you from group in the first place