Crumpets?

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Stuff to get for when I'm all grown up and one terrifying frosty mage. Is that a cold wind blowing? Are the ravens shrieking in the trees? Do your bones ache from the cold?

Hide yourself, for the Rabbit is a-coming!!!

Chester: /yawn

DeadRabbit: Wait and see, little rodent, wait and see....

Chester: Ha!

DeadRabbit: Jealous much? Don't worry my rat-tailed friend, I will hook you up too. I'm looking into purchasing whatever spell will make you into the Squirrel-beast-a-zoid in SquirrelBane.

Chester: Ohhhh. With the lazer bolts even????

DeadRabbit: You betcha!

Chester: Is that a cold wind blowing? Are the ravens shrieking in the trees? Fear the Rabbit and her squirrel!!!

DeadRabbit: There ya go, little guy!

Employee Rank 18: DeadRabbit's Cheatsheet

Let's say that you are a mage under level 20.

And you know that you are "border collie artillerist" but technically so are Hunters, Warlocks, and etc.

What do you, uber mageness personified, bring to the table at this point?

1. We are friendly little buggers (or "not a Warlock")

Food! We are the PTA parents of groups: we bring baked goods! "Oh dear, you are looking a little peaked. Could I offer you a muffin or perhaps a glass of fresh spring water?"

Remove Lesser Curse: did you just get hitched with a nasty curse? Mage at your service. "Oooh that looks like it smarts. Let me get that off of ya."

Arcane Intellect: Use mana? Want a buff? Here you go. Okay Warriors and Rogues, I know this one doesn't apply to you. Here have another muffin.


2. Crowd Control:

The first two spells are about incapacitating a mob:

Polymorph: A spell that is just plain cool: the Boogey Man is transformed into a placid sheep for up to 30 seconds.

Frost Nova: Roots nearby mobs in place for up to 8 seconds.

The second two spells are about slowing a mob down:


Frostbolt: This slows an individual mob's movement speed: by 40% for 6 seconds.

Frost Armor All right, this spell can be a little wonky in terms of crowd control: "If an enemy strikes the caster, they may have their movement slowed by 30% and the time between their attacks increased by 25% for 5 sec." Keyword being *may* but still qualifies as *possible* CC.


3. AoE:

What is an Area of Effect spell?: "Area of Effect, or AoE, affect multiple targets within a pre-determined radius set by the game mechanics."(2) A good way to imagine an AoE is like casting a fishing net onto a mob: anything caught in the circle of that net is going to get some damage.

Arcane Explosion Causes an explosion of arcane magic around the caster, causing 32 to 36 Arcane damage to all targets within 10 yards. Oh and it is an instant cast.

Flamestrike: Calls down a pillar of fire, burning all enemies within the area for 52 to 68 Fire damage and an additional 48 Fire damage over 8 sec. Within 30 yards but with a three second cast. Flamestrike is more powerful than Arcane Explosion and has a larger radius (30 yards as opposed to 10) but it also has a 3 second cast.

Frost Nova Remember this baby from CC? Besides rooting your mob in place, it also blasts enemies near the caster for 19 to 21 Frost damage. This is known as spell multi-tasking.

3. Artillery:

These spells do not affect multiple targets when cast. You shoot, you hit one target. These spells are all about some serious hurt being laid down on an individual nasty:

Arcane Missiles Launches Arcane Missiles at the enemy, causing 36 Arcane damage every 1 sec for 4 sec.

Frostbolt Launches a bolt of frost at the enemy, causing 51 to 57 Frost damage (and don't forget it's CC properties).

Fireball Hurls a fiery ball that causes 84 to 116 Fire damage and an additional 12 Fire damage over 8 sec.

Fireblast: Instant cast! Blasts the enemy for 57 to 71 Fire damage. Ka-pow!

This next section is how a mage can save their own ass. In other words, this is for soloing (Don't you dare ditch your group....go down with the ship, kids. But if you are on your own? Save your ass).

5. Escape enemies: Crowd control can give you enough time to run, bunny, run.

Frost Nova: Freeze that mob and then run.

Polymorph: Sheep that mob and then run.


6. Defense:

As a clothie, you need a little armor and these spells are it:

Frost Armor This spell was described under CC. But we didn't mention that it increases armor by 110 and last for 30 minutes.

Arcane Intellect Intellect increased by 7 for 30 minutes.

Dampen Magic Facing a magic caster? Pop this spell: Dampens magic used against the targeted party member, decreasing damage taken from spells by up to 10 and healing spells by up to 20. Lasts 10 min. (If you happen to be facing a warlock....throw a "nyah, nyah, nyah" at them too).

Slow Fall Got a Light Feather in your bag? Then you can fall from a height and not die. (However you've got 30 seconds and after that: you fall like a rock. Splat!)

Border Collie Artillery, at your sevice, sir!

Gather round fellow noobs, let's get chummy. Yes indeedy, I'm just starting out in WoW: I'm acquiring WoW knowledge, I don't *have* it yet. Got the books piled around me and sitting down to figure it out. Highlighting, cross-referencing, researching footnotes...that's me...deep in the midst of some serious edjumacation. And the question at hand? I woke up undead and was given the job title: Mage.

(Why thank you, does this job come with a dental plan? Because my jaw seems to be loosely attached. Hehehehe...ahem...okay onto the meat of the matter.)

No one handed me a job description. What is a Mage? What am I suppose to do? Oh sure, I can shoot bolts of purty magic at monsters but what does that mean when I'm in a 5-man group taking on an instance?

In a fight, Mages are suppose to be a "primary ranged magic damage dealer" (1). *Ranged* as in we are so NOT up in the face of the monster. We have the tender delicate skin and a dislike for heavy, clunky armor. Give us a robe, if you please. However, we are ready to fight. Delicate skin and sporting cloth, we still throw ourselves into battle....from a distance. We could be sending massive amounts of damge, or directed elemental bolts, or raining down an AOE on the nasties. But we should be doing this behind the hurly burly rough and tough.

Long range pew, pew, pew FTW.

You want a metaphor? Your mage is the border collie artillery. Like that border collie, we can control a mob. We nip at their heels. We make that mob stay where we want them to stay. So that the infantry can rip into them. Sheesh mageesh, we can even TURN the mob into sheep. Uber border collie! Creating their own sheep to crowd control.

And we aren't just about crowd control, we are artillery(2). This border collie comes equipped with projectiles. This border collie IS a weapon. Point us at a mob and let us shoot. We support the tank, our blood and guts infantry, by lobbing down destruction on the nasties.

Mage, border collie artillery, reporting for duty, sir!!

(Have I even mentioned the snacks and portals? Mage's rock)