Rekles except at EA you won't have jack shit int. So it really hits the bottom end harder. Going from 29 to 16 is almost a 50% cut. I play tested this extensively before and after. Before the change I was mowing down yellows with little effort or down time, after the change i have some down time for the same mobs. Empower + Fire pet + DS is still the most potent combination early game, little else is worth casting. I don't use the DD or companion strike often, the ratio is just piss poor compared to the healing + dmg the fire pet would do with the same mana spent. DS is hitting for 17 at level 24 (7 native on pet, +10 fire shield) and really tears shit up pretty good. Effciency improves a bit with lower targets, (dark blue, light blue) as they tend to hit the pet for low damage numbers more frequently, nothing like seeing the pet get quadded for 1's and dish back 17, 17, 17, 17, ele efficiency is all in those damage shields, it's the way they can compete with necro. They should always be min/maxed and low targets should be chosen for the fastest xp/hour/loot. Pet's HP pool is irrelevant, if your have a pet with 2k hp or a pet with 1k hp and they both take 500 damage, your still healing 500 damage, as long as said pet can survive the encounter, only mana/dmg ratio matters. Also, caster melee should not be ignored, recent changes to mana/meditation no longer require you to catch "Ticks".. equip the biggest 2H staff you can get, and pulse q and x, you won't skip a beat on mana regen and pick up extra damage. Considering you can easily hit for 26 with a measuring stick at level 20, and your still nuking for only 40, it's not hard to make this make sense.
You can also feed bat and rat meat to that alligator in the shaman guild, about 60 meats will get you kindly.. don't tell anyone i told you, but that shaman in the corner will buff your pet with level 60 shaman haste. Was alot more potent when buffs lasted an hour.
Yellows and red's are doable with earth pet chaining technique as well, not prefered game play but it can work in a pinch and/or times where monsters don't quite match up to your level range. (start casting pet, wait till it's almost finished and hit dismiss), minor elementals only cost 30 mana to summon, the earth pet has well over 1k hp 15+, it cost 30 mana to summon a new one, or several hundred mana to heal it, no brainer. I pet chained level 14 and 15 exclusively on cinder beetles, it cost me about 50 malachite. It's also quite effective for camping adds, chain a new earth pet, or use the one you already got, camp your ass out, when you get back your single target is likely still there, rooted in place and the others ran off. Pet chaining can cheese named, i killed First mate dwarf at the SGS river pirate docks at level 24 (yellow con, named, with endless amounts of HP). I also killed River boat captain, same story. When killing cinder beetles at 14 and 15 i noted that i could engage yellow beetles with 10% mana, and finish the fight at 40% via pet chains. Killing is slow, but reward is high, and there is 0 downtime. This strategy may not work later, more tested is needed, cost of pets go's up dramatically, rank 2 pets cost 130 mana, feels like a lot at 24, but might be insignificant at 34.
Pet-Canni needs more testing. Reclaim energy returns 25% of pets health, minor elementals only cost 30 mana. A max level minor earth pet has quite a substantial hp pool, this could result in +250 mana ish for the cost of 30 mana and 10 seconds and a malachite.
I played a mage in Everquest for many years, all of the above strategies where taken from there, they work about the same.
Lessss go boys, share your min max tips.
