My lvl 23 mage is a whimpFollow

Out of all my toons, my lvl 23 mage is still whimpy. Attacking any strong lvl 18 is hard work for me. My other toons can take on a lvl higher than them and come out of it ok...my mage wouldn't stand a chance. When do mages start being usefull ?
Thanks

I think you are more of the problem than the mage. Gear aside (I was a poor mage), what is your basic battle plan?

Around that time, I was using Fireball/Frostbolt/Fireball/Fireblast to get mobs, and I really didn't have too much difficulty with it. Any mob that got close enough following that would have to face the wrath of either my wand or an Arcane Explosion.

As far as a mage being useful...Whenever you're needed, really. If you're having difficulty, let me suggest the following strategy:

Polymorph, Frostbolt, Fireball, Fireball, Fireblast. By level 23, you shoulld have maybe two of your talents maxed out, be it Frost, Fire, or Arcane. I would really recommend that your first points in your chosen tree go immediatly into "Improved Nuke". Frostbolt and Fireball both lose half a second of cast time, while Improved Arcane Missles can equal the damage of both spells with the added benefit of being able to keep casting, short of an effect that interupts casting.

For Fire, getting both Improved Fireball and Ignite is the first step, for Frost I would say Improved Frostbolt and Ice Shards. By 23 I would add either Frostbite or Permafrost, your choice. Frost mages really shine by the time they are able to get Shatter fully pumped (Level 30 I believe).

Other than that, if you still continue having difficulty, it could just be that the mage is not suited for your tastes.

There must be something you do wrong. Wether is be fire, frost or arcane, you should easily be able to take down a mob 2-3 levels higher.

With fire, the bigger damage and dot effect of fireball will ensure the mob is killed quickly. Use frost nova to help freeze the target if it gets close, move back and continue.

With frost, you get sligthly smaller damage but the snare effect means you have more time to cast you frostbolt. Also, casting time is shorter on frostbolt than fireball.

Make sure you start attacking the mob at max range or close for full effect. This is not a melee character and if played like one, you will have a really hard time.

It may help for you to describe a typical fight on an equal level mob to see where things go wrong.

I think he was talking about a PvP situation...

ok thanks for the info. Glad to see I didn't miss anything major.

Of course in PVP, the use is clear.

Edited, Oct 16th 2007 1:40pm by Laroche

Exactly. I find that it works the best when dealing with either grouped mobs or against a mob that has a pet, like the Ogre Warlocks.

Both my GF and myself very nearly gave up with our mages, until suddenly (around mid 30s I think), they began to kick backside. Mine's 43 now and I am very confident to take him into battle.

Funny, I was just having this conversation with my husband last night.

He's started a new mage (currently level 18) to group up with one of my alts and another friend's alt.

So there he is in Redrige spending more time running back from the grave than anything else, PLEADING with me to tell him what he's doing wrong. I have a 41 gnome mage. I watched his rotation a bit, and thought he was doing great for the spells he had at that level.

Unfortunately, mages are just weak at that level, imho. It DOES get better though. I remember having the same problems with my mage until the late 20's when the frost talents really start to rack up and make a difference.

The rotation I'd suggest is:

1. Sheep it if it wanders. If you can keep it at your max range through your wind up, don't bother, you'd only be using up your mana.
2. Frostbolt
3. Fireball
4. Fireblast
5. Frost Nova.... back up just out of his reach (don't waste the 'nova time' by backing up too far)
6. Fireball.
7. Wand/Arcane Explosion.

Just keep trying. If you have the option, try grouping with someone until you feel you've come into your own. It WILL get better!

hmm... i have the same problem. You all adviced the strategy like - Frostbolt, fireball, fireblast, in case - nova, fireball.. but what if even this dont kill the mob?? where is problem now?? i am lv 10 gnome mage, and killing for example Leper Gnome is always chalenge, unfortunately, in many cases it ends up on graveyard.. :) (sorry for my bad english, i am only studying :) so what is your advice now?

At low levels, I would get a wand and explect to take a few hits. It will help raise your defense skill, low level wands are decent DPS, and they are great for finishing off mobs if you run out of mana.

It's odd, but I didn't feel as if my mage was particularly weak at that level. If you are going frost, it's true that some of the damage advantages take a bit to stack up in terms of talents, but I still didn't find it hard against on-level mobs -- I died in cases where I did something wrong (ie, forget to use a skill, bit off too much) or got an unlucky add, but nothing more than that. I could also take on one mob of 1-2 higher levels, and win, but it would cost a lot of mana.

As a frostie, what I would do is be sure to start at max range -- don't get lazy or sloppy about that, setting up at max range is a critical skill to learn as a mage, whatever spec you are ... move around, back up as needed to get to max range -- and then frostbolt, frostbolt, frostbolt -- if the mob isn't already frozen, then FN and strafe away, then frostbolt, frostbolt and, if needed, fire blast and/or wand. Frostbolt is a relatively low mana cost spell for a nuke, and if you put the five points into it it is a very fast cast as well .. in my view, for both of those reasons, it's meant to be spammed. Using this frostbolt-spam rotation, I found I would end most on-level fights with a good amount of mana left, while fights against higher levels would take more mana and result in some drinking downtime. But I can't remember ever going OOM or, again, getting killed unless I made a mistake, or got an unlucky add.

As a fire spec, a few levels later (in the 20s), I would open with fireball, fireball (and if time, a third one or a scorch), then FN and strafe, scorch, fire blast, wand. On tougher ones I would open with pyroblast. Now of course, with fire, you are going to burn through mana more quickly, so you have to be careful, and you will be drinking more (at least that's how I've found it), but that rotation isn't "weak" really.

I rolled a new undead mage (frost spec) recently, and he's level 23. I was fighting in Stonetalon Mountains last night, and I had no issues taking out mobs. I even took out the named spider who was a lvl 21 elite, and I survived!

Like others suggested, I lead with two or three frost bolts depending on freeze proc and then use a Frost Nova to get some distance. If I get resists, blink is nice way to get some distance. I may through in a couple istant spells (fireblase and arcane explosion), I may frost bolt the mob to death, or wand it down to get the kill.

I'm pretty happy with my mage at this level, I just have to drink a lot to recover mana, but that is why we get summon water I guess. :)

I think at the 20's, it's imperitive that squishies have at least a decent talent build and decent gear (hence the reason they can make their gear out of common drops).

If Mojavemike has a subpar build and subpar gear, then he's going to get flattened.

I also believe that out of the 3 squishies, mages are the hardest to learn at the start.

Priests just bubble and heal(and have a powerful insta-heal depending on the race), locks can send in voidie and dot the mob up, where as mages have to learn how to use quite a lot of their skills when leveling.