leveling your mage from 1-20 [ENG]

O.K. So you are already to play the Mage class. Let's get started!

The first thing you want to do is open your inventory and right click on the scroll, or other object that will open the quest window on the left side of the screen and give you your first quest. Accept the quest and look on your minimap, you should see a small yellow dot. This dot represents the NPC that you talk too to complete your first quest.(You may have to walk a little ways, but just starting off the quest NPC is usually very close to your starting location)

For future reference, anytime you see a little yellow dot on your minimap this is the location of an NPC that you have completed a quest for. When you get to level 5 you may take a trade skill, which may also show you little yellow dots on the minimap, these will either represent a "mine node" (if you have the skill "mining")that can be mined or a "herb plant"(if you have the skill "herbalism") that can be harvested.

Leveling 1-4

This will go by extremely quickly and in most cases will take roughly 30 to 45 minutes. Get any and all quests from any NPC that has a yellow explanation point above its head. The spells you will have at lvl 1-4 are:

Frost Armor Rank 1
Requires: 60 Mana
Instant cast
Increases armor by 20. If an enemy strikes the caster, they may have their movement slowed to 50% and attacks slowed by 20%. Lasts 30 minutes.

Fireball Rank 1
Requires: 30 Mana
1.5 second cast
30 yard range
Efficiency: 0.67 average damage per mana
Hurls a fiery ball that causes 14 to 22 fire damage and an additional 2 damage over 4 seconds.

Arcane Intellect Rank 1
Requires: 60 Mana
Instant cast
30 yard range
Increases the target's Intellect by 3 for 30 minutes.

Frost Armor should always be "on" as this raises your armor class, Arcane Intellect should also always be "on" as this raises your INT, thereby increasing your spell damage. Fireball is the spell that you will "pull" with.

Approach a "mob" and as you approach you will see that the numbered box that your fireball spell is in will turn from red to white, this means that the mob is in range for your spell. If the spell "Fireball" is not on your hotbar you will have to open your "abilities" page and left click to drag the icon to a place on your hotbar so that you may use it.

Ok, so at this point, the mob is in range. What I do is right click the mob, this puts you into "combat mode" if the mob is in range you will swing at the mob with whatever weapon you have equipped, but hopefully the mob is still a little distance away so that you may cast fireball to damage it. Once you do this the mob will come to you to do battle.(At the lower levels you will only experience the "melee" type mob's later on you will face mobs that once you cast a spell on them they will start casting spells on you!)

Once you cast fireball you will see the "timing bar" start to fill when the bar is fully filled the spell will be casted, IMMEDIATELY click the spell again so that you may start another fireball spell. In most cases you will be able to get off 2-3 spells before the mob actually gets close enough to hit you. If the mob is in melee with you and you try to cast a spell the mob may hit you, if that happens your bar will "jump back" and the spell will attempt to continue casting.

At the lower levels after the mob gets within melee range just whack him with your weapon a few times and he should die. A little trick on casting spells... some spells when you get higher level have a "cooldown" time so you cannot keep casting over and over again, however at the lower levels wait until you see the green bar hit the end of the line and click again, do not wait for the bar to fill and disappear, click it as soon as the bar is filled this gives you about a .1 - .2 seconds of advantage over other players that simply wait until the bar disappears. By now you should be getting to level 4........

Leveling 4-6

At level 4 you can buy the following skills:

Conjure water Rank 1
Requires: 60 Mana
3 second cast
Conjures 2 bottles of water, providing the Mage and his or her allies with something to drink. Conjured items disappear if logged out for more than 15 minutes.

Frostbolt Rank 1
Requires: 25 Mana
1.5 second cast
30 yard range
Efficiency: 0.76 average damage per mana
Launches a bolt of frost at the enemy, causing 18 to 20 frost damage and slowing movement speed for 5 seconds.

O.K. things change now, the conjure water spell allows you to create your own water. As a Mage you should NEVER buy a "drink" or "food" from a vendor as you can create your own free of charge.(You get "create food" at lvl 6)

At this point, do not pull with your fireball spell any longer. Now place your "Frostbolt" icon where your fireball icon used to be and move your fireball icon 1 space to the right.

Now approach a mob, when you see the number on the hotbar change from red to white for your Frostbolt spell cast Frostbolt at the mob, as soon as the bar is filled, cast fireball, and keep casting fireball until the mob is within melee range, then whack him with your weapon.

Continue on to level 6, at level 6 you will most likely leave the "noob" town and make your way to another town to get new quests and higher level mobs. Up to now when you see a mob it was most likely yellow which means that these will not attack you if you get too close, however if see a mob that is red then this mob will attack you if you get to close, this is commonly called "aggro". Be careful!

Leveling 6-8

At level 6 you may buy the following skills:

Conjure Food Rank 1
Requires: 60 Mana
3 second cast
Conjures 2 muffins, providing the Mage and his or her allies with something to eat. Conjured items disappear if logged out for more than 15 minutes.

Fireblast Rank 1
Requires: 40 Mana
Instant cast
8 second cooldown
20 yard range
Efficiency: 0.73 average damage per mana
Blasts the enemy with fire for 25 to 33 fire damage.

Fireball Rank 2
Requires: 45 Mana
2 second cast
35 yard rage
Efficiency: 0.91 average damage per mana
Hurls a fiery ball that causes 31 to 45 fire damage to the enemy and an additional 3 damage over 6 seconds.

Again things change a little, replace the spell "fireball rank 1" on your hotbar with "fireball rank 2" and add the spell "Fireblast rank 1" to the hotbar space right of your spell "fireball rank 2". Now when you approach a mob, cast your Frostbolt, then 1 or 2 fireballs and when the mob is in melee range, click on Fireblast. Fireblast is an "instant cast" spell, there is no "spell bar" to fill up, when you click it, it is cast instantly.

By now you should be pretty familiar with the quest system as well as knowing what level mobs you can handle. It has been my playing experience that you should only kill mobs your level or 1-2 levels higher as anything else is going to cause a "mana dump" and a possible death, and you will find that the exp is not worth it at all, after you figure in the risk and the downtime needed to recover from the mana dumping. Also if you are going to take any trade skills get them now, even if you have to take some time to walk to your nearest capitol,(which is pretty close to you now, regardless which race you have chosen) You can get your 2 main tradeskills at lvl 5.

Leveling 8-10
At Level 8 you may buy the following skills:

Arcane Missiles Rank 1
Requires: 85 Mana
Instant cast
30 yard range
Efficiency: 0.85 damage per mana
Launches Arcane Missiles at the enemy, causing 24 damage per second for 3 seconds.

Polymorph Rank 1
Requires: 60 Mana
1.5 second cast
30 yard range
Transforms the enemy into a sheep, forcing it to wander around for up to 20 seconds. While wandering, the sheep cannot attack or cast spells, but will regenerate very quickly. Any damage will transform the target back into its normal form. Only one target can be polymorphed at a time. Only works on Beasts, Dragons, Giants, Humanoids, and Critters.

Frostbolt Rank 2
Requires: 35 Mana
1.8 second cast
30 yard range
Efficiency: 0.97 average damage per mana
Launches a bolt of frost at the enemy, causing 31 to 35 frost damage and slowing movement speed for 6 seconds.

O.K. At level 8 you want to replace your Frostbolt rank 1 with Frostbolt rank 2, I would also put "Arcane Missiles" on my hotbar to the right of Fireblast, and put "Polymorph" on my hotbar all the way to the right as this is your "emergency" spell.

If at any time(and this will happen) you find yourself in a losing battle or you got more then 1 mob when you pulled, you can cast Polymorph on a Beast, Dragon, Giant, Humanoid, or a Critter. This will turn the mob into a sheep, do not cast a spell or whack on the sheep as this will cancel the spell, while the mob is in sheep form they will regenerate health at a very high rate so when it comes out of sheep form, count on it having a full health bar. This spell DOES work in PvP and is very funny... Arcane missiles is a little misleading as although this is an "instant" cast spell it is a "channeling" spell so you must stand there while the green bar fills and the spell does damage if you want the full effect.

By now you should have visited your capitol or have a quest that leads you to your capitol for your race. As a side note you cannot sell conjured food or water, yes I already tried... At level 10-11 you will most likely leave the level 5-10 "area" and be sent on a quest to visit a new location, this is also the level at which you may be introduced to your first "elite" quest. Elite quests are not meant to be done solo and no you cannot solo an "elite" mob that is your same level in most cases. I believe Bliz did this to encourage "grouping" after level 10 if you so desire. You can easily tell an "elite" mob from a normal mob by the word "elite" in the mobs name or the wreath around the mobs pic when you left click it. You can safely left click a mob to get info however if you right click it then you enter combat mode with that mob.

Leveling 10-12

At level 10 you may buy the following skills:

Frost Armor Rank 2
Requires: 125 Mana
Instant cast
Increases armor by 40. If an enemy strikes the caster, they may have their movement speed slowed to 50% and attacks slowed by 20%. Lasts 30 minutes.

Frost Nova Rank 1
Requires: 55 Mana
Instant cast
15 second cooldown
Efficiency: 0.36 average damage per mana times the number of targets
Blasts enemies near the caster for 19 to 21 cold damage and freezes them in place for up to 10 seconds.

Conjure Water Rank 2
Requires: 105 Mana
3 second cast
Conjures 2 bottles of fresh water, providing the Mage and his or her allies with something to drink. Conjured items disappear if logged out for more than 15 minutes.

At level 10 you want to replace Frost Armor 1 with Frost Armor 2 and replace Conjure Water 1 with Conjure water 2. You also get a new spell Frost Nova, this spell is another "emergency" spell as it is an instant cast spell and basically freezes or roots a mob in its location, you may continue to cast damage dealing spells at the mob, but this also increase the chances that the mob will break free early.

At this point, you should understand the basics of leveling a Mage, and at the capitol city you should also find your "bank" as this has numerous "slots" to store your items, before storing items see if you can "stack" them by dragging one item over the top of another items of the same type. Stackable items include: potions, food, water, crafting materials, and crafting supplies. Also depending on which type of server you are playing on PvP or PvE you may start to see enemies from the other "realm." From level 10-20 the basics of the game and the mobs start to take you out of the "noobness" and into the full game, expect to fight "caster" mobs, "bow and arrow" mobs and mobs that will give you poison, stuns, or other negative status effects. You may also want to open your "social" window and flag yourself as "looking for a group" if that is a style of play that you desire.

Talents, now you do not want to be like every other Mage right? That's where Talents come in, these are skills, and/or skill adds that make you different from every other Mage, see below...

These are your Mage skills:



This is your Mage Talents:



This is a character creator you can use, to create your character from level 1 to 60be advised that this is not working yet but will be available in the future)