Arcane Mage @ lvl 85

Dcully

So i hope to hit lvl 85 over the weekend on my mage,currently 84.
I have no raiding experience with a mage and only dinged 80 two days before cata so you could say im a mage noob
While on the journey to 85 i experimented with all 3 specs and must say for some reason i seem to enjoy arcane more than fire or frost.
So i had intended on going with arcane for endgame raiding until i read this over on EJ
http://elitistjerks.com/f75/t104277-arcane_design/
This guy seems to suggest arcane is boring and ineffective compared to fire for pve so i was just wondering what you guys here thought about it?


PS: i rarely pvp so thoughts welcome about pve

GHOST MGG2

WOTLK arcane mages were able to spam arcane blast for big numbers.
WOTLK mana system helped a lot as you never ran out of mana.

CATA arcane mages however now have to manage there mana and its not a one buttton faceroll anymore,as at 85 you will be out of mana in 10 seconds.

Personally having been a arcane mage in wotlk i have decided to go fire in this xpansion as mana management is less severe and fire is a lot more involving and fun..not to mention probably the highest DPS of the 3 specs in a pve environment.

red_ice

frost4life

wonderboysam

yo mark you ditch outland?

DRakE

i think the real question is which spec will shine

Dcully

Im finding fire to be the best dps for sure in the few normal lvl 85 dungeons ive done,i just not used to it the spec yet.
If arcane had more aoe id love to stick with arcane,i just love arcane misslies and arcane barrage,i quite enjoyed frost while leveling also, im hearing its a viable raid dps now?

Dcully

Dcully wrote: »

Im finding fire to be the best dps for sure in the few normal lvl 85 dungeons ive done,i just not used to it the spec yet.
If arcane had more aoe id love to stick with arcane,i just love arcane misslies and arcane barrage,i quite enjoyed frost while leveling also, im hearing its a viable raid dps now?

Really? I always loved frost and used it for ages - my priest is my main so mage was mostly heroics, but I'd love to switch back to frost from arcane

Dcully

bluewolf wrote: »

Really? I always loved frost and used it for ages - my priest is my main so mage was mostly heroics, but I'd love to switch back to frost from arcane

Well according to this article frost is viable, again i dont know myself as im new to the mage class.

http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/12/04/arcane-brilliance-a-cataclysm-101-guide-for-mages/#continued

Dcully

Done my first few heroics tonight and was shocked to see my dps was 2-3 k below other similarly geared dps classes.
I spent a good hour this evening reading forums and thread after thread of complaints about mages dps so i thought id test it out myself in a few heroics.
Done my first few heroics tonight and was shocked to see my dps was 2-3 k below other similarly geared dps classes.
Was specced fire and best i could do was 7k average,arcane about 6k average.
Im no expert but maybe these countless complaints threads have some substance, anyone else finding the same?

Dodd

I was arcane my dps went way down:mad: so I changed to frost and was up a good 30%.

TheDoc

Dcully wrote: »

Done my first few heroics tonight and was shocked to see my dps was 2-3 k below other similarly geared dps classes.
I spent a good hour this evening reading forums and thread after thread of complaints about mages dps so i thought id test it out myself in a few heroics.
Done my first few heroics tonight and was shocked to see my dps was 2-3 k below other similarly geared dps classes.
Was specced fire and best i could do was 7k average,arcane about 6k average.
Im no expert but maybe these countless complaints threads have some substance, anyone else finding the same?

People moaning makes no sense, you cant gauge your dps in heroics, until you yourself are fully in heroic gear and hitcapped.

Fire mages need a serious amount of hit.

Mana is now actually a problem for mages aswell as everyone else.

People need to forge ttheir wotlk figues and realise that this is a different expansion, advanced mechanics and more CC and mana actual runs out.

When you fight a boss where your not moving much, thats the gauge for your mana, alot of bosses have phases and your not getting a full couple of minutes standing dps.

From what I'm reading and hearing from reliable sources there isnt alot between the three, but most are happy frost is viable, and its also a mana battery.

Remember if you can keep mana up you can dps for longer. So frost is very attractive in that respect.

Arcane mages are doing some nice burst but loosing alot of mana fast, forcing players to use mage armour.

I'm going to take fire and frost on my mage, simply becaise i think arcane is boring as ****.

Frost imo is the most immersive and fun playstyle and rotation, I'm only levelling but havnt run below 85% of mana once with ihm.

In heroics the frost mages I've seen are similar

Baneblade

arcane is a big double edged sword
you do the most dps when your mana is full but you need to use mana to dps
the real skill is in doing the most dps without using more mana then you are able to regen

when i pop my cd's i can dump all my mana in about 10 seconds

only starting to do hc's now so things will improve with the better gear

DRakE

Baneblade wrote: »

arcane is a big double edged sword
you do the most dps when your mana is full but you need to use mana to dps
the real skill is in doing the most dps without using more mana then you are able to regen

when i pop my cd's i can dump all my mana in about 10 seconds

only starting to do hc's now so things will improve with the better gear

insightful

GO_Bear

Frost mages get a kind of stun proc do they ?

Annoying when I am the one who ends up in an ice block and then 2 20k + crits killing my poor undead hunter again.

Yes I would two serving of Resilience please with a side of resist

TheDoc

RopeDrink wrote: »

I've not looked at Mage since the talent revamps etc so I've really no idea what to suggest but I'd personally vouch for Fire over the other two in terms of Raiding purely because it was always designed as the Mage Go-To-DPS spec and I suspect it'd probably fare the best in the end - Arcane seems very mana heavy/all about management and Frost will do ok damage but focusses more on CC/Control.

I have to disagree with that statement.

Arcane was very much the dps spec for most of CATa raiding. Fire requires a serious amount of hit to operate efficently along with a high point of crit and haste. That spec just wasn't viable until heroic gear was more accesible and hit could be reached.

I havnt gone into depth myself with mages but it very much is give and take between the three.

I would imagine that fire again requires a serious amount of hit and crit which again is limited so early in the expansion.
In early gear with the limited amount of mana regen and mana pools arcane is loosing mana fast. Having to use mage armour is usually a sign that your not getting the most out of the your spec.
Frost has serious mana regen and can put out some huge numbers. The procs are alot more frequent and alot more controllable.

With this high output of dps, manageable procs and longevity of mana, for me frost does seem the most appealing for the average user.

I'm sure when we get deeper into raiding Arcane will probably become top again, with fire winning out in the end.

I know I'll be looking to frost come endgame on my mage alt.

Dustaz might be able to give us some good input as a current endgame raiding mage whose pretty much up to date with content

TheDoc

Reviewing my post I think I said Cata when I should have said wotlk.

My experience through end game was most players were Arcane up until a certain point in ICC where it was possible to get the adequete crit rating to make the spec viable.

It seemed to me to be a simple case that fire wasnt possible until certain gear came through ICC.

This was also echoed by most mages if I remember correctly.

When fire became viable it was tops because dps could be kept up whilst moving, a major component of most of ICC.

But I remember I was arcane spec in icc doing 10k or something, tried fire and it was about 7k. Few weeks alter when I got the right stats fire was doing about 12k.

I finished the expansion with my mage as fire doing silly numbers.

I enjoy the spec and its a fun one, so I'll be taking that with frost for my mage, which I hope to get levelled over the next two days (if all goes to plan )

Dcully

Still havent gone into many heroics yet, pugs are a joke now, nobody understands the concept of not breaking cc
Waiting on more guildies to gear up before i do some more but the few ive done im happy enough with my DPS since im now hit capped for heroics im pulling anything from 9-14 k in fire spec,9-12k Frost and about 9-11k Arcane.
Ill probably stick to fire and frost for now, after initially disliking fire im now beginning to appreciate the spec and understanding just how well designed the fire talents are.
Never thought id enjoy a dps class as much having being a healer for last 6 years.

Baneblade

TheDoc wrote: »

Having to use mage armour is usually a sign that your not getting the most out of the your spec.

the opposite is true if your arcane, you need mage armour to get the most out of it.

at the moment i can comfortly pump out about 7 - 9k while keeping my mana >90% and hit 12 - 13k if i push it, thats in all heroic gear. depends on the party and fight really. when my crit and mastery starts going up with the epic gear i can see this taking a big jump