If you want to roll a mage, I can promise you this will provide a great deal of fun, especially if you choose the correct Rift mage leveling build.
The mage of Rift has many possibilities, and you might very well end up switching souls every alternate day in order to evaluate the many different ways to kill (or heal) things.
Since you have nine souls from which to choose (eight PvE souls and one PvP soul) you can find a different mix to PvP, deal damage in dungeons, or to heal or level.
Now, in order to level, you may very well be alone for most of the time, so you will need survivability. You won't have a healer to save you from damage, or a tank to take the damage for you. You'll need a Rift image leveling build which can do this for you. Besides, if you are on a PvP realm, other players might come in along the way, so you will need something solid in this case.
One of the builds that can work very well for you would be Necromancer (34), Warlock (32), Chloromancer (0).
The most important items in this built are Necromancer and Warlock. Chloromancer is only a possibility because, when you have the tree with zero points, you acquire Radiant Spores (surrounds the enemy with phytotropic spores for 16 seconds, giving any allies who damage the affected enemy a 10% chance to heal themselves for 100% of the damage they dealt) which is very good for your health.
You will make your built in three tempi:
- Firstly, you will only build your Necromancer tree. Sometimes you can't add any more points in it "before you level up", so these points will pass to the Warlock tree. You build up your Necromancer tree until you obtain Soul Purge.
- Then you move to your Warlock tree, and do the exactly the opposite: You put all your points into the Warlock tree, unless you are obliged to put them in the Necromancer tree. You do that until you have Neddra's Essence on top of the built.
- Finally, you go back to your Necromancer tree and fill up the remainder.
The easiest way to level up is to use the tank-pet (Skeletal Stalwart) and send it towards the mob, or mobs. He will eventually catch the remaining mobs along the way.
When your pet is almost there, you cast Life Leech and Flesh Rot, and then spam your void bolts. You can use soul purge to simultaneously regain health and heal your pet.
If your pet dies, or if the mobs come too close to you, you can use some Area of Effect.
Use Grave Rot (it does damage and is instant cast) followed by Devouring Shadows (calls upon the shadows to rise up and torture up to 8 enemies in the area of effect for 211 Death damage over 6 seconds. Also generates an 8 Charge every 2 seconds).
If there is still anyone alive around you, finish them off with Mortality, which is a channeling spell that causes damage, but also heals you.
Remember that, even if your pet is currently dead, you can have it up again in within seconds to catch up with the mobs.
Generally, the mobs don't survive for long after Devouring Shadows. If only one is surviving, use Soul Purge to finish him off - and heal yourself at the same time.
You can even easily kill elite mobs at the same level as you if you remember to let your pet attack the mob, and if you also heal him. You don't want the mob to turn against you before it is too late... for him.
These are some of the possibilities, but not the only ones.
Experiment with these and find your own style, together with the best Rift mage leveling build for you.