New mage, need some advice.

[Deleted]

Hey guys. I'm leveling a mage alt currently 105. I'm going to use for some casual dungeons and raiding but it will in no way contest my main. I originally leveled it to play fire since I enjoyed that during wotlk and back then arcane was extremely boring but after the last buffs and the new feel of the spec I think it might actually be worth trying.
I know people regard fire as the best spec but I won't be breaking any records on this char. Anyway, ideally I'd like to try both specs and see which one I like more. Fire is a bit more straightforward but arcane seems pretty complicated with it's burn phases and conservation phases and what not. I'm looking for the most up to date explanation on how to play arcane. I saw the icy veins guide but they don't seem to be updated very often and I know someone posted a very detailed guide on these exact forums, I just can't find it.

Another thing I've been wondering is as a fresh 110 which spec do you think will be better to start with in terms of performance?

Lastly I was wondering, since I've only focused on one spec on my main I was around lvl 16 artifact lvl by 110 but on this toon I'm leveling as frost, trying out fire and considering arcane. Should I start pooling AP into the weapon I intend to use NOW or does it not matter what I spend the little AP I get during leveling? I don't want to hit 110 and be like "well all my weapons are lvl 6.."

[a0kalittlema0n]

I have an arcane guide in my Sig below.

You would be fine to put AP in any artifacts since the AP cost is so low until around 11+ that you won't waste much AP at all.

As an arcane main though, I'd say level as fire, much easier to always have procs to spend and kill things quickly.

[Deleted]

I have an arcane guide in my Sig below.

You would be fine to put AP in any artifacts since the AP cost is so low until around 11+ that you won't waste much AP at all.

As an arcane main though, I'd say level as fire, much easier to always have procs to spend and kill things quickly.

Cool. Thanks a lot! Really though? You prefer leveling as fire over frost? I tried fire in my early 100's and it felt like it did worse on single target than frost.
I leveled in the small levels as fire as it has insane aoe and frost wasn't buffed back then but I feel like on the broken isles frost is king. As a bonus the water ele seems to inexplicably gain aggro when you're low health. I don't know if anyone else has noticed that last bit.

[Deleted]

Well, I found leveling with frost with Mirror Images as a distraction for elites to be quite handy. You can easily kill things which require a small group on your own, especially when utilising TW on the harder ones. But fire also works out quite good. Sadly, I cannot find the connection to arcane anymore, was my favorite spec in Wrath for some time...

[Deleted]

Well, I found leveling with frost with Mirror Images as a distraction for elites to be quite handy. You can easily kill things which require a small group on your own, especially when utilising TW on the harder ones. But fire also works out quite good. Sadly, I cannot find the connection to arcane anymore, was my favorite spec in Wrath for some time...

Really? I found it very boring in wrath. ABrr wasn't even worth talenting back then. The only thing that required any form of thought was proper use of cool downs, the rotation was just 1,1,1,1,2 and the aoe was mediocre. It was outshined at high gear levels by frostfire/deep fire builds which to be fair weren't much more complicated but I personally prefer a priority/reaction based play style over a strict rotation any day. The only thing it did have going for it was it scaled better with those spell power/haste buffs that some bosses (like the boss before yogg) provided and equaled some incredible burst.

Sorry I feel like I'm derailing the thread and my question was answered.