Let me focus on something fun. As you can see from the header, Hunter Kaliili is now level 70. Her gear is a mess, which is none too surprising considering every fresh 70 is a mess. But it works.
I respecced her from SV at level 66 because, and this is the kicker, someone "said my pet could tank Underbog." No lie. I said I'd give it a try until they got a real tank and to give me a few minutes. Rosetta (formerly Shy-Rotam) gets new talents, Kali specs BM and we're off.
The first two pulls were utter disasters. My inexperience with the spec and anxiety combined with the inability of Rosetta to keep aggro from that shaman made for a rough time. Still, she tanked Quagmirran admirably. That was something I never thought I'd do. I had to keep sending and recalling her when the mushrooms came all the while running around in circles around that platform and DPSing (which, since I was marking, trapping and tanking was... an experience). I did find them a tank though and mercifully called that experiment to an end.
But since I'm cheap I never specced back to SV. My thoughts? "I've never done it before and I'd like to try. Besides, BRK says good things about it." That's right. A few changes to tweak it to my liking, but still a workable build.
I'll post some PvP stuff later (because I have a lot of stories) and tell about how one draenei hunter saved an Old Hillsbrad run from certain doom.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
New Stuff!
Sorry about the lack of updates, folks. Had some real life and connection issues for a while, but I hope to put that behind me for the next few weeks or so and try to get back into the swing of things.
This makes me smile.
Cold snap will be moved to Ice block's position in the talent tree and its cooldown will be reduced. As a side note, it will no longer reset the cooldown on fire ward. Moving in to Cold snap's spot will be a brand new ability called Icy Veins. This new ability will decrease casting time for all spells by 20% and increases the chance that chilling effects freeze the target by 25%. It's an active ability, lasting 20 seconds and has a 3 minute cooldown.
Welcome to your new Frost hell. Maj? Time to respec, bro.
This makes me smile.
Cold snap will be moved to Ice block's position in the talent tree and its cooldown will be reduced. As a side note, it will no longer reset the cooldown on fire ward. Moving in to Cold snap's spot will be a brand new ability called Icy Veins. This new ability will decrease casting time for all spells by 20% and increases the chance that chilling effects freeze the target by 25%. It's an active ability, lasting 20 seconds and has a 3 minute cooldown.
Welcome to your new Frost hell. Maj? Time to respec, bro.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Mage Basics. Part Three.
So now you've hit level 10. Yay! Congratulations! Head to the trainer, pick up your new spells and get ready for another way to customize your character. We're talking about talent points.
Every class has three trees. For mages, these trees are Arcane, Fire and Frost. You get a talent point for every level. Your talents get better as you put more points into them. You get more points by leveling? See? Easy. Those Blizzard folks are smart.
So what are our options at level 10 for our first talent point. This is a deeper question than it appears, because you might be stuck with it for a while. I'll break down the trees into some basic forms and talk about the first tier of talents.
Arcane.
The Arcane tree is generally regarded as a "utility" tree. It is designed to support the fire and/or frost trees in nearly any build. From improving your Intellect to giving you free spellcasts, putting points into the Arcane tree is a must for most mages in both PvE and PvP.
Arcane Subtlety. Reduces your target's resistance to all spells by 5 and reduces threat of Arcane spells by 20%.
Arcane Focus. Reduces the chance that the opponent can resist your Arcane spells by 20%
Improved Arcane Missiles. Gives you a 20% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while channeling Arcane Missiles.
Fire.
The Fire tree is a raw damage tree. Most of the talents are based around putting out lots of damage in a short period of time. In most PvE encounters, a fire- specced mage will out-DPS any other class in- game. You give up the extra survivability of the Frost tree in exchange for a much higher damage output.
Improved Fireball. Reduces the casting time of your Fireball spell by 0.1 seconds.
Impact. Gives your fire spells a 2% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds.
Frost.
The Frost tree is powerful in it's own right. You will not have the high burst damage a Fire mage will, but you will still put out significant amounts of ranged DPS on your own. Where the Frost tree really shines is increased survivability and enhanced AoE. This allows a Frost mage to shine in PvP encounters and utilize a tactic referred to as "AoE grinding" while leveling.
Frost Warding. Increases the armor and resistances given by your Frost Armor and Ice Armor by 15%. In addition, gives your Frost Ward a 10% chance to reflect Frost spells and effects while active.
Improved Frostbolt. Reduces the casting time of your Fireball spell by 0.1 seconds.
Elemental Precision. Reduces the mana cost and chance targets resist your Frost and Fire spells by 1%.
Every class has three trees. For mages, these trees are Arcane, Fire and Frost. You get a talent point for every level. Your talents get better as you put more points into them. You get more points by leveling? See? Easy. Those Blizzard folks are smart.
So what are our options at level 10 for our first talent point. This is a deeper question than it appears, because you might be stuck with it for a while. I'll break down the trees into some basic forms and talk about the first tier of talents.
Arcane.
The Arcane tree is generally regarded as a "utility" tree. It is designed to support the fire and/or frost trees in nearly any build. From improving your Intellect to giving you free spellcasts, putting points into the Arcane tree is a must for most mages in both PvE and PvP.
Arcane Subtlety. Reduces your target's resistance to all spells by 5 and reduces threat of Arcane spells by 20%.
Arcane Focus. Reduces the chance that the opponent can resist your Arcane spells by 20%
Improved Arcane Missiles. Gives you a 20% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while channeling Arcane Missiles.
Fire.
The Fire tree is a raw damage tree. Most of the talents are based around putting out lots of damage in a short period of time. In most PvE encounters, a fire- specced mage will out-DPS any other class in- game. You give up the extra survivability of the Frost tree in exchange for a much higher damage output.
Improved Fireball. Reduces the casting time of your Fireball spell by 0.1 seconds.
Impact. Gives your fire spells a 2% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds.
Frost.
The Frost tree is powerful in it's own right. You will not have the high burst damage a Fire mage will, but you will still put out significant amounts of ranged DPS on your own. Where the Frost tree really shines is increased survivability and enhanced AoE. This allows a Frost mage to shine in PvP encounters and utilize a tactic referred to as "AoE grinding" while leveling.
Frost Warding. Increases the armor and resistances given by your Frost Armor and Ice Armor by 15%. In addition, gives your Frost Ward a 10% chance to reflect Frost spells and effects while active.
Improved Frostbolt. Reduces the casting time of your Fireball spell by 0.1 seconds.
Elemental Precision. Reduces the mana cost and chance targets resist your Frost and Fire spells by 1%.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Breaking the Ice
I have been hassled and bothered by Maj over there to drop a little specific info on your heads. He keeps asking "How do I kill frost mages?"
Here's the short answer, and you're not going to like it.
You can't.
Here's why. Your burst damage as a deep fire or hybrid arcane/fire spec cannot overcome the inherent survivability of a frost mage combined with his substantial burst damage, water elemental burst damage and freeze effects, and crowd control capabilities. Work all these together with Arena gear and high resilience and your crit-happy fire spec gets the fork stuck in it.
Arcane/ fire and deep fire all require critical hits to be truly effective. Your only way to resist spell pushback is Mana Shield. Never, ever use mana shield. With the low +Intellect on Arena gear, your mana pool is going to be hurting anyways (another reason to steer clear of AP+POM+Pyro). Since most Arena fights turn into "drain the other healer of mana faster," you're in for trouble.
But a frost mage? Ice Block and Ice Barrier. These options, especially Ice Barrier, are far and away superior to Mana Shield. Pre- 2.3, Rank 5 Ice Barrier absorbs 1003 damage. More importantly, spellcasting cannot be interrupted or pushed back during this time. With Cold Snap, that's 2006 damage absorbed. No Hypothermia debuff. 24 second cooldown when talented.
Oh, did I forget to mention that Ice Barrier damage absorption scales with +spell damage in 2.3 (which drops Tuesday and I gave to you first)?
But not just Ice Barrier. No way. The frost mage's 41- talent point spell is "Summon Water Elemental." Yep, you can have your own elemental fight for you for 45 seconds. His DPS adds with yours. That's two spells for the price of one. That's almost twice the damage at no extra mana cost. And with Cold Snap, he comes out twice, pounding upon thee for almost two minutes straight.
This nifty elemental doesn't just DPS though. He has a ranged Frost Nova that you can place practically anywhere. Damage is negligible, but it has a wide area of effect and otherwise operates just like your own Frost Nova. It's a ranged root and no one else has it. Do they trinket out only to get stuck again in your Frost Nova? Or do they eat those tasty, tasty Ice Lances?
Which reminds me, Ice Lance. Wicked spell, this one is. Untalented, this spell costs 150 mana, has no cooldown, is an instant cast spell and triples it's damage against frozen targets. An example is needed.
An example 17/0/44 frost build.
Elemental Precision reduces your opponent's resistance.
Ice Shards increase your critical damage bonus by 100%.
Frostbite gives all your frost spells a chance to freeze a target in place for 5 seconds.
Piercing Ice increases our frost damage by 6% across the board.
Shatter increases our critical strike chance against frozen targets by 50%.
Winter's Chill gives us the chance to increase our critical strike rating by *another* 10%.
Arctic Winds increases all our frost damage by *another* 5% and decreases the chance we're going to get hit by 5%.
Let's say we have a 25% spell critical strike rating. Add a full 5- stacked Winter Chill debuff (it probably won't happen, but you never know). That puts us at a 35% chance to crit with our frost spells. And we have a 15% chance to freeze an opponent in place with a normal frost spell, plus our Water Elemental's Frost Nova and our own, which gives us a bonus 50% spell critical strike rating. Math is your friend. Enjoy.
Now let's say we have +600 frost damage. Ice Lance takes about 42% of your +damage and applies it to the spell. That's about 300 damage on an instant cast without a frozen target. Triple that damage on a frozen target. About 900 damage, right? Now double it because of Ice Shards. Roughly 1800 damage. On an instant cast spell. That costs 124 mana. With no cooldown. And +600 frost damage is... conservative.
Maj, one on one, you're going to have rough going. Of course a well- played and well- geared fire mage can beat a poorly- played frost mage. I won't talk about mages in Arenas because, well, they're about as prolific in 2v2 and 3v3 as a hunter is. 5v5 is better, though.
Oh wait, you wanted me to tell you how to beat one, didn't you? (That's my dig.)
Here's the short answer, and you're not going to like it.
You can't.
Here's why. Your burst damage as a deep fire or hybrid arcane/fire spec cannot overcome the inherent survivability of a frost mage combined with his substantial burst damage, water elemental burst damage and freeze effects, and crowd control capabilities. Work all these together with Arena gear and high resilience and your crit-happy fire spec gets the fork stuck in it.
Arcane/ fire and deep fire all require critical hits to be truly effective. Your only way to resist spell pushback is Mana Shield. Never, ever use mana shield. With the low +Intellect on Arena gear, your mana pool is going to be hurting anyways (another reason to steer clear of AP+POM+Pyro). Since most Arena fights turn into "drain the other healer of mana faster," you're in for trouble.
But a frost mage? Ice Block and Ice Barrier. These options, especially Ice Barrier, are far and away superior to Mana Shield. Pre- 2.3, Rank 5 Ice Barrier absorbs 1003 damage. More importantly, spellcasting cannot be interrupted or pushed back during this time. With Cold Snap, that's 2006 damage absorbed. No Hypothermia debuff. 24 second cooldown when talented.
Oh, did I forget to mention that Ice Barrier damage absorption scales with +spell damage in 2.3 (which drops Tuesday and I gave to you first)?
But not just Ice Barrier. No way. The frost mage's 41- talent point spell is "Summon Water Elemental." Yep, you can have your own elemental fight for you for 45 seconds. His DPS adds with yours. That's two spells for the price of one. That's almost twice the damage at no extra mana cost. And with Cold Snap, he comes out twice, pounding upon thee for almost two minutes straight.
This nifty elemental doesn't just DPS though. He has a ranged Frost Nova that you can place practically anywhere. Damage is negligible, but it has a wide area of effect and otherwise operates just like your own Frost Nova. It's a ranged root and no one else has it. Do they trinket out only to get stuck again in your Frost Nova? Or do they eat those tasty, tasty Ice Lances?
Which reminds me, Ice Lance. Wicked spell, this one is. Untalented, this spell costs 150 mana, has no cooldown, is an instant cast spell and triples it's damage against frozen targets. An example is needed.
An example 17/0/44 frost build.
Elemental Precision reduces your opponent's resistance.
Ice Shards increase your critical damage bonus by 100%.
Frostbite gives all your frost spells a chance to freeze a target in place for 5 seconds.
Piercing Ice increases our frost damage by 6% across the board.
Shatter increases our critical strike chance against frozen targets by 50%.
Winter's Chill gives us the chance to increase our critical strike rating by *another* 10%.
Arctic Winds increases all our frost damage by *another* 5% and decreases the chance we're going to get hit by 5%.
Let's say we have a 25% spell critical strike rating. Add a full 5- stacked Winter Chill debuff (it probably won't happen, but you never know). That puts us at a 35% chance to crit with our frost spells. And we have a 15% chance to freeze an opponent in place with a normal frost spell, plus our Water Elemental's Frost Nova and our own, which gives us a bonus 50% spell critical strike rating. Math is your friend. Enjoy.
Now let's say we have +600 frost damage. Ice Lance takes about 42% of your +damage and applies it to the spell. That's about 300 damage on an instant cast without a frozen target. Triple that damage on a frozen target. About 900 damage, right? Now double it because of Ice Shards. Roughly 1800 damage. On an instant cast spell. That costs 124 mana. With no cooldown. And +600 frost damage is... conservative.
Maj, one on one, you're going to have rough going. Of course a well- played and well- geared fire mage can beat a poorly- played frost mage. I won't talk about mages in Arenas because, well, they're about as prolific in 2v2 and 3v3 as a hunter is. 5v5 is better, though.
Oh wait, you wanted me to tell you how to beat one, didn't you? (That's my dig.)
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Just Because.
Hot on the heels of the release of Patch 2.3, a Blue actually did something useful on the WoW forums.
Your Hypothermia debuff is now back to 30 seconds.
Even better, however, is this.
"Two things we'll be making improvements to in the near future (although these aren't likely to make it in on time for 2.3) are having iceblock be trainable (to make sure all mages have it as a tool for pve encounters and to open up other trees as being more viable options for pvp), and to-be-finalized improvements to mana issues in longer fights."
Allow me to repeat. "...iceblock be trainable."
The possibilities this opens are endless. Granted we have a long way to go to see the patch after 2.3, but still. Arcane Power + Presence of Mind + Pyroblast and Iceblock... together? Boggles the mind.
And Mabd/Maj? I'm digging up a video just for you. You'll wish you were a frost mage yet!
Your Hypothermia debuff is now back to 30 seconds.
Even better, however, is this.
"Two things we'll be making improvements to in the near future (although these aren't likely to make it in on time for 2.3) are having iceblock be trainable (to make sure all mages have it as a tool for pve encounters and to open up other trees as being more viable options for pvp), and to-be-finalized improvements to mana issues in longer fights."
Allow me to repeat. "...iceblock be trainable."
The possibilities this opens are endless. Granted we have a long way to go to see the patch after 2.3, but still. Arcane Power + Presence of Mind + Pyroblast and Iceblock... together? Boggles the mind.
And Mabd/Maj? I'm digging up a video just for you. You'll wish you were a frost mage yet!
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
A Diversion.
My computer ate itself and lost my post. Once again Murphy's Law sticks it to me. So instead of my really groovy talent tree post, I give you a distraction. What you may see will instruct you.
It's up to you to determine if the instructions are good or not.
M.A.G.E. by Nymh
Breaking News!
We interrupt the craziness for a Blue confirmed post.
Patch 2.3 date confirmed.
Oh yeah, and "First."
It's up to you to determine if the instructions are good or not.
M.A.G.E. by Nymh
Breaking News!
We interrupt the craziness for a Blue confirmed post.
Patch 2.3 date confirmed.
Oh yeah, and "First."
Monday, November 5, 2007
Mage Basics. Part Two.
So now we've decided what race our new little mage is going to be. Take the time to get a feel for the class in the starting zone. Make sure you train at every even level and vendor everything you can't use. You're going to need the cash.
You will pick up Arcane Intellect soon, which is a good thing. Arcane Intellect is a buff that increases the Intellect of your target by a certain amount. This means you have more mana which means you deal more damage because you can cast longer which means less downtime between mobs which means more experience and gold and chance for good item drops.
At all times when running around, keep your Frost Armor and Arcane Intellect up. Some folks are nice and buff random passers- by with AI, but that's up to you.
Our basic mage weapons are Fireball, Frostbolt and Arcane Missiles. Fireball deals a lot of up- front damage with a DoT (Damage Over Time). Frostbolt deals damage and has a slowing effect. Arcane Missiles deals a lot of damage, but it's spread out into bursts. This is also your first "channeled" spell, which means it deals damage on a timer instead of "charging up" like your fireball and frostbolt.
Your initial spell rotation will depend on you. I always preferred casting Frostbolt first, which slows the enemy, then Fireball and maybe Arcane Missiles. AM (Arcane Missiles) is *very* mana- intensive, so you might want to use it sparingly. Be aware that you will follow your target while casting AM, which can be a good thing.
While you're testing your new mage- ly skills, make sure you check the area you can cast in and get a feel for it. The cone you cast in is rather wide, which means you don't have to be directly facing your target. Some of the spells you learn don't even require your targets to be in front of you. We'll get to those later.
Have fun, kill some mobs and get the basic idea down. Level 10 comes fast, and that gives us new spells and something new entirely: talent points.
You will pick up Arcane Intellect soon, which is a good thing. Arcane Intellect is a buff that increases the Intellect of your target by a certain amount. This means you have more mana which means you deal more damage because you can cast longer which means less downtime between mobs which means more experience and gold and chance for good item drops.
At all times when running around, keep your Frost Armor and Arcane Intellect up. Some folks are nice and buff random passers- by with AI, but that's up to you.
Our basic mage weapons are Fireball, Frostbolt and Arcane Missiles. Fireball deals a lot of up- front damage with a DoT (Damage Over Time). Frostbolt deals damage and has a slowing effect. Arcane Missiles deals a lot of damage, but it's spread out into bursts. This is also your first "channeled" spell, which means it deals damage on a timer instead of "charging up" like your fireball and frostbolt.
Your initial spell rotation will depend on you. I always preferred casting Frostbolt first, which slows the enemy, then Fireball and maybe Arcane Missiles. AM (Arcane Missiles) is *very* mana- intensive, so you might want to use it sparingly. Be aware that you will follow your target while casting AM, which can be a good thing.
While you're testing your new mage- ly skills, make sure you check the area you can cast in and get a feel for it. The cone you cast in is rather wide, which means you don't have to be directly facing your target. Some of the spells you learn don't even require your targets to be in front of you. We'll get to those later.
Have fun, kill some mobs and get the basic idea down. Level 10 comes fast, and that gives us new spells and something new entirely: talent points.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Mage Basics. Part One.
As I posted yesterday, I have decided to give what I hope to be a primer on the mage class. So let's get started, shall we? According to the World of Warcraft info page, a mage is all about the following.
"Mages wield the elements of fire, frost and the arcane to destroy or neutralize their enemies. They are a robed class that excels at dealing massive damage from afar, casting elemental bolts at a single target, or raining destruction down upon their enemies in a wide area of effect. Mages can also augment their allies spell-casting powers, summon food or drink to restore their friends, and even travel across the world in an instant by opening arcane portals to distant lands....
"Damage is the name of the Mage game, and they do it well. Their arsenal includes some powerful crowd control spells, also, giving them the ability to keep hordes at bay -- in fact, these abilities can be used on the most common creatures in the game, thus making them extremely valuable for this purpose."
Seems pretty simple, yes? Especially when compared to other hybrid classes like shamans or paladins. Blizzard says you blow things up and provide crowd control. You, the mage, are uniquely suited to both tasks.
So you want to create a mage. Your first major choice is race.
For the Alliance:
-Human - Increased stealth detection, Spirit increased by 10%, increased reputation gains, +5 to sword and mace skills.
-Gnome - "Escape Artist" (break out of roots and snares), Intelligence increased by 5%, +10 Arcane resistance, +15 to Engineering.
-Draenei - +5 to Jewelcrafting, Gift of the Naaru (free heals!), Inspiring Presence (1% +spell hit for you and party members), +5 Shadow resistance.
For the Horde:
-Troll - Berserking (decreased spellcasting time when hurt), 10% health regen, 5% damage bonus to Beasts, +5 to throwing weapons and bows.
-Forsaken - Will of the Forsaken (immune to fear effects for 5 seconds), Cannibalize (eat bodies to regain health), underwater breathing, +10 Shadow resistance.
-Blood elf - +10 to Enchanting, Arcane Torrent (AoE silence and mana regeneration), +5 to all resistances, Mana Tap (suck mana to power Arcane Torrent).
That's it. Of the six races, there are four good choices. The other two, well, you can do it if you want.
Gnomes. These are good for both PvP and PvE. The Intellect bonus means you have a deeper mana pool, which means that you can cast more and have less downtime between mobs. The racial ability "Escape Artist" is another way to get out of movement impairing effects. Combine it with the spell Blink (and your PvP trinket) and you are going to be quite a hard target for one so squishy.
Draenei. Pretty decent overall. Having a free Heal over Time (HoT) effect can get you out of many jams and keep your clothie self alive longer. Living longer means more grinding and less time graveyard running. If you mainly solo, this might be the class for you. The "Inspiring Presence" racial is also good for instances and raiding, as it reduces the resists you and your spellcasting party members see.
Forsaken. Nearly undisputed PvP kings (and queens). The "Will of the Forsaken" racial is incredibly powerful, which makes taking down warlocks much easier. Your bonus to Shadow resistance will also serve you well when you fight warlocks and mobs who cast shadow spells. Cannibalize is not quite as effective, since you can make your own food and water, but it can come in handy.
Blood Elf. Bonus to spell resistances. Mana sucking. An Area of Effect (AoE) silence. Blood elves appear to be tailor- made for PvP. Killing healers? No problem. Burst damage then silence and interrupt their heals. (My 19 twink hunter has killed plenty of casters this way before, as has any blood elf player who even sometimes PvPs.)
That's the basics. The rest on the character creation page is fluff. You want a mage? Go out and make one. Don't let crazy folks like me tell you not to roll a troll mage simply because their racial abilities are laughable. I'll just be happy to see another mage running around and blowing things up.
"Mages wield the elements of fire, frost and the arcane to destroy or neutralize their enemies. They are a robed class that excels at dealing massive damage from afar, casting elemental bolts at a single target, or raining destruction down upon their enemies in a wide area of effect. Mages can also augment their allies spell-casting powers, summon food or drink to restore their friends, and even travel across the world in an instant by opening arcane portals to distant lands....
"Damage is the name of the Mage game, and they do it well. Their arsenal includes some powerful crowd control spells, also, giving them the ability to keep hordes at bay -- in fact, these abilities can be used on the most common creatures in the game, thus making them extremely valuable for this purpose."
Seems pretty simple, yes? Especially when compared to other hybrid classes like shamans or paladins. Blizzard says you blow things up and provide crowd control. You, the mage, are uniquely suited to both tasks.
So you want to create a mage. Your first major choice is race.
For the Alliance:
-Human - Increased stealth detection, Spirit increased by 10%, increased reputation gains, +5 to sword and mace skills.
-Gnome - "Escape Artist" (break out of roots and snares), Intelligence increased by 5%, +10 Arcane resistance, +15 to Engineering.
-Draenei - +5 to Jewelcrafting, Gift of the Naaru (free heals!), Inspiring Presence (1% +spell hit for you and party members), +5 Shadow resistance.
For the Horde:
-Troll - Berserking (decreased spellcasting time when hurt), 10% health regen, 5% damage bonus to Beasts, +5 to throwing weapons and bows.
-Forsaken - Will of the Forsaken (immune to fear effects for 5 seconds), Cannibalize (eat bodies to regain health), underwater breathing, +10 Shadow resistance.
-Blood elf - +10 to Enchanting, Arcane Torrent (AoE silence and mana regeneration), +5 to all resistances, Mana Tap (suck mana to power Arcane Torrent).
That's it. Of the six races, there are four good choices. The other two, well, you can do it if you want.
Gnomes. These are good for both PvP and PvE. The Intellect bonus means you have a deeper mana pool, which means that you can cast more and have less downtime between mobs. The racial ability "Escape Artist" is another way to get out of movement impairing effects. Combine it with the spell Blink (and your PvP trinket) and you are going to be quite a hard target for one so squishy.
Draenei. Pretty decent overall. Having a free Heal over Time (HoT) effect can get you out of many jams and keep your clothie self alive longer. Living longer means more grinding and less time graveyard running. If you mainly solo, this might be the class for you. The "Inspiring Presence" racial is also good for instances and raiding, as it reduces the resists you and your spellcasting party members see.
Forsaken. Nearly undisputed PvP kings (and queens). The "Will of the Forsaken" racial is incredibly powerful, which makes taking down warlocks much easier. Your bonus to Shadow resistance will also serve you well when you fight warlocks and mobs who cast shadow spells. Cannibalize is not quite as effective, since you can make your own food and water, but it can come in handy.
Blood Elf. Bonus to spell resistances. Mana sucking. An Area of Effect (AoE) silence. Blood elves appear to be tailor- made for PvP. Killing healers? No problem. Burst damage then silence and interrupt their heals. (My 19 twink hunter has killed plenty of casters this way before, as has any blood elf player who even sometimes PvPs.)
That's the basics. The rest on the character creation page is fluff. You want a mage? Go out and make one. Don't let crazy folks like me tell you not to roll a troll mage simply because their racial abilities are laughable. I'll just be happy to see another mage running around and blowing things up.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
A Day Late and a Dollar Short
Okay, sue me. My internal clock is wrong and that means I'm stuck with it seeming like this post is a day late. It's not.
Regardless, I needed to go re-up my WoW account for the next couple of months, but wasn't able to make it to the bank before it closed. This is due, in full, to my sleeping. I had my alarm set and everything. I just didn't wake up. So my account goes away today (tomorrow, blast it all!) around 2ish. No worries, it just means I won't be on after that time tomorrow. Monday, however, is a whole new ballgame.
I have noticed a problem in people around my servers. There are a lot of mages (especially, but also hunters and warlocks) who have absolutely no idea what they're doing. These people have inspired me to figure out how to put into words the experiences I've had and the lessons I've learned. If anyone wants to share their perspectives, feel free to drop a comment or an email. I'm curious to know what people think!
Regardless, I needed to go re-up my WoW account for the next couple of months, but wasn't able to make it to the bank before it closed. This is due, in full, to my sleeping. I had my alarm set and everything. I just didn't wake up. So my account goes away today (tomorrow, blast it all!) around 2ish. No worries, it just means I won't be on after that time tomorrow. Monday, however, is a whole new ballgame.
I have noticed a problem in people around my servers. There are a lot of mages (especially, but also hunters and warlocks) who have absolutely no idea what they're doing. These people have inspired me to figure out how to put into words the experiences I've had and the lessons I've learned. If anyone wants to share their perspectives, feel free to drop a comment or an email. I'm curious to know what people think!
Friday, November 2, 2007
Razzlefrackin'
Okay. So because of certain people, I've decided to actually get off my backside and set about to posting at least once a day for the entirety of the month of November. Dunno how this is going to work, considering I'm going to be busy and possibly internet-less, but I'm willing to give it a go.
In case you haven't seen it yet (or don't have Background Downloader), the info for 2.3 is up but "no download will take place at this time." That's right folks. Start your alts now. Quicker leveling is right around the corner.
This is good for my newest project, an orc warlock. I know. I know. I've gone to the dark side. Hear me out though. A friend of mine (who runs a raiding guild and currently owns a 70 orc warrior) has promised me a spot in his raids if I hit 70. My warlock is level 15. Finally! I'm in- demand!
Poor Zball mage. Looks like I might have to relearn how to PvP and go back frost... At least my gear is somewhat ready.
Oh wait. No it's not. Le sigh. The life of a poor raiding mage who doesn't raid.
QQ.
In case you haven't seen it yet (or don't have Background Downloader), the info for 2.3 is up but "no download will take place at this time." That's right folks. Start your alts now. Quicker leveling is right around the corner.
This is good for my newest project, an orc warlock. I know. I know. I've gone to the dark side. Hear me out though. A friend of mine (who runs a raiding guild and currently owns a 70 orc warrior) has promised me a spot in his raids if I hit 70. My warlock is level 15. Finally! I'm in- demand!
Poor Zball mage. Looks like I might have to relearn how to PvP and go back frost... At least my gear is somewhat ready.
Oh wait. No it's not. Le sigh. The life of a poor raiding mage who doesn't raid.
QQ.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
One Shot, One Kill
Okay, so we've done a little bit of research and I think I might've hit on not one, but two PvP fire builds. The first up is the old POM Pyro build and the second is a deep fire version. Without further ado, here we go.
Ye gods and goddesses. This is a potential PvP arcane/ fire hybrid. The idea behind this build is to give us the quick "Execute" and increase our longevity against the opponents who wish to outlast instead of execute. What I did was give clearcasting, Presence of Mind and Combustion to stack with our Blast Wave, Pyroblast and Scorch. It should go without saying that you won't cast Pyro without Presence of Mind. Pyro is your execute move. After you put Scorch and Fire Blast on them (with Combustion), you need all the crit you can get to overcome the resilience your opponents have.
This next one is a deeper fire spec. No Presence of Mind here. In this build, you can see we've gone deeper into the Fire tree for our 41 point talent. It's horrendously inefficient, but it's another stun effect. Essentially that will be your bread and butter. Once again Combustion to help our crit chance and loads of stuns. Hopefully you'll be able to overwhelm the resilience and any stun resist abilities/ trinkets they carry. You need to go in full- bore and get your win in the first 30 seconds or so or you will be in a world of hurt.
There we go. A couple of (hopefully) Arena- worthy fire specs. Give it a go and have fun.
Edit: Curse my eager clicking. The second spec now has all the points assigned...
Ye gods and goddesses. This is a potential PvP arcane/ fire hybrid. The idea behind this build is to give us the quick "Execute" and increase our longevity against the opponents who wish to outlast instead of execute. What I did was give clearcasting, Presence of Mind and Combustion to stack with our Blast Wave, Pyroblast and Scorch. It should go without saying that you won't cast Pyro without Presence of Mind. Pyro is your execute move. After you put Scorch and Fire Blast on them (with Combustion), you need all the crit you can get to overcome the resilience your opponents have.
This next one is a deeper fire spec. No Presence of Mind here. In this build, you can see we've gone deeper into the Fire tree for our 41 point talent. It's horrendously inefficient, but it's another stun effect. Essentially that will be your bread and butter. Once again Combustion to help our crit chance and loads of stuns. Hopefully you'll be able to overwhelm the resilience and any stun resist abilities/ trinkets they carry. You need to go in full- bore and get your win in the first 30 seconds or so or you will be in a world of hurt.
There we go. A couple of (hopefully) Arena- worthy fire specs. Give it a go and have fun.
Edit: Curse my eager clicking. The second spec now has all the points assigned...
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Having Fun, One Minute After Another
So I've been playing my hunter a lot. Dinged 49 today and headed back to Feralas for some unfinished business, but not before dragging my guild mistress along. All I had to say was "Cute NCP!" and she was there. After much running around and murdering tauren like there was no tomorrow and numerous AFKs (stop interrupting my WoW, real life!), she and I ended up in the Hinterlands with our very own Sprite Darter Hatchlings. Utter cuteness. Jealously was inspired amongst many and now I have to go back to Feralas to help my guildies get theirs too. I don't mind. Free experience is free.
I logged after showing off the baby dragon- thing and went for a walk. It's a beautiful day and I just had to enjoy it. But as I was walking, my thoughts drifted to an old friend of mine who recently quit WoW. Not like I didn't see it coming a mile away, but it was kind of sad. We both ran gnome mages, leveled and instanced together and hit 70 about the same time. Watching good folks go is never easy.
But why did he quit when I haven't? Same classes, even the same spec for a while. He had almost the exact same gameplay experience I did. Hell, we were in the same guild most of the time.
Then it dawned on me. When Hallow's End came last year (right about when I first started), I got my candy and costumes and had a blast. Then New Years brought fireworks and hours in Stormwind City getting e- drunk. I did all the Valentine's quests for both my mage and my (oft- lamented) pally. Children's Week? Peanut is all the proof I need. My mage picked up the worg pup from LBRS (the spiders are icky. No thanks).
While I was doing these random things that didn't give me money or experience, he was grinding and powerleveling. While I whored myself on LFG (and having one great PuG experience after another), he got high levels to run him through instances to finish quests and get gear. He got epic drop after epic drop. He had more gold than he knew what to do with. I struggled to get vendor trash from mobs and barely had enough gold to buy my mounts.
If anything, I should've quit way before he did. My poor mage had no breaks and his had all of them.
He hated his mage. With a passion. He burned himself out. While I hate tooting my own horn, I was a much better player than he was, even if it did take me longer to max out. I honestly believe the reason I am still playing now is because I have taken the time to do the "useless" things in the game. It's kept me sane. It's kept me playing and learning my class and spending $15 a month to continue to have these experiences.
What this entire post boils down to is, I suppose, this: have fun. Do the things you want to do. Do you want every "Flimsy Male/Female ______ Mask," go for it. You enjoy your bizarre ret spec on that pally with the Stormpike Insignia? Don't listen to folks who say "Go Holy or Prot, Retnub." You want to Arena with a 0/0/61 build on your mage? For that matter, do you want to Arena with your hunter at all? Be the best you can be at it.
But most importantly, have fun.
I logged after showing off the baby dragon- thing and went for a walk. It's a beautiful day and I just had to enjoy it. But as I was walking, my thoughts drifted to an old friend of mine who recently quit WoW. Not like I didn't see it coming a mile away, but it was kind of sad. We both ran gnome mages, leveled and instanced together and hit 70 about the same time. Watching good folks go is never easy.
But why did he quit when I haven't? Same classes, even the same spec for a while. He had almost the exact same gameplay experience I did. Hell, we were in the same guild most of the time.
Then it dawned on me. When Hallow's End came last year (right about when I first started), I got my candy and costumes and had a blast. Then New Years brought fireworks and hours in Stormwind City getting e- drunk. I did all the Valentine's quests for both my mage and my (oft- lamented) pally. Children's Week? Peanut is all the proof I need. My mage picked up the worg pup from LBRS (the spiders are icky. No thanks).
While I was doing these random things that didn't give me money or experience, he was grinding and powerleveling. While I whored myself on LFG (and having one great PuG experience after another), he got high levels to run him through instances to finish quests and get gear. He got epic drop after epic drop. He had more gold than he knew what to do with. I struggled to get vendor trash from mobs and barely had enough gold to buy my mounts.
If anything, I should've quit way before he did. My poor mage had no breaks and his had all of them.
He hated his mage. With a passion. He burned himself out. While I hate tooting my own horn, I was a much better player than he was, even if it did take me longer to max out. I honestly believe the reason I am still playing now is because I have taken the time to do the "useless" things in the game. It's kept me sane. It's kept me playing and learning my class and spending $15 a month to continue to have these experiences.
What this entire post boils down to is, I suppose, this: have fun. Do the things you want to do. Do you want every "Flimsy Male/Female ______ Mask," go for it. You enjoy your bizarre ret spec on that pally with the Stormpike Insignia? Don't listen to folks who say "Go Holy or Prot, Retnub." You want to Arena with a 0/0/61 build on your mage? For that matter, do you want to Arena with your hunter at all? Be the best you can be at it.
But most importantly, have fun.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Leave It To Zball...
To forget to put up an email address for folks who might like to do something more than send me spam and porn links. That has been addressed and my email addy now sits off to the side under "About Me." And no, I don't apologize for not making it a link.
Erastus mentioned the frustration inherent in the patch changes for mages.
"On a more frustrating note, I have to say that I think it is kinda sad for WoW when the biggest change to the mage class is the ability to summon pepsi and candy machines."
Yeah. I understand perfectly. At the risk of sounding like I'm crying (because I'm not), the mage community rejoicing over "Summon Vending Machine" is a testament to just how much the class has been nerfed, especially recently. At least Blizz is attempting to address some of the issues with the mage class as a whole. It might take a while, but this new patch is a step, I feel, in the right direction.
Seper asked another question about PvP specs. What it essentially boils down to is this: if you want to be successful in PvP (especially Arenas), the classic mage build is 17/0/44. As of now, this is the best way to go by far.
17 points in the Arcane tree gives you the best PvP talent in the game. You want Improved Counterspell.
Improved Counterspell: Gives your Counterspell a 100% chance to silence the target for 4 seconds.
This stacks on top of the 8 second spell family lockdown. How you get to 17 points is up to you (though if you spec Wand Specialization for PvP, I'm revoking your Mage License).
Typical arcane talents -
2/2 Arcane Subtlety
3/5 Arcane Focus
5/5 Magic Absorption
5/5 Arcane Concentration (aka Clearcasting)
2/2 Improved Counterspell
Now to the Frost tree. What we want to do is freeze our opponents to get the most out of Ice Lance, which is your PvP bread and butter.
Typical frost talents -
5/5 Improved Frostbolt
5/5 Ice Shards
3/3 Frostbite
2/2 Improved Frost Nova
2/3 Permafrost
3/3 Piercing Ice
1/1 Cold Snap
2/2 Arctic Reach
5/5 Shatter
1/1 Ice Block (Get rid of DoTs today!)
3/3 Improved Cone of Cold
2/2 Ice Floes
1/1 Ice Barrier
3/5 Artic Winds
5/5 Empowered Frostbolt
1/1 Water Elemental
This increases our frost burst damage while giving every frost spell a good chance to freeze a target, setting them up for a chain of Ice Lance. Water Elemental will stay out for extra damage and another Frost Nova. I'll try to work out a fire PvP spec, but no high- ranked Arena mage would use it.
Erastus mentioned the frustration inherent in the patch changes for mages.
"On a more frustrating note, I have to say that I think it is kinda sad for WoW when the biggest change to the mage class is the ability to summon pepsi and candy machines."
Yeah. I understand perfectly. At the risk of sounding like I'm crying (because I'm not), the mage community rejoicing over "Summon Vending Machine" is a testament to just how much the class has been nerfed, especially recently. At least Blizz is attempting to address some of the issues with the mage class as a whole. It might take a while, but this new patch is a step, I feel, in the right direction.
Seper asked another question about PvP specs. What it essentially boils down to is this: if you want to be successful in PvP (especially Arenas), the classic mage build is 17/0/44. As of now, this is the best way to go by far.
17 points in the Arcane tree gives you the best PvP talent in the game. You want Improved Counterspell.
Improved Counterspell: Gives your Counterspell a 100% chance to silence the target for 4 seconds.
This stacks on top of the 8 second spell family lockdown. How you get to 17 points is up to you (though if you spec Wand Specialization for PvP, I'm revoking your Mage License).
Typical arcane talents -
2/2 Arcane Subtlety
3/5 Arcane Focus
5/5 Magic Absorption
5/5 Arcane Concentration (aka Clearcasting)
2/2 Improved Counterspell
Now to the Frost tree. What we want to do is freeze our opponents to get the most out of Ice Lance, which is your PvP bread and butter.
Typical frost talents -
5/5 Improved Frostbolt
5/5 Ice Shards
3/3 Frostbite
2/2 Improved Frost Nova
2/3 Permafrost
3/3 Piercing Ice
1/1 Cold Snap
2/2 Arctic Reach
5/5 Shatter
1/1 Ice Block (Get rid of DoTs today!)
3/3 Improved Cone of Cold
2/2 Ice Floes
1/1 Ice Barrier
3/5 Artic Winds
5/5 Empowered Frostbolt
1/1 Water Elemental
This increases our frost burst damage while giving every frost spell a good chance to freeze a target, setting them up for a chain of Ice Lance. Water Elemental will stay out for extra damage and another Frost Nova. I'll try to work out a fire PvP spec, but no high- ranked Arena mage would use it.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Been a Long Time Comin'
Yes it has. Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Unfortunately real life issues have conspired to cut into my playtime and keep me from really enjoying myself. So while I have a few minutes, I figure I'd hop on the bandwagon and give my opinions on a few things regarding the impending Patch 2.3, especially as it pertains to mages. (You can read it all here, and I highly encourage you to do so.)
Take a look at the patch notes and forums. While you're at it, take a look at the blogs I link to so you can get an idea of what you can expect from other classes. Besides, they have neat pictures and candy.
- Reduced mana cost for Arcane Intellect and Arcane Brilliance. Love love love. Gone are the days of ridiculously high mana costs, especially in a raid or group situation where you also have to provide food and water. It takes forever. Speaking of which...
- Ritual of Refreshment. This is a trainable spell (no farming or paying ludicrous prices for books either!) and supposedly it works like the warlock's Well of Souls, only it makes food and water. Once I can get my password to work, I'll give it a shot on the PTR and let you know.
- Arcane Meditation improves mana regen by 10/20/30%. This doubles the previous gains, so if you are deep arcane, rejoice!
- Detect Magic goes away. I'm a bit torn with this one, as I always liked to find out what kind of buffs enemies had, but I suppose I can do without. Most folks I know never used it anyways.
- Evocation regenerates 15% of total mana per tick instead of recovering mana based on Spirit regeneration. So why mages have Spirit on our gear anyways?
- Fire Ward, Frost Ward, Ice Barrier now absorb damage based on your +spell damage. Not sure quite how it scales yet, but I'm looking into it.
- No damage tax for Improved Fireballs and Frostbolts. That's right. Blizzard is apologizing for nerfing your damage output hardcore by "obliterating" the damage tax. Hail to the DPS gods again! Thy name is Mage! Except for frosties, which get...
- Hypothermia (hate!) debuff time increased to 45 seconds. I have no idea why they did this, but it was probably an Arena thing. Silly PvP, spoiling my fun like...
- No more portals in BGs. Are you serious? Honestly, there's nothing like opening a portal to Darnassus on top of a Well of Souls to brighten up a day. Strike this one from your Book o' Portal Tricks, folks. Alas, we barely knew ye.
Take a look at the patch notes and forums. While you're at it, take a look at the blogs I link to so you can get an idea of what you can expect from other classes. Besides, they have neat pictures and candy.
Friday, September 28, 2007
I Hate Stranglethorn Vale
Just thought I'd let people know.
I'm sending Zball down there tomorrow to eradicate every living (and unliving) thing on that goddess- forsaken zone.
I'm sending Zball down there tomorrow to eradicate every living (and unliving) thing on that goddess- forsaken zone.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Murgurgula
Okay, so there I was, enjoying banging out a really long post on good mage gear for cheap when my computer decided to eat it. Not only did it eat the post but everything else on this "wonderful" machine at the same time. Thankfully I saved what I had done somewhere, but I can't find it. Le sigh. Looks like I'll be doing it all over again.
What have I been doing in the interim? Leveling my hunter. She's level 30 now and I haven't run an instance. I'm trying to get her leveled quickly for a few reasons (not the least of which is my desire to avoid the 5 month ordeal I had with my mage).
The first reason is simple. Higher levels mean more fun. I want to do higher- end stuff with this hunter and put my skills to use.
After that is kind of odd. Hunter Kali lives on an RP server. I like it. Very laid back with lots of good folks. Some things don't change, which is why Hunter Kali runs around perma- flagged. I'm trying to teach myself situational awareness and thinking on my feet. When I lose track of what's going on around me, I die.
But I've seen PvP servers with less world PvP than this one. I plugged myself into World Defense as early as possible (now a global chat channel) and set off. I've noticed there's constant back- and- forth in EPL, Halaa (typically controlled by the Horde), Hellfire and everywhere else. There's even nightly Horde raids in Ashenvale, Hillsbrad, Elwynn Forest. It didn't hurt that quite possibly the most unbelievable Alliance raid happened not too long ago. Thrall, Vol'jin, Cairne (and the Gnome King, damn them) all died in one night.
From what I've gathered, it was close to an 80- person raid on every front. The Horde defenders were so confused, the main strike force waltzed right into Orgrimmar almost completely untouched, killed Thrall and Vol'jin and were gone before the Horde even knew what happened. Utter brilliance. I want in on this, and since I can't afford to transfer Zball over, it's going to have to be my hunter.
Finally, the server is the last one to open the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj. This will happen soon and I want to see it. This means corpse runs and help from friends to get there, but get there I will. It should be quite the spectacle. I'm so excited!
What have I been doing in the interim? Leveling my hunter. She's level 30 now and I haven't run an instance. I'm trying to get her leveled quickly for a few reasons (not the least of which is my desire to avoid the 5 month ordeal I had with my mage).
The first reason is simple. Higher levels mean more fun. I want to do higher- end stuff with this hunter and put my skills to use.
After that is kind of odd. Hunter Kali lives on an RP server. I like it. Very laid back with lots of good folks. Some things don't change, which is why Hunter Kali runs around perma- flagged. I'm trying to teach myself situational awareness and thinking on my feet. When I lose track of what's going on around me, I die.
But I've seen PvP servers with less world PvP than this one. I plugged myself into World Defense as early as possible (now a global chat channel) and set off. I've noticed there's constant back- and- forth in EPL, Halaa (typically controlled by the Horde), Hellfire and everywhere else. There's even nightly Horde raids in Ashenvale, Hillsbrad, Elwynn Forest. It didn't hurt that quite possibly the most unbelievable Alliance raid happened not too long ago. Thrall, Vol'jin, Cairne (and the Gnome King, damn them) all died in one night.
From what I've gathered, it was close to an 80- person raid on every front. The Horde defenders were so confused, the main strike force waltzed right into Orgrimmar almost completely untouched, killed Thrall and Vol'jin and were gone before the Horde even knew what happened. Utter brilliance. I want in on this, and since I can't afford to transfer Zball over, it's going to have to be my hunter.
Finally, the server is the last one to open the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj. This will happen soon and I want to see it. This means corpse runs and help from friends to get there, but get there I will. It should be quite the spectacle. I'm so excited!
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Suite Madame Blue
Okay, here goes. This is going to be a short post as Zball is going grocery shopping soon. But we'll be back to post again. We hope. I hate grocery shopping.
Since my less- expensive PvP gear post will take a bit of time to finish writing, I'm going to deal with another issue. Mainly, how to raid without getting the raid upset because we pulled aggro off the tank. And because I like numbers, we are going to make another list.
1) Invest in a threat meter and make sure your raid/ guild does the same. I used KTM for a long time and just recently switched to Omen (which, hooray, is compatible with KTM, just a lot nicer with some great visible warnings on- screen as you approach the Main Tank's aggro). Threat meters are a requirement of most raiding guilds, and for good reason. No more guessing. Keep your threat under that of the tank's and you're good to go.
2) Wait for the "Release" command from your raid leader. We all know mages can make things go boom. Our raid leader should not have to tell us not to DPS until the tank has aggro (Patchwerk fight notwithstanding), but a good raid leader will anyways. Here's the thing: until the raid leader tells us to, we are not going to DPS. No Scorch. No Ice Lance. Nothing. If you're in a 5- man group, watch for 3- 5 sunders on the target before DPS. Not only does this keep the boss from leaving our squishy selves as stains on pavement, but it gives us a lot of wiggle room once we do get the word to open up.
3) Even after the "Release" command, do not go all out. You may easily overrun your tank's aggro if you aren't paying attention. Case in point: I am helping my old guild clear trash after Maiden in Karazhan. I was a bit peeved because I did not crit once against her (I was still almost full frost at the time). As we clear trash, I hit three 3k crits in a row. Tank loses aggro, I die. The DPS Gods laughed at me. But my death was completely preventable if I had been paying attention.
If you still have problems, get a new tank or (gasp!) stop being a DPS overlord. I prefer the first, but good tanks are so hard to find.
Since my less- expensive PvP gear post will take a bit of time to finish writing, I'm going to deal with another issue. Mainly, how to raid without getting the raid upset because we pulled aggro off the tank. And because I like numbers, we are going to make another list.
1) Invest in a threat meter and make sure your raid/ guild does the same. I used KTM for a long time and just recently switched to Omen (which, hooray, is compatible with KTM, just a lot nicer with some great visible warnings on- screen as you approach the Main Tank's aggro). Threat meters are a requirement of most raiding guilds, and for good reason. No more guessing. Keep your threat under that of the tank's and you're good to go.
2) Wait for the "Release" command from your raid leader. We all know mages can make things go boom. Our raid leader should not have to tell us not to DPS until the tank has aggro (Patchwerk fight notwithstanding), but a good raid leader will anyways. Here's the thing: until the raid leader tells us to, we are not going to DPS. No Scorch. No Ice Lance. Nothing. If you're in a 5- man group, watch for 3- 5 sunders on the target before DPS. Not only does this keep the boss from leaving our squishy selves as stains on pavement, but it gives us a lot of wiggle room once we do get the word to open up.
3) Even after the "Release" command, do not go all out. You may easily overrun your tank's aggro if you aren't paying attention. Case in point: I am helping my old guild clear trash after Maiden in Karazhan. I was a bit peeved because I did not crit once against her (I was still almost full frost at the time). As we clear trash, I hit three 3k crits in a row. Tank loses aggro, I die. The DPS Gods laughed at me. But my death was completely preventable if I had been paying attention.
If you still have problems, get a new tank or (gasp!) stop being a DPS overlord. I prefer the first, but good tanks are so hard to find.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Warning: Online Experience May Ruin Gameplay
Sephran left a comment that was really more a question than a comment. That's fine. I love it anyways. The basic gyst of the quest was this, "When I hit 70, I'm going to be PvPing a lot and will be spec'd deep frost. I've got the Frozen Shadoweave set, but I'm torn between the Battlecast and Spellstrike sets. Do you have any suggestions?" You bet I do.
First of all, I am a happy gnome camper with yet another frosty mage around. Even though I'm not "iced out" anymore, I miss it and love all the possibilities with the spec. Good on you, Seph, for picking a powerful class and spec for PvP.
I love Frozen Shadoweave. Really I do. The +frost damage and that delicious set bonus make me titter with glee. A mage recovering health from just hitting things with frost spells? It's a warlock with no sacrificial demon screaming at you the entire time.
One thing I do not like is the loss of stats in exchange for damage. Then again, I'm a raider at heart, so having a smaller mana pool is a big no- no for me. But PvP is a different animal. Normally, I rank my gear with +spell damage, +Intellect and +spell crit. Spell hit and Stamina are lower on my agenda. In an instance or raid, I can reasonably expect a heal or a bandage. My lifespan is also longer. You don't get that in arenas and battlegrounds, so this changes priorities around.
Our rearranged priorities could look something like this:
1) +Stamina
2) +Spell damage
3) +Intellect
4) +Spell crit (probably should be ranked lower, but I only have 4 points on the list)
(We don't really need to worry ourselves with +spell hit. Everyone we're fighting is level 70, so all that +spell hit gets wasted.)
Going with the Frozen Shadoweave set, make sure you stack +Stamina gems whenever you can. You're going to need it. Big concern, however, is the low +Stamina already on the pieces. But, we're set on using it, so we need to make up for it elsewhere. Time to look at the rest of our gear.
We want more stamina because we want to last longer on the battlefield and do the kinds of things mages are designed to do, i.e. blow things up with extreme prejudice. Thankfully Blizzard stepped in and gave Frozen Shadoweave tailors just the craftable pieces we need.
Enter the Battlecast set. Let's see what we're getting for all our hard work and well- earned gold.
Battlecast Hood
145 armor
+43 Stamina
+28 Intellect
Red Socket
Blue Socket
Socket Bonus: +3 spell crit rating
Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 43
Battlecast Pants
156 armor
+42 Stamina
+27 Intellect
Red Socket
Blue Socket
Socket Bonus: +3 spell crit rating
Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 46
Now we're talking. That's a lot of +Stamina and a good amount of +spell damage too. You can even ignore the socket bonuses (they do kinda suck) and stack some +9 spell damage gems in there if you want.
There is a big downside to this, and that's sheer cost. Even if you have the patterns, the materials can be ridiculously expensive, especially since it takes a Primal Nether to make each piece. If you've got the gold to spare, go this route. You won't regret it. Get your PvP reward bracers and belt immediately.
Alas, my time is short tonight, so I won't be able to go through the less expensive version yet, but that's coming.
And finally, remember, gear does not make you a better player. You, and only you, make a better player. Gear just helps to tilt the odds a bit in your favor. If you know your class and play it well, you can be successful. Work on you first, then you'll be able to pull out the most bang for your buck with the gear you have.
First of all, I am a happy gnome camper with yet another frosty mage around. Even though I'm not "iced out" anymore, I miss it and love all the possibilities with the spec. Good on you, Seph, for picking a powerful class and spec for PvP.
I love Frozen Shadoweave. Really I do. The +frost damage and that delicious set bonus make me titter with glee. A mage recovering health from just hitting things with frost spells? It's a warlock with no sacrificial demon screaming at you the entire time.
One thing I do not like is the loss of stats in exchange for damage. Then again, I'm a raider at heart, so having a smaller mana pool is a big no- no for me. But PvP is a different animal. Normally, I rank my gear with +spell damage, +Intellect and +spell crit. Spell hit and Stamina are lower on my agenda. In an instance or raid, I can reasonably expect a heal or a bandage. My lifespan is also longer. You don't get that in arenas and battlegrounds, so this changes priorities around.
Our rearranged priorities could look something like this:
1) +Stamina
2) +Spell damage
3) +Intellect
4) +Spell crit (probably should be ranked lower, but I only have 4 points on the list)
(We don't really need to worry ourselves with +spell hit. Everyone we're fighting is level 70, so all that +spell hit gets wasted.)
Going with the Frozen Shadoweave set, make sure you stack +Stamina gems whenever you can. You're going to need it. Big concern, however, is the low +Stamina already on the pieces. But, we're set on using it, so we need to make up for it elsewhere. Time to look at the rest of our gear.
We want more stamina because we want to last longer on the battlefield and do the kinds of things mages are designed to do, i.e. blow things up with extreme prejudice. Thankfully Blizzard stepped in and gave Frozen Shadoweave tailors just the craftable pieces we need.
Enter the Battlecast set. Let's see what we're getting for all our hard work and well- earned gold.
Battlecast Hood
145 armor
+43 Stamina
+28 Intellect
Red Socket
Blue Socket
Socket Bonus: +3 spell crit rating
Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 43
Battlecast Pants
156 armor
+42 Stamina
+27 Intellect
Red Socket
Blue Socket
Socket Bonus: +3 spell crit rating
Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 46
Now we're talking. That's a lot of +Stamina and a good amount of +spell damage too. You can even ignore the socket bonuses (they do kinda suck) and stack some +9 spell damage gems in there if you want.
There is a big downside to this, and that's sheer cost. Even if you have the patterns, the materials can be ridiculously expensive, especially since it takes a Primal Nether to make each piece. If you've got the gold to spare, go this route. You won't regret it. Get your PvP reward bracers and belt immediately.
Alas, my time is short tonight, so I won't be able to go through the less expensive version yet, but that's coming.
And finally, remember, gear does not make you a better player. You, and only you, make a better player. Gear just helps to tilt the odds a bit in your favor. If you know your class and play it well, you can be successful. Work on you first, then you'll be able to pull out the most bang for your buck with the gear you have.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
News and How To Fail To Take Halaa While Still Winning
First of all some news. I did it. Curse me up one side and down the other, but this confirmed frosty mage respecced. As you can tell by my little banners above and below, I am now an arcane/ fire mage. Le sigh. This is what I get for wanting to raid again. Of course my gear is a complete mess, seeing as how I now have to respec my tailoring (too much gold), resocket my gems (too much gold, but plenty needed upgrades anyways) and work on my spell rotations. No more frostbolt + frostbolt + AB + AB anymore. At least I don't run out of mana anymore. Give me raid buffs and send my tiny backside to Kara and Gruul's!
So last night I was in Nagrand, hunting those ever- elusive mineral veins so I can make money off my friend the jewelcrafter. I notice, however, the Horde is attacking it! What luck! Mining can wait. Zball's gonna go do some world PvP. How will the new spec hold up? Just how many are attacking? These questions were running through my giant head and taxing my +5% intellect to the limit. An invite to the raid and... there's 7 of us. That's right. 7 Alliance against an unknown number of Horde.
First things first. Time to take out the wyvern posts. A warlock, a frost mage and I head north of town for the first one. Here comes our first catch of the day! It was a rogue. Our combined DPS turned him into a slick on the grass. Ahhh. I love the scent of undead flesh in the morning. No rest for the weary, however. There's more. Tauren druid? Smear. Another rogue? Stain. Pally? Grr...
A quick aside. Zball hates paladins. Zball doesn't even really like them when they're on his side. And this blood elf? Level 67. Bubble. Run off the cliff. Head to another post.
At this point I realize something. There's only maybe 5 Horde attacking. And they're mostly 67. What? Our guards are gone and these guys just keep giving me tokens. Why? Because they're going to win by losing. I tell the raid leader this and I'm met by a chorus of unbelievers.
"They can win by losing. We're going to get bored. You're going to get bombed and they'll waltz right in here and take the place."
Within 5 minutes of saying that, our raid (which had grown to about 10 folks) was reduced to 4. The Horde attack. We kill them. No big whoop. They wait for their flags to drop, rez and dance. Two rogues, a druid, a warrior and a mage. Uh- oh. Time for the broken game mechanics.
Both rogues stealth and begin sapping what's left of our defense. They don't flag. They can sap until their heart's content. Warrior and druid back out slowly. It's coming soon. Halaa gets really really quiet. No one's there.
Boom! Reinforcements arrive and all the Horde flag up. It's not much, but the surprise resulted in one dead Zball. No problem. I rez and get to killing. The north post gets taken again. Our warlock and warrior and I head to take care of it. A rogue falls from the sky, hits Evasion and runs down the mountain. Zball is smart (+5% Intellect, remember?) and head him off at the pass. I hear the zwoosh sound of Sprint being activated and pop Frost Nova. Poor rogue. Ice lances to the face. Axes to the back. DoTs like we're in the 50's again.
South post now. We run and here comes the pally. Remember the bubble run he was doing? Yeah. He tried it. Zball is smarter. I knew where he was going and he never saw me. He tries to bubble, but I hit him with my Improved Counterspell, Frost Nova and Ice Lances. He finally manages to pop a bubble and tries to hearth, but mis- times it. I smack him again to cancel his hearth.
That's when the raid says, "Zball, let him go!" Scribbledy-whuh? I get distracted and the guy runs away. I am dumbfounded. I wanted that kill. What I wanted more was my talbuk, and the pally would have contributed to it too, if I could've killed him. I run back north, ignoring the pleas of my raid group. One of the rogues is back and I want my talbuk.
I destroy his roost, he lands, vanishes, and begins his stunlock chain. Silly rogue. Zball carries escape trinkets that I didn't let you see before. Trinket out of stun. A couple of Arcane Explosions, Frost Nova, Ice Lance, Blink and here he comes. Please, Goddess, let my macro work. He Sprints, goes all semi-transparent, almost close enough to gouge and WHAM! 5.5k pyro crit to the face. /cheer. /dance. I'm yelling over vent. My raid? "Zball, why'd you kill him?"
No. They. Did. Not. To borrow a phrase from the "leet" masses, I pwned his fayce. I am a god of all things big and 'splodey and you ask why? Because I'm a mage, that's why!
So last night I was in Nagrand, hunting those ever- elusive mineral veins so I can make money off my friend the jewelcrafter. I notice, however, the Horde is attacking it! What luck! Mining can wait. Zball's gonna go do some world PvP. How will the new spec hold up? Just how many are attacking? These questions were running through my giant head and taxing my +5% intellect to the limit. An invite to the raid and... there's 7 of us. That's right. 7 Alliance against an unknown number of Horde.
First things first. Time to take out the wyvern posts. A warlock, a frost mage and I head north of town for the first one. Here comes our first catch of the day! It was a rogue. Our combined DPS turned him into a slick on the grass. Ahhh. I love the scent of undead flesh in the morning. No rest for the weary, however. There's more. Tauren druid? Smear. Another rogue? Stain. Pally? Grr...
A quick aside. Zball hates paladins. Zball doesn't even really like them when they're on his side. And this blood elf? Level 67. Bubble. Run off the cliff. Head to another post.
At this point I realize something. There's only maybe 5 Horde attacking. And they're mostly 67. What? Our guards are gone and these guys just keep giving me tokens. Why? Because they're going to win by losing. I tell the raid leader this and I'm met by a chorus of unbelievers.
"They can win by losing. We're going to get bored. You're going to get bombed and they'll waltz right in here and take the place."
Within 5 minutes of saying that, our raid (which had grown to about 10 folks) was reduced to 4. The Horde attack. We kill them. No big whoop. They wait for their flags to drop, rez and dance. Two rogues, a druid, a warrior and a mage. Uh- oh. Time for the broken game mechanics.
Both rogues stealth and begin sapping what's left of our defense. They don't flag. They can sap until their heart's content. Warrior and druid back out slowly. It's coming soon. Halaa gets really really quiet. No one's there.
Boom! Reinforcements arrive and all the Horde flag up. It's not much, but the surprise resulted in one dead Zball. No problem. I rez and get to killing. The north post gets taken again. Our warlock and warrior and I head to take care of it. A rogue falls from the sky, hits Evasion and runs down the mountain. Zball is smart (+5% Intellect, remember?) and head him off at the pass. I hear the zwoosh sound of Sprint being activated and pop Frost Nova. Poor rogue. Ice lances to the face. Axes to the back. DoTs like we're in the 50's again.
South post now. We run and here comes the pally. Remember the bubble run he was doing? Yeah. He tried it. Zball is smarter. I knew where he was going and he never saw me. He tries to bubble, but I hit him with my Improved Counterspell, Frost Nova and Ice Lances. He finally manages to pop a bubble and tries to hearth, but mis- times it. I smack him again to cancel his hearth.
That's when the raid says, "Zball, let him go!" Scribbledy-whuh? I get distracted and the guy runs away. I am dumbfounded. I wanted that kill. What I wanted more was my talbuk, and the pally would have contributed to it too, if I could've killed him. I run back north, ignoring the pleas of my raid group. One of the rogues is back and I want my talbuk.
I destroy his roost, he lands, vanishes, and begins his stunlock chain. Silly rogue. Zball carries escape trinkets that I didn't let you see before. Trinket out of stun. A couple of Arcane Explosions, Frost Nova, Ice Lance, Blink and here he comes. Please, Goddess, let my macro work. He Sprints, goes all semi-transparent, almost close enough to gouge and WHAM! 5.5k pyro crit to the face. /cheer. /dance. I'm yelling over vent. My raid? "Zball, why'd you kill him?"
No. They. Did. Not. To borrow a phrase from the "leet" masses, I pwned his fayce. I am a god of all things big and 'splodey and you ask why? Because I'm a mage, that's why!
Friday, September 14, 2007
What Your Mage Should "Really" Be Doing
Here we go. I figured since I said I'd do this, I probably should. Now understand that I've wasted many an hour and day figuring this thing out. Let me know if I missed anything.
These are the rules. Love them. Learn them. Teach them.
1) Deal consistent and overwhelming ranged damage. You are one of the primary ranged DPS class. This should obviously be the kind of thing you live for. You are mage, make things go "boom." It is your calling. Feel it in your blood. But not just any damage, no sir or ma'am. You need to maximize your damage potential by chain- casting, using mana potions and gems at the proper time, activating your trinkets for maximum effect and still remain alive.
2) Timely and effective crowd control. You are a mage. You have polymorph (sheep, pig or turtle). You have frost novas. Use them. That pull too much for the tank? Sheep one of the offending mobs and laugh at his complete and utter uselessness. Set up a focus macro to re- sheep while still fulfilling your primary mission: Deal consistent and overwhelming ranged damage.
3) Protect the healer. Yes, fellow mage, you do ridiculous amounts of damage. Your gear is stacked with +Intellect, +Spell damage and loads of +Spell crit. You are the glass cannon to end all glass cannons. Congratulations, you top the damage meters against those silly warlocks and hunters and rogues who think mage DPS is weak. But wait? Your priest just bought it because the tank pulled too many and thought he could take them all. You sheep one, but that 3- pull just turned into a 7- pull and things are going south at a rapid pace. When the healer dies, who's next? The tank? Hardly. You are, Mr/ Ms/ Mrs uber- DPS. Need I go on?
4) Heal yourself. This always amazes me. Allow me to be blunt: You are expendable. I repeat, You, the mage, are expendable. You AoE grind. You PvP. You solo elite mobs. And yet your first aid skill is only 200? If I'm in a raid and you ask for health potions or bandages or heals and you are a DPS class, I want you gone. Out. Go skill up and burn some of that gold on things that let you live longer before you roll with me. Do not ask for a heal. Heal yourself. The healer has other things on his/ her mind. Things like, "Heal the tank." Healing you is a waste of mana for the healer and you increase the risk of a wipe because those few seconds and a few hundred mana that went to you could've gone to the now- dead tank because she/ he didn't get a heal on time. Your fault. Apologize, pay the party's repair bill and go skill up.
5) Provide food, water and buffs for yourself and your party. Sigh. This is the part I hate the most. Mages are the most useful class not because of stupid amounts of damage but because of our sheer utility. If you receive an invitation to an instance group or raid group or even some random priest who could use a hand, walk in with conjured food and water in hand. Offer it freely and expect no payment. It cost you nothing but mana to make, so don't complain when your newfound friends stiff you. To go along with this, you have one party buff, so use it liberally. Arcane Intellect/ Brilliance are a boon to all mana- users, so don't keep your magically- heightened powers all to yourself.
6) Open a portal to a handy major city at the end of it all. This is simply a nice gesture to your party. You don't need to open a portal to every city, just a handy one. (Note: Darnassus is not a handy city.)
This is the short version. There are numerous nuances and bits and pieces that I'll go into later. For now, these are the rules you should live by. Enjoy the fact you play one of the most useful classes in the game. Unlike everyone else, you don't need to buy or grind for food and water. You don't need to waste money on gryphons and windriders or waste time waiting for a boat or tram or zep. You can teleport! Enjoy yourself. Revel in your mastery of all things magic. It's what you were born to do, right?
These are the rules. Love them. Learn them. Teach them.
1) Deal consistent and overwhelming ranged damage. You are one of the primary ranged DPS class. This should obviously be the kind of thing you live for. You are mage, make things go "boom." It is your calling. Feel it in your blood. But not just any damage, no sir or ma'am. You need to maximize your damage potential by chain- casting, using mana potions and gems at the proper time, activating your trinkets for maximum effect and still remain alive.
2) Timely and effective crowd control. You are a mage. You have polymorph (sheep, pig or turtle). You have frost novas. Use them. That pull too much for the tank? Sheep one of the offending mobs and laugh at his complete and utter uselessness. Set up a focus macro to re- sheep while still fulfilling your primary mission: Deal consistent and overwhelming ranged damage.
3) Protect the healer. Yes, fellow mage, you do ridiculous amounts of damage. Your gear is stacked with +Intellect, +Spell damage and loads of +Spell crit. You are the glass cannon to end all glass cannons. Congratulations, you top the damage meters against those silly warlocks and hunters and rogues who think mage DPS is weak. But wait? Your priest just bought it because the tank pulled too many and thought he could take them all. You sheep one, but that 3- pull just turned into a 7- pull and things are going south at a rapid pace. When the healer dies, who's next? The tank? Hardly. You are, Mr/ Ms/ Mrs uber- DPS. Need I go on?
4) Heal yourself. This always amazes me. Allow me to be blunt: You are expendable. I repeat, You, the mage, are expendable. You AoE grind. You PvP. You solo elite mobs. And yet your first aid skill is only 200? If I'm in a raid and you ask for health potions or bandages or heals and you are a DPS class, I want you gone. Out. Go skill up and burn some of that gold on things that let you live longer before you roll with me. Do not ask for a heal. Heal yourself. The healer has other things on his/ her mind. Things like, "Heal the tank." Healing you is a waste of mana for the healer and you increase the risk of a wipe because those few seconds and a few hundred mana that went to you could've gone to the now- dead tank because she/ he didn't get a heal on time. Your fault. Apologize, pay the party's repair bill and go skill up.
5) Provide food, water and buffs for yourself and your party. Sigh. This is the part I hate the most. Mages are the most useful class not because of stupid amounts of damage but because of our sheer utility. If you receive an invitation to an instance group or raid group or even some random priest who could use a hand, walk in with conjured food and water in hand. Offer it freely and expect no payment. It cost you nothing but mana to make, so don't complain when your newfound friends stiff you. To go along with this, you have one party buff, so use it liberally. Arcane Intellect/ Brilliance are a boon to all mana- users, so don't keep your magically- heightened powers all to yourself.
6) Open a portal to a handy major city at the end of it all. This is simply a nice gesture to your party. You don't need to open a portal to every city, just a handy one. (Note: Darnassus is not a handy city.)
This is the short version. There are numerous nuances and bits and pieces that I'll go into later. For now, these are the rules you should live by. Enjoy the fact you play one of the most useful classes in the game. Unlike everyone else, you don't need to buy or grind for food and water. You don't need to waste money on gryphons and windriders or waste time waiting for a boat or tram or zep. You can teleport! Enjoy yourself. Revel in your mastery of all things magic. It's what you were born to do, right?
Silly Picture and an Addendum
This picture is not my work. Yes, that's my little twink hunter in the shot. Yes, that's Anachronos from just outside the Caverns of Time in Tanaris. And yes, this is Orgrimmar. You might be able to find Thrall there somewhere too. Anyways, that's the result of kiting as performed by a hunter whose name escapes me. One day I'll be able to do this too. For now I practice and read hunter blogs. We're getting there, of course, because I don't want to a silly "huntard" people are afraid to group with.
Now for the addendum. After reading my last post (slightly more rested today), I realize it seems a little sad. Some might wonder if we're saying mages should ignore placing large amounts of DPS on a target and focus solely on crowd control. That is nowhere near the case. What we are saying is with all the classes who can DPS push in on the mage's domain and that there should be some focus on CC. You can do it better than anyone in nearly every situation, so why not do it?
For instance, even though my slots are often filled by hunters and warlocks (mostly), I rarely do poorly on damage meters. In 20- man + raids, I think my worst finish is #8. Please note this is with a DPS- limiting frost build while also providing CC and de- cursing. I worked long and hard to control my aggro generation while placing the maximum amount of damage on target over an extended amount of time.
Maybe next time I'll post "Zball's Guide to Your Jobs as a Mage in a Group." Hint, it's not just DPS.
What I Do Now
When I first started on this little gnome mage about a year ago, I was a member of the guild called "Molly Maguires" who, at the time were a raiding guild, and quite good at it. This was back before Burning Crusade came out, so my goals were as follows:
1) Hit level 30 (halfway to max level!)
2) Hit level 40 (Get my cool green mechanostrider mount!)
3) Hit level 60 (Max level! Ony, BWL, MC, Naxx, here I come!)
Unfortunately I only made it to goal #2 before the expansion came out and ruined my carefully laid- out plans. "Ten more levels isn't so bad. I made it this far, right?" Yeah, right.
Anyways, the mage was almost a pure dps class with some fun CC abilities (who doesn't like watching a mob or Hordie get turned into livestock?). I could sit back, spam fireball and blow everything up. No one could touch me on the damage meters. It was glorious.
Then two things happened:
1) Warlocks kept getting better and I kept getting nerfed.
2) Beast Mastery- spec'd hunters became all the rage for uber- dps ability.
Suddenly I wasn't needed. I was even told I'd probably not get a shot at Karazhan because a warlock could outlast me and provide CC (which mages lack against anything not a humanoid or beast) while I could spam my paltry fireballs and frostbolts (pyroblast in raids makes me laugh at the mage who does it) and last about 3 minutes. Damn.
This turnaround bummed me out and actually caused me to lose interest in my main character, the one who made me as much as I made him. I swore I'd never roll another clothie again, because my mage was simply too limited. The only time he was needed was to make food and water.
True story, I actually went to Molten Core for the sole purpose of filling bags with food and water for a raid I didn't actually participate in. Gotta love guild loyalty.
Anyways, I was reading the excellent blogs of Big Red Kitty and Mania's Arcania and an epiphany dropped on me like a dozen ogres. I was playing my mage all wrong.
This was huge, as I had been a kinda unique 17/0/44 frost mage who hated PvP but was very good in PvE and raiding/ instancing. Since I can't out- dps a properly played hunter or warlock, and AoE (the mage's other overrated calling card), I should focus on the one thing my class can do better than any other class in the game, hands down: crowd control.
Now, I know what you're thinking. "Priests can Shackle and fear" or "Warlocks can fear and banish" or "Hunters can trap" or "Druids can CC better than a mage" or any number of things. You're all wrong.
Priests can only Shackle what, demons? Undead? That's handy when you walk into Heroic Ramparts, right? And let's not get started on the headaches caused by Fear.
(An aside. Fear is not Crowd Control. Do I need to say it again? Okay. Fear is not Crowd Control. You fear when we're in an instance, your healing backside gets no help from me.)
Warlocks can banish demons and elementals. Once again, instance, anyone? Let's see a warlock banish the waves of mobs in Black Morass. Doesn't work. For Fear, see above.
Hunters can trap all sorts of things, it's true. And they're even somewhat reliable. But you get one trap as a hunter. One. That's it. What happens when you miss a pull or (heavens) the tank pulls too many? I hope you can kite.
(Another aside. Kiting is not Crowd Control. This is why I'm not a priest. You will not get heals from me if you do this. I hope you like the taste of health potions.)
Druids? Ha! A few forms of CC, but, and this is the big caveat, you must be outdoors to use them. Let's see you root those rampaging blood elves in The Eye.
But a mage? As a frosty kind of mage, I get a single polymorph (1.5 second cast, no cooldown, one target at a time, but I can switch whenever I need to) that can last nearly a minute and four, count 'em, four frost novas, two of which are ranged. They can last for up to 8 seconds each. With my large radius frost nova, I can root a good number of mobs at once. And did I mention that every frost spell (including Ice Armor) can root an enemy to the ground for a few seconds as well? That's nearly 30 seconds of continuous frozen enemies. Yeah, let's see a warlock do that.
So that's where I'm at. 20/0/41 frost. Casters get silenced, I get more mana regen, and I make things stick. Now all I have to do is learn to play... again.
1) Hit level 30 (halfway to max level!)
2) Hit level 40 (Get my cool green mechanostrider mount!)
3) Hit level 60 (Max level! Ony, BWL, MC, Naxx, here I come!)
Unfortunately I only made it to goal #2 before the expansion came out and ruined my carefully laid- out plans. "Ten more levels isn't so bad. I made it this far, right?" Yeah, right.
Anyways, the mage was almost a pure dps class with some fun CC abilities (who doesn't like watching a mob or Hordie get turned into livestock?). I could sit back, spam fireball and blow everything up. No one could touch me on the damage meters. It was glorious.
Then two things happened:
1) Warlocks kept getting better and I kept getting nerfed.
2) Beast Mastery- spec'd hunters became all the rage for uber- dps ability.
Suddenly I wasn't needed. I was even told I'd probably not get a shot at Karazhan because a warlock could outlast me and provide CC (which mages lack against anything not a humanoid or beast) while I could spam my paltry fireballs and frostbolts (pyroblast in raids makes me laugh at the mage who does it) and last about 3 minutes. Damn.
This turnaround bummed me out and actually caused me to lose interest in my main character, the one who made me as much as I made him. I swore I'd never roll another clothie again, because my mage was simply too limited. The only time he was needed was to make food and water.
True story, I actually went to Molten Core for the sole purpose of filling bags with food and water for a raid I didn't actually participate in. Gotta love guild loyalty.
Anyways, I was reading the excellent blogs of Big Red Kitty and Mania's Arcania and an epiphany dropped on me like a dozen ogres. I was playing my mage all wrong.
This was huge, as I had been a kinda unique 17/0/44 frost mage who hated PvP but was very good in PvE and raiding/ instancing. Since I can't out- dps a properly played hunter or warlock, and AoE (the mage's other overrated calling card), I should focus on the one thing my class can do better than any other class in the game, hands down: crowd control.
Now, I know what you're thinking. "Priests can Shackle and fear" or "Warlocks can fear and banish" or "Hunters can trap" or "Druids can CC better than a mage" or any number of things. You're all wrong.
Priests can only Shackle what, demons? Undead? That's handy when you walk into Heroic Ramparts, right? And let's not get started on the headaches caused by Fear.
(An aside. Fear is not Crowd Control. Do I need to say it again? Okay. Fear is not Crowd Control. You fear when we're in an instance, your healing backside gets no help from me.)
Warlocks can banish demons and elementals. Once again, instance, anyone? Let's see a warlock banish the waves of mobs in Black Morass. Doesn't work. For Fear, see above.
Hunters can trap all sorts of things, it's true. And they're even somewhat reliable. But you get one trap as a hunter. One. That's it. What happens when you miss a pull or (heavens) the tank pulls too many? I hope you can kite.
(Another aside. Kiting is not Crowd Control. This is why I'm not a priest. You will not get heals from me if you do this. I hope you like the taste of health potions.)
Druids? Ha! A few forms of CC, but, and this is the big caveat, you must be outdoors to use them. Let's see you root those rampaging blood elves in The Eye.
But a mage? As a frosty kind of mage, I get a single polymorph (1.5 second cast, no cooldown, one target at a time, but I can switch whenever I need to) that can last nearly a minute and four, count 'em, four frost novas, two of which are ranged. They can last for up to 8 seconds each. With my large radius frost nova, I can root a good number of mobs at once. And did I mention that every frost spell (including Ice Armor) can root an enemy to the ground for a few seconds as well? That's nearly 30 seconds of continuous frozen enemies. Yeah, let's see a warlock do that.
So that's where I'm at. 20/0/41 frost. Casters get silenced, I get more mana regen, and I make things stick. Now all I have to do is learn to play... again.
No wai! O rly? Yarly!
First, allow me to introduce myself, or rather, who I claim to be. What you may or may not be paying attention to now is the one and only official blog of Zball, 70 Gnome mage (on Silver Hand server, no less).
Here I will post randomness and my experiences as a halfway decent (leave me my delusions) DPS/CC junkie. Oh yeah, and I'll document the lifestyles of the rich and alt- full.
So enjoy, look around. I'll add more fun stuff later.
Here I will post randomness and my experiences as a halfway decent (leave me my delusions) DPS/CC junkie. Oh yeah, and I'll document the lifestyles of the rich and alt- full.
So enjoy, look around. I'll add more fun stuff later.
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