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Am I just bad at the game?

1
AuthorMessage
Survivor
Dec 10, 2011
30
Before I begin, let me just say that I don't want a player to walk around with me and fight with me. I just want advice. I hire a henchmen in every fight, even mobs so I want to be stronger. I try to wear the strongest gear, but at lvl. 49 I just have 2,817 health. I am balance, so I do better in a group fight anyway. If anyone has advice please help!

Historian
May 28, 2009
653
2817 health for a level 49 isn't bad. The best thing is to try battling without thinking about losing. Just try your best! Tr y making a deck that helps you the best with certain mob!

Hero
Jul 30, 2012
771
You should not be losing all the time, and you certainly should not need henchmen. Basic survival at your level should not be a big issue. If you are finding the area too tough go back to some other worlds and level up by doing side quests. A few wizard levels can make a significant difference.

It is also possible you are missing a main game concept, making the game unreasonably difficult.

1. Make sure you understand the spell deck. You can purchase and equip a better deck and select whatever spells to be in your deck. When in battle you can right click on spell cards you probably will not want in this battle. This frees up space for usefull spells.

2. Make sure you are wearing decent gear for your level. You do not need crown gear or crafted gear to survive at your level. Go to the bazaar and make sure you have the best possible gear you can get. Don't worry about color or appearances, just get good gear. (You can stitch gear with good stats to stuff that looks nice at the seamstress in wizard city commons).

3. Understand the pips concept. Gold 'power' pips function as two pip for your school spells only. So its more effecient to use your own school spells. Off school spells that require 3 pips or more are a big waste of power pips.

4. Many blades and traps cost zero pips to cast and increase damage of attack spells. Build up your pips using these zero pip spells.

5. Careful about getting bogged down with casting protective shields and health spells. Every round you do this the enemy is preparing or actively attacking.

6. In solo battle it is usually easier and safer to defeat one enemy at a time. And single attack spells do more damage than multi-target (AoE) spells. Reduce the enemies. 1vs1 is much easier than 1vs2.

Survivor
Dec 10, 2011
30
RottenHeart on Mar 8, 2013 wrote:
You should not be losing all the time, and you certainly should not need henchmen. Basic survival at your level should not be a big issue. If you are finding the area too tough go back to some other worlds and level up by doing side quests. A few wizard levels can make a significant difference.

It is also possible you are missing a main game concept, making the game unreasonably difficult.

1. Make sure you understand the spell deck. You can purchase and equip a better deck and select whatever spells to be in your deck. When in battle you can right click on spell cards you probably will not want in this battle. This frees up space for usefull spells.

2. Make sure you are wearing decent gear for your level. You do not need crown gear or crafted gear to survive at your level. Go to the bazaar and make sure you have the best possible gear you can get. Don't worry about color or appearances, just get good gear. (You can stitch gear with good stats to stuff that looks nice at the seamstress in wizard city commons).

3. Understand the pips concept. Gold 'power' pips function as two pip for your school spells only. So its more effecient to use your own school spells. Off school spells that require 3 pips or more are a big waste of power pips.

4. Many blades and traps cost zero pips to cast and increase damage of attack spells. Build up your pips using these zero pip spells.

5. Careful about getting bogged down with casting protective shields and health spells. Every round you do this the enemy is preparing or actively attacking.

6. In solo battle it is usually easier and safer to defeat one enemy at a time. And single attack spells do more damage than multi-target (AoE) spells. Reduce the enemies. 1vs1 is much easier than 1vs2.
I would like to thank everyone who has given advice. Since then I have become a lvl. 50 wizard with almost 2,900 health. I managed to take out some Dragonspyre guys, but right now I'm in Celestia! If anyone has anymore advice, I would really want to hear it. I just have one more question: in future worlds will more than two monsters gang up on you? This might be be a little off topic, but if that is so I might be doomed, and if it is so then some of the ideas listed above might not work. And any advice on soloing bosses? Thanks again

Defender
Jan 01, 2009
155
Fishburt700 on Mar 6, 2013 wrote:
Before I begin, let me just say that I don't want a player to walk around with me and fight with me. I just want advice. I hire a henchmen in every fight, even mobs so I want to be stronger. I try to wear the strongest gear, but at lvl. 49 I just have 2,817 health. I am balance, so I do better in a group fight anyway. If anyone has advice please help!
Rottenheart has given you some good advice. If you need more, hie thee over to Wizard Central 101.com.
There be many helpful and extremely smart wizards that are more than willing to take the time to help you understand what you seek.
Michael Nightgem, Necromancer

Survivor
Jan 23, 2013
43
You are too paranoid of losing, it affect the way you fight. I have no idea why you need henchmen for every battle, you should be able to take out enemies easily by yourself. For me, I think henchmen should only be used for boss battles. I think the things that determine win or lose are gear and power pip chance, not henchmen. Make sure to get the best items you can get at your level, and if there is something that is one level away from yours, just buy it, then when you turn the next level, you can use it. Balance is a great school that can use attacks from all other schools, so you can always find your way to an enemies weakness.

Geographer
Feb 19, 2010
935
RottenHeart on Mar 8, 2013 wrote:
You should not be losing all the time, and you certainly should not need henchmen. Basic survival at your level should not be a big issue. If you are finding the area too tough go back to some other worlds and level up by doing side quests. A few wizard levels can make a significant difference.

It is also possible you are missing a main game concept, making the game unreasonably difficult.

1. Make sure you understand the spell deck. You can purchase and equip a better deck and select whatever spells to be in your deck. When in battle you can right click on spell cards you probably will not want in this battle. This frees up space for usefull spells.

2. Make sure you are wearing decent gear for your level. You do not need crown gear or crafted gear to survive at your level. Go to the bazaar and make sure you have the best possible gear you can get. Don't worry about color or appearances, just get good gear. (You can stitch gear with good stats to stuff that looks nice at the seamstress in wizard city commons).

3. Understand the pips concept. Gold 'power' pips function as two pip for your school spells only. So its more effecient to use your own school spells. Off school spells that require 3 pips or more are a big waste of power pips.

4. Many blades and traps cost zero pips to cast and increase damage of attack spells. Build up your pips using these zero pip spells.

5. Careful about getting bogged down with casting protective shields and health spells. Every round you do this the enemy is preparing or actively attacking.

6. In solo battle it is usually easier and safer to defeat one enemy at a time. And single attack spells do more damage than multi-target (AoE) spells. Reduce the enemies. 1vs1 is much easier than 1vs2.
Rotten is correct, go and level a bit and the world you are in will get a bit easier.

Adherent
Jul 03, 2010
2634
Fishburt700 on Mar 8, 2013 wrote:
I would like to thank everyone who has given advice. Since then I have become a lvl. 50 wizard with almost 2,900 health. I managed to take out some Dragonspyre guys, but right now I'm in Celestia! If anyone has anymore advice, I would really want to hear it. I just have one more question: in future worlds will more than two monsters gang up on you? This might be be a little off topic, but if that is so I might be doomed, and if it is so then some of the ideas listed above might not work. And any advice on soloing bosses? Thanks again
I think there is a fight in Aztecia that requires you to battle 3 monsters but it's a spell quest. The end of world dungeons are another example of more then 2 in your fight.

Otherwise 1 wizard against 2 monsters is pretty much the norm for regular and boss fights unless someone else joins in.

Squire
Jul 28, 2011
599
If you are balance, deck set up is key here. I'm a balance wizard also, a level 73 one.

So deck set up:

Keep your deck not full, but not barley any cards, around halfway.
Have as much sheilds, traps, blades, and charms as damage spells
Change your deck to which kind of enemy you are fighting. If your fighting life, death, or myth, use spirit armor, if your fighting ice, fire, or storm, use elemental shield. And alot of them

Deck set up isn't just the only thing. Get good gear. Get boosts and universal resist. They are what keep people alive in battles. Pets can also boost

And last - try getting a pet that has a may cast spritely talent. That means it will cast a spritely any time on its own, with out your help.

Good luck!

P.S. sorry if anyone mentioned these tips before

Adherent
Jul 03, 2010
2634
Fishburt700 on Mar 8, 2013 wrote:
I would like to thank everyone who has given advice. Since then I have become a lvl. 50 wizard with almost 2,900 health. I managed to take out some Dragonspyre guys, but right now I'm in Celestia! If anyone has anymore advice, I would really want to hear it. I just have one more question: in future worlds will more than two monsters gang up on you? This might be be a little off topic, but if that is so I might be doomed, and if it is so then some of the ideas listed above might not work. And any advice on soloing bosses? Thanks again
At level 50 you can start the Sun spells (fists), that start with Giant I believe, you don't have to take the accuracy ones to progress though to Colossus on these. They helped me boost my regular school spells.

They start in the pit there in the base camp, continue on the Floating land and the last is in Drum Jungle in Zafaria.

This guide has been very helpful for me to learn how Balance can work.

http://wizard.mercenaries101.com/the-broken-mold-how-to-thrive-as-balance-in-the-new-paradigms/

Archon
Feb 07, 2011
3175
my balance wizard is level 90~ because she was my first wizard, she was also my learning curve in which i figured out what to do (and what not to do) in-game. i struggled with her until she was level 60, but it only got easier from there.

worth noting:

~it takes a very-specific personality to play balance well. i don't have it, but i've learned to make the best of what i have.

~it's hard for balance wizards to achieve balanced (pun intended) stats in all areas. once you hit level 60, your waterworks gear was (and still is) the best available, though you may have to mix and match a bit to find a combo that works.

~deck setup is everything. at level 49, here's what's most effective:

-1 balanceblade
-1 sandstorm or power nova
-1 bladestorm
-1 helping hands
-1 monstrous/gargantuan tc
-1 reshuffle

if you're fighting balance mobs, use monstrous/garg'ed spectral blast instead.
your sideboard: cleanse charm and, if you're fighting balance, shatter.
add traps and/or extra healing as needed for boss battles.

~someone above mentioned that single-attack spells do more damage than aoes. while this is true, your aoe spells (like power nova and sandstorm) are much more efficient, as they allow you to kill 2 birds with one stone... or 2 ugly wraith things with one spell, your choice.

~ you're going to want a pet with sharp shot/balance it, spell proof, and sprite/fairy... any extra blade cards given by the pet are equally useful.

hope this helps, sort of.

-von
L90 balance


Survivor
Apr 03, 2011
21
I have a balance that's level 30 though I may not know too much about it I will give you my best shot.

1. You want a good secondary school. That's why I advise you choose Life or Death because they give you healing.

2. Always have enough healing in your deck! You might want 2 healing hands and 2 pixies though put more in if you have a lot of space.

3. Make sure you have enough damage too. I would put in very little if any beginner spells in. You also want a bunch of balance blades in too. If you have a big spell that you can use but a balance blade is an option too do the blade first and the next round use the big spell.

As you can tell from #'s 2 and 3 you will want a good variety.

Good Luck,
Cheyenne RavenSong, Life, level 46
Kymma DragonBlossom, Balance, level 30

Survivor
Dec 10, 2011
30
Hi, it's me again. Thanks for all your advice. Since this was written I have become much more of a powerful wizard. I have higher health, but only 3% critical chance. I can get a higher critical chance, but that would mean sacrificing some of my health. It would bring me back down to under 3,000. I think that my big problem is that I can't get a lot of damage. So what do you think? Is having high critical chance or high health better? And I still can't beat these mobs that are death. My secondary school is death, so that is where I get most of my damage from, so if anyone has advice for doing lots of balance damage, please respond. Thank you for everyone who has posted. It has helped me a lot, and I hope that it has also helped other people, not just me.

Archon
Feb 07, 2011
3175
Fishburt700 on Mar 12, 2013 wrote:
Hi, it's me again. Thanks for all your advice. Since this was written I have become much more of a powerful wizard. I have higher health, but only 3% critical chance. I can get a higher critical chance, but that would mean sacrificing some of my health. It would bring me back down to under 3,000. I think that my big problem is that I can't get a lot of damage. So what do you think? Is having high critical chance or high health better? And I still can't beat these mobs that are death. My secondary school is death, so that is where I get most of my damage from, so if anyone has advice for doing lots of balance damage, please respond. Thank you for everyone who has posted. It has helped me a lot, and I hope that it has also helped other people, not just me.
you're very welcome.

if you want my honest opinion, keep the health. critical rating is random- my own crit rating is nonexistent, because i prefer more-tangible stats. high resist and critical block are your best friends.

balance is not a high-damage school, but my damage bonus is currently +78: i am in my level 60 hat and robe, with some level 80+ crowns boots from my shared bank, and i have a pet with add balance. i'm at the library now, but will post my stats later (i'm sure they're on some other board somewhere).

re: death as a secondary: unless you have a mastery amulet, secondary schools are a bad idea, period. my balance wizard once had fire as a secondary, and i ended up buying her points back at level 80. it was an expensive mistake, and i hope you won't make the same one.

as for mastery amulets, they have no practical use in pve combat, but are something of a status symbol in pvp... they cost $20 apiece so, if you must go that route, choose wisely.

if you don't have one already, get a pet with:

-some kind of blade (sporty dragon and polar cat each give one)
-proof/defy (universal resist)
-may cast sprite or fairy (saves you pips, so you're not healing all the time)
-pain giver/add balance (damage boost)
-sharp shot/balance-it (accuracy boost)

my current pet is a therizinosasurus with proof, sprite, fairy, and add balance (at epic); at mega, my ideal pet would have proof, fairy, add balance, sharp shot, and balance-it.

hope this helps, sort of.

-von

Defender
Jan 01, 2009
155
Fishburt700 on Mar 12, 2013 wrote:
Hi, it's me again. Thanks for all your advice. Since this was written I have become much more of a powerful wizard. I have higher health, but only 3% critical chance. I can get a higher critical chance, but that would mean sacrificing some of my health. It would bring me back down to under 3,000. I think that my big problem is that I can't get a lot of damage. So what do you think? Is having high critical chance or high health better? And I still can't beat these mobs that are death. My secondary school is death, so that is where I get most of my damage from, so if anyone has advice for doing lots of balance damage, please respond. Thank you for everyone who has posted. It has helped me a lot, and I hope that it has also helped other people, not just me.
If you get most of your damage from death spells, and have problems with death mobs and bosses, you may need to get death to life prisms to cast before using traps and blades on them. The prism will help boost damage by a lot to the death mobs.
Michael Nightgem, Necromancer

Explorer
Feb 22, 2011
78
Nesogra wrote a balance gameplay guide here:

http://wizard.mercenaries101.com/the-broken-mold-how-to-thrive-as-balance-in-the-new-paradigms/

which might help. Good luck to you and sun spells and monstrous tcs (you can buy them from the Archivist in CL) will be really helpful as well.

Delver
Sep 27, 2009
204
Dude, your hp stats are awesome! I am level 55 and you have higher health than me!

Hero
Jul 30, 2012
771
robotdino123 on Mar 17, 2013 wrote:
Dude, your hp stats are awesome! I am level 55 and you have higher health than me!
High health is good, however depending on the wizard it is often good to sacrifice high health for other stats like increased damage, power pip percent, or resistance.

For example when I was under level 55 my primary stat for death wizard was power pips, damage boost as second. This allowed me to hit with a bigger spell faster which proved very effective. But it depends on the wizard and strategy. And the needs and strategies change as you progress through the worlds.

Happy Wizarding!

Explorer
Oct 04, 2009
54
Thats not bad. Wizards101 was not made to solo through. There are certain dungeons, such as malistaire, or waterworks, or sunken city, that for the first time you cannot solo through. That is fine no one s expecting that of you.

Survivor
Dec 10, 2011
30
Dr Von on Mar 13, 2013 wrote:
you're very welcome.

if you want my honest opinion, keep the health. critical rating is random- my own crit rating is nonexistent, because i prefer more-tangible stats. high resist and critical block are your best friends.

balance is not a high-damage school, but my damage bonus is currently +78: i am in my level 60 hat and robe, with some level 80+ crowns boots from my shared bank, and i have a pet with add balance. i'm at the library now, but will post my stats later (i'm sure they're on some other board somewhere).

re: death as a secondary: unless you have a mastery amulet, secondary schools are a bad idea, period. my balance wizard once had fire as a secondary, and i ended up buying her points back at level 80. it was an expensive mistake, and i hope you won't make the same one.

as for mastery amulets, they have no practical use in pve combat, but are something of a status symbol in pvp... they cost $20 apiece so, if you must go that route, choose wisely.

if you don't have one already, get a pet with:

-some kind of blade (sporty dragon and polar cat each give one)
-proof/defy (universal resist)
-may cast sprite or fairy (saves you pips, so you're not healing all the time)
-pain giver/add balance (damage boost)
-sharp shot/balance-it (accuracy boost)

my current pet is a therizinosasurus with proof, sprite, fairy, and add balance (at epic); at mega, my ideal pet would have proof, fairy, add balance, sharp shot, and balance-it.

hope this helps, sort of.

-von
I noticed that you mentioned a pet with the talent that it can randomly cast a healing spell for zero pips for you. I looked in the Crown Shop and noticed that no pets give that card. I also saw that the pet that you have doesn't say that it has that ability. How can you tell if it can cast that spell? Other than that I'm doing pretty good. Thanks again everyone who has posted! By the way, I sold back all of my training points so that I could get more of the astral spells. Thanks for mentioning the fact that you can do that, because it really helped me!

Survivor
Jan 23, 2013
43
wizardrokz on Mar 10, 2013 wrote:
If you are balance, deck set up is key here. I'm a balance wizard also, a level 73 one.

So deck set up:

Keep your deck not full, but not barley any cards, around halfway.
Have as much sheilds, traps, blades, and charms as damage spells
Change your deck to which kind of enemy you are fighting. If your fighting life, death, or myth, use spirit armor, if your fighting ice, fire, or storm, use elemental shield. And alot of them

Deck set up isn't just the only thing. Get good gear. Get boosts and universal resist. They are what keep people alive in battles. Pets can also boost

And last - try getting a pet that has a may cast spritely talent. That means it will cast a spritely any time on its own, with out your help.

Good luck!

P.S. sorry if anyone mentioned these tips before
Do you mean Spirit SHIELD, not Spirit Armour?

Explorer
Feb 27, 2011
73
2, 817 health for level 49 is awesome! I am level 62 and I have only like 3,000 health, and by the time you get to level 62, you will much more health than I did!

Archon
Feb 07, 2011
3175
Fishburt700 on Mar 18, 2013 wrote:
I noticed that you mentioned a pet with the talent that it can randomly cast a healing spell for zero pips for you. I looked in the Crown Shop and noticed that no pets give that card. I also saw that the pet that you have doesn't say that it has that ability. How can you tell if it can cast that spell? Other than that I'm doing pretty good. Thanks again everyone who has posted! By the way, I sold back all of my training points so that I could get more of the astral spells. Thanks for mentioning the fact that you can do that, because it really helped me!
hey hey~ fairy and sprite are not cards~ they are may cast talents, which means that the pet will occasionally cast these spells independent of you during a battle.

all pet talents are random and predetermined at birth, depending on what talent the parents have. in order to get the ones i listed, you'll probably have to hatch multiple times with someone who has that talent before you get anywhere close to a perfect pet (since most first-gen pets don't have great talents).

are you on central? if we can schedule an in-game meetup, i'd be happy to help you try for a good balance pet.



-von

90 balance
87 death
72 storm
48 life
28 myth/ice
22 fire

Survivor
Dec 09, 2009
40
I think you focus to much on your life. Your Balance nothing can block your balance spells save for tower shields and a balance boss with high resist. You have one of the best spells in the game with judgement. Use it often and you will be fine. Go to the bazzar and find clothes hats etc.. that boost your damage and resist and don't worry about your life for now and see what happens.

Delver
Oct 30, 2011
230
Fishburt700 on Mar 12, 2013 wrote:
Hi, it's me again. Thanks for all your advice. Since this was written I have become much more of a powerful wizard. I have higher health, but only 3% critical chance. I can get a higher critical chance, but that would mean sacrificing some of my health. It would bring me back down to under 3,000. I think that my big problem is that I can't get a lot of damage. So what do you think? Is having high critical chance or high health better? And I still can't beat these mobs that are death. My secondary school is death, so that is where I get most of my damage from, so if anyone has advice for doing lots of balance damage, please respond. Thank you for everyone who has posted. It has helped me a lot, and I hope that it has also helped other people, not just me.
I did not get 3,000 health till lvl 56.I suggest you stick with judgmenting them 1 by 1.

1