Rogue or Mage?

Hey, friends!

I hope you all are doing well! I’m coming to you as I’m really struggling to choose a class and I thought getting your input would be super helpful. I realize this is a decision only I can make of course, but hearing how you all may approach something like this seems beneficial. I have easily narrowed it down to either rogue or mage. Let me start out by providing a bit of context: I generally prefer casters, PvP is my favorite but I also love PvE, I’m more of a casual player, and even though gameplay itself is important, the fantasy of the race / class is huge for me.

Overall, I feel like I’m most drawn to mage as the class fantasy is easily one of my favorites, they are fun in all content, the transmogs are amazing, etc. However, because casual PvP is my #1 (WPvP & BGs mainly), I feel like rogues offer a very fun, powerful, and unique play style that is quite different than any other class. Their combination of stealth, control, burst, and survivability is awesome. Being able to pick your fights, take your enemies by surprise, isolate them, reset and escape without a trace is extremely compelling. The downside to rogues though, for me, is that their class fantasy isn’t as cool and I don’t really enjoy playing them in instanced PvE content nearly as much as compared to mages.

In short, mages have more pros for me but the advantage rogues do have is more heavily weighted if that makes sense. Hence why I am stuck, lol. How would you navigate this dilemma? Again, any and all input would be so appreciated. Thank you so, so much! <3

PS: I should probably also clarify that I have played both but only have enough time to commit to one.

PPS: I’m going to post this in both the rogue & mage forums for obvious reasons. xD

Probably rogue, for all the reasons you mentioned. Having a rogue can make or break a BG. Mages tend to need more support to pop off without getting stomped. The fantasy of a glass cannon, kill-them-before-they-get-to-me kind of fades away into using Alter Time / Polymorph / Counterspell properly and just being generally slippery until you get a clear setup with your CDs up. I think the class fantasy really shines in PvE, personally (when not all of your non-instant spells are getting insta-kicked).

That said I’d just level them both up in the Pandaria event and see how you feel! Leveling is supposedly super fast and then you can suss out which one you want to main for the next expansion.

Hi OP!

Your gameplay sounds very much like my own and i made the decision to swap from druid to mage for TWW because of our upcoming hero talent: Spellslinger.

My main content is pvp and I too love world pvp, so when maining things i consider things like who has stealth and who has KBs, as stealth knocking people to their deaths is some of the most fun when it comes to wow pvp. From what you’ve described I would say you should go mage. I too was once pulled to rogue but i too only really care for them in pvp and find them lackluster when doing PvE, which again I too find fun to partake in.

As a mage in pvp, you’ll be able to stealth and knock people as well as the plethora of other cover (for allies and yourself) being a mage provides. For instance I love to off-support and as mage I can do so with poly or ice nova or slow etc. Also keep in mind that mage can “heal” others with mage food which i feel people overlook. Also ice wall is also a ton of fun. I think what mage provides with how satisfying its gameplay is, worth maining it, especially considering that WoW is moving more towards roleless content where anyone of any class and spec can do endgame content. IDK bout you but having additional roles used to matter allot to me for grouping and thankfully it no longer does.

Besides certain tangents, I hope this take helps you!

PS - if you haven’t seen the animations for Spellslinger I would def go do so, its sooooo aesthetically pleasing!

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