01-10-2005, 12:11 PM
Hi, I'm thinking of making a Mage on Stormrage as my first serious PvE character, and I have a few questions to ask. I've read up some of the Mage guides hosted here and on the Amazon Basin (as well as the ones linked from them), so I have a general idea of what a Mage is and is not, but since my only actual experience with a Mage is a Level 8 in Beta, I decided to post here. ^_^
Oh yeah and before I begin, I'd like to mention that I'm only going to use these strategies for PvE (both group and solo, with a probable emphasis on solo) - no PvP at all. I have nothing against PvP, but seeing as this character is going to be on a PvE server I don't really see the point of talking about it (in this post at least)
1. As I understand from the Mage guide here (which I happen to agree with) you are basically going for all-out damage ASAP, not really caring about mana efficiency, since once you waste an enemy you just chug some water down and rinse and repeat. So why wouldn't a good strategy for a Mage just be to fire off the most powerful spells available...let's say, open with Pyroblast, Fireball X 2, Frost Nova once as the enemy nears, and then end with Fireballs? If fully specced out, the damage should take down the enemy before you run out of mana right? Then you can add some other utlility spells for possible grouping.
2. I'm not too good with numbers, so I can't do all the fancy calculations to support my hypotheses, but it seems to me that since Ice slows down the enemy, that more or less translated to more damage in the long run, since you get to cast more spells as the enemy runs towards you. Coupled with the synergy of Ice Shards/Shatter and the other talents in the ice tree, wouldn't Ice also be a viable damage alternative? If the Frostbolt slows, giving more time for other Ice spells to freeze/slow, adding more damage because of criticals...that would add up to pretty hefty damage right?
Basically I'm asking these two questions because I can't really see the reason for the heavy investment into Improved Arcane Missiles - when fully boosted, it's a good DPS spell which cannot be interrupted, basically making it the mage's version of melee (in a way) and a very good version at that...but why should a mage need to melee, even from a distance?
Anyway, just tossing out this stuff for debate, hoping I can get some answers before building my mage. Thanks for reading!
Oh yeah and before I begin, I'd like to mention that I'm only going to use these strategies for PvE (both group and solo, with a probable emphasis on solo) - no PvP at all. I have nothing against PvP, but seeing as this character is going to be on a PvE server I don't really see the point of talking about it (in this post at least)
1. As I understand from the Mage guide here (which I happen to agree with) you are basically going for all-out damage ASAP, not really caring about mana efficiency, since once you waste an enemy you just chug some water down and rinse and repeat. So why wouldn't a good strategy for a Mage just be to fire off the most powerful spells available...let's say, open with Pyroblast, Fireball X 2, Frost Nova once as the enemy nears, and then end with Fireballs? If fully specced out, the damage should take down the enemy before you run out of mana right? Then you can add some other utlility spells for possible grouping.
2. I'm not too good with numbers, so I can't do all the fancy calculations to support my hypotheses, but it seems to me that since Ice slows down the enemy, that more or less translated to more damage in the long run, since you get to cast more spells as the enemy runs towards you. Coupled with the synergy of Ice Shards/Shatter and the other talents in the ice tree, wouldn't Ice also be a viable damage alternative? If the Frostbolt slows, giving more time for other Ice spells to freeze/slow, adding more damage because of criticals...that would add up to pretty hefty damage right?
Basically I'm asking these two questions because I can't really see the reason for the heavy investment into Improved Arcane Missiles - when fully boosted, it's a good DPS spell which cannot be interrupted, basically making it the mage's version of melee (in a way) and a very good version at that...but why should a mage need to melee, even from a distance?
Anyway, just tossing out this stuff for debate, hoping I can get some answers before building my mage. Thanks for reading!