#0 - July 10, 2007, 4:25 p.m.
Before I begin: you'd think that a guide about asking nicely wouldn't be needed, but apparently...
A Mage is a unique class in the fact that it can conjure (or, for those of us who don't speak English very well, make, create...) food and water using a simple spell. Not only that, but they can also create portals to all of their factions major cities (aka. capitals). Since these abilities are specific to the Mage, combined with the fact that they are very useful abilities, makes these "services" high in demand. However, it is not certain that any Mage will be willing to give you food/water or make a portal. However, if you know how to ask, you might just find a Mage willing to help you! What follows is a short guide to (hopefully) getting some food/water or a portal! Most of it is common sense and normal decency, but some people just seem to lack it.
The Golden Rule of Asking A Mage For Water, Food or a Portal To Your Favorite Town: BE NICE!!! This can not be emphasised enough! It's common decency, and applies to everyone in WoW and in real life! Being nice will get you into (most) guilds (or at least gives you a better chance...), increases the likely-hood that you'll get invited to an instance/raid, makes you get on peoples friend list, etc etc. And above all, it drastically increases the chance that a Mage will be willing to provide you with what service you want.
If the Mages does not want anything to do with you, don't take it personally (most of the time....)! Some Mages have had bad experiences with people pestering and spamming them for food/water/portal, and will simply ignore any such requests. Just move on, and find yourself another Mage. If you're in a well populated area, chances are that there's at least one Mage around...
Some Mages will request money in exchange for their services. Conjuring food/water does not cost us anything, but a portal requires a regent called "Rune of Portal", which costs 20 silver to buy, or, if you have the Honored Discount, 18 silver. Thus, most Mages will ask for at least that amount for making a portal for you. However, some Mages charge even more, and sometimes want some money for making food and water as well. One of the justifications for this is that, for example, when you craft a sword for someone or provide most other services, you not only pay for the materials, but also usually give them a bit more money, so that they can make a profit. It's the same thing in real life. When you buy a can of Cola, you not only pay what it cost to produce the thing, but you pay more, so that the evil corporation of Coca-Cola, Inc. can make a buck or two more! Thus, some Mages feel that we should charge for the time it takes us to conjure up whatever you want.
Another reason why Mages charge is to get back at all you people who charge a ridiculous amount of gold for the tomes we need to learn the highest rank of conjure water/food... damn profiteers!
If you give a tip to the Mage, even though the Mage is not asking for any sum of money, then you, sir, are a very nice person!
Even giving something small, like a buff, in return is always appreciated!
Please, if you see us fighting a bunch of mobs, don't just pop up a trade window and expect us to give you free water/food! Wait till we are not busy, and even then, ask before opening a trade window!
The Golden Rule of Asking A Mage For Water, Food or a Portal To Your Favorite Town: BE NICE!!!
To avoid the embarrassment of asking a level 58 Mage for a portal to Shattrath City, learn when we can learn our portal spells! To save you time, here's the list: At level 40, Alliance Mages learn the portal spells for Ironforge, Stormwind City and The Exodar. At level 50 the learn to make a portal for Darnassus. For Horde Mages, at level 40, we can make portals to Orgrimmar, Undercity and Silvermoon City, and at level 50, Thunder Bluff. At level 65 (note: 65) ALL Mages, regarless of faction, can learn to make a portal to Shattrath City.
Teleport =/= Portal. We learn Teleport spells earlier (levels 20, 30 and 60), but they are self-cast, only usable on ourself, you-can't-use-it-no-matter-how-much-you-ask-or-no-matter-what-amount-of-gold-you-give-us-(no-no-even-5000-gold-will-do-it!)
Remember: our conjured foods do NOT give any kind of stamina/spirit buffs! To get those, you will have to take up cooking!
Important thing to remember: ALL conjured items (even things such as Healthstones conjured by Warlocks) will DISAPPEAR (*poof*) if you are logged out for more than 15 minutes!
When going to instances/raids, it's considered standard practice to give out free food/water to anyone who might need it. Also, we usually provide a free portal at the end of the instance if anyone wants one. If your Mage is unwilling to provide any of these services, it usually (but not always) means he is a mean Mage!
Yes, Mages can conjure Mana Gems to instantly restore mana, no, you can not have them; they are soulbound!
The Golden Rule of Asking A Mage For Water, Food or a Portal To Your Favorite Town: BE NICE!!!
Just because I refuse to give you water/food/portal does not make me a "n00b"...
Above all, remember this: "GIEF water kthx!!!!1!" will result in you getting on our /ignore list...
As the saying goes: "If you say 'plz' because it's shorter than 'please', I'll say 'no' because it's shorter than 'yes'"...
If anyone has anything to add, please, tell me so, and I'll (proabably) add it...
And now for some light entertainment (thanks to "Buffmages"):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXp_jFvlfMA
[EDIT: Re-posted ont the General Discussions forum to get more "non-Mage" exposure]
[EDIT2: Added a funny video, courtesy of "Buffmages"]
