How do I play a level 30 mage?

[Lehi]

How do I play a level 30 mage?

I guess I need to learn. My buddy and I have an agreement on
Frostmane that neither will get more than 2 levels ahead of the other.
Well he is about to go through a move out of state, which will cut
down on his play time for a bit. I'm already level 32 and have been
treading water for a while, just logging on and getting lower level
herbs around lower level mobs so I don't get xp (but I now have about
34g of hard earned cash). Now it appears his level 30 mage will
stagnate a little longer because of the move. So yesterday he says
that I am just going to have to play the mage to get him caught up.
W00t! I just hope I don't learn to like mages better than rogues.

Any strats or suggestions? I know you learn the basics by playing up
the level tree, but I'm not going to roll a mage and spend months
learning just so I know how to play his character.

Laban
32 Troll Rogue
Frostmane PVP

[John Gordon]

Post by Lehi
How do I play a level 30 mage?
I guess I need to learn. My buddy and I have an agreement on
Frostmane that neither will get more than 2 levels ahead of the other.
Well he is about to go through a move out of state, which will cut
down on his play time for a bit. I'm already level 32 and have been
treading water for a while, just logging on and getting lower level
herbs around lower level mobs so I don't get xp (but I now have about
34g of hard earned cash). Now it appears his level 30 mage will
stagnate a little longer because of the move. So yesterday he says
that I am just going to have to play the mage to get him caught up.
W00t! I just hope I don't learn to like mages better than rogues.
Any strats or suggestions? I know you learn the basics by playing up
the level tree, but I'm not going to roll a mage and spend months
learning just so I know how to play his character.

The basics are pretty simple.

Find a mob to pull. Pull with Frostbolt, from maximum range if possible,
to slow the mob and give yourself time to cast before the mob starts
hitting you. While the mob is slowly running towards you, cast Fireball.
If the mob is still a good distance away after the first Fireball, cast
another Fireball, or a Scorch if it's closer.

Once the mob is in melee range, you have a choice. If your friend chose
to put five talent points in Improved Arcane Missiles, your choice is
easy. Just keep casting Arcane Missiles until the mob is dead, or at very
low health finish with instant-cast Fire Blast. Note that Arcane Missiles
is a "channeled" spell, meaning you must stay absolutely still while you're
casting. You can't even turn in place. (The spell itself will turn you
to face your target if it moves.)

If the mage does not have five talent points in Improved Arcane Missiles,
it is a little trickier. You can freeze the mob in place with Frost Nova
and then back up and cast another Fireball, and then just keep casting
Fireball until it's dead. Note that while the mob is beating on you, your
Fireball spell will suffer setbacks in its casting.

If you get an unexpected add, you can use the Polymorph spell if it's a
Beast or Humanoid. This turns the mob into a harmless sheep for a little
while, allowing you to finish off the original mob in peace. Any damage
will cancel the Polymorph, so watch your area-of-effect spells.

If you find yourself dangerously low on health but still have a good amount
of mana left, use the Mana Shield spell. This creates a magical shield
around you that absorbs a set amount of physical damage, but drains mana.

If you find yourself dangerously low on mana, and your friend chose the
Evocantion talent for his mage, freeze the monster in place with Frost
Nova, back up a bit, and use the Evocation spell. This will regenerate
all or most of your mana, and is uable once every ten minutes. This is
another "channeled" spell, so don't move, turn, or take damage while is
is casting.

Other random bits of advice:

Be sure to summon plenty of food and water when you start playing.

Remember that you have teleport spells. At L30, you can port yourself to
all three capital cities. If the mage does not have all of these spells
yet, learning them should be your first priority. The Portal Trainer at
each capital city teaches the spell for that city. They consume a Rune
of Teleportation, so make sure you have plenty on hand.

Intellect is your primary stat. It determines how much mana you have,
and also determines your crit chance, so don't skip on Intellect.

If you level up and learn a higher rank of a spell, it will NOT
automatically replace a lower rank spell that is in your hotbar. You'll
have to open your spellbook and drag the new spell onto the hotbar.

[David Gardner]

<a comprehensive mage strategy>

Heh, good to see that we basically have the same ideas! :P (Or perhaps
that the mage class is only playable one way... :)

David.

[Trooper]

David Gardner loved her ferret enough to say...

Post by David Gardner
<a comprehensive mage strategy>
Heh, good to see that we basically have the same ideas! :P (Or perhaps
that the mage class is only playable one way... :)

I don't believe that, which is why i'm building my mage to be frost
only.

Only L13, but using frostbolt with a casting time of 1.3 seconds at the
moment, I can do roughly the same DPS as fireball with a casting time
of 2.5 seconds (i think those are the correct times after talent
points, but i'm not at my gaming pc at the moment) However, using frost
the mob only gets a chance to hit me once or twice if he is lucky, as I
have done significant damage by the time he gets to me.

Now i'm sure if i put my talent points into fire I could get a greater
DPS using fireball, but I will also get hit more often.

Frost isn't better at all, but it is different and is certainly a
viable and playable alternative at the moment, not all mages have to be
the same ;)

[ASKF]

Post by Trooper
David Gardner loved her ferret enough to say...

Post by David Gardner
<a comprehensive mage strategy>
Heh, good to see that we basically have the same ideas! :P (Or perhaps
that the mage class is only playable one way... :)

I don't believe that, which is why i'm building my mage to be frost
only.
Only L13, but using frostbolt with a casting time of 1.3 seconds at the
moment, I can do roughly the same DPS as fireball with a casting time
of 2.5 seconds (i think those are the correct times after talent
points, but i'm not at my gaming pc at the moment) However, using frost
the mob only gets a chance to hit me once or twice if he is lucky, as I
have done significant damage by the time he gets to me.
Now i'm sure if i put my talent points into fire I could get a greater
DPS using fireball, but I will also get hit more often.
Frost isn't better at all, but it is different and is certainly a
viable and playable alternative at the moment, not all mages have to be
the same ;)

That's right, and I'm building a Frost mage too (lvl 18), but adding a
little Arcane to it (only the misiles). I'm doing pretty well against
mobs 1-2 lvl above, and has no problem defeating 2 of those at a time.

At lvl 40 I expect to respec to pure Frost, and go with that for the
rest of the way.

[chocolatemalt]

Post by ASKF

Post by Trooper
David Gardner loved her ferret enough to say...

Post by David Gardner
<a comprehensive mage strategy>
Heh, good to see that we basically have the same ideas! :P (Or perhaps
that the mage class is only playable one way... :)

I don't believe that, which is why i'm building my mage to be frost
only.
Only L13, but using frostbolt with a casting time of 1.3 seconds at the
moment, I can do roughly the same DPS as fireball with a casting time
of 2.5 seconds (i think those are the correct times after talent
points, but i'm not at my gaming pc at the moment) However, using frost
the mob only gets a chance to hit me once or twice if he is lucky, as I
have done significant damage by the time he gets to me.
Now i'm sure if i put my talent points into fire I could get a greater
DPS using fireball, but I will also get hit more often.
Frost isn't better at all, but it is different and is certainly a
viable and playable alternative at the moment, not all mages have to be
the same ;)

That's right, and I'm building a Frost mage too (lvl 18), but adding a
little Arcane to it (only the misiles). I'm doing pretty well against
mobs 1-2 lvl above, and has no problem defeating 2 of those at a time.
At lvl 40 I expect to respec to pure Frost, and go with that for the
rest of the way.

Good luck with that, and be sure to post your results here as you level
up. I still wonder if all-frost is doable at higher lvls.

I was enthusiastic about the frost track till about lvl 22 but soon
found the dps to be so lame, and the benefits of the frost tree to be so
timid, that I respecced to fire. Eventually I hope to become all-arcane
or arcane/fire, but for now the fire track (common tho it is) seems far
better than frost for resolving combat quickly and moving the game
along.

There was a discussion here just recently on this same subject, and
others also found frost to be decent at crowd control but a slow killer
beyond the early levels. My thoughts are: The game is already a huge
time consumption, eating many weeks and months to get to lvls 50-60
where the real fun is, so why choose a strategy that makes combat (ergo
leveling, and your whole game experience) so much slower? This is also
why I may never play a pally...

[mikel]

Post by chocolatemalt

Post by ASKF

Post by Trooper
David Gardner loved her ferret enough to say...

Post by David Gardner
<a comprehensive mage strategy>
Heh, good to see that we basically have the same ideas! :P (Or perhaps
that the mage class is only playable one way... :)

I don't believe that, which is why i'm building my mage to be frost
only.
Only L13, but using frostbolt with a casting time of 1.3 seconds at the
moment, I can do roughly the same DPS as fireball with a casting time
of 2.5 seconds (i think those are the correct times after talent
points, but i'm not at my gaming pc at the moment) However, using frost
the mob only gets a chance to hit me once or twice if he is lucky, as I
have done significant damage by the time he gets to me.
Now i'm sure if i put my talent points into fire I could get a greater
DPS using fireball, but I will also get hit more often.
Frost isn't better at all, but it is different and is certainly a
viable and playable alternative at the moment, not all mages have to be
the same ;)

That's right, and I'm building a Frost mage too (lvl 18), but adding a
little Arcane to it (only the misiles). I'm doing pretty well against
mobs 1-2 lvl above, and has no problem defeating 2 of those at a time.
At lvl 40 I expect to respec to pure Frost, and go with that for the
rest of the way.

Good luck with that, and be sure to post your results here as you level
up. I still wonder if all-frost is doable at higher lvls.

It's definitely doable, and some level 60s prefer it. My level 60 mage,
Gyrus, was all Frost for a long time, a few months, and it worked
extremely well. I could easily solo high-level elites as long as they
were melee units. (Ranged attacks from level 58+ elites hit way too hard
for a lowly cloth wearer).

I changed over to Arcane/Fire after a while just because it was
something different, not because of any weakness in the Frost build.

Post by chocolatemalt
I was enthusiastic about the frost track till about lvl 22 but soon
found the dps to be so lame, and the benefits of the frost tree to be so
timid, that I respecced to fire. Eventually I hope to become all-arcane
or arcane/fire, but for now the fire track (common tho it is) seems far
better than frost for resolving combat quickly and moving the game
along.

I tried all Arcane. It has neat features, and is useful for a mage who
plays primarily as support in parties, but all Frost is arguably better
for that role, and either all Frost or Arcane/Fire works better for soloing.

Post by chocolatemalt
There was a discussion here just recently on this same subject, and
others also found frost to be decent at crowd control but a slow killer
beyond the early levels. My thoughts are: The game is already a huge
time consumption, eating many weeks and months to get to lvls 50-60
where the real fun is, so why choose a strategy that makes combat (ergo
leveling, and your whole game experience) so much slower? This is also
why I may never play a pally...

All Frost combat is generally slower than Arcane/Fire combat, although
not *that* much slower. On the other hand, it consumes much less mana,
and makes it much easier to take out certain tough opponents, especially
high-level melee units. It's a tradeoff. I think you'd have to try both
to see which suits you better.

As far as I can see, all-Arcane has no compelling benefits, and I was
all-Arcane from about level 38 to level 60.

[chocolatemalt]

Post by mikel
All Frost combat is generally slower than Arcane/Fire combat, although
not *that* much slower. On the other hand, it consumes much less mana,
and makes it much easier to take out certain tough opponents, especially
high-level melee units. It's a tradeoff. I think you'd have to try both
to see which suits you better.

Once I hit 60 I may give each of these strategies a try... respeccing a
few times is not such a big expense at that level.

I wonder, however... if a lvl 60 mage is planning to spend a huge amount
of time in the Molten Core, full of fire-resistant foes, perhaps the
frost track has a particular advantage there?

Post by mikel
As far as I can see, all-Arcane has no compelling benefits, and I was
all-Arcane from about level 38 to level 60.

Good to know... I might give it a try at lvl 60 just for the education,
but will stick to deep fire until then.

[mikel]

Post by chocolatemalt

Post by mikel
All Frost combat is generally slower than Arcane/Fire combat, although
not *that* much slower. On the other hand, it consumes much less mana,
and makes it much easier to take out certain tough opponents, especially
high-level melee units. It's a tradeoff. I think you'd have to try both
to see which suits you better.

Once I hit 60 I may give each of these strategies a try... respeccing a
few times is not such a big expense at that level.
I wonder, however... if a lvl 60 mage is planning to spend a huge amount
of time in the Molten Core, full of fire-resistant foes, perhaps the
frost track has a particular advantage there?

Not as many of them have the fire resistance you might think they do,
but, yeah, Arcane and Frost spellss work better on some things.

Post by chocolatemalt

Post by mikel
As far as I can see, all-Arcane has no compelling benefits, and I was
all-Arcane from about level 38 to level 60.

Good to know... I might give it a try at lvl 60 just for the education,
but will stick to deep fire until then.

Not what I did, but probably a better plan than what I did.

[Greg]

Post by John Gordon
The basics are pretty simple.
Find a mob to pull. Pull with Frostbolt, from maximum range if possible,
to slow the mob and give yourself time to cast before the mob starts
hitting you. While the mob is slowly running towards you, cast Fireball.
If the mob is still a good distance away after the first Fireball, cast
another Fireball, or a Scorch if it's closer.
Once the mob is in melee range, you have a choice. If your friend chose
to put five talent points in Improved Arcane Missiles, your choice is
easy. Just keep casting Arcane Missiles until the mob is dead, or at very
low health finish with instant-cast Fire Blast. Note that Arcane Missiles
is a "channeled" spell, meaning you must stay absolutely still while you're
casting. You can't even turn in place. (The spell itself will turn you
to face your target if it moves.)
If the mage does not have five talent points in Improved Arcane Missiles,
it is a little trickier. You can freeze the mob in place with Frost Nova
and then back up and cast another Fireball, and then just keep casting
Fireball until it's dead. Note that while the mob is beating on you, your
Fireball spell will suffer setbacks in its casting.
If you get an unexpected add, you can use the Polymorph spell if it's a
Beast or Humanoid. This turns the mob into a harmless sheep for a little
while, allowing you to finish off the original mob in peace. Any damage
will cancel the Polymorph, so watch your area-of-effect spells.

That's pretty much how I play my mage (currently lvl 41) for even-con
mobs. For green-con mobs, Improved Arcane Explosion is fun!

Another thought is that (especially after this week's patch), a good
wand is handy to have for finishing shots and also for times when
you're flat out of mana. It also sometimes makes a good mana-free
puller to set up for IAE.

Assuming the mage is spec'd in Evocation, then you have three mana
restoration methods available to you: Evocation, mana gems, and
potions. Make sure you always conjure a gem when you log on (and
after you use one), and always have mana pots on hand (and hotkeyed).

OP might also want to consider grinding some grey-con mobs for cash to
save for a mount at lvl 40 without gaining any XP and outpacing his
friend.
--
Greg
phobos78-marslink-net
Replace dashes and move in by 1 planet to reply.

[David Gardner]

Post by Lehi
How do I play a level 30 mage?
Any strats or suggestions? I know you learn the basics by playing up
the level tree, but I'm not going to roll a mage and spend months
learning just so I know how to play his character.
Laban
32 Troll Rogue
Frostmane PVP

There are quite a few playing strategies floating around in the forums,
you might like to check out that web page which contains how to get to
level 60 in 7 days. (I'm sorry I don't have the link, but it's discussed
all over the place so I'm sure you won't have much trouble finding it).

At this level your options are all fairly straight forward.

Generally, for solo play (and assuming you're taking on one NPC at a
time), get as far away as you can (Normally 35 yards or 41 yards if your
friend has the flame throwing talent) and fireball. You'll be able to
get in two fireballs by the time the monster catches up with you. At
this stage, you should use all of your instants because you need to get
out of there before the damage starts. Cast fire blast, frost nova, and
then strafe/blink away. You'll be able to cast the two fireballs and
first blast again. Non-elites are dead by this. If not (and provided
your friend has taken the improved arcane missiles talent), let rip with
Arcane Missiles and you'll finish them off.

If you want a bit of variety, try mixing in a frost bolt. With the
reduced running speed, you may be able to fit in up to three frostbolts
(or two frostbolts and fireball, whatever). You can then use cone of
cold and frost nova. :) This is a bit more mana intensive, however.

For group play, things are basically the same. But make sure you give
your tanks sufficient time to build up aggro before you let rip with the
fireballs. A critting fireball (especially pyroblast, your friend could
have it as it only requires 11 talent points) can very quickly pull
aggro. It just requires better timing. You'll probably be able to spam
Scorch if you're having problems, or if your friend has the Arcane
Subtelty Talent and you don't mind spending a bit of extra mana then
Arcane Missiles provides excellent DPS.

Don't forget about Polymorph too, you might like to install one of those
macros which chat which target you're sheeping to prevent accidental
mishaps. (Accidents do happen, like group members using DoTs. So be
prepared for that add to run straight at you).

Hope that's some help. :)

David

[wolfing]

The way I play my lvl 20 mage is like this:
- Start with frost bolt (or whatever the ranged frost spell is), that
will slow the opponent and do some damage
- Cast arcane missiles (channeled, but the mob is slowed so it ends
before mob hits you)
- Instant fire blast
At this time the mob is probably almost dead, if it doesn't run away
just keep using frost bolt (it's faster cast than firebolt).
In case of emergency, I use the PBAOE that freezes enemies around me,
and I run

If you have to attack a mob near another one, use polymorph to turn one
into a sheep, then kill the other one.
That's about it, pretty simple

By the way, why didn't you just play another char while he was gone?
That's what I do, I play different chars with different people. Hell, I
have 5 characters between 18 and 24 (my max is 24 I think)

[Jimbob]

Post by David Gardner
Don't forget about Polymorph too, you might like to install one of those
macros which chat which target you're sheeping to prevent accidental
mishaps. (Accidents do happen, like group members using DoTs. So be
prepared for that add to run straight at you).

I'm interested in any links that have info on creating macro's. I know
the basics but would like some depth. Anyone have any useful ones
(links)?

[Greg]

Post by Jimbob

Post by David Gardner
Don't forget about Polymorph too, you might like to install one of those
macros which chat which target you're sheeping to prevent accidental
mishaps. (Accidents do happen, like group members using DoTs. So be
prepared for that add to run straight at you).

I'm interested in any links that have info on creating macro's. I know
the basics but would like some depth. Anyone have any useful ones
(links)?

Plenty of links here:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.aspx?fn=wow-interface-customization

--
Greg
phobos78-marslink-net
Replace dashes and move in by 1 planet to reply.

[Jimbob]

Cheers, i'll have a look when i get home. (blasted workplace filtering)

--
Evilash 40 Undead Fire Mage, EU Stormrage.

[mikel]

Post by Lehi
How do I play a level 30 mage?
I guess I need to learn. My buddy and I have an agreement on
Frostmane that neither will get more than 2 levels ahead of the other.
Well he is about to go through a move out of state, which will cut
down on his play time for a bit. I'm already level 32 and have been
treading water for a while, just logging on and getting lower level
herbs around lower level mobs so I don't get xp (but I now have about
34g of hard earned cash). Now it appears his level 30 mage will
stagnate a little longer because of the move. So yesterday he says
that I am just going to have to play the mage to get him caught up.
W00t! I just hope I don't learn to like mages better than rogues.
Any strats or suggestions? I know you learn the basics by playing up
the level tree, but I'm not going to roll a mage and spend months
learning just so I know how to play his character.

The basics are pretty simple: like a rogue, you want to kill your
opponent as quickly as possible, because you are not built to take
damage. Unlike a rogue, you want to do it from as far away as possible.
If you think rogues have to worry about taking damage, wait until you
see what mages are like! You cannot afford to take very many hits.

Beyond that, the details vary depending on what kind of mage you are,
and that should depend on how you like to play. If you like to play
defensively, you want to be a Frost Mage. If you like offense and high
damage, you want to be a Fire Mage at level 30. (At higher levels you
want to be an Arcane/Fire mage, but at 30, Fire is the way to go for
offense).

Frost mages use lots of frost spells to make it impossible for the
opponent to reach them. This works better against melee opponents than
against casters. Fire Mages use lots of up-front damage to kill very
quickly before the opponent can reach them. This works better against
casters than against melee opponents. Higher level Fire mages use Arcane
talents to increase their already fairly high damage output.

Beyond this point you get into fussy tactical details. You'll have to
work those out on your own by experimenting. When my level 60 was a
Frost Mage, I tried to control fights so I could hit-and-run. Open with
a Frostbolt from extreme range and repeat until they got close enough to
root them with Frost Nova. Then run away to range and start the
Frostbolts again. Then when they got close again, blink away, and start
firing. By the time they got close again, I could Frost Nova again, and
so on.

As an Arcane Fire mage I more often try to overwhelm them with damage in
the first few seconds. Arcane Power, Pyroblast, Presence of Mind,
Fireball, Fireball, Fire Blast, Scorch, Scorch, Fire Blast (if they last
that long, which most don't). These are level 60 tactics; lower level
tactics are similar, but don't have quite as many tools.

You'll have to work out the details that suit you by experimentation.

[Mat Sayle]

I'm with mikel, as a lvl 40 mage, I usually Pyroblast, Fireball, Fireblast,
Arcane Missiles, Fireblast.

That will take down any non-elite mob of the same level or lower, anything
higher and I just throw more Arcane Missiles and Fireblasts in as necessary.

Oh and any mage that is Fire/Arcane or just Fire specced, would be insane
not to invest 2 points in flame throwing. With an extra 6 yards distance, I
am able to pop 3 to 4 fireballs off (depending on the speed of the mob)
before it even gets within melee range. If one of those was a Pyroblast,
that's enough to take the mob down to about 20% health.

Post by mikel

Post by Lehi
How do I play a level 30 mage?
I guess I need to learn. My buddy and I have an agreement on
Frostmane that neither will get more than 2 levels ahead of the other.
Well he is about to go through a move out of state, which will cut
down on his play time for a bit. I'm already level 32 and have been
treading water for a while, just logging on and getting lower level
herbs around lower level mobs so I don't get xp (but I now have about
34g of hard earned cash). Now it appears his level 30 mage will
stagnate a little longer because of the move. So yesterday he says
that I am just going to have to play the mage to get him caught up.
W00t! I just hope I don't learn to like mages better than rogues.
Any strats or suggestions? I know you learn the basics by playing up
the level tree, but I'm not going to roll a mage and spend months
learning just so I know how to play his character.

The basics are pretty simple: like a rogue, you want to kill your
opponent as quickly as possible, because you are not built to take
damage. Unlike a rogue, you want to do it from as far away as possible.
If you think rogues have to worry about taking damage, wait until you
see what mages are like! You cannot afford to take very many hits.
Beyond that, the details vary depending on what kind of mage you are,
and that should depend on how you like to play. If you like to play
defensively, you want to be a Frost Mage. If you like offense and high
damage, you want to be a Fire Mage at level 30. (At higher levels you
want to be an Arcane/Fire mage, but at 30, Fire is the way to go for
offense).
Frost mages use lots of frost spells to make it impossible for the
opponent to reach them. This works better against melee opponents than
against casters. Fire Mages use lots of up-front damage to kill very
quickly before the opponent can reach them. This works better against
casters than against melee opponents. Higher level Fire mages use Arcane
talents to increase their already fairly high damage output.
Beyond this point you get into fussy tactical details. You'll have to
work those out on your own by experimenting. When my level 60 was a
Frost Mage, I tried to control fights so I could hit-and-run. Open with
a Frostbolt from extreme range and repeat until they got close enough to
root them with Frost Nova. Then run away to range and start the
Frostbolts again. Then when they got close again, blink away, and start
firing. By the time they got close again, I could Frost Nova again, and
so on.
As an Arcane Fire mage I more often try to overwhelm them with damage in
the first few seconds. Arcane Power, Pyroblast, Presence of Mind,
Fireball, Fireball, Fire Blast, Scorch, Scorch, Fire Blast (if they last
that long, which most don't). These are level 60 tactics; lower level
tactics are similar, but don't have quite as many tools.
You'll have to work out the details that suit you by experimentation.

[mikel]

Post by Mat Sayle
I'm with mikel, as a lvl 40 mage, I usually Pyroblast, Fireball, Fireblast,
Arcane Missiles, Fireblast.
That will take down any non-elite mob of the same level or lower, anything
higher and I just throw more Arcane Missiles and Fireblasts in as necessary.
Oh and any mage that is Fire/Arcane or just Fire specced, would be insane
not to invest 2 points in flame throwing. With an extra 6 yards distance, I
am able to pop 3 to 4 fireballs off (depending on the speed of the mob)
before it even gets within melee range. If one of those was a Pyroblast,
that's enough to take the mob down to about 20% health.

I totally agree with this. I used to like to start with Frostbolt to
slow the mob, then the fire spells. But now I usually start with
Pyroblast--I would rather have the up front damage. And the extra 6
yards distance just improves that strategy.