I need to improve!

[Badir]

Hey, I could use some help with my mage.
My guild is doing alt runs icc25, but I noticed my dps is really lacking (my best fights were Blood Princes and Blood Queen with about 8k dps only), I got some nice upgrades this week so I should be doing more dps next week, I want to improve because we will be doing some more hardmodes next week.
I've been trying both arcane and fire, Arcane in ICC25, fire only in heroics. Fire is more fun to be honest, but I am not sure if its better. Another thing I am unsure about is some fights (in ICC) probably suit one spec more than another, though I dont which fights. I am also looking for some good fire trinkets, since the ones I have now are probably better for arcane than for fire, you got any suggestions for good fire trinkets?
Any other tips or help is appreciated, flame me if needed because I am still a bit noob at mage :P.

Thanks

My Mage's Armory: http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sh...zune&cn=Ninwyn

[Stirge]

One major thing you're missing right now is 4pT10, hopefully this is just because you haven't earned enough badges to buy the other two pieces/haven't gotten the gloves to drop in VoA. Also your rep ring, but that's just a matter of time. Hopefully you're doing 10 and 25 to get those asap; even a crappy pug can usually kill trash and the first few bosses, if there's not a guild run for you to get into. Mining is absolutely worthless to a mage as far as perks, and engineering isn't the best but at least has some useful stuff at max skill. You do not have anywhere near enough crit to go fire yet, stay arcane for a while.

Basically, about the best thing you can do at this point is to download Rawr(if you don't already have it) and run an optimization. Make sure you watch the tour video on their front page.

Oh, also, Student of the Mind is probably the biggest waste of talent points ever. (Warning: hyperbole.)

And, lastly, do yourself and the game a favor, and spend the 25 bucks or whatever to not be a gnome. Be a space goat for the waggle--I mean, for the hit rating, or a human for the rep boost, if you're absolutely committed to being Alliance scum. Better yet, join the good guys.

[Badir]

Thanks I totally forgot about my proffessions! and I will try Rawr.

[Deleted]

I always find the forums on elitistjerks.com are a good source when learning a new class.

[DirewolfX]

Mining is absolutely worthless to a mage as far as perks, and engineering isn't the best but at least has some useful stuff at max skill. You do not have anywhere near enough crit to go fire yet, stay arcane for a while.

Actually, Engineering is the best...

And, lastly, do yourself and the game a favor, and spend the 25 bucks or whatever to not be a gnome. Be a space goat for the waggle--I mean, for the hit rating, or a human for the rep boost, if you're absolutely committed to being Alliance scum. Better yet, join the good guys.

Being a draenei only helps if you have less than one draenei per group. Otherwise, you might as well be a gnome for the extra int.

---------- Post added 2010-08-23 at 04:20 PM ----------

P.S. You're way over hit cap for Arcane and and the intellect trinket is bad for Fire. You should get the chest and head for t10 next with frost emblems; that will go a long way to fixing your hit problem and give you the amazing 4p bonus. Check the PvE FAQ for information about hit caps you should be gearing for. One of the challenges as a mage is gearing around hit caps and picking optimal gear for your spec. I keep a bunch of 'sidegrade' gear around in case I ever need to swap specs or get a new item that affects my hit rating.