new to mage

[Deleted]

i have not played mage as my main ever . but a question i seem to not get is. through what i seen/hear mages has been a top class for all expansions so far. but reading on the forums they seem to have lot of problems. so which facts are true and is it worth going a mage as main?

[Deleted]

i would say that with low gear lots of classes/specs does better than mages, but with high gear levels mages become rly good dps wise. raid utility wise mages are quite crap we give nothing unique to a raid compared to locks for example which have healthsthone, gateway etc

[Madcloud]

Mages are amazing, do not let anyone tell you otherwise. They have their fair share of problems (boring 90tier talents, frost spec clunky at high ilvls, RNG sucky for fire in low ilvls, arcane "turret" annoying in this new "high movement" raid environments) but they are still fun as all hell. Been playin my mage since wrath, tried other classes but always come back to my one true love.

is it worth it making your mage a main? it depends. what do you play now... are you in a raid group? will bringing a mage be beneficial to it? (only thing ur rly bringing is hero which can b brought by shammys and hunters... crit/sp can come from many other buffs now). or are you just looking for a change? mages are really fun, i dont think i've said that yet :3. it all really boils down to what YOU want.


at lower gear lvls our damage suffers a little bit due to stat scaling. equally so, once we have enough stats to work with, our damage can be outstanding.

[Deleted]

If you want to play a caster I'd go a warlock if I were you, more fun and generally better in my opinion. Mages are kinda unupdated and lacking design wise while warlocks are a blast to play.

[Goadian]

I've played a mage main since wrath, and for me personally i enjoy it a lot. A lot of it just comes down to the playstyle you enjoy. There really isn't a fail dps class if it is played properly. When it comes down to the nitty gritty details of DPS a lot of other factors effect the maximum damage potential of each class. If you can play a mage and play it well with a proper computer setup you will have zero issues. The fact that they dont bring much to a raid is indeed a fact though. beyond clearing curses and provided mage food, the only other thing we bring is the DPS. I personally cannot stand playing a warlock after playing mage though, just never been able to enjoy the class. So i can't agree with the suggestion to go warlock. Leveling up is pretty easy, so hop in and see if the playstyle suits you first and foremost. After all, having a high DPS character you hate playing isn't helping anyone.

[Nightfall]

I started playing WoW at the end of TBC as a feral cat, got to max level, felt useless in both PVE and PVP dps-wise despite bringing lots of utility and levelled a mage. Ever since mage was my main. I tried all other classes, some to the max level, others to 30-60, but my main has always been a mage ever since. I just love them, high and low, even overburdened with lv90 talents.

As said in posts above, mages are lacking on low ilvls, but get wild as your gear gets better. Their raid utility is lacking, but they bring good dps to the table. Every spec has it's downsides, but if you like the playstyle of the spec, it won't matter that much (ofc some people are more picky then others). Some people say the playstyle is very simple and it bores them, others like it to no end - you'll have to find that out for yourself. Basically, as any spec you will try to line up all your cds to deal maximum burst and when everything is on cd you cast your spec's filler nuke, use procs, refresh a bomb of your choice and maintain lv90 talents. In Arcane there's some mana management involved (not too much), in Fire you aim to get many powerful procs in a row to burst with Combustion and spread your dots to adjacent targets, in Frost you have lots and lots of instant-cast procs and good AOE.

[Windry]

Pros:
- Top Tier Single Target DPS
- Very high survivability
- Fairly Simple rotation
- Good Mobility
- Ability to break certain mechanics with Iceblock

Cons:
- Very Bad DPS on the move
- Very Bad AOE (except Frost on a 1m CD)
- Bad multidot outside of Combustion
- Every single spec is heavily RNG based (Arcane Missles, Fingers of Frost, Crit)

and...
The number 1 problem with a mage: Warlocks. Mages simply don't match up to what warlocks bring atm.

Warlocks are top tier Single Target, top tier AoE, top tier multidot, has equivalent survivability, has high DPS on the move, has a battle Rez, and Demonic Gateway is OP on a lot of fights.

Note: Blizzard has mentioned that Warlocks bring too much to the table atm, and will likely be looking to nerf them.

[pkm]

Mages atm are being over shadowed by locks but don't let that sway you from mage. Unless you are doing cutting edge raiding, there isn't a need to be excelling at everything.

[Metalgrid]

at lower gear lvls our damage suffers a little bit due to stat scaling. equally so, once we have enough stats to work with, our damage can be outstanding.

Definitely. If you do level a mage, don't be discouraged at first -- you'll be doing great DPS in no time

[Polarthief]

Pros:
- Very high survivability

Warlocks are top tier Single Target, top tier AoE, top tier multidot, has equivalent survivability, has high DPS on the move, has a battle Rez, and Demonic Gateway is OP on a lot of fights.

That's a funny joke, right?

We're good at surviving one or two large hits. We're frail as hell in any other scenario. Our only "defensive cooldown" (in the sense that it reduces damage, not blocks it completely) lasts for 3s once you get hit once or start casting another spell.

Equivalent survivability = a 500-650k shield every 60s on top of plenty of absorbs from Soul Leech... Riiiiight.

---------- Post added 2013-06-14 at 06:35 PM ----------

Mages atm are being over shadowed by locks but don't let that sway you from mage. Unless you are doing cutting edge raiding, there isn't a need to be excelling at everything.

While true, Mages are HORRIBLY boring atm, and that's mostly due to our L75/90 talents.

I'd say wait for Mage changes to appear on the PTR before really bothering.

As far as pure single target/close range cleave DPS goes, we're good, but by no means the absolute best (Warlocks take that)

[mrgreenthump]

That's a funny joke, right?

We're good at surviving one or two large hits. We're frail as hell in any other scenario. Our only "defensive cooldown" (in the sense that it reduces damage, not blocks it completely) lasts for 3s once you get hit once or start casting another spell.

Equivalent survivability = a 500-650k shield every 60s on top of plenty of absorbs from Soul Leech... Riiiiight.

Didn't you read the same PTR patch notes that I did? They are adressing this very thing with removing/nerfing passive reduction from all ranged. Now AoE won't be hitting as hard next tier. Random damage won't be as high etc..

While true, Mages are HORRIBLY boring atm, and that's mostly due to our L75/90 talents.

Hell the talents have nothing to do with mages being boring, just think abt the specs.. As fire you have Fireball and Pyroblast + a bomb, casting IB at times and using CD's correctly for example. That's basicly the spec in all its glory. There is nothing special abt it. You can't fail at playing it. Frost is a bit better off, but not much and same for arcane. Mage rotations need some love..

[Polarthief]

Didn't you read the same PTR patch notes that I did? They are adressing this very thing with removing/nerfing passive reduction from all ranged. Now AoE won't be hitting as hard next tier. Random damage won't be as high etc..

Yes, but that's not NOW, nor was it at the time that that specific post was made.

Hell the talents have nothing to do with mages being boring, just think abt the specs.. As fire you have Fireball and Pyroblast + a bomb, casting IB at times and using CD's correctly for example. That's basicly the spec in all its glory. There is nothing special abt it. You can't fail at playing it. Frost is a bit better off, but not much and same for arcane. Mage rotations need some love..

It's both. If the talents weren't there, it wouldn't be AS bad. Fire was always clunky. It was clunky as hell in Dragon Soul, but I didn't have Inferno Blast nor L90 talents to worry about (even though IB was made as a bandage to 'fix' the RNG issue, it only feels a bit worse at times with it)

[Deleted]

Pros:
- Top Tier Single Target DPS
- Very high survivability
- Fairly Simple rotation
- Good Mobility
- Ability to break certain mechanics with Iceblock

Cons:
- Very Bad DPS on the move
- Very Bad AOE (except Frost on a 1m CD)
- Bad multidot outside of Combustion
- Every single spec is heavily RNG based (Arcane Missles, Fingers of Frost, Crit)

and...
The number 1 problem with a mage: Warlocks. Mages simply don't match up to what warlocks bring atm.

Warlocks are top tier Single Target, top tier AoE, top tier multidot, has equivalent survivability, has high DPS on the move, has a battle Rez, and Demonic Gateway is OP on a lot of fights.

Note: Blizzard has mentioned that Warlocks bring too much to the table atm, and will likely be looking to nerf them.

I'm sorry but I have to disagree with the "bad dps on the move".
Frost dps on the move is okay with Ice Floes, I've never had a dps drop because I had to move except on durumu maze phase (and only when I was unlucky because you should keep Frozen,Orb, Ice Floes, and Mirror Image for this then your dps won't drop)
Fire dps on the move is almost the same has when not moving.
Arcane on the move sucks ALOT, i'll give you that.

And for frost at least, our multidot is actually pretty insane (NT ?) and AoE damage is pretty good (Frost > Frozen Orb/NT Multidot, Fire > Comb/Pyro Spread and NT multidot too, Blizzard and the Flame AoE cant remember the name also has been buffed, they're pretty okay now)

And frost and Arcane aren't rng based at all. You'll never see a big dps increase/decrease because of RNG in frost or arcane. Fire will do that yeah.

My 2 cents

[Polarthief]

I'm sorry but I have to disagree with the "bad dps on the move".
Frost dps on the move is okay with Ice Floes, I've never had a dps drop because I had to move except on durumu maze phase (and only when I was unlucky because you should keep Frozen,Orb, Ice Floes, and Mirror Image for this then your dps won't drop)
Fire dps on the move is almost the same has when not moving.
Arcane on the move sucks ALOT, i'll give you that.

Fire is good mobile DPS, we all know that (though the no travel time on Scorch sucks for trying to IB).
Frost is iffy. It really does depend on your procs. I've had times where my DPS didn't get affected because I had so many procs, and I had another instance where I had 0 procs and was doing 0 DPS (outside of NT). Was pretty crap. It's more or less RNG if you're going to be good on mobility for any given time.
Arcane sucks mobile. No one can argue that.

[Deleted]

Fire is good mobile DPS, we all know that (though the no travel time on Scorch sucks for trying to IB).
Frost is iffy. It really does depend on your procs. I've had times where my DPS didn't get affected because I had so many procs, and I had another instance where I had 0 procs and was doing 0 DPS (outside of NT). Was pretty crap. It's more or less RNG if you're going to be good on mobility for any given time.
Arcane sucks mobile. No one can argue that.

Ice Floes is underestimated, it's pretty good. I always have it when needed, and between NT refreshing/procs and the 2 charges, it more than enough to do your job.
For example, I never loose any dps while moving platforms or lightning thing on Lei'Shen's encounter. So i'd say it's okay

[jtmzac]

The problem with ice floes is it takes a long time to get to your destination and it actually doesn't go as far as blazing speed.

I used to use ice floes a lot more but blazing speed is usually better. The only fight I still take ice floes is durumu. I think it needs its cd reduced a bit more to put it in line with blazing speed.

[Deleted]

The problem with ice floes is it takes a long time to get to your destination and it actually doesn't go as far as blazing speed.

I used to use ice floes a lot more but blazing speed is usually better. The only fight I still take ice floes is durumu. I think it needs its cd reduced a bit more to put it in line with blazing speed.

Never really found a use to Blazing speed, I have Blink for that. Not saying its not good, but I've never really found it usefull ^^. Guess some of you know how to use it and I don't .

[Polarthief]

For example, I never loose any dps while moving platforms or lightning thing on Lei'Shen's encounter. So i'd say it's okay

I use Blazing Speed and I've never lost DPS when moving platforms. That's an extremely poor example

Heroic Jin'rohk (Balls/Ionization/Lightning Storm Balls), Tortos (especially Heroic with a baddie Warlock who can't SB+CoE), Maze of Durumu; a few better ones, methinks.

IF is underestimated for a reason: It's underwhelming.

If it could be a mini SWG/5.4 PTR KJC (e.g., all spells for ~8s every 45s), then it'd be nice, but no, it's two measly spells :\

---------- Post added 2013-06-15 at 10:18 AM ----------

Never really found a use to Blazing speed, I have Blink for that. Not saying its not good, but I've never really found it usefull ^^. Guess some of you know how to use it and I don't .

You underestimate BS then. I use it only with Frost (would with Arcane if I played Arcane) [Fire uses PoM], and man is it more helpful than I thought.

Would be nice if it lasted 2.5-3s.

[Azlundar22]

Every class can be good well played

[Deleted]

I believe every class can be good if you know what you are doing, and I therefore think you shouldn't pick a class just because it's currently a tiny bit better than the others. Try a class out, if you like it, stick to it. You will eventually become good.