If you have played other fantasy games that have mage's then you have a good idea of how to play the world of warcraft Mage. The Mage is typically weak in stature but strong in spell casting. The world of warcraft Mage fits this description, but the magical abilities of the mage of world of warcraft makes it a formidable character.
WOW Mage Leveling Guide
The Mage character class should stay clear of any hand to hand fighting, it is designed purely for fighting from a distance. The Mage can deal out incredible damage but without any self healing capabilities the Mage does not bode well under fire.A Mage is a huge help in group play as it can create food and water, deal increadible damage to its foes and can save lots of time since it can transport its group to capital cities from any place in an instance.
Some points to consider when choosing a Mage race:
The fact that the Mage class has no way to heal itself makes the draenei race a good race to consider for its Gift of the Naaru healing ability.
The troll race has the ability of regeneration which is not as good as the draeneis' Gift of the Naaru but is certainly beneficial.
The blood elf is by itself a very powerful race with Arcane Torrent and Arcane Affinity and complements the Mage class very nicely.
The gnome makes a good Mage with its Expansive Mind to replenish mana and Escape Artist is very useful in getting out of sticky situations.
The diplomacy of the human race is good for reputations in the future and Human Spirit helps to reduce downtime, although their Sword and Mace specialization is not of much use to a wand carrying Mage.
There is not much sense in playing a Mage with the forsaken race as it only has mild bonuses against priests and warlocks.
At the very start, no matter what character class or race you are playing I recommend keeping it simple. For the first several levels simply get a feel of your character and what you are able to do. Whenever possible don't stay in the heat of battle too long.
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Use range weapons and spells to keep your character out of harms way. But don't misinterpret this as just fooling around. Pay close attention to questing and be sure to do every quest you can get your hands on. You don't want to miss out on any quests during your first several levels, so make sure you do them all.
Each Mage trainer will have new and valuable information for the world of warcraft Mage, so learn all you can. As a Mage you will be able to find much info throughout world of warcraft, and not just from the trainers. Take care to choose your world of warcraft professions correctly, I find that the Mage benefits mostly from tailoring and jewelcrafting since the mage cannot wear armor.
A mount will come in very handy to the world of warcraft Mage, so think about getting one as soon as you hit level twenty.
If your just starting out in world of warcraft you should consider playing a Mage as it is pretty easy to play. Early on the Mage will rely on it's powerful Fireball spell to defeat it's foes from afar. Also the Mage starts off with Frost Armor which is a great self buff making leveling easier. These two spells combined makes leveling up a Mage alot easier.
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