Function

• Mages in World of Warcraft draw their cues from the mechanical balance of early tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons. Their spells are staggeringly powerful, but the mages themselves are very easy to harm. Accordingly, mages serve best while being protected by stronger and more powerful combatants such as warriors, who can keep them safe long enough to cast their spells.
  
  

Benefits

• A mage's spell casting abilities provide a number of tangible benefits. Chief among them is the ability to inflict staggering amounts of damage upon the enemy. Offensive spells can cause harm from a safe distance, and while some monsters are immune to certain types of damage, a mage's arsenal can include a variety of different arcane and elemental specialties. Chances are that he will have something that can take out any monster, making mages vital for situations where nothing else seems to work. Mages also excel at handling large numbers of combatants, with area of effect spells that damage any opponent within a given range. Outside of combat, their spells can create food and water for party members, which saves money on supplies and allows the party to stay alive and healthy in wilderness areas. Finally, their spells allow for instantaneous teleportation through the various portals in large cities. Not only can they use such portals, but they have the ability to create their own in some cases.
  
  

Considerations

• Unfortunately, while mages can do wonderful things with spells, they can do very little else. They are forbidden from wearing any armor besides cloth, and their weapon use is restricted to staves, wands and occasionally swords and daggers. Their hit point levels are extremely low and they cannot use healing abilities the way priests and shamans can. That makes them extremely vulnerable to damage, and when placed directly in harm's way, they rarely last long. Their delicacy demands that other party members look out for them, and that precious resources be allocated to their needs when combat is over.
  
  

Expert Insight

• Mages can offset some of their vulnerabilities with the careful use of professions. Tailor and Enchanting, in particular, can help shore up a mage's defensive capabilities by infusing cloth items with protective abilities. (A mage can also use the Enchanting profession to earn money by creating magical items for sale.) Defensive magic items which the mage can use should be allotted to him as well, and healers in the party may wish to concentrate on the mage first before attending to stronger and less vulnerable allies.
  
  

Expert Insight

• It helps to think of mages as extremely complex long-range missiles. If allowed to fire, they can end the combat decisively, but any goon with a blunt object can take them out of the fight for good. Accordingly, they function best as long-range combatants--kept in the second line of defense behind burlier classes such as warriors. The better the party can do that, the more readily they can take advantages of the mage's powerful spells.