Anyone else struggling to enjoy mage?

[Deleted]

Is it fire mages who also have a chance to turn their victims Into a husk?

[Wenoxar]

Fire mages!

While leveling you really have to make use out of your abilities! Shimmer talent with lvl3 artifact trait is so awesome. The heal is insane.

Use Dragon's Breath constantly for that extra CC, also even Frost Nova is your friend.

Don't use Rune of Power while leveling as it's really painful to make good use out of it while leveling.

[Gaaz]

My main problem with fire mage so far, is that it is kind of tense. You constantly have to watch for procs, cooldowns, charges, on top of being pretty squishy. I actually had to switch from my mage to do starter quests on my lock and hunter just to take a break. Mages may be great for dungeons and raids, but any open world content is very tiring. Spells seem to hit like wet noodles unless they crit. And even then, a pyroblast crit deals less than 20% of an average mob health, a fireball just over 10%. It gets the job done eventually, but feels weak. Gone are the days of pyroblast crits that anihilated mobs for full health. Now it seems more like dots that have to be cast each tick. At least if you do not overgear content.

[Xetenor]

I totally have to agree with the above and OP. Seems disappointing in a way. Maybe I will stick to my warrior but sadly i picked fury and you are seriously the squishiest class so I will have to go arms at lvl 102 and stick to that.

[grumblebuns]

I've mained my mage ever since Vanilla and I always loved it... but WoD and now Legion have kinda ruined it for me. I don't really like any of the specs now except fire, but I went with arcane simply because I didn't want a stupid dagger and offhand as my artifact weapon which was dumb and I kinda regret it now but meh, I'll just change later I guess. I just hate how boring and simple they are now... I also hate how I can only use fire spells if I'm fire, frost spells if I'm frost etc... I know that it's to make each spec feel special and the whole class identity thing but I loved being able to a wide variety of different spells to use, I dunno.

I don't really want to because I will still always love my mage, but I'm thinking of switching to something else this expansion.

[Deleted]

As Fire, it only takes between 2-10 sec to kill a mob, depending on proc rate and whether you have a proc prepared. As Arcane it takes 30-40 sec minimum, for a normal mob. All at 750 ilvl with a 755 mythic WF staff.

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My main problem with fire mage so far, is that it is kind of tense. You constantly have to watch for procs, cooldowns, charges, on top of being pretty squishy. I actually had to switch from my mage to do starter quests on my lock and hunter just to take a break. Mages may be great for dungeons and raids, but any open world content is very tiring. Spells seem to hit like wet noodles unless they crit. And even then, a pyroblast crit deals less than 20% of an average mob health, a fireball just over 10%. It gets the job done eventually, but feels weak. Gone are the days of pyroblast crits that anihilated mobs for full health. Now it seems more like dots that have to be cast each tick. At least if you do not overgear content.

You need the Archi trinket with Flamepatch, the automatic Flamestrike makes for fast kills.

[Ryft]

Only got a couple of hours of play in last night, and I want to like it, but it now has so many medium cooldown instant cast spells that I haven't yet been able to settle on a "standard" mob-killing rotation. I suppose that's probably a good thing, I am just confused about the most efficient way to kill things now.

On my Feral Druid, its been pretty straightforward, but the AoE for that class is awful.

[Tataie]

Also played a couple of hours last night , got to 102 and ~60% very easily , mobs go down very quick ( the aoe is pretty sick ) , especially when procs happen.Even the elites with higher hp , just pop TW and job done.
So far im enjoying it , no struggles...

[Osinin]

i re rolled to Mage due to having your exact same feeling about my previous main (not liking the changes). I loving Mage! Hate to say it, but for me the class fantasy is awesome! But I just love the tool kit and the way you react to heating up.

To the above poster, I did take rune of power and think it's amazing for leveling. Yeah it sucks to drop it, but due to its on demand nature it's great for killing a big mob or blowing up a whole pack. I normally find on use to be amazing for leveling due to down time between mobs meaning up time on those abilities is high. Each to their own though

[Midoree]

Fire mages!
....
Don't use Rune of Power while leveling as it's really painful to make good use out of it while leveling.

Mirror images is the way to go for leveling. keeps mobs facing on other mobs.

[Wenoxar]

Use Firestarter level 15 talent when exping!!

So you can each mob with massive burst with starting with Fireball -> Fireball (Fire Blast while casting Fireball) -> Pyroblast

[Xykotic]

go frost for leveling, good to go.

Won't you get somewhat crippled from potentially using artifact power for your offspec? I realize it'll all even out in the end, but we're hardly at the end here

[Xirrohon]

Im really enjoying leveling as Fire. Mage was my alt for WoD but Im back to maining it in Legion. I started at around 715 ilvl. No Leg ring and Im having zero problems killing mobs. After you get your Champion things get way easier. Im using the Female Mage (forget here name) but she Frost Novas everything making things so easy.

[Antonin]

Won't you get somewhat crippled from potentially using artifact power for your offspec? I realize it'll all even out in the end, but we're hardly at the end here

You don't even get to the next keystone trait until 110 (or at least I didn't), so the difference is minor. You can save your artifact power pieces and use them at 102 when you get your mainspec artifact, then swap back. But I leveled Arcane the whole way and didn't get my other artifacts til 110, worked just fine.

Oh, and I'm loving the Legion Mage.

[Jessicka]

I'm really loving Frost at the moment, feels smooth, solid and resilient for levelling, the order halls, quests and artifact all look and feel good too. There's plenty of buttons to press, which is a complaint I've seen for Fire and Arcane, just hoping it holds up for damage in the end; not that I'm looking to raid seriously this expansion. Not that I've not enjoyed Fire in the past should I feel compelled to switch.

[Deleted]

My main problem with fire mage so far, is that it is kind of tense. You constantly have to watch for procs, cooldowns, charges, on top of being pretty squishy. I actually had to switch from my mage to do starter quests on my lock and hunter just to take a break. Mages may be great for dungeons and raids, but any open world content is very tiring. Spells seem to hit like wet noodles unless they crit. And even then, a pyroblast crit deals less than 20% of an average mob health, a fireball just over 10%. It gets the job done eventually, but feels weak. Gone are the days of pyroblast crits that anihilated mobs for full health. Now it seems more like dots that have to be cast each tick. At least if you do not overgear content.

I agree on most points, but looking back my leveling xp, being squishy in later zones made it also... fun, somehow. After long months in raid gear, being outdoors again and meeting those silver elite mobs with several million hp (and considerable swing damage) forced me to plan the fights and mind my surrodings. It's not exactly hard work, but most other classes may never present even such moderate challenges on the road to 110. Facing the same mobs with my dk, who, compared to the mage, is practically invincible, is totally different: there is no need to check my own hp and cooldowns or defend against interrupts, on the other hand I've ample time to enjoy the landscape and plan the next mass pull.

[Sarkol]

I think the best advice i can give is use your cooldowns. Combustion and ring should be used on any pull of more than a few mobs. Fire has amazing burst, and you can cleave tons of mobs in one go. Lots of instants for burst without cooldowns as well. If you have the mage trinket, spec flame patch and it's more aoe. Use Dragon's breath, Frost nova, and blink. Not much else to say. You just can't face tank unlimited mobs.

[Chromell]

It is really fun but.. Perhaps to fun? Don't know if others feels the same, but fire are so much fun and also strong - it actually makes me feel somehow that something is wrong with it. Like it is to good to be true , something like that. Perhaps it is the fact that I don't feel challenged enough while playing it ? It is too smooth and good ?

I really hope they don't relish the idea of making a spec's enjoyment inversely proportional to its strength.

[Deleted]

Loving fire, but agree with whoever said that phoenix flames was a bit awkward. The rotation felt smoother without it, but no question it adds massive burst potential to the opener.

Can kill most rares/elites by the time combustion ends, and even those which persist longer you've got great kiting/control. I've survived some pretty hairy over-pulls two what with two x cauterizing blinks.

Switched from Moonkin for this expac, only thing I'm missing is spammable ways to tag/collect mobs! I've actually been using spellsteal (mana permitting)!

[Shadow Fox]

My main issue, is that I'm not use to playing a mage, or even a ranged caster... So I get my self into situations where I die really fast...

(I'm use to being a Rogue&DK)

So I'm not use to maging around.

Luckily, I have Archmage Modera at my side to CC things and do a lot of damage too...

.... Or have her get aggro as I run away since she doesn't die.