WoW: Forever
Mage
Mage kills faster than anything and dies faster too. Forever added a Research and scroll system from level 6, and made Arcane a genuine levelling tree for the first time.
Which spec?
| Spec | Role | Levelling | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arcane | Ranged DPS | Newly excellent | Arcane Blast and Missile Barrage — both new, and they make the tree real |
| Fire | Ranged DPS | Usable, slower | Hot Streak finally makes Pyroblast a button you press |
| Frost | Ranged DPS | Best of the three | Freeze, then Ice Lance for +300%. The safest spec in the game |
Frost or Arcane. Frost is the comfortable answer — "slowing and chilling everything they fight keeps them safe", with Frostbite often killing melee enemies before they reach you. Arcane is the genuinely new option: in Classic its tree had nothing to spend points on, and Forever gave it Arcane Meditation at 50% mana regeneration while casting (Classic gave 3%), which is what makes it a levelling spec at all.
Fire is playable but slower, for a specific reason rather than a vague one: its payoff talents sit at tiers 4 to 7 — levels 25 to 40 — and it needs a critical strike rate you only get from level-60 gear.
One correction worth carrying: Mage area damage has no target cap and no damage falloff in Forever, contrary to a persistent belief. The slows attached to it were cut hard, though — Improved Blizzard maxes at 40%, down from Classic's 65%.
Is Mage for you?
Play Mage if you want the fastest kills in the game and can accept that two enemies at once is an emergency.
Levelling milestones
| Level | What you get |
|---|---|
| 1 | Fireball, Frost Armor, Arcane Intellect — now 1 hour |
| 4 | Frostbolt, Conjure Water |
| 6 | Fire Blast, Conjure Food, and Comprehend Scroll plus the Study skill — new in Forever |
| 8 | Arcane Missiles, Polymorph |
| 10 | Frost Nova — your first real control |
| 14 | Arcane Explosion — first area power spike |
| 16 | Flamestrike — second |
| 20 | Blink, Evocation, Blizzard, Mana Shield, and the four capital teleports |
| 24 | Counterspell |
| 28 | Conjure Mana Agate |
| 30 | Ice Armor |
| 34 | Mage Armor — now returns 50% of regeneration while casting, was 30% |
| 40 | The four portals, Frostfire Bolt, new, mount |
| 50 | Teleport: Dalaran, new |
Detect Magic is the only Mage spell deleted in Forever. Frostfire Bolt is checked against the lower of the target's frost and fire resistance and counts as both schools, which may make it replace Fireball outright for a fire mage.
Which race
Alliance — Human or Gnome. Human's Sword Specialization is +2% spell and ability crit off a sword held purely as a stat stick, which is a real change to the vanilla answer — though compare it honestly against a staff with better stats, because at levelling levels the staff often wins. Gnome brings Expansive Mind and the new Eureka!.
Horde — Orc is new to Mage in Forever, and Blood Fury now gives +10% spell power, so it is finally a caster racial. Its axe racial is dead weight, since Mages cannot use axes.
Skyborne Mage is Alliance-only. Troll's Berserking is now a flat +10% cast speed, and Undead's Cannibalize restores mana as well as health.
Quality of life
- Conjured water is the biggest advantage you have. Free drink from level 4, upgrading through the gem ladder. A Mage that buys water is wasting money.
- Teleports come from a separate portal trainer standing near your class trainer, and every teleport consumes a Rune of Teleportation at about nine and a half silver. Slow Fall eats a Light Feather per cast — carry a stack of both.
- Pick up books from level 6. Forever's new Research system unlocks from finding books in the world and returning them to librarians, and it pays real gear — a ring for twenty book donations, and a pendant from its quest. Failing to decipher a scroll turns you into a sheep until your skill improves.
- Get a wand early and use it instead of Fire Blast.
What changed from Classic
| Change | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Ice Lance added as an 11-point Frost talent | Freezing things is now a damage engine, not just an escape |
| Arcane Blast and Hot Streak added | Arcane became a genuine levelling tree |
| Area damage is barely changed, but the slows were cut hard | Improved Blizzard is 40–45% at max rank, down from 65%. Kiting needs more room |
| Mage area damage has no target cap | Bigger pulls are strictly better, if you survive them |
| Molten Armor and Detect Magic absent | The armours are Frost, Ice and Mage |
| Research, scrolls and Comprehension added at 6 | An entirely new system, easy to miss |
Mage Armor returns 50% regen while casting | Was 30% |
At level 60
Unknown. No source publishes a Mage build past 30, so whether Arcane's new engine holds up, whether Fire takes over once Pyroblast is usable, and how far the scroll system goes are all untested. Raids open 9 December.