Levels 48 and over are not created equal. Over the years I've played, I see players tend to fall into 3 broad, general groups. Here's what I have observed. Feel free to add your thoughts.
Noob strategy:
Only use one deck, usually the one that gives the most cards
Pack a full deck of over 40 cards for simple mob PvE battles
Their favorite spell is basically whatever they learned or bought most recently
Uses gear that doesn't typically add much to stats (school's damage, overall resistance, or block)
Relies on spells like Kraken, Minotaur, and Helephant, even though AoE spells are much faster
Uses spells from other schools without a mastery amulet (aka waste of power pips)
Only shields self, heals self
Takes over 20 seconds to choose a card every turn, nearly every time
Targets anything that heals, regardless (healing spells isn't always the most dangerous thing you face in a duel circle)
Doesn't know about Sun enchants and enjoys using Polymorphs
Tends to "mess up" and activate boss cheats
Experienced strategy:
Might have more than one deck
Carries a mastery amulet of some kind
Carries fewer than 30 cards (but still way too many)
Deck includes School Blade, as well as Elemental or Spirit Blades
Knows or intends to learn Sun enchants
Favorite spells are Rank 7 or Rank 8, does not typically pack a Rank 4 despite it being faster and better
Tries to be the one who beats all the enemies instead of using teamwork
Almost never packs support spells like stuns, smoke screens, or plagues
Might shield and heal others, but usually won't
Pets often have healing talents or added resistance
Understands how gear adds directly to overall resistance, school damage, etc.
Over-reliance on matching gear sets, like Waterworks sets
Doesn't usually mess up on cheating bosses or puzzles
Pro strategy:
Has multiple decks, each tailored to a specific battle situation
Some decks have only small hits, some have only support cards, some have only heals (doesn't need to hit in every battle, much less be the one who beats all the enemies)
Most mob PvE battles are won using Rank 4 hits, since anything bigger is a waste of time
Usually carries fewer than 15 cards in each deck, including wand hits
Carries emergency cards in side deck, like heals, triage, shields, and extra blades and traps
Knows which player is the target of an enemy attack before it happens
Pets have been trained to give exactly what the player needs
Carries multiple sets of gear that compliment each other instead of just using one set, always
Knows all the puzzles, knows many different ways to beat cheating bosses
While I agree with most of this, it's also very generic and doesn't apply to every scenario.
1) yes, deck setup and gear will make or break you.
I played with a full deck until my first wizard was an archmage. I had never played an MMO before, nor had anyone taught me how: everything I know now, I mostly had to figure out for myself, through a lot of trial and error. Now, I have about 7 cards in my hand, save for boss fights.
Gear should reflect your play style, as it does for all of my wizards. Some are in full waterworks gear, others have different things (tartarus elite or something crafted) in the mix, depending on what they need and luck allows. And, make no mistake, there is a tremendous amount of chance involved.
2) it's none of my business what cards you use.
Unless you're wasting my traps with a wand or triggering some boss cheat that will, by extension, harm me, it's none of my business how you play. I use my rank 7 spell because I like it~ yes, the damage is about the same as sandstorm, but what balance wizard doesn't like slapping weakness on everything?
3) mastery amulets do not an expert make..
There are lots of noobs with amulets. End of.
4) there's no 'I' in 'team'...
I like killing stuff. But, when I run a difficult instance, it's usually with good friends~ people I know are reliable and do not expect me to carry them; we support ourselves, which helps us to better support each other. Therefore, if I have reason to believe (and I do) that the person standing beside me in the ring can get the job done, then I will help her do it.
5) but there is a 'me'.
I suppose it stems from the fact that my first wizard was balance and I was told that all I was good for was to play support to everyone else. So I proceeded to turn my wizard into a damage machine. Any random circle-jumpers who expect shields or healing from me will find themselves quite disappointed.
Levels 48 and over are not created equal. Over the years I've played, I see players tend to fall into 3 broad, general groups. Here's what I have observed. Feel free to add your thoughts.
Noob strategy:
Only use one deck, usually the one that gives the most cards
Pack a full deck of over 40 cards for simple mob PvE battles
Their favorite spell is basically whatever they learned or bought most recently
Uses gear that doesn't typically add much to stats (school's damage, overall resistance, or block)
Relies on spells like Kraken, Minotaur, and Helephant, even though AoE spells are much faster
Uses spells from other schools without a mastery amulet (aka waste of power pips)
Only shields self, heals self
Takes over 20 seconds to choose a card every turn, nearly every time
Targets anything that heals, regardless (healing spells isn't always the most dangerous thing you face in a duel circle)
Doesn't know about Sun enchants and enjoys using Polymorphs
Tends to "mess up" and activate boss cheats
Experienced strategy:
Might have more than one deck
Carries a mastery amulet of some kind
Carries fewer than 30 cards (but still way too many)
Deck includes School Blade, as well as Elemental or Spirit Blades
Knows or intends to learn Sun enchants
Favorite spells are Rank 7 or Rank 8, does not typically pack a Rank 4 despite it being faster and better
Tries to be the one who beats all the enemies instead of using teamwork
Almost never packs support spells like stuns, smoke screens, or plagues
Might shield and heal others, but usually won't
Pets often have healing talents or added resistance
Understands how gear adds directly to overall resistance, school damage, etc.
Over-reliance on matching gear sets, like Waterworks sets
Doesn't usually mess up on cheating bosses or puzzles
Pro strategy:
Has multiple decks, each tailored to a specific battle situation
Some decks have only small hits, some have only support cards, some have only heals (doesn't need to hit in every battle, much less be the one who beats all the enemies)
Most mob PvE battles are won using Rank 4 hits, since anything bigger is a waste of time
Usually carries fewer than 15 cards in each deck, including wand hits
Carries emergency cards in side deck, like heals, triage, shields, and extra blades and traps
Knows which player is the target of an enemy attack before it happens
Pets have been trained to give exactly what the player needs
Carries multiple sets of gear that compliment each other instead of just using one set, always
Knows all the puzzles, knows many different ways to beat cheating bosses
That's your business, but I've gotten quite far with my own strategy, I have a big deck, but it allows me to have a variety of spells while not just having a 1% chance o getting it. You say above 4 pips is a waste, but I make good use of spells like Scarecrow, wraith, and Skeletal Dragon, i also carry heals and blades. It's your opinion what's a good strategy but you can't bail on everyone.
Levels 48 and over are not created equal. Over the years I've played, I see players tend to fall into 3 broad, general groups. Here's what I have observed. Feel free to add your thoughts.
Noob strategy:
Only use one deck, usually the one that gives the most cards
Pack a full deck of over 40 cards for simple mob PvE battles
Their favorite spell is basically whatever they learned or bought most recently
Uses gear that doesn't typically add much to stats (school's damage, overall resistance, or block)
Relies on spells like Kraken, Minotaur, and Helephant, even though AoE spells are much faster
Uses spells from other schools without a mastery amulet (aka waste of power pips)
Only shields self, heals self
Takes over 20 seconds to choose a card every turn, nearly every time
Targets anything that heals, regardless (healing spells isn't always the most dangerous thing you face in a duel circle)
Doesn't know about Sun enchants and enjoys using Polymorphs
Tends to "mess up" and activate boss cheats
Experienced strategy:
Might have more than one deck
Carries a mastery amulet of some kind
Carries fewer than 30 cards (but still way too many)
Deck includes School Blade, as well as Elemental or Spirit Blades
Knows or intends to learn Sun enchants
Favorite spells are Rank 7 or Rank 8, does not typically pack a Rank 4 despite it being faster and better
Tries to be the one who beats all the enemies instead of using teamwork
Almost never packs support spells like stuns, smoke screens, or plagues
Might shield and heal others, but usually won't
Pets often have healing talents or added resistance
Understands how gear adds directly to overall resistance, school damage, etc.
Over-reliance on matching gear sets, like Waterworks sets
Doesn't usually mess up on cheating bosses or puzzles
Pro strategy:
Has multiple decks, each tailored to a specific battle situation
Some decks have only small hits, some have only support cards, some have only heals (doesn't need to hit in every battle, much less be the one who beats all the enemies)
Most mob PvE battles are won using Rank 4 hits, since anything bigger is a waste of time
Usually carries fewer than 15 cards in each deck, including wand hits
Carries emergency cards in side deck, like heals, triage, shields, and extra blades and traps
Knows which player is the target of an enemy attack before it happens
Pets have been trained to give exactly what the player needs
Carries multiple sets of gear that compliment each other instead of just using one set, always
Knows all the puzzles, knows many different ways to beat cheating bosses
You have some good points here, but some just left a bad taste in my mouth
So, I wrote most of this yesterday, so I'm sorry is ts outdated:
As with Dr. Von, I thought that your post was generic and doesn't cover most situations, though some thing were correct.
First of all, The number of cards in your deck
I do agree that having multiple decks is a good strategy. But I disagree with you on the whole number-of-cards thing. Having less than fifteen cards is literally absurd. That means that in less than fifteen turns you are going to be out of cards. Also, form looking at their stats, I've seen that most people also use bigger decks. One time, I went on the whole simplistic-deck strategy, and to be fair it was tailored to all situations, but I was in Avalon, so some nooby-ness is expected, and it had forty-five cards. I ran out of cards on a boss when the boss had no more than 20 health left. And yeah, since then I've been using big decks.
Second, Stats.
I'm not 100% sure what you mean by gear not contributing to stats. Are you implying that we should all specialize in one stat? Because I've found that If I have a lot of resist, I don't have any boost or vice-versa.
Third, Mastery Amulets:
I don't think there are that many people level 45+ that still use spells from other schools (excluding heals and rank 0 or 1). And, mastery amulets are crowns-only (and dropped by a few boss, but are rare drops) so I think its would be a lot better to have a strategy that doesn't depend on them at all.
Fourth, Teamwork
I think that your right that teamwork is an important part of any strategy, but I also agree with Dr. Von. I've met Pyromancers that have boosted me, since I could have done more damage anyways. So, I think all of the schools can do the similar damage, just in different amounts of time.But sometimes you do have to step back for everyone to be successful
Levels 48 and over are not created equal. Over the years I've played, I see players tend to fall into 3 broad, general groups. Here's what I have observed. Feel free to add your thoughts.
Noob strategy:
Only use one deck, usually the one that gives the most cards
Pack a full deck of over 40 cards for simple mob PvE battles
Their favorite spell is basically whatever they learned or bought most recently
Uses gear that doesn't typically add much to stats (school's damage, overall resistance, or block)
Relies on spells like Kraken, Minotaur, and Helephant, even though AoE spells are much faster
Uses spells from other schools without a mastery amulet (aka waste of power pips)
Only shields self, heals self
Takes over 20 seconds to choose a card every turn, nearly every time
Targets anything that heals, regardless (healing spells isn't always the most dangerous thing you face in a duel circle)
Doesn't know about Sun enchants and enjoys using Polymorphs
Tends to "mess up" and activate boss cheats
Experienced strategy:
Might have more than one deck
Carries a mastery amulet of some kind
Carries fewer than 30 cards (but still way too many)
Deck includes School Blade, as well as Elemental or Spirit Blades
Knows or intends to learn Sun enchants
Favorite spells are Rank 7 or Rank 8, does not typically pack a Rank 4 despite it being faster and better
Tries to be the one who beats all the enemies instead of using teamwork
Almost never packs support spells like stuns, smoke screens, or plagues
Might shield and heal others, but usually won't
Pets often have healing talents or added resistance
Understands how gear adds directly to overall resistance, school damage, etc.
Over-reliance on matching gear sets, like Waterworks sets
Doesn't usually mess up on cheating bosses or puzzles
Pro strategy:
Has multiple decks, each tailored to a specific battle situation
Some decks have only small hits, some have only support cards, some have only heals (doesn't need to hit in every battle, much less be the one who beats all the enemies)
Most mob PvE battles are won using Rank 4 hits, since anything bigger is a waste of time
Usually carries fewer than 15 cards in each deck, including wand hits
Carries emergency cards in side deck, like heals, triage, shields, and extra blades and traps
Knows which player is the target of an enemy attack before it happens
Pets have been trained to give exactly what the player needs
Carries multiple sets of gear that compliment each other instead of just using one set, always
Knows all the puzzles, knows many different ways to beat cheating bosses
I don't believe in how it works, I believe that what makes you pro and a noob is off flexible you are, flexibility with your cards, so you a be customed to anything that is thrown at you. I have a wizard that can be extremely offensive, if I am losing health able to heal with ease, and shield all teammates if they join in. My life can be powerful as a storm, but I can change my plan in the midst of battle if needed to, I can heal, defend, or attack with sheer force...... so I don't agree with what you said a little.
Since I really hate farming, pet training or high level crafting I guess I am a cross between Noob and Experienced and never will be a pro. Hence I may finish Avalon but really have no interest in Azteca.
Oddly my friends list is all Noobs which I help as much as I can balancing progressing my wizard along also they usually all give up by Zafaria, I have one that made it into Avalon. No matter what school I am helping with I have to be the hammer and the protector so I have a wide array of spells in my decks. I may have to help kill the monster and protect the wizard I am helping. Game play slows to a crawl for them so I end up worlds ahead of them.
Most of the better things in the game become a time thing for most. Do they spend their game time doing something else or questing - most prefer to quest, I know I do. I think it would be surprising how many don't do anything but quest.
Having no clear cut rules or guides in the game, on how to equip and play your wizard doesn't help - you have to learn it all on your own, this can be over whelming for some. Making any gear after level 58 a chore to get is another problem. Almost all dropped gear while questing isn't useful at all so you are left with crafting, farming or a mix of them both.
In other words as the game progresses it is left to those who have the resources to go on, those who don't are left behind, if they do go on they have to depend on others to get them there. Personally I think the game is trying to please a group that is to diverse.
Actually, I have that feeling too. I'm def. not a pro. I still use my polymorph ninja pig tc when no one's looking.
thank you for taking my comment in the spirit intended. I can see easily how what I said could be taken the wrong way (and that message was after many revisions because I found myself being too critical lol)
Extremely judgemental and opinionated post. That being said, some is true, but most is just personal opinion. I do agree that decks and gear should match the battle. The one-size-fits-all strategy applies to noobs and "pros" alike. I see it all the time, people in too much hurry to prepare for a fight or wait for others to prepare. They are also the ones usually begging for heals halfway through. Your opinions seem to be more PvP based than PvE. The 15 cards is a great strategy for PvP, it's just plain dumb for questing. Rank 4 spells are the best spells on mobs for SOME schools, not all. Myth, Fire, Ice, and Balance have rank 4 attack all. Life, Death and Storm don't (though Tempest makes up for that later). Life and Death without Fluffy and Crow would be a lot more "noob" than your oversimplified view. As for selfish play being a "noob" trait, I disagree. It's a BAD trait, but selfish play applies to all types and levels of ability. I agree with most of what your opinion of a "pro" is, except for the 15 card including wand thing, there's nothing "pro" about that. That's like saying a pro golfer only needs 1 driver, 1 iron and 1 putter, forget the others. Especially in PvE. According to your plan, my storm wizard should only carry 8 spells, because my pet gives 3 sharp and Hades wand gives 4 attacks? So what 8 spells are going to carry me through a Hades fight?
Since I really hate farming, pet training or high level crafting I guess I am a cross between Noob and Experienced and never will be a pro. Hence I may finish Avalon but really have no interest in Azteca.
Oddly my friends list is all Noobs which I help as much as I can balancing progressing my wizard along also they usually all give up by Zafaria, I have one that made it into Avalon. No matter what school I am helping with I have to be the hammer and the protector so I have a wide array of spells in my decks. I may have to help kill the monster and protect the wizard I am helping. Game play slows to a crawl for them so I end up worlds ahead of them.
Most of the better things in the game become a time thing for most. Do they spend their game time doing something else or questing - most prefer to quest, I know I do. I think it would be surprising how many don't do anything but quest.
Having no clear cut rules or guides in the game, on how to equip and play your wizard doesn't help - you have to learn it all on your own, this can be over whelming for some. Making any gear after level 58 a chore to get is another problem. Almost all dropped gear while questing isn't useful at all so you are left with crafting, farming or a mix of them both.
In other words as the game progresses it is left to those who have the resources to go on, those who don't are left behind, if they do go on they have to depend on others to get them there. Personally I think the game is trying to please a group that is to diverse.
Mary
"Most of the better things in the game become a time thing for most. Do they spend their game time doing something else or questing - most prefer to quest, I know I do. I think it would be surprising how many don't do anything but quest."
If that was true, there wouldn't always be people outside every Aquila dungeon, Waterworks, Mirror Lake, Halfang and many other bosses. You view it as a chore, others view it as a part of every game in trying to be the best they can be. The same goes for Pets. The Hacthery would be empty and I wouldn't have 10 hatch requests the second I walk in the door if no one was doing it. You seem to think your opinion on how to play is the only or even the most common opinion when in fact it's a minority opinion. Most players DO want good gear and pets.
I was the first to say that these are broad, general groups--it's in the second sentence of the OP--so I never intended that this would match everyone. Nor am I saying that everyone should play one way. I am just describing groups, not illustrating a pro how-to guide or dictating how all should be playing. If you want to play like a noob, that's your business--it's actually pretty fun. If you want to be a pro, great, more power to you.
But I do think it is interesting to see what discussion points emerge from this.
Take the pro approach of carrying a small deck, for example. Having fewer than 15 cards means no room for waste, it means you know exactly what you're going to play and that your gear absolutely supports everything you intend to do. Here's an example if you are soloing with damage gear on:
various wands (2-6 cards)
an AOE hit card
boost cards for that hit (1 Sun enchant, 2 Blades, 1 Star aura)
tc shatter
tc cleanse
tc feint
tc reshuffle
That's it. Nothing else is needed. Most players can't stomach this approach though, it seems too risky, and it really is if you aren't wearing the absolute best gear and pet you can get for that situation. So instead, most tend to pack lots of big hits. I'm not saying that isn't smart in some ways. I just haven't observed pros generally doing that. Indeed, you almost never hear a pro say "I can't find the card I need arrrghhh," but you often hear noobs and experienced players say. The pro approach is that if it's pretty much certain the battle will be only a few rounds, why would you hurt your chances of getting the cards you need by packing too much stuff? (This is even more true when you have teammates.) Yes, you can pack more cards if you want, but you almost always do so at the risk of making it harder to get what you need.
well I have one deck loaded to the brim with cards and one for farming. I also don't use a mastery amulet because I deem them useless to my strategy. I also use rank 7 and 9 spells to kills mobs because I depend on my massive damage not lucky criticals to win my battles so I guess that automatically makes me a noob even though I win 99.8 percent of my battles solo and work extremely well in a team?
I find this very biased. I have a deck with around 50 or so cards. Otherwise, I follow everything in the "Pro" category. I also have a smaller deck for spamming low level or easy mobs. Another for healing, blading, trapping, etc. although I don't focus on that one much cause I am storm.
I was the first to say that these are broad, general groups--it's in the second sentence of the OP--so I never intended that this would match everyone. Nor am I saying that everyone should play one way. I am just describing groups, not illustrating a pro how-to guide or dictating how all should be playing. If you want to play like a noob, that's your business--it's actually pretty fun. If you want to be a pro, great, more power to you.
But I do think it is interesting to see what discussion points emerge from this.
Take the pro approach of carrying a small deck, for example. Having fewer than 15 cards means no room for waste, it means you know exactly what you're going to play and that your gear absolutely supports everything you intend to do. Here's an example if you are soloing with damage gear on:
various wands (2-6 cards)
an AOE hit card
boost cards for that hit (1 Sun enchant, 2 Blades, 1 Star aura)
tc shatter
tc cleanse
tc feint
tc reshuffle
That's it. Nothing else is needed. Most players can't stomach this approach though, it seems too risky, and it really is if you aren't wearing the absolute best gear and pet you can get for that situation. So instead, most tend to pack lots of big hits. I'm not saying that isn't smart in some ways. I just haven't observed pros generally doing that. Indeed, you almost never hear a pro say "I can't find the card I need arrrghhh," but you often hear noobs and experienced players say. The pro approach is that if it's pretty much certain the battle will be only a few rounds, why would you hurt your chances of getting the cards you need by packing too much stuff? (This is even more true when you have teammates.) Yes, you can pack more cards if you want, but you almost always do so at the risk of making it harder to get what you need.
Using that strategy doesn't really work in real world questing. You better carry multiple TC shuffle and you're wasting 6 pips every time you have to use it unless you carry an otherwise useless Balance Mastery Amulet. Makes far more sense to have a couple of each card needed, in case someone joins as you kill or a surprise shield pops up or whatever. Having one attack is stupid unless you're doing something like farming couch potato seeds. In that case my deck is 4 cards plus whatever my gear and wand give. 2 colossal and 2 tempest, just in case someone crashes in. otherwise I kill all first attack every time.
"Most of the better things in the game become a time thing for most. Do they spend their game time doing something else or questing - most prefer to quest, I know I do. I think it would be surprising how many don't do anything but quest."
If that was true, there wouldn't always be people outside every Aquila dungeon, Waterworks, Mirror Lake, Halfang and many other bosses. You view it as a chore, others view it as a part of every game in trying to be the best they can be. The same goes for Pets. The Hacthery would be empty and I wouldn't have 10 hatch requests the second I walk in the door if no one was doing it. You seem to think your opinion on how to play is the only or even the most common opinion when in fact it's a minority opinion. Most players DO want good gear and pets.
I think you misunderstand me. I am only going by what I have experienced in my travels though the Spiral with my wizards. I am talking only about wizards I meet, greet, friend and help along my way.
I thoroughly believe all wizards want the best gear and pets, why wouldn't they, that we can agree on?
I am trying to keep the game fair and fun for all and I feel for those who struggle in the game and you want a game that is more difficult where if you didn't put hours into something its now worth having or at the very least you shouldn't have it?
I will say my friends lists are children that have restricted computer time, some of my menu chats only have 1 hour and not every day.
I also believe you must play at prime time and an ideal realms to see people out side those instances all the time. We ended up doing Mirror Lake after waiting about 45 mins and switching realms, with a very under equipped storm wizard, lvl 90, that was afk most of the event, clearly he was just in there to get pixie stixs at the end.
After playing the game for so long I decided for the last 6 months or so to make it a point to notice those questing around me more and this is what I am seeing.
At the very least, Dr. Von must point out that she is impeccably decked:
2 balanceblade 2 bladestorm 2 sharpened blade 1 amulet blade 1 colossal 1 power nova 1 reshuffle
this is a standard mob deck for my level 95 balance wizard; i use a similar setup for all of my wizards, regardless of school or level, and it hasn't failed me yet. it took a lot of trial and error to pare down my deck to the bare essentials, but i now carry only what i need and nothing more: no shields, no healing, and my wand cards just get discarded anyway.
I only carry one deck, but I change the cards in it depending on the situation. Lots of Shatter and Cleanse Charm in my sideboard.
By most people's standards, I am a selfish player. I carry only what I need to support myself and will not just give my buffs to anyone who asks for them~ why should I? They're mine, and whether or not I choose to share them is my choice; therefore, if you are rude and/or demand things from me while in combat, I will let you get defeated and keep my heals, etc. for myself.
That said, I will help people who ask. Though I cannot coach someone play-by-play through a 4-hour dungeon, I will try my best to assist someone who is polite and respectful of me and my time. If not, I am in no way obligated to help you and will probably leave you there to get defeated.
Some kid (IDK if he was actually a kid or not) I fought with once kept being rude to me while I was helping him with Waterworks. So, after a few hints, I said: "if you keep this up, I will port out right now". I was level 90 and already had my gear: I had nothing to lose by it. He apologized instantly.
Respect for other players will get you a lot farther than stats alone. Yes, everyone wants the best, but my wizard's best assets are her friends.
Levels 48 and over are not created equal. Over the years I've played, I see players tend to fall into 3 broad, general groups. Here's what I have observed. Feel free to add your thoughts.
Noob strategy:
Only use one deck, usually the one that gives the most cards
Pack a full deck of over 40 cards for simple mob PvE battles
Their favorite spell is basically whatever they learned or bought most recently
Uses gear that doesn't typically add much to stats (school's damage, overall resistance, or block)
Relies on spells like Kraken, Minotaur, and Helephant, even though AoE spells are much faster
Uses spells from other schools without a mastery amulet (aka waste of power pips)
Only shields self, heals self
Takes over 20 seconds to choose a card every turn, nearly every time
Targets anything that heals, regardless (healing spells isn't always the most dangerous thing you face in a duel circle)
Doesn't know about Sun enchants and enjoys using Polymorphs
Tends to "mess up" and activate boss cheats
Experienced strategy:
Might have more than one deck
Carries a mastery amulet of some kind
Carries fewer than 30 cards (but still way too many)
Deck includes School Blade, as well as Elemental or Spirit Blades
Knows or intends to learn Sun enchants
Favorite spells are Rank 7 or Rank 8, does not typically pack a Rank 4 despite it being faster and better
Tries to be the one who beats all the enemies instead of using teamwork
Almost never packs support spells like stuns, smoke screens, or plagues
Might shield and heal others, but usually won't
Pets often have healing talents or added resistance
Understands how gear adds directly to overall resistance, school damage, etc.
Over-reliance on matching gear sets, like Waterworks sets
Doesn't usually mess up on cheating bosses or puzzles
Pro strategy:
Has multiple decks, each tailored to a specific battle situation
Some decks have only small hits, some have only support cards, some have only heals (doesn't need to hit in every battle, much less be the one who beats all the enemies)
Most mob PvE battles are won using Rank 4 hits, since anything bigger is a waste of time
Usually carries fewer than 15 cards in each deck, including wand hits
Carries emergency cards in side deck, like heals, triage, shields, and extra blades and traps
Knows which player is the target of an enemy attack before it happens
Pets have been trained to give exactly what the player needs
Carries multiple sets of gear that compliment each other instead of just using one set, always
Knows all the puzzles, knows many different ways to beat cheating bosses
I find not only do experianced/pro people use mastery amulets but some newbies that got lucky and their parents/they bought lots of crowns and saw the mastery amulet and bought it.
I also find that you are missing a couple of key factors such as: getting gear that has crit chance power pips (understanding and what not) trying to use teamwork/ communicating with others and having different gear for different battles(different gear for boss fights etc.)
It doesn't matter how someone plays the game, everyone has their own strategy. I for one, focus mainly on getting school damage boost. As of now, (level 56) I have a total of 77 life, 10 universal.
I do pack my deck completely full, yes, but if I had only 15 cards like it says in the pro section, all of them would most likely be gone by the fifth round.
I am a theurgist, so no way, no how, will I ever be selfish enough to keep all my heals to myself.
I use mostly my rank 6 and 4 spells in ALL battles, boss or minions.
I always research my quest BEFORE i'm even doing that one.
I always kill the healing minion/boss first, because, what's the point to kill something, then just have it come right back up. This is also what I do for PvP.
I hate pet training. Period.
I don't even have any AoE spells yet, so I HAVE to use my single attack spells.
Yes, I use spells from other schools without mastery amulets, just for buffs and such though.
I have two decks. One is empty for me to fill in when I need it.
Personally I don't care what cards people carry, what decks they use or what gear they wear. I plan my strategy based on my own actions and capabilities. I learned very early on not to rely on other people too much because they will let you down. And having said that, you can plan your fights perfectly and someone can join up at the wrong time and totally ruin your plan. I've said it before, there are only 2 things that can get me killed on any of my 3 wizards. One is fizzles. The other is people joining. You can't plan for either. My balance and death wizards are high enough levels that joining isn't such a big deal, but my Storm is only level 23 and I've already had 3 occasions of people joining, shielding and healing themselves immediately while I'm scrambling. Two of those occasions I was killed, as I had already been fighting 2 foes and had taken some damage. And that's the only 2 times that Wizard has been killed so far. If people can't understand how rude and annoying that is then they're, wait for it, rude and annoying. And I'm not acting like I own the street. To me, it's just common courtesy and I know there's going to be some people who disagree. That would be people that join fights without asking. Lol! ValdusHawkFlame Level 95
I find not only do experianced/pro people use mastery amulets but some newbies that got lucky and their parents/they bought lots of crowns and saw the mastery amulet and bought it.
I also find that you are missing a couple of key factors such as: getting gear that has crit chance power pips (understanding and what not) trying to use teamwork/ communicating with others and having different gear for different battles(different gear for boss fights etc.)
Understanding how power pips work is important; if you don't get it, you probably shouldn't be anywhere near the upper levels. Even I, previously a non-gamer, knew how pips worked by the time I left Wizard City.
Teamwork is huge, too. As I mentioned, being able to sustain yourself and not expecting other people to carry you is what makes you a better and more-functional teammate; my friends and I always support ourselves first, which helps us support each other.
Case in point: last night, my storm wizard did Xibalba with a Life friend. I never could have done it by myself (I'm not that hardcore, lol), but I made sure that I packed my own shields and heals, so that I didn't have to rely on her to support me. And, when we fought Skurkis Screaming Moon (and her annoying minion cheat), she kept the zombie minion good and dead while I buffed up for a huge hit on Skurkis herself. It made us a much-better team, and we got through the dungeon faster.
The only thing I disagree on is critical: as anyone past level 50 is well aware, crit is totally random and enemies have seemingly-endless amounts of block.You're better off to get gear with good block and resist, because you'll never live to hit that elusive crit if you have low or no defense.
I have read this all through a couple of times now, and I can't get over the feeling that this is a really judgmental post. Even the choice of the term "noob" to describe a style of play that you find inefficient really needs to be examined. Though later you try to go back and say it is not a judgment and people are welcome to play how they want, the whole tone and set-up of the conversation clearly indicates that is not what you think. You think people who play like you do with small power-packed decks and gear and similarly high-powered friends are "pros", others who approximate what you do but aren't quite as sleek in their approach are "experienced," and others who don't really understand how to coordinate gear, pets, boosts, and attacks for maximum fast power are "noobs." The tone of this categorization comes across as mean and arrogant. I am not sure if that was your intent, but I would ask you to think about it, and about how that tone would come across to others you might encounter in the wizard world. It is one thing to say you have noticed that players who have figured out how to coordinate their gear, spells, and pets tend to be able to win battles faster, especially when they have learned how to work well with friends they play with. But to translate that into class-labels for different kinds of players, including one that is outright derogatory, is neither helpful nor needed.
Some of your ideas I have found to work well, but not in all situations. I personally have a variety of decks for a variety of needs, some small, some large, some attack oriented, some help oriented, depending on where I am playing and with whom. No one strategy works in all situations.
However, I have found that the most important factor for good game play, is being a good spirit in the game. Kindness, generosity, helpfulness, and patience make the game fun for everyone in the spiral. Judging others and/or telling them how to play is usually not fun for everyone involved.
Interesting ideas... I don't agree. Many people run under the assumption that people who are not great at the game do not make it to high level worlds. We might not be get there as easily as stronger players, but labeling us "noobs" is a little offensive. I am currently in Azteca, and am going strong. There are no defined sections of player ability. I always had to summon minions in every fight, until I found a strategy that worked for me. I put a feint on each enemy, then balance blade myself. My pet gives me berserk (usually) and then I Ra. Sandstorm doesn't do enough damage for me. And, just because you are not that great at the game doesn't mean that you can't become better. With the new minion spell (so excited to finally meet the professor), it becomes possible to blade, while your minion chips away at the boss, then use a giant attack and defeat the boss. There are different types of game play, but just because some people take longer to find their right one does not make them bad players.
i'm very glad to see you take notice of this thread, as I echo 99% of what you stated . Others have stated much of your sentiment as well, and it is difficult to comprehend why someone initiating a persuasive argument back peddles on their chosen points of strength...
To the OP: The next time you attempt to spark a debate on how to classify players on a message board, select your words carefully, proof-read your work, and triple check your facts, because unfortunately, you intentionally invited criticism (not input) from those who clearly know better.
I apologize if I have offended the OP, and/or anyone else.
Mark 
Alex Rider 
Kane BattleFist
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