WAR (Warhammer Online)

We Magi sure look awesome. We glide around on our discs, wearing gilded robes and Gothic plate mail, summoning daemons, and casting vivid, purple-colored spells that swirl about menacingly and generally look pretty freakin' sweet. On top of that (and in spite of what I'm about to tell you), they're challenging and fun to play.

But how does the Magus really measure up as a damage dealer? I'm going to make this as succinct as possible, so you don't have to read through a novel to get the gist of what I'm trying to say.

The short answer is: We don't measure up. We need help. We deal far less damage than a Sorcerer or Bright Wizard, have absolutely no superior utility abilities to compensate, and our survivability is barely higher than the squishiest squishy (and then only versus melee).  Many WAR players hold many different opinions about the Magus, and I'm not going to address all the other opinions here, but I'll cover a few.

Oftentimes, people claim that Magus is "defensive DPS"; a "support class"; an "area denial class"; or some such. These are simply justifications for the fact that, even before you take Dark Magic or Combustion into consideration (those are Sorcerers' and Bright Wizards' backlash traits), their base spell damage is, on average, 50% higher than the Magus' regardless of spec or gear setup. That can be seen plainly on WARDB or Allakhazam ability tooltips.

This includes single-target, instant casts, DoTs, AoEs, everything. Every basic technique the Magus has for dealing damage is also possessed by BWs and Sorcs, except theirs are far more powerful.

WITH high Combustion or Dark Magic, Bright Wizards and Sorcerers do at least 100% more damage than the Magus. Because friendly healers know this, Sorcerers and Bright Wizards will receive far more healing than a Magus, essentially negating the backlash disadvantage in team play (which is what WAR is all about), and turning those superior classes into incredible damage dealing machines.

On top of all that, BWs and Sorcs can cast their spells from 100 feet, while many of Magus' best spells must be cast from 65 feet or even closer. This greatly decreases our survivability in comparison, since we must approach closer to the front line in battle, or even go beyond it.

This would all be well and good, but Magi receive no extra benefits to compensate for the low DPS (despite Magus being a RDPS class). Roots? Sorcs and BWs have them. Knockdowns? They have those too. Knockback? Yep. Disrupts? Check. Group buffs? Sorcs and BWs have more than Magi. Self-buffs? They actually have more than Magi. Snares? You betcha, and better ones.

The only things we have that Sorcs and BWs don't have is a daemonic turret pet. And that pet does completely unnoticeable damage, no matter your spec, gear, or which one you're using. The best debuff Magus pets can do is... -5% crit chance to the affected target. A joke, basically.

We do get to choose between two powerful abilities at ~Rank 30: Chaotic Rift (65ft AoE snare/draw-in) and Perils of the Warp (deals light damage to the affected target when they cast a healing or DD spell). But that's it.

People often tell me (and others who share my opinion) that if I think Magus is underpowered or broken, I don't know how to play Magus properly. I say that's bollocks, an attempt to discredit someone's opinion out of hand for an arbitrary reason. The sad fact is, the more skilled you become at playing Magus and RvR in general, the more clearly you can see its obvious shortcomings. Countless Order and Destruction players (not just me or other Magus players) believe the same thing.

My advice is: Roll something else first. Wait until Mythic tweaks and buffs Magus to roll one, if they ever do so (they might nerf Sorcs and BWs, or do nothing at all).

That's my opinion, take it or leave it. I banged this out in hopes of steering people away from my own current frustrating situation: Continue tolerating a badly pre-nerfed class, or roll an alt and put it on ice (see sig).

The fact that the exact same complaints exist about Engineer which is Order's mirror class of Magus should tell most sane, unbiased and unimpressionable players that where there is smoke there is fire, and something is wrong with these two classes. They aren't beyond repair and under certain circumstances they can perform pretty well. But they really don't stack up to some other classes.

Originally posted by vernd

The fact that the exact same complaints exist about Engineer which is Order's mirror class of Magus should tell most sane, unbiased and unimpressionable players that where there is smoke there is fire, and something is wrong with these two classes. They aren't beyond repair and under certain circumstances they can perform pretty well. But they really don't stack up to some other classes.

Quite right. Nearly all of the complaints about Magus apply equally to Engineer, though they're not perfect mirrors of each other, so you're going to get slightly different comparisons for some ability categories.

I consistantly see the Engineers outdamaging everyone, even the Wizards.  I can't say the same for the Magus though. 

I also think in RvR situations the Magus gets targeted right away by the opposing team, who sees the robes and thinks "kill the squishy caster".  Where as the Engineers on first glance could be mistaken for an Ironbreaker, and left alone to wreak their AoE havoc.

There are a few classes that seem underpowered at different tiers. Early on the squig herder and shadow warrior.  They get much better come T3, maybe the same is true for the Magus.

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Originally posted by ghettobooste
I consistantly see the Engineers outdamaging everyone, even the Wizards.  I can't say the same for the Magus though. 
I also think in RvR situations the Magus gets targeted right away by the opposing team, who sees the robes and thinks "kill the squishy caster".  Where as the Engineers on first glance could be mistaken for an Ironbreaker, and left alone to wreak their AoE havoc.
There are a few classes that seem underpowered at different tiers. Early on the squig herder and shadow warrior.  They get much better come T3, maybe the same is true for the Magus.

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If you see anyone out dps'ing a wizard or sorcerer you know that wizard or sorcerer wasn't trying.

i can rack up anywhere between 40-100k dmg in one scenario as a sorcerer.. when i'm trying :P

Temple of Isha is great.. just rain down ae spells from up on the cliffs.. ooo watch them die and my dmg roll up :)

Have originally rolled an Engineer at launch I can vouch that they are in the same sinking boat as the Magus. To make matters worse Mythic has said nothing about fixing them. Sad too as both classes have alot of style and potential.

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Originally posted by AlienShirt
Have originally rolled an Engineer at launch I can vouch that they are in the same sinking boat as the Magus. To make matters worse Mythic has said nothing about fixing them. Sad too as both classes have alot of style and potential.

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Easiest way to lodge a protest is to play another class. When Mythic notices nobody playing a class they will re-think it and come up with a working model.

Personally.. i hate arrows :P I say remove arrows from the game! Oh and witch hunters too.. useless class.. :P

I don't understand why your comparing your class to a BW or Sorc?

You should not do as much dmg as a BW or Sorc ,

Okay, while I agree with your statement about Magi and engineers requiring some work, I completely disagree with your assessment based on damage.  BW and Sorc are supposed to be the damage casters. (period)  Magi and engineer are not meant to compare in dps.  Where they need work is in their ability to support the group, which the definately lack.  My personal opinion is that currently the game has too many abilities built into every single class.  For example, and only example, take knockback:  as far as I can tell, every class has some form of knockback available t