Server launch planning - Mage

WoW Classic WoW Classic General Discussion
1

Traditional wisdom says start in frost but I am thinking about going fire instead.

Plan
5 points in Impact for the 10% chance to stun for 2 secs.
5 points in Ignite for the 40% DOT
2 in burning soul for 70% interrupt protection
1 in Pyroblast
3 in improved Fire Blast
2 in Flame Throwing
3 in Master of Elements for mana refund

Swap to Arcane

2 in sublety
3 in Focus
5 in arcane concentration
Then back to fire until 60.

Less control but more damage for faster leveling.
This is not an AOE build but a vanity build… I speed leveled in Classic this time is for fun.

Thoughts… or improvements?

2

I leveled a mage in late vanilla. Leveling fire is like leveling prot, resto, or holy with the added detriment of having to respec at 60 if you want to raid anyway. It’s not just that it’s slower, it’s way, way more fragile. I wouldn’t personally do it, and I’ve leveled a warrior protection and a druid resto.

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3

You absolutely need improved fireball asap. If you are missing out on .5 second for every fireball you are going to be hurtin son.

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4

Agreed about improved fireball and yea it won’t be as effective or fast but… unless you’re trying to be top end, who cares? Play the class how you want, especially while leveling. If other people aren’t depending on you then why try and be as optimal as possible? Play for fun or try a risky build.

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5

Improved fireball not worth it?

People tell me fire is better for single target leveling than frost is for the first 30-40 levels or so.

6

I think it’s weaker solo, but stronger if you do a lot of dungeons or level with someone. It’s been so long though, unless you played on a private server you’re relying on very old memories. As a side note improved fireball, definitely worth it.

7

Okay I will work in Improved FB… - Thanks guys and gals.

8

hope you’re playing on a pve server so you don’t get annihilated in every encounter.

9

Frost is usually the fastest for leveling because it is more mana efficient, which means you will be drinking less, which means you will be leveling faster.

Of course you don’t have to level as Frost. I didn’t. I leveled as Fire in Vanilla and had loads of fun with it. Maybe not as mana efficient as Frost, but the burst with AP -> PoM -> Pyro let me take down almost anyone 1v1. And ganking people is a lot more fun than being ganked. Plus you can conjure your own water anyway. And you have Evocation and mana gems to also help with mana.

Impact is a great PvP talent, but Impv. Fireball is much better for leveling imo. Impv Fire Blast is also a great PvP talent, but for leveling the points are better spent elsewhere. Even on a PvP server your talent points are better spent elsewhere for leveling.

But really your leveling build depends on how you want to level. If I were leveling as Fire I would want to do a mixture of soloing, dungeons, and PvP. So I would need a build that would work across all of that. So if I were going to level as Fire I would probably do the following:

Fire
5/5 Impv Fireball
5/5 Ignite
1/1 Pyroblast
Maybe pick 2/2 Burning Soul because the threat reduction will probably come in handy. Maybe not though because it didn’t reduce threat when I leveled as Fire early in Vanilla, so it isn’t necessary.

Arcane
There’s a lot of points spent here, but Concentration, Meditation, and Mind really help with conserving/extending your mana, which means less drinking, which means faster leveling.
2/2 Subtlety
3/5 Focus
5/5 Concentration
2/2 Wand Specialization
1/1 Arcane Resilience
2/2 Magic Attunement
2/2 Impv Counterspell
3/3 Meditation
1/1 Presence of Mind
Make PoM/Pyro macro and hotkey it
4/5 Arcane Mind
3/3 Arcane Instability
5/5 Arcane Mind
1 point wherever (maybe Impv. Mana Shield)
1/1 Arcane Power
Add Arcane Power to PoM/Pyro macro

At this point I’m either at level 51 or 53. From there I would take the following:
(2/2 Burning Soul if I didn’t earlier)
2/2 Flame Throwing
2/2 Incinerate
3/5 Impact or 3/3 Master of Elements

At 60 I’ll have to respec regardless of my end game goals.

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10

I wouldn’t bother with impact, with its chance being so low.

Maybe for 60 pvp, but not leveling. Simply not reliable.

I’d weave a lvl 1 frost bolt between fire casts or something along those lines for a snare instead.

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Do whatever you feel like :slight_smile:

12

Since this is based on 1.12, personally I’m looking forward to a frost/fire build since shatter works on all magic types.

13

The main reason to go frost is frost actually has hit talents.

Beyond that, you have the benefits of increased control and short cast times.

The only reason to not go frost is if you go arcane early to clear casting, which is an option for early aoe grinding before going down the frost tree.

Fire is just a snowflake spec for leveling.

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14

Apocalypse, I know this is falling on deaf ears but…some people play for fun. In fact, that’s why most people play a game.

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15

early ignite is a huge waste you don’t have enough crit for it to matter. i only put points into it when i have to so i can get deeper in fire.

i do 3 in frost for 6% hit then impact etc

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16

He specifically asked for thoughts or improvements… And claimed to want to go fire for faster leveling, which is a false premise and contrary to leveling speed.

Whether or not he enjoys fire more or not was neither mentioned, nor is relevant to the thread with the information given.

17

He literally said…

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18

And just above that he said:

Less control but more damage for faster leveling.

There is nothing definitive in his statements that he is choosing Fire talents because he perceives Fire as a talent tree as being more fun. There is however, statements where he makes the (incorrect) assumption that the increased damage output of the fire tree will lead to faster overall leveling.

It’s entirely within the realm of possibility that his statement on overall speed leveling vs fun leveling is just a desire to “stop and smell the roses” along the way, rather than race specifically to 60/ “the end game”… It’s also quite logical to assume that given his (incorrect) statement on higher damage leading to faster leveling, that overall build efficiency IS still a factor for him, even if he’s not in a particular hurry to level cap.

You are making assumptions for him, without being given enough information to make those assumptions.

19

I agree with this. Frost is definitely stronger for solo leveling. If you look at the DPS per mana of mage abilities, frost and fire are very similar. Fire is superior when you start stacking ignites, which isn’t possible while leveling. The advantage of frost over fire is that you get hit less than you do with a fire spec. This means less time spent recovering and higher xp/hr.

Regarding impact. IMO the 2s stun from impact is weaker than frost’s slow/freeze. Think about it this way - Frostbolt’s slow procs on almost every hit and impact procs on 1/10 hits. Is the 2s stun from impact 10X better than frostbolt’s slow?

I think leveling specs could work as arcane or fire if you were leveling in a group but as a solo player I don’t think you could do better than frost with all the utility it provides. This is a great video on mage leveling if you want to get into the nitty gritty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi-7oKvOM4c

Although, none of this really matters if you just want to have a good time. Why not try fire and respec if its not working out? You’ll easily be able to afford a respect by the time you are lv30!