I’m leveling a undead mage through AOE grinding @ lvl 25 currently in hillsbrad foothills farming peasants & farmers. I’ve realized that unless im lucky with BOE drops or i have enough gold to use AH my gear will be lacking. I sort of have a plan for staff & wands…
STAFF
Crescent Staff (currently equipped)
Celestial Stave / Illusionary Rod @ ~lvl 35
not sure which now since ive heard SP coeff on bliz is small
Zum’rah’s Vexing Cane @ ~lvl 42
WAND
Greater Magic Wand (currently equipped)
Gravestone Scepter @ ~lvl 26
Icefury Wand @ ~lvl 35
Noxious Shooter @ ~lvl 50 if i get lucky
(had these all hyperlinked, but apparently blizzard doesnt trust me 
)
Pls let me know if im missing any vital staff / wand for leveling
I’m planning on running each dungeon at least once to hopefully get some gear from there.
But as far as every other gear slot goes, im clueless. heck, i still have white wrists from tirisfal.
Any experienced mages have other must get items while leveling or any other input would be appreciated.
And yes, i have been using wowhead classic DB & sorting by quest rewards or dungeons to find gear. But i’m sure some mages here have already done the legwork and wouldnt mind sharing 
Robes of Arugal from Shadowfang Keep. Seriously, that robe will last you into your 40s. I only just replaced it with the Lich Robe from Razorfen Downs.
Feline Mantle also from SFK. There is also a quest reward from Razorfen Kraul for better shoulders if you don’t get the Feline Mantle.
Viscous Fallout from Gnomer for a good set of boots.
If you don’t mind grinding a bit in Ashenvale or you afford it, the Shredder Operating Gloves that you get from turning in the Shredder Operating Manual. I’m still using those gloves.
Also in Ashenvale, the Warsong Belt. I forget the quest you have to do to get it. But that belt lasted me a long time.
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hmm, maybe I should grind a bit in Ashenvale. I heard the Foulweald Furbolgs there can be easily AOE grinded, plus they can drop shredder pages and are still in my level range. All those other items look nice. thank you for this advice!
AOE grind until you get drops, mats, sellables, etc. Go to the AH and buy anything “of the eagle” which is raw intellect and stamina. Helps a lot for further AOE grinding.
checked the AH and have been bidding on a few cheap pieces of eagle. kinda worried i wont be able to afford mount @ 40 if i do this. i have 10g rn
10g at 25 seems great.
From what im seeing most people dont have 10g by 30 and manage to still get it.
As much frozen wrath gear as possible.
For aoe grinding no. Not at all blizzard barely gets anything from it
Hey you could farm for Illusionary Rod in SM lib only to lose the roll to an Enhance Shaman.
If you’re pulling off your current grinds well enough, don’t buy new gear until it’s a marked upgrade and/or needed. Don’t buy spells or new ranks of existing spells that you’re not actually using routinely to grind or quest; don’t buy Frost Nova above rank 1.
Two gathering professions will help. I took herbalism, and later picked up skinning just because it generates many stacks of mats that vendor and/or AH for chunks of silver. Pick the quest rewards that vendor for more if none are usable. Add-ons like AuctionFaster (and others) will let you take your green drops to the AH and see whether it’s better to try to auction them or just vendor them; lost deposits and auction house fees can eat into your gold generation.
Your natural gold generation rate will increase dramatically in the early 30s to 40 range. I had around 15g at your level, and had around 105g when my mage dinged 40 (only need 90 to buy riding and the mount if you’re at least Honored with your faction).
nice tips here! ive barely been upgrading any skills in arcane / fire unless necessary in my aoe rotation, think thats been helping a lot, as those prices can add up fast. just doing skinning as my profession since its easy to lvl while aoe farming. id prob have to go out of my way too much to get herbs. will check out some AH addons, thats always a tedious task for me.
I quested and ran SFK, which has a few nice items, until 29/30 then switch to SM farm until 43. Lots of great gear in SM and fast leveling with competent aoe groups. Between vendoring loot, selling cloth, and skipping all skills not related to aoe I was able to have mount gold by 41
i think im too high lvl for SFK, only thing in there thats upgrade for me is end boss belt. What lvl did you start farming SM GY? im thinking once i reach 28 ill find some good aoe SM grps till ~43
I think I was 30 but 28 should work. I also still did some quests, especially elite ones throughout the 30’s to break up the SM grind. Arathi and thousand needles for those, but still most of my gear is blue and green boe drops from SM
Gear doesn’t really impact your damage output except Int gives you a slightly higher chance to crit, which Blizzard can’t benefit from. Int gives maximum mana and Spirit gives regen outside the 5s rule. Spell power gear at low levels doesn’t do much either (100 spell power is like 1 extra damage to Blizzard ticks). So unless you are running out of mana before finishing your pulls or dying early from lack of stamina (bad kiting), better gear isn’t going to do much.
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Agree with Bonesmasher
I am still using the Arugal belt, Shoulders from RFK, better ones don’t come around till high 40’s low 50’s. As long as you are regularly upgrading the skills you use while leveling your output will rise dramatically from that. I’ve always stacked stats first while leveling, spellpower to me was something you tried to min/max once you were max level.
Im pretty sure you can hit 60 naked as a mage, I wouldn’t go out of your way for any upgrades or dump money on the ah leveling up. Pre 60 I would value int+stam over sp/+frost damage, but hold onto “of frozen wrath” pieces you get, because a lot of them are current bis or near bis at 60 (cloak, bracers, wand, etc), but in some cases they might not be worth the hp/mana hit while leveling