Arcane VS L.A. ONCE AND FOR ALL!

Kannone - Heavens Tear

TehMage - Lost City wrote: »

@ The topic of Arcane Vs Light Armor

If you know how to play your class you shouldn't have to start LA then switch at 90. I'm doing perfectly fine with my arcane build. I do full dmg and I hardly EVER get hit. As long as you don't lvl any crappy DOTS and skills that you don't need to help you progress, arcane should not be a problem for anyone.

Not just 60-78; the range of usefulness for LA is 40-90 and the only reason for that is the rebirth instance (ie. going 40-90 in -two months). Light Armor is the only [affordable] build that can complete low-level rebirths, and (to my knowledge) the only [realistically affordable] way a mage can to delta before lv 90.

Just my 2cents though; these servers don't really do too much rebirth so yah... there's almost no reason to go LA.

Peek - Harshlands

TheBlackMage - Lost City wrote: »

I've played both LA and Pure mage (currently on my pure as my main) and although I've only gotten my LA to lvl.43 my pure is now lvl.60 and I've honestly done so much better in pvp with my pure. Sure LA lets you take a few more hits but when you think about it...we aren't supposed to get hit at all lol.

Early and mid-game LA was great but as I kept lvling killing my opponent took longer and longer to kill, while LA was good if you plan to just be up there in the open, pure was better suited for me. I got much more enjoyment following my enemy then dropping down and 1-shoting them then slipping back into the shadows while I target my next victim. Pure (at least to me) seemed to be more of a gamble, it was either well I'm gonna be dead in 1 shot or he is.

This changed a lot though once I was in my 4x's and you can find really good gear in the AH for surprisingly cheap. For instance, I found a pair of lvl.56 arcane boots 3 star, 4 sockets already sharded with average defense shards and refined to +1. That only cost me 87k, one helluva bargain lol. Good mid lvl arcane gear is really easy to find. With gear like that your survivability as arcane skyrockets. I'm at lvl.60 with almost 1.7k hp and 2k physical defense, not bad at all for an arcane wiz my lvl.

My only problems I have in pvp (with people around my own lvl) would be getting stunlocked, (get ready to go back to town as soon as you get stunned lol, or just bring pots or get the genie skill...it'll be a while before I get the genie skill though, getting Cloud Eruption, Frenzy, and Extreme Poison first, I'll trade my life for even more damage potential lol) and having an archer attack me first. (some archers fail, I can kill them after they attack first and stun me, but a good archer is always a pain in the **** if he gets the 1st hit in lol)

But this is just my experience so far, things change and I'll always be learning new things as I lvl. So just get out there and have fun lol, find what works and what doesn't and improve upon that.

We dont get hit at all. We have a shooting range 2x that of archers/clerics/veno. Force of Will can silence our enemies for 20 seconds. Even if they were to be in range to cast their skills, they'll get silenced.

TheBlackMage - Lost City wrote: »

we aren't supposed to get hit at all

BrownflameZ - Lost City

How could you possibly not get hit in PvP, its like never 1v1. Have fun ninja-ing your way into a one shot.

_makina_ - Sanctuary

Force of will is 20 seconds long and wiz has 2x range lol. OMG i hope no one takes that serious.

Cryxtal - Sanctuary

U might say u dont ever get hit now if u are arcane and can kill fast. Thats gonna change in gamma, with ur higher power and super low def , u are gonna draw aggro so fast if your barb aint pro enough ! And because of ur death u might cause e whole gamma squad to die.

But in another point of view, if you are rich, then yea stay arcane, and have a few but high pdef shards like immac garn or better if u need to. lol and u 100% need even higher hp than LA if ur def sux

JaneGray - Lost City

Sup guys, this was EmiliaGray.

I'm going arcane.

"I don't believe wizards should even get hit." Smartest sentence ever

PURE FTW!

I'll see yall in the 9X's in a few months. b:victory

Disappear - Lost City

JaneGray - Lost City wrote: »

Sup guys, this was EmiliaGray.

I'm going arcane.

"I don't believe wizards should even get hit." Smartest sentence ever

PURE FTW!

I'll see yall in the 9X's in a few months. b:victory

thank you, feel free to add me in game b:thanks

garygnu

I will have to add my n00b adventure experience here, this is based on no one wanting to hand out any advice until I hit 60 so i floundered my way through it all:

I was Pure until 70 ish then went LA, with enough money you can pimp your gear out to within 300 points of damage a plain-jane Arcane user has.

However

I believe the LA build is a build that must be carefully crafted for a purpose not just put together for bragging rights...

Like for like my damage is somewhere between 800-1000 less then arcane again there are ways to balance this out.

I have an 12% crit rate, paying attention to damage as i PVP and PVE has show me a few things on a hypothetical MOB, with hypothetical average attack damage for example:

ARCANE:9k+8k+10k+11k+8k= 46k(obviously)
myself: 8k+7k+9k+11k+14k(crit)=52k

now I know that is just playing the odds, however 12% I crit like crazy and should the crit be one of those 24k ones? then i actually do alot more then arcane

Naturally i do not crit every player/mob but over the course, of say, a single quest i just may deal more damage. Crits turn 4 shots mobs for arcane into 2 shots for me.

Now i do plan on arcane for 90 and but for now I am enjoying LA.

P.S. without my 2 2% crit rings i dont think I would be typing this lol.

Llama - Lost City

L.A.:
Damn good pdef. (Stone Barrier much?)
Damage less than Arcane. (but not by much)
Better crits.
Better phys attacks. (but wizzies don't need this...)
HH90 Green Light set?
Better at PVP.
Better at dealing with other classes.

I LOL'ed.

Light armor is so bad. Not only do you die faster in PVP you don't hit for ****.

I am dead serious here. You observe any 9X LA in LC you will see they can't kill anyone on their own and they take more damage than a properly build arcane.

With any class going either extreme on armor types is always the best decision. Light Armor is a tough **** type of armor that only Archers should ever use. It has low pdef and mdef. The pdef increase over arcane is miniscule when as arcane you only need to get some decent adorns and + em for pdef and you don't risk any damage or mdef loss.

I am pure int arcane and I have 12.8K pdef with stone barrier (not level 11 yet).

Kristoph - Lost City

garygnu wrote: »

garbage

3-5% crit doesn't make a huge difference.

MagicHamsta - Lost City

Llama - Lost City wrote: »

I LOL'ed.

Light armor is so bad. Not only do you die faster in PVP you don't hit for ****.

I am dead serious here. You observe any 9X LA in LC you will see they can't kill anyone on their own and they take more damage than a properly build arcane.

With any class going either extreme on armor types is always the best decision. Light Armor is a tough **** type of armor that only Archers should ever use. It has low pdef and mdef. The pdef increase over arcane is miniscule when as arcane you only need to get some decent adorns and + em for pdef and you don't risk any damage or mdef loss.

I am pure int arcane and I have 12.8K pdef with stone barrier (not level 11 yet).

xD oy whoever thinks LA is better go roll a LA wizard on Lost City so LLama's E-Peen can do 1351363631 damage to you. b:chuckle
that should be powerful enough to suddenly make your wizard on your server switch immediately to arcane. b:victory

Isala - Sanctuary

Llama - Lost City wrote: »

Light Armor is a tough **** type of armor that only Archers should ever use.

Gotta beg to differ here, sorry. I'm an LA Veno. It works pretty damn well for us. But then again, we get Fox Form, which really allows the capabilities LA build to shine. Decent Eva? Check. Accuracy killing ability combined with that Eva, pissing off every barb who doesn't have Misties, (and some who do)? Check. A little Crit (and if you go TT99 Gold a LOT of crit. I hit about approximately 20% after my calculations...)? Check. Second highest attack speed combined with that boost in Crit? Check. Physical attack boosting skills? Check.

Thing is, though, on a Wizard? LA doesn't get bonuses like that. You get one accuracy decreasing skill, that has a 2.5 second channeling time, and a 1.5 second casting time, which at its most powerful cuts what, a half of accuracy? Your crits as a wizard isn't really where your DPS comes from, as your main power is in your massive boost from your Mag stat. Since each of your spells takes channeling time, most of those in the several seconds, you're not even really registering that many crits a minute. Unless you build for channeling speed, which also defeats the purpose of wearing LA, which is built for crit, you're not going to launch that many spells. While, yes, your Phys Def goes up a bit with LA, your Mag Def goes WAY down. Unless you go LA/AA, which still has even less Mag Def than a Pure build.

For PvE, it's not a bad build, really. You're a little less squishy, get a bit more HP out of your refinements, and unless you crit, can go a little more nuke-happy on mobs without worrying about pulling aggro. For PvP? That's really the main question. You're still squishy. An archer sees you first, you're getting pincushioned. Another Wizard sees you first, your lack of Mag Def will get you killed, and while a Barb may not be able to really smash you out of the way, are you really "Consistently" going to break their charms, even if you DON'T get lucky and crit? BUT. That being said, if you've found a niche in PvP where you shine, hold on to it. LA isn't a "Wrong" build, anymore than Pure isn't a "Right" build. But just keep in mind that Wizards don't have any innate skills that go hand in hand with LA any more than they would AA.

Personally... I prefer the HA/AA build. Does it have anywhere near the DPS of the Pure, or even LA build? Not even close. Why do I play it? So I can laugh at melee classes who try to whack on me as I blast them in the face with magic. That's my niche, and I'm holding onto it. And yes, there are a few skills that complement an HA build. One of those is our Earth Shields. Another is Emberstorm. Gotta love high HP due to refinements and HP helmets. The third, although I wouldn't advise it on casters, is our Dragon's Breath. Pop that up in a group of melee mobs, and watch some TV while everything around you dies. It's also fun for saving "genius" parties who pull more mobs than the tank can handle...

TL:DR There is no right, there is no wrong, but there is a little thing called finding where you actually belong with your class and build. No wizard is ever going to tank the Sword Tamer.

Ursa - Dreamweaver

you're talking from a veno point of view.
You have herc to tank for you and Nix to do dmg. You can run around naked with a +12 weapon and kill every living thing on the map. ( I know, I tried it on private server, did the whole damn Eden/Brim with herc and a +12 rank 8 weapon, no other gear).
End of story.

MagicHamsta - Lost City

Isala - Sanctuary wrote: »

No wizard is ever going to tank the Sword Tamer.

QFT~!
b:victory
lols unless..... uber rich cash shop heavy armor wizard?? b:shocked
b:chuckle
would have to have like +12 everything lol.
but probably would have a bit of trouble keeping aggro.
(>.<)'

Isala - Sanctuary

Ursa - Dreamweaver wrote: »

you're talking from a veno point of view.
You have herc to tank for you and Nix to do dmg. You can run around naked with a +12 weapon and kill every living thing on the map. ( I know, I tried it on private server, did the whole damn Eden/Brim with herc and a +12 rank 8 weapon, no other gear).
End of story.

I'm talking from the perspective of a Player who has no Nix, has only had their Herc for the last 4 levels, has tanked as many bosses without a pet as with one, and who, when it comes down to it, prefers a wizard so much more than a veno. And who also has RL friends who play this game, and have completely different builds than I do. I know an Arcane Wizard, and I know an LA wizard, while I'm an HA wizard. I also know someone who has an Arcane Veno. From our combined experiences, we've discovered that as long as you can find something you're good at with your build, that's really all that matters for PvE.

Granted, some builds REALLY have a hard time finding something they are good at... I tried an Arcane Barb, and an Arcane Archer. Yeah. Not even close to being good at anything, IMO. But from what I've seen, any caster can wear any armor, and, as long as they go 3x Magic, do their job. A mage is a mage is a mage. Whether it be Veno, Cleric, or Wizard, each one of us has ways to avoid being hit, or to mitigate the damage we take. Veno, obviously, is pet. Cleric, is healing, and Plume Shell. Wizards have Distance Shrink, and also have a healing spell. Your armor will determine your optimal foes. Wearing robes? Take on some casting mobs. Wearing HA? Take on some Melee, or Archer mobs. Wearing LA? Take your pick. It really doesn't matter. No matter what you wear, there will be something you can easily do, and something that's annoying.

PvE is pretty much figuring out the patterns of mobs, and adapting a playstyle to fit. Easy peasy, we've been doing it since back in the days of Asteroids, Pac Man, and Centipede. PvP is the only thing that differs, and even then, people themselves fall into patterns, even if they are a bit more complicated. Same concept. Got high damage? Go nuke someone. Got high survivability? Go be a decoy, or a meatshield. Got the middle ground? Go annoy the hell out of someone.

For the casting classes, this game is pretty simple. Point, click, kill. If it doesn't die, hit it again, back off so you can, or run. Also, for the Archers, just so you guys aren't left out. The only real strategy in this game is for the Melee classes. They have to figure out how to get past spells and arrows to take out a distance attacker, without allowing said foe to get away. If they're fighting a Melee foe, it usually just degrades into them whacking on each other forever... No offense, guys, but watching two of you fight is kinda boring.

garygnu

Thanks to URSA and Hamsta for possible clearing some things up on another thread of mine, using their information and recalculating the difference, I am able to totally ignore the post in this thread I made earlier.

If what I learned is believed to be true then i would have to say that LA is fine, however as one breaches LVL80 he/she needs to contemplate slowly moving over to ARCANE as your MAG increases your damage potential greatly.

It would appear that MAG possibly multiplies your damage on an upward logorithmic scale rather than an exponential where it take a sudden curve up at the end instead of a even crawl through the levels...who know.

still like the crit damage though and pimped out LA armor.

Isala - Sanctuary

garygnu wrote: »

Thanks to URSA and Hamsta for possible clearing some things up on another thread of mine, using their information and recalculating the difference, I am able to totally ignore the post in this thread I made earlier.

If what I learned is believed to be true then i would have to say that LA is fine, however as one breaches LVL80 he/she needs to contemplate slowly moving over to ARCANE as your MAG increases your damage potential greatly.

It would appear that MAG possibly multiplies your damage on an upward logorithmic scale rather than an exponential where it take a sudden curve up at the end instead of a even crawl through the levels...who know.

still like the crit damage though and pimped out LA armor.

I think someone discovered the formula for magic damage. I might be horribly wrong here, but it's something to the effect of each point of Mag is roughly equal to 1% of your base magic stat added into the formula for calculating damage. Something about 1 + (Mag/100) times Magic Damage for base, and then using the base for the individual spell calculations. Which means when you add 4.5 points for Pure Arcane, instead of 3 for anything else, you add 1.5% every level. So, by the time you've hit 100, you've got 150% more Base Magic Attack more than the other builds. Again, this might be wrong, and I'm trying to dredge this up from memory. I'm going to try to look it up as soon as I post.


EDIT: Found the formula I was referring to. http://pwi-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=2316971&postcount=11

garygnu

URZA is correct mag attack IS base magic, it is just not described as such. WHICH MEANS that LA is all good and dandy under 90 if that is your thing but as other class get mo'badder the only choice would be arcane.
Suddenly leaving smoking craters in the ground seems appealing.

See what you learn if you just ask?

Bloop - Harshlands

Where is the choice for heavy armor mage?

Dinark - Lost City

Ursa - Dreamweaver wrote: »

I have 7% crit in TW mode with that one arrow.
I know it has no effect, bu I don't care, I want that slot filled b:thanks
I was planning to get a -5 channeling one, but the +1% crit looks better on stats b:cute

the -5% channeling shot cant be equipped, the ammo type needs a slingshot to be equiped and u need requisite class archer to equip slingshot or crossbow

JediPandaX - Sanctuary

Thanks for all the info, looks like i'm going arcane at lvl 85b:victory

Isala - Sanctuary

Cholla - Harshlands wrote: »

But, wizards can ignore channelling time, and our stone barrier gives us the same physical defense bonus which fox form does except for differing levels and cultivations?

P-Def works for Arcane, or LA, so it's not specifically oriented for LA. As for channeling time, again, not an LA bonus, and really, more of a Pure oriented power. What I was referring to was the fact that as a Fox, I get a spamable accuracy decreasing spell. Takes about a second to use, and a 3 second cooldown. Wizards don't. Meaning the eva you'd get from that bonus dex is wasted, as there is nothing to make it more powerful, by either increasing your own Eva, or lowering the accuracy of your opponent. The long cooldown of the Wizard spell, combined with the lack of accuracy debuff isn't actually worth the effort it takes to build for it. With an LA Veno, you spam the Accuracy debuff, and in the cooldown of that, spam the leech skill to recover HP lost when mobs actually connect. Wizards don't have that hit and heal ability.

Ursa - Dreamweaver

true, we don't have that hit and heal ability, but what we have is the ability to nuke the hell out of a mob while sleeping another and make the 3rd one run away.
I've been actually able to aoe grind in Heaven using Second Wind (1600HP heal) and ToP on a genie, with some HP pots here and there. Not worth the coin cost for me now, but hey, it's more than doable.
Survivability for wizard comes after 90. Full buffed now I have 5950 (6150 with Sage buff) HP and 8150 pdef. I'd say for a lvl 93 wizard those are good numbers.

As far as decreasing accuracy, I can tell you an archer hit by a Sandstorm will miss on me 1 out of 2 shots especially if I'm moving (and I'm moving always after a SS, usually turn to one side and DS).

Channel..well, what can I say, the biggest nerf on a wizard is the channeling time of the nukes. I have 21% channel now while grinding/questing and 12% in TW mode. At 95 I will add another 12% in TW mode (2 lunar rings). 24% channel in TW mode will make a difference.

Lyzzern - Lost City

Each Wizard defines the best Armor for him/herself, no use doing this stupid posts useful for nothing.

Iseria - Harshlands

from my experience LA is really useful at low levels.
im LA and have a friend same level as me but AA. in duels its even, depending on skill combination and if i crit or not.
i have died only once this week, whereas my friend has died 10 times today (true it also has to do with how distracted he is =P)
during the level 4xs i could use Teleport Stone to BH29 whereas my friend couldnt because mobs aggroed her before entering and ended up dieing or close to.

so IMO LA rules at low levels specially if you like questing alone, then at level 80 im planning to restat to AA.

Isala - Sanctuary

Lyzzern - Lost City wrote: »

Each Wizard defines the best Armor for him/herself, no use doing this stupid posts useful for nothing.

This is pretty much the point, honestly. You hit the nail right on the head. Each wizard has their "Best" build/armor/play style. Trying to copy someone else only gets you so far, because when you mimic someone, you learn nothing. It's all about the best for you.

I'm not "against" LA. It does what it's supposed to do. I was just highlighting normal use for it, and outlining things that it's not really used for, with the way wizards work. Because like Ursa said, you don't use it the same way a Veno would. A Veno would sit there and tank a mob using only Eva. A wizard would use Eva to keep some hits off while channeling something to blow the mob's head off. Same armor, but due to differing abilities, a completely different way to use it. For instance, with my playing with an HA Wizard, I can do things my LA Veno could have only dreamed of. (Not counting the Herc here) The AoE grinding/killing I can do with my Wizard still can't even be touched by my Veno alone. I get one spamable AoE in Fox. A fan-out AoE that lowers Accuracy. That's it. I have to watch the angle, and the location of all mobs to make sure they're in front of me. My wizard, I see mobs, pop up Dragon's Breath, and take a couple potions. And then I watch the bodies pile up. Even if I was HA with my Veno, I couldn't AoE grind like that. Different skills, different playstyles. That's what keeps this game fun.

SilentToy - Lost City

Ursa - Dreamweaver wrote: »

If at 71 your diference in dmg between LA and Arcane is only 500 you suck. Badly.
7% crit? that sux as LA. An arcane can have that much without much trouble. Look at Mizouni's gear, he has 14% crit. Now that's a real crit rate. He went LA, but at least he built on the only strength a LA wizard has: Crit. Your 7% incredible crit chances and damage makes me lol.

2x more HP because of HP shards? what exactly are you smoking? 60% damage reduction? I have 57% pdef reduction self buffed since lvl 77 as arcane. Your 60% makes me rofl.

Maybe the TW you've been in are some kind of PK fest, everyone running around and killing whoever they can lay their hands on. In TW wizards have specific purposes, fail at that and u fail at everything.

And the last " Arcane- pve specialist. Light Armor- pvp specialist." quote just shows how little you know and understand from this game and your class.

I'm gonna post some good LA and Robe builds a little later , I gotta split for now

Edit:
ok, so I did it quick, refined things that will last for more than 10 lvl to +4 and 4 sockets, the rest only to 3. Whatever u have for more than 10 lvls will get you out of RB Gamma range
arcane one:
http://pwcalc.ru/pwi/?char=6630b37c6db1a487 <- this is basically part of my gear as i remember it.

HP : 3460 Magic Atk. 5481-5547 Pdef 5k 64% reduction
LA one:
http://pwcalc.ru/pwi/?char=fe5f677de50932b4 - I put the best possible neck and belt

HP: 4047 Magic Atk. 4380-4433 Pdef 5.3k 66% reduction

Now, how come at lvl 70 your dmg diff is only 500 points I have no idea, cause from what I see it's a minimum of 1.1k/hit in PvE, and at 7& crit you won't crit even near enough to compensate for a loss of 1k in damage every 2 seconds. Beside, since all the mobs are magic, arcane build has the luxury to stack some -channel belt and necklace in PvE mode, and that would just increase the gap even bigger.

True, LA has 600 more HP. But advantages are pretty much ending there. And let's not forget, at 77-80 the Arcane gets revamped ( 77 mold sleeves, 77 top or TT80 gold top, TT80 gold boots) and that will decrease the HP diference between builds quite dramatically and increase the dps an arcane is capable of.

Now where I see the benefits of going LA? RB Gamma. High HP, u can start it at 70 and fly to 85 in less than 2 weeks. For that , and that purpose only, I would say go LA, it's worth it. In RB the auras will pretty much cancel your lack of mdef, as it cancels Arcane lack of pdef, and the only diff that remains is HP. More HP less chances to get to 1k on double wave.

Right now my magic attk is 6.4k-7.3k unbuffed and 7k-8.1k buffed. I don't know how much attk a lvl 89 LA wiz has, but I'm quite sure it doesn't jumps over 5.5k at maximum. When I 3 spark I have 16k-17k magic dmg. I would love to see the numbers from a LA wizard.

Well now this is some inaccurate arguement. Seriously, what Level 70 actually refines his gear to +4? There are no LA wizards, Arcane wizards that got the gear you are reffering at. At Level 70 I will have 3.8k Hp and 6.8k psys def. I would love to see a Level 70 wizard with more hp than me and more psys def. The normal hp for a Level 70 wiz is around 2-3k I think. This means that if both the LA and Arcane wiz got bad gear the damage won't be a huge difference.
There are Level 85+ Wizards that isn't even close to having 4k+ hp. My high hp at 70 gonna give me a huge advantage against Arcane wizards.

The day I see a La/Arcane wizard with those kind of gear I might listen to your arguement. (Feel free to show your gear here)

/ST

Nerithos - Sanctuary

SilentToy - Lost City wrote: »

My high hp at 70 gonna give me a huge advantage against Arcane wizards.

Really, now. Since you seem to be talking from personal experience or some other stuff like that, I'll whap it right back at you. At level 70 as an arcane, I was in 3* gear with an unrefined Sak's and I was easily capable of dispatching a similarly leveled LA acquaintance of mine who had mostly legendary equipment on and a +5 Sak. Your "high" HP at level 70 ain't worth anything once you finally get the idea that more damage counterbalances that.

And even looking from a PvE standpoint, the only advantage you have there is against physical mobs due to your higher pdef. And no wizard is stupid enough to let him/herself be hit by physical mobs. The difference in damage means, in many situations, one hit less to dispatch a monster. That does several things, including conserve MP, reduce the chance of getting hit, and increase killing speed.

Now all in all, I don't particularly think that Arcane drastically overpowers LA or something of the sort. I simply think your belief that your "high" HP will make you beat other wizards is sadly misinformed.

Nerithos - Sanctuary

Cholla - Harshlands wrote: »

Nerithos, I ... well... I know a wizard that's really that stupid.

b:sad

Well...>_>

Admittedly, I do get hit from time to time, but that's because I macro my way through quests b:chuckle

And if you kite correctly, there's pretty much a 0% chance to get hit unless you're hit by super-ultra-mega-lag (or you run INTO the mob). I'm not counting ranged mobs there, of course, because they hit way too fast and have way higher range than you could avoid (unless you go all pro FoW, spark, phoenix, sopo and whatnot, but imho that's a waste of chi and cooldowns).

Though you can avoid getting hit by magic mobs simply because of their channeling times, lol. Nuke>poke>WotP>nuke b:victory

EDIT: HEAVY ARMOR WIZARD FTW (I'm seriously contemplating restatting heavy at level 90 just for the hell of it, lol.)

SilentToy - Lost City

Nerithos - Sanctuary wrote: »

Really, now. Since you seem to be talking from personal experience or some other stuff like that, I'll whap it right back at you. At level 70 as an arcane, I was in 3* gear with an unrefined Sak's and I was easily capable of dispatching a similarly leveled LA acquaintance of mine who had mostly legendary equipment on and a +5 Sak. Your "high" HP at level 70 ain't worth anything once you finally get the idea that more damage counterbalances that.

And even looking from a PvE standpoint, the only advantage you have there is against physical mobs due to your higher pdef. And no wizard is stupid enough to let him/herself be hit by physical mobs. The difference in damage means, in many situations, one hit less to dispatch a monster. That does several things, including conserve MP, reduce the chance of getting hit, and increase killing speed.

Now all in all, I don't particularly think that Arcane drastically overpowers LA or something of the sort. I simply think your belief that your "high" HP will make you beat other wizards is sadly misinformed.

Did you duel him or something? Since you are on a pve server I don't think you have enough PvP experience. From 60-66 I had tons of fights with Arcane Wizards. Sometimes I even hit more than some of the Arcane wizards. Now that means that they probably had bad gear. Taking down a 60-69 Arcane wiz takes like 3 hits. I'm not that experienced in the discussion between LA and Arcane but from my experiences I haven't seen a difference betweeen LA and Arcane wizards. I might start to see a bigger difference at 70+. Having high hp is a real advantage when using a charm also.

/ST