Breakfast Topic: I suck at playing mage
This is the story of a girl named Una.
Una was a promising young woman who hailed from the forests of Elwynn. She had many friends who loved her humor, wit, and engaged conversation. She baked a delicious peach and berry cobbler, and was known to take joy in simple things, like brightly colored boot socks. In apprentice mage school, Una was frequently complimented by her teachers for her brilliance. Her loving parents supported her choice to pursue magic, and with her gifts it was no surprise when she graduated top of her class.
Not long after Una began her service to the Stormwind guard, she was tasked to journey to the Redridge Mountains to help stabilize an encroaching force of Blackrock orcs. When Una arrived she learned that the orcs had taken refuge in a former human stronghold known as Stonewatch Keep. With a determined heart, Una set out to recapture the keep.
Una died.
Okay, so, what am I babbling about? Let me explain: Una is my level 29 mage. She was the second character I ever made, back in 2005 when vanilla WoW was in full swing. I had high hopes for her, but ended up abandoning her quite quickly in favor of priest. Why? Because I absolutely suck at playing mage. I'm an awful, terrible, baddie mage who can't even get to level cap! *cries* I don't really know what it is either; I have tried to go back and play Una many times over the years, and despite becoming quite savvy with priest (including shadow!), rogue, and feral druid, I still die to the same level 24 orcs in Redridge.
I always get overwhelmed by adds when I quest and and before long I'm running back to my corpse. Don't think I haven't been persistent either! I've tried emulating other mages, who I see run through packs of mobs, casting Frost Nova and Arcane Explosion all the way to 80, but it doesn't seem to work for me. I've tried being extremely precise and using lots of crowd control; I've tried every spec I can muster at level 29; no matter what I do, how hard I try, I always get the same result. (I even tried playing an old boyfriend's mage at level 70 and had the same problems.)
Over the years, I've come to cope with my arcane shortcomings. I swallow my sorrows daily with Honeymint Tea, never knowing the sweetness of my own conjured water. Oddly, I find that my best friends are usually mages who, with an admiring eye, I watch work their wonders. I've tried to remain graceful, never letting my envy sour me; I even frequently gift mages with my Power Infusion, as if it allows me to somehow live through them vicariously. I have accepted my fate, but oh, how I long to know the joy of an Incanter's proc.
So, are there any classes you struggle with? What classes do you admire most when you see one being played well? Why?
