what spec to raid with at 110

[Deleted]

Anyone got a tingeling sensation from the mage gods on which spec might outshine the others at max level raiding? I know they're still tuning numbers and such.

I'm leaning towards fire, because in my head. Chaining alot of crits and casting a ton of pyroblasts might do more sustainable dmg. but hey! what do I know, I'm just a poor fellow without beta access

[Biomega]

Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire.

[The Archmage]

Anyone got a tingeling sensation from the mage gods on which spec might outshine the others at max level raiding? I know they're still tuning numbers and such.

I'm leaning towards fire, because in my head. Chaining alot of crits and casting a ton of pyroblasts might do more sustainable dmg. but hey! what do I know, I'm just a poor fellow without beta access

Fire currently is MILES above the other 2 specs. That however goes completely against the intended purpose of making all specs viable, so i wouldn't bet my life on things staying the way they are. Ultimetly, i suggest you to make a choice based on playstyle and personal preference, not performance.

[Deleted]

Hoping they'll pull Arcane and Frost up to fire levels would love to play arcane, but for now Fire above all.

[Sylvaeres]

Fire will be king for EN and most of NH, where I believe we'll finally start getting enough gear to make Arcane a viable candidate

[gallamann]

What is fascinating to me is that Fire has taken the "fast paced" role from Frost. Fireball seems to be only spell you hit that has a cast time. Frost on other hand has 3 (2 currently) spells that that have long cast times, Ray at 10 secs, GS at 3 secs and once you have the artifact Ebonbolt at 3 secs.

For pre-patch (aka now) play fire and if you love Frost or Arcane pray that Blizzard recognizes the difference and buffs those two instead of nerfing Fire.

[Ctee]

Don't underestimate the power of conflagration + ignite with higher gear levels. I'm going fire because the burst window is absolutely insane right now and will only get better with the artifact and gear.

[Deleted]

Fire has taken the "fast paced" role from Frost. Fireball seems to be only spell you hit that has a cast time.

Yep it's pretty rough. It can be especially taxing if you are multitasking for a raid's needs, having to raid call something while having to use 10 instants in the next few seconds. One can hope it becomes better if one gets too used to it.

[skitzin]

Don't underestimate the power of conflagration + ignite with higher gear levels. I'm going fire because the burst window is absolutely insane right now and will only get better with the artifact and gear.

I think this is something that a few people underestimate. Ignite alone forms a decent chunk of damage ticking away in the background.

[Killua Zoldyck]

I think this is something that a few people underestimate. Ignite alone forms a decent chunk of damage ticking away in the background.

Yeah, it has a lot of passive damage. Fire really comes across as the classic: easy to get very good DPS at a basic level, but substantially harder to push 100% output.

[skitzin]

Yeah, it has a lot of passive damage. Fire really comes across as the classic: easy to get very good DPS at a basic level, but substantially harder to push 100% output.

Agreed. Although I do feel that the difference between a fire mage who does 100% is not not hugely going to be better than a mage who doesn't since fire is less punishing right now.

[The Archmage]

Agreed. Although I do feel that the difference between a fire mage who does 100% is not not hugely going to be better than a mage who doesn't since fire is less punishing right now.

I agree. With the "stacking Ignite mechanic" gone Fire is left with a substantially straightforward playstyle. It's simple but extremely effective, which determines its overwhelming popularity at the moment. Pretty much ALL mages i come across on Beta are Fire. It's so weird to see like 60 swirling floating fire balls in a single room!

[Gaidax]

I agree. With the "stacking Ignite mechanic" gone Fire is left with a substantially straightforward playstyle. It's simple but extremely effective, which determines its overwhelming popularity at the moment. Pretty much ALL mages i come across on Beta are Fire. It's so weird to see like 60 swirling floating fire balls in a single room!

It pretty much has more to do with the fact that Fire has no real weaknesses compared to other 2 mage specs - it has good to great performance across the board AND best visuals too.

[PowerOfTwo]

Don't underestimate the power of conflagration + ignite with higher gear levels. I'm going fire because the burst window is absolutely insane right now and will only get better with the artifact and gear.

^ This , was doing some testing on the lvl 110, 34/34 artifact toons on the pvp realms.... now the gear on these things sucks, its like 805 (HC dungeons are 810 to enter) and it uh.... DPS was hovering ~140-160k... wich goes up to 400k+ during combustion window on single target.

During council fights it got even more silly.... on the 3 target dummies in Warspear, close to 1M DPS with Rune / combustion / Flamestrike spam.... and i'm pretty sure my AoE rotation wasn't optimal, just pulled it outa my ass based on the ST combustion window.

PS: The one thing that's kinda wierd about it is Flame On + kindling. Flame on is SUCH an important button i often find myself delaying either combustion or Flame on by 15-30 seconds becaue they HAVE to line up.

[Deleted]

I tried Fire, I wanted to cry.

Why in the bloody fuck did they have to remove just about everything that made the spec a joy to play? I'll never bloody forgive them for gutting combustion.

RIP Fire mage.

[Jellospally]

PS: The one thing that's kinda wierd about it is Flame On + kindling. Flame on is SUCH an important button i often find myself delaying either combustion or Flame on by 15-30 seconds becaue they HAVE to line up.

You just don't use flame on unless combust is up.

[Deleted]

RIP Fire mage.

For you, maybe.

[PowerOfTwo]

You just don't use flame on unless combust is up.

Realy? that seems like abit of a waste? i mean its a 45 sec cd vs a 2 min base / ~1-1:30 min CD with kindling , you're loosing at least 1 Flame on.

I tried Fire, I wanted to cry.

Why in the bloody fuck did they have to remove just about everything that made the spec a joy to play? I'll never bloody forgive them for gutting combustion.

RIP Fire mage.

I don't know... i havn't mained fire before so can't coment but the new combustion is kinda fun, you machine gun 14-16 crits in the 10 second window... add in the Legendary that can make your non-instant pyros do 250% and with pyretic incantation that hard cast pyro crits for millions. PF -> FB -> Pyro -> FB -> Pyro -> Flame on -> FB -> Pyro -> FB -> Pyro -> PF -> pyro -> PF -> pyro -> (Legendary hard cast 250% + 65% pyretic incantation Pyro).

I see this trend going around alot actualy this xpac, so many specs have had sweeping changes that alot of mains are going "fuck this shit" and people that didn't like the class before are going HOLY SHIT, THIS IS AWSOME!

[MuLLvaD3n]

I'm pulling more than 250k burst DPS in fire at 733 item level, (level 100). I can only imagine how this damage will look when you have the artifact that looks amazing. And in my opinion fire is the more "fun" spec, but that is a completely personal opionion.

[Deleted]

The new fire mage, with artifacts and many traits, is possible the most fun and synergetic spec ever in wow. Well done Blizzard