What is this wizard's stigma?

[inggold]

The fact that you plan to blow several shards to make yourself into an AM that can contribute DC wise is hilarious.

You obviously recognize it is necessary. So AGAIN, you gimped yourself to this point for cheap casts of.. blur and displacement? Really?

Why wouldn't you do the build you plan to become in the first place?






PS Even when you DO use all those shards, you STILL don't have reliable self healing, and STILL won't be able to hit the anywhere near DC's of a Pale Master for Necro...and obviously have no plans to nuke what with Evocation being useless to you.... so plan to kill by... Halitosis? And save yourself from a failed mass hold and the incoming aggro by... a bazillion concentration on a Heal scroll cast? I don't know how to put it nicer, as it is meant to be something of a wakeup call - and one I got myself in my first life. Those are important things you are giving up by choice.

[Dematto]

Who said anything about being PM at level 20? Archmage will be level 20, focused on enchantment. Nothing to do with pale master.

Err...You did. Right here.

As I stated before, the point where I need to be a buff wizard is over, in which case I am switching to PM

I apologize for misunderstanding your words. I really am trying to be on your side here. That's why I went and checked your DC as if you were PM, so you'd know what you needed to utilize high-success enchants and be able to get an idea of what you might need to work for so you could support your position of "easily reachable 44-45". I honestly wanted to strengthen your case.

[bartosy]

people always find holes in your toon

Yuu can build a barb with 850 hp and 80 str and improved
sunder and people still complain about your healing amp even
if it is above 100%.. just because they are used healing there
super friends barbs with epic claw gloves and 150% healing
amp it feels your a brick for them to heal..

it's not you it's just others.. theyre so used to playing with
super optimal that they shrug back from anything out of the ordinary
that might jeorpardize there exp/min train..

enchantmant is a viable spec for a wizard

[Futility]

I know, I'm late to this party, and I shouldn't really be talking, since I don't play anymore...
However, I'd like to quote my own post from almost a year ago, that might change your mind:

My last life I was an Illusionist Archmage, so my thoughts come from actual hands-on experience.

Illusion Archmage Pro's:

+ low cost Phantasmal Killer SLA(10SP)
+ can be paired with with PK spell (with the benefits of +4 Illusion DC's) for 2 quick kills
+ feasible to use with Echoes of Power in emergencies
+ fringe benefits of having cheap Invisibility (!!), Blur, Displacement (!)

Illusion Archmage Con's:

- Illusion SLA's are on a standard 6 sec timer, don't expect to be able to buff up all party members on the cheap quickly
- PK SLA is a 6 sec timer, single-target spell, so it needs to be paired with other spells for faster killing
- PK SLA + PK spell works, but if PK Spell is cast first, its cooldown will prevent SLA from being cast, which is very annoying.
. To make things worse, there is no visual indication of this - the PK SLA icon is not grayed out.
- no AoE insta-kill spells (would be more viable if Circle of Death belonged to Illusion School)
- opportunity cost of not boosting DC's of Necro School, which has a better single-target and
. 2 AoE insta-kills spells, PLUS Undeath to Death, which works on Undead


Phantasmal Killer annoyances when compared to Finger of Death:

- PK's cast distance is SHORTER than that of FoD

- PK range of legitimate targets is narrower than that of FoD.
Target has to be intelligent for PK to work, but that definition is a bit kooky and not always obvious in DDO.
For example, Air/Fire/Earth Elementals are deemed intelligent and the spell works.
It works on some scorpions and spiders, but not the others (works on demonic scorps, crimsonfoot spiders in Vale, but not the regular trash ones).
To make things worse, the spell can still be cast even when the target is invalid.
You will waste your mana, and the only clue that the spell doesn't work would be a blue Spell Resistance shield (the one you get when SP check fails).
This will drive you crazy. The switch to Finger of Death will save your sanity.


FINAL VERDICT: Not worth it. Go with Necromancy.

[HungarianRhapsody]

Since the Wizard -> Wizard TR is one of the nicest improvements you can make, you could just TR as soon as you get your Torc and are 20th level (I mention the second requirement because it's theoretically possible to pull a Torc before you hit 20 even though the number of times that it actually happens per server can be counted on one finger).

That way, you can redo all of your feats without having to burn any Siberys dragonshards.

[Optimization]

Since I JUST put up my build, which is similar to yours in the fact we both enjoy CCing I'm just going to jump in. Even though I am a newb, which means this will probably be ignored.

If you are going to use a "sub-optimal" build when running with people who view optimal as the best thing ever must have it you are setting yourself up for disaster. I run with people who take advantage *cough* of my lvl4 CCs and enjoy having me around. I'm not going to waste time partying with someone who deems my build utter **** because it's different. I know it's not optimal, I know my damage sucks but I can CC things while you beat on them. Meanwhile, I'll throw an AoE or use my wand while looking at the pretty little webs now covering my screen. Some people don't want to party with me and that's totally ok and I respect them for wanting the best and having a jolly 'ol time being the best. But sometimes, that's just not how I wanna play and my Wizard is one of those times.

If you enjoy your playstyle, awesome, but don't try to push it on other people because you are setting a double standard. And setting future CCers, be it in the form of Bard, Cleric Wiz or Sorc up with a bad name because we all will now whine on a message board about how we aren't accepted by an optimal team when we in fact, aren't.