I used to 1vX in Halaa on my mage in MoP. Are mages still good skirmishers?
My worst matchup was usually warlock. I figure this hasn’t changed any.
Mages are live lords this expac. If you are Fire/Arcane you are a melee class worse nightmare. Mage atm are top tier in all area’s that are pvp related. Ice mage is great in pve. But easily burst down in pvp. This is my opinion of course.
I’ll actually go against Peci and say Frost Mages are the best caster in the game right now.
A single melee shouldn’t ever really be able to touch you as Frost. You can still 1vX but it’s very hard, everyone has every tool these days. Against highly skilled people it won’t happen, against your average player or even worse, someone from Ruin Gaming, it’s actually fairly easy to pull off (fun fact, I kill 4+ RG members at the same time in BFA almost daily.)
Fire is extremely high paced and dangerous, but also tends to be squishy at times too. Arcane has no instant burst but can be VERY slippery for Melee to get in touch with.
Locks will likely still win that match up. You’d really have to play everything to a T to win. They’re quite tanky and if played well, very annoying to try and control. A big issue is stopping the fear -> bolts or X -> bolts. You’re doomed if you kick anything but bolt, but a good lock will likely never cast bolt until Kick/CS is on cool down or unless they’re safe from it being locked.
Mages in general are still top tier in skirmishes.
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Fire Mage is infinitely more difficult for me in a 1-1 compared to a Frost Mage which is one of the easier classes to duel. But that may be because of the class I play and with GW , Shamans can’t really be slowed too much .
Different perspectives make for different outcomes. Classes whom can purge/heal will have an easier time with Frost, but that doesn’t mean Frost isn’t the superior spec of the 3.
OP said his biggest problem was Locks, which it still will be (regardless of mage spec.)
With flat percentage Gpyo I would assume Fire Mages will have an easier time denting Locks than Frost or any other caster ( too bad what happened to Lasso 
)
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I busted up a frosty pretty bad, I’d venture to say he had a hard time getting pass near 50% block…
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. After reading your break down. I can agree with you. Frost mage has amazing potential to lock a melee down and keep them were they want them, while pelting you with Ice magic. My opinion came from facing mainly fire/arcane mages in arena. And seeing more frost in pve. 
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Lets test that out 
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It’s possible but as a Lock you have a lot of ways to stop Gpys from hitting you. Gpys are scary if you cant stop them, Mages have to play like Locks in the sense you blanket your Gpys with Poly/Ring casts or try for a DB>Sheep>Gpy combo.
Locks still have Fear/CS/Coil/Sfury/Spell Reflect/Gate to stop the Pies.
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It sounds good on paper, and in lower level PvP it’s true, but once everyone has all their tools it becomes much less effective.
You cannot kite while also being slowed, and everyone has slows and ranged cc. Its not really a frost specific thing anymore.
Still my favorite spec and will play it regardless. Heres to hoping I’ve just been doing it wrong! 
You can find out by dueling! I’m always open for practice. Dueling and wpvp is always the best way to find out your strength and weaknesses. I don’t have anything against pve people it takes a level of aptitude and learning curve too…but it’s apples to oranges.
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Haha my friend and I are usually in Darkshire on our alliance toons and I’ve seen you there. I was the low level frost mage hiding and freezing you randomly. Friend is a fire mage so it’s good synergy even being low level. XD
I actually don’t pve at all except for some world quests here and there. I just enjoy battlegrounds and thats where I’m basing my opinions off of.
Frost mage is hella fun, but i don’t know if it truly “locks down” a melee. More like it’s the caster that can “keep up the best” with them. My item level is low so maybe that’s why it feels more annoying than deadly sometimes.
Don’t get me wrong though, it’s my favorite and I’m not trying to complain!
It would be neat if frost had a snare reduction somewhere in it’s kit to allow better kiting. Something like slows are 30 percent less effective or make frost Nova remove snares or something idk.
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My apologies, I get salty when alliance mobs don’t let me quest for Azerite. So I go out to darkshire and slay everything…until enough 120’s remove me.
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I actually find it fun to defend a town so thank YOU for the entertainment!
Wish more towns we’re assaulted like Darkshire tbh. That’s why I turned WARmode on in the first place.
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