World of Warcraft ... Frost Mage vs Fire Mage?

Question

Which do you think would be more beneficial in the PvE environment?! Which would be better for solo play? Would a hybrid fire/frost be a good idea?

Any info/web pages with info would be great! Thanks!

Answer 1

Both of the elemental trees are stronger than the arcane tree, at least at the moment, so both of those paths are handy. (Mind you, arcane has some really nice stuff, just not enough to specialize in it.)

Fire is, for the most part, massive damage. It's a lot harder to solo with it, because there's not as much in terms of slowing spells - you'll either be using mana shield a lot (which will increase your down time, drinking between fights), or end up casting ice any way (such as frost nova, then back off for a fireball.) If you get into dungeons or raiding, you'll be able to unload a lot of damage, but you run the risk of pulling a *lot* of aggro. Fire mages are generally the first to get eaten. Likewise, as others have pointed out, there's a lot of critters in the high-end dungeons (BWL, MC) that have fire resist to some extent.

Frost doesn't output as much damage, but darned near everything in it carries a slowing effect. You'll still want to use arcane or fire for some of the fast-damage, but it makes it *really* easy to solo. Improved frost nova and improved blizzard means you can farm mobs a camp at a time. In a raid, you'll probably pull less aggro - but you start getting into a case where high-end stuff tends to be immune to slow, and the undead-types (especially leading towards Naxx) tend to be higher on the frost resist.

A frost/fire hybrid, IMO, sounds pretty good - you'll be a powerhouse, pretty much. I agree with the suggestion to check out the WoW forums for mages, and just play with the talent calculator a bit - figure out what sounds good, and how you can play with the build to get it.

Answer 2

Wow Frost Mage

Answer 3

Frost Mage Spec

Answer 4

1

Answer 5

Well, here's the thing. I've seen a whole lot of damage come from the hand of a fire mage, but its usually directed towards one target. On the other hand, a frost mage, with enhanced slow spells, can take down an entire mob of 5+, just as easily as he/she can a single. Really all depends on what you want your character to be. If you're talking about PvE, and you're gonna be doing instances, I'd say Fire. Fire has more spells to their arsenal, and people are gonna want you to kick that DPS in. Solo play, either would work, but if you plan on getting your hands really dirty taking down big groups, I'd go frost. You can do a hybrid, but you're only going to be able to grab the ultimate skill at the bottom of one of the trees, and the other will have 20, assuming you max out on one. For the Burning Crusade expansion, I've heard it gonna be geared to those are a more balanced in their talents, so maybe a hybrid would be a better way to go. Like I said, it really all depends on how you want your character to be.

Answer 6

I prefer frost over fire, but this is a matter of personal game play style and your preference. I would go to worldorwarcraft.com and read the forum post about mage talent builds. It'll give you a good idea of where to start. if you are going to do any hybrid, go with Arcane and Frost or Arcane and Fire. Frost and Fire won't allow you to get the most out of your spells.

Its generally easier to lvl with a fire spec. But definitely read up the forums for a better answer

Answer 7

I personally think Frost is the better spec. I was Fire up until 60. When I specced frost, my survivability went way up. You can't nuke a mob down fast like with fire, but you can kill a higher level mob without it even touching you usually. Unless your guild is beyond BWL, I think fire isn't worth having.
I tried speccing Arcane/Fire for the Beta. It was powerful but found myself running away from mobs more to gain distance and I had a lot of downtime from having to replenish mana. I specced back full Frost for the Beta and it rocks!
It may take a little longer to kill mobs with Frost but the increased survivability plus less downtime make it a better choice I believe.

Answer 8

In my opinion, it's best to be fire until lvl 60, then spec with what your guild needs. I have a lvl 27 fire mage, and it's a ton of fun, I just have to watch my dps in groups, because I can pull mobs off the tank.

Check your class forums and stuff, but most importanatly, play around. Maybe you'll like one more then other.

Answer 9

With the spec revamp they made a couple of months ago, frost mages are now fun. Before that, everyone was a fire mage. The question really is, Do you like to freeze things to death or Watch Them Burn baby burn!!

Answer 10

ok heres the deal. i have a tier1 mage alt. (my main's hunter)
if u wan PVE, it will totally depend on what type of PVE you are refering to.
if you are in a big guild that raids, most guild leaders will not allow fire mage to go MC or BWL or other big instances because
1. mobs in MC and BWL have high fire resist
2. fire dmg is too big and can easily aggro mobs from tanks

fire mage's dps output is very very big and scary. but strong fire spells hit only ONE target.(pyro blast etc) thus, you dont normally see fire mage unless in BG, which owns. i once got hit by a pyro blast for 6k. yes, 6k. one shot KO

if your PVE refers to farming rep such as with silithus or argent dawn for their epics, frost/arcane mage would be better because of the AOEs.

hope it helps.