Mage Leveling Guide

Well, I just finished reading over the new changes for patch 3.2 and even though they haven’t been finalized, I’m pretty stoked. IMO leveling through PVP should have been in the game since release, I mean, it’s WARCRAFT, right? But regardless, nearly 5 years later, I’m still pretty excited about it.  From the PTR notes:

Battlegrounds

• Battleground experience has arrived!
  • Players will now be awarded experience for completing objectives and actions that yield honor in Battlegrounds (honorable kills not included).
  • Players who do not wish to gain experience through PvP can visit Behsten in Stormwind or Slahtz in Orgrimmar – both located near the Battlemasters in either city – and turn off all experience accumulation for the cost of 10 gold.
  • Disabling experience gains will prevent a player from gaining experience through any means available in the game.
  • Players with experience gains turned off who compete in Battlegrounds will face off only against other players with experience gains turned off.
  • Behsten and Slahtz can reinstate experience gains for players, for a 10 gold fee of course. Any experience that would’ve been accumulated if experience gains were enabled cannot be recovered.

So what does this mean for us as Mages? Well, it could change a few things. In a WoW where PVP leveling is on par with PVE, is Fire still the best Mage leveling build?  Not necessarily.  If Frost builds lead to more clutch plays, which lead to more wins, giving faster XP, it becomes quite likely that leveling Mages may end up ditching the pewpew in favor of causing a little more QQ.

Let me be clear though:  I think this is a good thing.  Diversity in leveling builds, leveling paths, and playstyles can only make for a stronger game.  It’s pretty crazy to see that WoW is still going so strong after nearly 5 years, even with hungry, motivated competition chomping at the bits to steal little slices of the pie from them.  Good to know that all of you little leveling Mages right now will have a long time to enjoy your new characters when you hit the top!

PS – If you haven’t read it yet, make sure you check out my Mage leveling guide review on the homepage!

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