Mage Question

[Quark]

spell penetration is only useful if the mob has actual resistances

And note that most mobs that actually have resistance have less than 88.

Another thing to be aware with for mages is they're the second-least forgiving on timing and lag (still far behind the least forgiving, hunters, though). First is to make sure you're spamming the Frostbolt (Fireball) key right as the current one ends its cast. If that's not enough, there's some mods (RapidCast @ wowace seems to be one) you can use to combine with a simple macro:

Code:

/stopcasting
/cast Frostbolt

This can't be spammed, but timed properly (and the mods out there give you a visual representation) it allows you to account for lag and cast a Frostbolt when the server thinks you're ready for your next spell, but the client still thinks you're casting the previous spell.