04-07-2004, 12:26 AM
Played a mage to level 8 almost entirely in solo mode, starting in Dun Morogh until making it to Karanos, detouring to Stormwind via Ironforge, and having now completed most of the Elwynn Forest quests except the ones on the east and west borders. I have managed to die about 5-10 times (most of those involving kelp collecting on Crystal Lake), but so far the balance seems reasonable. The big thing about that "so far" is that I have not faced any real ranged attack threat yet, and I know these will be a pain.
The thing that the mage has at this level is an insane burst of damage when he has the initiative. Target a monster 30 feet away, send a bolt spell at it, follow up with the arcane missiles, follow up with the instant cast fire spell. If nothing is resisted, you just did about 140 damage in a spurt of less than 4 seconds. Typically the melee enemy hasn't reached you yet, and it is probably dead or very close to it.
So now we bring the second monster into the picture. First monster is dead, but your mana is mostly drained, your instant spells are in cooldown, and the second monster is on top of you. Now it gets tougher. But I find myself usually surviving this situation. This usually involves a fireblast every 10 seconds, and some staff swinging in between. Maybe I try to get off a bolt spell, or more likely the arcane missiles. Maybe I drink a minor healing potion to buy some time (I usually forget that I have a huge stack of these, though). If at any point I become certain I will lose, I try to make a run for it. With most young characters, this *never* works. With a mage, you can sometimes outrun your enemy because they will be slowed by the cold armor.
The thing that the mage has at this level is an insane burst of damage when he has the initiative. Target a monster 30 feet away, send a bolt spell at it, follow up with the arcane missiles, follow up with the instant cast fire spell. If nothing is resisted, you just did about 140 damage in a spurt of less than 4 seconds. Typically the melee enemy hasn't reached you yet, and it is probably dead or very close to it.
So now we bring the second monster into the picture. First monster is dead, but your mana is mostly drained, your instant spells are in cooldown, and the second monster is on top of you. Now it gets tougher. But I find myself usually surviving this situation. This usually involves a fireblast every 10 seconds, and some staff swinging in between. Maybe I try to get off a bolt spell, or more likely the arcane missiles. Maybe I drink a minor healing potion to buy some time (I usually forget that I have a huge stack of these, though). If at any point I become certain I will lose, I try to make a run for it. With most young characters, this *never* works. With a mage, you can sometimes outrun your enemy because they will be slowed by the cold armor.