Pyrobast!!! The ins and outs of Mages.

There is a little bit of information that might make your life a bit easier when it comes to playing a mage in the TBC timeframe.

Talent Specialization and Ability Rotations

As a TBC mage there are many specs but there is 1 current one that beats all and that is Arcane/fire 40/21/0 and it out dps's others by far in comparison due to the high sustained damage of the fire tree paired with the burst and extra spellpower of the arcane tree here is a link to the spec.

As you see in the spec you go into arcane to maximize possible damage and mana  regen because you will need it for most raids but we do not spec into Arcane Potency because it does not work at this moment if it were ever to be fixed you should take out the filler points from prismatic cloak and 1 from magic attunement. As for the first side of the tree we basically go just far enough for the fire essentials to have max dps and dont put points in pvp talents for  example dragons breath or blastwave because they are not viable sources of damage for raid bosses though the major weakness to this  spec is you need 14% Hit to have max hit with a spreist or boomkin hit buff so keep in mind to either have a dual box boomkin or have a boomkin freind or else you will need 17% hit because we get nothing from talents. Next is the rotation for the begining of the fight ( the end of the fight is complex and i will explain this later in the guide in the section Ignite and You) As A fire mage you must start out with scorchx5 and maybe more if your not hit capped make sure you have your 5 stacks on and form then on you will cast aproximitely depending on haste fireball x6-8 untill you need to renew scorch and it is pretty simple that is all you will cast no fireblasts unless you are moving and you will pop cooldowns only after you have your scorch stacks x5 and  you will pop them in this order -  scorchstack x5>AP>possible trinket 1>possible trinket 2>PoM>Pyro>fireball x7 ( or untill scorch renew) Remember to synergize this when the shaman will bloodlust and do not pop this untill the boss is under 90% or else you may pull aggro and i will explain this later in the guide.

Viable Gems Enchants and Consumables

As a dps you will want to max out your damage in anyway possible so that's where gems enchants and consumables come into play.

To start out with we will look at the various gems that you can use it depends on your current gear set for example for a starting mage with low hit you will want to use all 10+ hit gems for a mage that has full hit you will want to socket 14+ spell power or critical strike depending on how geared you are you essentially want a crit rating to max so that would be 70% if you are absolutely max geared your best bet is to socket critical strike. as for meta gems hands down the Mystical skyfire diamond is the best and remember you do not need its set bonus to get its haste proc. Now for enchants this will be breif because they are simple. For your weapon you will want Sunfire, for your head enchant you will need Shatar rep so have a freind run you through Botanica for it, For you leg enchant Runic spellthread is the best for your gloves get  +15 hit rating, for you  cloak get +20 spell penetration,, for your chest grab +6 stats,and lastly for your bracers get + 15 spell damage.. Now to consumables as a mage you will want the Flask of Pure Death and make sure to have many mana injectors on yourself for boss fights unfortunately unless your very geared you cannot use haste pots you will need the mana. Now for Food Buffs for mages who are undergeared Spicy Hot Talbuk is the best and it is a recipe drop from the Crate of Meat from Lower city daily quests. for higher geared mages Blackened Basilisk is from an inkeeper from Terrokar forrest. 

A Mages Duty

As a mage you have duty's such as Making water for healers, on certain boss fights determining to give amplify magic to the healers  or the tank ( if the boss is all physical damage ) or dampen magic to certain group members, as well as buffing your group with intellect and most importantly getting every curse off of every raid member and being able to prioritize who do dispell first depending on the debuff. These are all rules essential to be considered useful because any class can dps, if you do not do all of these things you are failing as your class and re-roll because these are some of your main use's. However when these are not in play your job is to blow up the boss without a doubt and play smart iceblocking debuffs when healing is tight / fireward and frost warding yourself to help healers on certain boss fights and if need be mana shield ( in instances that are not WE because you instantly  spawn back so don't mana shield or u will just be alive with a low mana pool).

Ignite and You

Ignite is a very complex spell because each time you crit you do 40% of the spell damage over time but if you crit while the buff is still active it will refresh the buff and add to the spell power so 'proper' ignite management and assumes pretty much that every fireball will deliver its ignite dmg. In other words, it ignores the possibility of the boss dying before your ignites have had the time to run their full course. As a contention point there are many strategies for managing that, which are being somewhat contested. The possible options are roughly AB spam, AM, scorch and fireblast for the final 3-5s of a fight (in a context where you do not know how much time is left on a boss and yet have a huge buildup ignite). You know its somewhere between 0s left before boss dies and 5s. This also deals with travel time due to an indirect effect, basically, you want to avoid casts with travel time at that point in time because you want to be sure to maximize how much dmg you can deal given an unknown future. I believe only 1.5s casts should be used for that context, but again, this is debatable. Personally I finish fights with scorch/fireblast spam as a mechanism to lower this, but the practice is very much debatable but it will increase your dps to stop firespells and let ignite run off at 3% for a huge amount of damage.

Threat the Death of The Fire Mage

As a fire mage you should wait to dps untill the boss is at 95% preferably but you can start at 97% just don't go balls to the wall or you most likely will pull aggro from the tank because to be honest if you don't know the MT is skilled at threat generation you may need wait the 5% cause dying is never good for dps but if you think you are getting high on threat pop invis to reset threat or if u pull aggro iceblock so the tank can re taunt.

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Enchanting: Getting from 1 to 375.

Enchanting is a very useful profession. Everyone that wants to do their best needs enchants. You can not only make gold enchanting items for people or disenchanting items for people, but you get to enchant you own gear for nothing. Huge money saver! Now lets get down to it....

This guide will show you how to get your enchanting skill up from 1 to 375. The guide will only use recipe's available at a trainer until 265 and vendor available recipe's from 265 to 300. This guide only uses recipes that require components acquired through disenchanting. Shards will be avoided as much as possible, since they are difficult to get. It does not tell you how to get all the different recipe's from quests, vendors or drops. What you do once you hit 300 is entirely up to you.


Dust and Essence:
Generally the dust is from armor and the essence is from weapons, though it can randomly be anything.

Level 01-10: A little strange dust/lesser magic essence.
Level 11-15: Much strange dust/greater magic essence.
Level 16-20: Much strange dust/lesser astral essence.
Level 21-25: Little soul dust/greater astral essence.
Level 26-30: Much soul dust/lesser mystic essence.
Level 31-35: Little vision dust/greater mystic essence.
Level 36-40: Much vision dust/lesser nether essence.
Level 41-45: Little dream dust/greater nether essence.
Level 46-50: Much dream dust/lesser eternal essence.
Level 51-55: Little illusion dust/greater eternal essence.
Level 56-60: Much illusion dust/greater eternal essence.


Shards:
Shards come from blue or purple items (they can come from greens, but don't count on it).

Level 01-20: Small glimmering.
Level 21-25: Large glimmering.
Level 26-30: Small glowing.
Level 31-35: Large glowing.
Level 36-40: Small radiant.
Level 41-45: Large radiant.
Level 46-50: Small brilliant.
Level 51-60: Large brilliant.


Now If you are a max level character, you can simply run dungeons to farm items to disenchant. If you are leveling as you level enchanting, You should simply disenchant every single item that you can that is not a really good upgrade. This will get you most if not all of your materials since green and blue items drop from pretty much everything as you are questing or running dungeons.

To learn recipe's from a trainer costs gold. The amount of gold needed is aproximately 20 to 25 gold if you disenchant all of the dust, essences and shards. If you want to buy everything you need from the auction house expect to spend upwards to 1000 gold (including the arcanite rod). This does not include gold for recipe's from vendors or the auction house.

To enchant something requires runed rods, such as a runed silver rod. To make those runed rods you need normal rods. For example; to make a runed silver rod you need a silver rod. The following rods are needed; copper rod, silver rod, golden rod, truesilver rod and arcanite rod. The copper rod is sold by vendors and the other rods are made by blacksmiths. Find a blacksmith who can make the rods for you or check the auction house and get them. The arcanite rod is expensive. Making a runed arcanite rod is also expensive. Since it is not needed for this guide, but only for the highlevel enchants, you may want to postpone getting one if you are strapped for gold.



This is a condensed version of Ithilian's excellent Enchanting guide. 

1 - 2 
Runed Copper Rod (1 x Copper Rod, 1 x Strange Dust, 1 x Lesser Magic Essence) x 1

2 - 75 
Enchant Bracer - Minor Health (1 x Strange Dust) x 74

75 - 85 
Enchant Bracer - Minor Deflection (1 x Lesser Magic Essence, 1 x Strange Dust) x 10

85 - 100
Enchant Bracer - Minor Stamina (3 x Strange Dust) x 15

100 - 101 
Runed Silver Rod (1 x Silver Rod, 6 x Strange Dust, 3 x Greater Magic Essence, 1 x Shadowgem) x 1

101 - 105 
Enchant Bracer - Minor Stamina (3 x Strange Dust) x 5

105 - 120 
Enchant Bracer - Minor Agility (2 x Strange Dust, 1 x Greater Magic Essence) x 15

120 - 130 
Enchant Shield - Minor Stamina (1 x Lesser Astral Essence, 2 x Strange Dust) x 10

130 - 150 
Enchant Bracer - Lesser Stamina (2 x Soul Dust) x 25

150 - 151 
Runed Golden Rod (1 x Golden rod, 1 x Iridescent Pearl, 2 x Greater Astral Essence, 2 x Soul Dust) x 1

151 - 160 
Enchant Bracer - Lesser Stamina (2 x Soul Dust) x 9

160 - 165 
Enchant Shield - Lesser Stamina (1 x Lesser Mystic Essence, 1 x Soul Dust) x 5

165 - 180 
Enchant Bracer - Spirit (1 x Lesser Mystic Essence) x 15

180 - 200 
Enchant Bracer - Strength (1 x Vision Dust) x 20

200 - 201 
Runed Truesilver Rod (1 x Truesilver Rod, 1 x Black Pearl, 2 x Greater Mystic Essence, 2 x Vision Dust) x 1

201 - 205 
Enchant Bracer - Strength (1 x Vision Dust) x 4

205 - 225 
Enchant Cloak - Greater Defense (3 x Vision Dust) x 20

225 - 235 
Enchant Gloves - Agility (1 x Lesser Nether Essence, 1 x Vision Dust) x 10

235 - 245 
Enchant Chest - Superior Health (6 x Vision Dust) x 10

245 - 265 
Enchant Bracer - Greater Strength (2 x Dream Dust, 1 x Greater Nether Essence) x 20

265 - 290 
Enchant Shield - Greater Stamina (10 x Dream Dust) x 25
or
Enchant Boots: Greater Stamina (10 x Dream Dust) x 25 (suggested by Subsolver as an alternative, as this recipe seems fairly common on the AH)

290 - 291 
Runed Arcanite Rod (1 x Arcanite Rod, 1 x Golden Pearl, 10 x Illusion Dust, 4 x Greater Eternal Essence, 4 x Small Brilliant Shard, 2 x Large Brilliant Shard) x 1

291 - 300
Enchant Cloak - Superior Defense (8 x Illusion Dust) x 9





Getting from 1 to 50

The first rod needed is the runed copper rod. So make a runed copper rod to get your first skill point.
Disenchanting items will get you a skill point. Send the green items you stored on a storage character to your main and disenchant them..

If you were not able to reach 50 with disenchanting, enchant a bracer with minor health to get to skill 50. You can enchant the same bracer over and over again. An annoying window will pop up each time asking if you are sure to overwrite the existing enchant. Just click yes to do so.

Once you hit 50 talk to the appropriate trainer to become Journeyman Enchanter. You have to be level 10 to become Journeyman Enchanter.





Getting from 50 to 125

Enchant the bracer some more with minor health to get to 75. Now enchant the bracer with minor deflection to get to 85.

Enchant a bracer with minor stamina to get to 100.

At 100 you can make a runed silver rod, which you need later on, so make one now and get a skill point.

Enchant the bracer some more with minor stamina to get to 105, a bracer with minor agility to get to 120 and a shield with minor stamina to get to 125..

Once you hit 125 talk to the appropriate trainer to become Expert Enchanter. You have to be level 20 to become Expert Enchanter.





Getting from 125 to 225

Enchant the shield some more with minor stamina to get to 130. Enchant a bracer with lesser stamina to get to 150.

At 150 you can make a runed golden rod, which you need later on, so make one now and get a skill point.

Enchant a bracer with lesser stamina to get to 160. Enchant a shield with lesser stamina or boots with lesser agility to get to 165. Enchant a bracer with spirit to get to 185 and a bracer with strength to get to 200.

Allthough you can become artisan enchanter once you hit 200 it is better to max to 225 first, since the trainer for artisan enchanter is inside an instance. I will get back on this in the next chapter. You have to be level 35 to become Artisan Enchanter.

At 200 you can make a runed truesilver rod, which you need later on, so make one now and get a skill point.

Enchant a bracer with strength some more to get to 205 and a cloak with greater defense to get to 225.





Getting from 225 to 265

At 225 you have to become artisan enchanter to get any further. The master enchanter that teaches artisan enchanting is inside Uldaman. The highest level recipe she trains needs 250 skill, so you want to bring enough material to get to 250.

Once you reach the trainer talk to her to become artisan enchanter. Once you're artisan enchanter enchant gloves with agility to get to 235, a chest item with superior health to get to 245 and a bracer with greater strength to get to 250. Once you have trained all the recipe's she can train you, you can leave the instance.

Enchant the bracer some more with greater strength to get to 265.
Although you can get to 270 before the last recipe you train from a trainer becomes yellow, I am not going to use that recipe since it requires wildvine. Wildvine is a herb and can not be aquired through disenchanting. The recipe also uses shards and i want to minimize the use of shards as much as possible. Vendor available recipe's are going to be used to get to 300.





Getting from 265 to 300

Get the enchant shield - greater stamina recipe from Mythrin'dir in Darnassus or Daniel Bartlett in Undercity and enchant a shield with greater stamina to get to 290. The recipe is bind on pickup when bought so make sure you buy it yourself and not an alt, friend or guild member.

At 290 you can make a runed arcanite rod, although you don't need one to get to 300, you are going to need one in your enchanting career anyway, so make one now and get a skill point. You can get the runed arcanite rod recipe from Lorelae Wintersong in Moonglade.

Get the enchant cloak - superior defense from Lorelae Wintersong in Moonglade and enchant a cloak with superior defense to get to 300.

Congratulations, you now have 300 skill in enchanting..





Enchanting 300 to 375

300 - 301 
Runed Fel Iron Rod (1 x Fel Iron Rod, 4 x Greater Eternal Essence, 6 x Large Brilliant Shard, 1 x Runed Arcanite Rod) x 1

301 - 305 
Enchant Cloak - Superior Defense (8 x Illusion Dust) x 7

305 - 315 
Enchant Bracers - Assault or Brawn (6 x Arcane Dust) x 10

315 - 325
Enchant Cloak - Major Armour or Enchant Gloves - Assault (8 x Arcane Dust) x 10

325 - 335 
Enchant Chest - Major Spirit (2 x Greater Planar Essence) x 10

335 - 340 
Enchant Shield - Major Stamina (15 x Arcane Dust) x 5

340 - 345 
Superior Wizard Oil (3 x Arcane Dust, 1 x Nightmare Vine, 1 x Imbued Vial) x 10

345 - 350
Enchant Gloves - Major Strength (12 x Arcane Dust, 1 x Greater Planar Essence) x 5

350 - 351 
Runed Adamantite Rod (1 x Adamantite Rod, 8 x Greater Planar Essence, 8 x Large Prismatic Shard, 1 x Primal Might, 1 x Runed Fel Iron Rod) x 1

351 - 360 
Enchant Gloves - Major Strength (12 x Arcane Dust, 1 x Greater Planar Essence) x 15

360 - 370 
Enchant Ring - Striking (8 x Large Prismatic Shard, 24 x Arcane Dust) x 10 (requires Constortium Revered rep)

370 - 375 
Enchant Ring - Healing Power (8 x Large Prismatic Shard, 10 x Greater Planar Essence, 20 x Arcane Dust) x 5 (requires Sha'tar revered rep)


Approximate Materials Required 

1 x Fel Iron Rod
4 x Greater Eternal Essence
6 x Large Brilliant Shard
1 x Runed Arcanite Rod
56 x Illusion Dust
645 x Arcane Dust
96 x Greater Planar Essence
10 x Nightmare Vine
10 x Imbued Vial
1 x Adamantite Rod
128 x Large Prismatic Shards
1 x Primal Might


Hope this makes it easy for you to level up enchanting. Don't forget to check out the other guildes posted on this site for other professions.

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