One thing that much of these threads have done is convince me to level a mage...

I have leveled quite a few toons of different classes, and i have found overall that the degree of which the class seems 'broken' is very perceptual. Usually the folks who play the class tend to think their class is 'broken' the most. However, since i haven't leveled a mage yet ( the lock being the other one i haven't leveled yet), i cant say for sure...

So i will lvl one and try out its brokenness. In the meantime i have to say i greatly appreciate the positive and directional comments i see from the folks here in the columns. I actually did like the previous column, was just getting tired of all the negative comments, many of which weren't really founded well in the truth of matters...

My personal perception is that a class truly has issues when most of the other classes will even admit their broke (as a whole)...as an example, druids pre-BC, and shamans overall. I hadn't realized mages had so many issues until i read the comments on these columns.

I remember when warriors were griping about their rage normalization and gearing issues when BC first came out...everyone and their brother thought druids were the king, and no one wanted a warrior to tank. So warriors were sub par then, and it was pretty obvious....and their damage was far behind everyone elses. I remember this because i was leveling my rogue at the time, and my warrior was in her mid 50's. So i decided to test this out, and level my warrior. ultimately, they were wrong...my warrior survived fine, leveled to 70, even tanked instances, and currently has competitive DPS.

I did the same thing with my paladin, and my druid. Each one i leveled brought a new perspective to my WoW world about the classes, and how they interact, and work with one another...and more importantly, stack up against one another. It showed me that until you level up another class, and step into their shoes, you wont really understand what its like from their perspective.

So im going to pull out my rusty mage (mid 20's) and level her to BC and gear her for kara, and see what its all about. And i encourage anyone who is frustrated with their class to do the same. If you aren't willing to try out another class, then its your choice...but i think your shortsighting yourself in the long run, because you will never honestly know what it IS like to play those other classes that 'seem' so much more 'liked' by blizz.

In the meantime, i am actually excited for the possible changes to mages coming in WotLK, much as i am excited for the changes for warriors and shamans, even though some may not make it into production. Since my shaman is my main, i can empathize with those who play a class that seems like its behind the bandwagon in terms of utilization. But my experience with multiple classes tells me that there are many benefits and challenges to ALL classes, and i hope many other peeps can get out there and exprience this phenomenon as well.

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