My Secret Life as a Mage
by Jennie Lees 
Jul 5th 2006 at 10:00AM
I've become increasingly bored with grinding on my main character, so it's time for another alt to feel the love. As I play late at night, it makes sense to level an alt while the BGs are out of action and the LFG channel is quiet, though this does make levelling a lonely pursuit.Having grouped with the entire spectrum of mages in the past -- from the extremely incompetent to high-damage-dealers with a deathwish -- it's been interesting to actually get inside the class a bit more. Initially, it was one of the classes I couldn't stomach by the time I hit level 8; seeing their fearsome power at level 60 has possibly changed my mind. (After all, who doesn't want to be their own vending machine?)
I'm amazed at how quickly I can blast through mobs of my level, and even a level or two above. With Frost Nova, if I time it right, they never touch me. If they do get too close and it's a sticky situation, Blink saves the day. Polymorph is also a fantastic tool to use against groups. I feel like an uncontrollable damage machine when I play, most of the time.
Sadly, all this power comes at a cost -- a mana cost. I'm constantly getting low mana at the wrong time; mana management is the next thing I have to learn. If I'm OOM, or with Blink and Frost Nova on cooldown, sometimes I just can't run fast enough to get away; I've suffered fewer deaths than I'd expected, though. Grouping with a priest makes for a winning combination, with additional ranged attack power and those oh-so-convenient heals.
As it's an alt, my main trouble with the character is remembering to use the right abilities at the right time. For some reason I've developed a habit of firing Frost Nova instead of Frostbolt to pull; funny the first time, frustrating the hundredth. I forget about Polymorph at the worst moment, and when I'm OOM, Evocation doesn't enter my mind. I'm the ditziest mage this side of Thousand Needles, but I'm enjoying it -- more so than the rogue, as the mage is truly something different from my druid.
Filed under: Mage, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Quests
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
VoIP Ted Jul 5th 2006 10:08AM
I LOVE my mage. Got almost to staff sergent in BGs before level 20. Couldn't have done that as easily with a lower lvl pally or warrior. But I definitely suck against a twinky rogue one on one. Anybody else I can pretty much pwn at 19. I am a mage for life now!
Meatball Jul 5th 2006 10:13AM
Ah, mages.
The main thought that comes to my mind about them ... squishy. Came across a tiny little human mage shelling turtles in the shimmering flats ... spammed the heck out of her with Moonfire.
I truly make it a point to try and roleplay on Lightninghoof ... my character hates all elves, but won't attack a fellow druid (one NE druid befriended me as I was trying to complete the Warsong Reports quest at a lowlevel ... protected me from the other alliance as I ran around the elfin town). I'll kill a Warlock on sight ... but generally try to leave other alliance alone.
There was just something about that mage though ... she died all bloody. :)
Post holer ... a post for digging holes.
Nocky Jul 5th 2006 10:21AM
I've had a habit of playing several characters until level 10, then just simply giving up on them. The mage, though, was an exception. I'm my own vending machine. Killing stuff before they even touch you is great. So far, it's my highest character.
Until I switch over to my rogue, my second highest.
Vlam Jul 5th 2006 11:48AM
The Mage, in my opinion, is on the best classes in the game. If you go Frost, you are built for survivibility. If you see 2 alliance and you want to kill them, you can sheep (or pig, which i use) one and fight the other one till the pig breaks.
And of course the most important thing is that we can make water if we need it or make food. That is a money maker for me, Selling food to the thirsty and hungry horde on Sargeras.
Chitty Jul 5th 2006 12:05PM
i got my main to 60 - A Dwarven warrior - did it in 5 weeks. Thsi is after putting the game down for almost a year on account of a an undead mage i just couldn't do anything with. Got her to lvl 23 - but ending up getting SO Frustrated I felt i'd abandoned the game for good. Came back, did the warrior thing. no it's time for a change - got a rogue to lvl 14 then went to a preist to 15. Something happend and i decided to try mage again. She's at lvl 26, and it's only taken me about 5 days. ( Ihave had soem help from a friend who's a 60 preist, among other epic chars). I Really like the mage a lot. I l;ook forward ot seeing what that's like at 40, then 60 to end game.
So far, my secret life as a mage is quite enjoyable, fun, and rewarding.
Chitty.
DJ Jul 5th 2006 12:34PM
Mage. Level 20 without a single death or even coming that close. Can't say that for any other class I've played.
Brian Jul 5th 2006 1:31PM
My main is a mage, and I love it. I'm spending most of my time levelling my hunter now (which I equally enjoy), but there's something about being able to take out a dozen NPCS at once that never gets old. (I'll never forget grinding from 59-60 in about two hours. Thank you, Dire Maul East).
I've developed a love for high-damage/high-survivability classes, it seems. I need to play with my Mage more, though. I've lost my touch.
SteveK Jul 5th 2006 3:29PM
I've levelled a hunter, pally and mage to 60, and by far the mage was my favorite. You conjure up piles of food and water, kill till your mana runs out, drink and kill again. In most places, you can kill without taking a single hit. The downside is that it only works 1-1, or 2-1 if you sheep something. If you get an add, or even worse, 2 adds, you run or die. But 1 on 1, or in a good group, you're a killing machine. If you're working with a really good warrior (who aggros everything) and a priest to heal, you can do some amazing damage. And 99% of the time, you're the top damage class in an instance run. (or first to die if things go bad)
Mr. Tibbs Jul 5th 2006 3:44PM
After my rogue hit 60, I knew the inevitable had arrived. That my poor rogue would be reduce to two simple choices: join the pvp grind or join the instance grind.
So I made alts. Lots of them. Now, there's a 44 hunter, TWO 41 warriors, a 37 pally, a 30 druid, a 24 priest and a 19 twink rogue and ... a mage.
I had tried playing a mage before and hated it. Obviously it was because for someone who played melee-heavy classes, sitting in the back not only made me feel cowardly, but weak. The mage was the only class that I actually died using before level 5 (nerf Garrick Padfoot!). Still, I stuck with it this time, and now that she's 21, I'm absolutely enjoying leveling her. She's frost spec, and while she doesn't lay out mass amounts of damage, she's really good at running in, popping frost nova and AoEing down 5 or 6 mobs that are green to her. It speeds up leveling super fast.
I, too, love my secret life as a mage and look forward to what mages have to offer.
UncleVinny Jul 5th 2006 5:15PM
I started WoW in January with a mage and a pally. Gave up on the pally when both were around level 25. I just didn't "get" being a paladin, but playing a glass cannon is exactly my style. I hit 60 late last month, and despite all the naysaying on the forums about how dull it is to be a mage at 60, I've been having a blast. I put out substantial burst damage, everybody loves me for water/sheeping/DPS/AoE/Frost Nova, and I love being able to teleport around the world on a whim. My primary alt these days is a level 35 warlock; I can't get over how gimped I feel only having a single hearthstone point...it takes forever to get around now!
One other mage-related comment: I wish I could rely more on polymorph in PvP. Most horde I sheep can pop out of it with a trinket, so it hardly seems worth while to try.
monkeywraith Jul 5th 2006 6:25PM
my main is a mage and i love it. easy to solo elites of a few levels higher. sheep one and frost the other till it dies ^_^. and the fact that the guy i quest with is a priest means even if things turn sour i rarely die. i have a hunter that i got into the 30s but for some reason i dont really like him.
in response to unclevinny above, why not just sheep, let them waste their trinket, then sheep again? i am pretty sure that almost all trinkets with such effects have a cooldown before they can do it again.
Tigraine Jul 6th 2006 8:42PM
I got a mage on lvl 46 and I stopped playing it.
I mean, it was lovely at the lower levels, as do all classes tend to be great at these levels.. But it got really annoying when reaching the 30ies ..
Playing the Mage after having leveled a rogue I was really pissed of by drinking mana all the time. The Water you can conjure is only good to give away to lowbies while I ended up buying water and food from the vendor to get my regeneration rates down a bit.. (Or going after highlvl mages to get me some water that could do the job).
Being frost specced .. 3-5 mobs and I was oom .. now on fire spec .. 3 mobs defines a limit somehow..
and man.. I hated that sitting around waiting for a blue bar to fill up..
Then I startet my warrior, leveled to 46 .. abandoned it..
And then I found my true love besides my beloved Rogue... My Warlock that hit 60 last month.
Through life tap I was never really drinking for mana.. having done 10 mobs straight would require me to do some cannibalize and one bandage and I was ready to do another 10 mobs.. Then when reaching 40 with Dark Pact really brought me 10 enjoyable levels where I wasn't drinking at all, just sucking the mana out of my pets..
It was just another feeling.. not sitting around for 30 seconds .. running around .. life tapping .. doing damage..
Managed to get my Lock to 60 in 9 days while having played to rank 5 before reaching 60 .. So .. really besides the rogue one of the most prefereable classes for leveling in my opinion ..
And a really great damage machine at 60 ..
Tossing around 2k crits while having only about 150 spelldmg really kicks ass, and having a more active role in Instances than simply conjuring water and food makes the trick somehow.. Fearing mobs into certain directions (Fear can be controlled through curse of recklessness), Soulstoning ppl, buffing other damage dealer through your curses .. dishing out huge amounts of dmg yourself.. it's somehow more rewarding than being just a simple damage dealer.
But going now back to my mage alt?
Never.. I tried it 3 days ago..
I was running mad after sitting around drinking two bottles of my own conjured water to get full mana.. God.. how mutch do I hate these downtimes while leveling..
I mean. . leveling in WoW is already a pain if you know how a character will unfold @ 60 .. Playing it yourself doesn't change mutch of the fact that you already know at lvl 10 what how you will be playing at 60..
I guess, getting another alt to 60 will not do the job for me next time.. Bying someone's account with some lvl 60 chars really gets an alternative next time I want to feel another gameplay :)
greetings Tigraine