The beginner's guide to maginess (is that a word?)

Well, since everyone else is presenting their guides to the new class/toon they are leveling, I figured I should quickly jump on the bandwagon. Not to mention, I'm busy writing a presentation about complementary and alternative medicine as well as its regulation under the Act and the PHS Act(....ooooooo exciting!) so I don't have a ton of time to actually come up with a worthwhile post. So if I don't have anything worthwhile to say, why say anything? I do not know. Because I can?

Okay, on to mages. I selected a gnome for the int bonus, but my feeling is you should use whatever race you want. I don't think any of the racial talents are dealbreakers. Okay, so to be honest, I actually rolled a gnome because I wanted to see him die frequently as I level him.

Levels 1-10. Fireball is your first offensive spell. You also get frost armor. Cast frost armor on yourself (you dont have any choice who you cast it on). Select your mob and begin to press cast fireball repeatedly until the targeted mob is dead.
Now here's the tricky part. You will need to keep doing this to mob after mob until you move up a level. To break up the monotony, you can also complete the little quests which will have you do certain things, go certain places or find stuff.

As you continue the inevitable progression through the levels, you will also learn fire blast, frost bolt, arcane missiles and frost nova. You can also cast these until the mobs are dead. On a serious note I like to hit them with a frost bolt first so they are slowed down as they run towards you to eat you. Generally you can down them before they reach you. If you choose arcane missiles as your spell, make sure you say "pew pew pew" as you cast. It increases your damage (if you're glyphed for it). If not glyphed, it's just more fun that way. If the mob does get to you and begins gnawing on you, cast frost nova (if you have it) and back up and resume blasting. Keep an eye on your mana as some spells burn more than others. Keep an eye on cast times. Some spells take longer. Spells with cast times are slowed by the mob salivating on you and trying to eat you (which makes sense if you think about it). I like to save my fire blast for those times as it is an instant spell.

Simply put, stand back. Select target. Frost bolt. Spam fire ball. Is mob dead? Yes, move on to next mob. If not, continue casting spells until it is. Try fire blast. Do you have frost nova and mob is still alive trying to eat you? Cast frost nova, walk backwards, cast a couple more spells until it is dead.

That should just about cover the first 10 levels. Dont forget to make food and water before you start killing stuff (assuming you remembered to see your trainer at some point). Apologies to any real mage guides. Apologies if you happened upon this "guide" while searcning for an actual real guide. Apologies for the time I took a pack of "juicy fruit" from the corner store without paying(had to get that off my chest...karma you know...I heard the reckoning is comin'...).