photo credit: Idhren

I bring this up because this last weekend I started playing Aion.  A very nice game that I have high hopes for, but its probably the first MMO that I am actually interested in a bit of the lore; I even went so far as to read some of the important quest text.  Its shocking yes, but they really did do a good job making the player feel like they are not just a drop of water in an ocean; which is worthy of recognition in itself.  Unfortunately, Aion suffers from the unique name dilemma so while I am trying to rescue the damsel from a horde of black winged bandits I am constantly running into ‘XXSlayerXX’ or ‘RoGeGardian’ and that is just terrible from an immersion perspective.

But what can be done about it?  After all, a lot depends on character names.  PMs, brokers, mail, friend lists, etc etc.  Obviously a new system has to enhance game play, not restrict it.  I propose a system where each character is assigned a unique number, not a name, which can be used for all these means of communication with just a little extra effort on the programmers side.

To illustrate my concept I will run through a few normal MMO actions and highlight how this idea works in comparison to the character name.

Auctions

This is the easiest, when a character posts an item you simply register the item with the character id instead of the character name.  All transactions, searches, bids, use the character id instead of the name.  A really simple swap out in this instance.

PMs

Probably the first problem that would come to your mind.  Obviously having to type /tell 00283023 to talk to a player would be murder on your player base.  PMs can be handled nicely, it just takes a little more work and polish out of the box.  For instance, to talk to someone who made a comment in the chat window, just click on their name and reply.  The reply would pull the character number from the chat window so the player would see the character name but actually be replying using his number.  Now, if you want to type up a pm to someone you met in an instance but did not befriend, things get a little more complicated.  Lets say for the sake of argument that you remember his character name and you wish to send him a message.

There are two solutions I can think of off the top of my head.  First, typing /tell William will bring up a list of all ‘Williams’ in the world sorted by last interaction.  Meaning if he met William during a live event the previous night, that William would be listed above a William he met out in the plains last week.  For this to work players would need to keep record of the players they meet and timestamps, not impossible but not very practical.

My next solution would be to improve the friend system to be more intelligent.  Instead of storing a list of people the player manually types in, it could store a list of acquaintances that the player has met over time.  It could list people he met, ordered by zones, time spent with the person, number of interactions with the person, etc.  This way the player would build a network of contacts in the world without having to manually type in their names or numbers.  These two systems not only improve the experience for the player, but also improve immersion since this is normally how people relate to each other.  I can think of five different ‘Chris’s I know, but when attempting to address one I use the social path that has been created between us.  My social network determines the means to communicate.

Mail

Another tricky problem which can be gracefully solved by an expansion on the friend list concept I wrote about above.  When the player tries to send mail he can browse his social network for a contact to send mail to.  This is a good time to mention that chatting with another player would make a new network with that person.  This includes someone chatting in general, city, trade, whatever.  To model those interactions a network of recent chat messages would be displayed for the player to pick out the appropriate recipient.

Groups / Raids

Most groups and raids are formed by pm messages or chat window invites.  Since we have already established that in the chat window a name is really a character id handing invite requests is as easy as opening a new pm.

A final note about the new social system.  Updating and management does not need to be left completely to the program.  With a new friends system comes a completely different way of interacting with players in the world.  Players should be able to modify their networks, add people to groups, tag communities of links.  I have more than once wished to have a system where I could tag players or organize relationships by specific words.  Not wishing to come off as an elitist but I am sure more than one of you have wanted to tag someone ‘noob’, ‘idiot’, or  ‘can’t play his class.’  With a more friendly social network system you could organize your contacts, including all the people you no longer want to interact with into a group.  Then when they say something in chat, send you a pm, invite you to a raid, you will have fair warning.

When all is said and done I am really advocating a new type of system for interacting with players in an online world.  One built on networks of links instead of a simple one dimensional friends list.

But enough about that, I learned quite a few things from this game, and I would like to share some of the more practical lessons. I have compiled a mage ‘guide’ that I believe might just be the most comprehensive on the internet, concerning addons, macros, and gear tips anyway. You will still have to read elitistjerks to learn how to play your class.

I was the mage officer for my guild and so I had a big thread that detailed what I expected each mage to do, and various tips and tricks I had picked up. So without further delay, here is quite possibly the longest post I will ever make in one sitting.

Raiding

In order to raid you must first have the appropriate gear and stats. As a general rule of thumb, mages should have around 8k hp unbuffed. Usually that number is 8.5k, however mages do have a lot of survivability so I lowered it a bit. If you want to raid please get the appropriate gear either through badge loot or a few lucky heroic/kara/gruul runs. When picking who I will take to a raid you can follow this list.

• Have the time
• Know your class
• Know the fight
• Have the gear

I consider all these when choosing who to bring to a raid, please be aware of how you score and how you can improve.

Mage Sweet Information Thread
http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t18441-mage_sweet_informational_thread/

Consumables

Flasks
[Flask of Pure Death] +43 dps
[Flask of Blinding Light] +43 dps
[Flask of Supreme Power] +38 dps
[Flask of Distilled Wisdom] Acceptable for arcane mage use, 1125 mana, 1% to crit
[Shattrath Flask of Supreme Power] +38 dps

[Unstable Flask of the Sorcerer] Only for gruuls

Elixers
[Adept's Elixir] BATTLE ~+20 dps
[Elixir of Major Firepower] BATTLE +30 dps
[Elixir of Major Frost Power] BATTLE +30 dps
[Greater Arcane Elixir] BATTLE straight up damage, no crit

[Elixir of Draenic Wisdom] GUARDIAN
[Elixir of Major Mageblood] GUARDIAN +16 mp5
[Elixir of Major Fortitude] GUARDIAN If you need a little extra hp

Oils
[Superior Wizard Oil] Cheapest and easiest
[Superior Mana Oil] If you need the mp5
[Brilliant Wizard Oil] Damage and crit

Food
[Blackened Basilisk]
[Crunchy Serpent]
[Poached Bluefish]
[Skullfish Soup]

Potions
[Super Rejuvenation Potion]
[Major Dreamless Sleep Potion]

[Destruction Potion]
[Flame Cap]

Spec

Mages have 3 possible specs

2/48/11
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=obZxgRzfcIoeRtVhM0o
40/0/21
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=oi0ic0czxIziZZVA0coc0o
10/0/51
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=obhVZZVAGcofLoiqt

Macros
There are a lot of things that help a mage get max dps and macros are one the top ones. Here are some handy macros I use, consider integrating them into your ui if you have not already.

Firstly, the most important,

/cast [COOLDOWN]
/stopcasting

Make a macro for all cooldowns you pop, including trinkets and gems. You might notice that when you use a cooldown you get global cooldown. This is not suppose to happen and can severely cut your dps. When you use stopcasting it will cancel the global cooldown. For example, as 40/0/21 I keep this macro

/cast Icy Veins
/stopcasting
/cast Cold Snap
/stopcasting

This pops both cooldowns at the same time and I can immediately follow up with a spell and save myself 3 seconds of global cooldown.

Second most important, focus targeting

Every mage should use these macros for cc. The command is simple, its just /focus
That will set a target as your focus. For those unfamiliar with focus targeting, think of the focus as a second target. You have your main target (the skull) and your cc target (star) both targeted at the same time. In this way you can easily see the timer on your sheep AND you can easily resheep without changing targets. Obviously this is a big deal, so use it. Here are the macros

/focus mouseover

then

/cast [target=focus] Polymorph

I bind the mouseover focus to mouse 3, or the middle button. When I click that on a mob I set my focus target. When it comes to cc I have polymorph target set to F and polymorph focus set to ctrl+F. I highly recommend the use of the modifier key, that way you can have one ‘sheep’ button, but it can do 2 different things.
If you have any questions about this please talk to me in game.

This handy little macro will delete any Mana Emeralds you have in your inventory and conjure a new one. Good if you want to replace the one that only has 1 or 2 charges left.

/run for x=0,4 do for y=1,GetContainerNumSlots(x) do l=GetContainerItemLink(x,y) if l then if GetItemInfo(l)==”Mana Emerald” then PickupContainerItem(x,y) DeleteCursorItem() return end end end end
/cast Conjure Mana Emerald

Addons

http://files.wowace.com/scorchio/scorchio.zip
Lets you know how long the scorch debuff has left, regardless of who owns the stack

Aloft
- Better overhead enemy health bars. There is also an option to include a sheep timer and cast bar

Banzai Alert
- This addon will tell you the second you pull agro or are targeted by an unfriendly mob/player

BigBrother
- This addon will tell you who breaks your sheeps, and has an optional announcement feature for parties and raids

Bongos
- Very customizable action bars, and easy to use key bind system.

Distance2
- Addon that scans your talents and displays an approximation of how far you are away from a mob

DrDamage
- Calculates your expected and effective dps given your talents, gear, etc. Displays damage for spells on your action bars, and much more

ElkBuffBars
- Very nice and clean buff bars

ErrorMonster
- If you are tired of all the ‘You Cannot Use That Item’ blah blah error messages, use this addon to filter them out.

FreeRefills
- Auto buy stacks of reagents

Grid + Click2Cast
- I use grid for my raid frames and love it. You can also combine grid with an addon called Click2Cast and effectively make decursive, removing an extra addon you dont really need. You will need some prowess in order to set it up but it is worth the trouble.

ag_UnitFrames + MobHealth
- ag_unitframes will replace blizzard’s default ui with a much cleaner and nicer ui. I combine it with mobhealth so that I can get really good approximations at how much health the boss really has.

OmniCC
- Will place a countdown on your action bar for your cooldowns.

SCT + SCTD
- Scrolling combat text and more importantly, scrolling combat damage. Can be easily configured to show you when you are taking damage and such.

Talented
- Allows you to store templates for other specs and even will respec for you. Combine this addon with Talented_DrDamage, and DrDamage will tell you expected dps with whichever spec you have open in talented

WitchHunt
- Will display a message when an enemy within range casts something, anything.

You might notice that a lot of these addons are ACE addons. I did this on purpose for if you download the ACE Updater you can easily update the majority of your addons in 1 click. Its just my preference though. Happy tweaking.

Gear (Mainly badges)

[Scryer's Blade of Focus] : 150 Badges

[Chronicle of Dark Secrets] : Rage Winterchill

[Wand of the Forgotten Star] : High Astromancer Solarian

[Cowl of Tirisfal] : Lady Vashj
- [Chaotic Skyfire Diamond]
- [Runed Crimson Spinel]

[Adornment of Stolen Souls] : Prince Malchezaar
[Loop of Cursed Bones] : Zul’jin

[Mantle of Tirisfal] : Void Reaver
- [Potent Noble Topaz]
- [Infused Amethyst]

[Brute Cloak of the Ogre-Magi] : Maulgar

[Tormented Demonsoul Robes] : 100 Badges
- [Brilliant Dawnstone]

[Cuffs of Devastation] : Rage Winterchill
- [Runed Living Ruby]

[Enslaved Doomguard Soulgrips] : 75 Badges
- [Brilliant Dawnstone]

[Belt of Blasting] : Crafted
- [Glowing Nightseye]
- [Veiled Noble Topaz]

[Corrupted Soulcloth Pantaloons] : 100 Badges
- [Runed Living Ruby]
- [Runed Living Ruby]

[Boots of Incantations] : 75 Badges
- [Potent Noble Topaz]

[Band of the Eternal Sage] : Exalted: The Scale of the Sands

[Fused Nethergon Band] : 60 Badges

[Hex Shrunken Head] : Hex Lord Malacrass

[Serpent-Coil Braid] : Morogrim TideWalker
[Sextant of Unstable Currents] : Fathom Lord Karathress

When all is said and done, according to thise nice dps calculator you should end up with about 1920.64 dps fully buffed.
Obviously this gear is geared more towards an arcane mage, so get to know and love the arcane mage rotation. I suggest occasionally spec’ing 40/0/21 and doing 5 mans to get the hang of it.

Stats in this gear (unbuffed)
7933 hp / 10691 mana
30% crit / 10% hit (3% off cap [buffs increase this])
1249 Spell Damage

Stats (buffed)
8603 hp / 13226 mana
40.51% crit / 13% hit
1481 Spell Damage

Buffed stats assume a shaman and moonkin in the group

Total Badge Count: 560

Gear (PVE [aka lazy])

[The Maelstrom's Fury] : High Warlord Naj’entus

[Chronicle of Dark Secrets] : Rage Winterchill

[Wand of the Forgotten Star] : High Astromancer Solarian

[Cowl of Tirisfal] : Lady Vashj
- [Chaotic Skyfire Diamond]
- [Runed Crimson Spinel]

[Adornment of Stolen Souls] : Prince Malchezaar
[Loop of Cursed Bones] : Zul’jin

[Mantle of Tirisfal] : Void Reaver
- [Potent Noble Topaz]
- [Infused Amethyst]

[Brute Cloak of the Ogre-Magi] : Maulgar

[Tormented Demonsoul Robes] : 100 Badges
- [Brilliant Dawnstone]

[Cuffs of Devastation] : Rage Winterchill
- [Runed Living Ruby]

[Enslaved Doomguard Soulgrips] : 75 Badges
- [Brilliant Dawnstone]

[Belt of Blasting] : Crafted
- [Glowing Nightseye]
- [Veiled Noble Topaz]

[Leggings of Channeled Elements] : Kaz’rogal
- [Runed Living Ruby]
- [Runed Living Ruby]
- [Runed Living Ruby]

[Slippers of the Seacaller] : High Warlock Naj’entus
- [Runed Living Ruby]
- [Runed Living Ruby]

[Band of the Eternal Sage] : Exalted: The Scale of the Sands

[Ring of Captured Storms] : High Warlord Naj’entus

[Hex Shrunken Head] : Hex Lord Malacrass

[Serpent-Coil Braid] : Morogrim TideWalker
[Sextant of Unstable Currents] : Fathom Lord Karathress

When all is said and done, according to thise nice dps calculator you should end up with about 1810.60 dps fully buffed.
Obviously this gear is geared more towards an arcane mage, so get to know and love the arcane mage rotation. I suggest occasionally spec’ing 40/0/21 and doing 5 mans to get the hang of it.

Stats in this gear (unbuffed)
7173 hp / 9791 mana
32.5% crit / 11% hit
1289 Spell Damage

Stats (buffed)
7763 hp / 12251 mana
43.69% crit / 14% hit
1566 Spell Damage

Buffed stats assume a shaman and moonkin in the group

Total Badge Count: 175

Tools and Resources

There are quite a lot of tools and such mages can use to figure out how they can be better. Here are some of the programs and web sites I use to keep tabs on everyone.

Rawr
http://www.codeplex.com/Rawr/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=12354
Gear comparison, dps calculator, spec inspection, this is by far the BEST mage program

Loot Rank
http://www.lootrank.com/wow/rank.asp
Does almost the same thing as Rawr but provides a bit more info and easier to use in a certain respect. The thing with loot rank is you have to assign numbers to stats for it to choose the best gear for you. These numbers can be tweaked a bit depending on how you feel, but here are some example builds.

High priority on stam and haste, not the best for all of us atm.

This weighting is more suited for our mages at the current moment. Check it out.

I might make some tweaks based on layout here or there but this guide is not going to change much so consider it current to today’s post date.