Some Mage Questions

WoW Classic Cataclysm Classic Discussion
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Sorry if this isn’t the right spot for this question but I couldn’t find class-specific forums for TBC.

I have been leveling my Mage as Frost but realize it’s recommended to switch to Arcane or Fire for raiding. I’m very casual and intend to initially gear at 70 with Tailoring gear and fill in with dungeon and quest pieces. Ultimately, I’d love to clear as many TBC raids as I can before Wrath.

Is Arcane or Fire a better starting spec for raiding? It seems like Arcane is popular now, but I’m not sure if that would be the case without the raid set bonus from this tier.

I’m sort of anxious to try my end game spec as I finish leveling from 64 to 70, mostly to practice getting used to the new play style. Does that make sense? Or, am I better off finishing leveling as Frost and switching at 70?

Thanks for any help!

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I leveled all the way through 70 as fire just fine. I’m sure frost would do just as well. The nice thing about fire is it does great damage in dungeon grinds, but if course frost brings in imp blizzard. So that’s really all up to you.

I also got into raiding as fire and swapped to arcane after my first ssc even though I didn’t have my 2p t5 which probably wasn’t the play, but since then I got my 2p and had a huge boost in damage and sustain.

The nice thing about starting as fire instead of frost is if you do craft the tailoring gear you can swap to arcane without losing out on those pieces as you would if you craft the frozen shadow weave set. So I’d recommend going into raids as fire then swapping to arcane when you have your 2p t5

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i always play fire, because i like the playstyle.

if you’re playing casually, odds are your 200 dps difference wont be the pivotal point that makes or breaks your 25man team.

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Frost is really nice for soloing and enemy players but yes you’d want to drop it for raiding. Arcane is top damage, hence why most mages are arcane now. It is however quite gear dependent due to the mana cost. Until you get full purples like everyone else that’s arcane; you may want to raid as fire.

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It doesnt really matter. All three specs are either fireball, arcane blast or frostbolt spam

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Unless you really love fire I would personally recommend staying frost until arcane tbh. Frost actually keeps up pretty decently with fire early on because t4 boss fights are a joke and double water ele/icy veins keeps you doing pretty solid damage on shorter fights. Once you are in t5 arcane is clearly just significantly better anything else so you swap arcane. Frost also is the best dungeon/heroic dps spec in the game.

Alternatively you can just go arcane early once you have blues and just deal with having some problems until you get better gear. Its still decently competitive even in bad gear and you’ll probably learn a good amount about how mana management works with the spec along the way.

Also regardless of what spec you start with you should always be focused on trying to go arcane if you want to be remotely competitive in current content. Focus on getting gear more suited for arcane and don’t waste gold on higher quality gems or enchants that are recommended for fire/frost because arcane gears differently and should be your goal.

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I’d suggest you level as either fire or frost as arcane is pretty mana intensive and the only reason why Mages are going arcane for raiding is because of the T5 2p set bonus where Arcane Blast does 20% more damage while also costing 20% more mana.

Honestly I’d suggest Frost over Fire if you plan on getting to 70 without doing dungeons as it has more survivability just with Ice Barrier

I’d suggest this for fire…
https://tbc.wowhead.com/talent-calc/mage/-505002012303330053125-0530003013/1ACJFhNKQTwZVX2CBGKj1P

I’ve added Improved Blizzard in case the situation arises but you can just keep it to Icy Veins and go for something else like more Frostbolt damage for Al’ar.

And this for frost…
https://tbc.wowhead.com/talent-calc/mage/230005--0535003313130010201551/2CBGKjDHrmTNwZXy0AbbbF

Do what you want with the remaining points the main things are there. Frost is more mana efficient than the other 2 specs and if you ever go into raiding as arcane make sure to pick up T5 from SSC and TK.

This is my arcane spec
https://tbc.wowhead.com/talent-calc/mage/2500050302030150330125--053500031012001/0AbbbFH2CBddjdddHmnnr0bNbKqRVTXzY

You can swap around points in frost to get Improved Blizzard all that really matters is you getting Icy Veins and Cold Snap.

I’d suggest this. You level as frost, then when you’re 70 switch to fire and make your Spellfire and Spellstrike sets, go into SSC and TK to pick up T5 pieces while also getting gear upgrades such as Serpent-Coil Braid (from Morogrim in SSC). If they don’t let you in because of gear then run Kara, Gruul and Mag (wand from Mag is great).

The only issue with frost and fire in SSC and TK is that there’s one boss in each raid who’s immune to that damage. Hydross is immune to frost damage in it’s first “tethered phase” and can only be hit by frost spells while it’s tainted state and Al’ar, who’s just always immune to fire spells.

In phase one I raided both as frost and fire and I’ll have to say fire was more enjoyable, it doesn’t beat what fire mages were in classic with their shared Ignite but it’s still fun to play.

Once you’ve gotten enough gear and enough mana my Mage has 12,326 mana for example do note that you gain 15% increased intellect with the Arcane Mind talent and that 1 intellect is 15 mana so you can do the conversion for what your mana will be like that.

That’s all I can think of, just know that the talent suggestions I’ve made aren’t what the “meta” is it’s just based off my own judgement and truth be told I didn’t put much thought into the specifics. I will say though that my arcane talents are solid unless you want Improved Blizzard.

Thanks for reading.

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If you’re casual, play as you like. If what guides say are appealing, then follow them. If they don’t sound fun, ignore them.

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So, my take on this is slightly controversial.

Frost is just fine for raiding.

I’ve seen lists that showed Frost Mages parsing in the bottom 3-4 specs in TBCC. However, I am specced Frost and I’ve never experienced that. Before I went on hiatus due to RL, I topped the dps meters in my guild’s Kara raids, and was routinely in the top 5 dps in Gruuls/Mags pugs.

One of the reasons for this, IMO, is that Frost simply has superior ‘sustain’, because of their vastly superior mana conservation and regen. This isn’t always going to be an advantage. If your guild has a raid on farm, and boss fights aren’t lasting that long, then Frost isn’t going to get much of a chance to shine. But in all other situations I’ve found Frost to be a lot more competitive than the official charts would tend to suggest.

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Stay frost. It is by far the best leveling spec due to improved blizzard. Most dungeons want aoe dps so they look for imp blizzard mages and warlocks.
Once you are 70, you will also run frost for awhile. Outside of SSC, of your gear isn’t good enough, frost is the best dps spec. Swap to arcane (or fire) once your gear is decent enough.

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Thanks for all the replies! I plan to stay Frost until 70, and then until I can get the Tailoring sets. After that, I’ll figure out if I want to try Fire or Arcane. I just may give both a shot. Thanks again!

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