Having Frost IssuesFollow

I just respecced Frost when i hit 40...... and i suck at it. I was fire and loved it but wanted to try something new, now that i have switched to frost i cant kill anything!!! I go through mana like crazy, and do like half the damage i did with fire. My current build is
5 imp frost bolt
5 ice shards
3 frost bite
2 imp frost nova
3 peircing ice
1 cold snap
5 shatter
3 imp cone of cold
2 ice floes
1 ice barrier

Maybe it is my plan of attack. I open with a frost bolt, then a fire ball if he is frozen. Then frost nova, then frost or fire again, if he aint dead yet (which he probably aint because i do no damage!!) then i hit him with either a fire blast of cone of cold.
Does this sound like a good strategy? Is it me or are frost mages just harder to play and i am not use to them yet? I rarely use ice block or ice barrier, should i be relying on these more often?? Any help, guidance or support would be awsome. Thanks in advance everyone.

PS really love the forms, so much better then WOW's forms. No one here is a jerk or childish it seems, and everyone is helpful

Yeah, if you are playing frost, you should not be using any fire spell other than the occasional fire blast. Here is my talent build for reference:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/mage/talents.html?2300050000000000000000000000000000000000000000535321310235013251051

Anyway, my general play, when soloing a single mob, is as follows:

1. Stand at max range
2. Frostbolt, Frostbolt, Frostbolt (you can usually get 3 off before they get to you, not counting procs on Frostbite).
3. Cone of Cold
4. Strafe (not backpedal!), and cast Fire Blast, then Frost Nova.
5. Strafe to max range, and unload more frostbolts.
6. Use instant casts to finish them off.

When you get frost channeling and elemental precision, you will do better. Both reduce mana costs, and precision means you will have fewer "resist" spells.

Thanks a lot for the help. Just needed to get my "hoofs" wet a little with frost. With Fire i just stayed back nuked and usually they were dead before they got to me. I am not so use to having to be so mobile. I am sure over the next few days I will master this (or at least become more proficent)
Thanks
Stealhalo

i would say the major problem is that you're using your instant spells too much. they're your least efficient abilities and are completely unnecessary to kill mobs.

just frostbolt on the way in, nova and get a little distance before frostbolting it down. should only take two legs of a kite to kill something. for that last little bit, you have a wand i hope. if you really want to mix in fireblast, you should blast it before you nova.

ice a whole 'nother animal than fire. yeah, you'll have to get used to your newfound mobility -- practice on elites and you'll soon be invincible. use your ice barrier: keep it up all the time because you don't have burning soul anymore. piercing ice might have been a few wasted talent points at your level, but i don't suppose it's quite worth the gold to respec and take that out.

the basics. once you go ice, you don't go back =P don't use fireball, don't use arcane missiles, don't use scorch. frostbolt is better than all of them with 5/5 improved -- just believe it. or run numbers and then believe it. CoC is used for controlling the movement rates of multiple mobs -- NOT for snap damage against a single target. that's what fireblast is for, and it's better at that job even for frosties. it's a shame you don't have blizzard! call me stuck in my ways, but i believe every mage needs to do a stint as frost-AoE just for the experience. it'll build character or something =P and make you a much better mage for knowing how.

yep ur problem is u use frost and then fire. If u use fire it defreezes the target so they come at u at max speed again.

I am a fire/frost lvl 28 now and i combine both : first fire ball (for the distance) then frost bolt to slow them, then frost nova, back a bit then fire bolt and finish off with fire blast (or another frost nova if still health not low enough to finish off).

Another strategy is to use blizzard for the continued effect first, then frost bolt or nova.

Also helpfull is mana shield if u want to stay close (found it very good against casters : first fire ball, shield, fire ball x 2, shield, fire ball and they are dead first). But with frost killing goes slower (though frost bolt regen is faster)

Blink has also saved my life often : frost nova + blink

It doesn't, though fireball DoTs have been known to be Frost Nova killers.

The root of your problems is likely the absence of Arctic Reach and Frost Channeling. At level 40, I would use this build instead.

Frostbolt has a naturally shorter range than Fireball. The absence of Arctic Reach just makes it worse. Frost Channeling gives you the mana savings to help you with your OOM problem.

As others notes, at max range it should be easy to get 3 Frostbolt casts before the mob reaches melee range. Personally, I like to squeeze off a 4th Frostbolt when he starts hitting me; you have Ice Barrier, use it. Then I will Frost Nova and finish it off (usually one more Frostbolt cast).

On a side note, I just got level 66 and Ice Lance yesterday and man does it make being a Frosty fun :D

Nothing like mashing the Ice Lance button while winding up a Frostbolt on a frozen target (to exploit server lag so the Ice Lance will get the triple bonus even if Frost Nova breaks from the Frostbolt crit) and seeing them both crit; 2000+ Frostbolt, 1700+ Ice Lance. I have about 450 spell damage at the moment.

I also like to use Water Elemental --> Ice Block --> WE's Freeze --> and then running when I'm in a sticky situation... kinda makes up for losing Feign Death when I switched back to my Mage from my Hunter :P