Focus Magic: The Rush to Cataclysm: Part 3 - Levels 31-40

WoW Blogs - Focus Magic Mage Blog

Focus Magic: Blink and you’ll miss it.

Hello everyone, welcome to the 13^th Edition of Focus Magic! Part 3 of our levelling guide is finally here, and this being the 13^th issue, I feel this may bring bad luck to those who read it. But that’s just me being superstitious. It’s fine. Feel free to read. After all, this is the only WoW Mage blog around that get’s written and 3 am in the morning by a half-drunk ‘responsible’ adult. Lap it up folks, I’m the boss around here.

Starting out slowly, and honestly, I am aware that the articles are slacking. I am slacking. I am partying. I wrote this article at an 18^th birthday party. But with various essays, school work, parties and sleep, it’s very hard to fit these articles in. So at last I can finally get around to it. Expect this to be a very strange article indeed, as since patch 4.0.1 has been introduced to us this week, the new talents and glyphs have been implemented, as well as thee scaling spells instead of your rank training. And giving that my patch has been downloading since Wednesday non-stop (this means, over-night, through school, through work, literally, NON-STOP), it’s doing an average of 1% every 2 hours. Should be done some time in the 2300’s. Very irritating. And after my 6 week break of WoW, I can’t wait to get back to my Shadow priest and start face rolling again. But of course, this article is about Mages, and I really can’t wait to get back to my pride and joy, Mr. Kuurg. J

So, to start out with the new patch changes, it has become clear that we are now given many more levelling abilities to enhance and make our levelling experience more enjoyable. Check out the Focus Magic talent analysis articles for more in depth information on these talents and how they can benefit you in your levelling escapades:

Frost: http://www.crusaderscoliseum.com/mage-blog-focus-magic/2853-focus-magic-cataclysm-talents-part-1-frost  

Arcane: http://www.crusaderscoliseum.com/mage-blog-focus-magic/2879-focus-magic-cataclysm-talents-part-2-arcane

Fire: http://www.crusaderscoliseum.com/mage-blog-focus-magic/2897-focus-magic-cataclysm-talents-part-3-fire 

Usually, I would list the spells that you learn in that particular levelling bracket, but since the whole system has changed, I can’t really do that effectively anymore. All that happens, now, is that instead of returning to your trainer every 2 levels (or every level in situational cases) your spells will automatically scale with your level. For example, you will no longer need to train Frostbolt every 8 levels, as it will automatically rank up. But you will still have to learn the spells at certain levels before the automatic ranking comes into place e.g. You can’t learn Arcane Blast at level 1, it is still learned in the mid 60’s.

The great thing about the automatic scaling with our spells, is that it reduces the primary factor which holds people up during levelling. Downtime. The less downtime you have, the quicker you will level. And people don’t realise, but you spend a surprising amount of your time in a capital city, chilling with your class trainer, testing out new specs, beating up the dummies, browsing the AH etc. when really, this could all be time used to level! There’s plenty of time for all of that when we’re level Eighty!… five. Pfft.

The new glyph system that has finally been implemented into the game will also be a great boon to those in any predicament of the game, and levelling is no exception. The choice of a wider range of glyphs will be something Mages all around Azeroth have dreamed of, and now it’s finally happened! When you wish upon a star…

Regarding areas where you want to level, there a few places where you can opt to go to, some of which being more efficient than others, but less impactive e.g. the temptation to speed through this easy bracket in STV may be high, be venturing over to Desolace may grant you access to quests you’ve never even done, and add a whole new experience to your WoW memories.

Early Bracket - Thousand Needles/Desolace

Mid Bracket - Stranglethorn Vale/Desolace

Late Bracket - Feralas/Stranglethorn Vale/Arathi Highlands

A quick note about dungeons: if you use the random dungeon tool, which you should be; expect a lot of Scarlet Monastery. Seriously. Loads of it. You will be so glad to see the end of it when you hit the end bracket of this stage. But there are some nice epiklewts floating around in the monastery for us Mages. This bracket will have you seeing more of the Scarlet Monastery instances, aswell as occasional visits to Uldaman, Razorfen Downs and possibly Maraudon. Although these instances are really good, you will end up so sick of them after you’ve ran the place 15+ times having the exact same loot drop. Hunter loot. Any loot is Hunter loot. Especially at low level. With all them scheming hunter’s looking to plot their revenge against us advanced, Fireball throwing beings. Damn them...

PvP is also very important in this bracket. For those who are playing their class for the first time, they are getting to that point where they are learning how to synergize their spells in a hectic environment, and so should you. If played correctly, Mages can obliterate anything in battleground’s, and even more so at the lower level brackets. Except hunters. And their stupidly over-powered auto shot. *sigh*

Feel free to leave you comments and views as always, and I will do what I can to improve and edit this article throughout the week, when I’m sober; I’m aware this isn’t exactly the best article ever. But tune in next week, as we continue with our levelling guide - level’s 41-50!

Last Updated on Monday, 18 October 2010 14:34 Written by Kuurg Sunday, 17 October 2010 02:33