As the title says, how would you (or Blizzard) like or hope to improve upon your Mage?
I've been a fan of the "glass cannon" arch-type for as long as I can remember. I am currently playing my 3rd mage (Lv86 and rising); I deleted my first maxxed out mage when Arcane had 2 spells (early Wrath). During Cata, I really enjoyed Arcane's "burn/manage/burn" phase gameplay and the introduction of the bomb spells in early Mists was refreshing, but the changing of the Arcane playstyle and the Lv90 talents really turned me off. With the QoL fixes in said talents though and Vol'jin's promotion to Warchief (Troll ftw!), I decided to have one more go as a Troll/arcane and I've had a blast (badum-tss) leveling my char.
With that out of the way, there are a few things that I didn't/still don't like:
-Until you get your Mage Bomb spell, I found leveling slightly boring. Arcane Missiles! proc was cool until about Lv30, then the fun starts to subside again.
-Speaking of the bomb spell, it sucks that as Arcane-spec, I have to choose Living Bomb for maximum results. I know that I'm still not max level and I'm not a hardcore raider by any stretch, but it just seems off. I like that Arcane uses mostly Arcane spells, Frost uses Frost spells, etc. I like conformity (or there's another word for it). My OCD just won't have it!!
-I still do not like the Lv90 talents, and I'm sure most of you guys don't like it as well, though I do want to avoid speaking for the majority. Arcane is still a stationary turret, and I know Icy Floes kind of fixes that but Arcane =/= Frost and Icy Floes and conformity and ARHHGHHH!!~
-More beef with Lv90 talents. For new players, it's another new thing to learn at such a late stage in the game, though I acknowledge the fact that the game doesn't really start until you hit max level. Still, I think they should move it to where the Lv75 talents are, and make completely new Lv90 talents (more on that below).
-I'm pretty biased as Arcane. I believe Blizzard should just make Arcane Charges as a 4-orb resource, similar to Spriest's 3-orb thing they got going. I know it'll make the classes less distinguishable (than they already are), but AC being a debuff is kind of weird, and thinking as a new player, it would be somewhat of a pain to track without add-ons, etc.
SORRY TLDR
With bitches/moans/complaints out of the way, here are some of the things I hope they implement for (you guessed it) Arcane in the future, and my rationale:
*With the exception of Nether Tempest, the numbers are more or less in-line with live numbers*
Arcane Charge - New resource for Arcane Mages. Generated by Arcane Blast and Arcane Missiles. Increases single-target Arcane spell damage by 50% and Arcane mana cost by 125% (down from 150%) per charge. Each charge dissipates every 10sec while not in combat. 4 "Orbs" or charges.
Arcane Blast - 749-869 + (SP x 0.81) Arcane damage, 2sec cast, 1.5% mana cost (>3.375%>5.25%>7.125>9%), +1 Arcane Charge, Lv10
*Basically, the same old AB other than a slight reduction to mana cost.
Impulse - Releases all stored Arcane Charges at once, dealing 936-1086 + (SP x 0.75) Arcane damage per Arcane Charge, and deals 25% damage to any enemies within 5yds of the target. Instant cast, no mana cost, 3sec CD, Lv12
*This is my new Arcane Barrage, its almost the same thing, hoping for a new animation (think Final Fantasy X Bahamut-style Impulse): blueish-white
orbs (depending on # of charges) are hurled and an explosion upon impact, like the underwater Thunder Kodos in Durotar.
Arcane Missiles - 217 + (SP x 0.20) Arcane damage x 5 wave, 2sec channel, 2.25% mana cost (5.0625%>7.875%>10.6875%>13.5%), +1 Arcane Charge, Lv20
*This is one of the bigger changes. Arcane Missiles would be castable at any time but at a slightly higher mana cost than AB (but slightly more powerful).
Damage reduced a little due to...
Barrage - Your damaging spells have a chance (30%) to make your Arcane Missiles cost no mana and deal 20% more damage for 20sec. Limit 2 charges. Lv22
*This is basically the Arcane Missiles! proc we have on live right now. Like what it says, it makes AM cost no mana, but also make it deal more damage.
Arcane Flash - Hurl a bolt of energy at the target, dealing 674-782 + (SP x .72) Arcane damage and granting one charge of Barrage. Instant cast, 10sec CD, 1% mana cost (2.25%>3.5%>4.75%>6%), replaces Fire Blast, Lv30
*This spell would allow us to fish for a Barrage proc for those times when we're just unlucky, and also good during movement; would retain live ABarrage's animation, and should hit faster (e.g. Paladin's Hammer of Wrath).
Arcane Explosion - Same old, but a glyph that I thought of that I think would make it interesting:
Glyph of Delayed Explosion: Allows you to cast Arcane Explosion in a target location anywhere within 40yds and increase its damage by X%, but delays the explosion by 3sec.
Nether Tempest - 2247 + (SP x 2.43) Arcane damage over 15sec (up from 12sec), deals 50% of damage dealt to a random target within 10yds. Instant cast, 1sec GCD, 1.5% mana cost, unaffected by Arcane Charge, Lv50
*Reduced its damage but increased its duration to 15sec; also it would be learned passively at Lv50, completely removing the bomb talents! Arcane gets Nether, Fire gets Living, Frost gets Frost, and OCD people happy everywhere! Hoping that it would also get the 1sec GCD treatment.
Mana Feed - Each time your single-target Arcane spells deal a critical strike, you gain 3% of your total Mana. This effect has a 6sec cooldown. Lv44
*This makes the critical strike stat atleast a little more interesting for Arcane. Not sure about the 6sec trigger, maybe it could be lower...?
Mastery: Mana Adept - One thing I would like changed is that one retains full Mastery damage until mana drops to 80%. This would give a little bit of leeway, so one can hover around 65-79% mana and still do ok. Would also help new players, and vets can go even harder. In light of this change though, the bonus damage would be nerfed a bit (live is 16% base [2% per], so maybe 12% base [1.5% per]).
Netherwind Presence - Charges you with Arcane energy, reducing the mana cost of your spells by 75% for 15sec. Instant cast, 1.5min CD, Lv58
*Remember this (imo) crap talent back in the day? It provided a passive 1/2/3% haste. This spell would replace Arcane Power as its short CD burst, allowing us to spam AB/AM with 4 charges.
Rune of Power - Places a magical rune on the ground. While standing within 5yds of the rune, your spell damage is increased by 20%. Lasts 20sec. 1.5sec cast, 3min CD, Lv91
*I believe that RoP is still a pretty cool spell, it just seems misplaced to me as a talent/spell we have to manage. In this version, it would be Arcane's main CD during burst phases; best stacked w/ NwPresence.
Still with meh? Sorry if its a long read. And now, my proposed changes for Lv75 talents:
Invocation - Fire/Frost: Removes the cooldown of Evocation and reduces its chanelling period by 50%. Completing an Evocation increases your spell damage by 20%, but passively generate 50% less mana, for 1min.
Arcane: While Invoker's Energy is active, your mana regeneration is increased by (100-150%) when your mana falls below 80%.
*For Fire/Frost, its basically the same deal except for a +5% damage increase (because you channel that shit for 2~ish seconds every min). For Arcane, its a different beast. The increased mana regen below 80% would allow one to cast additional AB/AM with 4 charges so that we can fish for Barrage procs; basically with this I'm hoping to bring back the burn-manage-burn gameplay that we once cherished. That, and it would make Invocation viable for Arcane. This talent would be best for short fights.
Arcane Power - Empowers you with Arcane energy, increasing your spell damage by 15% and regenerating 2% of your total Mana every 3sec for 30sec. Instant cast, no GCD, 10sec CD
*This is my new incarnation of Arcane Power. It's basically another spell to manage, kind of like Slice n' Dice or Inquisition, for those who like to keep their fingers busy. The spell damage is slightly lower than Invocation, but only because it's off the GCD. This talent would be best for any fights with movement and/or longer than a minute; same animation as live (Super Saiyan 3!).
Familiar - Summons an elemental Familiar based on your specialization. The Familiar mimics certain spells and restores Mana (1.5% - Haste%) when dealing damage:
Fire - Conjures a Flame Familiar, dealing 30% of the direct damage of your Fireball, Pyroblast, Scorch, and Combustion spells. Lasts 1h.
Frost - Conjures an Ice Familiar, dealing 25% of the damage of your Frostbolt, Frostfire Bolt, and Ice Lance spells. Lasts 1h.
Arcane - Conjures an Arcane Familiar, dealing 25% of the damage of your Arcane Blast, Arcane Missiles, Arcane Flash, and Impulse spells. Lasts 1h.
*I thought of this talent while playing my Wizard on DIII. This is a great talent for beginners who don't want to manage anything. You cast it just like any buff before a dungeon, and it'll follow you for an hour. Now, my explanation on the numbers. For Fire, its at 30% because it would only mimic direct damage, so one would be missing out on alot of DoT damage (might have to be 35%, or even 40%). For Frost and Arcane, its at a slightly lower 25% because Frost spells have generally high crit chance, I think, and the only spells it wouldn't affect is Frost Bomb and Frozen Orb, and Arcane would only lose out on NT damage.
This talent is also weaker because, other than it's passivity, it won't buff AoE spells. So, easy-to-manage talent, but weaker than the other two.
Still unsure about Lv90 talents, but that's it. Sorry for the long read, but I hope you enjoyed my insights/prayers. What would you like changed?