When I started playing Classic, I had two real goals: to get into old style Alterac Valley matches, and to get a chance to play once more a lot of the classes I'd leveled before. While I'm still waiting for that AV run, I'd made a point to create several toons so that when I was ready I could start leveling a different one.
My first toon to be used was pretty much a no-brainer, as I've been playing Rogues/Thieves/Shadowblades since I rolled up Azshandra back in late Cataclysm.* While I fumble around with my Warlock Dominius when I enter an instance, I know exactly how to play Az.
But while Az is my main, I've got a few other classes that could vie for second place.
There was the Paladin, whom I've played on both the Horde (Quintalan) and Alliance (Tomakan and Balthan) sides, but squeezed in between the Paladin years and the Rogue years there was my multiyear dalliance with Nevelanthana the Mage.
Neve, a Sindorei Frost Mage, leveled primarily in late Wrath and Cataclysm, and hasn't seen much time since her semi-retirement**. But having played her out in the Wild, in BGs, and in 5-man instances, I know how to handle a Mage in a more well-rounded fashion than I do a Warlock.
So I eschewed the temptation to roll a Paladin and instead created a Mage.
***
I resisted the "obvious" Min/Max choice for an Alliance Mage --the Gnome-- and instead created a Human Mage. Like the Kaldorei Rogue Azshandra, a Human Mage isn't the optimal choice for the selected class, but I'm not interested in the strictly optimal build. I'm not interested in raiding, and I'm not going to let the "git good scrub" crowd tell me how to make a Mage tick. And since there are only two Alliance races that can play a Mage, that meant a Human Mage.
Which fit in with the WoW Classic equivalent of Neve I'd envisioned.***
Therefore, let's put the rest of this behind a spoiler window, because I'm going to be talking about those low level Mage things that people don't want to have spoiled.
As for names, I followed a general naming convention found in and around Stormwind and came up with a vaguely Welsh/English sounding name of Cardwyn, and with an extreme amount of luck the name was actually available on the server.
So Cardwyn made her first appearance in Northridge Abbey and began acquiring quests and whatnot.
Unlike the blood red of Warlocks, the first outfit of a Mage is purple, announcing to the world that you're kin with the Mages of the Kirin Tor. Of course, a WoW newbie won't know that, but there's a distinct difference in presentation between the Mage robes and the Warlock robes.
Once you hit the requisite 2nd Level, you receive that dreaded Glyphic Letter. As if you didn't know already that you're dealing with Powers here, your potential Mage trainer Khelden makes it pretty clear.
Finding Khelden was actually easier than finding the Warlock Trainer Drusilla, because Mages are held in higher esteem than Warlocks. That means they get a nice place in the Abbey itself.
Khelden made it clear that you're dealing with powerful energies, and they can kill you, but you're also going to end up being pretty powerful in the end. He never made it sound --like the Warlocks did-- that you're going to have the rub-your-hands-with-an-evil-cackle POWER that you can use for your own gain, but there was a definite angle that he was promoting.
But until then, you've got Kobold Clean-up Duty.
Eventually, I made my way to Goldshire and the Lion's Pride Inn, and I was thankful to find that Moon Guard: Classic Version hadn't broken out at the Inn. Judging by the exalted place that Khelden had in Northridge Abbey, I guessed that the Mage Trainer in Goldshire would be found in the same locale: a room at the Inn. And I wasn't disappointed, either.
Warlocks get the basement, and Mages get the best guestroom. Figures.
Several levels of questing later, and I finally received what I was hoping for: the Letter FromHogwarts The Mage District in Stormwind.
If you ever wondered as to just how accepted Mages are in the Alliance, then you only need look at the simple fact that there is an entire district in Stormwind dedicated to Mages. And yes, Warlocks are persona non grata, hiding out in the basement of a seedy tavern.
Getting to the top of the Mage Tower you're confronted with a portal.
Now, while I'd leveled a Mage to L85 back in Cataclysm, that was on the Horde side. I stared at this for a few moments, not sure what I should be doing here. I suppose my past experiences with the old D&D module The Tomb of Horrors kicked in, and I expected that I'd be insta-killed as soon as I went through. However, I've already experienced multiple corpse runs on Cardwyn**** so I figured that I might as well roll the dice and plunge through.
The interior is just another bookish library, complete with Mage Trainers perusing bookshelves.
Jennea is pretty much the average boss, who tells you to do something but decides not to enlighten you on the reasons why.
I turned to leave and suddenly realized something about Jennea's outfit. It's a dead ringer for the Warlock dress I found in the basement of The Slaughtered Lamb, only in a different color scheme.
So much for the higher status image Mages present to the world.
This got me to wondering whether the red robes Cardwyn had on were in any way altered by the red shirt she had underneath. Well, the only way to find out was to experiment...
And
Oh my.
I guess that "demure" Red Linen Robe is more "fun and flirty" than I realized.
Well, I decided to swap to a White Linen Robe (+1 Intellect to a low level Mage is no joke) and went about Jennea's request to go fill a water bottle. My reward? My first green weapon, the Ley Staff.
And not much else.
Well, as I left the tower, I noticed three women sitting around in the grass, and one of them spoke up with a rather strange comment. Puzzled, I decided to hang around and wait for that comment to appear once more. I was not disappointed.
Those naughty, naughty Mages. Who knew that they hid so much behind their high social status?
*Yes, I have a longer record of playing Clerics in pencil and paper RPGs, but for MMOs 6-7 years qualifies as a long time.
**She can be seen hanging around one of the bars in Dalaran from time to time.
***I can just about see Neve's raised eyebrow after that comment, her silence speaking far louder than anything she'd actually say.
****Mainly because I forgot that she doesn't get some of the damage mitigation abilities until higher levels
*****Come on, has nobody seen The Karate Kid?
My first toon to be used was pretty much a no-brainer, as I've been playing Rogues/Thieves/Shadowblades since I rolled up Azshandra back in late Cataclysm.* While I fumble around with my Warlock Dominius when I enter an instance, I know exactly how to play Az.
But while Az is my main, I've got a few other classes that could vie for second place.
There was the Paladin, whom I've played on both the Horde (Quintalan) and Alliance (Tomakan and Balthan) sides, but squeezed in between the Paladin years and the Rogue years there was my multiyear dalliance with Nevelanthana the Mage.
 | |
| "Barkeep, hit me up! And add another for the lady to my left!" |
Neve, a Sindorei Frost Mage, leveled primarily in late Wrath and Cataclysm, and hasn't seen much time since her semi-retirement**. But having played her out in the Wild, in BGs, and in 5-man instances, I know how to handle a Mage in a more well-rounded fashion than I do a Warlock.
So I eschewed the temptation to roll a Paladin and instead created a Mage.
***
I resisted the "obvious" Min/Max choice for an Alliance Mage --the Gnome-- and instead created a Human Mage. Like the Kaldorei Rogue Azshandra, a Human Mage isn't the optimal choice for the selected class, but I'm not interested in the strictly optimal build. I'm not interested in raiding, and I'm not going to let the "git good scrub" crowd tell me how to make a Mage tick. And since there are only two Alliance races that can play a Mage, that meant a Human Mage.
Which fit in with the WoW Classic equivalent of Neve I'd envisioned.***
Therefore, let's put the rest of this behind a spoiler window, because I'm going to be talking about those low level Mage things that people don't want to have spoiled.
As for names, I followed a general naming convention found in and around Stormwind and came up with a vaguely Welsh/English sounding name of Cardwyn, and with an extreme amount of luck the name was actually available on the server.
So Cardwyn made her first appearance in Northridge Abbey and began acquiring quests and whatnot.
 |
| Kid, what you don't know what life has in store for you... |
Unlike the blood red of Warlocks, the first outfit of a Mage is purple, announcing to the world that you're kin with the Mages of the Kirin Tor. Of course, a WoW newbie won't know that, but there's a distinct difference in presentation between the Mage robes and the Warlock robes.
 |
| Pretty sure there's a difference here. Maybe the words "My eyes are up here" ring a bell.... |
Once you hit the requisite 2nd Level, you receive that dreaded Glyphic Letter. As if you didn't know already that you're dealing with Powers here, your potential Mage trainer Khelden makes it pretty clear.
 |
| Okay, just how many people read this and said "Nope, I think a Paladin would be a safer alternative"? |
 |
| "Do the Priests know that you play around with the Arcane?" |
 |
| Because "challenging the gods" is a nice way of putting "you're gonna be freaking powerful". |
 |
| If that pose looks familiar --even to diehard Horde players-- that's because you see it on the old Arathi Basin map. |
Eventually, I made my way to Goldshire and the Lion's Pride Inn, and I was thankful to find that Moon Guard: Classic Version hadn't broken out at the Inn. Judging by the exalted place that Khelden had in Northridge Abbey, I guessed that the Mage Trainer in Goldshire would be found in the same locale: a room at the Inn. And I wasn't disappointed, either.
 |
| "Nice digs you've got here, Zaldimar. Care to explain what that giant pumpkin is doing up here?" |
Warlocks get the basement, and Mages get the best guestroom. Figures.
Several levels of questing later, and I finally received what I was hoping for: the Letter From
***
If you ever wondered as to just how accepted Mages are in the Alliance, then you only need look at the simple fact that there is an entire district in Stormwind dedicated to Mages. And yes, Warlocks are persona non grata, hiding out in the basement of a seedy tavern.
 |
| The Mage Tower. If you hang around Stormwind enough, you see a little kid telling his mom "I wanna see the Mage Tower!" |
Getting to the top of the Mage Tower you're confronted with a portal.
 |
| Really? They couldn't just have a sign that says "Official Personnel Only"? |
Now, while I'd leveled a Mage to L85 back in Cataclysm, that was on the Horde side. I stared at this for a few moments, not sure what I should be doing here. I suppose my past experiences with the old D&D module The Tomb of Horrors kicked in, and I expected that I'd be insta-killed as soon as I went through. However, I've already experienced multiple corpse runs on Cardwyn**** so I figured that I might as well roll the dice and plunge through.
The interior is just another bookish library, complete with Mage Trainers perusing bookshelves.
 |
| In case you didn't notice, I decided to make Cardwyn a Tailor, so she's wearing a Red Robe that she crafted. |
 |
| If you find yourself saying "Wax on... Wax off..." while reading this, you've got the idea.***** |
I turned to leave and suddenly realized something about Jennea's outfit. It's a dead ringer for the Warlock dress I found in the basement of The Slaughtered Lamb, only in a different color scheme.
So much for the higher status image Mages present to the world.
This got me to wondering whether the red robes Cardwyn had on were in any way altered by the red shirt she had underneath. Well, the only way to find out was to experiment...
 |
| Shirt on.... |
And
 | |
| ...Shirt off. |
Oh my.
I guess that "demure" Red Linen Robe is more "fun and flirty" than I realized.
Well, I decided to swap to a White Linen Robe (+1 Intellect to a low level Mage is no joke) and went about Jennea's request to go fill a water bottle. My reward? My first green weapon, the Ley Staff.
And not much else.
Well, as I left the tower, I noticed three women sitting around in the grass, and one of them spoke up with a rather strange comment. Puzzled, I decided to hang around and wait for that comment to appear once more. I was not disappointed.
 |
| /record scratch |
*Yes, I have a longer record of playing Clerics in pencil and paper RPGs, but for MMOs 6-7 years qualifies as a long time.
**She can be seen hanging around one of the bars in Dalaran from time to time.
***I can just about see Neve's raised eyebrow after that comment, her silence speaking far louder than anything she'd actually say.
****Mainly because I forgot that she doesn't get some of the damage mitigation abilities until higher levels
*****Come on, has nobody seen The Karate Kid?
I like how you reflect on the subtle messaging conveyed about the different classes. Rogues and warlocks operating from the shadows always seemed fairly obvious to me, but I never thought about stuff like the mage trainer getting the best room in the inn or the different starter robe colours.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's interesting stuff. Like how the Druids in Darnassus get the high status locale --like Priests do with the Temple there-- while there is no Mage Trainer in Darnassus at all (only a Portal Trainer).
DeleteAt least I couldn't find one while I wandered around, so if there is one in Darnassus it definitely doesn't get any special treatment.
Originally, the Night Elves were very anti-Arcane magic, which is reflected in the lack of mage trainers. That's one of the changes in Cataclysm, I believe. Some Night Elves started training as Mages again.
DeleteClassic had a lot of those inconveniences because it reflected the various cultures. I've always thought that using a restricted class list to help define a race's culture was one of the best ideas of Vanilla. The modern trend of giving almost all classes to all races weakens that greatly. (Like pretty much every new race gets Monk, for some reason.)
The original WoW Devs really took their time about this sort of thing, as tou can find evidence of the Night Elf aversion to arcane magic in areas such as Stonetalon Mountains. There you can find Gaxim Rustfizzle trying to demonstrate to Kaela Shadowspear the utility of arcane magic in helping to protect The Stonetalons from the Venture Company.
DeleteBut yes, I really find those class quirks important to the game as well, and I'm kind of sad that was a thing that Cataclysm swept away.