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Leveling: Stay Frost or Arcane
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Post by
Whatadorc
I'm currently a fresh lvl 67 and i've been playing through the game up to this point as frost spec...but im wondering if the 57-3-11 arcane spec is any good at leveling through northrend or if i should just stay frost for the survivability
I have no experience in the Fire or Arcane trees as of this moment...i have the perma water pet glyph so i have a pet that kind of helps me out in tight situations or can threat an elite so i can get a jumpstart on DPS on him, which is helpful...i'm not sure but if i go arcane i also lose ice barrier which is an AWESOME shield that has saved me many a times...
im wondering if i go arcane and i lose that slowing ability of frost and the pet, plus ice barrier(if its a frost talent-not sure)..that it'll lead to more deaths on my part especially starting it in northrend, but i know i'll be going arcane for end game and wanted to get used to it early for end game stuff
EDIT: Also while i'm questing through northrend i plan on constantly doing dungeons so i am not bored out of my mind questing
Post by
365547
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
moocow
Arcane has
Slow
, nothing should ever live to get into melee range. If you get adds, FN / sheep / CoC & slow kite. I'm currently lvl 68 Arcane in BT, np at all.
Getting used to it sounds like a good idea.
Post by
549652
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Post by
Amyndar
Just noticed you made a post yesterday that said you were a fresh level 80, looking for advice as to which spec to run in heroics. How can you be level 67 and 80 at the same time? O.o
Post by
499582
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
nickseng
This is just me being Arcane bias, but I feel that relying on Frost and Ice Barrier doesn't really give you the feel of playing a mage. I mean, the whole concept of being a glass cannon is that you can do incredible damage, at the cost of being incredibly fragile. Having Ice Barrier just makes it less mage-y, IMHO. :)
Just my 2 cents.
Post by
453482
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
dervasavred
I recomend you to go arcane, but not 57-3-11. Maybe 71/00/00 will be better.
What? No. Not ever.
Post by
woohaa
shouldn't a decent frost mage beable to aoe alot more then just 4 mobs at one time. especially one around 68. so being able to kill 4 mobs quicker then a frost mage. i think you should calculate if you can kill more like 6-8 mobs (realistically any more then 8 they usually reset) as quick as a frost mage or faster.
Post by
dervasavred
shouldn't a decent frost mage beable to aoe alot more then just 4 mobs at one time. especially one around 68. so being able to kill 4 mobs quicker then a frost mage. i think you should calculate if you can kill more like 6-8 mobs (realistically any more then 8 they usually reset) as quick as a frost mage or faster.
You also have to consider the fact that AoE grinding on mobs in Northrend is decent but not optimal, especially given that they tend to be spread out more, have higher HP pools and will eat a considerable chunk of your mana to kill, especially if they have some sort of innate Frost resistance.
The other thing to remember is that AoE Frost WILL drink after that one pull of 6-10 mobs in addition to taking the time to gather them up.
This is versus Arcane killing an even-level target in between three and eight seconds each, quite literally, next to no downtime, particularly if you level with Mage Armor. If you do get low, pop Evo. It's only a 60 second CD.
Finally, remember that the new AoE cap treats eleven targets and up as if you were hitting ten.
Post by
453482
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
thedot
I know i leveled from 70-80 as Frost, and it worked fine, but things might have changed in the past year.
Ice barrier is very useful :D
Post by
Zaratha
Woohaa, i didnt say that Arcane better than Frost in AOE, but really frost mage probably going to spend more mana AOEing 4 mobs, while arcane kill one by one. Maybe Arcane can kill 8 mobs, but mage will die faster because slow works only on one mob. Actually it would be nice to AOE in fire(Living Bomb rocks)
Pardon the wall of text. Arcane mages who get hit while leveling are Doing It Wrong. Arcane is an entirely different leveling style of play than Frost and requires a different mentality. Arcane mages have no business rounding up mobs like they're Frosties. Leveling Arcane means destroying mobs one at a time, in two hits. If you know how to play (ie being cautious about pulls, always pulling from max range, etc) you will never come close to dying, either slowly or quickly.
I've leveled three mages to 80. And IMO, Arcane is far superior to Frost for leveling in Northrend. You tear through mobs like they're butter and you never have to drink. Frost needs all that extra survivability because it takes so goddamn long to kill anything that they'd eat your face otherwise. And what's the point of being able to kill 6 things at once if you have to stop to drink after every pull? YMMV, but in my experience the time you spend having to drink after those massive pulls as Frost pretty much negates any sort of time saved by AoEing them down. Elite quests are also a joke if the mob can be Slowed. March of the Giants was cake as Arcane, and I didn't even have to resort to the Rune of Command cheese method. I never even got close to touched. I've been dual spec since level 40 on my current main, and my "in case of emergencies" Frost spec ended up being retooled into a PvP one, that's how godmode Arcane is in Northrend.
To the OP: use the cookie cutter raid spec as a basic outline only. You'll be two shotting most mobs, three at most, so some points are better spent IMO in some of the more PvP-esque talents to boost survivability. Prismatic Cloak is a godsend while leveling. That, and an instant sheep macro courtesy of PoM will get you out of 95% of bad situations while leveling. Plus, remember as Arcane you still have access to FN + Blink when things go awry too, albeit not as often. But ultimately the fastest leveling spec will always be the one that is most fun to you and best fits your playstyle.
Post by
180491
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