Armaggedon's coming!

In my attempt to assure you that I am the Misleading Mage Blogger (thus preventing others from suffering such an unjust accusation), I present to you a Misleading Mage post.

Better yet, its a guest post from my all time favorite MAGE Blogger.  Yes contrary to popular belief, she is not just a Mage that blogs, but is truly a Mage Blogger and so I present exhibit A:

Misleading Mage posts:

Agility and Attack Power – the essentials of a mage

A little while I got a request from an upcoming blogger who wanted me to write a guest post. It should be about what five elementals I thought would constitute a good overall Mage.

“Are you serious?” was my first reaction. Sure, I’ve been playing my beloved Mage for three years straight, but until this day I’ve hardly written anything about the Mage class that you could describe as even remotely useful.

However – when I was done coming up with all those excuses I thought: “what the heck, how bad could it be”? And I decided to approach the topic from a slightly different angle.

As it turned out, the blog that this post was intended for never took of. So I came up with this cunning plan, to dump it on my neighbor blogger, Gnomeaggedon.

Since his blog is already full of misleading information, I thought that this post might fit in as well.

And with this introduction, ladies and gentlemen, I will now present you five stats that I think are essential to anyone planning to play a Mage. Maybe not the ones you think of at first.

1. Agility

OK, admittedly at Patchwerk you can just stand on one spot and spam one or two nuke buttons. But apart from him and a couple of other exceptions, you actually need to be pretty movable as a Mage. Somehow you’re supposed to manage to move out of crap on the ground or evil things coming for you through the air, and STILL make your several seconds-long spells go off, resulting in pretty yellow numbers on the screen. A good Mage can nuke on the move. If you’re slow like me, there’s nothing else to do but to place yourself in front of the dummies in IF,running back and forward, until nuking on the fly is a second nature to you.

Agility. It’s a must-have for your mage.

2. Attack power

Just because Mages are squishy it doesn’t mean that we should be anxious cowards. We’re there to do the dirty job. Slaughter the enemy and show now mercy. Sure – we have a few other tricks in our sleeves, but in the end your performance will mostly be judged by the amount of damage you do. As Mage you should rather be competitive than shy.

Charge your mental attack power – unleash your wrath and enjoy!

3. Hit rating

We’re living in an era where everything but end bosses is downed by AoE. But I would still claim that a Mage isn’t just a guy who randomly spreading damaging clouds around himself, hoping that something will hit something. At least not a good Mage. A good Mage is someone who plays his class with a great amount of precision and control, who can handle multiple enemies, using almost-forgotten abilities such as sheep, frost nova and slow. Someone who can kite. Someone who can balance exactly at the threat roof, using aggro dumps exactly in the moment. Someone who can make the most out of every cool down ability.

In real life a surgeon needs a great amount of hit rating. So does any self respecting Mage.

4. Diplomacy

There was a time when the only portals available in game were the ones that Mages provided. So is not the case anymore – the hubs in Shattrath and nowadays Dalaran have drastically changed the demand for Mage services, especially since the hearth stone has a shorter CD and you can teleport out of the daily random dungeons anyway. So there really isn’t any reason to be that grumpy, cheap Mage who refuses to make portals, who doesn’t provide tables in BGs or doesn’t bother to buff up the party due to the cost of reagents.  Being a vendor machine and a taxi driver is – and has always been – a part of what it means to be a Mage. This doesn’t mean that you’re supposed to stand in the bridge of IF offering your services to anyone for free. But when you’re in a party I can’t see any excuse whatsoever not to provide those things.

As a Mage you should make sure you’re not lacking points in diplomacy.

5. Mana regen

Mana regen symbolizes a true fighting spirit. Players who have a lot of dodge, stamina or armor won’t be as easily affected by criticism, conflicts and failures. You often see this in good tanks and healers, who end up in leading positions and need a thick skin to endure it. As a Mage you’re rarely expected to lead. But you can still play an important role in the group, as a mana provider. If you have a good mana regen, you have an inner fire inner fire that will make you self sufficient in mental energy. You will be ready to try over and over again, not giving up when you encounter resistance, taking your struggles with a smile, always looking for the bright side. A good Mage doesn’t whine. A good Mage doesn’t need to be spoon fed by their fellow players to remain positive. A good Mage generates so much mental mana that there’s enough of it for the whole group to stay in a good mood.

Agility, attack power, hit rating, diplomacy and mana regen. That’s my five core stats as a Mage player. Even if they don’t show up in the Armory.

Larisa the Kingslayer, Pink Pigtail Inn

Just for the record, I added the title to her name at the end. It’s her determination to be not just a good Mage, but a great Mage that earned her the title.  We don’t need a rotation guide, we need an inspirational blogging guide, a guide that Larisa provides on a daily basis!

Thanks Larisa!

/More memory fail!

While I was whacking this all together, I was thinking to myself

At long last a guest post from Larisa!

Sure we had all those Magely exchanges during the Mage Wars (starting here for me), but when else has she come close to contributing to my blog…

Ohhh yeah, she not only reminded me of my 1 year blogaversary, but contributed a Gnomefluence entry, a Blogday screenshot post, 20 questions and explained why Mages, particularly Gnome Mages are the best.

So, really she has starred at the home of the Gnome on many occasions.

All of which reminds me… my 2nd blogaversary is fast approaching…

I don’t have any plans this year… so surprise me!

Maybe a contribution to the Misleading Mage posts, maybe something a little out of place here… like an informative Mage post.  The door is open, enter if you will, share with us your Magely wisdom.

Which reminds me, I will be asking in earnest in a couple of days… 1st I need to do a bit more misguiding and acknowledge the other heroes of the Mage v. Lock war.

But not today.. maybe tomorrow…

Gnomer and Out!

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http://gnomeaggedon.net/2010/06/03/misleading-mage-posts-agility-and-attack-power-–-the-essentials-of-a-mage/