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Exilemaster
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Lol :) Hi guys. My name is Jerry and ive been looking around this forum for about a week now (just started WoW) and made a mage (my favorite class in most RPGs). Well im currently level 17 heading towards a Frost AoE Grinding Spec...
But you see... My PVE dmg is severly lacking and I think im leveling slower than I should. Now, I only have around 30g which is modest for my level considering my small amounts of time getting bars and skins and things to sell.
I dont like PVP and I wont be doing it much, if at all. I prefer to fight mobs and enemies, questing with friends and solo, and the occasional instance is fun as well.
My main concern, however, is leveling. I need to get to 60 (I will buy the expansion once I finally get there lol) and then to 70. This is simply because, if I do make some form of an alt, I want them to have the funding that Lacessitor didnt. (Lacessitor is the name of my mage <3. Lacessit is latin for "to destroy utterly" and, while I did HAVE that name, it was on a trial account which ended before I could delete the character, thus trapping the name foreverz :S)
Now down to business. For a 17+ leveler, focusing purely on PVE and not minding spending cash to respec when AoE frost gets good, which build should I take. I dont care about DMG or DPM or DPS or any of that nonsense just yet. What I care about is leveling speed :) Lay it on me.
Oh and what are some good ways to make cash? I found a few items during a DM run that I made some nice change off of, also mining and skinning have been good to me, but im sure there are some better ways.
If you have any tips, or suggestions as to how I should spec, what equips I should use, profs I should take, anything. Please post here, PM me, whisper me on Cenarius (name above)... Really contact me in any way you can XD
Thanks,
Exile
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| 08/23/07 13:37 |
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psychobunny
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First of all: welcome to game amp!
Now I don't know too much about mages, but I'm sure dru will hop by and give you some solid advice on why to spec fire. (her being the psychopath that she is :p )
My advice would be to go for fire, get pyroblast and some decent +spelldamage gear and just run around one-shotting things whilst laughing maniacally.
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| 08/23/07 13:48 |
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Exilemaster
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I like evil laughter XD
But yea, I was considering a POM+Pyro build but lots of things say thats just a PVP build so thats out.
Fire seems like a reasonable choice since ill be soloing a good amt and aggro really isnt an issue since they are coming after me regardless lol.
I await the expertise of someone who knows :)
Oh and thanks for the welcome :)
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| 08/23/07 13:52 |
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Exilemaster
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Ack :P Sorry :P Just realized this was a double post.
Ok guys, im gonna run and do some homework (AP Classes are rough on my free time XD lol) and Ill be back :)
Hopefully to some answers =D
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| 08/23/07 13:58 |
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psychobunny
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POM+pyro is really more of an arena spec if you ask me, so if I were you I'd avoid it if you're just trying to level as fast as you can.
As far as I know you can't really go wrong with the fire tree, everything in there seems to be pretty solid for just straight up damage.
Frost can also do some decent damage, but is a bit more focused around crowd control, so a lot of people see it as a pvp tree or maybe for an aoe grinding build.
I know absolutely nothing about how the arcane tree works (if it does work). To me it looks like they just threw all the filler talents they designed for mages into the arcane tree.
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| 08/23/07 14:18 |
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meumesmo
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Hello and Welcome to AmpWOW!!!
Back on topic now, for levels 1-30 you should go Fire since you won't be doing much AoE grinding at lower levels (Because of lack of skills), with fire you will be concentrating on one target and kiting/sheeping/ccing others IF the situation should arise. Also you might consider NOT AoE grinding before 40, simply because you won't have the spells and a mount, but after 40 AoE grinding can be a good way to level.
For PvE and PvP frost is great your damage output will be lower but your survivability will be much better. Also you probably know but AoE grinding is killing the same mobs over and over for exp (but killing quite a few at a time), so I'm not sure if you mean AoE grinding or soloing. Either way after level 30 frost is the way to go, before that you're best bet is fire and questing killing one mob at a time, which should go pretty fast , fire is simply pyroblast -> fireball -> fire blast = dead lol. I hit level 30 in 2.5 days played which is not that bad.
Anyways good luck!
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| 08/23/07 14:43 |
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Common Wierdo
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*sigh* I guess I'll help the guy out since *cough cough* I am utmost supreme in the ways of everything!
Mages are great for speed killing things, whether it be fire or frost, one does damage solo, the other does it AOE style. Fire will, and I say will with 2 L's to emphasize the laughter and lol'ing you'll be doing with fire, completely nuke the crap out of things. You might be squishy, but whatever I say. Ice, that stuff will keep them away from you pretty darn well. And the criticals I've seen from Ice is pretty nice too. When someone in PvP gets stuck in place and frozen, and you laugh emote his sorry butt, he'll most likely say, "Man, that's cold. Wait, bad pun!" and kill himself for his stupidity.
I recommend fire until you get plenty of skills and skill points to add on to your arsenal of greatness. Pyroblast is a PvE move, it's the combination of Pyroblast/PoM that makes it a PvP/arena move.
After you get comfortable with solo nuking targets with fire, completely switch over to ice! You'll be taking on a bajillion amounts of enemies at the same time, as long as they are melee, and kill them well.
Also, you could've made your trial account into a real account so that you kept your mage's name. Just throwing that one in there.
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| 08/23/07 14:56 |
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Thundarpants
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On the topic of making in game gold......
If you've gotten 30G by level 17 on your Mage without any other supporting characters feeding you cash or buying it online(It's generaly considered bad to buy online gold. Fair warning) you obviously already know how to work a game economy.
It sounds like you already understand that the gathering professions will net you more cash on the AH.
There are a couple of money making guides in the guides section. Take a little time to browse the selection when you get a chance.
My personal favorite money making profession is Alchemy. Everybody needs pots, and Alchemy doesn't have the expensive mats needed to keep crafting things to level the profession. It's better steady money but you'll never get a potion recipie that will sell a finished product for 1500G either though.
Some mages go tailoring for the craftable BOP gear to enhance their build in the later levels, and there is some money to be made there too. Spellcloth, Mooncloth, storage bags, etc.....
If you aren't that concerned with a crafting skill then going with two gathering skills like mining, herbing or leatherworking and you should be able to keep working the AH for money as you go. And they are good in the order I listed them. Upper end ore goes for good money, stacks of herbs sell good and are easy to get but farmed leather mats are nots as much return for the time investment to get it. But still potentially profitable.
*EDIT* Oh yeah, two other things. Firstly, Welcome to the site!, second, there are a couple mods like Actioneer that will help you know what the going rate for items and materials are for your server and it's economy. They are all a little different.
***THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED***
World of Warcraft
Don't hate Raza because she's beautiful......
Because she's not......
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| 08/23/07 15:56 |
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Slacker6
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For some money making skinning and mining is good becuase they are very high selling products and all profit no spend. Mage wise. Frost mage rocks but in my opinion it isnt the best at a lower lvl. You dont have the access to the power til round level 35. If I were you I would respect fire or arcane and work your way up levels. Then respect at frost at around 35 for some moderate power and survival skills. I love frost mages and I have had one since I first started but that is the route I would go. Oh and at lvl 17, 30g is pretty dang good. I barely get 100g myself at level 68 :D
Check out my website at -http://slacker6.info. PM me what ya think. I am fixing something new like everyday.
 
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| 08/23/07 16:19 |
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Exilemaster
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| QUOTE | First of all: welcome to game amp!
Now I don't know too much about mages, but I'm sure dru will hop by and give you some solid advice on why to spec fire. (her being the psychopath that she is :p )
My advice would be to go for fire, get pyroblast and some decent +spelldamage gear and just run around one-shotting things whilst laughing maniacally. |
I look forward to dru's input. I looked at a few of the posts around here and she seems highly insightful =)
| QUOTE | POM+pyro is really more of an arena spec if you ask me, so if I were you I'd avoid it if you're just trying to level as fast as you can.
As far as I know you can't really go wrong with the fire tree, everything in there seems to be pretty solid for just straight up damage.
Frost can also do some decent damage, but is a bit more focused around crowd control, so a lot of people see it as a pvp tree or maybe for an aoe grinding build.
I know absolutely nothing about how the arcane tree works (if it does work). To me it looks like they just threw all the filler talents they designed for mages into the arcane tree. |
Thats what I was thinking :P I will probably go with a fire tree.
| QUOTE | Hello and Welcome to AmpWOW!!!
Back on topic now, for levels 1-30 you should go Fire since you won't be doing much AoE grinding at lower levels (Because of lack of skills), with fire you will be concentrating on one target and kiting/sheeping/ccing others IF the situation should arise. Also you might consider NOT AoE grinding before 40, simply because you won't have the spells and a mount, but after 40 AoE grinding can be a good way to level.
For PvE and PvP frost is great your damage output will be lower but your survivability will be much better. Also you probably know but AoE grinding is killing the same mobs over and over for exp (but killing quite a few at a time), so I'm not sure if you mean AoE grinding or soloing. Either way after level 30 frost is the way to go, before that you're best bet is fire and questing killing one mob at a time, which should go pretty fast , fire is simply pyroblast -> fireball -> fire blast = dead lol. I hit level 30 in 2.5 days played which is not that bad.
Anyways good luck! |
Thanks for the detailed breakdown =) I am seriously considering a Fire spec now :P I just need a good build but im sure I can knock something out.
| QUOTE | *sigh* I guess I'll help the guy out since *cough cough* I am utmost supreme in the ways of everything!
Mages are great for speed killing things, whether it be fire or frost, one does damage solo, the other does it AOE style. Fire will, and I say will with 2 L's to emphasize the laughter and lol'ing you'll be doing with fire, completely nuke the crap out of things. You might be squishy, but whatever I say. Ice, that stuff will keep them away from you pretty darn well. And the criticals I've seen from Ice is pretty nice too. When someone in PvP gets stuck in place and frozen, and you laugh emote his sorry butt, he'll most likely say, "Man, that's cold. Wait, bad pun!" and kill himself for his stupidity.
I recommend fire until you get plenty of skills and skill points to add on to your arsenal of greatness. Pyroblast is a PvE move, it's the combination of Pyroblast/PoM that makes it a PvP/arena move.
After you get comfortable with solo nuking targets with fire, completely switch over to ice! You'll be taking on a bajillion amounts of enemies at the same time, as long as they are melee, and kill them well.
Also, you could've made your trial account into a real account so that you kept your mage's name. Just throwing that one in there. |
=D Thanks for the advice. I would have done it, but I did multiple trials and kind of... Forgot the password XD
| QUOTE | On the topic of making in game gold......
If you've gotten 30G by level 17 on your Mage without any other supporting characters feeding you cash or buying it online(It's generaly considered bad to buy online gold. Fair warning) you obviously already know how to work a game economy.
It sounds like you already understand that the gathering professions will net you more cash on the AH.
There are a couple of money making guides in the guides section. Take a little time to browse the selection when you get a chance.
My personal favorite money making profession is Alchemy. Everybody needs pots, and Alchemy doesn't have the expensive mats needed to keep crafting things to level the profession. It's better steady money but you'll never get a potion recipie that will sell a finished product for 1500G either though.
Some mages go tailoring for the craftable BOP gear to enhance their build in the later levels, and there is some money to be made there too. Spellcloth, Mooncloth, storage bags, etc.....
If you aren't that concerned with a crafting skill then going with two gathering skills like mining, herbing or leatherworking and you should be able to keep working the AH for money as you go. And they are good in the order I listed them. Upper end ore goes for good money, stacks of herbs sell good and are easy to get but farmed leather mats are nots as much return for the time investment to get it. But still potentially profitable.
*EDIT* Oh yeah, two other things. Firstly, Welcome to the site!, second, there are a couple mods like Actioneer that will help you know what the going rate for items and materials are for your server and it's economy. They are all a little different.
|
While im not too sure about me knowing how to work the AH, I am relatively responsible with my cash. Once I hit a certain level of cash, I do my best not to sink below it. Thus, once I got 1g, I never dropped below it, same with 5, 10, 20, 30... Ect.
I have auctioneer, gatherer, as well as a few others which are very helpful and I have a skill alt for disenchanting and such.
| QUOTE | | For some money making skinning and mining is good becuase they are very high selling products and all profit no spend. Mage wise. Frost mage rocks but in my opinion it isnt the best at a lower lvl. You dont have the access to the power til round level 35. If I were you I would respect fire or arcane and work your way up levels. Then respect at frost at around 35 for some moderate power and survival skills. I love frost mages and I have had one since I first started but that is the route I would go. Oh and at lvl 17, 30g is pretty dang good. I barely get 100g myself at level 68 :D |
=) Thanks. I thought I was relatively poor XD Ill go respec now I suppose. Before I invest any more into this frozen wasteland (pun intended XD)
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| 08/23/07 17:00 |
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Drucila
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Welcome to THE Best mage forums on the interwebs! :-D lol
So professions, I suggest tailoring, you cant beat the spellfire stuff you can make at upper levels and its BOP, so unless you want to raid heroics its awesome, and if you do raid heroics you can make yourself stuff with your nethers intead of paying someone 100G or more to make it for you, some of the best cloth gear is crafted right now, netherweave set is great for level 60-69, there are even awesome peices all the way up as long as you keep your tailoring up with your level. I personally wish I had had it while leveling up, i had gotten it for Robe of the Archmage...thats how I came to be a tailor alchemist, now I only use my alchemy for transmutes, which is nice but I dont use it very much. So go tailoring IMO.
As for builds heres the method to my madness:
Mage Build Guide:
http://wow.gameamp.com/guide/viewGuides/27...!orderBy=author
What order to put your points in:
http://wow.gameamp.com/tip_library/viewTipLibraries/1769.php
I suggest fire if you are planningto learn how to control your aggro, thats the single most common mistake young mages make, they are aggro whores. Which hahah yeah funny except the healers and tanks cant keep up with them. So if you want to go fire learn to control your power. Fire will crit and dot the target for you. If you like to do consistant burst damage than go frost because it wont crit dot for you but it will still hot for a massive amount when it does crit and it will slow the target down as well as protect you with a nice amount of armor.
You can always look up my build, its fire but its a strange PvP build based upon instant spells I call it my bitch build because its tweaked just for me and just for pvp, and i have gear that supports that particular build. As you get bigger you will see what you like but like I said
Fire : constant dots, constant aggro, and ZOMG NUCLEAR FINGERS!
Ice: crowd control, slowing down the target and reliable bursts of damage
Arcane: meh i dont know anyone that stayed arcane....
Hope that helps and answers your questions if you have anymore or if i missed anything let me know
Dru
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| 08/23/07 17:45 |
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Cr3ss3nt
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| QUOTE | Ack :P Sorry :P Just realized this was a double post.
Ok guys, im gonna run and do some homework (AP Classes are rough on my free time XD lol) and Ill be back :)
Hopefully to some answers =D |
Amen.
AP History is the worst....
Super Smash Bros. Brawl Code: 4468-0698-2171
Guitar Hero Code: 524106631288
Brawl: Snake / Guitar Hero III: Johnny Napalm + Jimi Hendrix Flying V
Damn, no box.
CoX Global: @Cr3ss3nt1
WoW Server: Burning Legion(Horde) Zul'Jin(Alliance)
***THIS POST HAS BEEN CR3SSIFIED***
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| 08/23/07 19:18 |
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Exilemaster
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Lol try these on for size:
AP Lit
AP Chemistry
AP Psych
AP Statistics
AP French
AP Calculus
AP Biology
AP Gov't and Economics
I have an extended day :S
8 AP Classes = Slaughter of my free time :P
To Dru, that was extremely helpful =)
However, my only question would be, for a PVE-er which fire build do you think would be the best?
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| 08/23/07 20:35 |
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psychobunny
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Yeah, those Attack Power classes are a pain in the butt...
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| 08/23/07 21:34 |
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Cr3ss3nt
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| QUOTE | | Yeah, those Attack Power classes are a pain in the butt... |
ROFL
Yeah man I'm only in AP English/history. But your doin good with those 8! Get good grades!
Dont do Drugs!*
*EDIT: Haha maybe I should speak for myself...
***THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED***
Super Smash Bros. Brawl Code: 4468-0698-2171
Guitar Hero Code: 524106631288
Brawl: Snake / Guitar Hero III: Johnny Napalm + Jimi Hendrix Flying V
Damn, no box.
CoX Global: @Cr3ss3nt1
WoW Server: Burning Legion(Horde) Zul'Jin(Alliance)
***THIS POST HAS BEEN CR3SSIFIED***
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| 08/24/07 01:14 |
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Sephar
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WELCOME EXILE!!! You wont go far wrong asking for mage advice here :) Dru, simply put, is THE guru of mages :P
| QUOTE | Fire : constant dots, constant aggro, and ZOMG NUCLEAR FINGERS!
Ice: crowd control, slowing down the target and reliable bursts of damage
Arcane: meh i dont know anyone that stayed arcane.... |
Druuuuu :P Why do people hate Arcane, whyyyy?!?!?!?!
Ive been an arcane mage since level 60 and i have never had a problem with it. Yes, I will agree that being arcane is not best suited at low levels since it is VERY mana hungry and very hard to control, you will OOM (Out Of Mana) quicker than any other party due to the fact that all Arcane spells are expensive on their own and you cannot lower the mana cost, save for Clearcasting which makes the next spell you cast cost nothing.
In light of this, I would like to point out the Pro's to the Arcane tree. Again I admit that the Pro's for Arcane only really come at late levels (post lvl 50) they are by far greater than those of the other two.
Example 1: Constant uninteruptable DPS. Speaks for itself really. Whereas the Fire and Frost trees base skills, Frostbolt and Fireball, both suffer from KnockBack effects Arcane Missiles has no such weakness, meaning that while you maybe under melee or ranged attack, you are not waiting longer for a spell to cast off. (Tier 4 Armour with 2/5 pieces will negate KnockBack effects ENTIRELY for Frostbolt and Fireball, but you wont be getting that anytime soon :P )
Example 2: Presence of Mind and Arcane Power. Instanct cast time for any spell that a cast time below 10 seconds. Come on!!!! And and increase damage of all spells by 30%!!!! Okay it comes at the price of having your spells costing 30% more but who cares!!!! Pom / AP / Pyro Critical will cause some serious issues to PvP opponents or in fact a boss in an instance. Possible damage with this technique can be as high as 5500 on crit + 2200 with Ignite. A full spec Fire mage wont be able to top that, even with Tier 6 and a decent weapon set.
Example 3: Burst Damage?! Check this out!!!. Slightly overboard but hey, its fun :) hehe. Arcane Blast. THE skill to have as an Arcane mage. Very expensive for mana but you maybe only using this skill for mobs with high health or on low levels mobs for the first 2 shots. 2 shots? why only 2? Because the first time you cast AB it costs ... wait for it ... 195. 40% of the cost of Fireball (rank 13?) and it casts in 2.5 seconds AND (excluding the DoT effect and possible Ignite of Fireball) does similar damage. Now the interesting bit to AB. When you successfully cast AB for the first time it will reduce the cast time of AB by 0.5 seconds, however it will increase the mana cost. Sounds bad at first, but used right it is managable. And again on the 2nd successful cast of AB it reduces cast time by another 0.5 of a second and again increases mana cost. At this stage I think AB costs 400 something which is still lower than Fireball. Finally if you land a 3rd successful cast with AB cast time is reduced and mana cost is increased. At this stage you will notice 2 things. One your mana pool is gona vanish :P At 600~ mana per shot and a 1.5 second cast time you will be OOM in about 15-20 casts depending on your mana pool or about 30seconds. Thats disregarding Clearcasting and natural mana regen from items. On the other hand, when you think that you will be doing 1400-1600 normally or 2500-2800 with crits it becomes very clear who has more sustained burst damage than any of the Mage trees :P Quick example Fire spec mage Fireball can do between 1600-1800 normal (i think maybe Dru can tell me later :P) and 3000-3500 on crit in about 3.5 seconds (the 0.5 comes from air time from caster to target, unless your stood on top of said target :P) With a level 3 AB you will do close to doube those amounts in the same amount of time.
Hmmmm thinks that about it. Nah theres lots more but this may as well be a Guide than a post :p ill stop here for now, but these are probably the main 3 reasons that I went for Arcane over the others PLUS the other 2 are common .... yuck. I prefer to stand out abit.
~Seph
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| 08/24/07 10:29 |
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Thundarpants
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Ah, It's good to finally see some info about the Arcane version of the Mage. There really aren't that many devoted to the spec so it is hard to get info when you are interested in it.
Great stuff Seph!
World of Warcraft
Don't hate Raza because she's beautiful......
Because she's not......
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| 08/24/07 11:53 |
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Drucila
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I have been a fire build since day one and I never had an issue but its all up to you.
And I was the same way in HS only we didnt have AP they sent us to straight college courses then I skipped my senior year and started college at 16 full time instead, so I feel your pain, but wow is a nice distraction from all that homework eh? read read read....PEW PEW....read read read....yeah i get it :-D
Anyway thanks for the arcane info Seph, I have a friend that plays an arcane mage but thats the only person I know that does and he also has a fire mage, he has 2 level 70 mages, strange guy...and they are both alts....REALLY strange guy...
Anyway so its up to you ex what you decide you have to way to pros and cons of each spec. Clear Clasting is worth getting as is elemental percision no matter what spec you go with :-D
Dru
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| 08/24/07 22:25 |
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Exilemaster
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Glad to know that other people out there know just how much reading this is XD
Its craziness and its only the 3rd week, This is my first year taking AP classes and its DEFINITELY a change =)
Thanks for all your advice, Dru, as well as everyone else. You've all been REALLY helpful =D
I do have one last question. When do mages start being a mob calz0ner :)
Im thinking 20+... Pyro, Blink, things that make a mage really a mage.
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| 08/25/07 08:59 |
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Drucila
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| QUOTE | Glad to know that other people out there know just how much reading this is XD
Its craziness and its only the 3rd week, This is my first year taking AP classes and its DEFINITELY a change =)
Thanks for all your advice, Dru, as well as everyone else. You've all been REALLY helpful =D
I do have one last question. When do mages start being a mob calz0ner :)
Im thinking 20+... Pyro, Blink, things that make a mage really a mage. |
yeah by level 20 you have most of your spells, pyroblast can be obtained by level 20, blastweave by level 30. But thats if you go straight fire right away, which is up to you. I would suggest getting imp arcane missiles and maybe even frost warding at a relatively low level because it will help a lot while you are running around questing and taking hits from mobs.
Also if you plan to AoE grind I suggest definately investing in improved Arcane Explosion, good stuff. If you are talking one on one DPS then you should be pwning already! Though you will be squishy until you really learn all the little tricks associated with being a mage, one day it will just click for you, it did for me one day during pvp.
Dru
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| 08/25/07 20:11 |
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