Fire mage = mobs die too fast (at least at low levels)

[Turak]

I was levelling my 21 fire mage last night just after respeccing into all fire talents and wearing a couple of fire damage greens. All I can say is wow! While working yellow con mobs he was seeing between 50 and 70 DPS consistently. I even had a couple of dual crits resulting in an instantly dead mob and over 100 DPS. His previous talent specs included a few in frost and arcane and then all in arcane. (Yes, he spent 5g last night for the latest respec.)

My questions to mages out there are:

1. Can I expect this phenominal performance going forward?
2. I plan on eventually going 30 fire and 21 frost (for the Ice Block). Is this viable for both fast PvE and PvP?
3. Will I begin toi experience more downtime as I level? There was very little downtime last night--perhaps, one eat and drink every 10 mobs or so.

[Despicable]

I have my mage to 35 with app 95 in +fire with a smattering of +'s in ice etc. I can say, with conviction, it will only get better for you! The difference in mana pool size is dramatic, so sustaining that is difficult, but the mobs die so fast it is silly.

[Thwak]

you also get more bang per point of +damage in fire.

i forget the actual numbers but i am sure you can find them if someone here doesnt post them.

spells over 3 seconds without any extra effect (like the ice slows) get full 100% bonus.

[Warcaster]

I think you might want to look into the arcane talents. Most really good PvP mages spec at least enough arcane to get presence of mind. Being able to PoM a pyro blast on an incoming pally is priceless sometimes.

[Mak]

+Dmg gear scales like this:
1) Spells that have an unmodified cast time of 3.5s or higher get full damage. Tier 1 talents in frost and fire can shave .5 seconds off cast time but the spell is calculated at it's original value for damage adds.
2) Insta-cast spells act like they are 1.5s cast spells and get 43% of any damage bonus.
3) AOE spells get a further reduction multiplier applied. I forget the number but it's rather severe.
4) Spells that have a secondary effect(snare) also have another reduction multiplier applied. It's like 5% or some such.

What does this mean for a mage?
Fireball, Pyroblast = full Dmg
Fireblast, Scorch = 43% Dmg
Ice bolt = 82% Dmg
Arcane Missles = Full damge divided over 5 missles.
Flamestrike, Blizzard = 20% of the Dmg ( I think. I need to test this. )
Cone of Cold = 13% of damage gear.

Your downtime will increase as you near new spell ranks and decrease for a bit after you get the the next rank of spell. The other problem is that the water does not scale well for your mana pool at certain points in my experience. This point is usually right before you get the next level of water so I guess it's by design but still is a pain in the ass. If you really want to grind efficiently, get enough points into Ice and kill 5-8 mobs a pass. You can do it in fire but it's a little more risky since your only defense is mana shield.

As for the spec, what you have described is an elementalist spec. Played right this is a very good team support spec for BGs. I did something similiar for a while with 24 fire to get blastwave(ae snare). Didn't take pyroblast since I was missing PoM and 6 seconds is a long time to stand still. For Ice I had ice block and max CoC crit potential. I missed several things from Arcane: clearcasting, evocation, insta AE, improved counterspell and POM. Insta AE lets you do damage and move which is missing from the elementalist spec after you use your insta casts. Improved counterspell is almost a necessity if you're going to fight another caster/healer. That being said, this should be a good spec for BGs if you want to do 21/30. Great CC with the ability to snipe as well. Won't do as well 1v1as some others but in a group setting it should rock.

WC is correct about the utility of PoM. Besides damage spells, you can insta sheep that hunter or warrior that looked at you funny. I tend to use it when I want to burst someone that I need to kill ASAP ie a priest I just counterspelled which gives me a 4/10s window to work with.

[Muddus]

This is my spec.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/...00000000000000

Basically I started out heavy in Arcane and along the way I put some talents into fire. Once I got ignite I knew what I wanted. Crits. All crits, all the time. So I pumped as many talents as I could into crit abilities.

I do feel that Presence of mind is almost a requirement. I love it.

As for killing mobs. As a mage I can destory pretty much everything rather quickly, the only down side is all all the down time in eating and drinking. I took first aid and alchemy to help offset the lack of hit points I have/had. In that regard I think Rogues probably have the best killing rate/down time ratio.