the best alliance race for a mage

[mrgreenthump]

I have to agree...I race changed to worgen at the start of cata...it lasted 3 weeks and I went back to human after developing RSI from all the arm-waving casting animations ><

thats 2 more weeks than i managed to

[phlogistinator]

In PvP, it depends on which class you wish to have an advantage against.

I personally hate fears, so I would choose human over other classes anytime.

If you like going against melee, you could try a worgen.

[Shoneimal]

In PvP, it depends on which class you wish to have an advantage against.

I personally hate fears, so I would choose human over other classes anytime.

If you like going against melee, you could try a worgen.

how about gnome？

[spity]

Gnome is still the best choice

[Groblje]

Humans for pvp, worgen for pve I'd have to say. I've been following that principle myself, so I went worgen when I re-joined the Alliance!

[icerus]

So for MoP best is worgen for PvE and spec fire? or what is the best PvE spec?

[MythicTyrant]

Personally, I went with Draenei. Yes, yes, bash all you want, but for me, there wasn't ENOUGH of a difference between the races for me to not simply pick a character that was more asthethically pleasing to me. The other bonus of having a Draenei is the racial healing ability. Mages are already fairly squishy as clothies. Especially if you ditch Frost for Arcane or Fire. Leveling as a Draenei Mage with Herbalism, I had access to two minor healing spells. They are NOTHING compared to what normal healers can dish out, but in the process of learning how to play the class, they did get me out of a few jams here and there and even helped me solo Elites that I had otherwise had a rough time going up against. I even had an instance where I was in a 5-man dungeon and the healer was lacking. Final Boss. The healer was having the trouble keeping the tank alive. I threw my two heals on him to prolong his death and we won. Those situations are rare, but it's still nice to have those two abilities as sort of a backup plan

[schwarzkopf]

Those situations are rare, but it's still nice to have those two abilities as sort of a backup plan

Choosing something based upon rare situations (e.g. crap healer or something) vs choosing based upon something common (e.g. getting 5% more mana ALL the time).

I think gnome = +%5 mana ALL the time wins hands down.

[MythicTyrant]

Choosing something based upon rare situations (e.g. crap healer or something) vs choosing based upon something common (e.g. getting 5% more mana ALL the time).

I think gnome = +%5 mana ALL the time wins hands down.

I think you need to re-read my post

I chose Draenei based on my choice for asthetics. The racial heal was a bonus. To me, being happier with my character is more important than what everyone else thinks. After all, it's my $15 a month, right? And it's not like my choice made a RADICAL difference in group quests and instances. The heals benefited me while leveling since Frost isn't extremely mana intensive to begin with, and when scenarios arrive where I need to make a run for it, I can Blink away and throw on some heals to keep any DoTs from finishing me off.

The heals don't make a radical difference, but are useful. The mana regen doesn't make a radical difference, but it's useful.

In the end, it's all about player preference

[Auro]

In my opinion it depends what you like to do.

Gnomes are the quintessential mage, and their racials have usually favored that. They no longer get +int, but they do get +5% mana which can make a big difference, especially for arcane.... and as we continue to get such inflated mana pools each expack.

Gnomes are also great in battlegrounds, since you are usually much less likely to be targeted than a larger player (like a draenei or tauren) since you're seen in many people's minds as less of a threat. It can also be easier to hide behind stuff.

In arenas, this advantage is almost non existant, except you can sometimes LoS people that a taller race cant.... but you can also end up LoSing your heals the same way, which can be bad lol.

The Human's free trinket is pretty powerful as others have said. You simply have to weigh it.

If you're going PVE, I'd say almost certainly gnome. Just listen to the voices first and be sure you can deal with that. I know that within 5 minutes of rolling my first gnome I was typing DELETE because that voice was just not something I could deal with. Went with a troll mage instead

[Vifire]

Ok the player who said Gnome is the best racial even vs. horde racials really needs to sort his facts out.

The best raiding racials for PVE are as follows (in descending order)

Alliance

Worgen (1% Crit and Runspeed makes it the best raiding racial as alliance)
Draenei (1% hit and the personal made this BiS during firelands but falls short of Worgen's Crit even if it enables you to reforge more into substats)
Gnome (Mana pool nowhere sims out being as viable as the worgen racial.)

- Dwarf, Human, Night Elf

Horde

Troll (Wins hand-down as the overall best racial for any mage incl. alliance racials, insane DPS cooldown)
Goblin (Like Draenei, helps gain reforging out of haste post caps etc. but doesn't even come close to beserking cooldown)
Orc (strong personal but much more viable for Warriors & Warlocks)

- Blood Elf, Undead,

For mages overall the best racials

1. Troll
2. Worgen/Goblin

[Nathyiel]

globally ok but:

• Orc is very good with is Spell Power trinjket and it's +5% pet's damage (for Frost).
• Blood Elf ii pretty good for Arcane just because of the free Mana on cooldown.
• Tauren can't be mage

[Vifire]

globally ok but:

• Orc is very good with is Spell Power trinjket and it's +5% pet's damage (for Frost).
• Blood Elf ii pretty good for Arcane just because of the free Mana on cooldown.
• Tauren can't be mage

Orc is good but nowhere near as valuable as it is for Warlocks & Warriors.

Blood Elf is not even close to being a good racial for mages. Purely aesthetics, that is all. How can a tiny mana cd be anywhere near as substantial as a haste cooldown proving a dps a raw dps increase counting in the extra casts/proccs coming off those casts ?!

Tauren, fixed*, my bad ;p was thinking off the top of my head.

[Varyk]

Worgen or Gnome, it's not really that close

[Shoneimal]

so human will still be the best choice for a pvp mage even in mop? how about night elf?

[Nathyiel]

Orc is good but nowhere near as valuable as it is for Warlocks & Warriors.

Blood Elf is not even close to being a good racial for mages. Purely aesthetics, that is all. How can a tiny mana cd be anywhere near as substantial as a haste cooldown proving a dps a raw dps increase counting in the extra casts/proccs coming off those casts ?!

Tauren, fixed*, my bad ;p was thinking off the top of my head.

The question isn't a good they are for other class but how they are for mage.

Actually:
Orc is very good for Frost mage not very far behind Troll or even better in some built.
Blood Elf is good for Arcane because of the Mastery, like Gnome.

• Arcane Torrent : 6% mana every 120s. It's like a free 18k mana gem. Is there an arcane mage who don't love free mana?
• Expensive Mind : increase your mana-pool by 5%. Mastery don't scale around 300 but around 315k.

All this talent aren't as good as the pure Troll burst but you will be surprise to see that all class isn't this far below.

[mrgreenthump]

Ok the player who said Gnome is the best racial even vs. horde racials really needs to sort his facts out.

The best raiding racials for PVE are as follows (in descending order)

Alliance

Worgen (1% Crit and Runspeed makes it the best raiding racial as alliance)
Draenei (1% hit and the personal made this BiS during firelands but falls short of Worgen's Crit even if it enables you to reforge more into substats)
Gnome (Mana pool nowhere sims out being as viable as the worgen racial.)

Exept for an Arcane mage, Worgen is far worse than being a gnome on live atm.




That said for everything else the gain is pretty much 0 from being a gnome