Wait... why is Heavy for essential

[stille_nacht]

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

And then the other people say:
a: lol, crit traps
b: lol, crit arrows
c: lol, one shots from normal hits

a: getting hit by a trap at higher lvs? doesnt have to be a crit -_-, if you are an archmage /ding!
b: arrows do not one shot me, so for crits to make a difference, there would have to be 4-5 in a row, which is... unlikely
c: same thing as above, normal mobs cant one shot me, so if i am getting hit 3-4 times for another crit to be likely at all, i am probably gonna die anyway, very soon. Its not an issue of kiting, 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

[NeutronStar]

Heavy Fort is needed for EVERYONE.

That's it, end of story.

[Entelech]

Heavy Fort is essential because a monster that kills you in 6 hits with it can kill you in two hits without it, if it gets lucky.

A healer can keep you standing in the first scenario. Not in the second.

[voodoogroves]

Plenty of quests beyond the desert have either archers in groups who will hit you multiple times in a row.

Not all creatures are shooting little bows with x2 crits. Those duergar are wielding picks, not sure you noticed.

Sometimes as the wizard you absolutely WANT aggro.

Heavy fort for everyone is about predictability. Even if your red bar appears to decline at a higher rate because you have less HP in general, huge spikes downward can destabilize the natural cadence of input/output. If you can manage that YOURSELF and not be a problem for the party, go nuts. If you can't and you're relying on someone else AND can't cover your own spikey-inbound-damage, you're a liability.



So, if you can cover your spikes and not impact your party by dying, etc. - all you. If no one notices, you're in good shape. The problem is that most people can't cover that reduced fort themselves. Covering it the 75% of the time when it is a non-issue is trivial - you need to be able to cover it consistently.

[Tuney]

Heavy fort is required for players and builds that are going to be in constant melee combat and players that don't know how to stay out of melee combat as a non melee type charater... or an archer that knows when to stay still and pulled agro on the last living mob.

Moderate fort is survivable if you are very good at staying out of combat yet won't be a piker. Basicly you are eather a heal bot , your DC's are so high that the mobs only save on like an 18+, or just plain crazy.

But basicly you need one or the other.

[Phidius]

Heavy fort is required for players and builds that are going to be in constant melee combat and players that don't know how to stay out of melee combat as a non melee type charater...

And there will be times when the only way to stay out of melee combat is to either not accept the raise, or hang out on your guild airship.

[Xaearth]

Its not an issue of kiting, 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.

Then you're doing it wrong.

Unless you're nothing but a buff-bot who pikes the quest, you can and will get aggro.

Every time you die, the following happens:
1) Your persistent spells (firewall, any crowd control, etc.) die
2) You lose all of the buffs on yourself (costs sp to rebuff)
3) You make it more difficult for the group if you were doing anything beneficial in the first place

You say it takes 3-4 normal hits to kill you? Okay, say a crit itself can't kill you.
A mob hits you once, then crits, there's a good chance you're now dead if you aren't wearing Heavy Fortification.

[voodoogroves]

And there will be times when the only way to stay out of melee combat is to either not accept the raise, or hang out on your guild airship.

Don't be that guy.

[sirgog]

Heavy fort is important because unlike other MMOs, you won't have a 'tank' dedicated to holding aggro in 90% of quests. Even when you do have a traditional tank, they will be focusing on boss aggro, not trash mob aggro, so you will be attacked there too. You will have aggro, a lot, and will be quite difficult to keep alive if you don't have Heavy Fort.

[voodoogroves]

Like say through a mass of orthons all glancing/cleaving in the confined space of VoD.

[moops]

Heavy Fort is a Must For Everyone--barring WF who get Heavy Fort with a Mod Fort item.

My caster, always tried to BE the aggro magnet, and it made it much easier to run quests without a Healer. Im a WF tho, so could throw a firewall, stand in it, block and heal myself.

I can't imagine soloing without HF. And these people are bring nice saying it will take 2 shots to kill you without HF--As a Healer I can tell you that as a caster without HF you will get 1 shotted quite a bit and Ill never be able to do anything to try to save you, it is instant.

[sweez]

Sometimes as the wizard you absolutely WANT aggro.

This. Oh, and if you're soloing, guess who's got the aggro. If you're never solo with your caster... why'd you roll a caster?

And there will be times when the only way to stay out of melee combat is to either not accept the raise, or hang out on your guild airship.

This.

[lekkus]

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

I have a 457 Hp wiz. I also have a torc and concordant opposition. Those popular items don't work with jumping up and down a lot. They work when I get hit. And as I can get hit a few times with no problem with heavy fort, self repairing as well, often I don't mind it one bit.

However when I run an epic or one of the more tougher quests, I can get hit for 60-100 each with heavy fort. In some off those quests I have to get in the fray of things for a dance/whatever or kiting. With the erratic behaviour of monsters, like devils or orthons or a spell that gets resisted, there is no way I can avoid getting hit now and then. With 457 hp unbuffed, without heavy fort and 1 crit I would be dead in one shot. Simple.

[clkpacker]

as a wizard, i should never have the mob's aggro in the first place.

Luck favors the prepared--even in the (rather ill-conceived) scenario of you never wanting aggro, you should be prepared to deal with it should it come your way. Part of being prepared is insuring you can stay upright, and ideally keep killing, while the melees work to strip off your aggro. And if you're getting beat on by a trash mob, even a single crit can take you out.

A more prudent question might be--why not get heavy fort? Heavy fort items can go in just about every slot, and in mid-high levels heavy fort items come with other effects attached--what's so important that you can't sacrifice a slot?

[donfilibuster]

Fortification is not just for meleeing, is for everything that can crit like spells and traps.
Specially when you are held, stunned or otherwise helpless and the mobs will autocrit you for a fast death.
Also seems to work with being harried for the same reason.
And yeah notice those orcs with falchions and dwarves with picks, etc.

[Memnir]

It's needed, if nothing else, to respect your teammates. See, when you die from a lucky crit... you cost them 10% XP.

Not to mention you should have it out of respect of for the healer who may be trying in vain to keep you alive. The spellpoints can run out pretty quickly when there is a low/no fort person in the group, especially when they are a low-HP class like a caster - I can tell ya that from experience.

Not to mention out of respect for your gear, that will get chewed up fast when you keep dying from not having heavy fort. Please note, that's not an if - but a when.

Lastly, you should have Heavy Fort out of respect for the monsters. See, they like a challenge - and when (again, this is not an if) they one-shot you they think killing you was just too easy and it kinda bums em out. And yes, if you are doing a half-way decent job at wizarding, you will have agro and risk that one-shot.


The only good thing about you not having/wanting heavy fort is that Soul Stones don't have any weight, so it's easy to tote one around.

[Stormanne]

Fortification is not just for meleeing, is for everything that can crit like spells and traps.
Specially when you are held, stunned or otherwise helpless and the mobs will autocrit you for a fast death.
Also seems to work with being harried for the same reason.
And yeah notice those orcs with falchions and dwarves with picks, etc.

This, except for the fort helping against spells...it doesn't...

[Lorien_the_First_One]

Heavy Fort is a Must For Everyone--barring WF who get Heavy Fort with a Mod Fort item.

HF still required on WF so that they can get the new bard song and still be at 100% fort.

[Lorien_the_First_One]

Its not an issue of kiting, as a wizard, i should never have the mob's aggro in the first place.

You're wrong here, you SHOULD frequently have mob agro. Heck some sorcs & wizards take intim. You want them to stay in your big hot firewall so you want them ****ed at you, and if your WF is working, it should keep them ****ed at you.

Learn to shield block or play jumping frog, put on heavy fort, and displace yourself, con is NOT a dumpstat and you should have +con +false life items on your and have taken toughness.

There, now you are a caster.

[Chazzie]

I also in the past kinda thought on the same lines as the op,Till a Vet bud back then asked me to roll a Barb & run him till 9th lvl and do a solo run in Tear on Hard with a HF item ,Then redo Tear without the HF item also on hard....Needless to say I found out a HF Item is kinda like your American Express Card~You Never Enter a Quest Without It !!!! Back then of course we didnt have the DS and whatnot....Tear use to be fun and rough sometimes & it was my Fav of a loot run at one time.....