What to look for in gear...Follow

You've got the beginning idea, but don't forget haste(you'll start seeing it a lot soon). You can basically ignore armor, but Int and Stamina in relatively balanced proportions are definitely useful.

If you think about it, it was the same with the Epic BoP crafted gear at 70 ... lotsa bang, very little int ... you'd have to make up for the int elsewhere. Quite frustrating if you ask me, as I generally have to go for the crafted stuff, since I don't/can't raid or do instances, which means I'm solo a lot of the time (ok, 99% of the time). So, if I want the stuff that makes a big bang, I have to take a hit on Mana.

I guess they're figuring that if you have that gear, you're in a position where you're with 24 other people (or 9, whatever), most of whom are going to be able to help you out with buffs and the like to make a big mana pool not really worth it, as you wouldn't need it. You'd also probably be fighting with Mage Armour on, have multiple Mana Gems and Multiple mana pots, together with well timed Evocs for those long fights. Using all these tricks, I don't believe you should find the crafted stuff that bad from a mana pool perspective.

Of course, all of these tricks are less relevant from the questing / soloing / farming perspective, but hey, I had full spellfire and spellstrike at 70 .. .never raided, only farmed, and the extra firepower simply allowed me to kill that much quicker, not really needing a bigger mana pool.

All that being said ... while I've been levelling, I have actually, like you Wizardess, placed a lot more importance on Int and Sta ... to the point where in 5 levels, I've only gained about 20-30 spell power ... but my mana pool has grown by 2000, and my health is abou 1500 up on what it was at 70. I still value, point for point, spell power over int, but if I can gain 600 mana at the loss of 15 spell power ... it's a very clear choice for a leveling mage (imho)

As for haste, I reckon it depends on spec .. frost is heavily reliant on "on-hit" procs such as Fingers of Frost, and frostbite, these increase your crit chance and ice lance damage amazingly ... and the faster you can cast, the more often those things can proc. Fire/Frostfire and arcane are more reliant on Crit, so that's what I'd go for instead of haste initially. Stacking haste, however, specifically at the end game, is a monster dps boost, and yes, I'm talking about the situation I mentioned above where you have those lovely buffs and stuff ... so Mana shouldn't be as much of a concern as normal.

In short, Spell Power, Int, Sta, Crit/haste (depending on spec) in well balanced quantities will see you through your levels. And by well balanced, it's generally accepted that it means that you should never ditch 100 int for an extra 10 spell power ... that'd be silly.

Please bear in mind, that this is all coming from a purely theoretical (the way I understand it) perspective ... I don't raid, and never will (at least not seriously), so any corrections in my assumptions above are very welcome ... I just like to find out everything I can about everything I deal with, regardless of whether or not I'll ever use the knowledge (Over the weekend, I gave my brother-in-law a lesson in club selection for different terrain while using his new clubs, togther with proper technique and why you'd want to use whichever club ... I've never set foot on a golf course, let alone actually hit a ball ... but I think the theory of golf is interesting, so I made an effort to read up on it ... I know, I'm wierd ;->).

On things that winter's chill will help with, Fingers of Frost combined with it will get you the crit you need. On things that die too quickly, frostbite and shatter will do the deed. Crit is important to a frost mage, but even a pre-WotLK regular fire mage got 210% damage from it(not counting meta gems or set bonuses).

Haste is probably one of the best damage stats for a frost mage to get.

Edited, Jan 4th 2009 12:58am by Poldaran

You can always try plugging your xharxter into rawr and see what stats are the best. Normally it is hit dmg haste crit for frost I believe.

And the "A" key went missing halfway through that too.

I have a frost mage approaching level 80. I only solo due to time constraints. I have always aimed for gear with +int, +spell and +sta (in that order) but from this thread it sounds like +haste may help me out. Given my solo play, what priority should I give the four stats?

Also, can anyone recommend any gear/sets that I should try to obtain, keeping in mind that I'll have to buy it from the AH or get it from normal quests?

Good question - this is why you are the Wise one :) I'll probably do dailies and farm fish/ore/herbs to improve my cash position. I certainly don't have a compelling need for great gear but it never hurts to keep my eyes open for bargains. Who knows, maybe my schedule will change and I have a chance to start raiding...