Spec you would choose for the future

[Magemaer]

Considering how mages are now, and what we gather from blizzard's design choice for the future, what spec would you choose if you had zero legendaries and was gearing your mage for NH and Tomb of Sargeras ahead?
People tend to stay on the spec they invested legendaries, AP and so on. But if you could choose from scratch? As it is and tend to continue, would you stay with your spec choice? Would you choose another (*cough* blizzard fucked fire st *cough*)?

[Cheapnecrolyte]

If I still played WoW, I'd choose arcane. I'd choose arcane because arcane magic is technically necromantic unless Blizzard's employees retconed their own lore and are therefore wishy washy writers who can't maintain a consistent, reliable, and sensible story.

Arcane energies are the energies of the Twisting Nether according to the WC2 manual, which establishes that the spirits of the dead do linger on in the Twisting Nether and that the Twisting Nether is basically the realm of spirits. Now, it is claimed that one aspect of Elune, the moon goddess, is that of the Night Warrior, who takes the valiant dead and places them in the sky as stars. If these stars are indeed the "dead" that Elune places in the sky, the arcane magic of these stars is technically necromantic - of, from, or relating to, the dead.

Mages of the arcane are technically necromancers and I'll even fight those who'd deny chronomancers are technically necromancers. Their chronomantic magic, as a chronomantic force, would push their enemies toward a state of entropic decay and eventual oblivion as if its death in the form of necromantic magic. No excuses despite what the garbage Chronicle claims.

Edit: Also, frost mages can - or do - have an ice revenant (which is undead per WC3) and can harness the chill of the grave while fire mages can - or do - summon fire from the Firelands (a spiritual, fiery version of the Shadowlands basically).

I want my GD minions that EVIDENTLY seem dead *claws come out*

[Deleted]

I just like to burn shit

[Magemaer]

I was more regarding performance than lore.

[Nitros14]

Frost is probably the best spec for most fights for now, except aoe fights.

The pendulum is swinging wildly this expansion though predicting the future based on performance now is a waste of time.

[Nevianx]

I'd go with Arcane if it wasn't for that staff getting stuck in my hand, which, sadly, looks very clunky on a female BElf when she's casting. So I choose Frost.

[Magemaer]

Frost is probably the best spec for most fights for now, except aoe fights.

The pendulum is swinging wildly this expansion though predicting the future based on performance now is a waste of time.

It's really cruel when you think of it. They make an expansion with HEAVY spec investment and change how our specs are performing over and over. You never know if you bet right. I guess it's one more layer of randomness (don't they just love it?).

[Erolian]

You can't answer this. They change how specs work and their relative strength through balancing. You just guess and hope you're lucky in six months and if you aren't lucky then you're just screwed for the 2-3 months it takes you to grind out AP for another spec and pray you somehow get oranges for it despite the apparent diminishing returns. Its awful.

It is somewhat funny that the more you invest in a spec the worse this situation becomes until you play so much that you actually just complete all three weapons then run a couple thousand more things until you have good legs for every spec. I regret playing pure dps this expansion

[Trylldom]

You can't answer this. They change how specs work and their relative strength through balancing. You just guess and hope you're lucky in six months and if you aren't lucky then you're just screwed for the 2-3 months it takes you to grind out AP for another spec and pray you somehow get oranges for it despite the apparent diminishing returns. Its awful.

It is somewhat funny that the more you invest in a spec the worse this situation becomes until you play so much that you actually just complete all three weapons then run a couple thousand more things until you have good legs for every spec. I regret playing pure dps this expansion

This!

Gearing for a spec is a roll of a dice, and if you fail due to a random hotfix, your left with hundreds of "wasted hours" which you gonna have to repeat++

[Zardam]

From the recent reworking of the specs it seems blizz has decided : 1) fire is good at cleave and best in game at large scale aoe but mediocre/low st and incredibly reliant on legendaries. Frost is high single target sustained, and decent at 2 target cleave, with frost specs currently best in class at st. Arc is high st and best at burst, and decent at large scale aoe.

Overall, mages seen weak compared to locks and rogues, with fire the nurfed spec atm. I expect blizz to balance out arc as highest single target overall, but more risky, with frost second with higher cleave. Because most fights are either large scale aoe (more than 3 targets) or single target, I'm personally rolling fire and arc. Frost seems like the jack-of-all trades. Currently fire, living arc wep for the future.

[Alvito]

I have never liked arcane and have only played it because it was vastly superior to other specs. Even then once things were on farm I would switch back.

- - - Updated - - -

From the recent reworking of the specs it seems blizz has decided : 1) fire is good at cleave and best in game at large scale aoe but mediocre/low st and incredibly reliant on legendaries. Frost is high single target sustained, and decent at 2 target cleave, with frost specs currently best in class at st. Arc is high st and best at burst, and decent at large scale aoe.

Overall, mages seen weak compared to locks and rogues, with fire the nurfed spec atm. I expect blizz to balance out arc as highest single target overall, but more risky, with frost second with higher cleave. Because most fights are either large scale aoe (more than 3 targets) or single target, I'm personally rolling fire and arc. Frost seems like the jack-of-all trades. Currently fire, living arc wep for the future.

One thing holding fire back now compared to others specs is the final weapon damage buff is only for fire damage only one other spec is tied to a certain type of damage source so trinkets for fire and ahadow priests don't scale with high rank weapons like they do for all other specs. Fire would get a lot better if that changed.

[Xetenor]

Hmm I didn't notice the weapon dmg buff is for fire only? And for frost and arcane it just says damage increase, not frost or arcane? Well that is just horrible...I am about to max out fire and I am not sure what spec I will go to next. I hate how reliant fire is on legens while I still have no bracers from legion launch. Damn RNG.

[Amaterasu65]

I main Fire due to leggos, but I enjoy Arcane much more so I'd definitely roll it in the future.

[nickseng]

Hmm I didn't notice the weapon dmg buff is for fire only? And for frost and arcane it just says damage increase, not frost or arcane? Well that is just horrible...I am about to max out fire and I am not sure what spec I will go to next. I hate how reliant fire is on legens while I still have no bracers from legion launch. Damn RNG.

All the mage artifacts final traits are school specific; they only add damage to fire/frost/arcane

[Woobels]

I'm so done with Fire I'd trade in all of my legendaries for just the frost gloves or something.

[Magemaer]

I'm so done with Fire I'd trade in all of my legendaries for just the frost gloves or something.

You say that because of current ST numbers or spec design?

[D3athsting]

You say that because of current ST numbers or spec design?

St is so bad it takes 2 mages to outdps assa rogue rofl

[fiestatastic]

really tough to say, currently rogues are literally doing nearly double fire's damage on single target fights, unless you are lucky enough to get legendary bracers and belt or tw ring, but fire is great for aoe.

Frost is currently looking like the most viable, but they've been messing with everything so much that it's unpredictable. If you're not set on mage I would highly recommend not rolling mage at all, you'll get in more groups / actually be viable / play more if you roll something else. All mages are in a bad state without very specific legendary luck.

[Xinder]

Hmm I didn't notice the weapon dmg buff is for fire only? And for frost and arcane it just says damage increase, not frost or arcane? Well that is just horrible...I am about to max out fire and I am not sure what spec I will go to next. I hate how reliant fire is on legens while I still have no bracers from legion launch. Damn RNG.

All the mage artifacts final traits are school specific; they only add damage to fire/frost/arcane

This. Please look up the artifacts of each spec before you go spouting things like they're facts.

[smaktat]

Frost is probably the best spec for most fights for now, except aoe fights.

The pendulum is swinging wildly this expansion though predicting the future based on performance now is a waste of time.

Which is most fights. Guys, it's ok to let Fire do well for more than 1 raid in an expansion. If you've played a mage for a long time, you'd be happy to not do the standard Fire > Arcane switch.

Frost is cool and all, but this is what we've been wanting for a long time.