Painful leveling

Classes Mage
#1

Hi all, first mage here, just wanted to see if I am doing it right.

I leveled a few characters in SL, warrior ( fury, double crusader ), paladin ( prot ), warlock ( demo ) and BM hunter.

All those were a breeze to level, I have full heirloom and full enchant.

That being said, the mage is the only toon that seems “weak” to me. I tried soloing legion invasions, I am unable to kill the bosses solo, something I could easily do with all other classes, especially pet classes.

Even a normal mob takes 3-4 cast ( and I am talking 4 charges arcane blast, which used to one shot pretty much everything ).

Does the mage stay weak all leveling ? Am I missing something ( like an overpowered enchant for example like crusader for warriors ).

And I guess the biggest fear I have is doing that for nothing… Does mage stays this incredibly weak at end game ?

Thanks in advance for your help

#2

I’ve mained this mage through the last few expansions. This was the first time I felt really weak in most content. I’m at about 230 ilvl now so it’s gotten better, though I tried soloing torgast last night after a long break and was reminded why I switched to my hunter shortly into the expansion. I like having blink, I like the teleports and portals, I like the game play. I don’t enjoy being both weak in power and health. I can put in the effort to do rotations and line up powers as my mage and still out perform him on my hunter as I just mash at the keys.

#3

Yeah, a bit what I feared, that is a huge problems. Is there any specs performing better than others ?

#4

Like any other class, it gets harder the higher you go generally. Once you get into the 40’s(?) it starts to take notably longer to kill mobs. I just got a new mage to 50 for the racial transmog, not even full heirlooms, and that was my experience. Under 40 or so…never died (except a couple of times when I overpulled with no mana/evocation up). Once I got into the 40’s, it became more of a grind. Couldn’t blast down nearly as many mobs before running out of mana, etc.

Depends on context. You’ll feel pretty squishy soloing until you hit a reasonable gear level, but imo it isn’t the worst. There are several other specs that I think can feel as squishy or more so at low gear levels in the open world- in many cases despite the self-heals.

In group content, you should barely ever feel weak/squishy. You can use Images or Invis if you pull aggro, you have a decent absorb that eats up some of the unavoidable damage, Blink/Shimmer to get out of tight spots, and multiple ways of laughing at mechanics.

#5

Frost with it’s freezing and slows attached to spells helps in open world. I like the game play of fire better, but almost every mob rushes you so you’re quickly in melee. Also if you’re in an area with a bunch of mobs ignite is going to agro mobs you might not want.

#6

Generally yes

No, once you outgear a zone you can sort of bulldoze through it. But then again so can every other class. If you’re on equal footing with the zone, you’ll be slower than other specs/classes and very weak against anything that’s CC-immune.

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#7

Ok, thanks for the input, even if grim. The thing is, Blizzard would just need to implement an enchant that procs 100 int and a heal like crusader for warriors, and it would greatly lower the leveling time for mages.

I think that the leveling process is of a good length for pet classes and str classes because of crusader, but for mages it’s at least twice as long ,and I don’t think that’s intended.

#8

Mage has a weak leveling experience but is one of the strongest classes at end game.

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#9

Awesome, thanks, at least the work pays off :slight_smile:

#10

To be honest this game is balanced around raid, M+, and pvp. Mages do really well there when played properly.

In WoW, open world PvE is basically an afterthought. Many specs have it much easier than mages do when it comes to leveling up via open world pve, to the point where it becomes comical. There are also many annoyances in open world PvE that exist only because they’re needed in other content but they’re just left in open world PvE as well.

Personally to this day I never understand why if I’m mounting up and something engages in combat with me, my mount refuses to come out. It can be a roach that’s a minor creep or a world boss. I could be butt naked or a tank in end game content who wouldn’t even notice the hit. My mount just wont come out.

Obviously this is an example of the type of spill-over from balance for other aspects of the game, but you get what I mean. Open world PvE always takes a back seat in WoW.

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#11

Mage takes a bit more dedication or perhaps determination. I’ve got Mage, Warlock, Hunter, Ele Shaman all at 60.

Mage has some wonky scaling and benefits a lot from gearing. While leveling you can do all the single player designed content well enough. While leveling/gearing you will struggle on any content that’s intended to be for multiple characters. At least until you “overpower” it.

But it gets better with gear at endgame. I recommend experimenting with different specs/builds. Just because one is mathematically the most effective doesn’t mean it’ll work for you. I like fire, but frost and it’s tools suit my play style habits better. (I like all the specs really but fire is my favorite). Just get to know the tools of the specs. And how they can be used. Then you’ll see what works for you.

Going from hunter/lock is a big shock. But I enjoy it because when you solo something on mage that’s not supposed to be soloed you really feel the “pride & accomplishment” tm, more so than being able to faceroll everything because “lol, pally bubble”.

With mage you must plan out your fights and be aware of your surroundings. And prepare for contingencies. Because you do have dance around (kiting).

While other classes have defensive and recovery built in the mages defensive tools always get boosted from bolt on systems at endgame. Like the azerite power that heals you on blink, or the bubble. In Shadowlands, there’s a conduit that gives ice block a heal etc etc…

Mage is very much get what give class. The effort floor is a bit higher, but it can feel awesome when it all comes together.

Yes leveling can hurt, but you can do it. Don’t be afraid to try something unorthodox in your approach. As they say a wins a win.

-Dimples :blue_heart:

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#12

Awesome, thanks for the tips. Probably not the class I should have chosen for Iron man challenge ( reaching 60 without dying once ) but I am at 34 and it’s longer than others but I am still in the challenge :slight_smile:

#13

As others have said, Mages take more time, dedication and thought generally while levelling. Blizzard knows this, but levelling is seen as a means to an end for the devs (which somewhat begs the question why it exists) so there’s no balance at anything below max level. If you level a Mage first you don’t notice is as much, but if you come from a faceroll class like Hunter/Lock/DH/War then you really feel it. Where a Mage might only pull one or two mobs and have to kite, those classes have no issue just running into a pack of levelling mobs, mowing them down and moving on.

At end game Mages do feel different though, because they’re (theoretically) designed around group content. Open world is still meh, because even though its not hard other classes just do it better and easier but M+ and raids they feel much better. That’s not to say they’re top of the class, or that other classes aren’t better, but it’s chalk and cheese compared to levelling content.

Is it worth the effort? Maybe. If you’re willing to learn and play all 3 specs then you’ll be fine, but if you’re focussing on just one spec then you’ll likely have a bad time if that spec is weak for the content you do.

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#14

Thanks for your input,

Sadly, I guess that if some of those classes can face roll the leveling process and still be better at end game, then what is the point of slugging through the mage leveling process?

That being said, once you get the three big spells ( AP, IV and Combustion ) that sync with arcane power, it indeed gets better !

#15

You are comparing it to the wrong classes. Fury has incredible sustain, Hunters and Warlocks have their pets to tank for them and Prot is a tank.

Leveling as Frost is really chill (pun intended) as it just gets a little dangerous against multiple ranged mobs or targets immune to CC.

If leveling through dungeons, it’s a breeze as Arcane because you just Arcane Explosion/Missles through the entire dungeon.

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#16

Mages are made to kite with frost. the should never reach you if you get pretty good at it. cast frotbolt at max range and when the get to melee range blink away, they should be dead in short order. mages have a decent amount of tools to keep them slowed and off your back.

#17

To be honest this game is balanced around raid, M+, and pvp. Mages do really well there when played properly.

This is crummy, but it’s true. 1-120 was too hard a grind when for most people playing it was simply 110-120. And the WHOLE game was scaled for 110-120 leveling.

I’m not feeling like the new 1-60 experience really sold me on how Blizz is handling endgame/1-x, no clue what their idea for an “expansion” on this will be.

#18

Try leveling as frost or fire. I leveled as fire and just waited for combust to come back between pulls.