A Step or Two on the Other Side...

Over the past couple weeks I’ve been watching a lot of PvP videos. Mostly Magely PvP, as I will readily admit, that’s what drew me to the class. Some of my favorite PvP happen to be none other than Taco’s videos. He exerts skill and classiness into his Maging.

And of course, with every decision in WoW comes the question, is it just for fun, or is it good for the toon? I’ll mostly be PvPing with the wife, who has fallen in love with this new toon of hers, and is dead set on getting the Main Hand. It’s a damn good mace, and from my understanding, very difficult for a priestly healer like herself to replace until 25 mans.

So what might I get in this little bit of squishy destruction? (Please note that because my wife and I have maybe 30 resilience between the two of us, it will mostly be the squishes getting destroyed)

This is the first thing that caught my attention.

Guardian's Pendant of Subjugation

Pretty nice neck, no?

And it’s gots a socket. You’ll be hard pressed to find one better that is also that easily attainable. 15,300 honor, and 10 EoTS marks, that’s pretty hard to pass up. Even for a PvEer like myself.

So I think the Mage will step into the BG’s a little this weekend, and a little more after that. I’ve got my eyes set on that neck.

Must have.

I can haz portz plx?

A shorter post, but I think and important one.

I was talking to a friend today about what can be expected, or should be expected, from each class in a pug. It amazes me how little some people know about other classes and are still able to make it to 70.

“Is it too much to ask the Mage to sheep pull, so that their mob stays out of my consecration? Why are Mages so uncomfortable with sheeping that way in pugs? And why does every Mage insist on a Shat Port now, without asking if anyone else wants to go to a different city. Is it too much to ask for a 90S Port to Org instead, after I just got done taking about 12G in damage for him/her?”

This little bit here, although not verbatim, as the conversation took place a few hours ago, raises some good points.

The reason, I think, most Mages wont sheep pre pull in a pug would be because they can’t be sure of the tank/rest of the party. If I sheep the mob, and gain the initial aggro, what guarantee do I have that the tank can pull them off fast enough for me not to die. Especially in a heroic. And if the tank can’t pull it off fast enough, can the healer keep me up? Will the rogue Cheepshot to keep it from killing me? Will the hunter trap/pet the loose mob to save the squishy? It’s a pug, so you can’t be sure. I personally will not hesitate to sheep pull so that my sheep can stay way away from any AOE effects. In fact, in most pugs, I insist on it. If the rest of the party can’t find some cohesion after a pull or two, then I’m done. I move on.

The portal thing. If you want a different port ask. I ALWAYS tip the tank and healer, it’s just good karma to do so. I’ve done it from the first few times I’ve pugged. And you know what; a 5 gold tip to the tank at the end of the instance is a great way to get re-invited. So if I can tip the tank, I can toss up a different port. It shouldn’t be too much to ask at all, the tank/healer/dps has just helped you complete something you didn’t have a chance on completing on your own, why not help him/her get to where they are going much faster than they could otherwise?

There are some things that you as a Mage will have to put up with. Whispers for ports, food, water, biscuits, and buffs sometimes are the basics. And it’s not like it’s the only class that has that issue. You think everyone that plays a Warrior/Pally/Drood don’t get tired of hearing “can you tank?” from some random person. Same goes for every class that can heal. I really feel bad for Pally’s/Drood’s, as they get both “can you tank?” and “can you heal?”. There are some fantastic addons if you are tired of being asked for ports/food/water, but there’s really no reason to be rude. Too much rudeness out of the Mage class, and the next thing you know people will be giving our spots to hunters. (Although, in my case, that’s not such a bad thing.)

By George, I've Got It...

Who was George anyways?

As a small accomplishment I've found out what was wrong with my wowhead links, a small misplaced, and very mischievous comma was mucking about in the code somehow, and has promptly been removed. All links should now work as intended.

/bow

/passoutforrealthistime.

Choosing how to start.

Before I get started, why won’t that damn sig at the top center right. It seams like no matter what option I choose, it sits about 7/8 of the way it’s supposed to and refuses to move….

This angers me greatly.

I realize that I have posted on a few end games focuses, but not much as starting a Mage.

I did touch a little on AOE at 30, but not much more than that.

With that thought in mind I think I’ll delve a little into starting a Mage. Your first big decision in starting any new toon is the race you will want to play. There are many ways to decide, and as it’s your 15 dollars a month, there’s no reason why you can’t choose what you want and enjoy it. So if its looks, or a certain dance you prefer, then skip a paragraph or two. If you’d rather take a second to look at what each race has to offer the mage class, then don’t skip the next couple of paragraphs.

Horde:

Troll. I’m fairly fond of trolls; my first toon (and first 70) was a troll. I think they’re mannerisms are awesome. The way they all just slouch around, and they are all so “chill”. They have some interesting racial abilities, but not all very usable for Mages. Berserking is fairly useful for PvE during boss fights, as it provides a self buffed spell haste. Regeneration is nice, but not something you can count on. Beast Slaying is an ability often overlooked, however, as there are many beasts encountered in both Azeroth and Outlands, it’s not a useless racial. Throwing and Bow Specialization are both completely useless to a Mage.

Blood Elf. I really happen to like my stuck up, prissy little blood elf. Not only can you get some gold by stripping down and dancing on mailboxes, they also look the best in the Christmas Outfits. Mana Tap, another decent PvE ability. Useful for boss fights, but not a must have, and pretty nice to tie into Arcane Torrent for AOE grinding sometimes, as it can help stop heals, or other casts. Decent PvP talent to give another spell interrupt/silence. Arcane Affinity and Magic Resistance aren’t a very big deal. The first is OK if you’re planning on being an enchanter, but the second is pretty useless at 70.

Undead. One of the more popular PvP races for the ability Will of the Forsaken. Cannibalize, Underwater Breathing and Shadow Resistance however are not a very big deal, although cannibalize is a lot of fun sometimes.

Alliance:

I was never real big on alliance, so I don’t have much of an opinion on these. If I did have to chose, it would be Gnome, they’re racials seem best for a Mage.

Gnome. Very small, very annoying. Escape Artist is good for both PvE and PvP. Expansive Mind is very good for casters in general, as it expands your mana pool by a decent amount, and scales with gear. Arcane Resistance and Engineering Specialization aren’t that big of a deal, and shouldn’t be taken into account unless you’re really focusing on level an engineer too.

Draenei. Gift of the Naaru and Inspiring Presence are both very good PvE abilities, however their next two are the same as Gnome and Blood Elf racials. Gemcutting and Shadow Resistance.

Human. Perception is mostly a PvP talent, as in the middle of a raid, you won’t usually have an unfriendly rogue behind you. The Human Spirit is a decent Mage ability as the recent changes to spirit have made it much more useful for mana regen. Diplomacy is very good for rep grinds, but Sword and Mace Specialization are both useless to Mages as they won’t be doing much Melee.

So there you go. A not so quick breakdown of the races that you can choose when thinking about starting a Mage. If I were to give my opinion (and I’m going to whether you want it or not) I would roll horde every time. Not because I like horde better, but because the racials seem much better (except maybe the Gnomes).

And as I’ve stated in an earlier post, I would level primarily fire, until 30, when you can make your choice to stay fire, for big crits, or go frost, for AOE.

Which ever you choose, make sure you will have fun with it. It’s a little counter productive to get a toon to 30ish and decide you can’t stand the way it walks, or runs, or laughs etc.

Now if you'll excuse me, it's a little after 4 am, and I am just about brain dead, and cannot come up with a better ending than this right here.

/passout.

A Little Bit on Spell Hit...

Spell hit is a very important thing for a PvE Mage. It is the single best way to increase your dps and mana efficiency. Take this with a grain of salt however. I say it this way because no matter how much spell damage, haste, or crit you stack, if you’re not capped on hit, you’re going to miss. And when you see resist across your screen, you might as well count that as a big, huge, fat, stinking zero.

So how is spell hit calculated? Quite simply in fact. Let’s try a couple scenarios real quick, shall we?

Scenario A:

You’re 70, and you’re grinding the blood elves on top of Black Temple, trying to get some more Scryer Rep. So you and your mob are both 70, and you have a base of 96% to hit that mob. How much plus to hit do you need to be capped against this mob? You need 3% more hit, or 37.8 spell hit rating. For those of you who just did the math, yes, that’s only 99% to hit. Well, that’s the way it is. Blizzard has implemented a cap on hit, so you always have, at the very least, 1% chance to miss. It does not matter how much plus hit you stack, you will never have greater than 99%.

Scenario B:

You’re 70, and enjoying your first Kara raid with your guild. They’ve stressed that as a Frost Mage, you need to get at least 164 spell hit rating before you can start getting epic loots with them. For most trash in Kara, you won’t need to be hit capped. You might need a little as some of the trash is a level higher than you, but it’s only 4% (or 50.4) more. However, you clear you first bit of trash, and you come to your first Kara boss, Attumen the Huntsmen. Now, if you check the link there, you’ll notice that he is level ??. This means he is a raid boss, and for all intensive purposes, he is mathematically 3 levels higher than the highest level person in the raid, and in this case, level 73.

This means that you will have to have enough spell hit to not miss a mob 3 levels higher than you. That is a total of 16% spell hit (or 202 spell hit rating), which must be attained through gear and talents.

However, I did specify Frost Mage didn’t I? Yes I did. As a frost mage, there is a talent that reduces how much plus to hit you need to acquire to reach your cap. Elemental Precision is one of the first talents as a Frost Mage, and it’s not uncommon for PvE Fire Mages (or PvP Mages, as you only need 3% to not miss a player the same level as you) to have the talent too. It reduces the mana cost and chance your target has to resist your fire and frost spells by 3%. So by having this talent, you’ve already taken care of 3% spell hit, or 37.8 spell hit rating.

So how is spell hit calculated? For a level 70 Mage, 12.6 spell hit rating is 1%. So, as stated above, to cap your hit rating against a level 73 mob (Raid Boss), with no talents pertaining to spell hit, you need 16%, or 202 hit rating.

So now that you are a little more educated on spell hit, wether you'r looking into PvP or PvE, you have a reason to get at least 3% spell hit.

On the matter of CC:

Not only does a Mage supply one of the highest amounts of damage (assuming of course that the person playing one isn’t a complete moron, or pulls agro and spends 40% of the instance/raid dead). They can also supply one of the best buffs in the game, food and water, and one of the most reliable CC’s in the game.

Rank 1 Polymorph

This is rank one. Lets take a second to look at this, yes?

This spell works on Humanoids, Beasts, and Critters. Critters aside, this is arguably the single most effective way of CC’ing Humanoids and Beasts.

30 yard range. This is pretty decent range on a CC. The range allows you to keep your squishy little self well out of harms way and cast.

1.5 second cast. Not the fastest of cast times, but that shouldn’t matter if your keeping an eye on the mob like you should.

And for 150 mana, it’s a pretty cheep spell to use.

Last 20 seconds, with the highest rank lasting 50 seconds. For PvE, the duration of this spell is amazing. For PvP it’s not quite as useful due to diminishing returns, but will still work as an interrupt if you can get the cast off before your opponent. So, you cast Polymorph, your mob becomes a fluffy little sheep (or Pig or even Turtle)

So, how best to use this fantastic spell.

As I don’t PvP much on my mage due to the fact of me having exactly zero resilience, I usually use this spell for PvE. Since that is the case, I tend to use this macro for most of my “pigging”

/cast Polymorph: Pig
/p Sunrath is CC’ing %n, break it and you can tank it!

The first line allows us to cast Polymorph Pig (which not many in my guild have, so it’s handy to have different looking Poly’s), and the second line tells my party that I am Pigging a mob. The "%n" is a function that will place the name of my current target into the line of text.

Another good macro to use while sheeping is this little piece of work.

/targetlasttarget
/cast Polymorph: Pig

This will let you target your last target (presumably the one you are sheeping) and cast polymorph as long as you are facing your target. This works well for re-casting in the middle of a pull, when you know you aren’t going to be ready for the CC’d mob to come to the party.

The final two macros I’m going to post for this spell can be used when you don’t use your focus for the tank. I tend to keep my tank as focus, as it helps my slightly ADD self attacking the right target.

/focus
/cast Polymorph: Pig

This will set your current target to “focus” and then cast Polymorph. This is a very useful way of keeping an eye on your mobs, as it will add a target frame to your UI where you can see his status.

/target focus
/cast Polymorph: Pig

This will let you target your focus, and re-cast polymorph.

One thing to keep in mind when sheeping, is that the mobs, or person, you sheep will receive a buff. Yes a buff. Not a debuff, although it can be removed like one. It is considered a buff because it allows for a very high health regenerate while in the sheep/pig/turtle form. That being said, it’s not usually a good idea to sheep a mob/person when they are close to dead, as only a few seconds under the spell, they will regenerate most of their health.

One last thing, and something that most 70 Mages don’t realize right away, is that you can spellsteal from a mob that is polymorphed, with our breaking the CC. This is very useful when CC’ing in Magister’s Terrace. You can sheep, then steal all the fantastic buffs that those mobs have to offer.

AOE Frost: The How To

After thinking about it for awhile, I decided my second post would be about the speccing, gearing, and how to of an AOE Frost mage. I know this isn’t exactly were to start, or how to finish in a since either. But it’s currently my favorite part of the game. There’s nothing like flying up to BT, seeing a Warrior and Priest combo grinding their way through the mobs, making a decent amount of money, and picking up signets left and right, and then showing them up ten fold.

So. Where to start.

Hmmm.

Spec would be the best I think. That’s the easiest way to really screw yourself on a frost mage. I’ve seen a lot of people that think they are AOE specced, and then I prove to them that they have no idea what they’re doing.

First and foremost, don’t even try it till 30. Stay fire, enjoy some big hits. And if you don’t have a ton of patience and you’re looking to really get leveling on the ball, don’t do it till 40. Seriously, a mount and Ice Barrier is what it’s all about.

So, the spec.

At 30 you, to maximize AOE ability, you should look a little like this.

Improved Blizzard, Improved Ice Armor, and Permafrost are a must for aspiring little frost mages. DO NOT. I REPET. DO NOT GET FROSTBITE!!!! This is one of the biggest killers of frost mages trying to AOE everywhere. AOE is about control and predictability. This will toss a real monkey wrench in the whole damn thing. As you level, look to put points into talents that either: lower mana costs, reduce Cooldowns, increase frost damage done or increase slowing effects. A frost mage can crit, and crit well, but it is not a focus of AOE’ing. You want even damage.

Once your specced right, you need to take a gear assessment. Gear is a huge factor in being able to AOE effectively. As the spec is about killing many mobs at one time, it is very gear dependent. You need to focus on stam and int at lower levels. You won’t have enough + Spell damage to make a difference. If you’re going to pick up spell damage at lower levels, then make sure your looking at good stam/int gear as well.

Blizzard is an expensive spell. And you’ll be using mana shield a lot until 40. The combination of these can drain your mana fast. Once your mana shield is down, you’ll need to be able to rely on raw hit points. (it shouldn’t come down to that, but if it does, you’ll need it)

So your 30. You’ve re-specced to frost, and picked up the right gear so you can enjoy all AOE has to offer. But your unsure of how to use this new spec to it’s fullest.

How to AOE:

Find a place that has a decent number of melee only mobs and ideally two to three levels lower (this level difference will minimize resists and crushing blows when they get to you). Beasts are usually good as they don’t often run, however, anything that won’t stand at range and cast is good. At lower levels, stand in a spot, where you have about 4/5 mobs in range to wand, and pull away. This will help you conserve mana, while still gathering mobs. Once you get Ice Barrier and a mount, then run through some shit to gather ‘em up.

Once mobs are gathered: Frost Nova and move away. It is almost always better to just blink in the direction that your mobs just came from. That way you’re not backing up into other mobs.

Start your blizzard: Place the blizzard in a position that covers all of the mobs you are kiting. You want them all equally slowed, and damage to be dealt as close to the same across all mobs as possible. As soon as you click and start your channeling, you can position your next one, guide it in front of your groups of mobs and try to get the farthest edge of the circle to cover all your mobs. You’re attempting to position the Blizzard so that the mobs have to walk all the way through it. If you have chosen your mobs correctly, you should be able to finish them off with a Cone of Cold, and maybe a couple Arcane Explosions.

Loot.

Eat and Drink.

Rinse and repeat.

The Intro

My Intro:

The reason for this Blog: I can't find any damn Mage blogs that update on a regular basis. So I'm going to try my hand at my own. This will be primarily a Mage blog. Although there might be a few huntering things tossed here and there. Having said that...

This little beauty hasn't always been my main.


In fact, This PvE soloing machine was once my main. I felt un-stoppable with that toon, and still call on his assistance from time to time.

Yes, that’s right; my main was once a hunter. At the time, I wasn’t grouping much, was soloing my way through each zone, one after another. If I came across something I couldn’t best at my current level, I would toss it on a shelf, and come back to it.

I always got my mark.

Then there was a hiatus. About 8 months went by and my 38 hunter sat unused and missed on the server I had created him.

Then something happened.

I met someone, and they used to play, and wanted to start playing again. Then two of our friends wanted to play as well.

The four of us started new accounts (or re-activated our old ones). It would be that same core group of real life friends for the next 60 levels.

I of course picked my hunter up from where I had left off. Helping them and guiding them as they learned this new game.

One friend started a Warrior, having expressed the intent of wanting to beat the shit out of stuff while taking heavy hits. He quickly excelled at the whole tanking thing. Speccing Prot right off the bat, and was known as Azunai.

The other friend that leveled with me and the warrior started a hunter as well. This worked well for questing, not so well for instancing.

We were pugging a lot. And as I'm sure you know, that's not always the greatest experience.

Then we ended up hitting 45’ish about the same time. And we met a very enthusiastic shadow priest. This worked well. We had another DPS to grind with, a warrior and two pets to hold agg, and the priest could shift out and heal when needed, it was a dream combo for just about anything.

Then he invited us to his guild. Not our first leveling guild, but definitely one of the better ones I’ve ever been in. We started playing with these people on a regular basis. Ended up finishing out our last 15 levels with this small rag-tag group. The warrior, the two hunters, the shadow priest, and usually a rogue or lock from the guild.

Let me back track a little, as this friend will come up often in my ramblings. I mentioned four of us, and only explained three. My fourth friend started a warrior as well. Specced fury, hit 29, and we twinked him out. That was his goal. And that is where he stayed. For quite a long time, and that is where Spax enters and exits for the time being, although you will hear more about him, in another, much longer, story.

By the time we hit 60, we were all very well geared, and PvE oriented. All of us having a barrel of…well something fun. (I don’t like monkeys that much) We dove into the end game content, explored PvP. A few of us becoming fairly familiar with MC, SG, and AQ.

Then the Burning Crusade. We all raced to 70. Enjoying the new content, and the new gear. The Prot warrior went arms. Then my wife started playing on a regular basis. Spax was abandoned, and a Blood Elf Healadin was born (more of which you will hear about, maybe from the Healadin himself.)

And I was pugging a lot. I found out very fast that outside a core group of friends, hunters are not well liked. Even though I played him well. Could chain trap, off tank, and stay just bellow pulling agg. I would have (and still would) get the BRK growl of approval, I’m sure of it.

But my lack of invites was becoming quite irritating, and I was loosing interest.

Then one day while questing in SMV I got one or two shotted by the same PoM/Pyro Mage 6 times.

Wait, wasn’t I a DPS class? What is this Mage think he’s doing taking away almost 11,000 health in just a few seconds? This just isn’t right!!

I rolled a Mage.

I was in love.

I leveled one to 50 as fire. All out big crits. Then at 50, when most try POM/Pyro for the first time, I tried frost. It was then new hit thing. And AOE grinding looked like way too much fun.

I am a 70 Blood Elf Frost Mage. And I'm here to share my experiences, (good and bad, fun and horribly boring) with you, the reader.

So this Blog, this little space on the Internet, will be my place. My place to vent, to share, to teach, and to learn.

I do believe in the English language as a whole, and I won’t hold any punches when it comes to most words. Having said that, if you are easily offended by what most people call foul language, you should look else where for fantastic, exhilarating Magely endeavors.

I will try my best to stay as up to date and entertaining as possible.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Sun