World Of Warcraft Cataclysm Frost Mage, From Good To Great

Frost mage, what can I say? In my most humble opinion, is not only awesome, but an extremely fun class to play in the game World of Warcraft (WoW)! I have been playing WoW since it was released in 2004, and have been playing mage as my main character for the past 3 years. With the latest Cataclysm expansion, frost mage has never been more fun, in both PvP and PvE.

Playing frost is like a constant spazzed out experience with tons of instant casts and procs, while getting away from trouble (as in cannot be killed easily). First off, the damage, you do not cast spells in rotations repetitively. It is about having casts and spells set as a series of priorities. Here is a sample list of priorities that I like, from highest to lowest: frostbolt, freeze from the water elemental pet, ice lance, frostfire bolt, deep freeze, frostfire orb, and cold snap. On top of these priorities are procs and bonuses, where the player reacts to them immediately using the appropriate priorities. So, imagine having back to back procs and seeing huge 5-6 digit crits (which is quite exciting), followed by another few procs (accompanied by muscle spasm and total twitch gameplay), then top it off with an unexpected 6-digit crit (that makes you jump out of your seat)! Personally, I have critted over 125k! While the adrenaline is rushing in, the mage needs to be controlled to maximize on its survivability. Here’s a no brainer, the longer the mage is alive, the more damage it can do, and the more players it can take out; hence, more fun!

Yes, you can find spell rotations and priorities all over the web, but the critical component, the glue, to make it all work is having fast reaction time. In other words, the faster you can react to the procs or close encounters, the more you can maximize and benefit from what a mage can give. I used to be what is known as a “clicker” where I literally click on the spells that I want to cast. More specifically, I would click on my target, click on a spell (e.g. 1 for frost bolt), and use the keys (W, A, S, and D) to move around. Oftentimes, I wondered how someone ninja’ed my killing blow in a battleground when I am spam clicking on ice lance, or an AOE. Finally, I learned about keybinds and macros, where this combination helps players to not click on targets or spells. Instead, keybinds and macros allow the player to use the keyboard only. After I started to use keybinds and macros more, I started to play my frost mage like a pro just by reducing my reaction time significantly. My priorities, procs, etc. all remained the same, but what a huge difference to use keybinds and macros! One of the biggest changes in my WoW gameplay is that I win (no, not by clicking on the “I win” button) as in I win arenas majority of the time, and I own the dps meter in raids most of the time. I have to admit, winning definitely enhanced my WoW gameplay experience. Face it, who doesn’t like to win? WoW is a totally new game now that I can play like a pro and I experience just how awesome frost mages are!