Mages, what are they good for?
A Mage is a damage dealer and master of Crowd Control. Your main goal is to do as much damage as you can do with out pulling hate off the tank. You are also there for crowd control using spells such as polymorph and “chill affectsâ€. As many say, you as a mage are a “Glass Cannonâ€; able to dish out unbelievable amounts of damage but can also go down in a blink of an eye if you aren’t careful.
Are mages fun to play?
If you like to take hits so that the rest of your group can do damage then you won’t care for the mage class. If you like to aid your friends and make sure they have the health to continue on, mage probably isn’t the class for you. If you like to deal a lot of damage and potentially fight several things at once, you my friend have just found yourself a new job as a mage.
Which race should I choose?
Alliance
Humans
Gnomes
For PvE Humans have a *slight* edge thanks to Diplomacy meaning you don’t have to work quiet as hard to get the rep needed for certain quests etc.. PvP aspect, Humans get Perception which allows you a better chance of seeing rogues and druids that are stealthed. Gnomes get Escape Artist which is always nice as a mage, another tactic to get away from damage.
Horde
Trolls
Undead
PvE trolls get regeneration which can reduce down time a little, not too much however. Undead get Cannibalize which can reduce down time drastically and can also save bandages. Onto PvP, Undead get the great WotF to help with fears, the Trolls on the other hand really don’t get to0 much for PvP
While every race has their own strengths and weaknesses, their overall stats and racial abilities don’t make that much of a difference in game play. Don’t let anyone tell you anything other, choose whatever race you don’t mind looking at for hours upon hours while playing.
What are good professions for a Mage?
There are a lot of options; which one is best depends on what you want.
Tailoring helps you keep your gear up to date for fairly cheap since the cloths required by this drop from all humanoid enemies which you fight on a regular basis. You won’t be able to make the best gear for your level (level 35 and can make 30-32 gear) but it is helpful no less. You can also sell what you make in the AH for a little profit.
Enchanting can help tweak your character the way you like. You can give yourself a little extra health, spirit or intellect on items along with spell damage at later levels. You can also disenchant items of value and get materials to sell on the AH for decent cash. Pair enchanting with tailoring (use the cloth you get from grinding to make an item, then use enchanting to disenchant) you can easily make enough money to get by on.
If you're looking for something that will make you stronger in combat, especially PvP, Engineering is probably the best choice. It gives you a nice assortment of bombs, traps, and shields. Most of the craftable items in Engineering can only be used by other engineers so there is next to no (still a small) market on the AH from these items.
Alchemy is very nice, both for personal use and for making money, since everyone can use potions.
If all you want out of professions is money, your best bet is to pick up two gathering skills, probably herbalism and Mining, and sell the materials you gather at the Auction House.
What about secondary skills?
First Aid can come in quite handy in many situations; Polymorph and then bandage up. After leveling my First Aid to 300, I don’t know how I lived without it. I highly recommend that every character have First Aid leveled.
Cooking and Fishing are matters of personal preference. You can make useful foods with them for stat boosts, but you can also get friends to make these things for you, so whether you want to level them up yourself is your call. As a mage you can conjure your own food and water so Cooking isn’t really necessary but it is nice to get the stat bonuses at times.
Edited, Aug 27th 2006 at 7:59pm EDT by Rehana
Edited, Sep 2nd 2006 at 5:49am EDT by Darqflame
Edited, Apr 8th 2008 1:18am by Wordaen