Gear disparaty between mage and lock

[Solymer89]

Hello all, I have just reached level 70 on my mage last night, congrats to me but enough of that. My intention for my mage is to be my pvp character. I already have a level 70 lock as you can see and I relied heavily on Cpimps gear guide to get me decently geared without even going to kara.

Now I know which gear to try for pvp wise but my question is this; how good are the pieces listed in Cpimps gear guide for mages? I noticed a lot of the crafted stuff (minus FSW) Lends itself to a mage more so then a lock, especially an afflic lock. On top of that observation I also have most of the patterns (Bracers of Havoc, Girdle of Ruination, etc) on my lock ready to be created for my mage. So I am wondering if it's worth crafting some of these pieces for my mage or attempt to gain other sufficient mage pve gear.

My understanding is that Stam is most important for lock and Int is king for mages, but this is the only major difference I can see when it comes to gear. So I leave it to you all, how much of Cpimps gear guide can I use for my mage. (Again he will be my pvp character but that’s in the long run, besides that doesn't mean I’ll NEVER use my mage for instances/raids)

Also since I have two level 70 characters I will be doing a lot of the daily's and any good pve gear (fairly easy to attain) would help much more then just the various quest rewards I've gained while leveling.

p.s. Upon searching for a sufficient mage gear guide post 70 all that I’ve been able to find is gear lists from the various dungeons in outland but nothing in regards to crafted/quest rewards. I don’t expect anyone to formulate such a list however using Cpimps guide might be a good start to get me pointed in the right direction.

Also don’t worry about what gear I have on right now, as I’ve stated I just turned 70 last night and aside from the Imbued Netherweave Robe I made myself I have absolutely no level 70 gear.

Much appreciation for future help… if any! J

[Warpy]

Originally Posted by Canadianpimp

Please keep in mind that this is strictly a PvE guide because 1) I suck at PvP AND 2) PvP gear guides are pretty pointless since there are many changing factors that can determine PvP success.

You would use rather different gear for PvP, especially for a mage. Yes, +int is very, very important (you don't want to run out of mana if you can avoid it), but +stam is the most important stat in PvP, and resilience is another, major concern. Have a look at the PvP, Battlegrounds and Arenas forum for a discussion of cloth PvP gear. In terms of strategy and tactics, a mage is going to be a lot more mobile than a warlock. Warlocks end up tanking opponents; mages escape them.

[mcgee84]

(For PVE,) there isn't a whole lot of difference between good gear for destro lock, and good gear for mage.

I'm pretty sure the later iterations of Cpimp's ignore stamina anyways.

While Int -might- be 'king' while leveling, once you're at 70, it's pretty hard to get caster gear without Int on it. Cpimp points out that you'll get enough sta anyways just on the way, really, and the same is probably just as true if not moreso for Mages.

The thing I would worry about is having a lower spell hit cap, and watch out for items with +shad damage.

[Solymer89]

Originally Posted by Warpy

You would use rather different gear for PvP, especially for a mage. Yes, +int is very, very important (you don't want to run out of mana if you can avoid it), but +stam is the most important stat in PvP, and resilience is another, major concern. Have a look at the PvP, Battlegrounds and Arenas forum for a discussion of cloth PvP gear. In terms of strategy and tactics, a mage is going to be a lot more mobile than a warlock. Warlocks end up tanking opponents; mages escape them.

Thanks for the reply but in my original post I stated I already know what gear to aspire for in pvp and I completely understand that pvp gear is much different then pve gear. The parallel I was attempting to draw was that of Cpimps pve gear guide for warlocks and that same guide in regards to a mage. Im not worried about which drops to go for in which raids or anything like that, but what I really intend to find out is what gear, whether crafted or from a quest or other source, is easily attainable for pve.

The issue I have is since I will be focusing on pvp with this character I won't have the time to dedicate making endless dungeon runs on the off chance an item I could use actually drops. Basically I am looking for a gear set somewhat akin to what Cpimp outlined in his guide for warlocks (the guide I am refering too is the one before the update to 2.4). Also in my original post I said that some of the items seem interchangeable between a lock and a mage.

*** Information added 24 Minutes and 23 Seconds later... ***

Originally Posted by mcgee84

(For PVE,) there isn't a whole lot of difference between good gear for destro lock, and good gear for mage.

I'm pretty sure the later iterations of Cpimp's ignore stamina anyways.

While Int -might- be 'king' while leveling, once you're at 70, it's pretty hard to get caster gear without Int on it. Cpimp points out that you'll get enough sta anyways just on the way, really, and the same is probably just as true if not moreso for Mages.

The thing I would worry about is having a lower spell hit cap, and watch out for items with +shad damage.

This is fantastic and pretty much what I had thought.

Now to open up a small discussion about the less tangible stats (spell hit, spell crit, etc...) what should be a main focus when concerning these stats? I would lean more towards +spell crit and +spell haste over spell hit seeing as raiding is not of concern for me. Also, sticking with the pve theme, stam doesn't hold much sway over stats like Int or even Spi seeing as I really shouldn't be getting hit all that much, it is pve after all. Oh, and what about the MP/5 pieces, would any of these be worth considering?

As a starting point I would say the most important pve stat for almost any offensive caster is +spell damage, of which most of Cpimps guide contains many +damage and healing as opposed to +frost or +fire damage which is one of the main reasons I believe the gear could work just as well for a mage as it does for a lock.

another ps. I have every item on Cpimps list save for the Cen Exp. exalted ring and the wand. The gear is amazing and as stated somewhere in refrence to the gear, it works all the way through, and more often then not, past kara gear. My guild has been running kara pretty unsuccessfully the past month or two and when I run with them on my lock (afflic UA-Destro) I find it difficult to maintain my agro below the tanks.

Basically with Cpimps help I was Kara ready before I even ran any heroics. I'm trying to piece together a similar list for my mage however I don't need the +1k spell damage or any extremes like that, all I am interested in is making my daily's and other various pve events that much easier for me.

Cpimps gear guide seems to be a great place to start off at. Oh and my goal isn't to put together a kara ready gear list but something a bit comparable to it, ex. the offhand orb from badges is something I won't be interested in seeing as I won't have the time to dedicate running the heroics to obtain the badges(and minus the fact that it is +shadow damage). Items that require multiple runs of a certain instance or a long arduous grind to simply attain one piece are out of the question for me (besides I have the long arduous grind of honor to replace that ;) )

[Morganfaey]

I used CPimp's guide to an extent when gearing my mage. Or at least while planning the gear, getting stuff to drop is a whole 'nother story...

The main divergence between lock gear and mage gear is the emphasis on hit. If you raid on your mage you will only need 126 hit for frost and 164 hit for fire for raid bosses. Keep this in mind when looking at the guide

As for gear you mentioned, the Bracers of Havok are decent and quite cheap. I wouldn't bother making the Girdle of Ruination when the Belt of Blasting is so much better. Of course, netiher is useful for pvp.

If you throw in an armory link and give me a better idea of what you plan on doing pve-wise (5mans, raids, heroics?) I may be able to give a bit better advise.

As for your stat question I think generally "they say" hit to cap > haste > damage > crit for raiding mages. I think working on damage first at a lower gear level is usually better, the crit and haste will come later naturally on gear and it seems that high hit is less of an issue for you if you won't really be raiding.

/end ramble

[El Tanakh]

Czara fan club is here =)