DPS Land

Most of my raiding experience and endgame play has been as a healer. From Molten Core through to AQ40, and during BC in the arenas, I was a resto druid. Now in Wrath I have the resto Druid and a Holy paladin, who were, up to recently, the most played and best geared of all my characters.

Recently, the focus of my attention has been my Mage, and I am really enjoying the pure dps role.

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoying healing, and I enjoy the challenge of being the guy that keeps everyone alive. But there is a selfish pleasure in going all-out dps, where your only worry is blasting the crap out of whatever is around you. Yes, I know there are moments where CC or a decurse is needed and DPS isn't all about blowing up things. But, 98% of my playtime as a mage is solely concentrated on dissolving foes using fire, ice, and arcane powers.

I've tried arcane and I am really intrigued by the aspect of managing cooldowns and mana use against various damage rotations for maximum output. I've gone through fire and frostfire specs with living bomb, where you can get some insane aoe damage going with a lot of visceral impact (I love the roaring fire sound made when hot streak procs). I've tried frost and was underwhelmed, it seems to be a spec designed for PVP play and not much else, where arcane and fire can shine in both settings. DPSing as a mage is not mindless or just spamming one button - to paraphrase, with a mage there is more than one way to blow up a cat.

PVP as a dps is much more satisfying than as a healer. A good pvp healer is like a jagged rock - attackers throw themselves at you but are eventually worn out and you outlive them. PVP as a DPS is much more proactive. People never feared my druid, some gave up after being unable to kill me, but as a mage, I have had people run away from me! It's a great sense of power.

Another thing I like is I can change spec and use the same gear for every spec! Sure, I know one spec favors haste over crit or bla bla bla, but unlike a druid or pally I have a lot more freedom to hop between specs without worrying about having 4 sets of gear (and yes my druid has 4 sets of gear + pvp gear!). Once or twice a week I have been trying out new specs and combinations, and enjoying every minute of it.

After starting out in the paltry level 78 frostweave PVP set, I am building up my PVP gear and now stand a good chance in most one-on-one fights. In PVE, I can hold my own and consistently average 3.5k dps, which is more than adequate for most of Ulduar and even Koralon, the new boss in VOA. I still have a lot of Naxx level gear and I hope to upgrade more items soon.

My first character (and first level 60) in WOW was a mage, and its coming full circle - my mage may very well become my new 'main'.

P.S. - If you like, check out the armory link on the right side of the page for Arcturus - you can see what a 'geared' mage looked like pre-raid in vanilla wow. I think I have maybe 70 spell power!