Nostromo, Part III: Mage Bindings

When last we left off, I'd shown how I mapped the Nostromo's keys in a way that I don't need to change it from one alt to another and, more importantly, it's a mapping I'm comfortable with. Today, we'll start with a "simple" example of how it works in-game using my Mage, Enara*.

Where Do I Start?

You've just installed the Nostromo, played around with its editor for a bit and now you're launching WoW. Now, much like when starting your character, you'll have to decide which skills will actually be on your action bar and where. In general, I try to make the skills on my bar be my most often used combat skills - while it's very convenient to have Arcane Intellect in there for easy rebuffing, fact is the action bar is just too small so you'll probably be better off rebuffing using the mouse**.

Next decision you're going to have to make is where to put each of the 12 skills you've just chosen. My advice - put your "basic" skill in the middle row, under your index finger (mapped to '4' in case you're following my setup), with alternates for it in the top and bottom row. Then work your way from there. Also, try to have some logic behind the setup, as (especially when you're just getting started) you will get confused a lot until you get familiar with your bindings.

Enough With The Babble - Where Are The Bindings?

I'm sure by now you're all itching to see how this actually works for Enara, so here it is:

The bindings was designed so that the top row is for Frost spells, the middle row for Fire, and the bottom for Arcane. The index finger is used for "missile" attacks (Pyroblast/Fireball macro, Frostbolt and Arcane Missiles), followed by AoEs (Flamestrike, Blizzard and Arcane Explosion), CC (Frost Nova, Polymorph, and Scorch since I had a free space), and finally some instant-casts (Fire Blast, Counterspell and Blink). Of course, it didn't turn out exactly as planned (with Scorch not being a CC and Counterspell sitting in the Frost spell row), but all in all it's relatively easy to remember and intuitive to use. But, hey, don't take my word for it - I encourage you to experiment and try your own settings. Find what you like and let me know how it goes!


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Posts in this series:

• Nostromo, Part I: Introduction
• Nostromo, Part II: Keymaps
• Nostromo, Part III: Mage Bindings
• Nostromo, Part IV: Paladin Bindings
  

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* I am not saying playing a Mage is easy or simple. However, a Mage only has 1 main action bar which is what we're looking at here. A rogue has 2 (1 main, 1 for Stealth) and a Warrior has 3 (one for each stance), so in comparison a mage is "simple".

** Note that I'm only talking about the "main" action bar here. I heartily recommend you turn on at least one other action bar and use that space for the rest of your skills.

Gee, what a surprise - it's another alt

As I mentioned yesterday, I decided to wait with leveling Mokla until the patch hits. So what else is there to do? You got it, start a new alt.

So let's welcome Enara to the fold. Enara is an Undead Mage, currently staying at the Fairbreeze Village inn at level 12, and for now I'm taking her down the fire tree. My other mages, although abandoned around their late 20s - early 30s, are all chilly and this time I think I just want to blow things up. Worst case, I can always respec...

I do however have 1 compaint (as if we didn't see that coming). Everyone says mages have an easy life with an endless supply of food and water. Bullshit! Mages, as we all know, drink like camels. Food isn't that important, since you shouldn't get hure that much (and usually a quick bandage fixes you right up), but water... Mages need water, and lots of it. So let's look a little closer at our free water.

Conjure Water - Rank 1 is obtained at level 4, creating Conjured Water that refill 151 mana. At level 4 I had almost 250 mana, and at 6 slightly over 300. Is this some kind of joke? It's not enough I have to sit down to drink so often, I also have to drink 2 drinks just to fill up my mana? That's ridiculous. The only "real" option here (for those of us who don't like watching their alt sit around drinking fake water), is to buy some Ice Cold Milk at level 5 and laugh at all the other mages who have 3 times your downtime. If you're waiting for Conjured Fresh Water, which are the equivalent you'll be waiting all the way to level 10, where you can get by with it, but does anyone really think it'll be enough when you're 19? I doubt it. So it's back to the vendor at 15, for some yummy Melon Juice. And it'll be like that throughout the leveling process. New conjure water ranks are learned at 20, 30, 40, etc. while vendor drinks are available at 15, 25, 35, etc., always 5 levels ahead* - and when you're talking about mages (or priests or warlocks) with huge mana pools they can't actually wait so long.

The one exception to this rule is that as far as I know, there is no easily obtainable water for level 55 - you can only get Star's Lament from BGs or Hyjal Nectar from drops. Then again, Conjure Water - Rank 7 is only available at level 60, when you can already get Filtered Draenic Water. And in fact, since you can then get Purified Draenic Water at 65, it pretty much makes conjured water entirely useless once you hit 60.

So I'm starting a protest. Until Blizzard fixes the cojured water situation, I am not training any more ranks of Conjure Water on any of my mages (too bad I can't untrain the ones I already have). That'll show 'em.