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Arcane Brilliance: Cast fast and hit hard
Every week, Arcane Brilliance strives to make us all a bit Mage-ier. This week, we shine our spotlight on two stats every Mage should have, but far too few of us know enough about: Spell hit rating and spell haste rating. Last week we saw that patch 2.4 has made these two ratings a bit easier to obtain on gear, and this week we'll find out why that should make the Mage nation a happy place.When I wrote up the list of shiny new Mage gear the patch delivered to us last week, I couldn't help but notice a strange preponderance of two stats I was relatively unfamiliar with. Currently, I have a whopping 53 spell hit rating on my Mage, from the Scryer's Bloodgem and the Gladiator's War Staff. None of my current gear gives a single point of spell haste rating. When I saw those stats reflected on so much of the new 2.4 gear, I became very curious. Why is Blizzard pushing these two ratings? Where's my spell crit and spell damage?I broke out my most scholarly looking pair of glasses, perched them upon the end of my nose so that I could squint down through them at my computer screen, and did some research. I may have scribbled some complex formulae upon a chalkboard, and it's entirely possible that I muttered the occasional "astonishing!" or "brilliant!" under my breath in a faux English accent as I conducted this study.What did I learn? Well, two things really: first, both of these ratings are important to Mages, and in PvE you can make the argument that spell hit is the single most important end-game stat for a Mage to have. And secondly, I fricking hate researching things. I mean seriously, my mind pretty much shuts off when I see a decimal point. After the break, I'll try to save you the trouble of doing what I did this week, and break down what these two ratings mean in layman's terms. Don't worry, math nerds, I'll link you to the crazy numbers articles too, so you can go make out with your calculators or whatever.
Arcane Brilliance: Gears of war, part 2
Last week's Arcane Brilliance looked at some of the shiny mage items available out in Azeroth for low level mages. We're continuing our look at the clothes at that make the mage this week, with the level 20 to 40 range. At this point you've gotten into your own identity as a mage, started defining yourself as frost, pyro, or arcane. Still, the gear in this bracket is mostly defined by general spell damage, which means that for the most part you can get items that will work for any type of play style or spec. At least once in the comments last week I ran across the argument that one shouldn't gear up a low level mage, but I have to disagree with that notion. Yes, you are leveling up your character, no you shouldn't need to go buy gear. But the items you choose to wear go a long way toward determining how fast you will level. When you do more damage, you kill mobs quicker, you die less, you get more experience. You level faster. Gear helps you be a better mage, even at the beginning of the game.
Arcane Brilliance: Gears of war, part 1
My mage was not my first character, but it was the character that I began to play and really enjoy first. Being new to the game and not understanding the importance of gear, I collected items with as much armor as I possibly could. It wasn't until around level 25 that I took a look at the items I was collecting and realized that they weren't right for me. What did I need a nature damage wand for anyhow? I began the journey toward gear enlightenment. I haven't reached the end as of yet; I'm still learning. Each day I learn something new about the items that Blizzard has placed in the game for mages to play with. I thought that this week I would spend some time going over some of the mage specific items currently in the game. Realize, of course, that the selection of gear is a personal decision, and no one can tell you how to deck out your mage. These are just some suggested items I found useful as I leveled my mage. Also, I play an alliance mage, and the horde mage I have leveled isn't above level 16 last I checked, so if there are items you know of that your fellow mages would find valuable, please let us know. After all, this column is all about learning together how to improve ourselves as mages. Also note that this isn't a comprehensive list by any means. I've simply pulled a selection of items from the vast choices out there to try to give you some idea of what is out there. We're going to start at the beginning, since I've heard it's a very good place to start, and move chronologically up through the levels. Our first segment will be on items for mages levels 1-20, so those of you that are higher level, hang in there, more is most definitely on the way.
