Solo Play Concern

[mob1lejunkie]

I have always raided with Hunter, unfortunately, Hunter Legion changes are worse than pathetic. One of the options I'm looking at is Mage. I like mechanics, class fantasy and 3 specs are quite diverse. My only concern is solo play. Given there are quite few world quests I don't want to main a class that struggles in killing open world mobs.

People in beta did you have any issues doing world quests on Mage? Were you healing after every pull?

I suppose for soloing old raids like Throne of Thunder Mages along with Rogues are at the bottom of the rung?

[Statix]

I haven't had any beta experience, but Arcane has an Artifact trait that increases the amount of damage absorbed by Ice Barrier by 100%. Fire has a trait that allows Blink/Shimmer to heal you for 18% over 6 seconds. Frost has a trait which reduces the damage you take by 12% for 6 seconds every time Ice Lance deals damage.

And you can talent into Cold Snap, giving Ice Block 2 charges and healing you for 3% every 1 second.

[Alvito]

If you are struggling to solo quests as a mage you are almost certainly not using the tools you have. At 110 I doubt ToT will be much trouble for any spec. Prior to the pre Legion patch several classes could easily solo a good amount of the place at 100.

[Deleted]

It's funny I too actually switched to Mage after the death of hunters.

The class is a blast for solo play. You have a ton of power on your fingertips also interrupts, cc. You've got Ice Barrier on a relatively short cooldown and if you get in trouble you got Ice Block that can heal you.

It's just great! All the buttons are satisfying to press and there are enough of them.

Also maybe it's just hype, because it's the first time I play mage, but the class just feels like it has the whole game in it's hands. It can travel vast distances instantly, teleports to most important locations in the game. Can open portals for others, can create food for self or others, can't die from falling because it has magic for that too.

All 3 specs feel very well thought out and fleshed out. The toolkit of the class is vast, it's just a joy! I'm loving it!

[Deleted]

Questing is easy so youll be fine as mage for at least 99% of the quests and mage is looking like a very fun class this expansion.

If your not a strong player, it might just be a bit more cumbersome. It depends a bit if the mobs are as fast moving as in WoD as well.
Do know that since they started buffing non-dps specs mages have overal been one of the weakest at soloing the world.
Don't expect it to be as easy to solo elites as with hunters. But I was wine in WoD, (the nova thats nerved now, helped a lot).

With the massive selfsustain nerf on all classes, something tells me mage will be a bit closer to other classes in solo performance than before.

[papajohn4]

Warlocks also got a nerf in solo.. pets are no longer "gods" and they die easily... I always liked mages in groups, but never played because they are too weak in open world. I could trap elites for my barn with all classes, except my mage.. and their damage was not higher than other dps, to cover their weak survivability...

usually in RPGs those who are glass cannons do significant more damage than classes that are survival.. in wow, this didnt happen. So why not play a class who is very good at solo and also has the same damage if not more than mage?

And so my mage got into dust and left behind... but with legion changes, I may start playing again

[Deleted]

I'm really curious how classes compare now. Mage were so weak in this department, but theirs so many changed and theirs so much self-sustain nerf.

[Cracked]

Cauterizing blink is pretty much a 15% heal on a 15 seconds cd with 2 charges if you take Shimmer, or you have a 30% iceblock heal with 2 charges if you spec into Cold Snap.

Ice Barrier's 25 second cooldown is damn good for anything that doesn't hit too hard, even then, as frost or arcane, with the traits, it absorbs absurd amounts of damage (managed to get it to 900k absorbs at 110).

For sustained healing fire is pretty good, overall it's not an issue. You won't be able to solo as much as a hunter with op pets or blood dk with extreme self sustain, but that's the life on mages, historically one of the worse soloing classes.

[Deleted]

but that's the life on mages, historically one of the worse soloing classes.

I do feel a bit buthurt about this compared to how were were in vanilla.
In vanilla we were great in aoe soloing as a niche at the rest we were mediocre.
Since vanilla we lost this soloing capability, and others especially hybrids gotten much stronger at soloing where we stayed the same.
Than we also lost our MASSIVE dominance in raid dps and our identity of super pvp kiters and highly mobile (blink likes were rare).
In cataclysm we also lost our strenght of polymorph as the most conveniant cc (might be back with feared mobs running again, but its not needed).

It feels like the only unique identities we kept are our weaknesses..........rabble rabble rabble :P

[Osinin]

I have always raided with Hunter, unfortunately, Hunter Legion changes are worse than pathetic. One of the options I'm looking at is Mage. I like mechanics, class fantasy and 3 specs are quite diverse. My only concern is solo play. Given there are quite few world quests I don't want to main a class that struggles in killing open world mobs.

People in beta did you have any issues doing world quests on Mage? Were you healing after every pull?

I suppose for soloing old raids like Throne of Thunder Mages along with Rogues are at the bottom of the rung?

I am in beta and no dont have a problem with world quests / general solo ing. I have spent the majority of my time as fire at even at low gear levels I found it fine. I played hunter in Legion beta as well and yes early on its probably slightly easier (comparing to starting 100 characters at the 680ivl or whatever it is). I think something to keep in mind is specing for solo versus taking a raid talents can make a great difference early on at lower gear levels. For one basic example the tier 15 fire talent that is 100% crit on mobs over 80%. This guarantees fireball, fire blast, pyro to start pulls which is wonderful!

I have not tried any old world raids to be able to comment on that though sorry.

[Racthoh]

solo has always sucked for mage. it's not impossible, it just requires a lot of extra effort. since you're just talking world quests and not old raids or whatever, you should be just fine. just don't expect it to be afk paladin mode.

[Deleted]

Solo play concerns.....

As a mage......

smdh.......

[mob1lejunkie]

I am in beta and no dont have a problem with world quests / general solo ing.

Thanks for your help!

[Araitik]

My hobby has been Mage soloing for the past 3 years.

To sum it up : it's not impossible but it's hard and it's 85% about gear. Basically, you will need Mythic gear and a lot of Leech to be able to solo challenging content. Right now, you can solo anything from Cataclysm (and before), in 25HC, with basically any gear if you put the effort in it. T14 is quite easy, T15 too if you stay in 10NM, T16 is hard if you don't have HC gear, anything after is impossible.

With Legion artifact and Legendary items, this statement could change quite significantly, because it looks like Blizzard FINALLY realized that Mage's survivability is garbage, even in regular PvE. This is worsened by the loss of Greater Invisibility as a possibility except for Arcane. With the artifact, we get a self-heal on Blink (which is absurd but w/ever) for Fire and improved Ice Barrier for Frost and Arcane.

There is actually a Mage soloing topic here on MMO-C : http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...ho-needs-a-DK/ but I have not updated it for Legion yet. You can also take a look at my YT channel for a lot of Mage soloing over the years : https://www.youtube.com/user/AraitikWoW/videos

See you in Legion

[Polarthief]

It's funny I too actually switched to Mage after the death of hunters.

It's funny, I actually switched away from Mage after the death of Mages that's been growing since MoP.

OT: If you're expecting faceroll soloing, pick another class.

[isaac2314]

I still remember being stumped facing a 3-raptor group in the Barrens back in vanilla, since even if I sheep one I might get killed by the other two before I kill them. Oh, and downtime issues between pulls, but mages have it a lot easier back then.

To be actually on point, I think it will be just about the same as WoD, if not most past expansions - you'd have little trouble killing stuff one by one or two by two at its intended gear level, but if you get cocky you die, except if you overgear.
If you do, it's very easy, although you can still die if you are careless (while I've died as a 740 mage in Tanaan, I doubted you can die even if you try as a 740 tank there. Well, except for Kazzak.)
Assuming ilvl parity, tanks had and will probably have it (a lot) easier than mages - more room for mistakes, more room for mass pulls, less downtime, etc.

As for old raids - if you stick to raids two or more expansions old, you'd likely not have problems, although you'd need to play more carefully than if you were a tank.
If you for some reason want to solo WoD raids in Legion, I'd just tell you to forget about it and get a group.
It's not worth the time to try it, take it from someone who killed the first mage solo WoD boss.

[Deleted]

It's funny, I actually switched away from Mage after the death of Mages that's been growing since MoP.

OT: If you're expecting faceroll soloing, pick another class.

I couldn't care less about soloing, though I would enjoy a bit more challenge. Mages are gods compared to hunters at the moment, maybe you just have higher standards though.