Kili Rants... on Level 80 #6

My cute little bundle of hurt hit 80 tonight - red pigtails and all.

I originally started my mage as fire spec, with advice from a guildie who was the best mage I know.  Leiseletta was going to be "The Burninator", and I ran battlegrounds with her at 19 and 29, with some semi-twinked gear, and had a good bit of fun.

The low level PVP, by the way, was my reasoning for her Engineering profession.  I'd considered picking up something else instead, but if I can force myself to level it I think I'll stick with it.  The toys are fun, and I still may PVP on her again.

After bouncing around between a few other alts, I got the urge to pick her up again after Patch 2.3 improved leveling in the 30's and beyond, and after talking to another friend, I followed his advice and went frost for the survivability... and for the ability to ride around in a big circle, aggro 7 or 8 mobs, and AOE them down, coming out alive on the other end with a quest half done.

Leiseletta was my last alt to 70 before WOTLK hit.  She was intended to be my PVP alt, but I didn't have enough time to get used to mage PVP (and not being able to heal myself, zomg) before the expansion, and time to level my main again.  And then my priest.  And then my shaman.  And then another druid.  And another druid.  (And let's not forget the fits and starts of playing my rogue and hunter!)

Throughout this process, off and on, I soloed my way through Borean Tundra - with a little help from a guildie on a couple of difficult group quests - and struggled to find instance groups for Nexus and Utgarde Keep.  I finished a couple of quests at the first quest hub in Howling Fjord, and put the mage back on the shelf again for a few months... and then, 3.3 hit.  Cross server instance groups meant I could quest for about 20 or 30 minutes while in queue, port directly to the instance no matter where I was questing, and then pop right back to my quests when done.  Following Jame's leveling guide, I started at level 72 in Howling Fjord, and was just nearly level 79 when I finished HF due to all the instance XP.  I hit 79 after doing 3 or 4 quests in Dragonblight.



Round about the time I hit level 79, I began to consider what spec I wanted my mage to play as, and asked the best mage currently in my guild for some advice.  He suggested arcane, as it is rather high DPS, and good for fresh level 80s as well because of the ability to take two 3% hit talents, requiring less hit gear.  I did some research on specs from the good mages in my guild, copied their glyphs, and purchased dual spec (figuring frost may still come in handy for some leveling situations, as well as when I feel the urge to PVP).

And then I took myself to Ironforge, to the training dummies, and realized... I have no idea how to play arcane.  I was pretty good at frost, used to watching for Brain Freeze procs and setting up shatter combos, but I didn't even know what arcane spells to put on my bar.

So I asked my friend Phil.  OMG what spells do I use??? lolnoob  And he told me:  "Arcane Blast.  Arcane Missiles."  That's it?  "Pretty much, lol."  Well what about all this other stuff?  Arcane Barrage?  "Use that when you have to move."  You've got to be kidding me.  That's all there is to it?  (No answer.)

So I mentioned in a custom chat channel that I was trying to learn to play arcane.  And two of my friends with mage alts assured me that it was as simple as that.  Arcane Blast x4.  If Missile Barrage has proc'd by then, use Arcane Missiles.  If not, use Arcane Barrage.  Pop cooldowns where available.  Profit.

And then, my head exploded.

Seriously, and people think balance druid rotations are simple.  I have no DOTs to keep up, only one proc to watch for, a fantastic buff to toss on someone else that also helps my DPS, multiple cooldowns I can pop on demand for burn phases, I don't have to look like a giant turkey with antlers, and I can surround myself with three copies of my adorable self once every 3 minutes instead of making unobservant people wonder why there are 3 idiot resto druids in melee range punching the boss.

It almost makes me want to change mains.

Well, almost.  I love my stupid looking lazer turkey.  I love being able to heal myself when the excrement hits the air conditioning, I love druid lore and druid gear and not having random strangers walk up to me and demand food.

But I wish that I had some of what my mage has as well.  A direct damage spell to use on the run.  On demand burst damage cooldowns.  Being able to see my adorable avatar while I DPS instead of a hideous mutant owlbear.  DPS stats that scale appropriately instead of having haste rating lose effectiveness on half my rotation after 400.  A rotation that requires less multitasking for the same or better effect.

I'm not asking for spellsteal, or an interrupt, or OMGCHIKINBLINK.  I'm not even asking for an aggro drop.  But this mage thing?  Way.  Too.  Easy.