So who is considering re-rolling for WotLK?Follow

I won't lie, I love my mage class, I like the way that it plays and I have begun to know it inside and out, yet there is a problem. Other classes seem to be getting some rather large nice buffs come the expansion (gg Warlocks again) and other such things, while we get Living Bomb (and some other subpar fire talents), a 1.5sec stun in frost, and a poor-coefficient arcane spell. I don't know, it just doesn't seem like it is worth trying. In a good high end guild mages fall far behind on dps, especially if they do not AB spam and have the raid built around them. To give an idea of what I am referring to: http://www.wwsscoreboard.com/classplacings.php

For being a pretty much pure-dps class with little raid use (a sheep here and there, a table, and an int buff -- don't get started on gimmicks like Spellsteal tanking) there is, and has been, little reason to bring more than one mage to a raid. Fortunately I am one of the officers in my guild and I know they wouldn't sit me, but if I could bring a more versatile class that can do more dps, I don't think that they would complain very much.

So, for those who are at the content level where min/maxing your character (or even picking a different class) makes a difference, what is your plan for the expansion? Right now I have a 52 shammy on his way to 70 and a 60 hunter just waiting to be leveled.

Edited, Jul 23rd 2008 11:28am by Anobix

When i first saw the beta talents I thought the same thing about mages.....I think that the new top tier talents could be much better than that.....Living bomb just doesent cut it for me when locks are getting metamorphosis and chaos bolt and tons of insane dmg boosting talents to all trees....Mages in the fire tree got a couple of crit talents and a boost to molten armor and aoe dmg..Blahhh...I want to see some new talent that gives fire mages a super nuke or something that just messes up peoples day.....So far im not sure how mages are gonna be in the next expansion, to me it looks like mages are becoming a more pvp focued class ie: the frost stun talent....either way though i'm sure blizzard will even it out in the end and we will still be a top dps class and hopefully (praying) the top dps class again like the good old days.

Thats exactly the way I'm thinking about this too....Mages have always been a fun class to play for me so no matter what happens talent wise or spell wise, etc...I will just keep moving on and enjoying my glass cannon....Plus im pretty sure come expansion that mages will see some cool things happening to them....

I have my 70 warrior that I shelved to level my mage, but I don't really want to tank any more. However, I'm really dissatisfied with the talents coming out in WotLK, like a lot of people. So I'm thinking of leveling a healer before the expansion hits, I just can't decide which class.

You know, I rolled my mage knowing full well that the class had some issues, but I sort of assumed they'd be addressed come the expansion. Our talents are pushing me toward rolling a shaman or druid.

I'm hoping that they adjust the mage talents prior to release. I know they aren't set in stone right now, so /fingers crossed.

BUT - mages aren't DPS kings right now, and tons of people play them. Why would WotLK be any different? What I'm trying to say is that if you aren't satisfied with the mage class, roll a warlock (or whatever). You don't need crappy exansion talents to be your excuse :)

Personally, I play my mage because I think it is the most fun to play. I just hope that Bliz does something to keep that fun in the mix. So far, the new talents don't really excite me, other than Winter's Grasp for Frost. Now, Shatter will actually have an effect during a raid. :)

While not being a (full) mage, I to have to admit the new mage 51-pointers seem bad and boring. Living bomb is a laugh for raiding, and raiding is what a mage goes fire for. Arcane barrage sounds like "Lets just give them another random spell". I don't reckon it bad, but it's nothing to go wild over either. Deep freeze is the only thing with some use, and even then it's... boring.

But seeing as probably only 1 of my characters will have a spec involving a 51-pointer rerolling or such hasn't got much to do with me.

that is how I felt as well, it just requires a lot of WG mages in order to keep the debuff up as I believe it is a 10% chance to proc.

As for the argument for PvP, it is boring, same maps every time, similar compositions, try to do the same thing. You can say that it is the only thing that takes skill, but just because you can do a shatter combo and sheep something doesn't mean that you can do the Illidan fight or other things like that -- things that require more than 1-4 other people cooperating -- try 24 others, where a single death or mistake can mean a wipe - that's challenging and rewarding to me. And if you are going to talk about PvP you might as well leave out the arcane and the fire tree.

And frankly, I believe that arenas partly killed a lot of classes (mages included) where they "balanced" the classes for PvP but ignored their abilities in PvE.

Edited, Jul 23rd 2008 4:57pm by Anobix

given that frostfire is a binary spell and a non-binary spell at the same time, its damage coefficient is going to suffer if the spell's damage is balanced over its effects. I have been reminded that mages are strong enough in both aspects of the game. I do feel lacking in certain areas that mages used to be strong in, AoE? taken over by SoC spam. Single target dps? leveled off, which I feel is OK. I am considered one of the bettered played mages in my guild and top 4-5 spots on the meter is not an issue. Heck, I could pull top 6 without a flask.

Like the thread I put up regarding the class peaking, I feel that this cycle of developments is putting mages (a very popular class) at the lower tiers of power. Remember how our improved fireball/frostbolt talents got nerfed to bits by reducing our damage on our core spell? This time its about the same just that our talents are lacklustre. Even hunters got a raid synergy talent in survival tree. My shaman is 62, ho hum 8 more levels to go....

so that means spells with secondary effects will also get partial resist?? (which is what non-binary spells have)

Did you mean 1.5 sec cast or stun?

Anyway, i think mages are kinda getting buffed in WOTLK, pvp wise. Winters grasp+deep freeze will give you another chance to shatter in arena which will help alot to take down that healer. Even against droods, you might have a chance to deep freeze him so he cant shapeshift out of your WEs nova then shatter combo him. I'm still going to play my mage and try deep frost since it seems great for pvp/arena. On wow head it says that mages will get "Shatter sheild" as a new spell...2000 physical damage absorption with a 8 second freeze after its down. IMO mages are going to have much more survivability than in TBC, and are going to own in pvp.

But fire does seem like a disappointment, i thought they would remove Living bomb and replace it...but its official :S

Arcane doesn't seem to bad at all. IMO the new mage raiders will go for arcane because of its insane DPS with arcane barrage.

From the posts I've read, WG will proc on raid bosses. It does not "Freeze" them in place like Frost Nova (which can be dispelled by someone hitting the mob, and most bosses are immune). It places a debuff on them which makes the "Frozen" and will NOT be dispelled by someone hitting the mob. Plus, that mob can still run around and hit you.

So, it has a 10% chance to put the debuff on the target. It lasts 5 seconds. So you can get multiple Frostbolt/Ice Lances in that time (which all have a chance of re-applying the debuff). Yea!

Get 10 Frost Mages in the raid, and you may have this up almost all the time :) Shatter combo heaven :)

Edited, Jul 24th 2008 9:12am by YJMark

For me .... I am still a young mage and I am loving the mage class. My goal is to learn the mage in and out and see what spec fits me. So right now I am not planning on re rolling for Wrath but....If I am lvl 55 by the time it drops I will try out the DK to test the waters with. But my mage will always be my first toon and most beloved.

Second post but long time reader. My first toon is a mage and I took her to 70. When I first started, I read the little book that came with the discs and a few things on the WoW website before selecting my mage. According to what I read, the mage had the lowest armor and no full time pet because they had the highest DPS. Ummm hello, we are no longer the DPS kings or Queens as the case may be. So why does our armor still suck? Why do we not have a full time pet like the locks?
Anobix’s link to the scoreboard only confirms what I have been seeing in BGs too. I’ve pretty much put my mage on the shelf. Using her for the daily gold grind and farming to better my lock I am now leveling.
Unless Blizz comes up with something more than what’s been announced, like instead of 15 extra seconds on the WE (wow a whole 15 extra seconds for 3 points) maybe 3 points to get a full time WE, then my mage may not make it 80. :(
I loved playing my mage but if noone wants you in a group because another toon can out DPS you then you're

not playing

so whats the use of being a mage?


Edited, Jul 24th 2008 5:02pm by tinag