Leveling before 50, what is better?

[dambros]

Hi there,

I'm currently leveling a mage on a new server so I don't have access to any BoA or great gear and I'm 35 atm playing fire. I've a pretty good knowledge of the game and kiting in general so I'm doing just fine as fire, but I'm really getting sick of the huge casts (pyro+fb+fb+scorch).

I was thinking about respecing to frost now I have access to Shatter and Imp. Blizzard. What do you guys think? I'm willing to level the fastest way possible, so I'm looking for something optimized.

Probably something like:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#oZZicMhsbu0z:mk

Thanks in advance.

[ralphie]

Never played a mage before but I thought frost was better for leveling....?

[Deleted]

I think the specc you most like is the fastest since you like it.

[Priear]

Frost... Dont feel explaining it... Just belive me, its frost...

When you hit outland you can think about arcane.

Edit: fire is fun.. It just uses too mutch mana imo.

[dambros]

Fireball always get a new rank before Frostbolt and the raw damage of Frostbolt is incredible low compared to fire spell, so you end up casting like 4-5 more skill to kill something, at least at the first levels.

I'm pretty sure from 50+ frost kicks ass, but really don't know before it.

[Spotter]

Hi there,

I'm currently leveling a mage on a new server so I don't have access to any BoA or great gear and I'm 35 atm playing fire. I've a pretty good knowledge of the game and kiting in general so I'm doing just fine as fire, but I'm really getting sick of the huge casts (pyro+fb+fb+scorch).

I was thinking about respecing to frost now I have access to Shatter and Imp. Blizzard. What do you guys think? I'm willing to level the fastest way possible, so I'm looking for something optimized.

Probably something like:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#oZZicMhsbu0z:mk

Thanks in advance.

That talent build looks awful man :P
assuming you would be grinding otherwise Imp.Blizzard is worthless, so the best build for that one :
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#oZZVI0cs0uho

If you're not planning to grind, remove the 3 points out of Imp.Blizzard and put them in either Frozen Core or Precision.

[john879]

Trust me frost, just frost! After 80 then look into arcane/fire if you want to raid! Lvling is always frost.

[Ososhawkin]

I'm actually leveling a mage right now as well. I was at 40 just slamming my head on my desk because when opening with pyro blast you kind of want to do something else. The final straw was when I started in Searing Gorge and nearly all mobs have some form of fire resist or fire immunity.

I would suggest a spec like this: Here

Then when you get up in level spec into Precision to help with mana cost and hit; or if you have severe mana issues spec into Frost Channeling. Once you get Ice Barrier; just AoE grind:
Ice Barrier -> Gather Mobs -> Frost Nova Group -> Blizzard to death -> Finish with Cone of Cold.

[dambros]

That talent build looks awful man :P
assuming you would be grinding otherwise Imp.Blizzard is worthless, so the best build for that one :
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#oZZVI0cs0uho

If you're not planning to grind, remove the 3 points out of Imp.Blizzard and put them in either Frozen Core or Precision.

Seriously how can Ice Flows be better than Frostbite and Piercing Ice than Permafrost? 6% dmg at this level barely means 15 dmg more. Improved CoC I agree, I was between it and the rest.

Don't want to sound rude here please.

[Spotter]

Seriously how can Ice Flows be better than Frostbite and Piercing Ice than Permafrost. 6% dmg at this level barely means 15 dmg more. Improved CoC I agree, I was between it and the rest.

Well thats why I assumed you would going to grind, because you can't take the risk that some mobs will be freezed and some others not when you're grinding and casting blizzard. That will ruin your whole grinding. And the reduced cooldowns of Ice Floes are a must-have when you're grinding:P
If you're not going to grind you can choose Frostbite but Ice Floes can save your ass a couple times.

Piercing Ice is better because the Frost tree is already mana efficient and at low lvl you don't have to be hit capped:P more damage equals to faster en better grinding and soloing mobs.

[dambros]

Well thats why I assumed you would going to grind, because you can't take the risk that some mobs will be freezed and some others not when you're grinding and casting blizzard. That will ruin your whole grinding. And de reduced cooldowns of Ice Floes are a must-have when you're grinding:P
If you're not going to grind you can choose it but Ice Floes can save your ass a couple times.

Piercing Ice is better because the Frost tree is already mana efficient and at low lvl you don't have to be hit capped:P more damage equals to faster en better grinding and soloing mobs.

I'm not grinding at all, I'll be questing, but of course doing aoe anytime I can. I believe now you can reach 70% slow and blizzard can crit Frostbite is actually really good. There was some post somewhere studying this.

[Spotter]

I'm not grinding at all, I'll be questing, but of course doing aoe anytime I can. I believe now you can reach 70% slow and blizzard can crit Frostbite is actually really good. There was some post somewhere studying this.

Then why the hell do you want points in Imp.Blizzard its just a waiste of points then:P
Otherwise I would recommend this build:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#oZZVIcco0uhz

And since you're loving frostbite:P You can switch you're points out of Precision or Piercing Ice.
And really if you're not grinding Imp.Blizzard would be a waiste of talentpoints

[DruidFTW]

Never played a mage before but I thought frost was better for leveling....?

Frost has more survivability and much more control, and less damage. Its faster then fire because you save on corpse runs.

Fire does way more damage and if the mage isnt your first toon and youre pretty competent at kiting and what not, its the better choice.

[Lokigar]

Once you're able to go to Western Plaguelands, as Frost you can just AoE farm XP extremely easy.

Is your mage horde or alliance? Asking since there's abit of difference between their grind spots.

[Stevegasm]

I preferred fire while at the lower levels. As already mentioned, fire gets new ranks before frost, and you need much less casts to kill something (2 or 3 when you get pyro, as opposed to 5 or 6 FBs), and better pushback protection should a mob actually reach you before you kill it.

I tried frost every 8 to 10 levels up to around the 40s, but always went back to fire, because I found it better. Never bothered with AOE grinding (which I considered dangerous on my server, as low level world PvP was fairly active at the time I leveled my mage). But if you want to go that route, go frost. I stayed as fire until I got arcane blast (64?).

At 35, frost should be alright, if not, a little proc based, and chancy. Mashing frost bolt over and over again is boring as hell. Lining up a pyro, then a fireball or two, followed by a fire blast, or blast wave to get distance is more interesting to me.

If you happen to stay fire, you can skip searing gorge completely. Especially with the xp gains now. Just stick with Tanaris, Feralas, and Felwood and you should be okay.

[Amgyn]

I'm currently leveling a mage, almost level 15.... and i'm doing it frost style.

mainly because i like the style of frost leveling.... i think its prefrence... casting "bigger" spells or casting a flurry (sic) of quicker spells....

[Lolpod]

I'm currently leveling a mage, almost level 15.... and i'm doing it frost style.

mainly because i like the style of frost leveling.... i think its prefrence... casting "bigger" spells or casting a flurry (sic) of quicker spells....

Frost is much fun and i would probaly go it for leveling
AoE down mobs is fun

[Amgyn]

Frost is much fun and i would probaly go it for leveling
AoE down mobs is fun

fun and safe.

[dambros]

Just got home and gonna give frost a try.

Btw for the guy who asked about my faction, I'm horde.

Thanks everyone so far.

[Trilic]

Dambros...whatever you do, just don't go fire. Eats way too much mana atm. Plus without a slowing effect, it's worthless as god forbid a mob gets near you :< Frost just provides so much AoEwin that leveling should be fun, and a breeze.

Just go with frost atm with this spec atm: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#oZZAcc0s0uhz

And moving onto something like this by the time you're 49: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#oZZAsc0sbuhfdMb

Only things I would switch around are maybe the imp cone points for some more points in Icy Floes.