Teach me how to mage.

Hey guys. I'm a veteran player with a few years of experience and I decided to take up one of the few classes that I have 0 experience as. I am having an INCREDIBLY hard time killing ANYONE as a lvl 35 mage. I know that frost is the go to end game pvp spec but I went with fire as a leveling build because I figured that it was the more bursty option since I'm always leveling with a friend and I don't tank anything hence why I don't need the CC and would rather get more damage. The issue is when I farm profs or what not alone. I consistently die over and over and over and over and over to horde players at or bellow my level to the point where I don't even try to fight them anymore. I'm so terrible that I managed to die to a level 26 paladin+a a level 27 mob hitting me as a lvl 35 mage.
My biggest issue is that I don't have any reliable way of dealing damage. I find myself trying to use CC and relocating 80% of the fight while casting a single spell(aside from fireblast) at most between movements. Pyroblast, fireball and arcane torrent are all incredibly unreliable for pvp as they are VERY easy to interrupt, stun etc. and I find myself burning most of my mana on mana shields while trying to figure out how to actually do some damage to the enemy.
Am I just super, duper bad or is it simply impossible to do anything with fire in pvp even in low levels? Should I spec frost just so that I can stand a chance?

Respec frost. They won't even be able to lay a finger on you before they crumble to their knees.

the summerized version of the insanely long story on why frost is better then fire; More control > insane burst. Now for lvling or random pvp (as you are doing) fire is fine...but thats based around lvl 80 pvp. at your lvl your better off just going frost (or ignoring prof lvling and just getting to max lvl) because atleast then you have some real CC.

all in all frost mage is one of the hardest pvp spec's to "master" in arena, as its skill ceiling is one of the highest in patch 3.3.5 (because its focus is Control+Burst and not just Control or burst). that being said, if you have any spell caster experience prior to the mage you should be fine atleast vs the ppl on warmane.

on the stand point of fire, you need alot of the passives and CC skills from the higher lvls to make fire work, it also helps to have ALOT of crit. all of these things are insanely hard to do at a low lvl.

I'm only bothering with professions because I play with a friend and we use these characters exclusively to quest/xp together and I don't want ot get ahead of him.... On the bright side I am now mining mithril so I'll have enough money for a high speed mount as soon as we hit 40 so I've got that going for me which is nice >.< I will definitely be dual specing as soon as I am able to and will decide which spec I prefer but I am going to use frost for the next few levels just to test it out. I do have some caster experience but mostly as ele shaman and that was never really a sick spec for pvp

I cba reading the whole post, but for outdoor PvP you'll always want to start the fight by throwing a free Pyro on your enemy - either while he's fighting a mob or after you've Poly'ed him. After that you just spam Scorch and Fireblast, while keeping him away with Frost Nova, Blast Wave and Dragon's Breath.

As for burst, you only have some sort of high burst at the beginning of the fight with a full Pyro, a Scorch while the Pyro is flying, and a Fireblast after the Scorch. Most of the time this is enough to get a player to half HP, even if you get no crits. From that point on your damage is weaker than Frost...

I've been mage for some time and found that during low levels, frost is your best option most times, though as they explained before is really hard to master on Arenas.

What I suggest is: Plan everything ahead, knowing your enemy will help you a lot to understand what can he do and when. Yes, is casual PvP but even on casual PvP a single hit can get you half hp, so plan ahead:
- Do a Poly + Focus Macro.
- Do a CounterSpell / Stopcasting macro.
- Do an Ice Block / Stopcasting macro.
- Always stay alert, if you 'feel' something is not right, prepare yourself for defense... dunno why but I've had that feeling in the past, popped my Ice Barrier and voilá! Rogue's oppener! ;)

Now, if you have the advantage of surprise, always open with a Polymorph followed by your highest rank frostbolt. If the enemy removes Poly, stop casting and poly him again, run to max spell distance (usually 30y) and cast rank1 Frostbolt, this will chill the enemy and allow you to do your 3-4 secs casting max rank frostbolt, do it but stay sharp! If the enemy uses any snare removal, try to root him again with another rank1 frostbolt, if he's immune to snares, shield up and wait until Poly's DR (Diminishing Return) fades, then blink + poly + max rank Frostbolt. Do not try to nuke him down, just walk away, always keep your distance near max range, keep doing rank 1 frost bolts, even a Talented Blizzard can help you there (though it consumes lots of mana).

Dunno which other advice can I give you, just don't give up, mages are really hard to play on PvP but they are quite enjoyable once mastered ;)


Cheers,
-Yukika.

Undead Mage - Ragnaros.