Make your Mage magnificent!
by Zach Yonzon 
Sep 10th 2008 at 12:30AM
Well, maybe not magnificent, but at least functional and viable in Wrath of the Lich King. Tipster Daniel alerted us to Ghostcrawler -- the blue of blues for Wrath, according to him -- blinking into the Mage forums to request Mages to give feedback about the different trees. Although Ghostcrawler seems to post her call outs during the wee hours when people are deep in slumber -- or in a drawn-out raid -- we at WoW Insider believe that it's our duty to get everyone in on the action. If you happen to be in Beta and play a Mage, now is the chance to have your thoughts heard on the Frost tree, the Fire tree, and the Arcane tree. While you're at it, give the developers a pat on the back for the overwhelmingly enjoyable Mirror Image.
Filed under: Mage, Blizzard, Wrath of the Lich King, Forums
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
hiphophomies Sep 10th 2008 1:58AM
I'm way excited about mirror image! I thought it was a blademaster skill in wc3... but no way am I gonna complain about us getting it.
Nuuuuuuke city.
what else... oh yeah, i hate gnomes.
roguedubb Sep 10th 2008 2:31AM
Deep in slumber is relative to your time-zone and work habits. Ghostcrawler could be the forum shift-worker, or live more than a few time zones away. Personally I like to think of Ghostcrawler as being the 24/7 convenience store of blue forum posters.
Table plz.
banaoil Sep 10th 2008 2:40AM
Mages go boom and fall down.
We get one shotted, we expect it. We should be able to return the favor. That's balance. As long as mages can one shot a Deathknight, and vice versa, we're good. If your class can take more than one hit, you should do less damage. I want to be able to only stand one hit, maybe less than that. Make me fragile, and make me boom.
Reinard Sep 10th 2008 2:53AM
Just when I thought people couldn't get any stupider.
lewisd35 Sep 10th 2008 6:28AM
@Reinard
Just when someone turned out the sense of humour light.
William Sep 10th 2008 8:45AM
I'm with you. Fragile but deadly.
Kakistocracy Sep 10th 2008 3:22PM
Yes, Blizzard has said so many times that they want to balance dps for all classes, but that only makes sense if they balance survivability. If a mage can't significantly out dps a hunter, the mage should get to be as hardy as a hunter.
And don't forget that they want to make all classes that can heal or tank able to do as much damage as dps only classes, how about letting mages MT raids, or at least heal five mans? :P
I suggest that they either let some classes fulfill some roles better than others (like the handbook and character creation screen say mages and rogues lead in doing damage) or make everyone the same, I would love to see plate wearing mages (well... maybe not).
davidus Sep 10th 2008 3:05AM
lol, stupider isn't even a word. You seem pretty stupid to me.
Reinard Sep 10th 2008 3:26AM
Actually, it is, but thanks for trying.
alex Sep 10th 2008 4:15AM
actually it isn't. stupid
clownfish Sep 10th 2008 5:10AM
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Stupider
davidus Sep 10th 2008 3:41AM
No, it isn't. I don't care if it's in some online dictionary. It's more along the lines of slang. Dumb people like you say it and it spreads to other idiots who don't actually know how to talk properly, and it becomes accepted as a word but it never truly is. Just look at how ain't is in online dictionaries. These aren't words, it just that we have too many idiots. Look up some proper English, learn how to speak.
BenMS Sep 10th 2008 7:01AM
Thank you.
The correct usage is more stupid.
Stupid, more stupid, most stupid.
TotalBiscuit Sep 10th 2008 7:47AM
As mindbogglingly haughty as this fellow appears, he's actually right. Stupider is not in the Oxford English dictionary and therefore is not a real English word.
Fletch Sep 10th 2008 6:27PM
Yeh, some dumbass called my rock a telephone once and now everybody is calling them telephones. People are so dumb.
Rigger Sep 10th 2008 3:56AM
I like the fire tree talents - I just wished Living Bomb was more interesting - I would rather see it called Rising Phoenix - where you summon a Phoenix that does the AOE Fire damage like in the KT fight.
Jewbanks Sep 10th 2008 5:02AM
Umm Yea.. So about mages
I am glad that I have been able to pack a severe punch dps wise as a mage in the 5 mans and naxx runs ive done. Im 60 arc 11 frost I believe atm..
I imagine this will be much better when im not in so much pvp gear.. My mana regen has actually severely reduced itself going from live to a premade 80 mage because the pvp gear carries 0 spirit. And as an arc mage I can actually appreciate it. Due to this I did have some small mana issues in nax.
Everyones favorite mirror image. Its fun, its helpful, I havent found it to be that much of a dps boost. Esp. if you dont cancel that damn place changing aura. This is in pve. Its awesome in pvp and soloing.. Which Im afraid the pvp implications are going to get our toy taken away. But before they do, I want to note it doesnt seem to scale damage wise. So before they nerf it, just think itll eventually nerf itself.
I love arc spec. though depending on the rng is annoying. I swear sometimes i have MB procing on successive AB accidently wasting it. Other times I went through a raid boss encounter and procd it maybe once. However im glad arc stayed a viable spec and can imagine myself in 2t5 for a while yet.
The other thing is this damn AB timer being so short. The only reason I can imagine it being so short is so we cant make use of MB while keeping the debuff up. But you could make it longer and that would stay true. Right now one tic of knockback and its pretty much gone. I miss the stacking haste debuff, but thats just cuz its hard for me to adjust to a long cast time again.
A couple small but appreciable details. New ranks of conjured consumables are food/water hybrids. This for some reason made me ecstatic. Also really nice is the fact that mana gems dont seem to despawn after 15 minutes or at all, this always bugged me so yay, while food of course still does.
But Im loving arc... Mages are fun lets hope it stays that way. Dont nerf Mirror Image ill drown the world in mage tears.
Fire is more of the same ole same ole so I didnt play it for long, but we had a fire mage with us in a couple 5mans and their dps wasnt competitive with mine. I dont know if it was there spec, the situation (bursty short fights), or just their ability to play. But like i said it bores me so I ignored it.
I was frost for a little bit but the server kept crashing and lake wintergrasp was buggy so I gave up. but it looks like itll be some serious ice lance spamming rng loving business.
Im excited about the state of mages
Azzz Sep 10th 2008 5:44AM
@davidus - Offtopic, but "stupider" is is fact a word, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, which, being the definitive authority on the English language, is good enough for me. Whether the common usage of stupider is correct (e.g. "you are stupider than you think you are" vs "you are more stupid than you think you are") is another question: but it is, definitely, a real English word.
Ontopic: I'm just glad Arcane got some love. About time! Purple is my new favourite colour!
Matazuma Sep 10th 2008 6:45AM
I bet that total biscuit is gonna be posting walls of text and I hope he complains and wines.
Roxton Sep 10th 2008 7:36AM
You want whine? I'll give you whine: WHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE! I can keep this up all day you know; WHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE...