The Mage is one of the strongest DPS casters in the game. Even with its array of spells and magic which can deal some serious damage against mobs and other players, the only drawback I can see with the Mage is the relatively higher down time.
Dominate the Battlegrounds
That%26#8217;s me in second place in Alterac Valley with 26 kills and just one death, after using this PVP guide which detailed offensive and defensive class specific tactics. I practically just melted everyone with my lightning bolts and chain lightnings. Most of my kills are in 1v1 action by the way. Click here to check out the PVP guide.
%26#8220;Downtime%26#8221; is defined as the time it takes for your character to recover before killing (an)other mob(s). When you%26#8217;re leveling a Mage, you%26#8217;ll notice that there are times when you just have to sit down and drink your conjured food and drink.
That is the only down side I can see. The Mage can easily wipe out several mobs because of its crowd control capabilities coupled with high DPS.
What talent Spec?
Players have debated about this since time immemorial, but I see a lot of Mages spec frost until they get to level 40 or 60 in which they mix in some Arcane and Fire talents for maximum DPS. Under frost you do have what I call insurance policies which prevent you from dying: i) ice block ii) frost nova iii) that pesky water elemental that does frost nova and dps as well. Also, spec-ing frost will actually save you a ton of Mana, so you have, at least theoretically, less down time because you%26#8217;ll be drinking less to fill up your mana bar.
Here%26#8217;s a sample frost spec until level 40.
After this get the Water Elemental talent and it%26#8217;s up to you to get some of the talent points from Arcane or Fire which suit your playing style the most.
What Stats?
For leveling there are only two stats to focus on: i) Intellect and ii) Stamina.
Intellect will increase your mana pool and your ability to get deal critical strike damage (which of course is a big bonus for increasing your DPS even momentarily) For players below level 60 do not focus yet on +spell damage gear as they will become readily available as quest rewards in the Outlands.
Stamina is just second because you just want to make sure that you have enough HP to keep yourself from getting %26#8220;one-shotted%26#8221; and decrease your trips from the graveyard to your poor frail Mage body.
Other stats to focus on are: spell critical rating, spell hit rating, spell penetration. Spell hit rating and spell penetration and spell hit will lower the chance of mobs and other players from %26#8220;resisting%26#8221; your spells while spell critical rating will increase your chances of doing some mega %26#8220;crit%26#8221; damage.
Mages in Action
Here are videos of mages in action. You%26#8217;ll see both Fire and Frost specs:
World PVP Fire Mage
Here%26#8217;s a sample of a frost mage AOE grinding. This guy really knows what he%26#8217;s doing. Gather all mobs, then AOE them to death. You can quest this way and level a lot faster too.