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[3.1] General Mage FAQ
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Post by
1212_
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Post by
nickseng
Sure. Taking a page out of your book then. :)
Leveling as Arcane
Leveling with arcane, unlike what everyone says, is possible. The problem with the tree is that the talents in the lower tier leaves much to be desired. However, the top notch talents in the higher tier more than makes up for it. You could always respec to Arcane in later levels, but we're mages; we like challenges. In higher levels, arcane offers the ability to increase your spelldamage,mana and efficiency.
With that said, it's often helpful to spec lightly into the Fire or Frost spec early on to provide some support.
Level 20 Arcane (Fire)
or
Level 20 Arcane (Frost)
-- It's really a matter of preference which tree you spec into for support, the only thing you should really consider is that Fire has longer range, and Frost has snares. Impact is taken over Improved Fireball because you will not be chain-casting Fireballs when levelling. At the same veins, Ice shards is prefered over Frostbite and Permafrost over the reason you won't be using Frost that much for them to matter.
Level 30 Arcane
-- Okay, with the talents in the support trees, we're ready to dip into our Arcane tree. Improved Arcane Missiles is invaluable when levelling because it makes our best DPS spell uninterruptable. And Arcane Concentration is a no-brainer. Would you say no to free spells?
Level 40 Arcane
-- You pick up Arcane Impact to boost your Arcane Explosion DPS, and Arcane Meditation to help your mana effeciency. With this and Mage Armor on, you'd be able to last quite a while before drinking. Points in Improved Counterspell are useful when fighting caster mobs, especially those with an offensive spell and heals in different schools. The 2 point in Arcane Focus are just filler talents, and you can put them anywhere you prefer.
Level 50 Arcane
-- Now we're starting to get to the best parts of Arcane. Presence of the Mind, (and another talent below) is what gives Arcane such huge burst DPS. Combine this with your hugest damage spell (usually Pyroblast) and watch Mobs die. This spell is key for Arcane mages to solo Elites. Arcane Mind scales well with gear, and gives your more mana and spell crit, and Arcane Instability gives you more damage and crit ... with
ALL
of your spells
Level 60 Arcane
-- Top of your Arcane Potency, which gives any spell cast while Clearcasting a huge crit boost. Arcane Power, another key Arcane Talent, is usually combined with Presence of the Mind, for great burst damage. For fun and giggles, cast Arcane Power, PoTM when Clearcasting is up. :)
Spell power is a given, and Mind Mastery is the reason why you'd spec Arcane in the first place. Maxed out, it gives you 1 spell damage for every 4 Intellect or 25% of your intellect. With Arcane Mind, this increases it to 28.75.
You final 10 points can be spent as you like. You might wanna strenghten your Fire or Frost trees, or you can continually improve your Arcane tree.
Here's my
spec at 70
-- As you can see, I've continued deeper into the Arcane tree and picked up Slow, which is great snare, and Empowered Arcane Missile, which will push your Arcane Missile spells to new heights. I've also gone back up and maxed out both Arcane Focus and Arcane Subtlety, which you will need if you plan to raid.
Finally,I put the last point in Prismatic Cloak, which is better than Arcane Fortitude, and because nothing else appealed to me.
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1212_
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165627
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1212_
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165627
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91650
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1212_
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91650
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Post by
MrFredII
Finished up with the fire leveling section. unfortunately, I hit the 7500 character post cap, so had to trim it down some.
In your section on leveling fire you write:
Level 20 Fire--As with the frost tree, first points should go into lessening the cast time of your main nuke. Picking up pryoblast here gives you a great way to open from range..
While I know that it is conventional wisdom to spend your first 5 talent points reducing the casting time of fireball, I'm of the opinion that if your primary focus is PVE leveling (especially solo leveling) you should consider putting the points in impact instead. You will need to move them to Imp. Fireball for raiding, but while leveling there is significant advantage being able to stun your target, which IMHO out weighs the the benefit of the 1/2 second reduction in casting time. This is NOT true for PvP and if someone plans to do a lot of PvP while leveling they are better off with Imp. Fireball.
I've leveled many fire mages with the points allocated both ways and my personal experience has lead me to prefer impact over improved fireball.
Post by
1212_
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Post by
Skyfire
While I know that it is conventional wisdom to spend your first 5 talent points reducing the casting time of fireball, I'm of the opinion that if your primary focus is PVE leveling (especially solo leveling) you should consider putting the points in impact instead. You will need to move them to Imp. Fireball for raiding, but while leveling there is significant advantage being able to stun your target, which IMHO out weighs the the benefit of the 1/2 second reduction in casting time.
It's funny; I ended up leveling Imp Fireball and then Impact, and while the 10% chance to stun for two seconds is helpful (sometimes), an overall decrease in the time a Fireball takes to cast is, as Caribou points out, much less inconsistent as well as increasing total damage with the spell by some 14% give or take.
Further, not having to spend a respec on getting rid of Impact is nice.
Post by
91650
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Post by
MrFredII
I used the word "consider" because I realize that the case for impact is tenuous. In thinking about it further, I also wonder if the stun benefit might be greater at lower levels. I have not done any serious analysis to back this up (yet at least) so I'm tossing that out mostly to stimulate thinking.
While its true that its nice not to have to respect to get rid of impact, in my experience there has always been some other reason to respec between 10 and 70 anyway.
Post by
Skyfire
Thought about mentioning that you can take a gathering profession opposite Tailoring, so you can have better income?
Or am I the only caster who always has money problems as Tailoring/Enchanting?
I would personally suggest taking a gathering profession opposite Tailoring
or
Enchanting; I know that I definitely had money issues on the way up, almost solely because of doubling with those two professions.
Post by
1212_
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Post by
Mortisia
the Aldor V Scryers argument needs addressing.
With the introduction of the necklaces from SSO, Aldor now has a big advantage over Scryers for anyone wishing ro progress in PVE pretty fast.
The Aldor neck is only surpassed by hellfire enclased pendant and the Sunwell neck.
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